TB MOONRISE -- Chapter 17 (Patreon)

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Mothwing’s stomach roiled as she looked down at her meal. She knew she should be happy that the squirrel was so fat, that her Clanmates were full and happy and sharing tongues around her in the evening light to the loud buzzing of cicadas and Twoleg monsters – but she could only stare at the squirrel and think of it as the rabbit that Barkface had split open days ago, its poisoned entrails spilling out for all to see.

How are they surviving? She wondered, staring down at her fresh-kill. No rabbits, and with their territory in shambles…

The more she thought about WindClan, the less hungry she became. Mothwing pushed the squirrel to the side and forced herself to look away, her stomach feeling like stone.

Beside her, Mudfur sighed. “It will be all right, Mothwing,” he assured. “StarClan will provide.”

Mothwing looked over at her mentor. His eyes were glassy and tired, and his pelt lay half-groomed. She busied herself with picking out the stray dead leaves from his thick fur.

“Do you think StarClan can save WindClan?” she wondered as she worked, hoping for Mudfur’s guidance. Her mentor had always found strength in StarClan.

Mudfur’s whiskers twitched in thought. “If they can’t, then who can?” he rasped. “WindClan has always had a strong belief in our ancestors. They will end--” He broke off into a fit of coughing.

Mothwing’s heart sank into her stomach as she watched her grandfather hacking his life away. “I’ll get you some tansy,” she decided.

She got to her paws and darted for the medicine cat’s den. Tansy was easy enough to find in the storage log, brought out towards the front so that Mudfur’s coughing never pained him for too long. Mothwing grabbed a few petals and was back at Mudfur’s side in a heartbeat, coaxing him to lap up the medicine from her paw.

He chewed the petals gratefully and with little difficulty. Mudfur licked his lips as his coughing subsided. “Thank you, Mothwing,” he sighed. “I’m grateful for you…”

Mothwing butted her head against his shoulder. “You’re growing weaker and weaker,” she meowed quietly, conscious of her Clanmates. No doubt that they saw Mudfur’s coughing fit. “Do you plan on retiring?”

Mudfur snorted. “Want to be rid of me so quickly?” he chuckled.

Mothwing lifted her head. “Of course not!” she insisted. “But how long can you possibly go on…?”

“I’m not going anywhere ‘till your training is done.” Mudfur’s eyes shone with affection, and Mothwing lowered her shoulder fur. “You’ve got the makings of RiverClan’s greatest medicine cat, Mothwing.”

Mothwing’s heart warmed, and she purred, “Thank you so much, Mudfur. It’s only thanks to you.”

Mudfur’s tail flicked. “Some cats are born with the talent – I think you were,” he meowed on. “That’s all there is to it.”

Mothwing curled around her mentor, rasping her tongue along his pelt. His words did a lot to soothe her worries, but… If I have the talent, then why can’t I think of a way to help WindClan?

The reeds rustled around the camp entrance, and Mothwing lifted her head. Ripplecloud padded in, followed by Goldenpaw and Frostsplash. All three had a strange look on their face, and Mothwing’s whiskers twitched at the tension the patrol had brought with them into camp.

“Go on,” Mudfur rasped.  He nudged her to her paws. “I can groom myself, you know…”

Mothwing twitched her whiskers. Normally it would be Mudfur who saw to worry about such things, but lately Mothwing knew it had become her job… just as being medicine cat to the whole Clan would be, sooner rather than later. Ripplecloud led his patrol over to where Leopardstar was eating, and Mothwing met them there – she kept herself within hearing earshot but not too close that she offended the warriors.

“What is it?” Leopardstar wondered. By now, the whole Clan had seen the returning cats and felt the unease they had brought with them. Mothwing blinked, watching as her Clanmates slowly began to gather around, ears pricked and eyes darting about with curiosity.

Ripplecloud knew it, too. He shifted his weight and reported, loud enough for every cat to hear, “ThunderClan has moved to Sunningrocks.”

Shock rippled through the Clan, and Leopardstar got to her paws, abandoning her trout. Her eyes were wide, and her tail stiff. Mothwing shivered. Sunninrocks had forever been a piece of contested territory between ThunderClan and RiverClan – was this some sort of show of dominance?

“What do you mean?” Leopardstar wondered.

“I mean exactly as I say,” Ripplecloud went on, looking nervous as the bearer of this news. “All of ThunderClan was at Sunningrocks – elders and kits, too – and they were gathering up moss and bracken for nests.”

Frostsplash added, “I spotted their medicine supply; I think they mean to stay for some time.”

“How dare they!” hissed Falcontail. He pushed his way to the front of the crowd, his tail lashing. “Sunningrocks is ours!”

A murmur of agreement rose, but Leopardstar cut it off with a lash of her dappled tail. She raised her chin and meowed, “Everyone, stay calm.” To Ripplecloud, she asked, “Do you know why they’ve done this?”

