The serpent's den (OPEN)

((The same evening as this topic))


Truth be told. He didn’t ask for much. Warm weather, a nice warm rock, a bright sun, and a warm meal. They were simple wants by any creatures standards. The rock he had been resting under had just gotten rightly warm before he was abruptly smashed. Now his little head hurt. He was in the dark and surrounded by moss and brambles that scraped his scales. Little S’eris was most unimpressed. How long had the great beast waited to knock him about?

Well, it didn’t matter. Not really. Not anymore. Warmth slowly spread through his little serpentine body. It seeped into his scales and warmed the cold muscles beneath as a subtle twitch made the lining move. S’eris felt annoyance settle in his bones. His hiss rasped along the dry walls of the strange musty tasting den as his tongue flickered about. It tasted dirt, rock, a bit of a stick…. and finally, fur. The snake paused for a moment, tasting again. Definitely fur. Warm fur. He had never tasted such a strange thing before. His muscles coiled as he slowly slithered free from his placement.

The beast beneath him stirred. S’eris hung on, a hiss broke the silence of the cave, but a piece of fur only moved. A brighter tuft of fur flashed in his vision. It was small, differently coloured, and probably not attached to the massive beast. Finally, S’eris would have a meal. For the first time in weeks. He cooked, readying his body for the strike as white flashed again before him, and he struck. Fangs embedded into pale white fur which twitched and stirred. The beast beneath him suddenly jolted and S’eris lost his grip on his prize with a dismayed hiss. It was attached… what an odd creature. Why would part of it be so differently coloured?

---

The sun shone warm in the bright and vibrant meadow. Each sunbeam brought down more comforting warmth that Oakstar embraced with a mighty purr. Around him, his family… all of them. Even Coyotefang stood in the distance. It was a peaceful scene… one he would never experience in reality, though he longed for it. Most of the cats here had made their journey, but his youngest kits had not. He looked over to them with a tender smile. Watched as Stormpaw taught Daisypaw how to hunt, his heart warm with love and light as he looked over to Dustcloud. Her scarred face as happy as his own as he rested his head against her shoulder.

Something flickered in the distance. Oakstar ignored it for a moment, but it happened again. Brighter, more vibrant. Orange, yet pale. He blinked, then watched in shock as the grass slowly began to lose its colour. The cats around him faded slowly, bringing back the hard reality that this was merely a dream. He bit back a kittish yowl of denial, the urge to scramble after the image now fading into distant memory as he slowly stood on paws that felt strangely weak.

His tail stung. A factor that puzzled him. His heart felt heavy, weighted down by something he didn’t know as the tom approached until Oakstar could see Featherheart’s face. His green eyes filled with sadness as he looked where the kits had been playing moments before. The grief of another cat, one who understood what those visions meant. But it was not why he was here.

"[color:d5ec=#7531Oc]...If every life could only be lost so peacefully.” Oakstar blinked, his amber eyes widened in shock at the words. Featherheart merely looked back at him with a warning. "[color:d5ec=#7531Oc]Something lurks within your den...” The warning was spoken without the usual layers starclan usually gave. It was direct enough that as the vision around Oakstar faded, he found himself bolting upright in his nest. His breathing laboured as his chest ached from the venom, a hiss in his ears… and as he looked up, the cold eyes of a snake.

The strike was swift. Oakstar yowled a hoarse battle cry. His voice broken by pain as he lashed out with his claws in an attempt to strike down the snake. It’s serpentine body twisting as he fell into the den wall in his pain. Venom still coursed through him, he could feel his pelt plastering to his body as he clumsily struck out at the snake, feeling the crunch of bones against rock. The lash of the smaller body as the snake roiled in his grip, but the sharp sting of needles in his paw.

The snake was dead, but it’s broken jaw had injected a final bite into Oakstar’s white tipped paw. Pain coursed through him once more as he shakily stood. A word desperately yowled as he fell into the ravaged den.
"HE...lp..."

Icepaw had been looking for her mentor. She needed to speak to him about something important, and so she followed his scent. When she found Oakstar she gasped and ran towards camp. She wouldn’t be able to carry him home on her own. She was too small and weak.

Dacedream's sleep had still not been coming to her easily since leaving the nest with her kits. She found herself napping quite a bit more throughout the day compared to how much she'd done before kits, despite that it was getting easier to settle her face into Duskrain's fur, ignoring every rustle and sound with the half-conscious thought that it might be one of her kits trying to sneak out of the nursery - the nursery they hadn't been in since they'd earned their apprentice names. When she woke this time, though, she knew she had heard something. Her fur was bristling and her green-hazel eyes widened as she tried to process or remember what had awakened her. "Something's wrong," the warrior stated to whoever else was in the den, in case they'd not heard it themselves.

