Without pausing to question the situation, Aurorastar pelted forward in the direction of the stream. She could hear other sets of paws thrumming against the ground behind her. It only took a few moments for Aurorastar to reach the stream, as it was close by. She skidded to a halt when she reached its pebbly shore.
The stream was about a fox length wide. It was scattered with rocks, and it only went up to Aurorastar's shoulder at its deepest part. The StormClan border was not far up ahead, but the stream was clearly on SunClan territory. Growling, Aurorastar walked over to where the catmint grew.
Mistpaw was right. Where the catmint was was now a few battered stems, already becoming crisp from the cold nights. The whole area reeked of StormClan.
"StormClan was clearly here," Aurorastar declared, now facing her patrol. "They have stolen our only supply of catmint on our territory."
Aurorastar stopped for a moment. SunClan had allied themselves with StormClan only a moon ago. Now they were going against the warrior code by sneaking onto SunClan territory and stealing precious herbs.
"StormClan must have had a valid reason for doing this. They are no cowards, nor do they break the warrior code without absolute reason."
Bluegalaxy snorted. "My guess is that they were being selfish and taking our herbs for helping only themselves through leaf-bare. Either that or they just want to make SunClan weak."
"Maybe StormClan sees us as a threat," Nightpaw added to her mentor's hypothesis.
"I don't think so." Aurorastar shook her head. "StormClan may be a rival Clan, but they aren't heartless." She turned in the direction of the StormClan border. "I'm going to talk to them."
Mistpaw flattened her ears. "We will go with you."
"Not you," Aurorastar said firmly. "Mistpaw, Tigerpaw, and Nightpaw, gather the prey and return to camp. It would be more formal and appropriate to have only warriors confront StormClan about this."
Tigerpaw looked like she was about to protest, but thought better of it and just gave a brisk nod. The apprentices began to amble back in the direction of the fresh kill that was left behind.
"Let's go," Aurorastar meowed to her patrol. Reluctantly, she placed her paws into the chilly water and wadded across, her patrol following.
Reaching the other side, Aurorastar shook the water out of her fur and trotted towards the border. When reaching their scent line, Aurorastar sat down, eyes alert.
"What are we waiting for?" Bluegalaxy hissed. "We should charge in and confront them!"
Aurorastar shook her head. "StormClan will chase us out if we barge in. We will wait until a patrol comes by. Otherwise we too would be breaking the warrior code."
Looking impatient, Bluegalaxy sat down a little ways from Aurorastar, her tail twitching.
Anxiety began to claw at Aurorastar's belly. What if StormClan chased them out and refused to talk with them? What if they really were just being greedy and heartless by taking SunClan's only catmint?
A sudden yowl sounded from StormClan's borders. Aurorastar was surprised on how shortly they had waited. A bright ginger tom raced towards them, flanked by a silver tabby she cat Aurorastar recognized as Willowwisp and a golden tabby tom that looked like an apprentice.
"SunClan," the ginger tom stated in a cold voice, disgusted voice, as if he were looking at rotting prey. "Why are you on our territory."
"Blazeheart." Aurorastar recognized the tom from Gatherings. "Surely you realize that we are still on our own territory."
Blazeheart narrowed his blue eyes. His gaze flicked from the ground underneath his paws to Aurorastar, who was sitting a few tail lengths away. "Why are you here?"
"We must speak to Lightstar and Loststar. It is urgent."
"We won't leave until we speak with them," Dapplecloud added in a firm voice. Aurorastar casted her a warning glance, but said nothing.
Blazeheart let out a hiss, but Willowwisp placed her tail over his chest. "What is this urgent news?"
"That is for the ears of your leaders," Aurorastar replied.
Willowwisp lashed her tail, but nodded. "Fine. Follow us."
Aurorastar and her patrol got up, letting them be escorted by the StormClan patrol. Aurorastar's eyes grew friendly when the golden tabby apprentice began to walk alongside her.
"How is your training going?" Aurorastar asked the apprentice.
The golden tom jumped, surprised that the SunClan leader was talking to him. "Fine," he replied curtly before stalking up ahead to Blazeheart.
When they reached the camp, StormClan cats were already gathered in the clearing. Loststar and Lightstar sat in front, glaring at the SunClan cats.
How had they known we were coming? Aurorastar wondered, shocked. Then she realized that Willowwisp was sitting next to Loststar. She must have ran ahead to warn the camp. The SunClan leader flicked her tail in annoyance.
