As the icy claws of leaf-bare closed around the lake territories, the health of elderly cats deteriorated. It was only a few days after Lilyflower's kits were made apprentices (the newly named Flamepaw and Heatherpaw were apprenticed to Rabbitleap and Seedpelt respectively) that their mother collapsed and was rushed into the nursery. Runningfoot stayed by her side the whole day, as did Sandstar when Gorsewind was stricken with illness and ultimately died a few days later. After that, the leader retreated into his den, where he would not let any cat talk to him.
On the nights when Grasstail was able to meet with Watersplash, the first thing she would ask was how their kits were doing. He always loved seeing the relief that lit up her eyes when he informed her of their wellbeing. It filled him with hope that their kits would get through leaf-bare unscathed by the various coughs that ran rampant through the Clans. Sometimes he would sneak the kits out of camp so she could see them for herself. Featherkit still seemed a bit afraid of her, but Ripplekit seemed to have warmed up to her quite a bit, and Sprucekit even seemed to look forward to visiting her. It was good to see that Grasstail's kits knew who their biological mother was, although he and Watersplash both understood that first and foremost, Appleshine and Barkstripe would always be who the kits saw as their true parents.
One snow-dusted morning, Podtail requested that Grasstail come with him as an escort to RiverClan.
"At the last half-moon gathering Mossnose said that her herb supplies were running dangerously low, and I've managed to gather up enough that I can afford to lend her some," the medicine cat explained.
"Why do you want me to come with you?' Grasstail inquired, ears pricked in curiosity and apprehension. Was it a random choice, or did Podtail know something about Grasstail's connection with RiverClan?
To his relief, Podtail gestured around the mostly empty camp; only Appleshine and the kits were outside at the moment. "I'll need some cat to help carry the herbs, and you're the only cat available," he meowed. He narrowed his eyes as Grasstail's shoulders involuntarily slumped with relief. "…Why, what did you think was my motivation for asking you?"
"No, no," Grasstail said quickly. Not wanting to give Podtail any time to form suspicions, he stood up and shook his pelt out; some snow had been falling onto it as he sat out in the open to eat his breakfast. He found the cold air helped rejuvenate him. "Let's get going, then."
Podtail went into his den to fetch the herbs they'd be taking and they set off. Once they reached RiverClan territory, Grasstail slowed down a bit, pretending he'd never set paw across the border before. They were lucky enough not to be intercepted by any patrols, so Grasstail was free to look around at his surroundings. Snow was drifting down a few flakes at a time against a pale gray sky, making a lovely backdrop for the frozen stream that ran over the frost-coated, pebbly banks. Combined with the tangy scent of the herbs Grasstail was carrying in a leaf wrap, it filled him with an energetic sensation, and part of him suddenly wanted to run around and bat at snowflakes like a kit. His own kits had been playing the same game back at camp, and they'd looked like they were having fun.
Being in such a good mood made Grasstail want to run up to Watersplash and roll around with her in the snow as soon as they reached the RiverClan camp, and he reminded himself sternly that he couldn't do that when other cats would be watching. Instead, he simply hung back as Podtail went up to Miststar, explained why he was there, and went to see Mossnose.
As he was waiting for the medicine cats to make their exchange, he spotted Minnowleap lurking over by the warriors' den a couple fox-lengths away. She made eye contact with him, hissed, and promptly looked away. However, when Grasstail turned away from her, he felt the fur on the back of his neck prickle, and when he turned back around he saw that she was staring at him.
"What do you want?' he demanded, not caring about the surprised looks it garnered from a few other RiverClan warriors.
Minnowleap stalked over to him, lips drawn back in a scowl. "I want you to get out of here, WindClan fleabag," she told him. "Watersplash is out fishing at the river right now, and I don't want you around when she gets back."
I should go visit her, Grasstail thought despite knowing better. He quickly shoved the idea to the back of his head. "Don't worry," he meowed to Minnowleap as diplomatically as he could manage. "As soon as Podtail gives Mossnose his herbs, we'll be gone."
That answer seemed to satisfy Minnowleap. Her coiled muscles relaxed, and she asked him in a sickly-sweet purr, "That reminds me… how are your lovely kits doing?"
"They're fine," Grasstail replied, pads prickling with apprehension. He could detect a layer of threat to Minnowleap's voice, and though he hoped he was imagining it, he was not at all confident that he was. "What of it?"
"My, my, Grasstail… why so suspicious?" Minnowleap trilled. She raised her voice slightly as she continued, "Can't a cat simply be interested in hearing how their grandkits are doing?"
Grasstail sucked in a short, sharp breath. The icy air made it sting the inside of his mouth. Fortunately, no cat appeared to have heard Minnowleap, but from the smug look on her face he doubted she would have been opposed to one of her Clanmates happening to overhear.
