Warriors Redwood: Bronze

[3] Dreams of Our Ominous Death.

Goldheart stepped into the medicine den, yawning and stretching her back, she had just returned from a particularly boring gathering, of course everything had been bluffs spoken by the leaders and the same conversations with the other medicine cats about what herbs they had left in store.

Goldheart struggled to grasp what the point was in bluffing about how much prey they had and hadn't, it didn't really matter too much, perhaps the other clans would even spare them some prey, although that was wishful thinking, at most they would probably attack the starved clans more, take advantage of the weakness.

She was excited to see her nest this night in particular, though she heard rustling from the entrance of the den and she turned to see Goosefur, his thick fur more tangled than usual.

"Is something the matter Goosefur?" Goldheart stepped over, giving a careful sniff of the elder trying to catch any scent of illness, nothing.

"Goldheart," he paused to cough lightly, "I just had a light cough after the gathering, I was wondering if you had some spare catmint." He looked worse than usual and worry sprang to Goldheart's pelt, as she grabbed a leaf or two from her stores and dropped them in front of the elder.

"Does it hurt?" She paused, glancing at him and back at her herbs, "do you want some honey to ease your throat?" She murmured, worried as ever, knowing that catmint was only ever used for later stages of whitecough and greencough. She desperately hoped it wasn't greencough, not this early in the season.

"No no, Goldheart I'm okay, just a bit scratchy, nothing this old badger can't get over," Goosefur let out a hacking cough, before scooping up the leaves, carrying them out of the medicine cats den and back to the elders den. Goldheart only growing more worried, though she didn't have much time to worry, sleeps tendrils threatening to take her body right where she stood.

Not wanting to delay the inevitable she laid down in her dusty nest, sparing a glance at the camp from what she could see from her nest. Nights like these she felt more alone than ever, not even Starclan could comfort her. She could only pray that Starclan would have mercy upon her clanmates, that disease would not spread it's insidious and terrible plight upon her clan.

Drifting into sleep she couldn't help but think back to her experience with Starclan, her first experience with Starclan apart from the day she received her full name. She just couldn't grasp what to do in this situation, the water consuming the land seemed so serious and out of her paws, and she didn't know what to do to fix it, yet alone warn against it.

It all felt out of control.

She didn't know when she fell asleep during her thoughts, but she had, and when she awoke she was warm, a false sense of glee clung to her pelt. The forest of old surrounded her, the trees towered into the sky indefinitely, prey around every corner.

"Why haven't you said anything yet? Time is of the essence," she recognized that voice, standing up and turning around Goldheart was face to face with the Starclan tom she had seen the first time, one she didn't recognize.

"I haven't found the time," she murmured, ducking her head, staring at the ground, she had forgotten almost all about it during the gathering, more focussed on just getting through it without any horrible thoughts. It was just something that plagued her, worry always stuck to her head like a burr in someone's pelt.

"Your forgetfulness will be the downfall of your clan," the tom hissed, and she jumped back, looking at him with a scared expression.

"I'll tell them soon, don't worry! It'll be soon, we won't be blind to this prophecy," she promised, pelt still bristling from the scare. Her yellow eyes met the tom's practically invisible ones, his eyes sharpening into a glare. She sucked in a breath, her lungs felt like collapsing from the pressure in that glare, the enormity of the situation finally dawning upon her.

"Leave the poor kit alone," another cat meowed, pulling Goldheart out of a downward spiral, she stared at the newcomer, a sense of recognition washing over her.

"Cliffstar!" She breathed out, staring at Cliffstar's smokey gray coat as he shouldered the other tom out of his glare.

"Don't be a sour fox," Cliffstar snickered as the older tom huffed and walked away a few pawsteps, turning to Goldheart once more.

"You owe it to them to warn them of the enormity of this danger, Goldheart," the Starclan tom's sharp glare fixed on her once more, and she felt a shiver go down her spine, the tom left, leaving her and Cliffstar in the area together.

"Ignore him, he's a mean old badger, most here don't take too kindly to rogues such as yourself," Cliffstar's tail flicked behind him, as he lifted a paw and pressed it to Goldheart's chest, "Follow your heart and Starclan will guide your paws."

At that, the grounds of Starclan faded away and she found herself once again in her nest, pleasantly warm, the rays of light from outside finding their way through the bracken into her nest.

She pulled herself up, yawning and stretching before taking the steps that led her outside her den. She couldn't help but ponder upon Starclan's words, the tom told her to hurry up and warn everyone, but she feared it would cause panic in the clans, this, to her at least felt like something to keep to herself.

Cliffstar told her it was okay, but something felt off. 

Brushing it off, she paused outside her den to groom herself a moment before padding to the freshkill pile to find something to eat, she eventually decided on a robin, picking the feathers away to devour the precious meat inside.

Licking her lips as she finished the robin quickly she spared a glance around the clearing. Smiling at Goosefur as he hobbled over, she glanced up at him, discarding the robin bones.

"Are you feeling any better?" She murmured, Goosefur nodded, giving a lopsided smile, and holding in a cough so very obviously she could tell.

"Feeling better than a bear eating a beehive!" He meowed, his voice raspy, draping his tail over Goldheart's shoulders to calm her nerves. It did well to calm her, although she still wondered why he was seeing her if he didn't feel bad after the gathering, Goosefur should've been sleeping.

"Then what did you need me for? Do you need me to fetch an apprentice to remove your ticks?" She glanced at him, as he stared into nothing for a moment.

"I must've forgotten, I was going to tell you a story, something to do with water, the lake maybe?" He muttered, more to himself than her. Goldheart watched him inquisitively for more than a moment before coming to some sort of realization.

"Are you thirsty? I have some water in my den you can drink from, come with me," she brushed past him, pushing back through the bracken, stopping to stand next to a shallow pool she had filled with rainwater that dripped from the ceiling of the medicine den.

"Ah, that must've been it, thank you Goldheart," he murmured, pausing for quite a long while before taking a sip of the water. Although he looked fine, Goldheart could tell something else was going on behind those blind green eyes.

She stood next to him as he drank, working her claws through his pelt gently, "you really should get someone to groom your fur someday Goosefur, your getting mats and you'll be sucked dry from ticks," she playfully scolded him, gently yanking on a mat he had on his back, and working it back to being normal.

"I'm an old cat Goldheart, I'm afraid I ain't nothing to be spending your time on," He meowed, nodding to her before suddenly leaving her den, and she couldn't have felt more alone afterwards.

Goosefur.. he was certainly a character.

Maybe she should tell him? At least if he told no one would believe the words of his, having heard the same things over and over, she really didn't know, on one paw she could tell him and get away with it, on the other, he was deadly terrified of floods, and maybe even water in general. It was a lot worse when she was his apprentice, making them stay in the medicine den whenever it even slightly rained.

She didn't want to spook him, but she had to tell someone, she had to get this pressure off her shoulders, it felt like the tom from Starclan was practically standing on her shoulders, threatening to make her collapse.

She breathed out a sigh and turned to her herbs, beginning to sort them, lost in thoughts that were really beyond her view.