"Aurorastar," Loststar growled, her hackles raised. "Why are you here?"
Aurorastar resisted the urge to bristle out her fur. They will never listen to us if we show aggression, she thought.
"Loststar. Lightstar." Aurorastar dipped her head in greeting. Annoyance prickled through her fur when the two leaders did not return her welcome. Sighing, she continued.
"I must speak with you, though it is preferably for just your ears."
"Whatever you have to say, you can say to all of us," Loststar snapped.
A growl began to rumble in Bluegalaxy's throat, and Searose flattened her ears. Aurorastar simply nodded, not wanting to argue.
"SunClan has one supply of catmint on our territory, and it is by the stream. Today we found our catmint gone, and the area was drenched in the scent of StormClan."
Yowls of outrage followed Aurorastar's words. She noticed Bluegalaxy and Dapplecloud's pelts were bristled out, and willed them to calm down.
"How dare you accuse us of stealing! We have nothing to do with the loss of your herbs," Lightstar hissed.
Aurorastar stiffened with anger. They were lying! They had clearly stolen SunClan's catmint.
"If you didn't take it, then who did?" Dapplecloud challenged.
"Don't expect us to know. It wasn't us!" Loststar snarled.
"I think it's time you leave," Lightstar growled, but Aurorastar did not move. She starred at Lightstar. There was something else behind his blazing eyes, something he was hiding.
Fear.
StormClan took our catmint, but they won't admit it or tell else why. There is something they are hiding. Aurorastar scanned the cats of the clearing. It was then that she noticed that, though there was quite a decent amount of cats in the clearing, there were many missing. Too many for them to just be on a patrol.
StormClan is dealing with a great outbreak of greencough! Aurorastar realized.
"Brightsun, Echostorm, Duskleaf, lead Aurorastar and her patrol back to their territory," Lightstar ordered.
Brightsun came forward, along with a silver and black she cat and and a dark gray tom. Giving them a hard stare, the StormClan cats lead the SunClan patrol out of camp. They padded along in silence until they reached the border line.
"I'm sorry," Brightsun whispered to Aurorastar. "If only you knew."
Aurorastar wanted to say something, but she was only able to give a curt nod.
Bluegalaxy hissed when Duskleaf shoved her over the border. "Stay out!" he growled.
"Stupid furball!" Bluegalaxy snarled back when the rest of the patrol joined her.
Casting her patrol a glance, Aurorastar raced back to camp, trying to loosen her stiffening muscles.
"What happened?" Mistpaw asked when they returned. She eyed them intently, while they rest of the Clan began to gather nearby. The apprentices must have told the Clan what was going on.
Aurorastar leaped onto Brightledge. She had no need to call a meeting since the Clan was already seated below. "During a hunting patrol today, Mistpaw discovered that our catmint was missing. Nothing was left but broken stems, and the area reeked of StormClan. We were quick to realize that StormClan had stolen our catmint. I lead a patrol to the StormClan camp to confront them about this."
"What did they say?" Nightclaw asked.
"Lightstar and Loststar denied my accusation of them stealing our catmint," Aurorastar replied. The Clan quickly broke into calls of outrage.
"Those liars!"
"I always knew we should never have trusted them!"
"They betrayed us!"
"Enough!" Aurorastar was startled to see that Starwhisper had stepped forward. Her gaze was hard, and she glanced from the Clan to Aurorastar.
"StormClan is a proud Clan. They would never admit to any of their weaknesses. I have heard their medicine cat, Shiningheart, talking with her apprentice, Dewpaw. An outbreak of greencough started in StormClan a half moon ago. To my information, they have already lost two elders and an apprentice. They may have already lost more."
"That doesn't mean they should take all of our catmint," Lionstrike growled.
"What if greencough erupts in SunClan?" Ravenecho meowed.
Aurorastar felt her blood run cold. What if there was an outbreak of greencough in SunClan?
"I have enough catmint in my storage," Starwhisper replied, though Aurorastar thought she noticed a flash of worry cross her eyes.
"Let us not worry about that. Our catmint may grow back before the snow begins to come in. We won't lose hope." Though Aurorastar kept telling herself these words, she couldn't get rid of the worry that gnawed at her belly.
Ta-da! Poor SunClan, and I am sure you all can infer what happens later on. :) That was a long chapter; it definitely took me a while. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!
BY THE WAY, I want to apologize from a mistake I made in the previous chapter. I completely forgot to put all of Aurorastar's thoughts in italics. :p Sorry about that!
Please Review!
~Lunar