"What?" Branchtail hissed, as every SkyClan cats' back arched and their fur stood on end. Crowroot bared his teeth at the invaders, anger bubbling up inside him. How dare these strange cats waltz into their camp, and demand that they be given the mountain? There was no way the clans would let themselves ever be driven away from their home! Mosslight raised her tail for silence, and the camp fell quiet.
"You realise there are other clans who will be just as ready as we are to fight for their home." Mosslight warned. Flint dipped his head, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"We are aware of that. However, I think you'll find that although we are only the size of one of your clans, we are much stronger."
"Stronger?" Crowroot heard Brackenroot spit at the cats. Flint turned his gaze onto the learner.
"Yes, stronger," He tilted his head to the side. "We are quite willing to prove it to you, youngster. If you wish to prove yourself, fight Rain." At the mention of her name, the silver tabby slid smoothly into an attack crouch, and slid out her claws. Crowroot glanced over to Brackenroot, and saw his eyes stretch wide in fear.
"What's wrong?" Rain hissed through bared teeth. "Scared? Not so confidant now, are you?"
"Our learners will not fight." Mosslight mewed calmly. Flint snarled softly.
"But they have to," He bared his long, yellowed fangs. "Or we will kill you all right now. But, if you learner defeats Rain, we'll leave the mountain. If she wins, we will attack in one moon." Mosslight swallowed, and Flint turned his eyes on Brackenroot.
Crowroot saw Brackenroot stare back, absolutely paralysed by the giant cat, and unable to move forward towards Rain.
"It seems your original learner is too cowardly to fight Rain," Mosslight snarled at Flint, showing open hostility for the first time. "Is there anyone else willing to fight her?" The clearing was silent, until, almost on an impulse, Crowroot stepped forward.
"I'll do it," He said, ignoring the gasps and murmurs of surprise from his clanmates. "I'll fight her." He knew he hadn't been training for as long as the other learners, but Rain couldn't be that much older than him, and he had learnt a lot in his fighting lessons.
"No, Crowroot…" He heard Leafroot whisper. Ignoring her, he made his way forward until he was standing facing Rain.
"Well, it seems you have at least one courageous learner," Mosslight hissed slightly at Flint's taunting tone.
"Good luck, Crowroot." Branchtail nodded to him. Crowroot nodded back, took a deep breath, and crouched down, waiting for a command to start fighting. It seemed Rain was doing the same thing.
Nerves fluttered in his stomach. The future of all the clans rested in his paws, and whether he won or lost. The surrounding cats moved backwards slightly to create a sort of an arena for him and Rain to fight in. Rain flattened herself to the ground, and slid out her long, thin claws. Crowroot swallowed, trying to calm himself.
"Begin, Rain." Flint's calm, quiet mew sounded, and Rain launched herself at Crowroot.
Crowroot rolled to the side to avoid her outstretched paws, and lashed out and hit her in the side, though he kept his claws sheathed. Rain landed perfectly, despite having to suddenly adapt to not landing on Crowroot, and spun around with one of her front forelegs stretched out, and caught him on his cheek. Her claws tore at him, and he jerked away, hissing in pain. It became obvious that this would not be a battle won on skill alone, this would be a battle won by beating each other down until they're too wounded to continue.
"What's the matter?" Rain hissed tauntingly, noticing his pause. "Are you scared as well?" Crowroot snarled at her.
"You wish." He leapt at her, his claws and teeth bared, and landed on her back, catching her off guard. He bit down on her scruff, and tore at her shoulders with his claws.
He heard her yowl slightly with pain, but she was still able to fight, and rolled over, dislodging Crowroot from her back. They both scrambled up, but Crowroot was slightly slower, and Rain leapt at him, taking advantage of the half a second she had before he got up. She fastened her teeth into his front leg, and tore at whatever part of him she could reach with her claws.
Crowroot hissed in pain, and used his one free front leg to claw at her back and ears. Eventually, he managed to twist his head around so that he could grab onto her scruff again, and he wrenched her off of him.
The two of them circled each other for a while, both of them were panting and bleeding heavily. Rain had a clump of fur hanging raggedly from her shoulder, and Crowroot was blinded in one eye from blood running down from a scratch along his eyebrow.
"Finish him, Rain!" Flint yowled, and the young silver she-cat launched herself at Crowroot.