The tortoiseshell she-cat swept to her feet and exited the den towards Oakstar's den, a strange concern in her stomach. She spotted Icepaw looking terrified, and Dacedream asked with a startled voice, "Icepaw? What's wrong?" But the scent of blood and the acrid tang of... of something that Dacedream recognized from her time in the forest wafted from inside, and instead of waiting she swept in, calling, "Oakstar, it's Dacedream - I heard something, and I thought I should check." She felt extremely strange coming into the leader's den when she - like him - was not originally from ThunderClan, and she hadn't received permission, but she was compelled, and what she found in the pale shadow of the den made Dacedream cry out with fear. "O-Oh! Get Mossbloom, Icepaw, quick!"

The leader lay battered, motionless on the floor; his nest was scattered and the floor scuffed, and there were spatters of blood - drips showed in his tail and his paw. Her eyes swept the floor and the corpse of the adder, its jaw twisted unnaturally, made her scramble back. "Adder! Oakstar's been bitten by an adder!" It was dead - it was dead, she was certain - but so was Oakstar, and that horror drove Dacedream from the den with a wail as she retreated to the camp clearing.

Icepaw scurried to The medicine cat den. “Mossbloom! Come quick!” icepaw huffed. “Oakstar Has been bitten by an adder!” she cried out into the medicine cat den waiting impatiently for Mossbloom.

Strom had settled by one of the rocks lining the ravine wall, his eyes half-closed as he let himself drift into a half-asleep state. Right now there was nothing much to do, and nothing much happening, either.

That was, until sudden scuffling, irregular pawsteps disturbed the almost complete silence, slightly alarmed murmurs following it. One eye cracked open further, pupil slitting slightly under the sudden influx of light, his ears twitching up to the alert. Two shapes were hanging around the leader's den, and as he watched one slipped inside. Something's going on....

A cry abruptly rose, shattering the peace and bringing him springing to his paws, fur bristling and muscles tense almost before he fully registered it. Dacedream! The molly's distinctive cry called out for Mossbloom - the medicine cat - as he dashed over, his heart starting to race. "What-?"

He nearly ran into her back as he ducked inside, her second cry sending his fur spiking on end. A quick glance into the den confirmed it, and he coiled back with an involuntary hiss even as he registered its stillness a moment later.

And not just the adder's stillness.

His eyes immediately caught on the large, dark-furred form of the cat lying in his nest in the middle of it all, specks of glinting dark red staining the white of his paw and tail. For a moment, he froze, his muscles locking, his ears flattened. A memory of another large tabby, this one grey, flashed across his mind, the form lying limp and wet in the middle of the camp, a crowd of mourning cats surrounding him as he breathed his last breath. From what he'd seen of this tom, he was ten times the leader Jaystar had been, and even though he hadn't been here long, Strom still couldn't help feeling respect for him. He can't be dead. Leaders have more than one life. The thought didn't stop the spike of ice in his spine from keeping him rigid, though.

"What... what happened?" He tore his eyes away from the form on the floor, focusing on anything but the fallen leader. And so they fell on the long, sinuous form of the adder across from him. In his whirling snowstorm of emotions and thoughts, he sought for something, anything. Some answer to what had happened. "How did an adder get in here?!"

Batbite wasn't asleep, but she could have fooled someone watching. Still, the sound of someone - Dacedream? - calling for Mossbloom's aid caught her attention; and she rose swiftly to her paws so she could see what all the fuss was about. The sight that greeted her was that of Oakstar's den, surrounded by cats, and she followed them - he was family to her, one of the only cats left to have that title, and if something was wrong she needed to see it with her own eyes.

She pushed past her mate, more gently than she might have if it was anyone else, and took in the sight before her. Oakstar lying still, an equally still adder a short distance away. He would wake up any moment now, right? He had to, he was Oakstar. He was too strong and too smart to be taken down by something so simple as an adder... Wasn't he?

"No, no, no," she said, her voice soft and desperate, the voice of someone who felt she had already lost nearly everything and couldn't lose this too. "This can't be right... Who let this happen?" Then, just a moment later, "Please come back..."

Mossbloom had been sorting through her herbs absent-mindedly, pushing herbs one way and then the other when her name was suddenly called. The voice was a young one, and she recognized Icepaw's mew, although the fear and impatience in it surprised her. Turning as she stood, she took one look at the young she-cat's expression before sprinting past the apprentice to the main clearing, following the wails and scent of blood to Oakstar's den. Pushing her way past the gathering cats without a sound, she soon found herself in front of the leader, his fur battered and dusty, blood seeping from tiny wounds. Looking around briefly for the source, she saw the adder motionless nearby, and her breath caught in her throat. "No..." she whispered, eyes wide in dismay.

