Run Away Bravely (Stormwind)

Squirrelflight fell to the ground as Leafpool fled, fighting to keep the infected leader from biting her as she disappeared from her sister’s view.

Leafpool pinned her ears back, her desire to run warring with her refusal to leave her sister. In the end her desire to run won out (and though she didn’t want to admit it, and indeed, hated it, she knew she was more important to the Clan than her sister and they needed the herbs she carried) and she ran, though she felt like a coward.

Squirrelflight whipped around when she heard Leafpool’s claws scratching their way up a tree trunk. “What in Starclan’s name are you doing? Go back to camp!” She turned to face Leopardstar again and the infected cat was suddenly almost on top of her.

Leafpool quickly scrambled up a tree, stopping on a branch a good distance from the ground. Her eyes were wide as she watched her sister attack the infected and wondered why they weren’t just running- the infected were much slower than them. But with her mouth full of herbs she could only watch helplessly.

Squirrelflight let out an aggressive hiss, despite recoiling slightly when she recognized the distinctive pelt of Leopardstar on the skin and bones before her. Great Starclan, didn’t she die in Riverclan!? That was some distance to shamble!

Either way, Squirrelflight stepped between the dead she-cat and her sister protectively, lashing out at the infected‘ face with claws outstretched.

Leafpool quickly gathered up the herbs that she could carry by herself, which both fortunately and unfortunately was most of them, just before the infected appeared and took a step back.

Squirrelflight kept her mouth shut for the time being, glancing over to Leafpool. maybe t didn’t hear us, thought the she-cat. Her hopes were quickly dashed, however, and an infected cat padded into view.

Leafpool whirled around, some of the herbs she had picked already in her mouth but it really wasn’t that much compared to what was left.

Squirrelflight had start to let herself relax a bit, but instantly tended back up as she heard a twig snap behind her, whipping around with narrowed eyes.

Carefully. Leafpool picked them until there wasn’t any left. Normally, she’d leave some so it could keep growing, but she couldn’t take the chance of the infected destroying it. The medicine cats had all, at the start, agreed to try and grow herbs on the island.

Squirrelflight sat down alongside Leafpool, facing the opposite direction to keep a sharp eye on her sister’s back.

Leafpool made a small, relieved noise when she found a small patch of the herbs that had survived, instantly getting to picking them.

Squirrelflight spat at the strength of the smell surrounding them. [i]they’re close... they have to be if it reeks that much.[i] Paranoid, the warrior let Leafpool do the searching for the herbs, keeping her eyes on the forest around them.

Leafpool wrinkled her nose against the scent of the infected that now permeated the forest, starting to head towards the areas where she knew horsetail and borage grew.

Squirrelflight felt better once they were on land she knew, even if it had been moons since she had roamed it freely.

Leafpool kept her ears pricked in case she heard any of the infected, posture distinctly wary. The small tabby knew she would be useless in a fight if it came to that; she only knew basic defense.

Squirrelflight sped up, only slightly, so she could walk level with her sister’s shoulder. Eventually she became conscious of the danger surrounding them, the forest eerily quiet. Starclan, if you are still listening, please don’t let us run into those things...

Leafpool was handling it better than Squirrelflight for the simple fact that she had already, technically, not had any of her kits and she knew that they had been happy.

Squirrelflight looked down at her paws, the normally fiery she-cat subdued and feeling worse than ever. Being in the territory again was helping a little bit, but the events of the past few days had been crushing.. She wondered how her sister seemed to be handling things so well.

Leafpool stepped past her sister to start heading towards the old ThunderClan territory, her tail flicking back and forth.

Squirrelflight nodded. “I think I remember being able to get one of those from the garden by the abandoned twoleg den…” the warrior stepped back, trusting her sister’s knowledge over her distant memories. “You lead the way

Leafpool nodded and ran through the herbs in her head. “That would be horsetail and borage.”

“I figured,” Replied Squirrelflight with a sigh, “But since you’ll be combining your stores with the other medicine cats, we might not need to collect all of it right away. Let’s start with what you all are shortest on.”

Leafpool grimaced, making a small noise of distaste. “All of them,” she admitted.

“Well,” Squirrelflight mewed, not really having had a destination in mind, “Are there any particular herbs you needed?”