Jaggedstar's Choice {COMPLETE}

Chapter 33

"Oh wow!" Mosspaw exclaimed, her eyes wide with awe. "It's so pretty! Look at all the snow!" She was clearly amazing by all the snow that had fallen overnight. Jaggedtail, however, despised the snow. It was cold, made his paws numb and with snow came the terrible threat of sickness. Last leaf-bare had claimed the life of Birdstar and many others, and this time around they were down a medicine cat.

Not to mention, Jaggedtail's kits were only two moons old and far too young to fight sickness. We were only two moons old when Robinkit died. Jaggedtail remembered Elmheart's sister painfully. I'll do anything to keep my kits safe and healthy. Jaggedtail withheld a sigh, it was the beginning of a long season and Jaggedtail had to fall into the old habits of keeping his Clan healthy and full.

Thankfully, prey had been running so well from greenleaf through leaf-fall and the fresh-kill pile was fully stocked. Prey wouldn't be an issue for a while, so their only issue would be sickness. I just have to keep my head high. Jaggedtail thought, he would be working with Mosspaw nearly every single day and teaching her how to hunt in the cold, she had only been an apprentice for one moon but her hunting skills were sharp, she would be able to manage.

"Let's get going." Jaggedtail urged his apprentice. "We don't want to be out in the cold for too long." With Mosspaw at his side, Jaggedtail set out into the snowy forest. "When you're hunting in snow like this we have a very strong disadvantage. It's harder to scent and you are easier to spot. It's hard having darker pelts in the snow, just as cats with lighter pelts struggle more during the normal seasons."

"So what can I do?" Mosspaw questioned.

"Be extra cautious, keep plenty of space between you and your prey, don't get discouraged if you don't catch it. This is a very difficult time to hunt, even for older warriors like myself."

"How do I track prey? I can barely smell anything over the snow."

"Well, because of the snow you can often track pawprints and eventually you will get better at discerning snow from prey." Jaggedtail explained. "Tracking prints can be difficult, but you'll figure it out. You want to look for fresh prints which will often smell like the prey, also keep an eye out for droppings."

"Ew." Mosspaw wrinkled her nose at the mention of droppings. Jaggedtail laughed at her reaction and continued with the lesson. They set out into the snow covered forest to do some hunting. Mosspaw missed out on a few mice, but in the end she was able to get her paws on two voles which was impressive for a young apprentice like her.

Jaggedtail continued his own hunt and managed to catch three decent sized squirrels, he was grateful that prey was still plentiful enough to keep the Clan hungry. They still ate prey sparingly however, to keep the pile full. As they were walking back to the camp Jaggedtail heard Mosspaw sneeze. His body stiffened and looked over at his apprentice. Surely she can't be getting sick already?

"Mosspaw? Are you alright?" He questioned, trying not to panic.

"Yeah it was just a sneeze, Jaggedtail." Mosspaw assured him. "I feel fine."

"I would still feel better if you went to go see Sagefeather, a lot of time whitecough starts off with just a sneeze. It would make me and your parents feel a whole lot better." Jaggedtail urged.

"Fine." She sighed and Jaggedtail walked with her to the medicine cat den. He was grateful that neither Maplepool or Elmheart were in camp, they would quickly begin to panic over it. Jaggedtail wasn't too concerned by a sneeze, but there was still fear in the back of his mind.

Jaggedtail reached the medicine cat den where Sagefeather was looking over Badgerstrike. The black and white tom sat still and listened to what Sagefeather was saying. "Your voice is dry and I definitely think sickness is on the way. I'm going to give you some honey and chickweed and hopefully it will kick the sickness before it can evolve. I want you to stay in your nest for the next few days and come see me if it gets any worse."

"Will do, thank you, Sagefeather." Bagderstrike ate his herbs and walked past Jaggedtail and Mosspaw.

"Which one of you is it?" Sagefeather mewed while she put away the remaining chickweed.

"Mosspaw sneezed, I know it's probably nothing but I just wanted to make sure we caught it before it got too bad."

"No, you made the right choice, Jaggedtail." Sagefeather beckoned Mosspaw forward and the young apprentice sat down, Jaggedtail watched as Sagefeather examined Mosspaw, it didn't take very long. "It's just a small cold, Mosspaw." Sagefeather explained, allowing Jaggedtail to breathe a sigh of relief. "But colds can get worse, so I'll be giving you some chickweed as well and the same advice as Badgerstrike. Stay in your nest for a few days and tell me if it gets any worse.

"Alright, Sagefeather." Jaggedtail was impressed by Mosspaw's maturity and her quickness to eat the herbs. She made a face at the foul taste but did it nonetheless. "Thank you."

"Go and get some rest now, young one." Mosspaw agreed and left the medicine cat den, presumably to the apprentice den.

"So she should be fine?" Jaggedtail questioned.

Sagefeather nodded. "She is young, but she's strong and healthy. She'll be fine with some rest."

"Have any other cats come forward with sickness?" Jaggedtail questioned curiously.

"Well there's Badgerstrike, and Cedarcloud complained of some sickness. I'm just hoping it stays out of the nursery and elder's den." Jaggedtail agreed with the medicine cat as the elder's den had become more full in the past few moons. Kestrelflame, Poppywing and Cedarcloud had all retired along with Barksong and Dustfang.

"Well, I'm going to see if I can't get on a patrol. Good luck Sagefeather." Jaggedtail dipped his head, the medicine cat waved her tail to show that she heard him. Before he spoke to Daisyfern he figured he would go in a check on his mate and kits. Cherrypool had been keeping them inside out of the cold so Brackenkit, Redkit, Barkkit and Branchkit were all playing while Stormsong and Cherrypool had a conversation.

"Hey there." Jaggedtail greeted kindly.

"Jaggedtail!" Redkit exclaimed and he along with Brackenkit charged towards Jaggedtail excitedly. Redkit did his best to scale up Jaggedtail's legs while Brackenkit batted at his tail. "Where have you been?"
"I was out hunting with Mosspaw." Jaggedtail explained.

"No fair!" Redkit waved his tiny tail. "I want to be an apprentice and go hunting with you!"

"You'll be an apprentice soon." Jaggedtail chuckled. "For now you should just enjoy being a kit, it's cold out there."

"Cherrypool won't let us play in the snow." Brackenkit complained. "It's not that cold!"

"Maybe when you're a little bigger you can go play in the snow." Jaggedtail suggested. "It's easy to get sick in this kind of weather and you wouldn't want to have to eat yucky herbs now would you?"

"No." Brackenkit groaned. He assumed his kits understood and bid farewell to them, allowing them to continue their play session, As Jaggedtail left the nursery he closed his eyes and looked up towards the sky. Please StarClan, spare our Clan this season.