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forestclan-clangen · 9 days ago

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MOON 8 (Part 1)

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Cloudthunder is pregnant! This surprises a few cats, but they always knew her to be adventurous. Cloudthunder grooms herself bashfully, feeling pressured to explain herself, but Redstar decides to step in. She reinstates a law that she knew existed before Lakestar's reign - the Queen's Law. No parent has to disclose the parentage of their kits, if they chose not to. Cloudthunder is relieved.

(Cloudthunder, warrior, female, 41 moons) (Redstar, leader, female, 66 moons) (Hopechase, warrior, female, 90 moons)

Cloudthunder won't say it out loud, but deep down, she wonders if she could just...pretend it wasn't happening. That way it won't hurt when the woods come for the kits. Iciclepool sits down next to Cloudthunder quietly, providing support that didn't require any words.

(Cloudthunder, warrior, female, 41 moons) (Iciclepool, deputy, female, 64 moons)

Branchkit is asking Tree interesting questions, and the warrior is happy to entertain her. Branchkit thinks that Tree is really cool!

(Branchkit, kitten, female, 3 moons) (Tree, warrior, non-binary, 39 moons)

Perchkit keeps comparing herself to Morningpaw. Morningpaw thinks that Perchkit is acting increasingly annoying and uncomfortable, and she tells her off firmly. Perchkit doesn't understand, and doesn't like that Morningpaw yelled at her.

(Perchkit, kitten, female, 3 moons) (Morningpaw, apprentice, female, 10 moons)

Redstar is stress from being bound to camp with her broken bone, the wound getting infected. She can't keep wasting time. She knows the woods need to be fed. She should be out there, not in camp. In her anger, she makes snide comments at Tree and hisses at Cloudthunder about what kind of sire would want to give a Clan cat kits. Both cats are taken aback, given her usually kind nature. [STRESS EVENT: MELTDOWN]

(Redstar, leader, female, 66 moons) (Cloudthunder, warrior, female, 41 moons) (Tree, warrior, non-binary, 39 moons)

Windfur and Shiverpaw get into an argument that leaves them both feeling tense and upset. Neither of them apologize. Windfur is afraid that Shiverpaw isn't being honest with him.

(Windfur, medicine cat, male, 22 moons) (Shiverpaw, medicine cat apprentice, female, 8 moons)

---

"And you're adamant that you didn't touch it?"

"No, Windfur," Shiverpaw repeated defensively.

Windfur felt a twitch of annoyance surge through him. "Are you absolutely certain?"

"I said I was sure!" Shiverpaw protested, her voice angled with frustration. "Why are you so mad about this?"

"Because they cause hallucinations, Shiverpaw," Windfur retorted. Shiverpaw shrunk under the harsh emphasis of his words. "Talonpaw said you came into contact with the Nature's Mockery. For everyone's safety, I need to know if something happened to you during it."

"Nothing happened, Windfur! We found it and Talonpaw said we had to go back to camp. I swear that nothing else happened!" Shiverpaw pressed, her blue eyes filled with anger.

Windfur's tail twitched. He bit back on a hiss and stopped himself from saying that she was lying to him. He wanted Shiverpaw to confess what Talonpaw had told him - that she was stuck in a trance and muttering something that he didn't catch.

This wasn't the first time this happened, and while he hoped that it was all just a coincidence, a kit's hyperawareness of the forces around them, now he was getting anxious. First, Shiverpaw seemed to be aware of things she shouldn't have known when she was a kit - reports from Redstar and Talonpaw where she knew that Living Tendrils could force their way into dens, and there was a hungry eye she was worried about. Then, there was the night Warblerkit was taken. The entire camp was in heavy disarray, and Windfur had just finished looking over Olive's condition and removing the water that flooded the nursery. Shiverkit stared at the dark, rainy sky. Her eyes held an intensity that bore through the fabric of the sky above, as though she could see beyond the veil.

He would never forget her final words - whispered and unnaturally cold.

"The vessel floats into the maw. The jaw unhinges."

He wanted her to tell him what she saw and felt. He wanted some kind of reassurance that her words were from StarClan, or were her own. But still, she denied it. And that scared him.

