WARRIORS: THE STORM AHEAD

Chapter 13

Mousepaw padded after Vinecurl through the pines. She could still hear the angry hissing of Cloudpaw behind her.
As the apprentices' punishment for sneaking off, they had to go with the ShadowClan medicine cat to find as much herbs as possible.
The problem was they had to find them at the fallen pine, which screamed splintery moss.

The cats reached a clearing where Mousepaw could see a clear view of the tree. Vinecurl moved in front of her and Cloudpaw and motioned them to stay away.
The tabby flicked her tail to a hollow log near the clearing. "I'll check the roots here to make sure no other trees fall; you can search for cobwebs in there."
Mousepaw gave a nod, and Cloudpaw followed her to the log.

As her paws traced across the marshland, the rogues came back to Mousepaw's mind.
We must've done something to them. They wouldn't have acted like that.
She remembered the expression on the brown tabby's face.
He's scared. Of us.
What did we do?

...

A brown paw flung into the air, bringing a musty smelling cobweb down to the floor.
Cloudpaw was checking for cobwebs around the log, while Mousepaw was looking inside.
A noise echoed from inside the log.
Mousepaw flashed her head around trying to see the source of the noise. Suddenly the apprentice felt something grab onto her back. She thrashed, alarmed, and after a few heartbeats she felt the thing come off. Cautiously, she turned her head to look at it.

It was a spider.

Embarrassed, Mousepaw steadied herself up. She looked around, and then realized that in her panic she had flung all her cobwebs around the log. Only three of her seven cobwebs ended up partly okay.

Vinecurl is going to kill me. the ShadowClan cat thought as she trudged out of the hollow log. She squinted to see the medicine cat sniffing at the bottom of a medium pine, occasionally putting her paw on a spot. She then put a small claw mark on the tree, then padded away. Mousepaw looked to see all the other trees had been marked.
That was the last tree.
The ShadowClan apprentice raced over to the hollow log to deliver the news to Cloudpaw.

"Cloudpaw!" Mousepaw called. After a few heartbeats, a white head popped out from behind the log. Or rather, a white head covered in cobwebs.
"Mousepaw?" A voice rang in the air.
"Yes, Vinecurl! Me and Cloudpaw are coming." the tabby mewed. Cloudpaw sprinted to the fallen tree after her.

Vinecurl stood right next to the carnage, waiting for the apprentices. Mousepaw skipped over some branches, catching a whiff of frog along the way.
She leaped up and managed to land right beside Vinecurl. The medicine cat looked at her with approval.
Cloudpaw ran up to her side, looking proud, as if he was about to boast to all the Clans that he jumped over some branches.

"Okay." Vinecurl's voice jerked Mousepaw's head to the pine. "I've found some not fully squished moss near the bottom, and more scattered around the tree. Grab as much as you can."

Mousepaw nodded, and immediately began searching for moss near the bottom. Her paw brushed something fuzzy as she looked.
It was a big piece of moss that had been showered by dirt and water. The she-cat nearly gagged as she picked it up in her jaws.
Mousepaw tried to ignore the foul taste of muddy marshwater in her mouth as she searched for another piece.

Eventually, she found two pieces of moss under some bark. They didn't taste nearly as bad as the first moss.
The she-cat wanted to look for Cloudpaw, but quickly denied the idea.
He was the reason I'm doing this. I'll just stay away from him until he apologizes.

...

Mousepaw and Cloudpaw each gave their bundles of moss to Vinecurl.
"These will be nice." the medicine cat said. "You each carry your own bundle, and when we get back to camp, you clean them. Okay?"
Mousepaw nodded, while Cloudpaw grumbled and nodded.

As they began their journey back to camp, Vinecurl turned her head to the two apprentices.
"Mousepaw, Cloudpaw, I'll need you on another herb gathering mission near half-moon." the brown tabby meowed.
"What for?" Mousepaw asked curiously.
"For Tanpaw. We'll need to find burdock, in case the rogue bit her. I'll give it to Otternose at the Moonpool."
"Tanpaw?!" Cloudpaw snarled. "She's RiverClan!"
"Cloudpaw." Vinecurl stared at the apprentice coldly. "There's no time to be cranky about other Clans. It's just a couple herbs, given to a hurt apprentice. No cat is going to stop that because the apprentice is from a different Clan."
Cloudpaw just turned his head away.

...

Mousepaw dropped her last piece of dry moss after cleaning for what felt like a moon. At least five moss pieces were pierced by Cloudpaw's teeth by now.
The brown apprentice sighed. All she wanted to do was sleep, and forget everything that had happened after Flightstar was made leader.

But, something was still tinging in her mind, wanting her to go back to the rogues. To get to know the brown tom and the orange she-cat.
But I can't go out again, ARRGH! I'll just stay with my Clan. That'll make things better for me.