Runningwind flew through the forest, his dark tail whipping behind him. The anger he felt after his son's death egged him on. Soon enough, however, reality dawned on him like the bright sun. His son; was gone forever, plucked out of his world by a stinking, uncaring badger. Runningwind tried in vain to drive his sharp claws into the frozen Earth. He wanted to imagine that the soil was the badger, that it was his prey. But the ground was frozen, just like that badger's hateful heart, he thought. The mournful, bare winter trees stood all around him, grieving loyally by his side.
Runningwind had to carry on; he had to fetch the medicine cats to tend to Fireheart and Longtail.
In the badger's clearing, as it was known as from then on, the party of cats were attempting to bury the dead badger and its cubs. They scratched at the stubborn ground and managed to create a dip that was just large enough to fit the smallest of the cubs into.
Yellowfang hobbled into the scene just as the cats were covering up the still-warm body with fallen leaves. She went straight over to Fireheart, who was lying still. The only sign that he was still alive was the occasional twitch of his left ear. The other cats went silent as Yellowfang inspected the flame coloured tom. "Well," she mewled, "He's alive."
"We figured that out," muttered Darkstripe. Yellowfang, (miraculously for her age), heard him and turned to glare at him with fire in her pale eyes. "Do you want to tend to Longtail's wounds?" She hissed. Darkstripe flicked his tail in irritation and turned to look at his injured friend, whose chest was slashed open with fragments of stone protruding from the gruesome wound. "No, why, would anyone else?" Darkstripe asked the other cats attempting to make a joke. None of the others were amused. Yellowfang slashed Darkstripe across his face with her needle-like claws. "Tend to that then." She spat and stalked off to help her patients. Now the others were amused.
"You got caught off guard by a medicine cat." Sneered Dustpelt. Darkstripe lunged at him but Tigerstar was between them in a heartbeat. "Enough!" He yowled. "You," he spat at Dustpelt, motioning towards the other cats who were bleakly scrabbling at the solid ground, "Go and make yourself useful." "And you," he spat at Darkstripe, "How dare you be disrespectful towards our medicine cat? Go and help her. Cinderpelt is collecting herbs so you can stand in for her."
With that, the huge tom cat padded silently out of the clearing, to think about how to get rid of a certain orange kittypet. A kittypet, who was threatening his already unstable position as leader of Thunderclan…