LIAR! it takes one to know one

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It was nearing moonhigh, the thick snow and heavy clouds casting pale grey tones over everything. In the darkness over the border an owl boasted of it's catch, the forest was probably as barren as the moors and the desolate marshes where cats of the night made their home. The sweeping river had a thick crust of ice lining each side, treacherously slippy and fragile in places. It would not be long before it froze over entirely and then what would happen? The cats of RiverClan depended solely on fish for their prey.

The bitter chill had once again been biting at the old cats haunches, making the waking hours uncomfortable and sleep impossible. His old bones often ached, particularly in wet weather and more so during Leafbare than any other season. So it was that this Leafbare, possibly the harshest since his kithood, found the RiverClan elder as stiff and sore as ever. One-eye was perched quietly outside the Sunmist's den, deciding on the best way to phrase his request. He wanted something for his old bones, and he also wanted something to quell the aching hunger that lingered in his belly. For some time now the older cat had been sneakily returning his food to the fresh-kill pile, hiding it from the rest of the Clan so that they would assume he was still eating. He didn't want to eat it, despite the tantalising scent and taste that it left in his mouth, the growl of his empty stomach as once again he denied it the very thing it longed for. Why should he eat? He didn't contribute to the Clan in any way but to 'toughen up' the apprentices. There were plenty of other cats who needed the fresh kill more than he did, and that was his reasoning for starving himself. He would chew on the reeds in his nest, occasionally stripping away a slither of the fading green flesh and swallowing it whole. He drank a lot and he asked Sunmist for more herbs than was natural, but so far no cat had noticed. In truth, the black and white tom had set his paws firmly on the path to StarClan. The unseen damage he had created inside would likely take him, the question now was when?

'Sunmist, I need more herbs. My bones ache like fury, and I've been getting stomach pains. Send that apprentice of yours to my den would you?' he called into the darkness, hoping the medicine cat was still awake and would hear his request without asking the elder to move any further. The white fur on his paws was frozen into clumps and his rasping breaths could be seen as vapour in the night air. It had been a struggle to get to the medicine cats den as it was. His one amber eye swivelled to take in the rest of the snow-bound camp, the one he had known as home for his entire life. It looked so different now, so strange and unwelcoming. Hissing through his teeth at the pain of movement, his black limbs began the limping shamble to fetch Sunmist from his den. The medicine cat had obviously not heard him..

[Sunmist/Tessa]

Sunmist was sleeping happily in his den. He was having a delightful dream from his kithood when he was playing in the reeds with his littermates and his mother was calling them back to the den for their apprentice ceremony. He had been almost as shocked as Otterpaw when it was announced he had been chosen. Bright eyed and bushy tailed Sunmist bounded to his mentor and together the spent a good few years in training before the old squirrel (because she was as nutty as one in her younger years) passed on to walk with starclan. He sighed sadly in his sleep, finding himself missing his old mentor more and more with these uncertain times. But he got to see her more than he ought to, he figured.

The tom twitched fitfully in his sleep. Then he shivered. Then again, but more violently. A gust of wind came roaring through his den and the fluffy medicine cat lept to his paws, panting and shivering. Starclan it was cold! Where in the world was his apprentice when he REALLY needed him? He snickered to himself. No, he liked Otterpaw, who was a good companion to Sunmist. As the tom smoothed out his fur he wondered where that apprentice of his had gone anyway...
The tom's ears pricked as he heard a familiar voice: One-eye. dread crept into his bones. That old tom had been complaining an awful lot about stomach aches and had been asking for a lot of herbs lately. This worried Sunmist, but there seemed to be nothing really wrong with him so Sunmist thought it may just be a stomach ache, as elders often have a hard time digesting their food, especially when it is tough like it is in leafbare.

"Be there in a moment One-eye" he called as he looked for the few poppy seeds he had left. Actually no... he thought to himself, searching through his collection, I think I have... Ah! There we are. Sunmist padded out of his den and into the cold, then quickly shuffled into the elders den with a batch of herbs clamped in his jaws. He placed it beside the old warrior and offered gently, "It is aniseed, it will help with your digestion." a flash of worry crept into his eyes. Was this tom looking worse than he did the last time he asked for herbs? What could possibly be wrong with him, "You'll tell me if something is wrong, wont you One-eye?" it was more like an order than a question. He WAS the medicine cat, after all.

[{darkles}]

Surprisingly for being so old, One-eye's hearing had improved greatly since the loss of his second eye. This caused problems among the muttering apprentices who thought he couldn't tell what they were whispering. More often than not that certain apprentice would end up being the one to bring the old tom his fresh-kill for the next week - and suffer endless complaints in the process. From a tail-length outside the medicine cats den he heard Sunmists call and turned stiffly to make his way painfully back across the clearing and into his own den, pushing the reeds aside with snow-encrusted fur and frost-bitten paws. He lowered himself down into the crunchy nest of reeds and grasses, nursing his left hind leg that seemed for some reason to be more sore than the other three.

