Name: Cyla Claw: Sable Appearance: She's a calico. Her coat is white with black, orange and brown patches. Her eyes are a piercing blue. Something like this -
Traits: Loyal, dependable and observant. Very good at not being seen and keeps her Claw in good order. Rank: Captain. The youngest ever in fact.
It seemed the warriors and hunters only brought me bad news of late and I was tired from many a sleepless night gnawing over it. We'd lost another three young to the strange illness that was streaking through sable claw. Aspen was out on patrol still but someone would have to tell him that his last two kits hadn't made it either. And it had spread to another litter. I felt more frightened than ever before. In all my time I had not seen a virus so swift.
"Aspen, tomorrow you and I will approach the Sky Claw for aid," I informed my deputy.
"What help can they give us?" he asked gruffly. "Is it wise to involve them?"
"Perhaps their medicine cat will know better than ours." The words did not sit well on my tongue but Nettle was young and our last medicine cat had passed on too quickly for her to learn the full knowledge. Clever and quick she was but she lacked experience.
A strange, new cat walked into the clan. I go up to her.
"Who are you, feline?"
"I need to speak to your medicine cat, it is urgent." I was hesitant, but led her to our medicine cat. Instead of leaving, I sat there and listened to the two talk, allways prepared to spring if any danger was shown.
The two talked about a desiase spereading, then my head began to spin and I found myself fainting.
---she caught the desiase from Cyla, who wasn't sick herself but gave the bug to Ama, who was less immune to it because she is a fox----
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
Distractedly, I scratched my ear. Cika was becoming harder and harder to find. Once again, I wondered how one tom was supposed to rear a spunky she-cat who was nearly his own age.
But that's life. Deal with it.
"Dad!" Speak of Sky Claw; there she was! She ran over, skidded to a stop, and stood panting.
"Do? I'll tell you what we'll do! We'll be ready!" Matthias, from Redwall
"Life consists of doing the impossible." Brother Fir, The Heir of Mistmantle
(If someone could bring in my character, that would be great. All I need is someone to spot Talon flying over the plains, then I can work off of that.)
Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist Take that, science!
When the fox fell down I hissed and sprung away in fright. I didn't understand what had happened, I hadn't thought that I'd been contaminated by the disease. I had been very careful but somehow I must have brought it with me.
"Please," I said to the medicine cat. "I apologise for bringing this trouble on you but there must be a cure"
"And why can't your own cat help," the medicine cat snarled. His hair stood on end. He seemed to have changed his mind about co-operating.
"You said you think it's the falling sickness. Please, if you know a treatment tell me it and I will go. You will be able to stop the infection in your own tribe and I will deal with mine." The cat nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes it does seem to be that," he said. "Yarrow root and fever few should help. Some mint too and maybe..." The cat seemed to go into a distant daze and I breathed a sigh or relief. He was a fully fledged medicine cat. In a few minutes he recited some more ingrediants and then showed how they should be mixed together, giving me part of the compound he created. He started to dab the rest on the fox behind the ears and on the throat.
I thanked him and sped stealthily back to my tribe, worming through the grass so as not to be seen by any warriors. I was surprised my visit had been so obtrusive, I'd expected to have to seek help from their clan leader.
A sudden blistering heat evolved around me, slowly buring. But I felt no fire. then it stopped behind my ear, and gradually faded from the rest of my body. I got up slowly from where I lay on the ground.
"Feeling better?" THe medicine cat asked. I nodded. I ran off to find Talon. I finally spot him.
"Talon!" I call, he swoops down.
"Yes?" he asks.
"Stay very far away from the other claws village. A deisease is going aound and we dont need you infected too."
"Was someone already?"
"That would be me."
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
Ama noticed the alarm in the hawk's eye. She hastily added, "The medicine cat already treated me. I won't pass it on to you."
Talon relaxed. "That's a relief. How bad is the disease?"
"Really bad. I was affected almost immediately when I came in contact with it."
Talon seemed to think for a moment. "If it's bad enough to take affect on contact, then every animal in the area could be in danger and not just your tribes. Do you know what the medicine cat needs in order to make the antidote? I know of a human city nearby, maybe we can find some of the ingredients there, as well as some tools that might make creating the cure easier."
Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist Take that, science!
I recognised the importance of attending the meeting but for the same reason that I left Aspen behind on the previous venture away from my clan, I knew I could not. The risk of spreading infection was too great and yet, even so, I doggedly fought to find a way around it.
"Is there a way to be certain that I am not carrying the sickness?" I asked Nettle as she and an assistant worked on putting bundles of herbs together. We were short on some of the plants and I had needed to send warriors - warriors! - out in search of them. Sometimes they returned with the wrong ones and the levels of stress in our camp were high. I intended to take the first bundles to the hay loft myself in just a moment. The kits were dying quicker than any others who had fallen sick.
"No," Nettle said. "The evidence suggests that you are though your body must be immune." I bared my teeth at that. What was I to do? As if hearing my question, Nettle answered it. "You would have to take the cure as well to be sure."
"And deny it to another cat," I mused wretchedly.
"Star clan will bring bad luck to us if you do not attend the meeting," Aspen said at my back.
"Fine. I'll take the herbs but I go alone. There are not enough herbs to spare as it is." Aspen's fur bristled but I stared him down and he reclined his head. He would not challenge me. "Take these to the hay loft," I ordered my deputy, nudging all but one bundle toward him. The remaining one I opened and swallowed the herbs before setting off on my journey. I had already left it quite late so I knew I would not be on time. Going alone was almost unheard of.
