Amalric and Shadowclan [P5]

Mallowpaw nudged Softwhisper softly. "He's awake," he meowed, flicking his tail towards the cat. "It also looks like he has the strength to talk."
Mallowpaw looked at Sagestar rather awkwardly. "Softwhisper and I have work to do, Sagestar," he meowed, puffing out his chest. "Rather important work, at that."

At first, the leader looked quite taken aback at the medicine cat's forcefulness, but then again - knowing his brother - he wasn't all that surprised. Just as it was Sagestar's job to be the force to keep order, it was the soft-hearted tom's job to keep peace, both beyond the borders and with StarClan. "And the cats who attacked him?" He meowed, pressing unto Softwhisper, wanting to know what he thought of this. "You don't really think a clan cat did this, did you?" Well, one of their own might - but as far as he knew, this cat's arrival surprised everyone in the clan.

His green gaze flickered to the stranger in curiosity as he jolted himself awake, mumbling out a barely audible word. He sat down and wrapped his tail around his legs. He still looked terrible, but that was good enough for him.
Sagestar was about to ask a question when his brother's apprentice interrupted. The leader simply gave him an unamused look. Softwhisper might have been able to pull that off - but you can't yet, Mallowpaw. He didn't want to tell you to shut up - but the look on his face pretty much said it all. Shut up. Nothing personal... "I have rather important things to attend to as well - like figuring out why a rogue stumbled into our camp bleeding to death." He muttered flatly before turning his attention to the stranger.

Well, maybe it should be like Nightwing had said before. Start with small paw-steps. "Greetings." The tom meowed curtly, but formally. His words were slow and easy, like if you were trying to speak to a sick kit. "Do you have a name?"

Amalric watched the leader with tired azure eyes. "Amalric." he said simply, looking over his scars with some surprise, though he didn't show it much. It took strength for eyes to widen, which the tom did not want to waste on a facial expression. Besides. He had important things to ask himself.
"Where is Joanna? Is she safe?" he meowed, looking around the den and seeing no sign of the pale she-cat.

The tom flicked the end of his tail, looking at the two other clan cats curiously before focusing his attention back to the newcomer. Amalric. What a curious name. He wondered where it was from - not even the few kittypets he had met had such a name like it.
At the next sentence, Sagestar had almost answered at once - repeating the words Amalric had said earlier. Then he had to stop and remind himself if he pounced too hard, Softwhisper would almost certainly shove him out - he was simply glad the medicine cat hadn't already.
"You came alone." Sagestar muttered, "You seemed to remember what happened earlier - you don't now?"

Softwhisper was starting to get nervous. Sagestar should know that he can't interview cats while they're laying in a heap of blood in the Medicine Cat den. Something told him that his brother knew, but he just didn't care. He wanted 'what's best for ShadowClan' and to 'protect ShadowClan cats and ShadowClan interests and ShadowClan pride.' But other cats weren't to be treated badly because they weren't born into ShadowClan. Amalric needs help. It should be Sagestar's automatic response to extend his resources to a cat that would have died without them. But that just wasn't Sagestar. "Sagestar," Softwhisper hissed. Now is not the time., he should have said. But he didn't. "Use caution." was all he said, narrowing his eyes.

Amalric thought about that for a second, before the memories hit him. Yes, his sister was killed by those mangepelts. After all he did to help them take that sky clan, they did that. Every last one of them would pay.
The tom did not answer, looking down and seething with rage. Curse the limitations of his body at the moment. If not for his injuries, he would have darted into the forest. Though, it was not a practical thing to do, and that would surely kill him. Now, though, there were a bunch of cats here...
"Are you the shadow clan?" Amalric asked. He had heard of all the clans while in Skyclan. He remembered running in the direction he heard of them being in. They were apparently mean, but all there were were a ginger tom who saved his life, a tall tom who seemed peeved with him, and a tiny cat who helped the ginger one. He had expected massive cats with razor teeth.

The tabby didn't bother to say anything back to his brother. Yeah, he knew it. Trying to get answers out of this cat now would be just about as easy as walking on thin ice; he could handle it though. And - honestly, whether Softwhisper liked it or not - Sagestar had the final word in every matter. The medicine cat should be pleased that the leader was playing by his rules, letting him get away with so much. The two of them were so different in many different ways, Sagestar wondered if they even were truly related sometimes.

