Trailclan was silent, The cats where tucked away in small holes hollowed out by the lake during high water levels. Although the small cubbies may not provide forever protection the gorse tunnel would. There were seven dens, and it had been true, questions were answered. Flowertrail had gone to the medicine den, and then to the nursery, and accompanied by Pathstar.

Fateclaw was swimming in the lake, carrying a large trout. He was on a small hunting patrol with Brokenfall, Lifeleap, and Birdsong. All carrying pieces of prey. Brokenfall had a carp, Lifeleaf was holding a sunfish, and Birdsong managed to snag a pike.

"Hunting here is great!" Lifeleap managed to talk around his fish.

"Yeah!" Fateclaw agreed, "It's better than the old territory!"

The cats soon reached the camp, Fateclaw went to go give his leader his fish. The other cats in his patrol deposited their prey onto the fresh-kill pile.

"Pathstar?" He called.

Fateclaw heard a gentle snore. The tom went into the den silently and softly put his trout by the leader. Fateclaw slipped out of the den, careful not to wake his leader. As Fateclaw padded away to join his clanmates he pondered only one thought.

What could've made his leader so tired?

Ruththorns eyes laid on a young tom over on Sunclan territory, not that she found him attractive. It was something more, something only the selected stars knew, she was a fallen one of stars. she had an ancient living in her, spitting the truth. Truth thorn, Ruth was only a kittypet controlled by an ancient spirit, when she passed the mountain a ghost began to take a resident through her mouth.

It wasn't that she worried of she lived half her life, at least she had half, and she could serve as a medic and somedays warrior. Fulfilling her goals, maybe even bring change to the clans.

Fateclaw had swiftly dropped a fish off to the leader in the nursery. The tom was up all night worried, the kit could come any time now, and they would most likely be health. yet the tom still seemed a bit off-kilter maybe because of the recent death of Mosswhisper? , it wasn't his fault, but the scar on Echowhisper's leg was.

Suddenly Ruththorn began shaking obviously

Soft whispers one killed another scarred

"little too late for that one truth thorn" Ruth spoke among herself

"well hey there is yet more to come, some you can't stop, and can't figure out on time" Wisper growled deep in Ruththorn's chest

Birdsong dropped off her kill, glancing at Ruththorn with a mixture of wariness and worry. She had been like that a few times and normally just ignored her. Although this time the she-cat gave her a fake smile.

Fateclaw didn't feel so good, he was in the medicine cat den receiving treatment for a mysterious illness that Ruththorn had never seen before. She had named it Blackcough after the black spots that appeared on the victim's nose. Fateclaw gave a cough that racked his whole body. Ruththorn hurried over and gave him some wet moss and juniper berries. Fateclaw muttered his thanks and quickly swallowed the herb, wincing at the juices.

"Do you think that I'll live?" Fateclaw rasped.

"You don't have a high fever and your appetite is well. But this illness is making it hard for you to breath," she reported.

"But, will I die?" He asked again.

"No, you won't. But I need you to stay away from everyone else," Ruththorn ordered.

Fateclaw nodded his head, "Will do."

Ruththorn padded out of the den, and Fateclaw fell into an uneasy sleep.

Ruththorn could feel as if she had seen this illness before, but from were? Ruth needed citrus a lemon preferably, lemon help with shortness of breath. Maybe a poultice of lemon and juniper would work. Still, the black cough wasn't common so much anymore how had the tom caught the sickness?

Ruththorn didn't know all she knew was she was a healer. a good healer indeed.

Birdsong padded out of the camp to go hunt a little. She preferred hunting with someone, though she noticed how small the pile was compared to home. Maybe there was a lake or something instead of all of these streams. And the odd river that held a couple of fish.

Though she gave up soon, heading to the nearby stream instead

Ruth, she was trying desperately to save the clan, but it wasn't working... she knew what would heal the illness but none of the herbs were on the territory. she sent most the healthy cats to sunclan, as Risestar was very open, she wanted to send the sick to Stoneclan but they refused since they had their own problems. So from Stoneclan instead she requested a medicine cat, they sent Rootberry to help. The cats that were healthy went to Sunclan they were... Brokenfall, Flowertrail, Bubblesnout, Shallowstep, Icefin, and bridgekit over. The sick stayed with her, Cloudyriver, Fateclaw, Pathstar, Birdsong and Barkkit.

Hopefully, the leader would make it through the sickness but chances were low. The new deputy Bubblesnout would most likely become Bubblestar.

Birdsong coughed harshly in her sleep. She wasn't the worst of them all, though she had a barking cough that made her throat ache.

Birdsong was in the same den on the opposite side, She had attracted the same disease. Birdsong could already feel herself slipping to starclan. Was she in the end stages of the disease?