"Lenard!" Witherpaw purred, rushing into the hiding tom. He purred back and embraced her. "How have you been?" she pondered, hoping he couldn't detect the fear that she felt when he had first addressed her. Leo watched them from his nest. Witherpaw assumed he was tired from being out for so long. He's still in discomfort. She faced Lenard again and purred happily as he began to speak.
"Well, Sparrowfang has been back in the elder's den for a while, I'm not sure if you'd noticed." Witherpaw purred.
"Of course I did, I'm glad he's okay. He didn't seem to be doing too bad, I'm grateful that he caught greencough during greenleaf, he'll be immune for most of leaf-bare now," she inferred. Lenard sat down with his tail over his paws. "Did you hear the news? Sparrowkit and Rookkit are going to be apprentices in a moon!" Witherpaw nodded. "They told me before the Gathering, I'm glad that Larkkit wanted to linger in the nursery for another moon so that Sparrowkit and Rookkit could catch up. He has such a good heart," Witherpaw presumed. Lenard purred happily before facing Leo.
"How yun's been doin' in the medicine den?" The brown tom's throat rumbled in a huge purr, almost too big for him to get a word out.
"Well, it's been boring altogether, but Witherpaw has been there to brighten things up a bit." Witherpaw beamed at him as he continued. "Training was doing well too until-" he paused. Lenard looked at him, then flicked his gaze to Witherpaw uncomfortably. Witherpaw shrugged and turned back to Leo, but he was looking wide-eyed at the ground. His eyes were dazed and glossy like a dream. Suddenly, he started twitching his hindquarters and pounding his rear legs against the moss. He whimpered in agony, but he was still unblinking. Leo! Witherpaw rushed to his side and pulled him on top of her. "It's okay, it's okay," she breathed, feeling his fur grow hot. She licked him fiercely. Is he running a fever? He began to pant and whimper in fear and pain. Witherpaw stopped grooming him and faced Lenard in terror. He looked back at her with concern and bewilderment in his gaze. Then, Leo gasped in air and coughed up some vomit. Holy StarClan, what happened to him? Lenard burst out of the den and hurried to get help. Witherpaw was left alone with Leo. He was trembling and his paws and nose were moist with sweat. His fur went from being strangely warm to oddly cold. She sighed in relief when Skypaw and Flowerglow finally appeared in the den. Witherpaw could see Lenard padding reluctantly to the elder's den. She assumed that the medicine cats had advised him to come back to check on Leo later so the den wasn't too crowded.
"What happened?" Flowerglow demanded, her soft voice somehow sounding urgent and strict. Witherpaw shook her head.
"He just started. His eyes were glazed and his pelt grew hot like a fever. He was shaking terribly," she added, another glance at Leo. His temperature was growing normal again, but he was still frozen in shock. Flowerglow turned to Skypaw.
"Go grab some thyme for the shock, I won't do any more until I know more from him on what's going on." The medicine cat apprentice nodded and searched the shelves of herbs that were cracked into the walls of the cave near the entrance. Flowerglow scooted close to Leo and put her nose to his forehead. Witherpaw had her tail protectively over his cooling body as she waited for Flowerglow to tell her what was happening, but the she-cat was still touching Leo with her eyes closed. The den was still and tense as she stared at Flowerglow, waiting for her to wake up. After a moment, she began to shake and whimper, just like Leo had. Witherpaw stared at her in horror. What is going on? Eventually, Flowerglow lost her balance and she fell to the ground. Witherpaw burst up. "Are you okay?" she meowed, nudging the old she-cat with her muzzle. Eventually, the medicine cat stirred and got to her paws. She was panting and her eyes were glazed in terror. Witherpaw just noticed that Skypaw was watching the whole scene, and was now trying to help the elderly cat to her paws. Flowerglow looked over to the thyme that Skypaw dropped on the floor. She stretched out a paw and grabbed it before scooting it to Skypaw. "Chew it up and give it to Leo please," she said plainly before going to her nest in the deeper cleft. Witherpaw stared after her. What's wrong with her? Why did she freak out like that? Witherpaw noticed that she kind of acted like Leo had whenever he had had his fit. Witherpaw's thoughts darkened. Is there a threat that's haunting Leo that the medicine cats can observe? She looked back at Skypaw, who was chewing up the thyme and placing it between Leo's jaws. He then massaged his throat until he eventually swallowed the herb. Witherpaw watched him as his breathing eased and his pelt grew cooler. She forced her nerves to settle as Leo fell into an easy rest.
