Predatory Hearts/Shadowclan Arc

Chapter One
''Coltsfoot: The flowers look like dandelions, with yellow or white petals. Used to treat damaged pads and eases breathing.''

“Sandcreek! You’re jittering again! You’re not stressing yourself over remembering herbs, are you?”

A bristly tail tip brushed soothingly across Sandcreek’s back. Sparrownose had been his mentor for six months and knew him better than his own parents; In Mintstar’s Shadowclan, it was normal for weaned kits to be estranged from their parents and encouraged to spend time with the warrior apprentices to wring the sentiment out of them and refill it with the leader’s ideal personality of a battle-hardened, merciless warrior. No kit could escape, and parents knew they could do nothing about it on their own, so they didn’t try.

Sandcreek had helplessly watched his own brother Ashpaw fall victim to this agenda. The two brothers spent lots of time together, but Sandcreek always felt like he was talking to a different cat he grew up with as a young kit.

Sparrownose was studying him sympathetically with dull green eyes. “I know you’ve found it hard to adjust to medicine cat life and your progress has been slow, but I don’t want to let you gather herbs on your own if you’re not confident.” The aging medicine cat continued stroking his tail along Sandcreek’s back; it was the best way to calm him down. “That’s it, Sandcreek, deep breaths.”

''I wasn’t even meant to be a medicine cat, I only did it to avoid becoming like Ashpaw! Herbs all look the same to me; I don’t even know why Sparrownose decided to give me my full name!'' His breathing grew rapid, his paws twitching with anxiety.

“You can take someone with you if you feel unsafe,” suggested his mentor quietly. “When I was an apprentice my mentor always let me gather herbs without her supervision if I took a friend. It made it ten times more fun! You’re always with your brother, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to come along.”

Sandcreek spotted Ashpaw finishing off a toad with the other apprentices. “Thanks for the idea, I’ll talk to him,” he replied meekly. He exited the medicine cat’s den, savouring the strips of sunlight that filtered through the pine branches and onto his cream fur.

“Coltsfoot!” Sparrownose reminded him from behind. “We’re looking for Coltsfoot!”