Chapter 13: I Can Help You

I nodded to Shadow as we kept on walking. I was not so sure if what he said was true or not just yet. I had not been around any of the leaders long enough to tell. If I had made a bad decision, surely Starclan would have told me or Limp at this point, right?

I shook my head, trying not to worry about that too much. As long as the clan was okay, then I am sure that Kevin was doing a fine job as a leader. I needed to worry about my own clan first. I needed to help those cats and kits, it was the reason that I was here in the first place.

I was surprised that Dust had not questioned the reason that my clan did need help in the first place. Maybe he thought that we were getting attacked because he looked a bit excited when I had first said that we needed help. He was a cat that quite enjoyed starting fights.

It was just between me and Kevin though. Although I had little doubt on whether Kevin would keep that secret to just me and him. Surely people would wonder why I was here, and why I needed herbs... I shook my head and kept on following them however.

I did not think that the clan was evil, they were probably just like my own clan. They just wanted to keep their land safe as well. I did not blame them for it. Their land... Thoughts came back to how Dust had said they had fought for the Skyclan land, what used to be their land at least.

I hope that no one had been killed, I also was afraid that if there were already conflicts like this going on right now, it might get worse further down the line. Starting wars with other clans was the last thing that I wanted to be doing right now.

I began to smell the scent of other cats near me, and I realized that we were coming into Shadowclan camp. It had been such a while since I had been here with Limp, Kettle, Oister, and Mint. I wish that Kettle and Oister were still with me, I did miss their company.

I did not blame them though, they had always been fond of water. I did not know how any cat could be, and I also knew that Kettle wanted to lead his own clan as well. I enjoyed the cats that were in my clan right now, so I should not be complaining about all of that.

We walked through the briar patch one by one that was used to protect the camp from any possible intruders that might be coming after the clan. Whether that be badgers, or rogues. It was smart, and I did not question the decision that Kevin had made to protect their camp like that.

As we got in, I saw that many cats nodded to the cats in front as the came back from their early morning border patrol. When they saw my head pop in however, I saw that their faces began to show signs of worry. I was not sure if that was due to them thinking that I had been caught planning an attack or if I was warning them about one.

No one said a word as I walked in however, I noticed 2 new cats in the corner of the clan. They must be separate from the others due the the fact that they were new to the clan. They just stared me down, as if they were trying to scare me out of their camp.

Dust turned his head back to me, and then he nodded to me. He was doing his best to keep his calm, as I could tell that he was radiating the same energy from his clan mates at the moment. I looked at him and then I waited for him to begin speaking to me.

"You stay here with Shadow and Dimple, I am going to tell Kevin that you are here to speak to him, he is arranging patrols right now in his cave." He said to me. He nodded to him, and he nodded back to me, although I could tell that he was still a bit worried of the reasoning I was here.

After a few moments of all of us sitting there and staring at each other, he finally turned his head over to the leaders den, and he began to walk over to it. I watched him as he walked away from us, and I squinted my eyes all the way over there.

I still could not bring myself to trust that cat for some odd reason. There was just something that was not right with him, though no one else in their clan seemed to notice it. Maybe I just needed to be around him more to understand him.

I watched as he walked into the den, and I turned my head over to Shadow as I figured that I would speak to him. He had his head turned away from me, but Dimple noticed my looking at him as I was waiting til I had the chance to speak, and she nodded her head to him to turn towards me.

He looked a bit confused for a few moments, and then he realized what was going on, as he turned around and saw that I was waiting for him to pay attention to me. I nodded to Dimple, thanking her for that, and she nodded back to me. I then began to speak to Shadow.

"So... It has been a while since I had last seen of you. How have things been going in the clan?" I asked him. He looked at me for a few moments, taking in what I had just said to him. After a few more moments, he then nodded his head and looked over at the leaders den.

He stared at it for a few moments, and then he finally pointed his head back over to me. I wondered if he was trying to tell me something, if he was trying to give me a hidden message, but I shook it off, I was probably thinking too deep and it had really not meant anything at all.

He did however point his head to the ground, as if he might be embarrased about something, guilty, or they were not doing too well. Maybe it was all of them, and I hoped they were doing okay. The cold season was coming very soon, and it was only going to get worse from there.

After a few moments, he finally lifted his head at me. I could tell that he knew I had noticed the look on his face. He did his best to shake it off, but he realized his mistake, and felt like he should be open and honest with me when he began to talk.

"We have been doing good... I am just worried for Skyclan, Dust, he attacked their patrol, and he injured them quite a bit... He took their land from them." He said to me. I realized now why I had seen the guilty look on his face. He must have been a part of the attack.

Now I was really starting to not like Dust very much... Everything that I had heard from him was not good at all. It began to get me a bit worried, what if there were wars already coming soon in the future? What if they had already started a war with Skyclan?

