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[wildcharm]

The end of the tom’s tail lashed back and forth as Hawktail turned the sentiment back on him. Pointing out Windclan’s rather generous acts of heroics and generosity towards Riverclan. It read almost as a challenge in a way. It wasn’t hard to fathom the fact that if he refused to help them now then the medicine cats would leave as well and they would be left trying to shakily stand on their own paws.

“I suppose late is better than never.” He mewed briskly causing the younger warrior beside Hawktail to practically twist herself in a knot trying to fight the urge to say something that might offend him in some way. “Of course we’re prepared to do anything to help find Rainstar. We won’t forget the kindness of Windclan.” We can’t forget what Windclan has done, they will never let us forget. The leader thought somewhat bitterly. “You have free range of my territory. And to help you in your search Jaggedscar and Silverfang will tag along.” 

Wildberry was rather intent on her course of action. She watched the cats meeting up at the mouth of the leader’s den. She was eager to get back to her own den again, but had promised to help Otterstar until a new medicine cat could be found. Now, he might not be able to stay here in good conscious. Her eyes flickered to the one-eyed she-cat beside her who had been rather silent this entire time. Her expression was rather guarded. The two of them had been in the camp even after the rest of the Windclan cats had left. It hadn’t been an easy transition, they had seen it with their own eyes. That didn’t change Riverclan’s responsibility to honor their commitment to help the cats who had risked their lives to liberate their camp. “Lavenderfur was sent away by Otterstar this morning.” Wildberry informed with a light frown briefly concerned about the warrior’s whereabouts.

That concern was only added on to with the apprentice’s question as to Whispersong’s whereabouts. She could already see Dogclaw trying to struggle out an answer for her. “She was taken to Shadowclan...and we think they are keeping her alive.” She mewed softly looking towards Lilyheart. She wandered if she should share all of what the Thunderclan deputy had let slip to her. How the tom knew anything about this she couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t know what reason he would have to lie about such things either. “Frogstrike claimed her as his, allegedly.” She hissed softly sending a ripple through the den. Lilyheart recoiled when she heard this looking at Wildberry in disbelief. Dogclaw quickly tried to sit himself up only making it half-way up before collapsing back down into his nest. Coughing and sputtering he tried to ignore the burning pain long enough to spat out, “What?!” 

Wildberry ignored his aggressive tone only frowning down at the warrior. Fear of her wrath wasn’t enough to keep him still though as Dogclaw made another fight, slightly more successful, to get to his paws. “You’re going to reopen all your wounds for rumors.” She hissed in the direction of the tom. It was much easier to deal with the angered warrior then the clearly wounded Lilyheart, still in shock and utter disbelief.

He knew it was coming and he still felt blindsided by the kit’s questions about her mother. “The dog is gone now. It won’t be coming back.” He started off sounding relieved by that fact. At least one mildly good thing had come out of this horrible situation. Then, he had to begin explaining to a small kit that her mother was gone. There was no easy way to do this, but he didn’t see anyway around the inevitable either. Sitting himself up he looked like a cat about to go into battle. 

“Your mother is gone kit. She went to hunt in...with your ancestors.” He had almost slipped up and said Starclan, which this little kit wasn’t going to understand. “She fought bravely, but the dog was too much. I’m so sorry little one.” He mewed softly, his voice hitting a softer note than was very common for the medicine cat to display. He could only wait to see her reaction now and hope that she didn’t want to see the body for herself. 

Applepaw had seen it all first hand. He’d seen the aftermath of the battle and just how much Shadowclan’s prescience had changed his clanmates. A lot of them were nothing like the cats that he had grown up with. It hadn’t been very evident at first, in fact his clanmates were happy to see their missing clanmates, to be free of Shadowclan, and had visited Redsky in the morning following the battle. It gave him some hope. By the afternoon when Redsky had come for a short while the cats had already begun to change. They seemed weary of even their own clanmates and new leader since they hadn’t been here for the worst of it, he heard them whispering it on their ways to their dens. They talked a lot amongst themselves. It was as if they had all woken up one day and decided that the cats that made it out weren’t part of their clan anymore. Without Redsky the young apprentice felt like his whole world was crumbling down around him.

Trudging back through the entrance of camp, soaking wet and a fish hanging limply in his mouth he nearly dropped it in surprise when he spotted the two apprentices and warriors further off talking intensely with Otterstar. “Mousepaw...Shadowpaw!” He mewed through his fish. He seemed to be the only Riverclan cat that was remotely happy to see any Windclan cats in camp. Spatting out the fish on to the pile he trotted his way over to the pair of toms. “What are you doing here?” He mewed not seeming aware of Shadowpaw’s introspective moment going on. 
 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Hawktail fought the urge to release a sigh as Otterstar acquiesced on the matter and mentioned he would order two of their warriors with them on the patrol. Fantastic. We get a Riverclanner who loves picking a fight to help us. And, of course, Otterstar wanted eyes on them while they were in the territory. But he had pressured the leader, and it had worked. They could look for their leader now without threat. He dipped his head respectfully in thanks and verbally expressed it as well. "We shall begin once they are ready to join us." He felt relieved that this had been such a short conversation. If he wanted Otterstar could have made a problem out of this as Jaggedscar had wanted to. They were fortunate, that was for sure.