Batbite's voice nearby, asking for Oakstar to return, brought her back to her senses. Turning, she looked from Batbite to her mate, Strom. "Strom, ensure that the adder is dead. Batbite, start cleaning the fur around his wounds. I'll need all the space I can get, try to lick his fur out of the way and situate him so I can get to all of the wounds without issue. I have to get some herbs." Dashing out of the den, she pulled up suddenly as she spotted Dacedream and Icepaw once more. Their horrified gazes echoed her own sentiments, but she had to distract the clan, get them to disperse. "Dacedream, please check the dens for anymore adders. Take warriors with you, I want every crevice of the nests checked. If you find one, kill it immediately. All of you be careful, and don't check a den alone. You must have at least one companion. Icepaw, I want you to fetch the other apprentices. I need you all to keep guard of the camp while the warriors are busy. All will be well, don't you worry."

With those orders, she dashed back to her den, the thought of an adder hiding in the dark crevice that stored her herbs sending a cold shiver down her spine. She'd have to check later, and hope that it was safe for now. Squeezing into the gap in the stone holding her breath, the sharp pain of fangs piercing her fur never came as she grabbed chamomile, feverfew, and tormentil, then grabbed some catchweed and cobwebs and hurried back to Oakstar's den. Settling at his side, she began to hastily chew the tormentil into a poultice, licking it onto the marks from the fangs left by the adder. Rubbing it into the wounds with her paws, she brought her whiskers in front of Oakstar's nose, searching for any movement of air from it. She would take anything, any sign of life. StarClan wasn't so angry that it would strip the leader of his lives so suddenly, were they?

Please StarClan, be merciful....

Icepaw looked to Mossbloom. “Is there anything I can do? I want to help in anyway possible.” she mewed her strength and worry strong for Her mentor and leader, she didn’t want him to be gone forever she had things she needed to know! And she wanted to learn from oakstar, he was a good mentor.

Dacedream almost hadn't registered Strom's presence as she'd barreled past him, fleeing into the clearing from the corpses that she'd just seen. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a death, but this was... horrifying. It was new. It was so violating and vulnerable. Oakstar was supposed to be safe in his own nest - they all were! As the tortoiseshell queen tried to steady herself, Icepaw was already sweeping back from the medicine cats den with the source of her search swiftly pursuing, overtaking, and racing into the leader's den with herbs in her teeth. The apprentice stopped in the clearing, and Dacedream could only watch the entrance of the den and listen through stunned ears what was said. Batbite was inside now with Strom and Mossbloom and the body of Oakstar, and the medicine cat's authoritative voice drifted slightly from the den.

A moment later the calico reappeared, her green eyes catching Dacedream's own that were wide with shock. The sound of Mossbloom's voice was loud as a storm through the frightened grief that had hooked the queen; the instructions given cut through the paralysis. "Check the dens?" Dacedream had echoed in a tiny mew after the first command, but as Mossbloom's certain words sank in her instructions began to seem all the more vital. Dacedream's tail twitched, and she nodded firmly. "Yes - okay. Check the dens with the other warriors." Oh, StarClan, there could be adders in camp, she thought with horror. Where was Houndheart? Oh, no, what would she do if they got to him in the medicine den? O-Or what if they were already searching for Jaypaw, Cherrypaw, Vixenpaw, and Puddlepaw? Dacedream felt woozy, but she turned to add to Icepaw, "Please, will you find my kits? Take them where adders can't hide?" All the apprentices was what she should have said, but Mossbloom had already said much the same.

Dacedream turned, her eyes searching the surroundings for the gathered warriors. "The camp had an adder," she explained in a quavering voice to anybody within earshot, "we have to check all the dens. N-Nobody go anywhere alone! Be careful!" Her heart knotted as she thought of Duskrain. Oh, dear, where was her love? The gray tabby cat was practically fearless, but Dacedream wasn't. Once the warrior learned of the task, she'd certainly throw heerself in with fire and delight to fight another beast. Duskrain was something like invincible, but she was still irreplacable. So was Houndheart. Dacedream's stomach twisted again, and she decided, "I'm checking the medicine den - there, the elder's den, and the nursery should be checked first. They have the most vulnerable cats."

With that Dacedream swept off towards the medicine den from where Mossbloom had appeared, trying to ignore the feeling of death slithering on her heels to focus on her duty.

Nettlefire lay down. She had not allowed herself to take an impromptu rest in a long while; and she could feel herself drifting slowly into sleep.