He almost drifted off into one of those uncomfortably cold naps, head tilting slowly forward and single eye closing gently. The crunch of pawsteps outside soon snapped him out of it and he sat up as straight as he could, desperate not to be seen as weak by the other cats of the Clan. Age takes a lot from any feral feline - independence, sight, hearing - but it would not take One-eye's pride. He guarded his weaknesses almost as ferociously as he had once guarded his clanmates. Sunmist's friendly face came around the corner, carrying a bunch of unusual looking herbs that he'd certainly not given to One-eye before.

'What's this rubbish? You've never given me that before' he grumbled, nosing through the seeds that the medicine cat had placed carefully in front of him. It was partly out of curiousity and partly so he wouldn't have to answer the next line of speech that came from the younger toms mouth. Reluctantly he licked the seeds from the cold earth, swallowing the bitter taste and wishing for some water to wash them further down. He had learned many moons ago as an apprentice that it was a bad idea to eat snow - it just gave you bellyache, and he already had one of those. Determined not to show how bad he was feeling he flicked his tail crossly and motioned for Sunmist to leave him.

'Thank you Sunmist, I'll fetch you if I need more'

[Sunmist/Tessa]

Sunmist made as if to protest, but decided against it. He did not think that this elder would deliberately deceive him. So the medicine cat nodded in respect. "Yes One-eye." he mewed deeply, his head still nodded. He was about to leave, when he turned and said a little more sternly "Call for me, if you're bellyache does not subside." he flicked his ears back toward the direction of the den, and padded back to it. Despite himself, and everything his medicine cat instincts told him, Sunmist convinced himself that One-Eye was telling him the truth. That it was just a regular, old bellyache. But something still did not sit right with Sunmist. Call it intuition. He paced inside his den, his mind whirling. What could it be... what in Starclan could it be! He closed his eyes and paused, his fur bristled in worrisome fear. "Oh starclan," he mewed softly, "Give me a sign."

sorry for the shortness X.x and the lateness

[{darkles}]

[OoC: dw, One-eye doesn't mind a couple more days! xD]

A strange snuffly whine escaped the tomcats mouth as he rested his head on his paws. He had watched Sunmist leave with an overwhelming urge to call out, to stop the knowledgeable young cat and let the truth come out. It was unbearable to deceive him, almost as unbearable as the gnawing, clawing, writhing ache that resided in his stomache. Hopefully these new herbs would make it go away, at least for a short while - as was always the case. He lay in his stale bed of reeds, feeling them move against his pelt, hearing the crackling crunch of the odd drier stem as it split in two. The night was quiet, only the ever persistant rush of water could be heard around the dozing camp. In times of hunger and need, there was no threat from other clans, and so no guard had been posted as lookout at the camp entrance.

After what seemed like an age One-eye admitted defeat and heaved his sorry shape to it's feet. It would be impossible to sleep tonight. The aniseed had calmed his pain for a mere few minutes but it had returned with gusto. The tom's one amber eye was unfocused as he limped out of his solitary den and made his way through the snow-ridden domes of the other nests and dens of his clanmates. A drink was what he craved, and the river was the only source. The silence pressed in on him as he set his weary pads on the path to the riverbank. He didn't have far to go, living on an island does have some advantages you know.

With an exhausted 'Oof!' he lay by the swirling grey waters. He bent his head to lap up some of the icey cold, relishing how good it felt to fill his stomach. The relief was short lived as a few seconds later he spewed up over half of what he'd drunk, the remains of the aniseed included. Clearly things were getting worse.

[Sunmist/Tessa]

Sunmist shook his head slowly. No, everything was going to be alright. One-eye was a strong tom, he would pull through. He always pulled through. The worried tom lay his head to rest on his paws, his tail curling over his nose. he shut his eyes, but nothing seemed to be working. no matter how he tried he could not shake the talons of insomnia. So the medicine cat rose and stretched, his head heavy with thoughts and worries and his shoulders tight with stress. Why was he so stressed? There was no real reason. Just a... a phobia. He stretched once more in the clearing and felt the cool breeze off the river hit his flank. Ahh. So nice. He scented the waters and it was almost as if they were beckoning to him. Come, they whispered, to the banks. Swim in the rivers, become a part of them: swim. Swim, Sunmist. He nodded slowly, but instead of following his paws like he knew he should, he merely stood still. Perfectly still. He had snapped out of the odd feeling. The male feline sat slowly and began grooming himself in the moonlight, feeling the tranquility of the sleeping camp working on him.