It was a shockwave as Wildberry let this information loose to all of them from only-Starclan-knew what source. Leafpaw took a step back and her mouth dropped at the information. She hadn't exactly been shocked to hear what Dogclaw had said, but wherever she got the information, it was a highly disturbing piece of information to hear. "C...claimed?" It was a quiet disbelieving mew from the she-cat who didn't want to spend too long imagining exactly what that might mean. She thought for a moment of the little Shadowclan medicine cat, having replaced Lilyheart, breaking the warrior code and...and...

She turned as she saw the increasingly aggravated Dogclaw forcing himself onto his paws. Her alarm increased as she looked at the myriad wounds on his pelt and the straining cobwebs bending and threatening to break. She bit her lip, torn between saying something and potentially aggravating hi more or keeping quiet. Again, she had to think about the fact they were here to search for Raisntar when Whispersong had been missing for pawfuls of days. Did the warrior feel that way as well? Hearing what Wildberry had to say the apprentice was left feeling like they were abandoning her to an even greater degree. She kept her mouth shut, however. She didn't want to exacerbate the tension in the den even more.

The kitten didn't really seem to understand what Frogstrike said at first, tilting her head a bit with curiosity as he mentioned hunting with ancestors. It was a strange sentence she hadn't heard in this context, and left with a while she might make the connection; as it was though, he dropped the news almost immediately after, telling her exactly what happened to her in the fight with the dog. Her face dropped and her eyes swelled up with tears. "No! You're wrong! No no no! You're wrong!" She cried out as he cut the news to her bluntly. She shook her head violently and stared up at him and got ready to deny what he said even more, but she realized from the hard stare on his face that it wasn't going to get them anywhere. "No! She's fine! I'll go find her myself!" It seemed she forgot the exhaustion in her legs for a brief while as she took off again, running past him on her little legs though it couldn't take her very fast as she had plenty of growing to do.

Shadowpaw almost jumped out of his skin as the eager apprentice seemed to delight in seeing them and greeting them once more. He took a few moments to calm his beating heart before he turned around to greet Applepaw. "Hi, Applepaw." he mewed and took a few steps towards the Riverclan apprentice. "We're here on a patrol, looking for Rainstar. She has been missing since the battle, and we need her back in camp." He stared at the apprentice in silence for a couple of moments, seeing this one light of energy amidst the glum and darkened cats that surrounded him. Applepaw seemed to be staying above in spirits at the least.

[wildcharm]

Otterstar nodded briefly to the warriors. “I will let them know that.” Otterstar said simply watching them go. It was infuriating to know that he had been baited into giving his cooperation in their quest to find Rainstar. Whatever his personal feels might be Otterstar wouldn’t have been able to refuse their request. Leaping down from his perch he went to find his warriors. Luckily neither one of them were very far off at all. Silverfang was in the middle of talking with a cluster of warriors. They fell silent when he made his way towards them. “Get Jaggedscar and accompany the Windclan patrol. The silver tabby carefully nodded her head and dutifully went to round up the volatile warrior. After this Otterstar bound back up to the leader’s den, presumably to continue sulking or brooding. 

Hearing this new information made Dogclaw’s insides practically turn over. He knew she’d most likely been dragged to Shadowclan, but the thought that the medicine cat and others knew more and still had done nothing about it. It felt like a betrayal to Whispersong who had been a loyal warrior who had served her clan well. His patchwork of wounds were throbbing sharply in pain. The intensity of the pain made him wobble on his paws. His eyes never wavered from looking at Wildberry.

“How...long?” He croaked weakly, a sharp note to his voice that was the clearest thing he’d said. This accusatory note was out of character for the usually very even keeled warrior. He had seen just how malicious the Shadowclan warriors with his own eyes. They would be condemning her to something worse than death at this point. He was practically shaking with anger at this point. 

“Not long! There is nothing we can do for her!” She snapped rather defensively, the fur on the back of her neck spiking up the tiniest bit. The webs around his belly fell away showing the heavy wounds underneath. “Hold still.” Wildberry hissed in frustration making her way towards the Windclan warrior. The warrior recoiled away from the medicine cat. The two stood in a tense stand off for several moments neither one of them seeming willing to back down. Wildberry set her jaw and finally stepped away from the warrior leaving a cobweb hanging halfway on the warrior’s sides. It revealed just how deep his wound really was. Stalking to back of the den she wasn’t going to fight with him any longer. 

He’d known full well that she wasn’t going to handle it well, deny it even. He laid his head flatly against his head as she outright denied everything he’d said. Maybe he could have tried to cushion the blow a little, but he didn’t want her to hold on to any delusions about her mother still possibly being alive. Of course that had blown up right up in his face. The Shadowclan tom blinked in surprise as she charged past him, determined to see it for herself. “Kit, don’t do this. You aren’t ready to see something like that.” He warned as he picked up a brisk trot to catch up to her. Frogstrike briefly contemplated scooping the kit up by her scruff to prevent her from seeing the grizzly sight that she was running right for. 

Applepaw seemed rather happy about seeing the familiar faces again. He didn’t understand why Mousepaw was looking at him the way he was. He was still a relatively young apprentice and naive to what faces might mean. The Riverclan cat’s face fell when Shadowpaw mentioned what they were here for. It was worrying to hear that Rainstar had gone missing. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He mewed quietly before jumping in surprise when he heard the commotion coming from the medicine cat den. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Hawktail nodded his head in acknowledgment as the leader promised them, while he turned about and left to rejoin the rest of the Windclan patrol. He expected that the Riverclan warriors would be joining them soon, and his thoughts were confirmed as he looked about and saw Otterstar himself fetching one of the Riverclan warriors. He turned to look at the apprentices as they seemed to be addressing one of the Riverclan apprentices. He bit his lip. They couldn't go acting soft in this camp. They needed a strong front, even the small cats. Otterstar couldn't see them as some sort of tree log who could be walked upon and dismissed when he didn't want to provide them anything any longer.

