Author's Note: Thanks to the one person who reviewed and the couple people who favorited the story! Please review & enjoy!
Chapter 11 | Disaster
"Flood!" howled Lightningpaw. "Everybody out! Yellowtail, grab fresh-kill and Swiftbreeze, get your herbs! We need to get to the leader's den!"
The two lions instantly sprang up. It was just past midnight and they could already hear the water sweeping towards them, could see the river overflowing. The lions grabbed supplies while Lightningpaw soaked moss balls in the river. They climbed out of the Cold Cave and were devastated at what they saw. A huge wall of water swept towards them. The whole camp and most of the forest was flooded; only the leader's den was dry, despite the roaring waterfall. It would be hard to get there from the slippery path, but harder if they delayed.
Swiftbreeze screamed as hail splattered her ears; she dashed for the path up to the den. Yellowtail and Lightningpaw followed her, flattening their ears against the hail. She tried to jump from boulder to boulder, but the boulders were far apart, accessible only to Lightningpaw, and missed the boulder by about three fox-lengths. Terrified, she churned her legs, trying to go farther, but she only quickened her fall.
Swiftbreeze gasped as water gushed into her mouth, and was swept away by the current. She nearly drowned as the panicking Yellowtail (who had also fallen) was washed on top of her. "Lightningpaw, HELP!" Swiftbreeze screamed. She looked up to see if Lightningpaw had seen them, but was dragged under the water as an enormous wave crashed over her. As Swiftbreeze struggled to get to the surface, a strong current swept her away. She couldn't breathe, and couldn't move; and by now, she had lost all her herbs.
Lightningpaw had seen the lions fall into the flood, and had heard their cry for help. Quickly thinking, he leapt into the water and strongly swam (he absolutely loved swimming) to the nearest lion, who turned out to be Yellowtail. Grasping her by the scruff, he dragged her head above water and struggled to keep it there.
Nearby, he saw Swiftbreeze being swept away, not even struggling. Oh no, he thought. Is she… she couldn't be… dead? But then he saw her feebly struggling to keep her head above water, and thought, Not yet. More determined than ever to keep her alive, he paddled as fast as he could (which was very fast for a wolf like Lightningpaw) to Swiftbreeze, and draped her over his back, while still trying to keep Yellowtail's head above water.
Lightningpaw desperately paddled to a boulder that was still sticking up above water and scrambled on top of it. Then he readjusted his grip on Yellowtail and grabbed hold of Swiftbreeze's scruff, using his large, broad jaws to his advantage. Bunching his strong muscles, he leapt from boulder to boulder, finally reaching the leader's den.
Lightningpaw gently laid the two lions down on the dry floor, and quickly began to pump their chests up and down to get rid of the water in their bodies. Finally, Swiftbreeze's body heaved, and water came gurgling from her mouth, until it came gushing out. Then her whole body relaxed, and she began breathing normally. Lightningpaw breathed a sigh of relief and licked her between the ears. Then he focused on helping Yellowtail, who was now stirring on the ground. He pumped her chest, and soon she too coughed up water and began to breathe steadily.
Lightningpaw explored the den and found fresh moss growing on the walls. He plucked some off and made dry, comfortable nests for Swiftbreeze and Yellowtail. Then, he began to lick the lion's fur to dry it, just as mother would to a newborn cub.
As soon as Lightningpaw began to lick Swiftbreeze, she awoke, and mumbled tiredly, "Where am I?" Then she saw Lightningpaw and jumped to her feet; "Thank you so much Lightningpaw! You saved my life!" Lightningpaw just looked at his paws, embarrassed about this sudden burst of praise, and replied, "You're welcome. I don't know what I would do without you two. You are my Clanmates, and I would rather die than see you two die." Swiftbreeze purred in affection and reached up to lick Lightningpaw's ears, realizing that he was now about two mouse-lengths taller than her.
As Swiftbreeze glanced around the cave, she caught sight of Yellowtail, sprawled on the ground. She immediately rushed over to her, and saw that her friend had been injured. And I don't have my herbs anymore, she thought with a moan.
Lightningpaw looked up and asked, "What's the matter?"
Swiftbreeze replied, "Yellowtail has been injured, and I don't have any herbs. The wounds aren't serious, but could get infected, which would be bad. I don't know what to do."
Lightningpaw sat thinking for a moment, then exclaimed, "Now I remember! There is a secret tunnel that leads from the leader's den to the medicine wolf's den! It's right over there; the boulder is loose!" He raced towards a rather large boulder near the back of the den, and tried to shove it out of the way using his broad shoulders. Finally, the boulder rolled out of the way, and Lightningpaw said to Swiftbreeze, "This tunnel leads to your den. Do you want to go?"
