Mallowswarm
The first thing Mallowswarm noticed was the scent of blood. She had been sitting in the shadows of camp when it hit her, strong and metallic, jolting her out of her thoughts. Her head immediately turned to face the camp entrance, just in time to see the otter patrol stagger in, bloodied and bruised and beaten. Her stomach dropped as she took in the sight of them. She had been expecting blood, she had been expecting injuries, but this-
Mallowswarm's attention flittered to Bumblestar as she spoke. She was leaning heavily against Spiderthroat, and a gash at the base of her throat wept blood, but her voice, although strained, was loud and clear as she shouted to the clan. Smallpines was of limits. Of course. The state of the patrol members made it clear that they had lost, and badly. As she spoke, Mallowswarm's attention was drawn to the leader's mouth. Was that
blood? Anxiety swirled in her stomach. Surely that wasn't a good sign.
And sure enough, she was right. Mallowswarm's stomach plummeted as Bumblestar fell. She watched as the leader collapsed against Spiderthroat, unconscious- or maybe she was dead. She couldn't tell from her position. Barely aware of what she was doing, Mallowswarm rose to her paws, eyes trained on the leader as the medicine cats rushed towards her and Risingstorm told everyone to give them space and cats were called out to gather herbs. She wished she had been chosen, just so she had something to do, a purpose, some way she could help the clan. Instead she just stood there, useless, staring at the chaos in front of her. Bumblestar still wasn't moving. She remembered the last time the leader had lost a life, so many moons ago; surely it hadn't taken this long for her to come back. That meant either she wasn't dead, or... Mallowswarm swallowed. She didn't know how many lives the leader had left, but she had only gained the position a few moons before her birth. Surely she couldn't have lost them all, not in that time. Surely. Still, fear rose in her throat as the leader stayed unmoving,
why wasn't she moving, why-
The arrival of the emergency patrol drew her attention away from Bumblestar. There were two apprentices tagging behind the warriors that she was sure hadn't been called upon; had they run after the patrol? Risingstorm confirmed her suspicions, telling them to keep the kits busy. Good, hopefully that meant they wouldn't have to see this, or as little of this as possible. This sort of scene was traumatising, for young apprentices as well as kits. Stars, Violetfreckle's murder and Sunglow's execution had played on her mind moons after they had occurred.
Mallowswarm's gaze switched back to the injured cats as Wolfhawk told everyone gathered to listen.
Make yourself useful or get going. She could do that. She hadn't been called up as a helper, but she could still do
something. She could gather herbs; the medicine cats would need those, right? As many as possible with the injuries the patrol members had gotten. She forced her paws to move forward towards the entrance, but then something else caught her eye. A kit, small and scared, alone amongst the chaos of the clearing. Before she knew it, she was walking towards him, stopping in front of the tom.
Mallowswarm swallowed before speaking. "Hey. Hey, um, let's get you back to nursery, okay?" Her paws were sweating; she didn't know what to say. Should she comfort him? She probably should, but she didn't know what to tell him. She couldn't say that it was all going to be okay, because that was a lie. Bumblestar had lost a life, maybe more, and the other patrol members were on the verge of death. Stars, had any died already? She realised with a flash of alarm that nine cats had gone to fight the otters, and only six had returned. Where were the others? Were they dead?
She shook off the thought, but the fear remained, making her chest tighten and her heart thump against her ribcage like a fleeing rabbit. "Let's go, okay?" she told the kit, trying and failing to keep the rising panic out of her voice. Mallowswarm took a couple of steps towards the nursery and glanced back to see if he was following. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't.
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Aukuro - Dustkit
Re: ThunderClan Clearing
Re: ThunderClan Clearing
Re: ThunderClan Clearing