Leafpaw pulled in a breath as the medicine cat, for a short time, stoood in silence. It was enough to prompt Dogclaw to demand an answer, the two words that he spoke holding more anger than was usually encountered from him specifically in moons. He didn't get angry at hardly anything. An apprentice messing up his catch for a dumb reason, maybe. But Dogclaw was even-headed and stable. Right now, wounds and all that littered his pelt, he simply looked like another cat on the edge of something dangerous.

Leafpaw could not even keep herself from recoiling jsut a little bit from the sheer defensiveness in Wildberry's voice. It was the business of the medicine cat to know certain things, that might be true...but this sort of information was not something that a cat held back! And the defensiveness in her voice rather than some sort of true answer was almost...it almost hurt. To know she had been aware of this and, for whatever period that she wasn't admitting, wouldn't lend the information to them...Leafpaw was a little bit stunned by Wildberry's actions and her response to the accusation. It demonstrated itself as a drop of bitterness that she wasn't expecting in her own voice. "How could you keep that from us?" Her voice cracked in the middle of saying this, as she stared up at Wildberry, not angry in the way that Dogclaw was, but certainly stunned and hurt. It absolutely appalled her. If they had known Whispersong was being treated like this...It...it had to have changed something. Right?

The kitten was obviously minutes from the sight, and as the sweat on her brow and the shakiness of her breath shortly began returning to her figure, it became clear she wasn't going to make it the whole way, and this was simply the sharp denial of a kit in distress. She pushed and pushed herself, but she was panting from utter exhaustion as she hurried on to where he said his mother had lost the fight to the dog. She wasn't going to accept this ending to her own mother's life. That was absolutely unthinkable. "Leave me alone!! You're wrong about her!" She was going to trip on her own paws at full speed and break a leg at this point. She was trying to get away from him like he was a predator.

"...so we're-" Shadowpaw was interrupted as he heard yowling coming from the medicine cat's den, recognizing the familiar voice of Wildberry rather clearly amongst the Riverclan murmurs that were surrounding them. His gaze was turned towards it and his stare fixed on the forms he saw inside. It did not sound like there was friendly conversation going on inside of the den, but he could only see Windclan cats conscious within its confines. He wasn't sure what was going on, but...it did not look...calm.

He glanced over to Mousepaw. "Do you think they're mad about Rainstar? Leafpaw might of said something, or..." He was quietly, fearful of drawing attention to them, almost mumbling the statement as he gazed between the den and the Windclan apprentice beside him. "I hope she didn't make Wildberry upset." To Shadowpaw, it seemed a strange possibility--Leafpaw upsetting the medicine cat of Windclan. Of course, he couldn't know or prepare for how that might irk the kit who was absolutely love-stricken for the silver she-cat.

[wildcharm]

Hazelrunner sighed, relieved it was all over. As they reached the apprentices they’d left behind she more readily noticed the fact they were missing one than the fact there was an extra apprentice hanging around with their own. Her head turned sharply when she heard the sounds of frantic yowling from the medicine cat den. “Oh no.” She mewed when she noticed Leafpaw standing in the entrance of it. Picking fights with a medicine cat wasn’t going to do anything to make them look anymore trustworthy to the Riverclan cats. She gave Hawktail a silent look before making her way over to see just what was happening.

From Wildberry’s perspective these attacks were coming right out of no where and were completely unjustified. Call her into question wasn’t going to make them feel any better. They needed some cat to blame. She hadn’t said anything to any cat because one of the two cats who might need to know already did and had made up his own mind on the matter. By the time she learned of it there wasn’t anything to do, but sit with the knowledge. “Don’t take a self-righteous tone with me.” She snapped at the apprentice barely biting back the more damaging words she was almost prepared to hiss out. Just ask Ravenfang how much he knows about keeping secrets.

“What would that knowledge have changed? Would you have gone running into Shadowclan territory yourselves? Would you?” Her second question was angled more sharply now at the Windclan tom. Dogclaw was too blind in his anger to really see the full picture that him knowing wouldn’t have fixed much. Maybe it would have maybe it would have stopped him and Hawktail from taking off to try and sneak into Riverclan camp. “You...gave up...on...her.” Dogclaw wheezed with burning eyes. Growling under her breath the medicine cat only became more defensive and felt rather personally attacked. 

“Wildberry..” It was a much quieter calmer tone amongst the loud yowls of the three cats. “Maybe it would be best if you went back to Windclan for right now.” Her suggestion wasn’t forceful, but made her feelings clear. Turning to look towards the Shadowclan she-cat she could see the personal betrayal she felt. It was hard to be clear if she was angry with her friend or her apprentice. She was just very clearly hurt, as it seemed was everyone else in the den. 

“Alright then.” Wildberry hissed indignantly looking at the cats around her. “Maybe I can shout out from the top of High Rock to make sure everyone knows.” 

Frogstrike watched the kit nearly stumble again over her own paws. She wasn’t going to make it. She was going to be lucky if her little legs even carried her a quarter of the distance. He frowned at her yowls to get away from him. It was something he was pretty used to hearing from frightened kits in the nursery, but that didn’t mean it didn’t always sting just the tiniest bit. “You leave me no choice.” He hissed softly to himself. While rather tired himself and far from being the most athletic Shadowclan had to offer, he was still much faster than the exhausted kit. Skidding in front of the kit he made a swift movement to reach down and grab at her scruff. He wasn’t going to let her hurt herself more than she already had. 

