Desperate Times

[Mutant]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding:0; margin: 0; background-image:url(http://oi55.tinypic.com/2ey999j.jpg);background-repeat:repeat-y;width: 600px;height:400px;] The apprentice charged down towards the Twoleg bridge, breathing as best she could through the bundle of herbs in her mouth. Whitestar had told her to lead the Clan to the border; if there was any evidence of her growing position within RiverClan, it was right there. Had she been a regular apprentice, she would have been a warrior by this point; the fact that she was a medicine cat apprentice gave her status despite still being just that- an apprentice. She streaked towards the border, determination in her pale eyes. If they needed to speak with WindClan, she could do it. WindClan knew who she was, and it was clear even from here that the river had burst its banks- she could hear it frothing and charging nearby, and picked up her pace, breathing hard through her nose. She saw a small figure on the border; a WindClan cat had been out hunting, it seemed, and saw the massive line of RiverClan cats rushing towards the border. He stood alone on the border, and as Spottedpaw got closer she recognized the WindClan deputy- Littleheart. The tiny cat stood with the wind ruffling his fur, pale eyes narrowed as he watched them approach. Spottedpaw slowed to a trot as she neared the border, and put down the bundle as she walked straight up to Littleheart. "What business does RiverClan have at the border?" the tiny cat challenged, tail swishing aggressively. Spottedpaw wanted to club him around his ears. He knew why they were there- he just wanted them to say it aloud, to ask for help. She looked over her shoulder and saw that her leader was following the group; she wouldn't need to talk to WindClan herself, after all. She was a bit relieved, in all honesty- Littleheart did not look friendly. It would have been foolish of him to attack- he was vastly outnumbered- but Spottedpaw did not want to make a mistake in explaining the situation. "Here comes Whitestar," she told him, sitting down on RiverClan's side of the border. "You can talk to her." Littleheart lifted his chin and fixed his pale blue stare on Whitestar as she approached, making his authority clear. He was new to being deputy of his Clan, but he had no problems asserting his new position.

[♥ LEAFY ♥]

The RiverClan cats moved slowly toward the WindClan border. They were all wet, cold, and tired. Featherpaw walked behind the group, herbs sticking out of her mouth. She looked like a wet spotted rat. What a sight they all were. She quickened her pace to walk beside Hawkpaw. They pelts brushing each other. "Waht a wya ot wkae pu, huh?" She mumbled with a purr toward her brother, mouth full of herbs.

Featherpaw loved water very much, but that was a lot of water at a very fast pace. No, they were homeless forced to retreat to WindClan. She just hoped that WindClan was feeling generous for a few days until the camp dried.

[Bluemelons]

whitestar - nightfur - redblotch


the leader began to slow down, she walked up to littleheart, without flinching, her face was calm and kind. 'thank you spottedpaw.' she dipped her head to the apprentice and turned to littleheart again, 'i doubt you have not noticed the recent flooding in riverclan, our camp is destroyed, and we have nowhere to stay. riverclan asks for a day or two on your territory.' she flicked her tail while speaking.

'that rat probably won't let us into their territory.' redblotch hissed to nightfur, so that only he could hear. the tom smiled, 'if he remembers the moons his clan hunted on our territory he might. he replied softly, redblotch shook her head in disagreement, nightfur snorted quietly and ignored her remarks..

[dogtagxo]

YELLOWEYE, TIGERKIT & EGGPELT

[/i] Muttered the tom after he'd laid the herbs he had been carrying on the ground. The warrior glanced around, curious where Russetpaw stood in the midst of the clan. It would be an easy task for the apprentice to carry the herbs the rest of the way. Although Yelloweye didn't want to seem lazy. Eggpelt had weaved his way closer to Whitestar and placed Tigerkit on the ground between his paws. The wet kit looked around with big green eyes, as if unsure they were still safe yet.[/ul][/blockquote]

[Mutant]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true]