But the sound of panicked voices yanked her with sharp suddenness back in to the realm of the waking. Immediately she jumped to her paws and went in the direction of the noise.

Cats gathered around the leader's den. The scent of blood hung thinly on the air.

The deputy's heart dropped about as far as it could go. Something...something had gone wrong.

The second-- the second I close my eyes, and--

She rushed up to her father's den as quick as she could.

"What's happened?" she said, directing the question at anyone who could answer her, voice pulled tight in an attempt to mask her shaking concern. "What's--" she turned into the den, and was greeted by the sight of her father and the adder, both equally dead.

Her voice dropped into a thin, broken wisp.

"Oh-- oh-- oh no,"

This isn't-- he's not dead dead, is he? He still has more lives left-- right, right? He must, right? Because I'm-- not ready to lead-- and I'm...I'm not ready to lose my father...

She held back a gasping breath of panic. Composure. She couldn't lose her composure. What good was her belief in being stoic if she lost it when she really needed it? Besides, she--she was the deputy. She needed to be on top of things, to help sort things out.

This is my fault. This is my fault. she couldn't help thinking. I should be keeping everyone safe, including my leader. I should be-- the second I decide to rest, and this is what happens! This is what happens....

A brush of fur at his side shook Strom out of the murkiness of his thoughts, and he shifted to make room as Batbite slipped in at his side. The look of horror on her face was all that was needed to bring him back to the moment, and he gently rested his tail on her back for a lack of comforting words to say, mute in his uncertainty of whether or not the ThunderClan leader had.... Well, thinking that wouldn't help. And besides, everyone else, including her, was already thinking it.

"Strom, ensure that the adder is dead."

He moved his head up to look into the medicine cat's eyes, her face clearly troubled but still determined as she started issuing orders to all cats within range. Dipping his head, he moved forwards, his tail trailing back behind him, a wary feeling pulling at his paws as he picked his way across to the other side of the den, narrowed eyes staying on the long body of the snake. "If it isn't dead now, it will be soon," He muttered, a hint of fire touching the words.

He reached a paw forwards to bat quickly at its scales. No movement, no sudden coiling of its vine-like form met the brush of his claws, and he moved closer, inspecting the smashed jaw and glassy eyes set in its flattened head.

"It's dead," He announced, lip curling slightly at the sharp smell of its body. I really hope there aren't any more of these things around the camp. But just for good measure, he reached forwards, grabbing the back of its head in his jaws and slipping his teeth neatly into its spine with a small click, in the same movement hauling it up to carry outside of the den where he could dispose of it in a safe place. As he turned, his eyes fell on the leader's body once more, Mossbloom and Batbite by his side as the medicine cat worked her magic.

More cats had gathered outside, now, semi-familiar faces looking anxiously into the den, and a few panicked ones twitching in his direction as he emerged with the adder's body. He tried to make his expression as reassuring as possible, but that was more than a little hard with his teeth stuck in the thing's throat as they were, and so he settled for padding as fast as possible to the outside of the camp, the rocky ground shifting slightly under his paws as he scaled the slope.

The snake's body disposed of and buried where only the stupidest of apprentices would dare to dig it up, he returned, almost bounding down, pebbled skittering behind him in his haste to see how Oakstar was faring. The ThunderClan leader couldn't be dead. Not permanently, anyway. He'd only just joined the leadership; one adder bite couldn't take him down.

Threading between the cats in the clearing still gathered - and growing, from the looks of it - he padded briskly back to the den, his eyes flicking over to where Mossbloom was still tending to the tom. Gently, he touched his nose to Batbite's shoulder, keeping his murmur quiet as he watched Oakstar's sides for movement. "How's he doing?" Turning his eyes back to her, he added gently, "More importantly, how are you doing?"

With Mossbloom's orders in place, Batbite set to work. Clean the fur around the wounds, and shift the leader so it wouldn't be difficult to reach his injuries - that was simple enough, and having something to do took her mind off of the situation. Too soon, though, she'd done all the could; and Strom's return very nearly jolted her back to reality. "To say I'm alright now would be a blatant lie," she sighed, voice low. "It's... He has to be okay. Leopardstar and Lynxtail and Copperheart, everyone else is gone. I don't know what I'd do if he didn't wake up... I've already lost most of my family. All that's really left is... Well, you and him."

Family was a complicated word for Batbite; it always had been. Trust was difficult, from the time when her mother had left her and her siblings on the edges of Clan territory, and it was rare that a cat pushed past the label of Clanmate or friend into someone who had managed somehow to earn her unconditional trust. Her brothers, Leopardstar, Oakstar; the cats who had made the Twolegplace journey with her - especially Strom, who had stayed all this time, who had never fully faded from her life the way the others eventually had; busy with their own Clans and lives. She was surrounded by Clanmates and cats she would easily call friends, but of those she considered her family very few remained.