Swiftbreeze nodded, and began to walk cautiously down the narrow tunnel. It was dark, so she depended more on her sense of touch than her sight. The cave had a musty, old smell, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
After walking through the cave for what seemed like seasons, Swiftbreeze heard the roaring of the flood and smelled her precious herbs. She quickened her pace excitedly, and entered her den through a small hole in the wall, hidden by ferns and moss. Only a small trickle of water was in the den, due to the fact that a large rock protected the entrance.
Quickly, Swiftbreeze picked out some marigold, cobwebs, and various other herbs to take back to Yellowtail. Taking a deep breath of clean air, she padded hurriedly through the tunnel, back to her friends.
When Swiftbreeze got back, Yellowtail was in a very weak state, and was shivering and coughing. Swiftbreeze assessed the situation at once and then started rubbing her fur the wrong way. "Lightningpaw," she called, "could you make a warmer, thicker nest for Yellowtail?"
Lightningpaw nodded curtly and quickly scraped the softest, thickest moss he could find together for her and then lay down on it to warm it up. Soon it was very warm and Swiftbreeze supported Yellowtail to the nest. Yellowtail lay down on it gratefully.
Yellowtail quickly stopped shivering, but she was still very cold and weak. Swiftbreeze realized that something was very wrong. She frowned worriedly. "Cough for me, Yellowtail," she instructed.
Yellowtail forced out a cough. It was ragged and sick. "You've got whitecough, Yellowtail," Swiftbreeze sighed.
Yellowtail coughed. "Again?" She coughed again. "It's greenleaf! I don't get whitecough in greenleaf-" She broke off into a fit of coughing again.
"You do have whitecough in greenleaf," Swiftbreeze snapped firmly, a little more angrily than she'd intended. "Lightningpaw, you know what catmint smells like. Find some if there is any."
Lightningpaw gave a short nod, understanding that the situation was dire if Swiftbreeze was being snappy. He searched through the herbs efficiently and quickly extracted all the catmint.
Which turned out to be not very much.
Lightningpaw gave Swiftbreeze one shriveled, soaked catmint leaf, probably gathered the last leaf-fall. Swiftbreeze looked at it in dismay. "That's probably not going to be enough."
"Do you want me to look for some more?" Lightningpaw offered.
Swiftbreeze bit her lip, thinking. "Usually I would say no, but I can't afford greencough right now… sure. Go get some and be safe!"
Swiftbreeze listened to Yellowtail's breathing and coughing again. She was getting suspicious that this wasn't whitecough but something much more deadly. Swiftbreeze had only heard of it but she knew that this disease was the reason that lions had died out of the Clans seasons and seasons ago.
Redcough.
Yellowtail had another coughing spurt. This time, blood came up as well, probably from a small tear in her throat. Yes, it was definitely redcough. Redcough was highly contagious and almost always fatal, but Swiftbreeze wasn't leaving her friend for anything.
Swiftbreeze felt panic grow. Redcough had no known cure, so all she could do was provide Yellowtail with a warm nest, warm fresh-kill, and cool water and hope she got over it herself.
The Frost Forest grinned maliciously. WaterClan was weak. Soon FrostClan would invade. But they didn't have a chance to tell FrostClan to do so, for MoonClan invaded the Dark Forest.
Lightningpaw pounded through the forest, thinking, Yellowtail will get better. I'll see to that.
The water had only reached a small portion of the forest; the river had flooded, but not much. Good, thought Lightningpaw, now less catmint will have been destroyed. But as he thoroughly searched the territory, looking under bushes, rocks, and logs, he could find no catmint. However, he didn't give up, and searched some more.
No catmint was to be found. Disappointed, Lightningpaw plodded back to camp; near the Old Pine, a MoonClan she-lion appeared, and murmured, "Don't be afraid of me, Lightningpaw. My name is Amberfur. I once lived in WaterClan. You know that lions once lived here once also, right?" Lightningpaw nodded, and she continued, "Yellowtail has the sickness that wiped out all the lions from the Clans, redcough." At this, Lightningpaw's eyes widened in horror.
"Will she… die?" he whispered.
Amberfur responded, "No, if you act quickly. We, MoonClan, know the herbs necessary to cure this contagious disease. Here is a leaf wrap with the herbs inside it. It is mostly consisted of catmint, but there are other herbs, like rose and marigold. Also take this," she said as she handed Lightningpaw a fuzzy ball of reddish fruit. "Tell Yellowtail to eat this also. She will not like it, but it will help her. Every day, she needs to eat this fruit and the herbs all at once. Come back here for more everyday until she is healed. Good luck!" Amberfur called, and vanished back to MoonClan.