[atrb=background,http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j420/ImpressivePhoenix/littleheart22.png][atrb=width,600,true] [scrolly:h(300),w(350),sy,c()][style=margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 10pt] Littleheart nodded slowly, breaking his eye contact with Whitestar to look at the rest of the displaced Clan. WindClan had a debt to RiverClan; what they were asking was less than what WindClan had taken during their time of hardship, and despite his hesitance to be welcoming, even Littleheart had to admit that it was the right thing to do to allow them on their territory. He dipped his head and stepped aside. "You may all wait here on the border," he said. "I'll bring a small group of you to talk to Russetstar; I can hardly return to camp with all of RiverClan following. The flooding won't come up here, and we'll more than likely return soon to bring you somewhere more suitable for a longer engagement." Even as Clan deputy, Littleheart did not have the authority to to give all of RiverClan permission to come to their camp. That was the leader's decision, but he was fairly certain that Russetstar would allow them to stay- it was, he admitted to himself begrdugingly, the right thing to do. "Of course, I'd like for you to come, Whitestar. Is your medicine cat here, as well?" "I'm standing in his place for now," Spottedpaw spoke up, stepping forward again. Littleheart nodded, privately wondering why the RiverClan medicine cat was absent. Had he been caught in the flooding? The tiny cat looked out towards the river, his fur rippling nervously as he saw the rushing water. It was worse than he'd thought; there was a chance of this affecting WindClan territory, too. He'd have to talk to Russetstar about this; it wasn't safe for apprentices to be out alone if the river was really this swollen. "Very well," he said. "Pick whoever else you want to come speak to Russetstar, and I'll bring you to camp."[/scrolly] Word Count: Enough. Tagged: Whitestar, any other WindClan cats

[Night]

Hawkpaw and Birchkit

Hawkpaw followed the patrol towards Windclan, and smiled as Featherpaw came up to walk beside him. He greatly appreciated her pelt against his, even though both of them were drenched. He smiled as his sister talked with her mouth full of herbs. She was lucky that he could still understand her. Too exhausted to talk, the tabby apprentice managed a brisk nod at Featherpaw, smiling behind the herbs he carried. Seeing the clan stop, he slowed down his pace and stopped once he came up next to Tawnypelt, sitting down beside the brown tom. Hawkpaw shivered as the wind blew around them, and wanted so desperately to crawl into a warm den and sleep. Of course, he knew he couldn't do that. Watching the leader talk with Windclan's deputy, the apprentice twitched his ears, and turned to whisper to his sister. "I hope Windclan will let us stay... Where else would we be able to go?" He whispered, his eyes wide.

Birchkit had been carried by a warrior, and had squirmed the whole way to the border, letting out cries to be put down. All he wanted was to be with his mother. The water inside the nursery had scared him terribly, and he had cried until the warrior had picked him up. As they reached the border, the kit noticed his mother standing next to Spottedpaw and squirmed until he fell out of the warrior's grasp. He quickly ran over to his mother, cuddling up against one of her legs. He was shivering so much he could hardly talk, and once he saw his mother was busy he padded over next to Tigerkit and pressed his tiny soaked body against his brother's, desperately wanting to get warm.

[Bluemelons]

whitestar - nightfur - redblotch - greyheart - sandkit.

the leader dipped her head at littleheart, 'thank you littleheart.' she mewed softly, then turned to her clan. "yelloweye, come with me and littleheart. eggpelt, nightfur and the twins, watch the clan, make sure nobody wanders off, this isn't our territory." she ordered swiftly, before turning and flicking her tail for yelloweye to follow aswel. nightfur nodded, "hey redblotch wanna watch the kits?" he purred, the elder shook her head. "not really." she lay on her side, "tough!" he mewed, he pushed whitestars kits toward redblotch. she let out a long groan, "if they have no respect or ask for stories, a fox can have them!" nightfur chuckled at her attitude.

'i'm sorry to hear about ratstar, he was a brilliant leader, and his deputy would've done great after him too." she purred fondly, remembering the small black tom. the kit had matured, and him being older than his sibling, his mother took him out of camp more often for short walks around the territory. "never forget these lands." she'd always say, sandkit looked up at her, "will i be an apprentice soon?" he purred, "should be soon dear, you're -" she stopped, and looked up. "riverclan.." she hissed, "sandkit, stay behind me, you know if there is danger you run, and hide.' she warned quickly, sandkit nodded and plodded happily after his mother. "littleheart! whats happened here?" greyheart stopped, she was puzzled, what did riverclan want with windclan cats? sandkit walked over to whitestar, "you're whitestar, aren't you? we were told about how you helped windclan." he mewed, looking up at the leader in awe. whitestar smiled and nodded, "i was that whitestar, but that is in the past." she purred softly. greyheart dipped her head to whitestar, and littleheart.