Was this Skyclans fault? By the look on the face of Shadow, I had a lot of doubt of it being their fault... I was really beginning to think about Kevins decision on choosing Dust as a deputy. Maybe a good cat to have in your clan, but his leading skills left much to be desired.

Dimple I could tell was a fair bit upset with what Shadow had just said. Which I was sure had a lot to do with the way that he had just said it. I also could tell that both of those cats were in love with each other, I am sure she was going to take the side of Dust no matter what was said about him.

She began to talk up a bit, and her voice I could tell was a bit angry about the way that Shadow had just talked about the deputy of their clan. Her future mate as it seemed as well, but maybe I was getting a bit too ahead of myself.

"Shadow! He made the right decision, and now we have more land! Do we not? We need to focus on our own clan before we focus on others... Moon said it himself, right?" She said to Shadow, looking at me to get my appraisal at what she had just said.

I was a bit guilty myself, I was not going to lie. I had said that in fact, but the way that I had meant it was not meant to attack other clans and take over their territory. I was not sure what to say back to either of them at the exact moment in time, I was not going to lie.

Shadow I could tell was a bit frustrated with her, he began to step up to speak. I wanted to warn him just to not say anything at all, although I knew that he was right. It was best just to stay silent, he was not the leader, nor was he the deputy of the clan.

It was best for him just to keep his quiet in all of this. I knew that he was right with what he said, but I did not want him to get kicked out of his clan either. I knew that he did quite enjoy living in this territory, and he would not give it up for anything.

I did pay attention to him as he spoke back to Dimple however, as I was interested in what he had to say. I also wanted to learn more about Dust, if he was not a good cat, and not fit to be deputy, then I wanted to say something about it, at the upcoming meeting.

Based off of what I had heard as well, I had very little doubt as to whether or not Skyclan would be on my side with it as well. I am sure they were very upset with the attack, and I also hoped that they had not lost the life of any of their cats already. I shook my head though as I listened to Shadow as he began to speak up.

"We should not be starting fights with clans so early though... We have barely even started our clan in the first place." He said over to her. She looked at him for a few moments, and then she squinted her eyes at him. I could tell that she knew he might right.

It did not seem that she wanted to admit it though, about her upcoming mate. She seemed to be a bit of a stubborn cat as well, as much as I had seen from her so far. She then began to speak up a bit fearcly to Shadow this time around.

"We deserved that land, he made you the leader of Shadowclan?" She said over to him. Shadow looked at her a few moments, as it looked as if he was going to say something back to her. But he decided that it was best just to not say anything at all.

He looked behind me for a few moments, and then he lowered his head down to the ground. I saw Dimple look behind me as well, and she seemed to get a bit excited. I turned my head around to see what it was that was behind me.

I noticed that it was Kevin and Dust and they were speaking to each other, though I could not quite hear what it was that they were saying to each other as they were a bit too far away from me to catch a word of what it was that they might be saying.

It made sense as the why Shadow lowered his head to the ground. He had just spoken highly of his leader, though he clearly did not trust the deputy, much like me. I sat there for a few moments, trying to shake all of those thoughts from my head, as both Kevin and his deputy Dust drew closer to me.

I looked at the both of them, and then I nodded to each one of them, as a gesture of respect for them letting me into their camp. Kevin nodded to me and then he sat down, as if he were planning on sitting there for quite a while, he also then began to speak up to me as well.

"Welcome to Shadowclan Moon! I hear that you are in trouble! What is it that you might need help with?" He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded to him gratefully, thankful for the fact that he had in fact felt like letting me speak.

I saw the look on Dust's face as well, as he looked excited, and interested on what it was that I was about to say. I did not like the look very much either, and I did not want him to be around either if I wanted to speak privately to Kevin as well, I still was not ready to trust Dust quite yet.

"Thank you for letting me in... Could we head over to your den? I want it to be a private conversation between both me and you. There are more than one thing that I feel like I must speak to you about." I said to him. Trying to keep my calm and steady voice as best as I could.

Dust squinted his eyes at me, and I knew that he was a smart cat. It was almost as if he was reading my thoughts, and he knew that his name was on the list of things that I wanted to talk to Kevin about. I looked away trying not to give away any more information to him.

As I looked over to Shadow and Dimple, I could tell that both of them were a bit disappointed to hear that they would not get to be a part of this. I did not want to see the look on the face of Dust, as I knew he must be fuming at the fact that I did not want him in the room with me and Kevin.

If Shadow was the leader, and Skyclan had not been attacked, then maybe I would let him listen to us speak, but I also did not want Dimple to be near me when I wanted to speak to just Kevin about a few things. I looked back at Kevin as he was the leader in fact.

He looked at me a bit surprised for just a few moments, but he then nodded to me as I could tell that he understood my decision to just want to talk between me and him. Though I knew that he did not know that a part of it would be due to the fact that I did not trust Dust.

