Clearlight's POV:

Just as Clearlight started dozing off into a deep sleep, a yowl rang out close to camp. Clearlight shot out of his nest with his fur bristling. The other warriors clambered out of their nests too and scrambled out of the den, ready to defend the camp if anything was attacking. Clearlight pushed past Bumblestrike and Mousenose on his way out and squeezed through Blazemoon, Ashleg and Cloudsun.

Worried murmurs rippled through the clan and soon the apprentices had charged out of the apprentice's den with excited yowls.

"Who's attacking?!" Blizzardpaw demanded.

"I'll rip their fur off if they try to ambush our camp!" Blackpaw shoved past Blizzardpaw and gave his den mate a competitive grin. Blizzardpaw fluffed up his fur but said nothing.

Fluffystream growled, "We should investigate."

Clearlight nodded, finally able to speak over the cats. "Yes. I will lead a patrol of four cats around the outskirts of camp to check for intruders."

"Has anyone seen Silverstar?" Meowed Autumnpaw.

Clearlight narrowed his eyes. "She went into the medicine den.."

"And I sent her out to get moss for her nest." Nutwhisker trotted out of his den. His eyes were sparkling with fear for Silverstar.

"What if she was ambushed?" Blazemoon shook her head and flattened her ears.

"It would have been the perfect opportunity for any predator! It's dark and she was alone! It would have been easy to sneak up on her!" snarled Demonpelt.

Loveheart hissed to Demonpelt, "Are you saying Silverstar was incapable of protecting herself? She has powers."

Demonpelt sniffed and raised her tail in the air defiantly, "Powers don't always mean you're automatically invincible."

Now Whitetail joined in, "Stop being so critical Demonpelt! Silverstar could be in danger and you're trying to make it out that she is weak! Some warrior you are..."

"I am loyal, I just don't agree on every cat having powers to automatically be placed as a high rank!" Demonpelt bared her fangs at Whitetail. Her dark fur bristled along her spine and she glared at the white tom with hostility. She knew that Whitetail was Clearlight's son and she blamed Whitetail for everything that was happening, it seemed.

Clearlight opened his mouth to stop the fighting but instead, a she cat's voice intervened.

"Stop this nonsence at once!"

All eyes turned behind Clearlight and he spun around to see none other than Silverstar standing at the camp entrance, holding a ball of moss in her jaws. Her fur was ruffled and messy and her eyes were wide and scared butbher voice was surprisingly calm but strong and controlling at the same time.

"S-Silverstar!" Demonopelt stuttered and dipped her head guiltily.

Clearlight looked up at Silverstar as she padded carefully down the small slope and down into the centre of camp. "Silverstar, are you okay? We heard a yowl."

"I am okay now." She answered softly as she passed Clearlight and placed her moss down by Nutwhisker. Then she turned to the rest of the clan. The moonlight shone down on her silver pelt, making it shine eerily.

"Cats of Lightclan. While I was out collecting moss, a cat attacked me. This cat was not like most cats. This cat, if it even is a cat, was bigger than a fox. This cat was stronger and faster than any of our strongest and fastest warriors combined. This cat managed to break my silver armour by simply hitting me with its paw." Silverstar took a shaky intake of breath. "I lost a life to this.. cat."

Immediately after Silverstar finished, an outbreak of scared whimpers and cries came from the cats around her.

"I don't want to die!" Blackpaw cried with an immature whine.

"We must hunt down this monster!" Fluffystream growled.

Silverstar raised her voice to be heard over the racket, "I think this monster also needs a name. Any ideas?"

"Wait!" A cry came from Autumnpaw. "I think I might know what it is! Silverstar, explain what the cat looked like."

Silverstar twitched her ears and meowed, "Um.. Its tail was quite short.. Tufts of black fur stood up from the tip of its ears and its fur was thick and light grey with black stripes or spots... Thicker fur grew around it's jaw. It also had yellow eyes."

"It's a lynx!" Autumnpaw meowed with a shocked gasp. "I remember now! When I was a kit, my mother used to tell me about how lynxs used to roam the forest peacefully with the clans. But then the twolegs came and took territory. Eventually, the lynxs died out from loss of territory or from being hunted by twolegs. Lynxs are powerful and deadly. If they were hungry enough, they would hunt and eat us!"

Clearlight suddenly remembered how Autumnpaw wasn't always part of Lightclan. She did have a few moons in another clan before she arrived in Lightclan. They were so lucky Autumnpaw had come to Lightclan at that moment. He turned his attention back to Silverstar.

"Will there be more do you think?" Silverstar twitched her tail slowly behind her.

