Medicine Cats and the Serpent - WIPs [1 of 5]
One morning Rootspring was walking along the ShadowClan border looking for herbs to gather. Although he wasn't a medicine cat he wanted to help out his Clan so he decided to go look for some herbs. He made sure to stay a close distance away from the border to avoid hostile cats, but while he was inspecting a bush he heard a voice calling his name.
"Hey, Rootspring!" said a familiar voice from the other side of the border. Rootspring instantly knew it was Shadowsight, and he turned around and headed up to the boundary. He greeted Shadowsight and asked him what he was doing here.
"I was just gathering herbs, what about you?" Shadowsight replied.
"Oh, same thing actually, I felt like helping out so I went to go collect some - although I won't be able to identify many of them." Rootspring said.
"You want some help? I'm sure it wouldn't be all that bad if I was on your territory for a while. I can help you identify the different herbs," Shadowsight said.
"Alright, sounds good." Rootspring decided and the two cats headed into SkyClan territory to collect herbs for their separate Clans.
First they approached the bush Rootspring had been examining earlier, and Shadowsight pointed out some purple-blue berries that were growing between its dark green, spiky leaves.
"These are juniper berries, which I'm sure you've seen before. These will help mostly with bellyaches and troubled breathing, which are common, so it's a good idea to have a large supply," Shadowsight explained. He started carefully picking the berries off the bush and Rootspring did the same. Once they had collected enough, Shadowsight wrapped them up in a leaf and placed the leaf next to the bush. "We'll come back for these."
Rootspring followed him for a while, this time across the ShadowClan border so that they were collecting their herbs from both territories. They walked through the dense pine forest for a while and Rootspring wondered why they hadn't seen any herbs yet.
"Do herbs even grow around here?" He asked Shadowsight, who nodded.
"They do, there's a spot with lots of herbs, but it's quite far. The walk will be worth it," he said.
A while later, they were in a forest even denser than the normal ShadowClan forest, with other kinds of trees growing.
"Well, I don't know why we haven't reached the spot by now, but here's some tansy," Shadowsight noted, picking some yellow flower-like plants by their stems.
"I've never been here before," Rootspring said, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Is this even shadowclan territory?"
"You know, I don't think i've been here either. We might be lost," Shadowsight said, seeming a little nervous.
"Well let's look around for some more herbs and then try to find our way back," Rootspring said reasonably.
Shadowsight nodded, although he got that feeling that there was something wrong, so he proceeded with caution.
After a few minutes of aimless wandering, the two friends decided there was nothing here besides the tansy; they gave up and started heading back home.
Suddenly one of the trees around them started to… move? Rootspring immediately stopped and stared at the "tree", wondering what in the world could be going on. Whatever this was, it was unlike other trees and had the texture of a snake… in fact, it was a snake.
"Shadowsight. Giant snake." Rootspring was so shocked that he couldn't think of anything else to say. Shadowsight saw it too, and suddenly the large head of the snake lowered down to them, which was disturbing as it was about forty times larger than any snake they'd seen before.
The two cats were too scared to even move, and knew this snake could kill them in an instant so that wouldn't do them any good.
"What are you catssss doing sssso far away from home?" The huge snake hissed in a voice that sounded female.
"You can… speak?" Rootspring queried, and at this point he was more confused than afraid, and Shadowsight clearly was too.
"Ah, yessss… I know all your languagesss… the birdssss, the dogssss, and you catsss," said the snake.
Rootspring looked at Shadowsight with a look of utter confusion. He'd never seen a snake that could speak, let alone talk. Shadowsight shook his head and spoke to the snake. "Do you have a name?" He figured being friendly with this thing would reduce the chances of them being attacked.
"Yesss, that too… hmm… Sssserpentia. That'sss my name," Serpentia said.
Rootspring nodded, and suddenly he couldn't hold the question in any longer. "Are you going to kill us?" He asked Serpentia nervously, regretting the question but knowing he'd be able to relax if the snake said no.
"Of coursssse not, little cat. I just need you to do me one little favor…" Serpentia said. The meaning of this was hard to identify.
"Okay, what's that?" Rootspring asked. He was just glad he wasn't going to be killed. Or so it seemed.
Suddenly Serpentia's eyes started glowing and rapidly changing colors. The colors were beautiful. It was an entire rainbow of colors, and both cats immediately found themselves feeling a new sense of admiration for the large snake.
"Wow, how are you doing that?" Shadowsight asked.
"Ssshhh… do not speak. Jussst look into the pretty colorsss…"
The two cats couldn't tear their gaze away. Serpentia's eyes started to change even more rapidly, making Rootspring lean in closer without even realizing. Shadowsight suddenly dropped the tansy he had been carrying into a pit of mud, but he didn't care. The colors were more important. All he wanted in this moment was to watch Serpentia's eyes. Both of them did.
"Now, little catsss, relaxsss…" Serpentia directed, and the two warrior cats found themselves uncontrollably letting their muscles relax and sitting down on their hind paws. They barely even noticed it, because the only significant thing in their world at the moment was the colors. Just the colors. In fact, they were even faster now. Rootspring and Shadowsight were staring directly into her eyes and now everything else in their vision appeared to be blurred and distorted, and therefore not a point of focus. The only thing that mattered was watching Serpentia's eyes, forever and ever, for all eternity.