Caught off guard, she pinned Crowroot to the ground. She fastened her teeth firmly into his ear, kept one of her front paws firmly on his shoulder, and one of her back paws on his tail. Crowroot tried to struggle, but he couldn't move against her strong claws. Eventually, he had no choice but to admit defeat.
"I believe, Mosslight," Flint mewed smugly. "That my learner has won." The band of rouges in the clearing cheered, and Rain stepped off him, exhausted, but her eyes shone.
Crowroot stood up, anger and embarrassment coursing through his veins. He watched as Rain walked slowly, limping slightly, back to Flint and Nettle.
"It is decided," Flint mewed. "We will attack the Clans in one moon." He turned, and walked out of the entrance with his cats following him.
Crowroot managed to stay on his paws for as long as it took for all the rouges to leave, but when the last of them had left through the tree-tunnel, his legs shook, and he collapsed onto the floor of the clearing, exhaustion and pain washing over him.
Leafroot hurriedly hopped over to his side, and peered worriedly down at him.
"Crowroot!" She cried out. "Don't die, Crowroot!"
"I'm not gonna die," Crowroot mumbled. "It just hurts, is all."
"Do you think you can walk over to the healer den? Then me and Oakfur can help heal you."
Crowroot struggled to his feet, grunting with the effort, and limped over to the healer den, being supported by Leafroot. The healer den was the biggest den that was dug out into the walls. It had a rather small entrance, that opened into a bigger cave, with a grass and feather lined floor. There was a small tunnel was dug out at the back of the big cave, and if you followed that round a corner you came into the storeroom, with stacks of herbs and berries piled against the walls.
"You lie down here," Leafroot lead him over to a pile of grass and feathers, and laid him down. "I'll go fetch Oakfur." She hopped hurriedly out the entrance, and Crowroot was left alone.
He looked around the den from where he lay. He had been in here only once before, when he was a kit sick with whitecough. The den was filled with the sweet, musty smell of dried herbs, and had a comfortable, safe feeling about it.
He looked up as he heard movement at the entrance, and saw Oakfur entering with Leafroot behind him. The dark brown healer padded up to him, and gave him a thorough sniff from head to toe, inspecting his wounds.
"Leafroot," Oakfur called over his learner. "Go fetch me some dock, daisy petals, comfrey and horsetail." Leafroot nodded, and hopped down the small tunnel. She returned shortly with her mouth full of leaves and petals.
She laid them down, and Oakfur nodded approvingly. "Now give his wounds a good lick while I make up a poultice." Leafroot lowered her head, and rasped her tongue over Crowroot's pelt, brushing the fur away from his cuts. When she was done, Oakfur took her place, and started licking the juice of the chewed up herbs into his wounds. It stung, but Crowroot was too exhausted to complain.
"Wrap his front paw in comfrey, Leafroot," instructed Oakfur. "It got sprained when Rain bit it. I'll go fetch some cobweb." Leafroot carefully fastened the comfrey around his paw while Oakfur was gone.
"You really scared me, Crowroot," Leafroot murmured. "Why'd you have to fight her? I thought she was gonna kill you!"
"I wouldn't have let her kill me," he mumbled. "I'm not ready to join LightClan just yet. And I had to go forward; no other cat was going to." Leafroot licked him across his ear.
Oakfur came back with a pawful of cobweb, which he started to apply to Crowroot's wounds. When he was finished, he stood back and said:
"He should be good now. I've got to go speak with Mosslight and Branchtail now. Leafroot, you keep an eye on him encase anything happens." Leafroot nodded, and curled up next to Crowroot, licking her brother in-between his ears.
Crowroot relaxed, the soft rasping of Leafroot's tongue sooth him, reminding him of when he was a kit in the nursery. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he was too exhausted, and soon let the darkness of a deep, healing sleep envelope him.
"Crowroot!" Crowroot was jerked awake by a voice calling his name. He wasn't sure how long he had slept for, but judging by the soft golden-purple light streaming through the healer den entrance, he guessed it was twilight.
"Crowroot!" The voice came again, and the speaker ran into view. Fawnkit, followed by her two brothers, Batkit and Icekit, ran into the den.
"Oakfur finally said we could come and see you," Batkit mewed. "He made us wait until low-light!" The dark grey kit walked up and sniffed at a long scratch on Crowroot's side.
"Yuck!" He exclaimed. "It smells disgusting!" Icekit laughed.