He turned his head, and then he nodded to the other 3 cats that were with us, to go ahead and head off and do whatever it was that they felt like doing for the rest of their day. The others then nodded back, and Shadow walked off by himself, as the other 2 walked together.

A part of me was worried for Shadow as well, I wondered if Dimple was going to tell Dust about what Shadow had just said to me. I shook it off though, it was normal for cats to sometimes question the decision of other cats, there was no way that Kevin would get mad to the point where he would kick Shadow out of their clan.

Once the others were separated from us, Kevin then nodded to me to follow him back over to his den. I nodded back to him, for him to take the lead, and he began to walk over to the den slowly. The cats in the camp had all gone back to their daily activities as we walked into the cave, they were clearly no longer worried about me being in their camp.

Once we were in the cave, Kevin set up in a comfortable position, and then nodded to me to do the same as well. Once I was in a safe and comfortable spot, I looked over at Kevin, as I could see him staring at me, waiting for me to speak.

For a few moments, I had forgotten the reason that I had come here in the first place. I then remembered that Limp was waiting for me back at Youngtail's old place, and I shook my head to myself. I wanted to talk about Dust before I got on that topic though.

Kevin I could tell was getting a bit antsy, as he sat there waiting for me to begin talking. I did not blame him either, he probably did not like the fact that an enemy leader was standing in his own den right now. I nodded to him, as I began to speak on my thoughts about Dust and all of that other stuff.

"I heard about you guys attacking Skyclan, and taking over their territory." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he began to squint his eyes at me. I could tell that he was a bit upset, and I wondered if that was what I should have started the conversation on.

He got up from where he was sitting on the moss spot. I could tell that he was angry at what I had just said. I regretted it right away, and I was quite sure that he was about to kick me off of his land right now. He then sat back down and he calmed himself.

"Yes... They were coming into our land so we took over theirs to teach them a lesson." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments. It was a bit of a dumb reason for them to attack Skyclan, just for a measly bit of land as well?

I knew that Kevin was standing up for his deputy however, as I knew that it had been his deputies decision, and he had made no claim to try to deny that at all as well. I sat there for a few moments, and I did my best to keep my calm, such as he had.

It was quite a bit of a dumb reason for them to attack them, and to take their territory away from them. I felt like I would make that known to him as well. It seemed as though he was even questioning his own decision on it as he had his head up at the ceiling. I spoke up to him, as I figured that I should let it be known too.

"The cats might be new, and we are still getting used to territories and all of that. I have had Thunderclan, and Riverclan cats walk onto our land from time to time as well, that is not a very fair reason to attack them..." I said to him. I was beginning to realize that I might be really pushing his buttons right now too.

He did however happen to stay calm as well, as he just sat there, and he closed his eyes. He seemed to be questioning his own decision as well. It was mainly the decision of Dust, and he and I both knew that, but I was pretty sure that he had relayed that to Kevin first.

Kevin sat there, as he breathed in and out quite heavily, and then he opened his eyes, and then he nodded to me, as he began to speak up to me.

"Yes... I did not expect Dust to attack them, you might be right. I am will apologize to them, and I think I will give them back their territory at the upcoming gathering... When is that going to be?" He said to me. I looked at him even more surprised than before.

He had just let Dust attack a Skyclan patrol like that without informing Kevin at all? I did not know how Kevin trusted this cat, and still called this cat a friend, I was not going to lie. Kevin was also making the right decision as well, though I felt like I should add something to it as well.

"It should be by this full moon... Are you sure that you should not have chosen Shadow as a deputy? Dust is going to be the next leader of your clan..." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and he once again squinted his eyes at me.

This time I could tell that I might have pushed it a little bit too far. I could tell that he was quite angry this time at what I had just said to him. He was clearly trying to hold in that anger as well, though it seemed to be a bit hard as he spoke back to me.

"I do not know Shadow very well... Dust however, me and him grew up as best friends... I trust him... Is that the reason that you came here? Because Skyclan came crying to you?" He said, with quite a bit or anger in his voice as he spoke to me.

He did not seem too angry at me, it just seemed as if he was just angry in general. I felt like I should not push him any more. There was a real reason that I had come here in the first place, and it was not to do with Skyclan at all in fact.

"No... They did not come to me about that. I am here for a different reason." I began to say. I then sat there and lowered my head to the ground. I did not want to expose Shadow to the leader, he was the one that had told me about all of this in the first place.

I sat there, with my head to the ground still. I hoped that I was not making it seem like I was guilty, and that I was really hiding something deep from him. He looked at me for a few moments, and I could tell that he was once again getting a bit antsy.