Just as he was about to confront her, Podtail emerged from Mossnose's den. "Come on, Grasstail," he called. "It's time to leave."
"Coming," Grasstail told him. He shot Minnowleap a glare of warning before following after Podtail.
A fish was coming near the hole in the ice. Watersplash narrowed her vision in on the creature as it swam toward her waiting paw. When it was close enough, she hooked her claws into the fish and pulled her front leg out of the hole. She laid the fish down on the ice and killed it before pushing it over to join the other two she'd caught.
She tucked the leg she'd just been using in under her chest and stuck her other front leg through the hole to wait for another fish to come along. Alternating paws meant that neither one would get too cold. She'd heard stories of cats losing appendages due to extreme cold, and Watersplash wasn't willing to take that risk. Stories like that always terrified her. She didn't like to hear about misfortune falling on other cats.
After waiting for a while with no fish coming along, Watersplash's belly grumbled and she decided it was time to head back. She hadn't eaten that morning, and now it was nearly sunhigh. She gathered up her catch and returned to camp, where she added two of the three fish she'd caught to the fresh-kill pile and taking the smallest for herself. Maybe it was bad to eat her own prey, but most of her Clanmates had already eaten, so she felt it was probably okay.
As she settled down to eat her fish, she noticed an out-of-place scent in the air- WindClan scent. Had Grasstail been here?
Emberstorm padded up to her and sat down next to her. "Grasstail was here this morning," she supplied when she saw Watersplash sniffing the air curiously. "He came with Podtail to give Mossnose some herbs."
"Did everything go well?" Watersplash inquired.
"Oh, yeah, everything went fine," Emberstorm assured her. Then the bi-coloured cat got a strange look in her eyes. "…Your mother was talking a bit to him, though. I don't think they like each other very much."
Minnowleap had been talking to Grasstail? Watersplash shuddered. "What did she say?"
Emberstorm shrugged. "I wasn't close enough to hear," she meowed, "But I'm pretty sure they mentioned your guys' kits."
That wasn't good. Worry pricked at Watersplash's pelt as she gulped down the last of her fish. Minnowleap may have claimed to be supportive of Watersplash having had kits with Grasstail, but she no longer trusted her mother- at least not where Grasstail and the kits were concerned. The kits may have been nearly four moons old now, but they still wouldn't stand a chance against Minnowleap if she ever decided to harm them.
Watersplash's fear for her kits only increased the next day, when a sudden warm spell hit the lake. Every other cat was glad to have most of the snow melt away, even though they surely knew it would come back within a week or so once the weather returned to normal, but for Watersplash, a warm spell only meant one thing: that the dark clouds gathering over the lake meant rain, not snow, was coming. And rain, combined with the possibility of danger for the kits, meant that the nightmares Watersplash kept having might finally come true.
When the rain first started to come down, it only served to wash away more of the snow, which every cat loved- every cat except for Watersplash. She met with Grasstail at the border one evening and expressed her fears to him, which he seemed to share as well. However, he assured her that everything would be all right.
"Don't worry," he promised. "I will never let anything happen to our kits."
"Thank you," Watersplash meowed, wishing she could fully believe him. "If there's anything I can do to help keep them safe, I'll do it."
Grasstail gave her a reassuring lick on the forehead. "Were you the one raising our kits," he told her, "I know I'd never need to worry about them being in danger, because you're strong enough to protect them from anything."
Later that same night, as the rain beat down outside, Watersplash struggled to get to sleep. Every fibre of her body was on edge. Every raindrop that fell was a claw sinking into her pelt, piercing her skin and drawing up tiny pinpricks of blood that then blossomed into giant scratches running all down her face and legs and sides and all over her body. Every time thunder boomed the ground seemed to shake; every flash of lightning that momentarily illuminated the damp, tightly enclosed warriors' den shone light on things Watersplash wasn't sure if she wanted to see. The outlines of her sleeping Clanmates looked like monsters waiting to devour her if she dared to move a whisker-length out of place. The storm meant the threat of danger, and the threat of danger put sleep absolutely out of the question.
However, she must have eventually drifted off, because she was woken at shortly past moonhigh by a particularly loud clap of thunder. She jolted bolt upright in her nest and scanned the den with wide, fearful eyes. A tremor ran down Watersplash's spine as she realized that Minnowleap's nest was empty. Where had her mother gone?
There was no time to wait around and find out. Watersplash rose from her nest and, carefully stepping around her sleeping Clanmates, stepped out into the storm. The rain fell in unrelenting, icy drops that buffeted her pelt, which was billowing in the fearsome winds. The stream was spilling over the banks, and the entire RiverClan camp was covered with water over a mouse-length deep. Tiny chunks of ice floated in the water, and when Watersplash's paw bumped up against one as she slogged through the ankle-deep flood, she bit back a yowl of surprise.
