Goldheart stepped out of the medicine den, anxiety already pricking at her tortoiseshell pelt. What if she messed up today? She pushed the thoughts from her head. Today would be fine, no, better then fine. Today would be great!
She stepped into the dusty clearing of Caveclan's camp noticing it was barely sun-up. A younger warrior Rattail was up as well as the clan leader Barkstar. She remembered when they joined Caveclan, as rogues. Traveling together, Rattail had claimed Barkstar was his kit, though they were far too close in age for that to actually be the case. Goldheart believed it was more of Rattail taking Barkstar under his paw.
Lost in her memories, Goldheart continued to recount the past events. One fateful day she had been told that she would become a medicine cat working under Goosefur, she was nervous. Highly nervous. As an older kit brought to the clan in less then great conditions, she only really had memories of Goosefur telling her to be more careful in a scornful tone whenever she got a thorn in her paw or a bellyache from some bad prey.
As she was mentored she grew a bit closer with the old cat. She learned a bit about him, learning he had been seeing 'visions' since he was a kit, although they stopped when he got older and became a medicine cat, yet, nowadays Goldheart can't help but worry. Goosefur is long since retired, his vision making it hard to distinguish borage from feverfew, or even holly berries and death berries.
Though, Goosefur is certainly a porcupine pretending to be a laughing badger. He purposefully acts as forgetful and enigmatic, though once you break down his barrier he was quite caring and a bit, she struggled to find a kinder word, forboding. Always scared of the next turn. Constantly checking on Goldheart, even after retiring.
His latest excuse was to rush to the medicine den to tell Goldheart about his latest vision from Starclan. She learned that he believed Starclan walked among them, only showing themselves to a select few.
She wasn't sure that was entirely true, honestly she thought he had bees for brains, but she also got to see the side of him where he would teach her things or listen attentively to her talking, like a father and his kits.
She quickly put a stop to her invasive thoughts and kept watching the clearing, supressing a giggle as she watched Echotail, the clan deputy, walk out of the warriors den and greet Rattail, who licked his cheek. Echotail was another rogue for joined the clan around the time Goldheart was made an apprentice.
Many of the rogues came to the clan extremely skilled, it was a given, considering they hard-shipped the dangers of the river canyon leading to the valley, but it was tradition that all cats joining the clan start as an apprentice the moment they join, only upon completing their warrior assessment do they receive their new name, and if it is deemed they cannot complete their assessment and will be a dead foot to the clan, then they will be driven out to rejoin the outsiders.
Most clans didn't take kindly to outsiders or descendants of outsiders. Goldheart vaguely remembered something about the importance of clan-born blood, it was something to do with Starclan too. It was a widespread belief that outsiders cannot truly connect with Starclan, and thus might not even have an afterlife like clan-born cats can.
Taking a few pawsteps from the medicine den she watched and vaguely heard Barkstar make a comment about Rattail and Echotail being lovebirds. Goldheart giggled at that sentiment and glanced around camp once more before leaving the camp to gather some herbs.
The clans herb stores were low on horsetail and yarrow in specific so she headed towards the pond, to scour some of the marshy areas for horsetail since yarrow would be a bit harder to find.
Stepping through the mossy forest floor Goldheart spared a glance at the sky, the tall tall trees making her slightly dizzy as she saw the pure blue through the small holes in the canopy, up there was a thriving way of life that the cats of the clans couldn't touch without risking their lives. One fall and you're done.
Goldheart watched the canopy for a moment, watching as some birds carelessly fluttered from branch to branch, when suddenly her sight was filled up with darkness and she panicked. Pelt now bristling as she unsheathed her claws, glancing in many directions before she felt inexplicably warm, comfortable.
She couldn't help but calm down, as the darkness faded away and she was met in a new scenery, the mossy floor stretched for bear lengths upon bear lengths, the tree towered taller and larger than she had ever seen in the clans territory, and cats freely lounged wherever, she could see prey scurrying about, unbothered by the presence of these lounging cats, and soon she realized, this was Starclan.
"Starclan-? Wha- why am I here?" She sounded breathless, worried almost, worried she left the clan medicine cat-less.
A cat she didn't recognize stepped forward. "Yes, you walk among Starclan, but worry not, kit, you are not one of us yet," this starry cat before her almost look invisible, the stars in its pelt being the only thing she could see.
"Then," she hesitated, "why am I here?" She seemed almost scared to ask, keeping her head low, in a bow of respect to these cats who had served their clan until they returned to the earth.
"Goldheart," the Starclan cat suddenly took on a more serious tone, "There is something dangerous coming to the clans, the water will devour our lands, and bring a long path of pain and suffering, you must be strong, and your clan even stronger."
"What?" She mumbled, but the grounds of Starclan were already fading from her vision, she struggled to grasp on, not understanding the information she was given.
"Goldheart!"
She heard someone call out to her, and she blinked awake, once again alone, already missing the fleeting moments she spent among Starclan's ranks.
Goldheart found herself laying in the mossy forest floor, basking in a patch of light that shone through from the canopy. She paused to stretch, her mind racing with the fear of this new prophecy and the possibilities it meant for Caveclan.
If the water was devouring the lands, surely it would destroy Twigclan and Wasteclan first? Maybe Caveclan would be spared, or each of the caves was to be filled up with water like pools, they might just have to rename the clan Poolclan.
Goldheart snickered at her own thoughts, reassuming her duties and padding to the only pond on their lands, inhaling the fresh and brisk scent that of late Greenleaf. Soon it would be Leaffall and the herbs she could easily collect now would be dying off and turning brown in preparation for Leafbare.
For a moment she worried of what would happen when there was no herbs in leafbare, but she quickly decided focusing on the present was a better use of her time.
Her paws sank into the moist soil around the quite large pond, as she scented the air, pulling in a large whiff of fresh plant scent. Glancing around she quickly found what she was looking for, horsetail, no cats were injured at the moment but it was good to have plenty of options for poultices.
She grasped as many stalks of the plant as she could, suppressing a sneeze as some of the bristles of the horsetail tickled her nose. She started walking back to the camp, taking her time and absorbing the time she spent outside of camp. It was normally a rare occasion, considering bear attacks at night were getting more common.
She inhaled the scent of the forest one last time, sparing some glances around the area, pausing to watch from a distance as Rattail tentatively trained Halfpaw, teaching him an underbelly strike with sheathed claws, after a few heartbeats of watching she turned away, pushing through the briar barrier that protected the camp so well from outside forces.
She glanced around the camp watching some cats sharing tongues, lounging in the dusty clearing, the fresh-kill pile looking plump, and cats looked content. She smiled at this sight and padded to the medicine den, brushing past the entrance and glancing around inside, her neat piles of herbs looked all good apart from the lack of horsetail and yarrow, she would probably need to head out to the area where more herbs grew than just the pond.
Whatever the case, she was content, apart from a little hungry, the rest of her day spent eating a plump shrew and observing the camp from the entrance of the medicine den.
YOU ARE READING
Warriors Redwood: Bronze
Fanfiction||A warrior cats fan fiction based on a roleplay, many things are fabricated filler and may not be a correct representative of the characters.|| [As the sea swallows the earth, a promise shall usher in an age of sin and an age of death.] The four cl...
