Dead Rose

Chapter 2: Enter Plantclan

"Deadclans been at it again," Hareclaw spat angrily to his patrol. "Stupid ghost cats think they can do whatever they want around here."

The rest of the patrol stared awkwardly at him, not quite sure what he was complaining about. Finally, after several long moments, Jaypaw spoke. "Uh, what have they done, Hareclaw?"

"Are you blind?" Hareclaw snapped, gesturing with his tail to the border. "They've been sitting on our border again! For no good reason!"

"There's no law saying they can't do that," a she cat named Sunflower said mildly.

"You have to admit, it is kind of odd," Leopardfur argued. "They tend to do that a lot, and I don't know why."

"How do you know they've been sitting on the border at all?" Jaypaw asked in confusion. "Yes, we can smell their scent, but isn't that just because they put up their scent markers like they're supposed to?"

"That's a good question, Jaypaw," Sunflower said encouragingly to her apprentice.

"No it wasn't," Hareclaw mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear. Sunflower sighed and ignored him. "Jaypaw, we can tell their scent isn't just from the markers because the scent of individual cats linger quite strongly."

"Deadrose, I think," Leopardfur said after sniffing the border. "Like always."

"Why does he sit there?" Jaypaw asked.

"I don't know," Sunflower admitted before Hareclaw could jump in with a arrogant retort.

"I know for a fact he does the same thing with Frostclan," Leopardfur commented. "I heard some cats talking about it at a gathering."

"Well, I'm sick of it," Hareclaw snapped. "Next time I see him I'm gonna tell him to sit in his own territory."

"We should get out of here before they accuse us of doing the same thing," Sunflower suggested. "We should be heading back to camp soon anyway, it's getting late."

"You don't make the decisions around here," Hareclaw muttered.

"Neither do you," Leopardfur hissed, defending his friend. "In case you've forgotten, Jaggedstar is the leader and Scarface is our deputy. If you have a problem with the leadership around here, I suggest you take it up with one of them."

Hareclaw spat and stalked away, tail lashing in anger. Sunflower rolled her eyes and gently nudged Jaypaw. "Come on," she said quietly. "Let's go."

Jaypaw blinked his eyes a few more times and followed Sunflowers guiding tail through the trees. Sunflower felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for her young apprentice. Jaypaw was a small, white and gray tom cat with one green eye and one yellow. His yellow eye was completely blind, due to an incident when he was a kit. Jaypaw had found a patch of poison ivy in the camp, and had rolled in it. He scratched his eye on the leaves, and damaged the pupil. An infection formed, and grew until it took away his eyesight in the eye.

Sunflower knew Jaypaw was capable of making his way back to the camp on his own, but she knew he secretly liked the extra help from her. He walked a bit faster to walk beside her, and let her keep her tail on his back for guidance.

"Have you talked to Scarface lately?" Jaypaw asked hesitantly. "I haven't seen him around much."

"I saw him yesterday," Sunflower replied. "He was busy helping Featherwing mix healing herbs."

"Whitepaw is still sick then, huh," Jaypaw said sadly. Sunflower nodded grimly, sharing his sadness. Whitepaw was Featherwings medicine cat apprentice, who was constantly sick with a virus.

"Whitepaw is doing fine," Sunflower said, trying to be reassuring. "Featherwing just gave her the day off so she could get some sun instead of cooping up in the den all day."

"Oh," Jaypaw mumbled. "So... Scarface is doing good?"

"Yes," Sunflower whispered. She understood Jaypaws constant questioning about the deputy. Scarface is Jaypaws father.

"I think I'm going to ask him to come play a game with me after dinner," Jaypaw said with a false sense of confidence. "The worst he can do is say no, right?" he finished his sentence with a hollow laugh that nearly made Sunflower cry. "Good idea, Jaypaw," she said, forcing her voice not to crack. "And if he's busy, come find me and we can play a game together."

"Okay," Jaypaw turned to smile at her, his cloudy eye dim compared to his shining green eye. "Maybe after we can go and listen to a story in the elders den too," Sunflower said, returning his smile. "Mouseheart and Talonclaw always have something interesting to say."

"Last time they told me a rubbish tale about flying cats," Jaypaw said. "It was the most amusing part of my whole day."

Sunflower just nodded fondly, pushing her way into the camp entrance. The entrance was getting overgrown again, she nearly had to fight her way through the endless stems and bushes. She made a point to wait a minute after she got through to make sure Jaypaw didn't need help. He didn't, and ran through the camp in search of his father. Sunflower looked around, trying to figure out what to do now. It's not quite time for dinner, she thought to herself. Maybe I'll go find Sharpclaw and see if he wants to go for a walk. Sunflower looked around, but she didn't have to look far. Sharpclaw had already spotted her and was making his way over.

"Hi," Sunflower greeted him shyly. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing unusual," Sharpclaw replied, a sarcastic edge tainting his voice. "I just listening to a rant about Deadclan sitting around our borders again."

"Let me guess, it was Hareclaw leading the rant?" Sunflower replied, rolling her eyes slightly. "I already listened to a version of that when I was on a patrol with him."

"He always blows it way out of proportion," Sharpclaw shook his head in disgust. "I mean, if Deadclan cats want to sit around the border, that's fine. As long as they don't stray across it."

"No kidding," Sunflower mumbled. "Anyways, do you want to go for a walk through the forest? I'm not quite hungry yet."

"I would, but I already promised Scarface I'd go out with him and his apprentice," Sharpclaw said apologetically. "Another time we can go."

"Oh, alright," Sunflower was crestfallen but she dared not let it show. Then she thought of something. "Hey, bring Jaypaw with you and Scarface," she said. "He was looking forward to spending time with his father."

"I will bring that up with Scarface," Sharpclaw smiled warmly before turning away. "See you later, Sunflower."

"Bye," Sunflower called after him.