"Speak up... Why are you here then?" He said to me. I looked at him, and then I nodded. I was glad that we had finally managed to get off of the topic of the attack on Skyclan. I did not want to talk about that any longer. I still kept my head to the ground however.

I felt a bit bad, and I also felt like I should not be coming to Shadowclan to beg for help as well. I knew that it would make my clan seem a bit weak. I doubt that they would plan on taking advantage of it though, so long as Dust did not find out about all of this.

I finally lifted my head up at Kevin after the few short moments of me just staring at the ground. There was a reason that I was here, and I had already wasted enough time talking about the attack as it was. I nodded to him, as I then began to speak to him.

"I am here because we have found some rogues that our joining our clan, one of them is very sick, and Limp says your place is the only one that we can find Stinging Nettle." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he finally nodded.

It seemed as if he was going to help me, but he also looked a bit confused as to what it was that I had meant. It was not a good sign at all, I hoped that it was mainly at the fact that I had said there were sick rogues... I wanted to get out of Shadowclan territory as soon as I possibly could.

He sat there for a few moments, as he was the one that was staring down at the ground this time. It was not a good sign to see, that was for sure. However after just the slightest of few moments, he then looked up at me and then nodded.

I got my hopes up, as I got a bit excited. Did they have stinging nettle in their camp? Surely there was no way right? They did not have a medicine cat, so there was no reason for them to be finding and storing herbs right now... They would not know where to find them anyways.

I sat there, and I waited for him to begin to speak up to me. It took him just a few moments, but he finally decided to speak up for me. I payed full attention to what it was that he was about to say, because I did not know how important it was to save the life of Shilo's mate Steve.

"Stinging nettle? I am not sure of what that might be... We do not have a medicine cat as you know, we would not have anyone to train one either, but maybe someone might have heard to before, lets go out and check my clan mates..." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and I was hesitant to nod my head to him.

I was not sure if that was quite a good idea or not. If Dust found out that there might be sick cats in our clan, he might plan an attack on us as well... I shook my head, I doubt that very many cats would be for that however, and Kevin knew about it this time and he did seem to look genuinely worried for me and my clan.

I nodded to him, as I looked outside to the camp, and I waited for him to take the first steps out of the den. He sat there for a few moments, and then he nodded back to me. He waited for me to say something else to him, but once he realized that it was not my plan, he then stepped out of the leaders cave.

I looked around the camp, as I saw there were not as many cats around the camp as there were a few moments ago. I did see Shadow eating up some fresh kill though. He looked at me as he saw us walking out of the den, and he nodded to me. I did the same back to him as well.

I did not see Dimple or Dust around, I wondered if they were making love, or if Dimple was napping due to an early morning scan of the territory, and Dusk was probably on a hunting patrol already. It made sense and I shook it off, as it really did not matter all that much to me.

We walked up to the middle of the Shadowclan camp however. Kevin began to walk up to the top of his tall rock, and then he looked around to count how many people were out in the open. I did not know whether to join him at the top or not, so I just stayed on the ground.

Shadow looked up at the Tall Rock, as I could tell he was a bit surprised, and he looked at me wondering what it was. I was not ready to trust him that much as to tell him what it was all about. Besides, he was about to find out about it anyways, as Kevin began to yell loudly to the clan.

"Everyone head over to the Tall Rock for a short little meeting!" He yelled loudly so that all the cats in, and around camp could hear him. I felt like I was about to pass out, but I stopped myself from doing so, as I knew that I needed to keep my mind focused on doing my current task in paw.

After a few moments, a bunch of cats began to walk out of their dens, I stopped Horse pop out of the warriors den along with Dimple. Plank walked into the camp, just by himself with vole in his hand. He dropped in near a full patch of a freshkill pile, and then he sat beside his sister Mouse. I turned my head up to Kevin as he then began to speak.

"This is going to be a short little meeting... Moon, he needs some stinging nettle, if anyone knows of that herb, please be so inclined to tell us." He said. He looked around the camp, waiting for someone to step up, hoping that someone might have heard of that herb before.

To my disappointment however, no cat stepped up and began to say anything to him. I lowered my head down, a bit disappointed, though, I knew that I should not because it might make me seem as if I was a weak leader, and could not help my clan.

No cat seemed to notice however, as it seemed like they were all looking at each other, wondering what he was talking about. It seemed to be no such sort of luck to me at all. It was a bit disappointing, but it was what it was, I was not surprised.

I kept my head down at the ground for a few moments still, as suddenly I saw a cat step up to Kevin from the corner of my eye. I turned my head over to the cat, a bit surprised to see that a cat had stepped up. It was a new cat... A cat that I had not learned the name of, as he then began to speak.

"Yes... I have heard of stinging nettle before... I can show your friend where to find it if he needs..." He began to say. He then turned his head over to me, which came as a bit of a surprise, as he kept his voice calm and steady. "I can help you..."