StarClan did everything in their power to shield ForestClan from the Iris' gaze, but what if it had found a loophole? What if it found a way to observe them in the waking world? Did it even have that ability? Could Shiverpaw have somehow become the beacon? Did he just doom ForestClan by agreeing to take her on as an apprentice, allowing something to see into StarClan? Did she even know? Was she aware that it was happening? Which answer was worse - ignorance or deceit?

He must have been giving Shiverpaw an intense stare, as the young cat's ears flattened and her tail was tucked between her legs. "W-Windfur?" Her voice was meek.

Windfur closed his eyes and turned away from her roughly. "Just…nevermind. Forget it. Sort the herbs you collected."

The tense silence that followed unnerved and upset him. It took everything in him to ignore Shiverpaw cautiously tip toeing around him with a basket in her mouth, then removing and sorting every herb as though they were delicate, newborn birds. He should've enjoyed the silence, but he didn't. He liked silence. He liked working alone. Now his silence was filled with the permating presence of a child who may or may not doom the entirety of ForestClan, and it would be his fault if she did.

A foreign emotion broke from its seed, and sprouted. He was reminded again of his dead mentor, of how she seemed to know just what to do, and felt like he was left with nothing and no one to rely on. In his den, right now, was possibly a threat to all of ForestClan, and he was alone with determining the truth.

He couldn't do it. Windfur stormed out of the medicine den and found himself heading towards the gates.

Hopechase was standing guard this time, and as he approached, she twitched her ear.

"Going to the graveyard," he grumbled.

Hopechase merely nodded at him before letting Windfur stride past her.

He journeyed past the west of camp, scaling up the slope of cold ground and dead leaves. He stepped on every leaf in his path, not caring about the noise he could possibly make. He just didn't care anymore.

Finally, as he crawled up the top of the hill, he stared at the large clearing around them, lined with stones and one, singular oak tree branching out to shield the graves in dark shade. Windfur stared listlessly at the tree's large trunk, with rows and rows of scratched lines engraved into its bark, encircling it over and over. After the storm, he had scratched one more line for Olive's unnamed kit. One line for every unnamed cat and unknown stranger whose bodies were lost to the woods.

A monument to all of their pain and suffering.

Windfur stared at the towering oak for only a moment longer, before his eyes fell on a dark, slated stone with dried chicory resting upon it.

With a heavy heart, he padded towards it and sat down.

"...Hi, Chicoryglint."

Only the wind replied to him. Windfur's dark blue eyes locked themselves on the grave. A squirrel shuffled up a tree in the distance. For a moment, Windfur let himself sit with his thoughts. He failed to parse them into separate subjects. Why was he even doing this? This wasn't going to help. A grave wasn't going to tell him what was wrong with Shiverpaw. So why?

You're here to confess your failures, he thought.

"...I've made a horrible mistake, Chicory. I really have." Windfur's throat tightened. "I…I brought something into StarClan's skies. I thought after the last moon, that maybe, Shiverpaw was normal. Maybe she just…had a stressful episode during greenleaf. Maybe she had potential, and she could have a good bond with StarClan. But…" He trailed off into silence, his thoughts swarming around him like gnats.

"...Look, I know…I know you don't like talking a lot. I…I get it, I'm the same. But, I could use my mentor right now."

Chicoryglint wouldn't answer him. Not at a grave…and not in his dreams. Even after moons of waiting for anything from her, after they held a vigil, and ate her favorite meal, and shared their memories…

He had visited the Half-Moon Dome ten times since her death. Ten times she could've visited him.

"Look, I know I've driven us all into fox-dung, the least you can do is tell me how to fix it!" He lashed out all of a sudden, his tail thrashing. "I've brought StarClan some kit who may or may not be linked to…to that thing up there, and you won't even bother to tell me if she is, or isn't, or just - "

Windfur spiralled and started snarling when he realized what he was doing. This wasn't about Shiverpaw, was it? He thought it was, but maybe it never was.

It had been ten moons now. Ten moons since Chicoryglint was seen alive. Ten moons of silence. Ten moons of her not visiting him at the Dome.

