Disaster (closed)

WindClan had been decimated. After checking up on all her Clanmates, and searching in vain for any remaining herbs with which to treat their serious wounds, Ashstar had left Brindlewhisker in charge of the camp and gone off. Not too long ago, Blizzardstar had come to her for help.... now it was her turn to cry for assistance. Once she would gave shrunk from the idea of demanding a favor from the younger leader, but her Clan's predicament was too serious to allow her pride to get in the way of any possible help. Not only beating the defending Clan into the ground, after finally breaking through the line of cats and teaming up on each still-fighting warrior, RiverClan had stolen every single herb but deathberries from Mottleheart's stores and taken away a large chunk of territory. She couldn't, she wouldn't stand for it.... but she also couldn't stand. After being the last cat fighting, four or five RiverClan warriors along with Ivystar had piled up on her, clawing her to bloody shreds. But with no herbs, there was no help. All her wounds still open, barely standing, the leader had slipped off before Mottleheart could demand she rest or eat what little prey they had. Her Clanmates came first, always.

However, now that she was out on the territory, Ashstar was beginning to regret not taking any warriors with her, though they were all similarly injured. She tripped over her own feet, stumbling and slipping, barely conscious. From blood loss and exhaustion combined, she was running out of what little energy the adrenaline of worry had granted her. Leaving scarlet pawprints on the cold, frozen ground, the gray she-cat found her way to ThunderClan's territory, retracing old steps she had taken before, mind too numb to do anything other than focus on every pawstep. But before she could get to the other Clan's camp, she collapsed, unable to take another step. It had been too much. She lay on her side, paws weakly twitching in some foregone attempt to get up, still bleeding copiously, taking staggered breaths. She needed to... keep going....  The exertion she had put her body through, the strain of it, was too much. She wasn't as young as she had once been. From her battle wounds and the stress and the long journey with no rest, her body stopped. A last breath slowly escaped from her lungs. Dull green eyes slipped closed.

Ashstar died.

She was floating in blissful nothingness, a wonderful, restful sleep. It was warm, wherever she was, and she was comfortable. There were no worries here. No pain, no stress, no problems. There was no reason to wake up. She didn't want to wake up. She never wanted to....

A paw prodded her, none too gently, from one side. The she-cat groaned and rolled over, batting the paw away. It smacked her across the face. She sat up abruptly, shocked into awareness. A familiar brown tom stood bristling at her, eyes narrowed. The expression brought back memories. Everything flooded back in an instant. "I- what- Falconstar?" Ashstar spluttered, no longer asleep whatsoever.

"Who else?" the leader snapped, still looking displeased. "You shouldn't be here. You should be out there, making plans, getting your territory back. I didn't protect that land for years so you could just lose it!"

"I tried my best," the gray she-cat returned, fur raising a little in response to his hostility. He hadn't changed a whisker. "There was nothing I could do! They took our herbs, our territory-"

The brown tom growled, looking into the distance as if remembering something. "I noticed that. Ivystar is every bit a RiverClan fox-heart as Fishstar was, never mind her heritage. A strong leader, that one- but a bit too harsh on her own Clanmates. She ought to listen to her medicine cats. But that isn't why I'm here." Falconstar got closer to her, sticking his muzzle in her face. "I won't waste time telling you what you could have and should have done. But I gave you a life for strength, Ashstar. Use it now. Your Clanmates need you! There's no time to lay asleep on the ground. Stop beating around the bush and get an alliance with ThunderClan. Take your territory back and show those pieces of crowfood who really is the best Clan in the forest!" The fire burning in his eyes wasn't unfamiliar. This was the tom who had driven SkyClan and RiverClan out of their camps long ago, who could have conquered the whole forest if he wanted. Though she had once shrunk from his legacy, she not embraced it. If he believed in her... she could do this. Ashstar nodded firmly, and saw him offer her a slight smile."Now get out of here."

Gasping, Ashstar awoke, still covered in bloody scratches, but no longer exhausted to the point of death. StarClan could only do so much, she supposed. Another life gone. Still too tired to get up, the WindClan she-cat looked up to see another familiar face.

Soft pawsteps could be heard as the white leader walked through the territory, paws brownish and slightly wet as the once fluffy snow started to melt under the increasing temperatures that foretold the arrival of newleaf. Blizzardstar couldn’t help but feel a weight being lifted from her shoulders with this, not too big, but enough.

Soon, she wouldn’t need to keep worrying about having her clan starve to death. This Leafbare had been brutal on her and her clan, in more ways than one, but she trusted that when they recovered from this season they would be stronger than ever, toughened by this harsh test. However, the flashing memories of Flameclaw’s request still made constant appearances in her dreams…she seriously didn’t want to go to war against RiverClan again over Sunningrocks, but she had made a promise, and she wasn’t the kind of cat to take back her words, especially not when it had been StarClan themselves the once she had made such promise to.

Her ears almost immediately raised when she noticed the mix of scents brought by the soft breeze. WindClan…and blood.

Not losing a single second and with her guard very high just in case, she moved quickly and silently through the forest that was her home, a feat most cats would think impossible from a cat that looked as big and bulky as her. Then again, only her own clanmates would understand not only that her appearance thanks to her fluffy coat could easily misguide them, but also how easy was for any ThunderClanner to move silently through the terrain that would be a noisy nightmare for anyone else.

She wasn’t sure of what she was supposed to expect when she reached the source of the scent, but the sight wasn’t exactly one that would help her to calm down in the slightest.

She approached the still figure of Ashstar lying down on the frozen forest floor with a worried expression and hurried steps, no longer caring to keep quiet. For a couple seconds she could’ve sworn her dear friend was dead, but it was then when her eyes opened and head raised “Ashstar, what happened?!”.

