Heartbroken
Chapter 1: Thankfully
"Guess what Whitewing?"
"What?" I grumbled, not opening my eyes.
"…Five moons to get rid of it!" Cinderpaw and Hazelpaw chorused.
I rolled my eyes, though I kept them closed so Cinderpaw and Hazelpaw couldn't see them.
"Alright, alright, I'll get up!" I mumbled sleepily.
Cinderpaw and Hazelpaw moved on to pester other warriors and left me half asleep in the sunshine.
I grumbled and padded hastily towards the fresh-kill pile and brushed past Birchfall. He muttered a hello and quickly turned to Spiderleg and Brambleclaw who was organizing the dawn patrol.
Spiderleg and Birchfall and I had been friends since apprenticeship, separately, and we shared every secret together. Spiderleg and I had been close friends, being the only apprentices, and then he became a warrior. Then Birchfall and I were close friends, again being the only apprentices and then I became a warrior. Lately though, we had drifted apart.
I smiled at Birchfall and he smiled back at me.
I saw that Brambleclaw had ditched the morning patrol to share tongues with Squirrelflight. Brackenfur and Sorreltail were talking and laughing outside of the tunnel. Even my parents, Cloudtail and Brightheart, were enjoying the morning, talking and eating.
My heart fluttered in jealousy. These cats shared what I had not yet experienced.
Dustpelt was showing his newest moves to Ferncloud and Daisy was behind her putting finishing touches on the nursery.
"Daisy," I snarled to myself. She had tried to steal my father from my mother when I was an apprentice. My father had finally realized that my mother and I mattered more to him than making Daisy feel welcome in ThunderClan and he had left her when she settled in. Daisy still tried feeble attempts at trying to win him back, but Cloudtail was too in love with Brightheart to notice. Now, Daisy had pretty much given up on him. Thankfully.
Firestar yowled a clan meeting call, and I gulped the rest of my vole and padded towards him, sitting next to Sorreltail when I reached her.
"The dawn patrol found a badger on our territory this morning," Firestar meowed, "Sorreltail, tell us what you saw."
Sorreltail glanced at me and began, "Well, I had gone off the normal trail to hunt a mouse and this huge, female badger came out of nowhere and jumped me. Luckily, the rest of the patrol heard me yelling and came, but it got away."
Birchfall had sat down next to me, and licked my ear. He knew about how my mother had lost her eye. I wasn't scared of dogs though or badgers; in fact, I had trained hard with Brackenfur, especially against them.
Maybe Birchfall is who I'll end up with, I thought, thinking of all the times we had spent together and when he had confessed he had loved me as an apprentice.
"We would need a patrol of at least four cats to fight it off," Brackenfur added.
Firestar nodded, "Brackenfur and Sorreltail already fought, so… Ashfur, you lead, with Spiderleg… Thornclaw, and Whitewing." Birchfall looked disappointed to not be on patrol with me. He stared at me but I pretended not to notice. "We also need to arrange a hunting patrol, Birchfall, Sandstorm and I will go hunting." Birchfall stalked away, unhappily.
Sandstorm smiled, probably thinking about spending time with Firestar. Ashfur looked pleased to be leading --actually, the happiest I'd seen him in days after Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight had announced their being mates.
I let out a deep breath, preparing myself for the fight. Spiderleg padded towards me and meowed, "Are you ready to fight a badger?"
"I'm always ready to fight badgers," I replied, and I smiled at Spiderleg, but my thoughts were towards my mother's past. A badger had clawed her face claiming her left eye.
"Would you two hurry up?" Thornclaw called from the tunnel, "Ashfur's already tracing the scent!"
I padded out of the tunnel ahead of Spiderleg and followed my uncle. When we got outside, Ashfur had already left. Thornclaw was up ahead, and flicked his tail for us to follow him.
Ashfur told us his plan. "We're going to find the badger by scent. We need a cat to use as bait, because that would be the only way it would come out after the first battle." He let his eyes rest on me, as if asking me to be the "bait."
"I'll go," I offered reluctantly. There was no getting out of it, and obviously Ashfur had planned on me being the "bait."
"Okay," he meowed, "Then, when the badger comes out into the open we attack, surrounding it."
"Not a bad plan," Spiderleg meowed, and Thornclaw nodded.
"What have I gotten myself into?" I hissed to Spiderleg.
"Don't worry," Spiderleg meowed, "All you have to do is run leading the badger to the clearing."
"Yup," I meowed sarcastically, "a ferocious badger with sharper claws and teeth than any cat at my heels, and all I have to do is escape its grasp and run back to you."
"Don't worry," Spiderleg repeated, "You can run fast, you'll escape."
"And if I don't?" I countered.
He didn't know. Thornclaw and Ashfur had already started tracking the badger. Spiderleg joined them and I followed him.
"I picked up the scent!" Ashfur hissed. He flicked his tail towards the trail and we all followed the scent. Thornclaw looked confused and took a sniff of the area but shrugged and ran to Ashfur.
Ashfur scented the badger was close, closer than we had expected. Close enough that it could jump out at us and catch us unexpected if we weren't careful. We all crouched towards the ground, and just as we had thought, it was behind the tree looking for food. It was upwind so it couldn't smell us. Thankfully.