Mousepaw had been busy contemplating just how the Riverclan apprentice had transformed from a crying mess to a seeming beacon light so quickly. That thought process was cut short when he heard the very loud yowling that was coming from the medicine cat den. Whirling around he had to keep himself from sighing when he saw the figures of their clanmates snapping and hotly yowling at one another. He flicked an ear towards Shadowpaw as he hypothesized just what had made the cats boil over. “Maybe. I don’t know why they’d all be yowling though.” He pointed out seeing Dogclaw looking like he was just about to snap the medicine cat’s head off. “Why would he be that worked up about Rainstar?”

His whole head turned sharply when Shadowpaw implemented Leafpaw as being the cause. The Windclan apprentice stared intensely at Shadowpaw for a pawful of moments. “I don’t think so.” He mewed lowly before slowly turning back to look towards the action. He quickly sheathed his claws not thinking any other cats had seen them come out. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Hawktail's flank went stiff as he realized there was something going on in the den, and once he saw that Leafpaw was in the mouth of it he sucked in a deep breath. This was the last thing they needed right now, and if Leafpaw had provoked a fight he was going to strip her pelt and leave it in the river. Riverclan was the last place they needed to demonstrate this sort of weakness. He caught Hazelrunner's glance and didn't move to stop or join her as she made her movement towards the medicine cat's den.

Leafpaw's ears folded back and she took a shaky step back as a result of the response she got from Wildberry, not prepared for the instant snapback she got as Wildberry felt attacked from two directions. No, but maybe Dogclaw getting this maimed would of meant something! If they were going to throw themselves into the Thunderpath anyways... Her gaze, a mixture of hurt and disbelief was still set on the Windclan medicine cat, even as she snapped again after saying she would return to the camp. It might be true that Dogclaw wasn't going to sit well with the medicine cat here now that they knew the secret that she had been holding. Even if Leafpaw couldn't do anything about it, was that sense of urgency not important? Didn't they needed to know what they were trying to do? Just the words Wildberry had used had made her skin crawl. Claimed Whispersong. Is this what...what Shadowclan is now? Her stomach was set with an awful churning suddenly as she jumped into the rabbit's hole of imagining what must be going on inside of that camp. It struck her so hard she had to bite back some tears.

The tension in the den was heavy as Hazelrunner came padding up to the entrance. Leafpaw cast a disgruntled gaze at her friend as she peered into the tense mess that had come between the group of Windclan cats. Leafpaw looked upset while Dogclaw and Wildberry seemed angry, fur fluffed up and ready to tear someone's ear off it looked, at least to the apprentice. Dogclaw was pushing himself through some serious pain just to confront Wildberry. He seemed more passionate about the topic than Leafpaw might have expected from the quiet and relatively unopinionated cat, but...to know she wasn't alone on this, how she was feeling now, was helpful.

The kitten cried out as Frogstrike easily swept her up. "No! Stop it! You're wrong! Put me down!" It was a command that fell on deaf ears as she was left hanging from his lying maw. "Why are you lying to me?!? My mom can't die! Not to a dog! She's stronger than a dog! She isn't dead! You saw another cat! You can't say I'm wrong!" The kitten was practically spitting out any statement she could think of to tell him how wrong he was as tears were beginning to build up in her eyes and began trickling down her cheeks accompanied by quiet sobs. "She wouldn't die! Sh...S-she can't die! You're wrong...Mister, put me down so I can go see her, please! I...I need to see..." She went limp and stopped her meaningless struggling as he continued holding her and keeping her from sprinting herself into near exhaustion or the jaws of some other predator. "She can't be gone..." It was little more than quiet, pathetic whining at this point.

Shadowpaw frowned as Mousepaw voiced his disagreement quietly, not catching the sharp glance or the claws that seemed to have his name on them for a number of moments. His gaze fixed on Hazelrunner as he saw her approaching the scene. Hazelrunner was going to work out whatever was happening in the den, for sure. She was going to bring cool heads down from the hot temper of the den and they were going to work it out.

"We don't have time for this..." Hawktail muttered with irritation as they watched on towards the den. They needed to find Rainstar, and soon. They needed their leadership back in order. As much as he wanted to believe in his brother, Ravenfang was slipping under the pressure of all of this and they needed an experienced paw to bring them back to sanity. Whatever it took. He stared on, his tail twitching as he wanted to walk in there himself and tell the squabbling kits to finish this in the nursery. No one was ever going to hear it from him, but he was worried Wildberry would bite his head off for such a comment.

[wildcharm]

Approaching the den almost felt like peering into a badger’s den. There was certainly no questioning that it was dangerous to do. Frowning she looked swiftly between the cats. First to Leafpaw, who looked upset, almost on the verge of tears it seemed. Hesitating she pushed back the urge to ask her what was wrong, in place focusing on the other two cats. “What in the name of Starclan is happening here?” She mewed loud enough trying to break the constant onslaught of death stares Dogclaw and Wildberry were exchanging. She was used to this sort of thing from Wildberry, but to see Dogclaw and Leafpaw so worked up she had a feeling that something must have happened to work them all up into a frenzy like this. She especially concerned as far as the injured warrior was concerned. He looked only slight more improved than he had been when they had left. He probably shouldn’t be up like this. Not mention just how bad this looked happening in the middle of Riverclan camp. “Well?” She mewed with a bit more impatience when both cats were insistent on remaining silent at first. 

