Mandatory disclaimer: I don't own warriors. Or Harry Potter, or His Dark Materials or Fruit or all of the other things I intend on writing fanfiction for in future.
Chapter 3: Those Days of Kit-hood Hardship
Willowshine, Dawnflower and Duskfur laid Mothwing down on the grass. "Copperpaw, go tell Leopardstar what happened," ordered Dawnflower.
Copperpaw's speed came in handy now as she raced back to camp. Dawnflower returned to watching Willowshine assess Mothwing's injuries. All of the cats were somewhat dumbfounded by how close she had come to death.
"She's got a shoulder wound that looks bad. And there's a cut on her head where she was thrown by the monster. I think she sprained her paw but it will heal. So long as we don't do anything to make her injuries worse, she should recover. I hope."
Willowshine paused for thought. She absolutely abhorred the thought of her mentor dying. No, she won't die. She was amazingly lucky in that sense. But this is a reminder that she could be taken from you in an instant. You must always be prepared in case you have to replace her.
Willowshine continued, "I think we should keep her here, by the side of the Thunderpath until she is conscious and healed enough to walk. That way we won't damage her too much as we carry her back to camp."
Duskfur pointed out a thicket several tail-lengths away. "I think we can get her there without damaging her too much. We could build her a temporary nest in there."
Dawnflower nodded. "I'll check for fox scents and other dangers." Then she remembered to turn to Willowshine for instructions. "If that's what you think we should do."
Willowshine nodded quietly as she groomed Mothwing's head wound as gently as she could. "Some cobwebs would be nice too."
Dawnflower dashed off to the thicket which, thankfully, carried no trace of fox or any other predator. It did have tantalizingly scents of prey but Dawnflower couldn't think of that right then. She gathered as much cobweb as she could wrap around her paw and returned to Mothwing. Willowshine gratefully took the cobweb from her and placed a wad gently on Mothwing's head wound.
"Now," she told the other two. "I have to hold it here while you take her to the thicket."
***
Mothwing couldn't see the planets and stars that shot past her; only a blur. She couldn't hear or smell anything; nor did she need to breathe. Rock's voice told her as she flew, "I must bring you at a certain speed so that you arrive at exactly the right time. You will be yourself at a younger age should I return you to the Earth during the span of your life. Were I to return you to the Earth at another time, you would become a past life version of yourself or if I were to return you to a time when you have no past life you would become suspended in the particles of the air. So you see why it is important for me to be careful."
Mothwing wasn't comforted by this explanation but she reminded herself that this wasn't real and she wasn't really in danger of becoming one with particles of air.
"I've told you all before, don't take this out of the den!"
Puzzled, Mothwing opened her eyes. Her mother was standing in the opening to the hollow log, dripping wet and looking like furor unleashed. In front of her lay the broken collar that her housefolk, Ken and Jean, had given her. Startled, Mothwing looked to her right side and saw her brothers as kits sitting next to her. She stifled an impulse to leap on them and greet them as the long lost family they were. She hadn't seen any of these loved ones in ages.
To her surprise, she remembered all of her future life: the death of Tadpole, RiverClan, her warrior training, her medicine cat training, Leafpool and the other medicine cats, her crisis of faith and her apprentice. She even remembered what she'd last eaten. With a smile, Mothwing recalled the fat squirrel that Mallowpaw had brought her, dragging it by the tail just to prove to Sneezepaw that he could do it without tearing out any of the hairs. It had been so covered in dirt. Mistyfoot had been so angry but Mothwing couldn't have helped laughing even though it had been her dinner.
"Moth!" Here was her mother. Mothwing was jerked back to...the present? The past? "What are you laughing about? This isn't funny. If any cat finds out I used to be a kittypet, it'll be the end for all of us. Wild cats don't respect kittypets. Or have I not told you that often enough?"
"Mama, she didn't take it out of the den. It was me," whispered Hawk. Tadpole nodded. "And it was my idea. I thought we could pretend one of us was a kittypet and the others were Twolegs."
Sasha groaned. "Just don't do it again." Defeated, she walked to the back of the den and curled up in her nest. Mothwing watched her with concern.