Warriors: Shattered Blossom

Chapter Seven

 Nightpaw passed Cragpaw a bit of tansy, and gently, he nursed it into Grassystep's black-stained mouth. The she-cat reluctantly chewed and swallowed the leaf. He backed away quickly, watching as Nightpaw nudged a soaked wad of moss to the warrior.

Grassystep exploded into a fit of coughing, black spittle flying onto the floor before her. Cragpaw winced and backed away. He kept a wary distance from the diseased she-cat.

"Do you think Stumpwhisker will be back soon?" He murmured, his tail twitching anxiously behind him.

Nightpaw shrugged, dipping a new wad of moss into the little rivulet of water. "Maybe. Who knows where he's off to now?"

Cragpaw hummed his agreement, kneading his paws anxiously into the ground. Grassystep had arrived in the medicine den earlier that day, coughing up black ooze and requesting to see Stumpwhisker. The medicine cat, however, was out on a solo herb-collecting expedition. Their stores had run low, and he aimed to restock them in a day, if he could.

Neither Cragpaw nor Nightpaw knew how to care for the ill warrior. Stumpwhisker never mentioned a black-coughing disease to them, though it vaguely reminded Cragpaw of the age-old disease, red-cough, that he'd shared. The problem was that Grassystep wasn't coughing blood. In fact, he had no idea what she was coughing up.

The apprentices had mutually decided on feeding her small dosages of tansy. It was used to ease coughs, and yet, it seemed to be doing nothing for the gray warrior. Frankly, it made Cragpaw nervous. Nervous, and very, very afraid.

Relief flushed over him as the soft fragrances of herbs strengthened, and through the fern tunnel emerged Stumpwhisker, plants sticking out from his pelt and a considerably large bundle dangling from his jaws. His golden eyes flashed over to the apprentices' patient, and he dropped the parcel of plants to the floor.

"Back off, kits," he growled, hurrying forward and nudging the two toms away. "She's sick."

Cragpaw blinked. "We know that," he protested, while his brother added, "We've been giving her tansy to ease her coughing."

Stumpwhisker shook his head idly. He gently urged Grassystep to her paws. "Come over this way, Grassystep," he murmured, pushing aside a curtain of bracken and leading her through the previously hidden crack.

Nightpaw and Cragpaw exchanged glances, and the two of them followed at a careful distance. Cragpaw peeked down the corridor. Ferns draped across a crack overhead, letting in a faint, green-tinted golden glow as sunlight struggled to peek through. He breathed in the musty scent of the small, sheltered ravine. A sour odor overwhelmed the air, very similar to the smell on Grassystep's breath. Cragpaw was surprised to see nests lined about the walls, and to his growing astonishment, he spotted Ivystorm occupying one of them. The tom appeared fragile and weak, dark spittle decorating the area around his nest. His body shuddered as he sucked in a rapid, shaky breath of air.

I haven't seen him for weeks, the apprentice realized with a start. Is this where he's been? His eyes drew back to Stumpwhisker, still unaware of the prying eyes that had followed him.

Stumpwhisker guided Grassystep into a different nest, and the tom gently pressed his nose to her head. Grief glittered in his eyes.

Cragpaw urgently nudged his brother back into the main area of the medicine den before Stumpwhisker could see them looking. "Go back!" He hissed.

The two toms scrambled to the herb store, and Nightpaw quickly busied himself with the new bundle of herbs the medicine cat had brought in. Cragpaw, on the other paw, numbly nosed his way through the shelves to fetch anything that had gone bad, before realizing that he'd made a mess of the previously well-organized shelf in his frenzy. His paws began to work on their own, leaving his thoughts to whirl in astonishment as he wondered about the mysterious new room. Especially the sadness he'd seen in Stumpwhisker's eyes.