Dogclaw looked at Wildberry with a look reserved for cats he truly loathed. How in the name of Starclan could she abandon Whispersong like that? She was a medicine cat. She was sworn to help her clanmates, but stayed silent knowing one cat was still alive and was being...used by that poor excuse for a tom-cat. “She knows about...Whispersong.” Despite his unrelenting anger, his energy was not as steadfast. His voice wasn’t as strong as it had been although held the same meaning behind it.

He never thought it was possible that he would suddenly feel such strong emotions towards one of his clanmates. He really cared Whispersong and it brought him a fresh level of distress. He and Hawktail’s desperate journey after her was for nothing, but maybe the outcome could have been different had the information been known to the clan. Dogclaw waited keeping his eyes slowly on Wildberry waiting for her response to see what she would do with a new cat’s appearance. 

Dogclaw’s response utterly blindsided her.Hazelrunner blinked in disbelief not seeing the correlation between all of this and the seemingly missing warrior. Her eyes slowly moved to glance at the medicine cat in a silent question. It could have something to do with the fact they were trying to find Rainstar. She admittedly wouldn’t have put much thought into where Whispersong might be. She had gone missing and that had seemed to be all any cat knew. 

Wildberry’s eyes slid towards the maimed warrior who spat out an accusation rather quickly. Flicking her tail she ignored the eyes that all seemed to be burning into her pelt. “I have nothing more to say. Ask the three of them. I’ve already told all of them.” She-cat continued being rather dismissive with her tone, seemingly wanting to downplay her involvement with all of this as much as possible. While it mostly due to her own feeling of being attacked, the cats around her seemed  to only make the situation worse, how the other cats might read her actions as being calloused. 

Dogclaw silently scoffed and Lilyheart’s jaw hung open. She didn’t look at either one to them. Instead the medicine cat hissed and stomped towards the entrance seemingly daring any cat to stand in her way. 

Frogstrike clamped his jaw shut, holding on to her as tight as he could without hurting her. He listened to her pitiful squirming and yowls to let her go. She wasn’t going to believe it until she saw it with her own eyes. He sighed softly when she finally stopped her annoying struggling. It only served to make his jaw hurt and make him tempted to drop her into the nearest twoleg garden. The medicine cat sighed loudly through a mouthful of her fur. “Fine, I’ll take you to see, but you can’t take off. Deal?” He mewed with a light frown, frustrated with the fact he was even in this situation to begin with. His irritation was mostly a way to mask his own feelings of pity for the kit. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Leafpaw was stunned as Wildberry wouldn't even address Dogclaw's nearly enraged state as he conveyed what was going on inside the Riverclan den. She completely brushed him aside like he was a used cobweb and then stomped her way out without a second word about it. Her gaze of utter disbelief followed her the whole way out of the den as Hazelrunner was stomped past and they were all left in silence to be stared at by the whole of Riverclan. "I don't..." She couldn't look at Dogclaw now, averting from each cats gaze and looking down at her paws. Whispersong was in Shadowclan right now, and she was being abused in Starclan-only-knew how many different ways. And they weren't doing anything about it.

The actions of Dogclaw and Hawktail had sure seemed idiotic when they did it and got Dogclaw so close to near death, but now that they heard what was being done to her, it felt like Dogclaw and Hawktail were the only ones who had been vigilant when the rest of them were preoccupied with the camp's condition and the threat of Shadowclan. How had they abandoned her so long? It felt all shades of wrong.

Shadowpaw went stiffer than ice as Wildberry came stomping from the den and didn't speak a word to any of the cats, ready to bite the heads off of absolutely any cat, Riverclan or Windclan that stepped into her path. The tension of the camp was increased significantly, though the Riverclan cats must have been to some extent enjoying the show--that or simply feeling like things were really headed for the Dark Forest if Windclan was falling apart just as they had before. Shadowpaw couldn't imagine this made anyone feel too much better about what was going on.

She sniffled and tried to stop the tide of tears as he finally gave in and tried to strike a deal to satiate the kitten's disbelief in what he was saying. "F-fine! But I know you're wrong, Mister." She shook her head afterwards as if to finalize what she said as fact. "Take me there." She squeaked quietly, without specifically saying she wouldn't take off or act totally of her own accord when they got there.

[wildcharm]

Hazelrunner sidestepped to get out of the sheathing she-cat’s line of sight. She watched the she-cat make her way out of camp without a single cat daring to get in her way. The loud rustling of the entrance could be heard as Hazelrunner turned to look back into the den. It seemed like the whole clan had stopped to see what was unfolding in front of them. What was obvious was that a much needed medicine cat was leaving the camp rather abruptly after fighting amongst her clanmates. It certainly didn’t paint them in a good light to the Riverclan cats. Her own mind was spinning trying to catch up with everything that was happening. “What happened to Whispersong?” She mewed quietly to her friend beside her. 

The warrior who had been propping himself up by sheer will power alone, grunted as he unceremoniously practically crashed back down on to the nest. Lilyheart trotted forwards to examine the tom’s now many exposed and reopened wounds. The young warrior stood there a moment longer before looking to the side. “Let’s go back to the others.” She urged as the gathered cats continued to peer into the den. Silently gawking. Sighing she looked up seeing it had even drawn Otterstar out of his den. Turning sharply she lead the way back to the toms left not really knowing how to feel about the whole thing. 