Ashfur and Thornclaw jumped into the bushes far enough away so that the badger didn't see them and Spiderleg carefully stepped into the bush opposite them, but closer to the badger. I didn't look back to see if Spiderleg was all the way hidden, and I ran towards the badger.
As I ran towards it, I smelled its stink. But this stink was male, not female as Sorreltail had claimed. I frowned, but it was too late to go back.
During my confusion, the badger bit into my back, and I reared up in a panic, flailing my claws in its face. It drew up to its full height on its back legs and promptly sat on me. I felt my back sag as the huge badger sat on it.
Where are Spiderleg, Thornclaw and Ashfur? I thought.
"Whitewing!" I heard a voice just as I went unconscious.
(Spiderleg's PoV)
"Don't worry," I countered, "You can run fast, you'll escape."
"And if I don't?" Whitewing had a look of pure fear.
I didn't know how to answer. The thought of losing Whitewing was horrible. Ashfur and Thornclaw had jumped over the bush next to us. I stepped over to the bush opposite them carefully and waited.
Then I heard a growl. A huge, brown face appeared in mine.
"Foxdung!" I cursed.
"Ashfur! Thornclaw!" I yowled. The female badger clawed across my face as I saw a gray and a golden pelt come towards me.
"Where are you, Spiderleg?" Thornclaw meowed.
"Here," I yowled, the badger had been blocking their view of me, "Behind the badger!"
Thornclaw and Ashfur battled the badger with some help from me. I jumped on its back and sunk my teeth in. The badger yowled, shook me off and ran across the border.
"And don't come back!" Thornclaw snarled.
"Let's get back to camp," Ashfur suggested.
"Wait! What about Whitewing?" I was worried; we had left Whitewing waiting in the forest for a badger we had fought off. Who knew what had happened to her?
"She'll be okay," Thornclaw assured.
The three of us ran off to where we had left Whitewing and followed her scent trail to a badger. A huge male badger was sitting there quite content on top of a white tail that was dashed with blood.
"Whitewing!" I yowled as her eyes started to close.
(Whitewing PoV)
Where am I? I thought drowsily. As my eyes focused I saw Spiderleg and Birchfall. I had been brought to the Medicine Cat den and I felt my tail and back heavy with poultices of plants.
Spiderleg's eye was red and Birchfall's paw was torn, but I cared more about my aching back than their scrapes at this moment. Of course I'd care later--after all, they were my best friends--but my own pain was a bit much.
"Hold still," Leafpool meowed, as she smoothed out another poultice on my back. "Can you hold on a bit longer?"
"Yeah," I answered.
Leafpool shot a glare at Spiderleg and Birchfall who looked down embarrassed. I was confused; unless Birchfall had run into a fox on a hunting patrol he shouldn't be hurt. Finding two badgers were rare and a fox along with that most likely wouldn't happen, so what did happen? Spiderleg on the other hand I was worried about, fighting that male badger.
I tried to move my tail and run it against the two of them but a piercing pain shot through it when I tried to move it. I gasped out loud. Spiderleg and Birchfall rushed over to me covering me in short licks like a mother tending her kitten.
Leafpool turned around and shooed them away out of the den. "Cloudtail? Brightheart? She's awake!" she yowled out the door. Her amber eyes flickered on me in pity.
I twisted my body and took a look at my tail. It was covered in rushes stuck on with honey.
"It seems you've broken your tail," Leafpool meowed, "You're lucky your back didn't break, if that badger was on you a little longer it would have."
I returned to a more comfortable position. My tail was going to take a while to heal and I'm sure my back didn't come out unscathed. I could smell the scents of my parents from earlier. They must have been in here a while before I woke up.
"Whitewing!" My father rushed in and rubbed his white muzzle against mine. "I thought I had lost you!"
"We were so worried." My mother's good eye looked down at me, relieved. They stayed a while longer talking to me and assuring me that my tail and back would heal quickly.
After that I took a nice, long nap that left me refreshed when I woke up.
Leafpool took a sniff of the air and padded outside. "Spiderleg!"
Birchfall came dashing in the den. "She thinks... old branch… is Spiderleg." He smiled.
"You put a branch out there and she thought it was Spiderleg?" I couldn't help but giggle. It was something only Birchfall could pull off.
"Yeah, she'll be out for a while looking for him," he heaved, "I couldn't leave you alone in here could I?"
"No, I guess you couldn't."
"Better?" he asked.
"Yeah," I answered, "Much better. Where is Spiderleg anyway?"
"On hunting patrol," Birchfall answered, "He nearly bit off Leafpool and Firestar's heads when they both made him go."
He must really care, I thought.
Birchfall was now lying down next to me. I was about to turn to him, but my tail let a surge of pain through it. I inhaled and squeezed my eyes shut.
Birchfall flicked his ears, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I answered trying to forget the pain that was now flooding my tail.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," I repeated. The pain started to creep up my back.
Birchfall licked my nose, "You'll heal."
Then Leafpool padded in covered in mud, "Birchfall?"
He jumped up and I stiffened to keep my laugh in.
Leafpool looked suspicious, but she flicked her tail at the door, "I thought I told you to leave Whitewing alone. She needs her sleep."
I stopped giggling at Birchfall's stiff expression. Maybe Leafpool was right? All I needed was sleep. Thankfully.