The camp was deserted- no sign of Minnowleap. A flash of lightning illuminated the jagged, imposing outline of Shale Hill, and Watersplash recalled her nightmares once again. She knew at once where her mother had gone… and what she planned to do.
Ears pressed flat against his head, Grasstail shut his eyes and did his best to block out the howling wind and sheets of heavy rain that beat down outside. He thought back to how terrified Watersplash had looked when she'd met him at the border a few hours ago. He'd done his best to seem brave for her sake, but the truth was, he was terrified to. Knowing Watersplash, she was most likely well aware of this' despite Grasstail's reassurances, they both knew that they couldn't fight destiny. If StarClan intended for harm to fall upon their kits tonight, it would inevitably be so.
Next to him, Berryheart whimpered. Seedpelt, whose nest was besides hers, put a paw around her back comfortingly. Her whimpering quieted down a bit, and Seedpelt pressed his muzzle into the back of her neck. As Grasstail looked on with a mixture of bemusement and bewilderment, their breathing fell into sync as they cuddled up together. He'd never imagined there being anything between those two. Then again, maybe there wasn't. Maybe it was just a display of solidarity during the storm. Usually the cat who'd be comforting Berryheart was Appleshine, but she was in the nursery that night, watching over the kits.
As lightning lit up the pitch-black sky, Barkstripe worked her claws into the ground anxiously. "I should go join Appleshine in the nursery," she murmured to what seemed to be no cat in particular. "I think the kits could use some extra comfort tonight- and so could I."
"Go, then," Grasstail told her. He tried to hide the full extent of his tension as he meowed, "The more cats are looking after my kits, the better."
Barkstripe nodded in agreement, and she padded out of the warriors' den, flinching as soon as she stepped out into the rain. Grasstail closed his eyes and resumed trying to get to sleep. However, a moment later he heard a faint gasp from over by the nursery, followed shortly by Barkstripe's horrified yowl as she ran back to the warriors' den.
"The kits!" she cried, eyes wide in panic. "A-Appleshine's been attacked, and… Sprucekit and Ripplekit are missing!"
Grasstail was immediately on his paws. "Show me," he demanded.
Barkstripe led him to the nursery and ran directly to her mate's side. Appleshine was slumped, unconscious, against a wall; Featherkit was crouched behind her. The other two kits were nowhere to be found. A horrified chill rippling through his pelt, Grasstail tasted the air. He cursed under his breath as he recognized a fishy scent that hung in the air.
"There's been an intruder," Barkstripe meowed, speaking what Grasstail had been about to say. "Someone from RiverClan."
Grasstail knew exactly who it was. "Minnowleap," he hissed, curling his lip. Her name tasted sour on his tongue. That fox-hearted mange-pelt had stolen his kits and hurt his sister- right after he'd promised Watersplash he'd keep their kits safe. He'd let her down so badly that even if they managed to rescue their kits, Grasstail doubted she'd ever forgive him. His fur bristled and he dug his claws into the ground, tearing up clumps of frost-covered grass and half-frozen dirt. Why was he such a failure?!
Barkstripe rested her tail on his back reassuringly. "It's not your fault, Grasstail," she told him. "I should have been in here instead of Appleshine."
She dropped her gaze to her unconscious mate. Closer inspection revealed a bump forming on the back of Appleshine's head; it looked like she'd received a heavy blow to the head which had knocked her out. With a soft whimper uncharacteristic of the powerful tabby, Barkstripe licked Appleshine's ear and brought Featherkit in close to her. The cream-coloured kit's entire body was trembling, and his pale eyes were glazed over in shock. The sight caused a pang of pity in Grasstail, but as much as he was upset by the situation, he felt oddly detached from it all. All he could think about was how he'd let Watersplash down. To think that the mother of the cat he loved could be so cruel… and that he himself should be so useless, despite all his hollow promises of protection…
"You have to go after her," Barkstripe whispered hoarsely as she buried her muzzle in Appleshine's scruff, Featherkit gave a shaky nod of agreement. "Don't worry," she added. "I'll look after Featherkit, and I'll take Appleshine to Podtail. Everything's going to be alright."
Barkstripe sounded like she was trying to convince herself of this as much as, or perhaps even more so than, Grasstail. He couldn't have been farther from believing it, but he repeated the sentence inside his head nonetheless as he gave her a solemn nod and ran out into the storm in search of his kidnapped kits.
Everything's going to be alright.
He had to think that, even if he didn't truly believe it, for Watersplash's sake if not his own. He had to tell himself that they and their kits would make it through this alive and together. After all, if he didn't keep telling himself that, he'd have no motivation to keep running in the direction Minnowleap had gone. He may as well simply vanish into the stormy night and become lost among the raindrops.