[dogtagxo]

YELLOWEYE, EGGPELT & TIGERKIT

[/i] Asked the tom as he began to walk around the other cats to make sure all was in order. It wasn't his duty to do so, but there was no point in standing around doing nothing. "Starclan, please guide our medicine cat to us." He whispered quietly and then continued to move around. When he spotted Featherpaw and Hawkpaw, side by side, and walked over to them. "Are you two doing well?" He asked.

Yelloweye had nodded and followed after Whitestar and the few others to the Windclan camp. When they got there, a bit of commotion, but not much. The Windclan camp seemed odd to the Riverclan warrior, but he held his tongue and waited for Whitestar to have the official word. After all, best not to get off on the wrong paw with the clan that'll be offering them territory to stay on.. hopefully.[/ul][/blockquote]

[Semper]

Really, all Lynxpaw wanted was a nice, dry, warm den to fall asleep in and wake up when their camp was all drained out. He was miserable. He was drenched and he felt soaked the bone. His legs felt like stone, and his mouth was full of the tangy scent and taste of the rescued herbs. Blue eyes watched as the small patrol detached itself from the rest of the clan, huddled in a mass on the border. Not far off, Redblotch had settled down and seemed to be watching over the kits. The apprentice, with some fondness, remembered his days as a kit, pestering Oakheart with his questions or pouncing on his now late siblings. Of course, the familiar twinge of sadness returned as he thought of Featherkit and Pebblekit, but he had long since learned to let it go. They were in StarClan with his mother, watching down on him and Cinderstorm. Idly, he wondered what they would think about this whole mess...

On his other side, Featherpaw and Hawkpaw conversed with each other. Lynxpaw watched them for a moment before, on an impulse, deciding to join them. He had nothing better to do, and he wanted the company of some other cats. Perhaps their conversation would be able to distract him. Lifting his leaden legs once more, the apprentice pushed himself to his paws and trod over to the two other cats. When he reached them, it seemed as though Eggpelt had had the same idea as him. Sitting down, Lynxpaw carefully layed the probably ruined herbs at his paws and greeted the others in a tired, slightly worried tone, "Hi Featherpaw, Hawkpaw and Eggpelt. Mind if I join you?"

[♥ LEAFY ♥]

Everything was such a mess, but she was glad to have Hawkpaw and the rest of Riverclan. "We'll get to go home soon." Featherpaw purred reassuringly to Hawkpaw. She was trying to make her littermate feel better, but she herself needed to hear it too. Her mentor, Eggpelt, walked up to them, she smiled up at him. He seemed to be taking the flood better than most. "Hello Eggpelt. We're doing better I think." She laughed lightly.

Just then another cat joined them. Her blue gaze looked over to see the brown tabby body of Lynxpaw. "Hi Lynxpaw." She meowed with a gentle voice. "No, not at all. Please sit." She moved closer to Hawkpaw to make room for Lynxpaw. "How are you holding up?"

[Shizuka]

The twins, nearly impossible to tell apart as they charged after their clan, stayed closer together even as they ran. Russetpaw was feeling the water drying quickly from her fluffy pelt as she ran, and soon her fear was evident in the way her tail fluffed up to twice its size. She was almost sure that the others could hear her heart pulsing a hundred miles an hour, but the adrenaline was what kept her going on with all her strength. On land, she was as graceful as in water, but in her fear, she was reduced to a frightened apprentice, her golden eyes wide in her terror. Their home had just been flooded, and she had watched the rivers that had always given Riverclan its food, protection, life and name, destroy the camp they all called home, the safest place they knew. Now she felt as if the world was coming down around her, and she felt as vulnerable as the prey she hunted. Her only sense of security was with her Clan, faithful and loyal, and staying together and enduring this natural disaster. Russetpaw followed after her mentor, Yelloweye, as they climbed higher and higher, nearing the Windclan border. She just hoped that the Windclanners would remember how Riverclan helped them during the famine last year, and allow Riverclan to be in peace.