"That's the herbs, silly. Of course it's gonna smell gross," the white kit turned to Crowroot. "So anyway, what was it like? Fighting a real rouge cat?" His eyes shone with curiosity.
"Scary," he replied. "She was obviously used to fighting with claws, and wasn't afraid to hurt me."
"When I'm a fighter," Batkit boasted, puffing out his chest. "I'm going to be so good in battle that no rouge would ever dare fight me!" Icekit snorted.
"Yeah, right. You can't even beat Shadekit in a fight!"
"Can too!" Batkit leapt on top of his brother, and the two of them started wrestling, kicking up huge amounts of grass and feathers.
"Hey, you two, if you want to do that, do it in the clearing where you won't make such a mess." Crowroot gently scolded them.
"Okay, bye Crowroot!" The two of them said together, and tumbled out of the healer den.
"You alright? You've been awfully quiet," Crowroot spoke to Fawnkit, who had sat silently next to him while her brothers were talking. "It's not like you to be quiet." Fawnkit shuffled her paws awkwardly.
"I was so scared you'd die," she said at last. "When I saw her leap at you with her claws outstretched, I thought she was gonna kill you for sure," after a moment's hesitation, the creamy kit buried her nose in Crowroot's fur. "I don't want you to die, Crowroot."
"Don't worry," Crowroot mewed softly, drawing his tongue over her ear. "I don't plan on dying for a while yet." Fawnkit nodded, and drew back.
"Mosslight said she's gonna postpone our learner ceremony until tomorrow," she tilted her head to the side. "Do you think you'll be able to come and see?"
"I hope so," he meowed. "I wouldn't want to miss it." Fawnkit smiled, then briefly pushed her nose into his fur again.
"Well, bye Crowroot!" She said, and trotted out of the den, seeming much happier than she did earlier.
Crowroot lay in the grass for a while longer, not sleeping, just resting. Then, when it was nearly no-light, Leafroot and Oakfur came into the den.
"You alright, Crowroot?" Oakfur asked him. "Need a poppy seed to help you sleep?" Crowroot nodded.
"Yeah, if that's alright." Oakfur nodded to Leafroot to signal for her to get a poppy seed from the store. She came back soon after and laid a poppy seed on a leaf in front of Crowroot. Crowroot licked it up, and soon felt the effects of the poppy seed, and fell asleep.
Crowroot woke up in the morning feeling so stiff he could barely move. His wounds hurt and his claws ached from where he had dug them hard into the ground as he fought.
He heard movement and looked over to where Leafroot and Oakfur were sleeping. The two of them were stirring, and Leafroot lifted her head, blinking sleep out of her eyes. She stood up and, noticing Crowroot was awake, walked over to him.
"How're you?" She said softly to avoid waking her teacher.
"Stiff," he replied. "My claws hurt and my wounds really sting." Leafroot sniffed a long scratch on his side.
"You need a new poultice, but I don't want to do anything until Oakfur's awake," she drew back and licked her paw, drawing it over her ear. "Probably if you want to help with your stiffness you could walk to the prey pile to get your own breakfast to loosen your muscles."
"Good idea, Leafroot," Crowroot looked up at Oakfur, who had woken during their conversation. He looked approvingly at his learner. "Once we've changed your poultice and dressing you can walk over to the prey pile to get something to eat."
Leafroot and Oakfur changed his dressings, and then helped him up. Crowroot walked stiffly over to the prey pile, where he selected a small sparrow for himself. He carried it back to outside the healer den, and settled down to eat.
As he ate, the camp started waking up around him. Brightclaw followed her two-moon old kits out of the nursery, and fetched herself a piece of prey which her kits sniffed at curiously. Eaglestripe emerged from the fighter den, his grey flecked muzzle stretched wide in a yawn. He would be moving to the senior den before long, Crowroot thought, probably soon after Hawkroot became a fighter.
Mosslight jumped down from her den onto a branch of the Great Tree, and surveyed her clan with proud eyes before yowling the words:
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Great Tree for a clan meeting." Crowroot stiffly got to his feet, and padded over to the base of the Great Tree. Leafroot hopped up beside him and sat down, watching Mosslight intently. Crowroot heard a scuffling sound behind him, and purred slightly with amusement as he saw Fawnkit, Batkit and Icekit tumbling out of the nursery, followed by their mother, Owlfrost. They tripped over themselves as the dashed across the clearing, each determined to be the first to reach the base of the Great Tree.