It was pure, unequivocal bliss.

[{darkles}]

The taste of bile was still strong in his mouth, wiping out any other scents and making his eyes water. He had been sick many times since the beginning of Leafbare, but something was different this time. Steeling himself to do something disgusting he ran his tongue over the vomit-soaked fur around his chin, trying to determine the source of that coppery tang.. One-eye could have sworn blind that he knew what the taste was, but he just couldn't place it right now. A shiver took him by surprise, startling his thoughts into a different direction. Some cats say that those kinds of shivers happen when a StarClan cat calls your name, asking you to join them in their star-filled heaven. One-eye had always laughed at those stories, believing them to be tales told to scare kits. He didn't laugh now, he hadn't the energy. The old tom barely even smirked as he tried to clean the rest of the vomit from his pelt, screwing his eyes tight as the foul substance hit the back of his throat.

The night was getting colder as the moon continued to rise, snow sparkled on either side of the bank and one side of the river had already frozen over, the ice as thin and fragile as a newborn kit's ears. As StarClan watched from above, a black and white patched cat rose precariously from his position on the island. He teetered dangerously close to the fast flowing water, managing to catch his balance in time with a quick jerky movement of his hind paws. In his belly the large ulcer, a product from his long self-starvation, ruptured with that very same movement.

A piercing shriek rent the silent air, shaking the snow from the nearest reeds as One-eye collapsed in a mass of writhing fur and bones. He could barely breathe for the pain, the taste of bile came back all too easily and he retched again and again - his empty stomach had nothing left to bring up but blood and pus, slowly oozing from the wound.

The coppery taste.. blood. Realisation struck the old tom, he had brought this unbelievable pain upon himself, a ticking time bomb just waiting for something to trigger it. He could've cried at that moment, hunched, freezing and immobile at the side of the camp. All his previous stubborness and pride was washed away with the river as he clawed pitifully at the sandy bank, too fearful and crippled by the pain to move any more.

'Sunmiiiist.. Eh-Ebonss.. somebody..' he whimpered, 'Help me..'

[Sunmist/Tessa]

Sunmist's fur basically fell off his pelt. He stood quickly and ran full pelt down the path. But it seemed like it was all in slow motion, and his paws felt like lead on the end of his legs. He loped forward in slow miotion, zipping through the reeds with an impossible speed. He skidded to a full stop in front of One-eye and his heart stopped.
"No..."

"One-eye, you told me there was nothing wrong with you,"" he hissed in disbeliefe. Then anger finally emitted from his normally calm jaws and he snarled, "What have you done?

[/u] You need to tell me right now what you have not told me the hundred times I asked you! You lied to me One-eye, I knew it!"[/b] he paced, his tail whipping from side to side in pure fury. He would call Otterpaw, but not until One-eye had answered him. He bent to the elder and growled, "Tell me!"[/blockquote][/size]

OOC: Sorry! I totally forgot I hand't finished this!

[{darkles}]

[OoC: S'alright! =D]

The ragged old cat still lay beside the river, all four paws clutched in to his chest to save them from the snow and his thin tail was curled atop them all. A trickle of pink fluid was seeping from the corner of his mouth, a mixture of blood and bile and his left side was caked in snow, but of course he couldn't move to get rid of it. His whole body seemed to shake, with cold or pain he didn't know, from the tip of his tail to his black ears and his mouth was opening and closing silently. There were no words to describe how he felt right now. Wretched, distraught, broken. They didn't even cover it.

'Sunmist.. I'm sorry' he whispered, hating himself for lying to the medicine cat. He tried to turn his head to look at the tom but was met with a facefull of snow and another jagged-like gripe in his belly that made him grind his teeth. 'I just wanted to help.. there was so little fish on the pile-' Again One-eye broke off, staring at the frozen river with a look of pure self-loathing on his face. It was true he had only wanted to help and perhaps for a small amount of time he had, but now he was just causing problems. Problems and worries for both Sunmist and the rest of the Clan. Problems that quite frankly weren't needed right now. He would end up wasting Sunmist's herbs and a lot of his time. What a fool you've been, you mangy cat. You deserve this pain. The old tom kept staring at the river. It had been the one constant in his life, ever since he was a tiny kit. When his parents had died, it had been there to console him. When his siblings had died, it had been there too. It had comforted him throughout tough decisions, fearsome battles and stuffy she-cats. Even now, as he lay bleeding, it was there with him. Silent, but not completely silenced.

'StarClan, let me die now.' he begged, his voice barely raised above a whisper lest Sunmist hear his pathetic pleading. Silverpelt just sparkled in the distance, giving no answers.