He did notice the sudden change in attitude Amalric had, no matter how nimble and weak he appeared to be at the moment. He stayed silent for a few moments, wondering how to answer. Up until this point, he had avoiding mentioning ShadowClan's name - the less information they had given away, the better for the sake of the clan; though it appears that this tom already knew of them. The question that sprang to his mind was - why? And how did he know where their camp was, or was that just chance?
His green eyes shone in thoughtfulness for a few moments. Well, there was no point in denying who they were - and this tom wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. He supposed there was no loss in making themselves known at this point. "Yes." He answered, "I am Sagestar, the leader. This is Softwhisper, our medicine cat, and Mallowpaw, his apprentice."

Nightwing padded in, her paw steps light. "May I listen in?" She mewed softly to Sagestar, not wanting to startle the cat.

Amalric nodded ever so slightly. "Nice to meet you..." he murmured, coughing a few times. Silence then came from the cat, as he longed wistfully for his sister's return. He replayed killing Flamestar in his head, over and over. Would it have been better? He suddenly felt anger for himself. The cat had died anyway, but now Joanna perished as well. And for what? Hesitation on his part?

Softwhisper felt uncomfortable as Nightwing entered the den. It was beginning to get crowded, and that wasn't good for Amalric here. Sagestar shouldn't be introducing the ShadowClan cats. He should have been soothing Amalric and telling him everything will be fine and pumping poppy seeds into his system. As if the wounded cat would even remember their names by the time he went to sleep and woke back up. Softwhisper walked over to his herb piles, and pushed two poppy seeds near Amalric, just in case. He wanted everyone out of his den for Amalric's sake, but equally because he was getting annoyed at his Clanmates. Half of them marveled at the cat like he was some kind of foreign object and the other half wanted to drill him with questions. It was too much for both the medicine cat and his patient.

Softwhisper nodded at the Deputy, letting her know that he had registered her presence. However, he didn't speak directly to her, instead to Amalric. "Nice to meet you, as well." He stated, looking tense, but his words were calm and soothing. Softwhisper continued, "But you really should get some rest. If you're having trouble sleeping, I can help you with those poppy seeds. Don't worry . . . "

The cat said he had heard of ShadowClan, so Softwhisper was going to be as cautious as possible when it came to representing them. His Clan had a reputation for guile and depravity, and he didn't want to further their reputation. What would they have to gain by it, anyway? This cat obviously didn't belong to the Clans and he was hardly a threat. ". . . they're harmless." the medicine cat finished, talking about his Clanmates as much as he was the seeds.

"Very well. I suppose sleep is good." said the cat quietly, though didn't trust the drug-like seeds all too well. Antioch usually messed with herbs on patients while she was traveling with Deomilites, and a lot of times she had no idea what they were. She commonly killed cats just to see if she could save future ones. Due to this, Amalric was a little hesitant about taking herbs he had never seen before.

Sagestar nodded as his deputy stepped in, giving her permission to take her seat in his brother's den. His ears perked up as he noticed Softwhisper pass over the poppy seeds, which he knew - especially in the cases of cats who hardly ever took them - would wash Amalric into sleep faster than you could say 'Fourtrees'. Or, at least, that's how it was in his experience. There was a reason he wasn't medicine cat. Several, actually.

He held his tail up, as if to signal "wait". Although, he seemed unneeded. The rogue was staring down at the seeds as if they were deathberries. Still, though, Sagestar needed answers as soon as possible - and if the ginger tom planned on keeping him quiet for another few hours, he needed to ask this now. "Amalric," He meowed, frowning. "Who attacked you?"

Amalric looked up at the leader. His eyes grew dull. "I wasn't attacked. It's a long story." he meowed. "I will tell you that your neighbors have perished--" he coughed, wincing as it sent pain up his pelt. "...and you will as well."
He glared down the leader, blue eyes holding firm. "Well, you were. I'm going to...help you."

Nightwing nodded and quickly found a spot away from the tom, not wanting him to get overwhelmed by the amount of cats around him. Then his words struck her.
I will tell you that your neighbors have perished and you will as well.

Her fur rose. W-w-what? She glanced unsure at Sagestar. fear sparked her gaze. She thought of the clans. Which clan?!

Amalric's words stunned him just as much as it did Nightwing, and the others in the den as well, he was sure. As he replayed the words in his mind, he pictured the different clans - admittedly, his mind rested on a certain neighbor for a moment, but he deemed it highly unlikely and pushed the thoughts away. Then he recalled the scent of SkyClan and felt the fur along his spine start to rise. A few things were starting to make sense now, there was no way that rogues could push away an entire clan away, though... right?
And you will as well...? That did it. Sagestar barred his teeth, hardly even noticing Nightwing looking in his direction. "Why should we believe you?" He asked, his green gaze staring back just as fiercely. "Explain yourself."