"I am proud of my clan," were Mosslight's first words. "Nothing stands in our way, nothing deters us from being the best cats we can be, both in battle and out. Hardships and combat always find their way to us, but we stand against them, protecting ourselves and others who are too young, old or sick to fight. I couldn't be prouder than I am of you, fellow clanmates, and I say that we will stand strong against the rouge clan, we will defeat them, and we will defend our mountain from the intruders that threaten our borders, because we are fighters, pure and strong. And we fight with the strength of LightClan. So, my dear friends and clanmates, will you stand with me against the rouges, purging our territory of them once and for all?" A chorus of yowls greeted her words, Crowroot joining his voice to them. Mosslight was right; no matter what came their way, SkyClan would defeat it, proving themselves in battle to be stronger than any who opposed them.
"Now, today I have three new fighters to name, and three new learners," Mosslight's eyes gleamed proudly. "Brackenroot, Softroot and Mouseroot, stand forward," the three learners padded forward, their heads raised, their coats glossy and smooth, with hard muscles rippling underneath them.
"I, Mosslight, chief of SkyClan, call upon my fighter ancestors to look down on these three learners," Mosslight's voice rippled throughout the clearing. "They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as fighters in their turn. Softroot, Brackenroot and Mouseroot, do you promise to uphold the fighter code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"
"I do." Softroot breathed.
"I do." Mouseroot said determinedly.
"I-I do." Brackenroot stammered slightly as he whispered his line. He looked down, and Crowroot suspected he was thinking about how he had backed out of a battle with Rain yesterday.
"Then by the power of LightClan I give you your fighter names," Mosslight jumped down from the Great Tree and came to stand before Softroot, looking into her eyes. "Softroot, from this moment you shall be known as Softpelt. LightClan honours your thoughtfulness and integrity," Softpelt nodded and stepped back. Mosslight moved over so that she was standing in front of Mouseroot. "Mouseroot, you shall be known as Mouseear. LightClan honours your kindness and skill at hunting. And Brackenroot," she moved until she was standing in front of Brackenroot, who looked at the ground. "You will be known as Brackenclaw. LightClan honours your patience and your honesty. We welcome you all as fighters of LightClan!"
"Softpelt! Mouseear! Brackenclaw!" The clan yowled the new fighters' names, greeting them excitedly as they made their way back into the crowd.
"Now, I have another one of my favourite duties to perform," Mosslight mewed, and the commotion settled down. "Fawnkit, Batkit and Icekit, step forward." the three kits walked solemnly forward, but Crowroot saw their paws twitching and knew that it was taking all their self-control not to dash forward to Mosslight.
"Batkit," Mosslight moved forward to the dark grey kit. "From this day until you receive your fighter name, you will be known as Batroot," the learners called out his new name until Mosslight raised her tail for silence. "Squirreltail!" The long-furred, russet fighter padded forward, her tail twitching with excitement.
"You are without a learner since Beechpelt became a fighter. He had a fine teacher in you, and I expect you to use the same training expertise to train Batroot."
Squirreltail nodded, and ran her tail along Batroot's back, accepting him as her learner. The two of them stepped back into the crowd of cats, and Mosslight moved to stand in front of Icekit.
"Icekit, from this day until you receive your fighter name, you will be known as Iceroot," As they had with Batroot, the learners chanted Iceroot's name. "Sparrowcloud," the small brown tom padded forward, his eyes gleaming with pride and excitement. "You are a fine fighter, courageous and strong in battle. I know Iceroot is in safe paws." Sparrowcloud nodded, and brushed his tail along his new learner's back.
"And finally, Fawnkit," Fawnkit stepped forward, quivering with nerves and excitement. "From this day, until you receive your fighter name, you will be known as Fawnroot."
"Fawnroot! Fawnroot!" Crowroot lead the chant for his friend.
"Rosetail," The brown and white tabby she cat stepped forward. "You have proven yourself in combat multiple times, and have a great knowledge of the fighter code. Fawnroot will have a great teacher in you." Rosetail nodded, touched Fawnroot with her tail, and they retreated into the crowd.
"Batroot! Iceroot! Fawnroot!" The whole clan chanted their names.
After the clan had broken up, Crowroot saw Rosetail bound up to Crowroot's teacher, Swallowflight, and press their muzzles together.
"Isn't this great?" Rosetail said. "We can take our learners out together and train them together and everything!"