"No. Lynxs are usually solitary, like loners. Though my mother told an awesome story about two brother lynxs teaming up to bring down a mountain lion!" Autumnpaw grinned.

Silverstar let out a sigh of relief along with the rest of the clan. "Thank Starclan." She breathed and then meowed, "Go back to sleep now. Tomorrow morning at dawn we will hunt the lynx down and chase it out."

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Nutwhisker's POV:

As Silverstar trotted towards the Hightree, Nutwhisker ran after her. "Silverstar!" He called and nearly crashed into her haunches as she stopped suddenly.

"Yes Nutwhisker?" She asked and turned to face the medicine cat.

"Two things." He meowed. "First, are you healed? Any wounds? Has your Whitecough gone as well?"

Silverstar shook her head, "No wounds. I'm not sure about the Whitecough, though. I think I still have a bit of a sore throat.."

Nutwhisker frowned and leaned closer to Silverstar. He sniffed at her chest fur and pulled away in surprise, "You still have Whitecough! How did it not go away when you lost a life?" He meowed, bewildered.

"I don't know." Silverstar whispered hopelessly, "Um, what was the second thing?"

"Oh yes!" Nutwhisker perked his ears, happy to talk about something else, "Can Shinepaw become my apprentice? She came to me the other day and asked if she could. I would have come to you earlier but with all the problems I completely forgot."

"Of course Shinepaw may be your apprentice. I shall announce it tomorrow morning before the battle patrol is sent out to hunt the lynx." Silverstar smiled brightly and went to climb up the Hightree and up to her den but Nutwhisker stopped her with a paw on her flank.

"You need to come to my den if you are sick." Nutwhisker gestured with his head towards the medicine den.

"But I'm the only one in my den. It might even be better if I stayed in there because then I wouldn't pass the illness to anyone else." Silverstar countered with a twitch of her whiskers.

Nutwhisker shook his head, "What if you get Greencough during the night? I wouldn't know. It's too dangerous. You got the moss to make your nest, now come to my den and sleep there." He ordered softly.

Silverstar's muscles tensed under her fur but she finally relaxed and followed Nutwhisker to the medicine den. "Alright." She murmured and retrieved her moss that she had set on the ground before.

As they padded into the den, Nutwhisker let Silverstar make her nest beside the sleeping Stormflame and he headed to his herb store. Nutwhisker picked up some Thyme and set it next to Silverstar. "If you feel like you're going to have a coughing fit, eat this. It will calm you down. I would give you Coltfoot but my supply is empty."

"That's fine. I'm sure you'll get some Coltsfoot next time you go out." Silverstar smiled and laid down in her new nest, her pelt pressed against Stormflame.

"If only it were that simple." Nutwhisker muttered and stalked towards his nest. "How am I going to get to the herbs now that the rogue is guarding them?" He wondered before settling down to sleep.

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Stormflame's POV:

As dawn approached, Stormflame lifted his head and blinked his eyes open sleepily. He felt a cat beside him and opened his eyes to see Silverstar. "What are you doing here?!"

The silver she cat mumbled in her sleep and rolled onto her back. Then she blinked her green eyes open and moaned, "Stormflame you ruined my dream."

"You're sick too?!" Stormflame ignored Silverstar's comment and stared at her in horror.

Silverstar shrugged, "I guess so."

"What do you mean?" Stormflame growled and rose to his paws, only to start coughing again and fell back into his nest.

"I have Whitecough." Silverstar announced with a lick on her paw. "Brilliant isn't it? Just when the clan needs us most, we fall ill."

"What do you mean 'when the clan needs us most'? What is going on?"Stormflame demanded.

"I was attacked last night by, what Autumnpaw calls, a lynx." Silverstar meowed and eyed Stormflame carefully, almost waiting for him to lash out.

"What's a lynx?" Stormflame hissed and felt his fur rise up along his back.

"A very big cat." Silverstar meowed vaguely and avoided Stormflame's icy gaze. "Just be happy I have three lives left okay?"

"Only three?!" Stormflame nearly yowled but stopped himself and forced down another growl.

A cat cleared their throat from across the den and Stormflame turned to see Watersplash staring awkwardly at them. "Um.. I'm trying to sleep. Can you keep it down?"

Silverstar flashed the medicine cat a kind smile, "Of course." She rested her head back on her paws and closed her eyes.

Stormflame rolled his eyes and lay back down as well. He wished he could be there to help protect his clan mates, but the stupid sickness couldn't be passed to anyone else. He lay in his nest, eyes open. He stared blankly around the room and sighed. Stormflame wasn't tired; he'd just woken up. So he decided to go out to see how the clan was doing. He wouldn't touch any of the cats, he'd just chat a little and catch up with his friends.

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