If she had been in any less of a hurry to pick up the injured leader and carry her to her camp, as she was doubtful she could walk on her own with so many injuries, she probably would’ve noticed the faint scent of RiverClan in her pelt or the fur stuck between her claws. At the time she could only think her friend was badly injured and needed immediate attention from a medicine cat.

It was just who she'd come to see. Ashstar's heart lifted a little at the sight of her friend's face. "B-Blizzardstar...?" she whispered hoarsely, wanting to believe her eyes. At the leader's question, she remembered why she was there, and any temporary happiness she'd felt at the white she-cat's appearance almost immediately dissipated. The battle... her Clan. They needed help. "Don't w-worry about me," she protested weakly as the ThunderClan she-cat came near to try and pick her up, "worry about my C-Clan. We... oh, StarClan...." She broke off into a bout of coughing for a few seconds. She'd been feeling sick lately, but even before their herbs were stolen, she hadn't wanted to bother Mottleheart. It was too late now. No need to further burden the broken medicine cat. When she finally got control of herself, she shook her head again, angry at herself for being so dang weak. Here she was, still laying on the ground, unable to even sit up. "We need h-help, Blizzardstar. R-RiverClan attacked us."

Despite her voice being tiny and weak and hoarse, the WindClan leader talked, words tripping over each other in a desperate race to get away, needing to tell what happened, reliving each and every moment of pain as she recalled it. "I-Ivystar came into my territory with a full b-battle patrol, d-demanding that we give R-RiverClan our herbs. Threatened a w-war if we didn't. F-fox-hearts." She broke off coughing for a few heartbeats, then shook it off and resumed. "My C-Clanmates were sick, wounded from s-skirmishes with RiverClan, under constant th-threat from a rogue who'd k-killed an apprentice. There was n-no way we could spare any h-herbs, even if we'd w-wanted to. I r-refused, and they attacked." Violence, yelling, Ivystar's remorseless eyes, blood everywhere....

Memories flooded back, as painful as the reality. "W-we fought well. It was our own t-territory, we were d-defending our Clanmates... we sh-should have won. But we d-didn't. The m-moment one warrior f-fell, RiverClan cats would t-team up on another, until finally they w-won by numbers, with f-four or five cats swarming each W-WindClanner. I was the o-only one left, until they g-got to me too. Fish-faced p-pieces of crowfood can't even f-fight their own battles.... W-With all my Clanmates lying b-bloodied in the dirt, Ivystar declared v-victory. She t-took all of our herbs- a-all of them, Blizzardstar- and then took away p-parts of our territory, too. Greedy s-scum. Now my whole C-Clan is wounded with n-no herbs whatsoever, and our already s-starving families have our most plentiful h-hunting areas taken away..." Desperate, broken-hearted tears slipped from her eyes to her cheeks to the ground below, already soaked in her blood. Whatever dignity she'd once had was already destroyed beyond recognition, so she didn't even care anymore. This Ashstar was the complete opposite of the self she showed at Gatherings and to her Clan, the shattered, grieving part she hid from everyone- a different cat entirely. Her voice broke. "Blizzardstar... we won't survive leaf-bare."

“Just like you helped me when I arrived to your camp wounded and weak all those moons ago, I’ll help you now…” Not without some effort, the white leader grabbed her friend and threw her over her beck so she could carry her without having her wounded body dragging across the forest floor, she didn’t want her to lose a life out of infected wounds if she could avoid it.

She started to walk towards camp with Ashstar on her back, listening to her tale as she did. At first her blood started to boil with anger. Stealing herbs, especially in leafbare, was beyond unforgivable…to the point where she even started to wonder if it should be considered a crime as great as murder. After all, lack of treatment after a battle like the one described by Ashstar could easily kill many cats, even a whole clan if things were bad enough.

But it was Ashstar’s last words that cased her previously boiling blood to feel like it had turned into ice. She went quiet for several seconds, only the sound of her paws breaking the silence. Thousands of thoughts roaming wild through her mind and her heart beating quickly against her chest.

Her eyes scanned her territory, scorched trees looming above them and the slowly melting snow revealing patches of darkened earth underneath. She trusted the arrival of Newleaf would take advantage of the ashes and soot that would help the ground to become more fertile and give new life to the forest…but at the time it was a cruel reminder of the state her own clan was in. Low prey, low herbs, but instead of succumbing to the well-known wave of grief and impotence that tried to throw her off her paws she took a deep breath and forced her head to clear of the dark clouds tht treatened to engulf her.

“Your clan will survive this leafbare, Ashstar” Her voice had been drained of the usual motherly tone it held, replaced by what could only be described as a passion and confidence that many would think the broken and insecure leader that she had been for the couple last moons didn’t own. It was like if Ashstar was speaking to a completely different cat “My clan may not have much to offer right now and for that I apologize, but we are not ones to abandon our friends in their times of need. I’ll speak with Mapleleaf, and once your wounds had been tended to she shall accompany you to your clan alongside some warriors and as many herbs as we can spare to treat those that need it the most. We will find a way to help you get your territory back, but for now, if my clan agrees, I shall grant you and your clanmates permission to hunt on some areas of the forest to pull through what is left of the leafbare if you need the extra prey”.

Blizzardstar was aware that by promising such things she was cutting ThunderClan’s low resources even shorter, and doing so was not going to be something most of her clanmates would be exactly happy with. However, she hoped they would understand WindClan’s desperate situation and remember the help they granted them after the Sunningrocks battle. If something she was sure would happen was that both clans would feel related to each other in one thing, and it was the pain and destruction that RiverClan had brought upon them in this harsh season.