Why? Was he a failure? Did Chicoryglint see a prophecy that spelled him as a harbinger? Was she ashamed of him?

"Why won't you see me, stars damned it all!" He yowled and furiously scratched at the gravestone. He felt his eyes stinging with pain. "I don't want to fail us! I can fix it, if you would just tell me! What is wrong with her? Is she connected to the Iris? Have I brought the Iris into StarClan's abode?"

Windfur glowered at the gravestone with pale scratch marks now stretched across it. The dried chicory was now crushed, the petals scattered. The woods were silent.

"At least my father told me where he was going when he left," Windfur hissed. "At least he asked me to join him. He gave me a choice. I…I turned him down. I stayed, because you asked me to. And then you left. You just gave me my full name and…died." Windfur stopped. A feeling of dread crawled up his legs and surrounded his heart. "...You…you died."

An intrusive memory broke through his defenses. Iciclepool was speaking to Redstar in her den. Windfur had just brought back herbs and passed under the High Rock. He was going through the motions, not thinking, not feeling. He couldn't accept that she was truly gone. And his ears picked up on something that made his blood turn cold - more than any monster or beast of the woods could ever inflict on him.

"She isn't dead, you know."

He froze. He wanted to keep moving. He didn't. His ears strained to listen.

"Redstar, we don't know that."

"I was a part of their little in-group for moons, Icicle. She was a walking contradiction. Unwilling to hurt others, but willing to protect her own life more. Windfur's story about how she told him to head back to camp and she'd catch up…how she had given him his name before vanishing…"

Windfur bristled. He couldn't turn away. He couldn't leave.

"You're suggesting she ran."

"I am."

"Why didn't she leave with everyone who abandoned us when Lakestar died, then?"

"The same thing that's always motivated her."

Windfur clenched his teeth. He felt the taste of bile and dandelion.

"Fear."

Windfur yowled as he broke free of the memory. He slammed his paws into the dirt and started digging, his claws dragging every inch of grass and mud that housed Chicoryglint's grave. He dug until he felt the stone wobble uneasily. He ripped it out of the ground, and he felt like it held the weight of a mountain. He sobbed, his face burning with indignation.

"Tell me you're dead! Tell me you're actually dead! I don't care if you're mad at me! Just - " Windfur's dark blue eyes stared at the stone pleadingly, as though it held all the answers. He closed his eyes firmly, and bit back a screech.

He hoped. Pleaded. For so many moons that she would show herself to him when he went to the Half-Moon Dome.

But he realized something.

He realized that if he died tomorrow, even if Shiverpaw was linked to the Iris…he would have visited her, at least one last time. One last time to say that he was sorry, and that if she really did doom cat-kind, it wasn't her fault, it was his. It was his fault for agreeing to mentor her and bring her to StarClan's abode. It was his fault for not figuring it out sooner, and not stopping it.

He would still visit her, and he didn't even know her.

Windfur pushed the rock with his head, shoving it over every other gravestone and monument with his paws. He hissed as he kept getting snagged and stuck, and eventually he grasped the flat rock in his mouth, ignoring the pain of the stone dragging down on his teeth. Finally, he made it towards the edge of the clearing, which gave way to a sloped hill.

He dropped the stone and watched it tumble down thrashing against every branch and tree before finally landing flat, dragging a layer of dead leaves and flattened twigs with it.

Windfur stared at the stone at the bottom of the hill. Pain throbbed in his paws and teeth. He felt numb. As the sun continued its path, shifting the shape of shadows below, Windfur focused on the rise and fall of his chest. His anger cooled, and he stared sadly at the stone thrown across the forest floor.

A drop of guilt sat at his paws.

That was still his mentor. His teacher. The one who sang him rhymes and taught him the value of patience and precision. The same skills he was trying - maybe failing, but still trying - to teach his apprentice.

But he still felt betrayed.

“If,” Windfur swallowed, “if you come to visit me. If you apologize. If you tell me what to do, I’ll bring it back up. I’ll put it back. Do you understand?”

He heard the sound of dead branches falling from a tree somewhere.