Lightningpaw blinked, and wondered, Did I really just talk to a MoonClan lion? Then he shook his head. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he give the herbs to Yellowtail as soon as possible.
As he bounded through the fern tunnel, he heard Amberfur's voice in his head. This disease is caught only by lions. Swiftbreeze could catch it, if she takes care of Yellowtail any longer. You must heal her, alone.
What if Swiftbreeze gets it? Lightningpaw thought.
She won't, if you act quickly. Then her voice was gone, and Lightningpaw charged through the fern tunnel and bounded up the boulders to where the lions were waiting.
Swiftbreeze looked up, noticed the fruit and leaf wrap in Lightningpaw's jaws, and asked, "What's that? And-"
"Move," Lightningpaw demanded. Swiftbreeze, shocked by the urgency in his voice, backed away. Quickly, Lightningpaw nudged Yellowtail and whispered, "Wake up. I have herbs that will heal you."
Yellowtail raised her head at the sound of his voice, and obediently ate the herbs and fruit, wrinkling her nose at the bitter, unfamiliar tastes. "What is that stuff?" she wondered.
"I don't know, but it will heal you."
"How do you know?" asked Swiftbreeze, seeming a little testy.
Lightningpaw dipped his head respectfully. "Sorry about how I talked to you. Let me explain. So, I was looking for catmint, and I tore apart the territory looking for some. I couldn't find any; then this MoonClan lion named Amberfur appeared to me by the Old Sycamore and gave me this stuff. I don't know what was in it; I think it had some catmint, marigold, and rose. I'm sorry I snapped at you. She told me that this disease, redcough, affects only lions, not wolves. I don't want you to get sick, so I am the only one who can doctor Yellowtail."
Swiftbreeze nodded, and murmured, "I forgive you, Lightningpaw. Thank you for your care about me."
Eight sunrises later, Yellowtail was completely cured of redcough, and the floodwater was completely gone. Now, it was very hot and dry, and Lightningpaw, with his thick fur, was nearly dying from the heat. He spent most of the day swimming in the cool stream and catching fish.
One day, when the sky was overcast and WaterClan was relaxing in the cooler weather, a sudden bolt of dry lightning came hurtling down and struck a redwood tree, not far from the camp. The tree, dry from the heat, immediately burst into flame, setting off a forest fire.
Swiftbreeze just gaped in astonishment; Yellowtail stood numbly with her tail between her legs; Lightningpaw felt that he would die from the sudden heat. He yelled, "Everyone, get into the river!" The two lions escaped their numb state, and the three charged into the middle of the shallow river.
Flames were leaping everywhere, setting the WaterClan camp on fire; then, as soon as it had begun, rain came pouring down from the thick, gray clouds, quenching the fire.
When the rain stopped, Lightningpaw, Swiftbreeze, and Yellowtail just stared at the destruction surrounding them. Trees were charred and black; bushes and undergrowth were burned to ash. Swiftbreeze broke the deadly silence. "Our… our home. It's… gone."
Swiftbreeze felt sick. The prophecy had started; she was sure of it. She told her theory to Yellowtail and Lightningpaw. "Before the warm season ends, lightning shall scorch, and lightning shall heal. The 'lightning shall scorch' bit has happened; now the only bit left is 'lightning shall heal'."
"You're right," Lightningpaw realized. "Oh, no. Prophecies mean that either something really bad is going to happen, or that we won't have any control over our destinies."
"Not necessarily, but for this one, that's probably right," Yellowtail said. "That's really, really bad."
The Frost Forest began to push MoonClan back. This was their hunting ground, and MoonClan had no right to invade. But then again, the Frost Forest had no right to meddle with WaterClan, either.
But the Frost Forest didn't always play by the rules. They made their own.
"Hold on a second," Swiftbreeze said. " 'Lightning shall heal'. What if that means… Lightningpaw?"
Yellowtail was thunderstruck, but she realized that had to be right. "Yeah! The lightning destroyed our camp, but Lightningpaw can heal WaterClan! That's his destiny- to heal WaterClan!"
"I guess that's right," Lightningpaw said modestly. "However, we shouldn't try to meddle with our destinies. That usually ends badly. But I think we have another problem. I had a dream where shadows took over the camp and made WaterClan traitors."
"I had a dream like that!" said Yellowtail.
"So did I," agreed Swiftbreeze.
MoonClan had defeated the Frost Forest - for now. The Frost Forest had no intention of giving up its plans for the living FrostClan to become supreme. But not right now. First, it needed to weaken WaterClan. The Frost Forest listened to WaterClan's conversation and realized that WaterClan knew about the dreams. They would have to be more creative than they thought.