Jaggedscar had just settled himself down with a pawful of other cats, content to stay as far away from the Windclan cats as possible. That was before Silverfang’s shadow fell over him. Sighing he already knew what was coming before she even got a word out. Reluctantly he pushed himself to his paws, ignoring the strain it put on his still injured shoulder. It was only a minor injury in his eyes. There were bigger things to worry about. Shuffling his way over he sighed looking over the cats lashing his tail a little. They were taking off after Windclan’s sentinel leader who had probably just wandered off to the twoleg place after the battle. “I don’t know why you even let that old bat out of camp.” He muttered his eyes silently tracking the medicine cat as she made quite the show out of leaving camp. Windclan cats were far too dramatic for his liking. 

Frowning Frogstrike was hardly satisfied with her quick agreement, hardly seeming to hear a thing he was saying. Sighing softly the clan cat carefully leaned forwards to plop the kit back on the ground. “Just...be prepared kit.” He warned quietly shaking his head. He’d officially lost in mind. He shouldn’t even let her anywhere near her body. He took the lead this time keeping a careful eye on the kit as they started off. “If you run off I’m picking you up again.” It wasn’t exactly much of a threat, but the other threats he used to get kits to behave were only going to serve to distress her more. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Leafpaw's gaze turned and she let out a gasp as Dogclaw practically slammed down into the nest, the exertion he had expended due to his anger having been too much for the condition of his body. She took a step towards him but Lilyheart was already there, examining the wounds without saying a word. Giving an exasperated sigh, she pulled back a step as Hazelrunner urged that they return to the patrol. After a couple moments she had to oblige and turn about, bringing herself closer to her friend as they exited from the den. "She...she's been..." She gulped, wincing before she even said the word. "claimed by Frogstrike..." She felt like gagging as she had to repeat what she had heard, as they approached the other apprentices. "...and Wildberry knew, and she...she didn't say anything..." Her voice left her disbelief and hurt plain at her paws.

The kitten lashed her tail in annoyance as Frogstrike threatened her with the same treatment. As her paws pressed against the ground again she turned in the direction she had come from and began marching in that direction with the clanner who had seemingly lost his sense in order to help the kit. "You're wrong Mister." She mumbled to herself once more. They traveled the distance to the twoleg's nest in relative silence as the kitten seemed to keep herself in denial of what he was saying. To entertain the prospect was too scary; the consequences were too far-reaching and terrifying for a kit of four moons.

Shadowpaw's figure finally eased up as Wildberry left the camp behind her and the threat of having his head removed from his body decreased greatly. The camp seemed to break out in interested murmurs as she departed from it, although Shadowpaw tried not to pay it any mind as he instead focused on calming the fear that Wildberry had been able to instill within him. He turned slowly back to Mousepaw and Applepaw. "Umm...W-wow...That didn't sound good at all..." he mumbled quietly, stating a remarkably obvious fact of the situation. 

[wildcharm]

As soon as her friend had turned to leave the den with her, the she-cat turned to start back towards the rest of the patrol. She paused ever so slightly when she hesitated when she saw Dogclaw collapsed in the nest with the Shadowclan she-cat hovering him. She carefully moved to look at the Windclan cats huddled close to the entrance of camp. She had only taken a couple steps away from the den while Leafpaw struggled to find the Wordsworth describe what had happened to Whispersong. Her eyes turned to her friend, the involuntary wince making Hazelrunner hesitate before taking her next step. She nearly missed her next step when Leafpaw revealed just what had happened to her fellow warrior. The word she used and the images that came with it made a shudder run down her spine. “Wildberry knew? How would she know something like that? I can’t believe she would let that happen...” She mewed, in complete disbelief as she looked away from Leafpaw towards the entrance. Hazelrunner was completely stunned by the revelation. Suddenly Dogclaw’s seething anger and Wildberry’s quick retreat out of Riverclan made perfect sense. Walking forwards Hazelrunner looked at the ground, trying to determine what to do with this new information. Not only was their leader missing, but one of their warriors was in the heart of Shadowclan having to endure things that were far darker and more depraved than Hazelrunner’s imagination was willing to venture. 

Frogstrike frowned with narrowed eyes as he looked towards the kittypet who was still in denial. “Me too kit.” He muttered softly as he moved along after her on tender paws. There was really no question or doubt to be found in his mind. The cat who he had seen laying on the ground was the spitting image of the little kit in front of him. The only thing that was keeping him in the present was the constant stinging of his paws. His pads were already cracked and swollen from all of walking he was doing. The tom cursed himself for even getting into the mess in the first place. He stared ahead until they came to the same ugly yellow nest she had lead him to before. There was also the sickening familiar smell of blood and death along with it. Sighing he hauled himself up over the fence having lost most of his energy in the process of all of this madness. He landed not so gracefully on the other side of the fence. 

The Windclan apprentice did his best not to make his eye roll too overly obvious. “That’s almost an understatement. When have you ever seen Wildberry retreat from a fight?” Mousepaw questioned with a quirk of his brow. He had never known the she-cat to budge an tail length, especially when it came to confrontations. This must have been something even she couldn’t defend against. He watched the two she-cats making their way slowly back. What exactly had happened in there? 

Applepaw had reflexively jumped back as the medicine cat slipped through the entrance. Unlike the rest of his clanmates ready to speculate on what had caused the she-cat’s sudden exit Applepaw seemed more worried by the fact that she was leaving at all. “I hope she’s not leaving for good.” He mewed mostly to himself as he glanced towards the medicine cat den, worry written all over his face. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

"She told us it had happened, and then she just...wouldn't even...she brushed it off like it was nothing, like it was just okay she didn't say anything and that it wouldn't have made a difference...I...I don't understand...it doesn't sound like her at all. But she...she just..." She wouldn't even try to defend it. She just said that it wouldn't have mattered, and how could it have not mattered? How would that information not change anything? It didn't make any sense and Wildberry's choice to withhold it felt so strange and betraying because of that.