He breathed deeply, then slowly turned away and padded back down the hill, back to the only home he'd ever known. He felt the pain jab at his paw pads. He stared at them briefly, and saw bruising. He scowled as a melody for soothing bruises appeared in his head, and he pushed it aside as he allowed the pain to anchor him to reality.

He was an adult cat now. He wasn't a fresh, young apprentice. He wasn't a newbie healer. He was ForestClan's sole medicine cat.

He...he couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep relying on the memory of someone he thought he knew.

If only it was easier on his heart to embrace. If only.

---

Talonpaw clears up a misunderstanding with Shiverpaw. He only told Windfur about the Nature's Mockery, and doesn't know why Windfur is acting out. Shiverpaw believes him. Unfortunately, Talonpaw lied - he did tell Windfur about the trance Shiverpaw had. Talonpaw feels really guilty, believing that he got her in trouble. But...what else was he supposed to say? Shiverpaw scared him.

(Talonpaw, apprentice, male, 12 moons) (Shiverpaw, apprentice, female, 8 moons)

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forestclan-clangen · 7 days ago

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MOON 8 (Final)

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Tree helps Shiverpaw find herbs, and they run into a Woodcrawler. Tree miraculously incapacitates it, barely getting hurt! Tree tells the Clan that they've warded off Deep Root entities before. Closer to the ends of their legs, their roots are sensitive. They're like a heel - the tendons are weak. They can be torn apart, causing the entity to lose motor control.

(Tree, warrior, non-binary, 39 moons) (Shiverpaw, medicine cat apprentice, 8 moons) (Woodcrawler. A mockery of nature. Without defined age.)

---

Shiverpaw felt uncomfortable when Windfur told her that she was capable of gathering plantain by herself. She felt even more uncomfortable when Windfur asked Tree to accompany her.

Ever since she came back to camp with Talonpaw the moon prior, Windfur had been stiff around her. She didn't know if it was something Talonpaw told him, or something she did, but the fact that she was being ousted with a stranger in the middle of the woods to gather herbs made her feel like…like Windfur didn't like her. She wasn't…doing anything bad, right? She knew that earlier in the moon they got into a fight about the Nature's Mockery she saw, but she thought that enough time had passed for it to not matter anymore.

It was hard to believe that when Windfur was looking at her less and less.

She quietly grabbed one of the woven baskets by the handle, and quietly padded up to Tree, who was waiting patiently by the camp entrance.

"Well, no time like the present, eh?" Tree meowed.

Shiverpaw nodded wordlessly, then walked past them and through the entrance. Tree padded after the apprentice, their eyes staring at the ropes and sliding mechanisms that were attached to ForestClan's front gates. Their tail twitched with interest.

Shiverpaw wasn't sure what to make of the former loner. They were brought back to camp by Cloudthunder and Morningpaw the moon prior, and almost immediately went from non-committal about joining, to gaping and inquiring about every little aspect of Clan life. Tree had especially taken interest in speaking to Windfur, fascinated by the amount of medical knowledge and herbs he had at his disposal. Windfur noticed the tinge of lemonweed emitting from their pelt, and offered to provide them with regular dosage, if they wished. Tree was happy to agree.

This happened with almost every single clanmate in camp. Tree asked about the fire burning beneath a makeshift table of stones, and Cloudthunder was happy to show them how they dried out strips of meat. Tree asked about the thick ropes binding the logs of pine and spruce that created their walls, and Barleywave was happy to show them the ropes, literally. Tree asked about how long they've existed in this forest, and Redstar was happy to give them ForestClan's history. Every day, Tree seemed to have another question for someone to answer.

But not for her.

Not that she could really blame them. She…wasn't exactly the most interesting cat. At least, she didn't think so.

As the two cats trekked through the undergrowth, Shiverpaw took a moment to appreciate the sunshine. It was getting colder, and the red and yellow hues of early leaf-fall had long gone. The ground was painted in husky brown leaf litter, and the birch and oaks were stripped bare of their foliage. The only thing that remained were the evergreens, their pines growing dark under the cold.

Shiverpaw's appreciation of the gentle sun was cut short by cloudy overcast. She sighed.