"I'm so happy for you." Swallowflight purred, and the two walked across the camp, their pelts brushing, and Crowroot remembered that the two young she-cats were littermates.
"Crowroot! Crowroot, Crowroot, Crowroot, Crowroot!" Crowroot heard Fawnroot calling his name, and turned to see the young cat running up to him.
"You came to my learner ceremony!" She purred.
"Did you think I wouldn't?"
"Well, you looked pretty hurt yesterday, but you did promise so I was expecting you to be there," Fawnroot gave a little skip of excitement. "I'm finally a learner! I can't wait to go on patrols and learn to hunt and everything! When do you think Rosetail will take me on my first patrol? When did you go on your first patrol?" Crowroot stifled a purr of amusement at her eagerness.
"Swallowflight took me on my first patrol right after my ceremony, but it's different for every cat," Crowroot yawned and stretched, wincing as the claw marks on his sides stung. "You'll have to ask Rosetail to take you out if you want to go on patrol." Fawnroot nodded.
"Ok, I'll go talk to her. Bye Crowroot!" Crowroot nodded goodbye as the small cat dashed across the clearing to where Rosetail stood still talking with Swallowflight.
Crowroot smiled, remembering how excited he had been on his learner ceremony, before limping back towards the healer den. He flopped down outside the entrance, and rolled onto his side, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his pelt. He closed his eyes and relaxed, before a paw poked him in the side.
"What're you doing, lazing around out here?" He lifted his head to see the teasing eyes of Leafroot.
"It's not like I can go hunting with the others, or help reinforce the camp," he sighed, and flopped his head to the floor. "I'm so bored!" He complained. Leafroot laughed.
"Well, if you get up you can come and help me sort herbs," she poked him again. "Come on, I'll teach you what to do."
Crowroot stoop up with a grunt, and followed Leafroot into the healer den. She into the tunnel at the back of the cave, and after a slight hesitation, Crowroot followed her. It felt weird to have earth pressing in around him, and the damp smell of mud and worms and other things that lived below the ground pressed in on him, filling his nostrils until he couldn't smell anything else. Crowroot sighed in relief when the two young learners emerged into the storage cave. It was still underground, but at least it was filled with the familiar scents of grass and feathers that covered the floor, and the musty, slightly sweet scent of herbs.
The cave was large, larger than any of the other dens, and had grooves dug into the earthen walls that acted as shelves for the herbs that Leafroot and Oakfur collected. The only light came from the tunnel, so Crowroot could only just make out his sister's form in the darkness, and the small piles of herbs on the shelves.
"Look, all you have to do it sort these," Leafroot nudged a pile of herbs towards him. Their mixed scents assaulted Crowroot's senses, some sweet and good, others bitter and horrid. "Just put the ones that are the same shape in a pile. I'll help you, so we should be done in no time." Leafroot used her one front paw to pull a leaf from the pile, and started snagging other leaves that were the same shape as it and laying them on top of the first leaf, created a neat, even pile. Crowroot followed her example and pulled out an oak leaf, those were easy to recognise, and started piling other oak leaves on top of it.
Before long, the two learners had sorted all the leaves, and Leafroot began to stack them onto the shelves. Leafroot then moved along the shelves, carefully smelling the piles of leaves and checking how many leaves they had left in each pile.
"Nearly out of daisy," she muttered. "We'll need that for the battle with the rouges," she turned to Crowroot. "We've got a few herbs we're running low on, want to come ask Oakfur if we can go and collect them?" Crowroot nodded, and the two of them left the healer den.
"Oakfur!" Leafroot called to her teacher, who was just emerging from the senior den. "Can we go and collect some herbs? We're nearly out of a few of them and I thought since Crowroot has nothing else to do…" Oakfur nodded, and Leafroot purred happily. "Thanks, Oakfur!"
The two learners walked across the clearing, but Crowroot stopped when he noticed Iceroot padding grumpily towards the entrance to the camp.
"Iceroot!" Crowroot called to the white tom. "What's wrong?" Iceroot sighed in annoyance.
"Sparrowcloud is making me clean out the nursery," he huffed. "I thought we were going to do training or something, but I get stuck cleaning up after the kits."
"You'll get out on patrol soon enough," Leafroot assured him. "But since you're cleaning out the nursery, why not come with us? I know some of the herbs I need to gather grow near some great grass patches, and it'll be more fun if we do it together." Iceroot looked up.
