Amberclaw's worries had come to life, and Rustfern had caught a cough already. Progress had been halted as every few heartbeats, the tom would cough and hack and collapse. Ravenflight had him isolated in a corner of the cave.

So far, none of the usual herbs were working, according to Ravenflight. Amberclaw returned from a hunt, a sleek fish in her jaws. "Ravenflight!" she called.

The black she-cat bounded over, taking the fish and bringing it to Rustfern. Even though the tom had been rather nasty to all of them, they couldn't help but worry for him. And the worst part was that they couldn't help him. There was no catmint and barely any tansy. Amberclaw felt totally useless.

Ravenflight was clearly furious with herself too; the black she-cat paced around the cave they had been staying in.

"We need to help him!" Ebonywind growled.

"How?" Dawnmist challenged. "We have no herbs!"

"We can find some!" Blackshine suggested.

It wasn't a bad idea. Dawnmist led a patrol with Ravenflight and Amberclaw in search of herbs. Blackshine and Ebonywind were to stay with Rustfern.

They trekked up a hill, searching behind trees and in the long grass. Dawnmist let out a shout, Ravenflight and Amberclaw running to her side.

"I found this herb!" Dawnmist exclaimed, breathless, leading them to a red-orange flower.

"Woah," Ravenflight peered at it. "I've never seen it before."

Amberclaw nodded her agreement.

"I wonder what it does?" Ravenflight cut the stem and picked several of the flowers. They brought them back to the cave.

Amberclaw followed Ravenflight to Rustfern, where they took one of the flowers, chewing it into a pulp. Ravenflight force-fed him the pulp and his eyes flickered open. Amberclaw gasped in surprise and hurriedly began to chew more of the flowers.

They continued to feed him with pulp, as well as water, and by the end of the day, Rustfern's eyes were brighter and he looked healthier.

The six cats sat together as the sun began to set, discussing the new herb.

"It must be a flower that grows in the mountains," Amberclaw interrupted them.

"I agree," Ebonywind added. "No cat has ever used it before."

"That means we're the first!" Blackshine cheered excitedly.

"Dawnmist, you found it, you can name it." Ravenflight dipped her head to the older she-cat.

"This flower saved my life," Rustfern choked out, speaking clearly hard for him.

"Shh," Ravenflight hushed Rustfern. "You aren't better yet."

Rustfern obeyed.

"Dawn Redwood." Dawnmist decided. "This flower will be called Dawn Redwood."

"It's a brilliant name," Amberclaw praised her.

"We need to figure out what else it can do. It can obviously cure coughs and fevers, but what else?" Ravenflight took charge. "Rustfern, I know it's hard to speak, but what other symptoms did you have?"

"I felt like vomiting, but after you fed me the pulp, I felt better," Rustfern admitted.

"It can cure coughs, fevers, and nausea, and that's just the pulp!" Ebonywind was shocked.

"That's it! You're a genius!" Ravenflight nuzzled Ebonywind before taking a petal off the flower. "What does the petal do?"

"Try it on me," Rustfern offered immediately.

"Alright." Ravenflight gave Rustfern the petal and he swallowed it.

The six cats sat in silence, everyone looking at Rustfern. The tom's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell to the ground. The silence was deafening. Amberclaw shifted uncomfortably. Did the flower kill him?

Please don't be dead. He might be a furball sometimes, but he's still my Clanmate. We shouldn't have tested it on him.

"Is he dead?" Amberclaw voiced everyone's concerns.

Ravenflight bravely nudged him. Rustfern let out a huge snore and they all breathed in relief.

"The pulp of the Redwood can cure coughs, fevers and nausea," Ravenflight recited. "And the leaves can put a cat to sleep. That'll be useful, especially if a cat is kicking or in pain. A bit like poppy seeds."

Amberclaw let out a purr, glad that the stressful moment was over.

A/N - I spent about a week stuck on this chapter, so I'm sorry it's very short. I had writer's block, but the next few chapters should be normal length.