Chapter 65: Preparations

I let Ashpaw sleep in a bit this day since it had been his first Gathering. In the meantime, I needed to come up with a gameplan. Starclan let me know that Windclan and Shadowclan were extremely likely to raid soon, so what would their goal be? Their base assumption is that we were housing Brokentail, so he is their likely target. Unfortunately for them, Brokentail is already gone. I was sure they'd figure that out pretty quick, but then what would they reprioritize to? Both clans were still struggling with their last string of losses, so they'd be searching for a means to make the raid a success. They'd want to harm us in a visible way, cripple us for a while if only to show they were still of equal standing. That meant they'd be targeting our resources.

The clans only really have two resources that we have to actively maintain. That being our food supply and our medicine supply. Food was relatively easy to recover, but it would hurt our ability to maintain patrol schedules and was something they could visibly lord over us for stealing. Medicine is where the real threat lies. Some herbs are strictly seasonal. If they destroyed or stole certain ones, we could find ourselves not able to properly treat illnesses or infections. It wouldn't be killing us directly, but it would lead to casualties. It was for this reason I decided to visit Yellowfang.

She spotted me as I entered the medicine den. "Smudgefoot. Here to get that scratch checked or… something else?" She asked with a knowing hesitation.

"While I wouldn't mind you checking out my leg, the answer is the latter. You were at the Gathering. I take it you picked up on the hostilities coming from Windclan and Shadowclan?" I questioned.

"Yes. They are planning something." Yellowfang agreed.

"If I had to guess, they are going to raid us, hence me coming by. I want to work something out with you." I stated.

"Something out? What is it you are scheming?" She asked with the cat equivalent to a raised eyebrow.

I voiced my plot to protect our rarer supplies. "They aren't going to find Brokentail here, their primary target. They're going to go after something so they don't leave empty pawed. The easy answer is prey, but there is also a far more concerning answer, medicine. It would be easy to cripple our clan by decimating our stocked herbs. That's why I have a proposition. Any herbs that we can't resupply now, let's move them out of camp and bury them in secret stashes. That way, even if they manage to get in here and destroy our supplies, they wouldn't have actually destroyed all of it."

Yellowfang tilted her head in thought. "That could work, but I can't afford to move all of my non-replaceable herbs."

I nodded in acceptance. "That is fine, but I still suggest we move some of them. I'd rather not have an outbreak with no medicine."

Yellowfang then asked something of me that I hadn't even considered. "Does Bluestar know?"

I'd completely forgotten about alerting Bluestar. She typically just let me do my own thing. I protected the clan my way, but I'd forgotten that the clan protects itself as well. I needed to still give it the opportunity. I guess that is a bad habit of mine. I try to fix things myself, even if it would be more efficient to get others involved. I decided to attempt to rein in my independent tendencies for this problem.

I found my way to Bluestar who was currently getting a report back from the morning patrol. Tigerclaw had been one of the patrol members. He had noted that the Windclan and Shadowclan borders had been distinctly quiet, but they had a brief shouting match with a Riverclan patrol, as dismissed them before turning to me.

"Something is on your mind." She stated having read my expression clearly. "You want something."

I nodded agreeing. "Shadowclan and Windclan are bound to attack us soon. My guess is a raid. Since Brokentail isn't here, they're going to try and cripple us. Our food and medicine will be their likely targets. For that reason, I'd like us to store some medical herbs and prey outside of camp in hidden stashes so we have supplies after the attack."

Bluestar paused for about a minute before giving her answer. "I'll put out some orders to see it done. I saw you leave the medicine den, so I'm assuming you let Yellowfang know. I want you, Ashpaw, and Ravenfeather to put together a prey stash somewhere near the training grounds."

I accepted the order, but I had to put in a final bit of advice. "I'm no medicine cat, but Starclan decided to leave me a message while you went to the Gathering. They said Tigerclaw might have had a paw in instigating this coming attack, so I worry he's informing the other clans of our actions."

Bluestar briefly glanced around to assure herself that no other cat was listening in. "Then we'll deal with him soon. After the raid, we'll give the clan a couple days to recover before I make the announcement."

In a hushed mew, I asked. "Who would be your deputy?"

A teasing smile met me as she gave her answer. "That's for me to know and you to find out. I'm sure you'll at least be surprised."

With that, she left me. Ashpaw pulled himself out of the apprentices den, clearly still tired from staying out so late, but he came up to me with enthusiasm.

"What are we up to today?" He asked in a jovial tone while stretching the sleepiness out of himself.

"Today we've got a special mission. I'll inform you on the way." I answered in a playful tone. It wouldn't really be a secret, but I knew it'd make him extra productive today.

Ravenfeather met me at the entrance. "I hope you don't mind if I tag along. What are we up to today?" Ravenfeather asked, getting a grin from me and a disapproving look from Ashpaw.

"Well, I convinced Bluestar have the clan build up some raid recovery supplies, so we're setting up a prey stash out by the training grounds." I stated before throwing a joke. "Given how good of hunters you two are, I probably won't even have to lift a claw to see our stash finished by Sunhigh."

"I don't mind if you take a break." Ravenfeather mewed affectionately, which felt out of place. I'm not the type to be spoiled.

"That was a joke Ravenfeather. I'm not the type to sit around. Now let's go catch us some prey." I dismissed, ignoring how uneasy I felt with Ravenfeather's suggestion. I faintly hoped this wouldn't be a trend.