"We have to save her." Leafpaw emitted a quiet and upset whisper, feeling the urgency of Whispersong's state and at the same time knowing the absolute hopelessness of raiding the Shadowclan camp the way that the clans were right now. They were never going to make it--Nightstar would finish them all off with their savage tactics and the camp advantage. It was a pointless statement, that she knew was pointless.

Shadowpaw blinked as his gaze turned over towards Mousepaw. Shadowpaw hadn't exactly thought of it as retreating given the terrifying presence of the medicine cat as she stomped out, but it had almost sounded like there was a problem in the medicine cat's den, he couldn't argue against that fact--and with that perspective it did kind of seem like Wildberry might have been fleeing the confrontation, something that sounded foreign even to the apprentice who had only known her for a few short moons. "W-well..." He mumbled. "I don't know." Then, his gaze turned from Mousepaw to Applepaw as the kitten voiced his concern that she might not return. It was easy to lose sight of the fact that Riverclan had a lot of injured cats as well, but...they did need Wildberry. It was nervewracking to be prone to such dangerous times, yet not have their medicine cat on paw and ready. As much as he sympathized with Applepaw's concern, they still had Lilyheart.

Making the same mistake as before, Frogstrike was greeted by another dog who-

The kitten glanced back at Frogstrike with a cross stare as she heard him muttering something to himself, but was unable to pick the words out. She assumed it was something mean and gave him a withering glare that could probably only come from a spoiled kitten from a twoleg's nest. She continued on and her ears twitched as he cursed himself. He was just all sorts of foul, it seemed. Her mom wasn't going to like that.

She was right behind him as Frogstrike took the lead of approaching the site of the murder. She had to scrunch up her nose again, and muttered something about the worst smell she had ever experienced being around. Then, she hopped up on the fence with surprising ease for her young age and small size, then plopped down onto the other side right behind him. She couldn't help but notice the already awful scent increase in intensity as they hopped down, and as she stepped out from around him, her eyes met where the corpse of her mother, side viciously torn open and apart, was laying on the floor of the yard. An involuntary yowl of horror emitted from her throat as the kitten staggered back and tried to choke out words. "Oh, n-...m-mommy?!? Mommy?!?" She immediately felt a sharp dizziness begin to throw her off her paws and she had to almost force her paws forward towards her mother as the vicious and disgusting sight left her completely disoriented. It seemed she was so shocked and horrified that she couldn't really even begin crying as the four moon-old kitten was presented with this sight of her mother.

[wildcharm]

Hazelrunner shook her head in silent disbelief as she continued. It was almost unimaginable that Wildberry wouldn’t think that saying anything wouldn’t have changed the outcome of something. Surely it might have stopped Dogclaw and Hawktail from throwing themselves into a deadly situation or at least given them the right place to do it. “That’s not right at all. It makes it look like she couldn’t even care about what happens to Whispersong.” She mewed lowly not wanting her voice to raise loud enough for any Riverclan cats to listen in. Frowning she felt a pit open up into her stomach. She wondered if Wildberry would have stayed silent if the cat captured had been Rainstar instead. She was sure not. They weren’t the same cat, but why should a leader matter more than one of their own warriors? 

She sighed softly at Leafpaw’s proclamation that they had to save Whispersong. That was much easier said than done, but could it even be done? “We won’t leave her there. We’ll find a way to get to her.” She mewed softly, but nothing about her words were uncertain. “Lilyheart got out didn’t she? There might a way.” Hazelrunner said entirely thinking out loud. Even if it seemed completely impossible they had to at least try. Whispersong deserved at least that much. As they approached the gather Windclan and Riverclan cats she looked to Hawktail. “I need to talk to you about something.” She cast sideways glance at Jaggedscar and Silverfang. She didn’t know if this was right time, but it was going to come out one way or another and she figured he of all cats had a right to know now. 

Mousepaw sighed meaningfully to himself as Shadowpaw was forced agree that yes this was strange even for the she-cat to do. Applepaw was shifting nervously glancing towards the den. “You still have Lilyheart don’t you? Are you saying she isn’t good enough?” The questions were rather pointed at the younger apprentice who jumped to attention at the questions. “N-no...of course not..” He stammered for how to respond squirming a little in place. It was entertaining enough to almost make Mousepaw forget just how slowly this was all going, that was until the two she-cats finally reached them and the first thing out of Hazelrunner’s mouth was to talk to Hawktail. Couldn’t they do that during the patrol? He frowned when he noticed the disturbed look in Leafpaw’s eyes. “What’s wrong?” Mousepaw tilted his head to the side, much softer with his questioning of the she-cat than Applepaw. 

As soon as Frogstrike righted himself he cast nervous glances in both directions, honestly expecting another dog to pop out of nowhere. It would be just his luck today. The sharp yowl of surprise from beside him nearly made the tom jump out of his pelt. Sidestepping he watched her for several moments as she stumbled towards her mother’s side. The tom sat himself down where he stood. He was both tempted to go over and try to comfort the pitiful thing...or to take off now that she was back with her twolegs. Neither option was all that appealing. He wasn’t great at the whole comforting deal, nor was he blackhearted enough to leave a kit sitting there wailing.