Skypaw sat back on his haunches. "How long has he been doing this?" he asked. Witherpaw looked up at him. He'd assumed Witherpaw had seen things like this happen before. She shrugged. "I'm not sure, since his accident I suppose. He only ever calmed down if he felt the world around him, but I'm not sure what causes this," she answered honestly. Skypaw stared at the weak tom and lowered his head. "I fear for him," he admitted. Witherpaw sighed and looked down at the ground.
"We all do."
. . .
Witherpaw met with Brambleleaf in the clearing. Two days had passed since Leo's last fit, and he was beginning to do some light training in camp. He was very bored, hating how he was confined to camp because of injury once again. Witherpaw felt bad for him, but she cared more about his health than what he preferred, and she even told him that. He didn't mind, of course, only saying that he'd do the same in her paws, but she found it hard to believe that. Now she was fixing to go on the last hunting patrol of the day, hoping to bring back a batch of prey large enough to have a feast before they settled down for the night. Her mentor faced away from Sandscar and looked at her with a gleam of resentment before speaking.
"I will go on a hunting patrol with Cypressfall, Graythistle, and Mudcloud. You will go on a border patrol with Copperflight, Ivypaw, and Cherryblaze."
Witherpaw's tail drooped. "Can't I go on a hunting patrol?" she begged. Brambleleaf seemed unconvinced.
"No, you can serve your Clan the way it demands to be served, and right now it wants the CliffClan border marked and so do I. Now go join Ivypaw and Cherryblaze over there," he grumbled with a wave of his tail in the direction of her assigned patrol. Gloomily, she shrank over to the gathering patrol members. Cherryblaze was grooming her daughter's fur, who began to protest as Witherpaw walked up. "Okay, okay! I'm plenty clean now," she wailed. Her mother backed away in shock but didn't say anything. They both eyed her as she settled down beside them. She tried to ignore their piercing stares and judgment-filled whispers. She tried to ignore them, but every single comment stabbed her pelt and sent shocks of pain through her. Witherpaw could make out a few sentences of what they were saying.
"I can't believe that she's still here, who knows her real intentions."
"Yeah, she put her own friend in danger, who knows what she might do to the rest of us if she got the chance!" Ivypaw breathed. Witherpaw struggled to control her irritation for her words.
"Brambleleaf told me himself that she was a danger, she has too much skill for an apprentice. The Dark Forest could be training her for all we know!" Cherryblaze hissed into Ivypaw's ear, loud enough for Witherpaw to realize that she wanted a reaction out of her. Determined not to give the she-cat the satisfaction of knowing she was bothering her, she continued to survey the camp, pretending to not hear them.
"Why don't you go back to the flea-bitten forest you came from?" Splashstripe called from across camp, the returning hunting party staring at her in discrimination. Dandelionfire and Duststorm were meeting her gaze with hostile glares as they padded across the stepping stones behind the rest of the patrol and set their prey on the pile. Witherpaw steadied her breathing and tried to keep herself calm as the patrol broke up and the cats began to do their own thing and stopped focusing on her. She wished she could say the same for Cherryblaze and Ivypaw.
"I agree, she should have never come back. It's not like we have a use for her! All she does is put every cat in danger and force them to sit around in camp and not have the ability to contribute. Just look at Leo! She injured him twice, now he's confined to camp and misery." Like you care about Leo at all!
She was tensing her muscles, using all of her willpower to keep herself planted to the ground and not launching herself at Cherryblaze for her stupid reasoning. And just her luck, Ivypaw had to say something back.