Soon they all came to a place where a tiny pale tom with orange markings stood defiantly on the border. The twins padded up and sat together among the others, their sleek bodies' outlines even more clearly defined when soaking wet. They had heard rumors of Ratstar's and Rainfrost's death, a major blow to Windclan, to lose their leader and deputy at once. The new leader was apparently Russetstar, and the deputy was the little tom standing before them. Russetpaw flitted about among the clan; after running for so long, she had lost track of him, but soon she saw his dark pelt, and trotted over. "Do you need any help carrying some herbs?" Russetpaw mewed in a voice, high pitched and barely held steady as she tried to calm herself down and catch her breath. But then she watched in anticipation as the patrol, including her mentor, head out into the moors. She moved over to the other apprentices, Featherpaw, Hawkpaw, and Lynxpaw, and smiling, trying to hide her nervousness, and mewed. "Hello. Are you all okay?" She stood their hesitantly, not yet sure if she was welcome. She hadn't spent much time with the other apprentices during her days as a kit, so they hadn't gotten to know each other all that well.

Bramblepelt moved over to set down Skykit beside her siblings, then returned to join his brother's side. Seeing Hawkpaw, Tawnypelt's apprentice coming over to sit by him, he smiled fondly, knowing that the apprentice had mistaked him for his brother, a very common mistake that the entire clan made all the time, soon beginning to refer to the brothers as "the twins". Even though both the brothers had wanted to train Hawkpaw and his sister Featherpaw together, Whitestar, to their frustration, had given Featherpaw to Eggpelt. But their frustration that they couldn't both have an apprentice soon disappeared, as they saw no reason why they still couldn't both be together when Tawnypelt trained his apprentice. In fact, the young apprentice couldn't have known that a few training sessions were held by Tawnypelt's identical twin, Bramblepelt. Either way, the young tom must have gotten used to having two mentors by now. Nothing was going to keep the brothers apart.

Swiftheart was in the camp out in the clearing, sunning herself, when she immediately sat up, awaiting the sudden arrival of a group of Riverclanners, led by their recently made deputy, Littleheart. She couldn't be more proud of her mentor, even though she, like the rest of the clan, was terribly saddened by the news of the deaths of Ratstar and Rainfrost. So far, Russetstar seemed to be a good leader, and she trusted him. She only wondered what was going on with Riverclan, and remembered their debt to Riverclan. Have they come to ask for repayment? she wondered. She looked up, seeing Greyheart and her only surviving kit, Swiftheart's own apprentice, Sandpaw, running up to meet Littleheart, and she too got up to go check it out, trying to stand on her tip toes to see the whole rest of the patrol. It was a small patrol, but it consisted of very important cats, including Whitestar, and a gray tom she hadn't met before. Dipping her head respectfully to Littleheart and Whitestar, she meowed, her tone friendly, but still curious as to the reasons behind all this. "Hello, Littleheart and Whitestar." Unable to come up with a polite, yet casual question about all this, Swiftheart decided to just wait for Whitestar to state her purpose. Turning to Littleheart, she meowed, "Shall I send for Russetstar?"

[Night]

Hawkpaw, Birchkit and Russetstar

Hawkpaw smiled at his sister's words, thankful for her comfort. He watched as the warrior Eggpelt walked up to them, and nodded when he asked if they were doing alright. "I'm fine." The tabby apprentice stated, his icy eyes showing little emotion. He glanced at his sister and looked for injuries, but when he found none he looked back at the tom. "And Featherpaw is okay, too. We're pretty strong." He meowed, grinning at Eggpelt. Now was not the time to let his attitude get the best of him. He greeted Lynxpaw and Russetpaw with a smile, and moved over a little bit to make room for them. With so many bodies around him, Hawkpaw began to warm up. The wind had pretty much dried his fur all the way, and now it was all poofed out and messy. Honestly, he didn't care. He was just happy that everyone had made it out okay. Looking at everyone around him, the tabby tom smiled. "I'm glad everyone is okay." He mewed, his voice sincere.

Birchkit let out a meow of protest as his mother followed the small tom away, but stayed where he was. He knew that Whitestar had important business to take care of. His eyes went wide when Nightfur pushed them towards the elder Redblotch, but Birchkit didn't protest. Normally he would ask the elders to tell him stories, and would often sit with them, but he didn't even think about that. He hurried over to the she-cat and snuggled into her fur, still shivering. The wind had chilled him to the bone, and he looked like a tiny wet rat. He looked up at the elder with sad blue eyes, wishing desperately that they could go home.