Ripplecloud frowned. “I spoke with Tinystar by the stepping-stones,” he admitted. “He said that the Twolegs came too close to his camp, and he decided to move his Clan until the Twolegs leave, or a more suitable place can be found.”

“Huh!” Blackclaw huffed. “Next he’ll be in our rushes, claiming that to be ‘more suitable!’”

“Typical ThunderClan,” agreed Leafwhisker.

Mothwing frowned. “Why would he move elders and kits if he were planning an invasion?” she reasoned. “Not to mention having Brackenfur move all his supplies!” She looked to her mother. “There’s no doubt to me that he’s telling the truth – if the Twolegs could destroy half of WindClan’s territory in a moon, they can do the same to the forest.” After all, the monsters had thought very little of the four massive oaks at Fourtrees.

Leopardstar met her eyes evenly. “You don’t think there will be an invasion?” she asked.

Mothwing shook her head. “Not at all,” she insisted. Her heart fluttered, conscious of her Clanmate’s eyes on her. “Tinystar just isn’t the type to risk his entire Clan like that. If he’s moved them to Sunningrocks, it’s because that’s the safest place for them right now.”

Falcontail frowned. “Don’t claim you know their intentions,” he meowed, his voice low. “If their territory is being taken by the Twolegs, then they’ll need more room to hunt eventually – and where does that leave them?”

“RiverClan!” answered Blackclaw. “They’ll be taking our prey in a quarter moon!”

Mothwing swallowed. Despite knowing in her heart that Tinystar wouldn’t normally instigate… what would he do when his Clan began to starve? We thought the same of Tallstar, but his warriors were stealing our prey as the Twolegs advanced. If Tinystar faced the same problems… he might have no other choice.

“We should double our patrols,” insisted Falcontail. Several cats nodded in agreement. “We can’t risk ThunderClan setting one pawstep over the river – not when WindClan is already pushing our borders!”

“What if they’re working together?” wondered Brackenflight. “They’ve done it before!”

“Maybe ShadowClan is in on it, too,” suggested Frostsplash. “We’ve heard nothing from them for moons, and you know they’ll take territory if they think they need it…”

Mothwing sank her claws into the earth as she watched her Clanmates ripple with speculation. Nothing good can come from letting this go on! She glanced at her mother, begging for her to say something.

Thankfully, it seemed like Leopardstar wasn’t having it. She raised her voice above the others: “That’s enough, all of you!”

When she had their attention, Leopardstar curled her tail around her paws, holding herself tall and confident. “I agree with Mothwing; I don’t think an attack is imminent – but that doesn’t mean we won’t prepare ourselves. The Twolegs are upsetting the balance in the forest, and RiverClan will rise to defend what’s ours – when Tawnypelt’s patrol returns, we will formulate a plan.”

Mothwing sighed with relief. Finally! Maybe now that Leopardstar was acknowledging the Twolegs as some sort of threat, the rest of RiverClan might stop ignoring the issue too. Maybe then we can all figure out what to do!

“Where is Tawnypelt’s patrol?” asked Dawnflower. The young queen had come from the nursery to sit with Frostsplash. “They’ve been gone a long while…”

Leopardstar frowned. “Has any cat seen or heard from them?” She looked to Ripplecloud. “Have you?”

Ripplecloud shook his head. “We were patrolling Sunningrocks – Tawnypelt took the WindClan border.”

As if StarClan had sent the answer, the reed entrance rustled again – but it was only Heavystep and Reedpaw who appeared, and both looked far more anguished than Ripplecloud’s patrol had. Mothwing’s heart was beating in her ears as she looked at Reedpaw – the apprentice was dragging his paws, his eyes downcast.

“What happened?” Goldenpaw wondered, pushing forward. His littermate, Rosepaw, followed him. “Where’s Tawnypelt?”

Reedpaw looked helplessly at his siblings, then back to Heavystep. The big tom gave him a sympathetic look before addressing the rest of the Clan: “We caught a WindClan patrol on our side of the border, near the Twoleg bridge. Tawnypelt gave chase to one of them – we followed, but then…”

“Then what?” Leopardstar demanded. Shoulders stiff, she pushed through the crowd to stand before Heavystep. Mothwing’s heart ached as she saw the panic rise in Leoaprdstar’s eyes. “What happened? Where is Tawnypelt?”

Heavystep bowed his head. “Both of them ran into some strange Twoleg things. Like nests, but they were walled in…”

“We tried to get them out,” Reedpaw whimpered, “but we couldn’t.”

Mothwing’s heart sank. The entire Clan was stuck in a rapt silence, all eyes on Heavystep.

“Twolegs came and took the nests away,” Heavystep finished. He hung his head in shame. “Tawnypelt is gone, Leopardstar. I’m so sorry.”

In the silence, Mothwing could hear the loud roar of the Twoleg monsters as they advanced through the land of the Clans. Swallowing, she raised her head to a sky feathered with clouds. The warriors of StarClan weren’t out yet, but she knew they were still there. They had to know what to do.

Tell me! She pleaded. Please! We need your help!

There was no answer.