"I think all of them should go back to their Twolegs, they're too mouse-hearted to have the bravery to be of any use in a battle. Especially Lenard, why did he come here if he was just going to be another mouth to feed? And why does Leo repeatedly put himself in dangerous situations just so he has an excuse to lay around camp? And look at Witherpaw! She thinks she's so important just because she's the Clan leader's daughter. She thinks she's so smart and has excuses to do and command whatever she pleases. I think we should keep troublemakers like her out of anything involving the Clans. As you said, she's an endangerment to our warriors and deserves to be treated as such." Witherpaw couldn't hold it in anymore. She exploded with rage.
"Why do you think you have a right to say stuff like that in front of me? In case you haven't noticed, I have enough problems to deal with than whatever your useless opinions are. You have no idea what it's like to be in my paws, you know why? Because you've been lucky enough to have everything you could have ever asked for in the Clan!" Witherpaw yowled at them.
Ivypaw stepped up. "Oh shut your trap. The only reason why you came is because you wanted to be more than just a useless rogue, but you know deep down that you can never fit in with the rest of us. Think about it. You're the result of a half-Clan relationship, StarClan decided the day JaggedClan and MistClan fought that you should die." Her words stabbed Witherpaw's heart, but it only propelled her forward. "StarClan may have wanted me to die, but if they did, then why am I still here? I don't wish to fit in here if it's an environment where cats judge others based on something they can't even control! Who cares if I'm not just like everybody else? You should be concerned with yourself because you know that your father isn't impressed with you and that's why you demand his attention. When has he ever shown that he cares about you at all?" Ivypaw's gaze darkened and the thrilling gleam in her eye flickered out with realization. "Exactly, you know he appreciates Snowflame over you because she has skills that make her special, and you just blend in with everyone else. Do you know what that means? It means that the cats that work to be something other than the identity of the Clan are more valuable than the cats that strive to fit opinions. No one gets anywhere being that way, and I hate to have to be the one to make you realize that." Ivypaw's eyes filled with tears, but her face turned red with uncontrollable rage.
"You think it's so easy to preach to me about my life? You are a nobody! You're just the same as the rest of us, struggling to survive in a merciless reality. Blood sheds every day and these claws steal the lives of cats. No one has it easy here, and some random cat who thinks they know what is going on has no more clue on what to do than anyone else. My father can see me however he likes because I put my Clan above everything else, maybe you should too."
The gray she-cat then flicked her tail and turned away. Witherpaw watched as she plopped back down in her nest, back facing out into the camp.
Witherpaw just realized that the rest of the camp was watching their fight and now she was surrounded by scolding murmurs. She flinched away and darted for the safety of the medicine den. Witherpaw backed away further into the darkness, staring fearfully at the hanging lichen that guarded the entrance. She could hear their meowing outside, but the blood in her ears was roaring too loudly for her to hear. A familiar voice sounded behind her with concern, but she could do nothing but curl up next to Leo and try to calm herself down. Now the whole Clan thinks I'm aggressive and hostile, what am I going to do? How am I ever going to earn the trust and respect of my Clanmates now? She just noticed that she was shaking and panting from the adrenaline of the situation. Leo had his tail draped over her and was gently grooming her between her ears. She purred contentedly and closed her eyes with a newfound peace. Witherpaw realized that no matter how much her Clanmates hated her or looked down upon her, she'd still have Leo and the rest of her family, and that was all that mattered.
After a while, Witherpaw heard two cats dart into the den and chuckle mischievously. She flicked her ears toward the sound and recognized the voices and scent of Sparrowkit and Rookkit. Witherpaw backed further into the nest and watched as the two kits snuck past her and ventured further into the den. Witherpaw then silently snuck out behind them and towered above them.
"What are you two sneaking around for?" The two kits froze and slowly turned toward her.
-Author's Note-
Greetings my fellow Warriors fans!
Again, this chapter was posted a week late because of my school and private life which demands so much of my time. I promise that this is the second to last chapter about boring stuff xD
I have so much planned, I hope you are as excited as I am! I'll try and keep chapter twenty-eight short so I can start making more interesting chapters for you guys in the next book!
As always, please feel free to leave any comments in the reviews, I love hearing from you all!
-MapleLily-