So, all he could do in the end is sit there in silence waiting for the tears to start. He looked rather straight faced as he glanced up towards the sky. No matter what his excuse was he doubted it was going to be good enough to completely escape Nightstar’s wrath. That thought made a cold shiver run down his spin. That scared him far more than any dog might. 

[Shadowstartheleader]

Leafpaw racked her brain to justify some reason WIldberry might have held the information, some logic that would lead her to deciding it was the better option, but she could think of absolutely nothing that would justify omitting the information. It seemed so obvious of a choice to mention Whispersong's status to Leafpaw that she almost felt like there was some sort of information that they were missing, or that Wildberry wasn't telling them. It didn't make any sense at all and it was leaving Leafpaw in an uncomfortable uncertainty as they approached the patrol once more.

Her gaze lifted for a moment as Mousepaw asked what was wrong, although she didn't realize he was addressing her directly until he looked up and saw that his stare was fixed and tilted directly at her. She parted her lips partway to say something, but no particular response could make its way out of her mouth. Her gaze shook a little, drawing circles around his face as she awkwardly stared at the tom-cat awaiting for her to say something. Instead, she averted her gaze to the side and hoped for Hazelrunner to say something.

Shadowpaw bit his lip as Applepaw struggled awkwardly to respond to Mousepaw's leading question. It was a little uncomfortable to be a part of, but Mousepaw had a point. Lilyheart was a very good medicine cat, and she hadn't gotten worse just because her eye was taken. Applepaw and Riverclan as a whole had lost their own medicine cat, and Windclan having two of their own was a lucky circumstance for them. But...Shadowpaw didn't think that Applepaw had meant that Lilyheart wasn't good enough. Certainly the apprentice was thinking about his mother, and having four paws to take care of her instead of two.

He hadn't thought about it until now, but he had to wonder if the medicine cats had even managed to catch any sleep. The battle had taken place almost two days ago, and if they hadn't slept, certainly they would almost be passing out. He glanced passed Leafpaw and Hazelrunner towards the den, a pang of worry quickly springing into his heart for Lilyheart.

Then he heard Mousepaw ask what was wrong and he refocused on the cats in front of him. He quickly picked up on the distress of Leafpaw, and he tilted his head at her much like Mousepaw as she tried to say something to him but nothing came out. He quietly pulled in a breath as he wondered what was bothering her all of a sudden, and he took a step closer to her and prepared to ask what was bothering her.

Hawktail shut out any of the apprentices around him while they discussed and worried amongst themselves, focusing on Hazelrunner as she stated simply that they needed to speak. Her serious aura made him forget the youth and inexperience of Hazelrunner for just a moment as she clearly had something important to discuss. "What is it?" He asked within a normal conversation tone, before quieting down a bit. "Is this the place for it?" If they needed to start on the patrol, they could talk once they were out of the camp.

The kitten began wailing as she reached the corpse of her mother, seeing clearly it was her figure ripped apart by the dog. Her eyes were shocked open and couldn't close as she stared down at the form, unable to rip her gaze away from the image. Her wailing spread throughout the twoleg's nest and whilst she couldn't hear it, it sounded like twolegs were being stirred out of their nests as they began opening their giant maws.

[wildcharm]

Mousepaw was left staring expectantly at the apprentice struggled to gather her words, seeming to get caught up with whatever had played in that den. The young tom wandered what exactly had happened that had clearly spoke the she-cat so much. It had to be more than just a simple scolding from Wildberry like he might have first wanted to believe. It made him his desire to know just what had happened that much stronger. He carefully observed her for several more moments until she averted her eyes away from him to look down at her paws. Sighing softly to himself the end of his tail twitched. “That bad huh?” He muttered under his breath turning towards Shadowpaw as he moved to step forwards as well. He narrowed his eyes to slits very briefly before turning away to look back towards Leafpaw. He thought it was rich that Shadowpaw was already ready to step up to speak to Leafpaw himself like she was going to spill her woes to him. It only made the bitterness rise in the back of his throat. 

He looked over towards Applepaw who was worried staring towards the medicine cat den, seemingly now preoccupied with his woes about the lack of medicine cats. “I better go see Redsky. I hope you find Rainstar okay.” The Riverclan apprentice mewed quickly ducking away from the group of worrying Windclan cats. Mousepaw sighed sitting back on his haunches with a light huff. 

Hazelrunner was ready serious at the moment, the gravity of everything now laid bare was at the forefront of her mind. “It is rather urgent.” She mewed flatly not bothering to lower her voice at first. The two Riverclan cats were already listening rather intently to any of the bits of conversation that they might be able to pick up on. They were like vultures swooping overhead. There really wasn’t going to be any good place of way telling him of Whispersong’s fate. “It can wait until we can get out of camp.” She mewed in a softer tone giving him a long meaningful look, making it clear that this wasn’t something that should be pushed aside for very long.

Straightening herself up she stood herself up tall and strong. “I think we are ready to get a move on.” She mewed loud enough for the cats around her to hear. The call drove the Riverclan into action straightening themselves up. The young cat waited for those around them to gather. They had to do what was right by not only Rainstar, but Whispersong as well. 

The wailing that rose from the kit’s lungs was alarming nearly making Frogstrike to want to bury his head into the ground until she stopped her caterwauling. Scrunching up his face he winced looking towards the fence. “Kit you’re going to bring another dog to barge into the yard at this rate.” The tom snapped flattening his ears against his head. The twolegs pulling the door open to their nest drew a gasp from his lips. Diving into the bushes close by he scrambled to get out of sight of the twolegs as quickly as possible.