"Ah, poor sunshine." Tree's voice spoke up from behind her. "I was enjoying that."

Shiverpaw let out a huff of agreement. "I was always told that I'd miss the sun the closer to leafbare we got. But…it's hard to really get that when you're a kit."

"Experience is the best teacher," Tree said simply. They paused, then tilted their head slightly. "So you've never felt winter - er, I guess you call it leafbare - before?"

"No," Shiverpaw confirmed. She started walking again, remembering the path towards plantain that Windfur showed her.

Tree padded up beside her and continued the conversation. "It's not very pleasant. The cold is the worst part of it. And how dark it gets, so early."

Shiverpaw gave them a curious glance. Her ear turned towards Tree, attentive.

"But, despite the cold and the darkness, there's something…oddly reassuring about it." Tree's green eyes were filled with unknown emotion. "It's a little mad, with how many creatures manage to survive a time that is so hostile to life. There's beauty in that - but perhaps only a hateful beauty. One that's admired only because we appreciate that there are things not like it. Such as your clan." Tree gave Shiverpaw a look. "It's wonderful how much you create together."

Shiverpaw blinked in surprise. The way Tree described leafbare was harsh, but also poetic. It strangely made her look forward to leafbare - but she'd never admit that to anyone in the clan!

"I'm glad that you like our camp. We work hard on it," Shiverpaw meowed quietly, staying polite. She stopped as the path beneath her feet turned from dirt to stone, and she found the patch of plantain she needed. "Oh, here it is." Shiverpaw put down the basket and trotted towards the herb, carefully cultivating the leaves - as wilted as they were becoming.

"Did you need any help grabbing them?"

"Um, not right now - I'm trying to see what's still good to take."

"Take your time, then. We're in no rush." Tree sat down comfortably on one of the flat stones on the path. They stretched out their front legs and arched their back, letting out a big yawn. Shiverpaw caught them yawning from the corner of her eye, and failed to suppress one of her own. Tree let a mrrow of amusement.

"I suppose we're all due for a nap later."

"That'd be nice," Shiverpaw agreed. She kept winnowing the plantain, hoping that she was leaving enough of the plant to grow back in newleaf. She was so focused on her careful task, that by the time she had turned around with a bundle of them in her mouth, she was caught off guard by Tree standing upright and staring off into the woods.

"...Um, Tree?"

Tree lifted their tail up as a sign to stay quiet.

Shiverpaw froze and her hair stood on end as she panned the scene, desperate to find out what they were looking at. All she saw were rows of tree trunks sticking out in all directions, growing smaller into the horizon. The undergrowth was a heavy layer of dead pine needles and dormant plants, with the largest being the now-bare branches from a broad shrub. Brown leaf litter dappled the ground. Her eyes flicked back and forth, her heart racing.

She scanned around her again. The tree trunks. The branches of shrubs. Leaf litter.

Again. Trees. Shrubs. Leaf-litter.

"I can smell it. I see it." Tree whispered. "Don't move."

Shiverpaw did as she was told. Then, the wind blew softly against her, and her blue eyes widened with terror. Her heart seized in her chest and it took everything in her to not start panting. Her eyes watered as she remembered the wretched scent that invaded her nostrils two moons ago. When she returned to the Dome last moon with Windfur, the absence of the monster gave her peace. She dreamed of StarClan. Icypaw spoke to her clearly, and seemed relaxed. She even saw Warblerkit, and he told her that he was going to be a big brother to any kit that needed his help - it made her purr. It made her happy. She thought, maybe, the moon she was apprenticed - it was all a bad dream. A horrible nightmare that she could move on from, and she could be a good cleric for her clan, just like she wanted.

She wanted to wail and burst into tears when the wet, bloody scent invaded her body.

She didn't want this. She didn't want this.

She couldn't force herself to look away from the undergrowth. She expected a red, foul mass to crawl around the branches of the shrubs and pull itself up to reveal the dead, black eyes of a cat's deformed skull. It would rise above the trees, above the sky, blot out the sun, and lock its eyes on her. Its jaw, raw and haggard, would shudder. "WE…CAN…HEAR…YOU."