By "creative", they meant "destructive". Why not just take the offense and weaken WaterClan now? Why not eliminate WaterClan... with their claws?
WaterClan finished discussing their dreams. "So I think that the dreams were given to us by the Dark Forest," Lightningpaw explained. "Quailfur told me about them while I was in the nursery. They're trying to turn us against each other. I don't know why, though."
By then, night had fallen. "Let's continue the discussion at morning," Swiftbreeze suggested. "We should all get some sleep after the flood."
The Frost Forest pushed its way into the world of the living and tried to claw the sleeping figures - but their paws passed right through them. They were in the living world, but they existed on a different dimension than actual living beings. With an angry hiss, the Frost Forest realized that while MoonClan could touch living beings, they themselves could not.
This put a kink in the Frost Forest's plans. They would have to wait for later. But sooner or later, the Frost Forest would eliminate WaterClan.
It was only a matter of time.
That night, no one in WaterClan had disturbing dreams. Yellowtail dreamed of stalking a mouse, but no shadows interrupted. Lightningpaw dreamed of being leader of WaterClan, but none of his Clanmates betrayed him. Swiftbreeze dreamed of picking luscious herbs and saving her Clan, but shadows did not appear and stomp on the herbs.
It appeared that the Frost Forest had given up, or were leaving WaterClan alone.
The next morning, Lightningpaw stretched in his nest, and then padded out into the burned camp, careful not to disturb the sleeping lions.
The three had gone out to explore the damage earlier, but now Lightningpaw could see the worst of the damage. In some places, the fire had actually burned into the ground. Flammable dirt, Lightningpaw thought. The damage was worse than he had thought. But Lightningpaw refused to get discouraged. If I sort of twist that branch there, then by next greenleaf the leaves will cover the warriors' den… and I can patch the apprentices' den with leaves, and the elders' den can be relocated to that hollow log over there… And the medicine den is pretty untouched.
It was the nursery that he was worried about. The sturdy bush that the nursery had once been was now… gone. Lightningpaw couldn't even tell where it had used to be; he only knew now because he'd spent half his life there, and because there was an empty space between the stone dirtplace tunnel and the medicine den. The nursery couldn't simply be relocated like the elders' den, for there were no more empty spaces around the side of the clearing. Lightningpaw's mind began to form a plan. He could drape bramble from right above the dirtplace tunnel and support it with willow twigs, and then cover the whole thing with leaves and bracken… yes, that could work.
The lions, yawning, jumped into the clearing. "Wow," breathed Yellowtail, "it's really destroyed, isn't it."
"Yeah," Lightningpaw agreed, turning. "I think I can repair most of the damage, though."
"Well, the sooner the better," Swiftbreeze said, getting down to business quickly. "How much do you think we can do today?"
Lightningpaw looked around. "I think… we can probably do the fern tunnel and the warriors' den today."
"Alright," Yellowtail said crisply, "let's do it!"
Yellowtail carefully held the branch of the warriors' den in place. "How's this?" she called to Lightningpaw.
Lightningpaw looked at it from the base of the bush. "Perfect." He sat on the base of the branch, twisting it into place.
Swiftbreeze came up, holding a ridiculously large bundle of leaves. "I got all the leaves that I could find."
"Okay, start patching!" Lightningpaw called. The lions started weaving twigs and leaves into the blackened bush structure while Lightningpaw went inside the den to weave twigs from the inside, trim pokey leaves, and make sure the area would be big and cozy. The den took a while, but by the time they finished, the warriors' den was large and spacious. It wouldn't leak, and the structure made it so if the first layer burned off, the next layers would retain moisture and wouldn't burn so easily. Yellowtail brought in the softest moss from the Cold Cave for her nest. It was sunhigh by the time the warriors' den was finished. Lightningpaw hunted and caught three mice for them, and they quickly ate and drank from the refilled stream.
"How're we going to fix the fern tunnel?" Swiftbreeze asked.
"We'll have to wait for the ferns to grow back," Lightningpaw explained. "But for now, we'll have to put a large branch vertically on either side of the entrance, and stack bramble around it."
Yellowtail quickly bounded out of camp and came back with a long, smooth branch that had fallen off of a tree during the storm. "Like this?"
"Yes, perfect!" Lightningpaw said.
By sunset, the three had patched up the tunnel with bramble and leaves so any intruder would find a prickly defense, but a WaterClan warrior would know exactly where the soft, leaf-lined tunnel was.
Swiftbreeze, Yellowtail, and Lightningpaw curled up in their new nests, sleepily awaiting the new day.