Post by Poltergeist on Oct 21, 2009 12:27:40 GMT -8
This is Poltergeist, trying out for Medicine Cat of the Survivors with Littlecloud: ex-Shadowclan Medicine Cat. c: I know that technically Littlecloud is still a warrior at this point of the series, but I was told I could still use him. x3 So here goes.
Name:
Littlecloud
The Escape:
Medicine cats rarely hunted. What with their daily, seemingly never-ending duties of organizing herbs, keeping sicknesses from spreading, tending to births, and making sure ointmints and such were maintained in case of emergencies, those closest to Starclan hardly had the leisure time to run through the meadows (or, in his case, marsh-filled forests) and enjoy the scenery, much less hunt. For those of his profession, healing was the first priority, and sometimes it was nice. He didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn like the warriors to go on dawn patrol - while the apprentices were dragged, vision still bleary, into the forest, he could peacefully sleep in his den, sometimes until sunhigh if Starclan was merciful.
Nevertheless, he'd often wondered about the prey brought to him by the occasional apprentice, and as he looked down at the eerily still plump mouse, his ears flicked. Had the cat who killed this given thanks to Starclan? What was it like, the terror of being the prey, the one being chased? He could only imagine the raw fear of knowing you were going to die, of fighting for your life. As a medicine cat, he had little knowledge of battle or how to fight - since an early age, he had known his calling was to the herbs. He had heard apprentices and warriors discuss the feeling of battle, the surge of adrenaline, the power, and sometimes, the absolute desperation. He could only shudder when he heard of it.
Now, he knew the feeling.
Littlecloud felt useless. He didn't know how to fight! Feeling like a helpless kit that only knew how to crawl, the twenty-four moon old medicine cat could only watch, an expression of horror fixed on his face, as the Bloodclan cats rampaged through the camp, tearing everything in sight apart. They were merciless - he had never seen anything more terrifying, even during the rule of Tigerstar. Hard to believe that was only a couple sunrises ago. These last few sunrises had been nothing short of a nightmare.
The Shadowclan cat could only stare with jaw agape as the howling victors tore into his den, trampling the herbs he had worked endlessly to collect, all his moons of handiwork, gone up in the same smoke that marked the end of the Clans. He barely had time to stare before a yowl nearby caught his attention.
"Littlecloud! Don't stand there, you have to get out!" The small light brown tom whirled around as if he had just realized he had paws, only to see the familiar grey coat of his friend and ally Cinderpelt. The elder medicine cat of Thunderclan was looking at him with fretful, wide eyes, urgency in her tone.
No, not just urgency. Desperation.
The rest of the battle flooded into his ears - the yowls and shrieks of cats all around as Scourge and his group decimated all that they had left. In the distance just beyond Cinderpelt, a Riverclan warrior fell under the onslaught of three Bloodclan savages. The sight made Littlecloud want to throw up, and he was jolted back into reality.
He was totally useless here. Medicine cats weren't meant to fight, and his herbs would be of no use here. He had to run. Shadowclan is doomed... Lionclan is doomed. Even the alliance of the four Clans was not enough to stop them. After Firestar was killed by Scourge, everything had fallen apart.
"Cinderpelt!" he called out to her, finding his voice again. "Come on, let's go!" The older medicine cat made her way over to him, and they turned, beginning to run as best as they could out of the camp. Everything was lost now. There was no saving them. The small tom's ears burned with shame as he realized he was leaving his clan mates to die, but he would be more of a nuisance than a help if he stayed.
"The Highstones, let's go!" Cinderpelt gasped as they ran, but she couldn't go very fast - her marred leg, a memory of her accident on the Thunderpath that had cost her her warrior ceremony, was severely hindering her.
Littlecloud didn't respond, but only nodded. Suddenly, a yowl sounded very close by, and suddenly Cinderpelt disappeared from beside him. The tom whirled around, shocked, to find a Bloodclan tom and the medicine cat sprawling on the marshy ground. Littlecloud shuddered - the tom's eyes were crazed with a light of glee - he had never seen such ferocity and... insanity in a cat before! The cat seemed to cackle as he mercilessly slashed at the grey she cat's pelt before she could even react.
"Cinderpelt!" Littlecloud wailed in horror as he bounded forward in a feeble attempt to save the she cat that he owed his life to. She was the reason he had decided to become a medicine cat in the first place! Before he could even take two steps though, something slammed into his side, forcing him off his paws. He hit the ground with such force that the wind was knocked from his lungs, and he didn't even have enough breath to yowl as claws raked deep along his foreleg. This is it... I'm going to die...
And then, just as suddenly as the weight had been introduced, it was gone. Littlecloud forced himself to his paws, wincing sharply as pain shot up his mutilated foreleg.
A deeper voice now called at him. "Littlecloud, run! Get out of here!" The medicine cat opened his eyes to see Blackfoot, his deputy, fighting off the cat that had undoubtedly just been attacking him. His deputy didn't say anything more before leaping back into the fray, but that instant was all Littlecloud needed. The light of terror and yet determination in the brave-hearted tom's eyes conveyed fully the end of the end.
Littlecloud was suddenly then filled with unspeakable raw terror. I need to get out of here! Blue eyes wide with pure fear, he turned and fled, ignoring the sharp agony in his leg. He didn't want to die like this - everything was done now. The Clans were gone. He just had to get away.
Thank you!