"Shiverpaw." Tree's voice pierced into her waking nightmare. "Hold your breath. When the legs rise - run."

Shiverpaw was jostled from her nightmare, rattled by Tree's words. Legs? What legs? What -

She scanned again. The branches of a shrub. Thicker than normal. The tree trunks. Far on the horizon. The leaf litter. The branches of -

Shiverpaw's eyes shot open wide and her claws unsheathed.

Those were not branches.

The legs of the Woodcrawler rose.

Shiverpaw burst into a dash back down the path. Her heart dropped as Tree was absent. She skidded to a halt and looked back to see them hissing as the Woodcrawler's legs jabbed down.

"TREE!" she howled.

Tree did something unfathomable. They dodged, and then jumped at one of the Woodcrawler's legs. Their green eyes were wild with unbridled fury. With all four sets of claws outstretched, they latched on and started gouging. They plunged their fangs around a bulging point near the base of its leg and started tearing.

The Woodcrawler thrashed in silent agony, its legs flailing as it tried to stab the tortoiseshell cat. Tree glanced up to see one of its dagger-like legs above, and pushed themselves off as the attack came down. Tree sprinted towards Shiverpaw screaming, "GO!"

Shiverpaw didn't need to be told twice. The rush of terror and bewilderment that Tree just did that gave her the boost of speed she didn't know she had. Her head throbbed as she felt something chasing them. She could hear it thrashing through the woods, its many legs skittering across the dirt and leaves, rumbling like a Thunderpath. It lasted only a few moments before she heard a loud crash and snapping branches, then silence. The sound of blood pumping through her ears and Tree panting as they ran beside her replaced it.

Shiverpaw felt desperate relief as she saw the tall walls of the camp come into her line of sight. "WOODCRAWLER! HIDE, HIDE, HIDE!" she screeched.

ForestClan sprung into action, everyone's furs on end. Shiverpaw felt the world around her spin. She could hear Redstar barking orders and scrambling with her three functional legs to close the gate with Barleywave. Windfur and Morningpaw's pelts blurred as they dashed into the nursery and pushed Olive up. Branchkit and Perchkit were wide-eyed and limp as Cloudthunder and Talonpaw grabbed them by the scruff. Before she knew it, the clan was huddled into the back of Redstar's den, trembling in the dark.

Iciclepool was at the den's entrance.

Redstar was staring out into the woods from the gate, her ears swivelling.

Shiverpaw could still hear her heart in her ears.

She felt the world around her blur as she stared at the interior of the den. The brown tree hollow was dark and splintered. Redstar's bedding was made of yellowed moss.

Her eyes couldn't focus on the moss. Something was wrong. It rippled and shifted. Like something had smudged it and dragged its shape out of reality. It felt wrong. The dirt floor was flat. Too flat. There was a beetle on the floor. It crawled slowly across the den, its antennae waving gently. It stopped, frozen. Shiverpaw wanted to blink. She didn't know how. Was the beetle real? Was the bed real? Were her lungs, her heart, her mind? Was -

She felt someone's paw press against her shoulder.

Shiverpaw blinked.

She looked at the paw, and saw a brown, spotted texture rising along its leg. She slowly turned her head to see Olive staring up at her with softness. In silence, Olive pointed to her own claws. Then her ears. Then her nose. One, two, three. Remember.

Shiverpaw took a deep breath. She unsheathed her claws and dug them beneath her. Dirt. It was dry. It snagged into her claws. Shoot. They were dirty now. She'll have to clean them later.

She breathed through her nose. She could smell her clanmate's individual scents. She smelled pine. The air was cold.

She twitched her ears. She could hear…birds? She thinks so. She could hear a songbird or two. Then, she heard something unfamiliar - a…flock of large birds flying overhead? They made a nasally bellow.

Tree's voice mumbled. "Geese. Big black and brown birds. They're just migrating. It's okay."

Branchkit and Perchkit must've heard the sound too, as their eyes twinkled with relief when Tree spoke. The two kits were wrapped around each other, seeking comfort. The rest of the clan remained quiet.