But she knew better than to show that sort of weakness, wondering if their ancestors were looking down on them even now. It was perfectly possible, in her eyes, that StarClan would see a Clan mourning their leader and refuse to send him home. Why they did the things they did, she couldn't begin to understand; and she wasn't sure she wanted to. So instead she looked at Oakstar's still form, and said, a little louder and in her best impression of herself as a young apprentice, "You're not going to let some dumb snake be the end of you, are you? You're better than that!"

Daisypaw’s eyes widened. ”Oakstar?” She felt numb. ”Dad?” She whispered. Lately, she hadn’t known what she thought about him. But now, him, almost gone. She didn’t know how many lives he ad left. What if this was his last? She ran towards him, standing by his side. She couldn’t believe what was happening.

Duskrain awoke to the panicked yowlings outside the warrior's den. The usually warm presence by her side - Dacedream, was gone. The she-cat's eyes opened and she sprinted from her nest quickly, ready to fight a beast. That was why the cats were yowling, right? Was there beasts? Duskrain blinked and realized that there were no beasts. A small worm of disappointment withered away as she padded to Dacedream's side, jumping back quickly as the muted tortoiseshell yowled for her kits. "Kits?" Duskrain repeated with a blank stare, green eyes always wide. With a quick scan of the clearing, the dusty tabby noticed the concern in the camp's voices. A big worm sat at Strom's paws. Duskrain wrinkled her nose and padded slowly towards the thing to investigate. It seemed the world around her was moving fast, while her own mind acted in a different plane. Duskrain was slow. She was a slow cat as she sniffed the snake, marveled at its teeth. Duskrain was a calm cat. Duskrain did not worry about snakes or death. She stared at the clan's yowling and wondered. Should Duskrain yowl too?

"The snake killed Oakstar?" She squeaked, gazing towards the darkening leader's den. Duskrain's ears flattened and she thought of Dacedream's kits. A snake might come for them, too. Walking to Dacedream's side, Duskrain nuzzled her face and gave a strange toothy grin. "I'll find your kits, Dacedream. It's okay. I'm not scared of snakes." The warrior pranced off to the apprentice's den, wondering if Beepaw was okay as well. Beepaw had many claws like Beartooth did. Beepaw could kill a snake.

Ducking under the ferns, Duskrain's green eyes peered above the sleeping apprentices. Her tail bushed up as she scanned their nests for snakes. But snakes were small and little. Duskrain knew she wouldn't be able to find any. "Oakstar is dead." She mewed to the slumbering cats matter-of-factly. "There might be snakes here, too. Come on, wake up."

An immediate wave of relief swept over Dacedream as her glinting green-hazel eyes spotted Duskrain in the clearing already examining the snake beside Strom with a look of curiosity; there wasn't even a sparkle of fear of uneasiness in the she-cat's eyes. Once the other warrior had taken in the situation, she sauntered over to Dacedream who was just beginning to make her way to the medicine den to check on Houndheart and the other cats who might be in the medicine den. The sensation of Duskrain's side brushing Dacedream's immediately halted the tortoiseshell she-cat. A moment later Duskrain's warm, enthusiastic face was brushing against Dacedream's, and she returned the lover's gesture with a rumbling purr. The confidence with which Duskrain spoke was exactly what she was hoping for. She felt strengthened and renewed, and with a wave of her tail the two she-cats moved away from each other.

Dacedream entered the medicine den quickly, her eyes landing immediately on Houndheart's tabby form in his nest. His hind leg was twisted and would never be the same again, it had been swiftly determined. The tom was on the edge of sleep as she approached him, and he blinked sleep away to look up at her with a hollow stare edged with anger. "Houndheart, hi sweetie... I'm sorry for bothering you. There was a snake in camp - Mossbloom wants us to check all the dens. We're not supposed to be alone, so I... I thought you could help me search the medicine den." Houndheart's eyes narrowed slightly, and he muttered something about not being able to leave the den anyways. Dacedream's tail flicked slightly. "I'll check that other nest and then you can sit there while I check your nest, okay?" she offered, trying not to be disheartened by his bitterness.

As other cats moved and spoke outside, Dacedream searched the medicine den with Houndheart watching her with private anxiety from the other nest. This couldn't be Oakstar's last life... Surely soon he would be waking up. StarClan's fury hung constantly over Dacedream's mind. What if... what if this was part of the punishment they had threatened?