"Really?" Leafroot nodded, and Iceroot trotted over to them, his tail up, looking happier than he had been before.
The three of them padded out of the camp, walking slowly due to Crowroot's limp and Leafroot's missing leg. Leafroot lead them to a patch of daisies, growing in abundance in a patch of sunlight, surrounded by thick, lush grass.
"I'll gather the daisies," she said. "Crowroot can gather the grass with you, Iceroot. You'll probably need more grass than just one cat can carry for the nursery."
Crowroot showed Iceroot just how to pull up the grass so that you didn't shred the stalks too much. If that happened, the foul tasting green juices of the grass would seep out all over the kits and queens, staining their pelts.
The two of them worked together pulling up the long, soft grass stems, and soon they had a large pile. Crowroot signalled to Iceroot to stop collecting the grass, and grabbed up roughly half of the pile in his jaws. Iceroot did the same, and after checking that Leafroot had picked up her daisies and was ready, Crowroot began to walk back to the camp, walking slower than usual due to his slight limp from his injured paw, and Leafroot's missing leg.
When they got back to camp, Leafroot left Crowroot and Iceroot to prepare the daisies for drying, and Crowroot walked to the nursery with Iceroot to help him clear the nursery. The three mothers and their kits were out in the camp, so the two of them were interrupted as they pulled all the old grass and feathers into a pile outside the nursery entrance, and started covering the floor in a soft, fresh layer of grass.
"Hey, Crowroot?" Iceroot said as he dragged a pile of grass over to the entrance.
"Yeah?"
"Do you really think there's gonna be a battle?" Crowroot looked up. Iceroot was looking down, clawing nervously at his ball of grass.
"Probably," Crowroot answered eventually. "Unless the other chiefs submit and agree to Flint's command to leave the mountain, which I can't imagine them doing."
"I don't want there to be a battle," Iceroot said, his voice soft. "Cats die in battle, don't they?" Crowroot stayed silent, but his eyes lowered to the ground. "They do, I know they do. No one wants to talk about it with me but I know they do," the small cat sighed, his snow-white shoulders falling. "My mother told me about her brother, Rainslash. She said he was the bravest cat she'd ever known. But he died in battle," Crowroot looked down. Rainslash had been a brilliant warrior, strong, determined and kind, the first choice for Mosslight's new deputy when the old deputy, Robinfeather, retired. But the night before his naming ceremony, when Robinfeather was going to step aside to the senior den, Rainslash was killed at the claws of a rouge who had fought him over prey. It was only natural for Iceroot to be scared of the rouge cats, seeing as what had happened to his uncle. "Crowroot… what if I die in the battle?"
Crowroot leaned forward and licked the small cat in-between his ears. "You won't," Crowroot said. "If Mosslight didn't think you were strong enough to survive battles, she wouldn't have let you become a learner." Iceroot shrugged.
"I guess," then he shook himself. "Come on, the kits are probably wanting some fresh bedding already." Iceroot padded through the entrance of the den, and Crowroot heard the surprised mewls of Shadekit and Flamekit as Iceroot started removing their dirty bedding and tossing it outside the den entrance.
Crowroot sighed, and used his claws to gather the dirty bedding into a tight-packed ball and pick it up in his jaws to carry outside the entrance and drop it in a pile. After he had finished he started heading over to the healers den.
"Crowroot!" Crowroot stopped, one paw raised, and turned his head to see Mosslight walking towards him, Swallowflight right behind her. "I want you to come to the Meeting tonight," Crowroot couldn't stop his tail twitching with excitement. It was a great honour to be asked personally by the chief to a Meeting. "The other clans may not know about the rouge group yet, and if they don't then you are the only clan cat who has fought one of them." Crowroot nodded, and Mosslight left, leaving him alone with Swallowflight.
"How're you feeling?" Swallowflight asked. Crowroot shrugged.
"Stiff and sore, but a little better. Those herbs Leafroot used really worked." Swallowflight smiled.
"Good, I'm glad you're feeling better," she stood up. "You'd better rest. Even though you're feeling better you still need to be ready for the Meeting tonight." Crowroot dipped his head respectfully, and turned to go back to Leafroot's den.
He curled up in the soft grass, and closed his eyes. He didn't really sleep properly, just dozed, so he woke quickly when he heard Leafroot calling his name.
"Come on, Crowroot, it's time for the Meeting!"
Next chapter will be in Fawnroot's POV :)