As Redstar gave a final chitter of alarm, Iciclepool sighed deeply. The camp was allowed to breathe again, and Shiverpaw and Tree were interrogated. Shiverpaw could barely recall what her answers were. She felt her mind move and speak automatically. It wasn't like the time at the Half-Moon Dome. There, she felt like something had actively taken over her. Now, it felt like her own mind had picked her up by the scruff, carrying her around and speaking for her. She knows Iciclepool curled up next to her and started grooming her. She knows Redstar spoke to her calmly. She knows Morningpaw brought her a few strips of jerky to eat. But she didn't really remember how she ended up in the medicine den, sitting in her bedding as she watched Windfur and Tree speak to one another.

"I'm going to have to clean your muzzle with water and mouse bile."

"A bit late for that. It was on my teeth. I spit it out, but if there's some kind of infection related to it, well…"

"Let me put it to you this way - I haven't seen someone insane enough to attack a Woodcrawler and survive," Windfur hissed as he started shoving the water and bile-soaked moss on Tree's face.

Tree hissed. "Ow. Ow. This sucks."

"Wouldn't need to do this if I knew what was in Woodcrawlers to begin with," Windfur sighed. "I guess I can sacrifice some of the honey, but I'm not happy about it. Next time, just run."

"We did run."

"No, you attacked it, then you ran. Big difference."

"If I didn't, it would've successfully chased us. I decided to not bring a giant spider back during my first moon living here, thank you."

Windfur's tail thrashed as he padded towards the back of the den and grabbed a flat pebble and a massive slab of honeycomb, carefully peeling away the wax and scraping off some of the honey. "You could've died," Windfur said gravely. "...You should have died."

There was a tense silence in the medicine den as Windfur grabbed Tree's paw and wiped it clean with moss, then added a layer of honey around a bleeding claw.

Shiverpaw stared blankly at Windfur's treatment. Honey for outer infections. Honey. Yes. That was nice. She tried to bump herself back to the present, coaxing gently. She knew the song, right? Windfur showed her last week.

"Bo-bumblebee, bo-bumblebee, give me a cure, one sweet and so dandy, for my little bird…" she mumbled the start of the nursery rhyme Windfur taught her. She was too quiet for either of them to pick up on it.

Tree watched as Windfur used a small, leather pelt to wrap around their foot. Windfur secured it tightly, then looked back up at Tree.

"...How did you live?"

Shiverpaw's ears twitched. She looked at Tree.

Tree tested their paw on the ground. Seemingly satisfied, they gave an answer. "I've had to fight them before, but I do not recommend it. I made a calculated risk, but you're right. I should be dead." Tree's emerald eyes were solemn. "This one was…I'd say the size of a large bramble bush. I wouldn't recommend confronting anything larger than that - which most Woodcrawlers are. Fighting it close to its den is also a death wish. It doesn't need you dead immediately, only tangled for long enough to drag you down. This one was either desperate, or a hatchling. It was nowhere near its den. Otherwise, Shiverpaw and I would've caught the scent of the den long before we saw the beast."

Shiverpaw blinked. She felt extremely uneasy as she remembered staring right at the Woodcrawler and only seeing the branches of a large shrub. It was so incredibly still that she wouldn't have known if it weren't for Tree.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt her face turn hot. She didn't know where the feeling came from. Embarrassment? Shame? Lingering terror? Tree saved her life. She'd be dead if they weren't there.

"That's not the question I asked," Windfur said curtly.

"I'm giving you the preamble because it's the same story I gave to Redstar," they meowed. "Running from Woodcrawlers is the correct answer. However," Tree's eyes grew stern as they glanced at both Shiverpaw and Windfur. "The ends of their legs - their points - there's a grouping of roots near the base of them that are sensitive. There's no bark or scale, just tendons. You can tear them out and cause them to lose motor control. If you're fast, you have time to disable one leg and then make a break for it. But that's all," Tree scowled, their tail twitching. "You can only stop it from chasing you and knowing where you sleep. In the moment, I decided that was a good option." There was a pause, then Tree's expression softened slightly. "But I understand the worry for my well being. Given how promptly you responded to the danger, I think I'll feel better now, knowing ForestClan can defend its home against the Woodcrawlers."

---

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