(Book 1) Warriors: Separations - Six Stars

Chapter 7

"Skystar! Skystar!"

Skystar blinked. It was sunrise, and he was still in his nest. He stood up, arching his back in a long stretch and yawning. He looked outside of his den to see who was yelling for him. It was Sunkit.

"Good morning, Sunkit."

Sunkit bounced up and down, trying to reach Skystar's back. Skystar flicked his tail in annoyance, but said nothing. "Emberheart told me to wake you up because she said you were being a lazy furball." Skystar looked at the medicine den. He chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like her." he mewed happily.

Skystar spotted Whiteclaw picking up a piece of freshkill from the freshkill pile as he padded out into the open camp. He saw Dawnpelt walk up to Whiteclaw, and motion her tail towards the medicine den. She told Whiteclaw to do something, but Skystar was too far away to hear what was said. He noticed Badgerkit swiping at Moonkit in front of the nursery, the two kits were play fighting. He caught sight of Rainbowpaw returning to camp with a bunch of herbs in her jaws. Skystar noticed how pitiful the freshkill pile was as he veered closer to Whiteclaw.

"Whiteclaw!" He called to his deputy.

Whiteclaw pricked her ears, her eyes widening as if she was guilty of something. Skystar wondered what she would be so surprised to see him about, but he shook the thought out of his head. "Could you organize a hunting patrol? We're low on freshkill." he mentioned, pointing his tail to the freshkill pile.

Whiteclaw flicked her tail. "Sure, Skystar." she muttered. "I'm just bringing this vole to Emberheart. She's been working very hard lately, and I wanted to make sure she was getting the proper nourishment she needed."

Skystar brightened. "I'm glad you're being so generous. Well, be quick."

Whiteclaw strolled over to Emberheart's den. Skystar saw him offering Emberheart the freshkill, and watched as she gratefully dipped her head to the deputy, and dug into it.

Whiteclaw hurried over to the base of the Tall Rock and called over Deadfang, his apprentice Oakpaw, Nettleclaw, Hollypaw, and Finsplash. Deadfang in the lead, the patrol left camp.

Skystar felt warmed at the sight of his peaceful camp. Windclan had once been forgotten, only a few survivors remaining, but a leader that came long before Skystar was ever born helped rebuild Windclan from the ground, and her name was Barkstar. Despite never having met the ancient leader, he held deep respect for her, and helped pass her story on through generations as clan leader.

Just then, a yowl of despair came from the medicine den.

Without skipping a beat, Skystar sprinted into the medicine den to find Emberheart laying on the ground, foam at her mouth. Speckledstones rushed into the medicine den not a second later, and Rainbowpaw ran to the medicine den supply to grab yarrow.

Skystar looked at Emberheart in horror. He couldn't help his medicine cat, he didn't know how. He panicked, watching Rainbowpaw force-feed Emberheart the yarrow she'd gotten from her storage. Emberheart, after digesting the yarrow, convulsed a few times, then threw up whatever it was that made her sick.

Speckledstones ran forward and brushed Emberheart's cheek with her muzzle. Skystar was suspicious of the two, but too caught up in his own relief that Rainbowpaw had helped Emberheart.

Skystar rushed to Rainbowpaw. "Thank you so much, Rainbowpaw! You're an amazing medicine cat, I really owe you now." Rainbowpaw gave her chest fur a few embarrassed licks, then looked at Emberheart and Speckledstones.

"They sure are close, ey?" Rainbowpaw mentioned.

Skystar perked his ears up. Rainbowpaw had noticed too. He was happy that Emberheart was alive, but suspicion began rising inside of him. He eyed Speckledstones and Emberheart, still suspicious, but he shook the thought away. "Yeah, they are close. At least Emberheart has a friend to talk to." Skystar said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.

He then began wondering what had caused Emberheart's random sickness. It wasn't something that had manifested overtime, it was so sudden and out of nowhere. But it wasn't something so bad that she would have to stay in the medicine den for moons, so what was it?

Then a horrifying prospect hit him. Whiteclaw had offered Emberheart a vole right before she got sick.

Was Whiteclaw behind the near death of Emberheart?