A Heart of Ice

This is my and Tangle's first collab together... So let us begin.

Prologue ~Loudclaw~
It was a few moons after The Great Battle with the Dark Forest. ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan, and WindClan were only just recovering from their wounds and their dead; this included ThunderClan having new leadership. However, leaf-bare came harder than ever before to the warrior Clans. This leafbare was even worse than the one Bluestar had given up her kits; whereas the RIVER froze over in the forest, the entire lake froze up, save the very center of it.

This particular leafbare was harsh on ShadowClan especially. Jayfeather, Kestrelwing, and Mothwing were doing fine on supplies; their greencough bouts were surprisingly minor. But Littlecloud's supplies were running extremely low. No catmint meant no way to cure Greencough, especially as he hadn't gotten a chance to find chickweed. Greencough was running ravage through the ShadowClan camp, claiming two of Blackstar's lives; with two lives left for him, he knew he'd have to send out one cat... just one, to look for catmint.

Smokefoot's apprentice, Icepaw, was the most experienced apprentice, almost ready to become a warrior. She was the oldest cat that wasn't trapped in her nest, sick with a sickness that was killing ShadowClan within. And this sickness could easily spread to the other Clans. Unable to spare the Clan medicine cat, this was their only opportunity.

"Icepaw-" Blackstar broke off with a cough. "Icepaw, you are the fittest one in the Clan... you must go out and find us catmint. Somewhere out there, there must be catmint..." Breaking off coughing, Blackstar backed off into his own nest again. The leader had told Icepaw what she had to do.

And she would do it.

"Yes, Blackstar..."