~

Russetstar had been sitting inside his den, looking at the walls sadly. His fur was well-groomed, as he thought that he should try to at least make himself look presentable when he walked around the camp. The sudden death of Ratstar had troubled him deeply. He had never seen so much blood in his life, and he had to hold in a shiver as he remembered the former leader's body being carried back to the camp. Looking at the walls of the den brought him memories of the leader he had known so well. He still couldn't believe that he was now in charge of the whole of Windclan. No one had seen Rainfrost since Ratstar's body had been carried into camp, and most were concerned. The former deputy was supposed to have become leader, but something went wrong. The whole clan had waited for days for the she-cat to return, and when she didn't return everyone knew that she would never come back. After all, everyone had known that Rainfrost wouldn't be ready for leadership. The whole clan began to be driven into a terrible state. No one ate, so patrols were took, and Windclan had sat and grieved for days on end. When asked to step up and become leader, Russetstar had known that he had to do it. Windclan had needed a leader. The warriors of Starclan had accepted him greatly, and that had boosted his confidence. The ginger tom was suddenly yanked out of his thoughts by a familiar smell. Riverclan. He stood up quickly, fur on end and yellow eyes wide, and poked his head out of the den just in time to see Littleheart lead a Patrol of Riverclan cats into the camp, who were headed by Whitestar. Something was wrong. Russetstar quickly licked his fur back into place and headed out of the den towards the group of cats, and noticed some of the clan coming out of their dens. He walked up just in time to hear Swiftheart ask if she needed to go get him. "That won't be necessary." He told the she-cat with a smile, then stepped in front of Whitestar, standing tall. "Greetings, Whitestar. What business does Riverclan have with Windclan?" Russetstar asked, his tone friendly but his eyes cautious.

[Semper]

Lynxpaw flashed Featherpaw and Hawkpaw a brief smile as they welcomed him to the group. His ears flicked and in as pleasant a tone as he could muster, the tom meowed quietly, "I'm holding up pretty well, thanks for asking. I'm really just ready for a nice warm den; hopefully WindClan will be generous enough to shelter us for at least the night. How are you guys?" He shifted his gaze from Featherpaw, whose question he had answered, to include both Eggpelt and Hawkpaw. Now that he thought about it, WindClan really had no grounds to refuse their help, at least in his opinion. Though it had been a while ago, Riverclan had let them fish in their territory when there had been no prey. It was only fitting that WindClan repay the debt by letting them stay for the night, perhaps longer if they were lucky.

Cinderstorm's gray tail flicked as his blue gaze travelled across his clan, all of whom looked bedraggled and soaked, but more or less in decent shape. The flood had taken him by somewhat surprise, but in hindsight, there had been a large storm that Leaf-bare. Though the river was usually a little higher come New-leaf, all of the extra melted snow had had to go somewhere. It only made sense... Whitestar's small patrol had already been dispatched to WindClan's camp, and the tom had decided to stay behind with the rest of the clan. For a moment, cobalt eyes rested on the small group of apprentices before returning to watching the surrounding area. His damp fur clung to his frame, and the feline shivered in the cool breeze that had picked up recently. Turning his head and peering into WindClan's territory, Cinderstorm could only hope that their neighbor would provide them with shelter.

[Bluemelons]

whitestar - redblotch - greyheart - sandkit

the she-cat nodded to the other windclan warrior that had come, greyheart look up at swiftheart, 'i think whitestar wants to meet him in his den. riverclan need help it seems. she whispered to the warrior while passing by to meet her kit who had wandered away from behind her. sandkit looked up and purred, rubbing against her legs. 'come with us sandkit.' she mewed softly to her kit.

'russetstar. she dipped her head to the leader. 'riverclan is in danger in our own territory. we ask for a night or two of shelter on the edge of your territory. there are dangerous floods, my clan barely made it out of the camp. our medicine cat is missing as well, we couldn't even stay and look for her.' she found it hard to explain the danger in their camp and territory due to these floods.

redblotch looked down at the frightened kit. 'hush little one,' she rasped, licking his head, 'your mother will return, and we will soon be home. don't worry. she rested her head on her paws, her long tail wrapping as much as it could around the kit trying to keep birchkit warm.

[VineStar12]

The warrior sat off a little bit away from the rest of his clanmates from Riverclan; he wanted to be alone right now. He loved water and swimming, but being soaked and breathing down a few gulps of it was enough to put any cat in a bad mood. So, he was working on cleaning his white pelt, which was streaked with mud and dirt from when he slipped during the flood. Disgusting! Cloudfeather's pink tongue swiped over the patches of brown goop and spat them out into the grass, scrunching his nose up at the taste. Very unappetizing. With a small sigh, his bright green gaze flickered over to his clanmates, watching the kits play. Hmph.