A/N-Thanks to my reviewers and to my readers who won't write a review (review you lazy bums!). Anyway, enjoy.
Hollyblaze was frozen to the spot as the badger thundered out of the bracken and snarled at her. The badger was large, probably female, and its eyes were cold with hatred for the pitiful creature that was before her. Hollyblaze had fought her fair share of badgers, but never by herself.
I had never thought a fox by myself either, she thought grimly. I made it through that for the most part, and I'll have to make it through this.
The badger raised one large paw and took a swipe at Hollyblaze. With less than a mouse tails length to spare, Hollyblaze jumped back. The badger pushed itself on its back legs and snarled its fury. While the badger was standing Hollyblaze sprinted straight towards it, but she veered to the right. When the badger leaned to crash down on Hollyblaze, she quickly turned to her left and clawed at the badger's leg. Blood and fur gathered beneath her claws and Hollyblaze felt a twinge of satisfaction. The badger shook out its leg and snarled while Hollyblaze leapt back.
"Badger!" she yowled at the top of her lungs. "Help!"
She barely had time to yowl for help when the badger knocked her aside with the back of its paw. Hollyblaze skidded painfully to the other side of the clearing and lay winded for a couple of heartbeats. Without waiting for Hollyblaze to get back to her feet, the badger ran up to her and slammed her paw down on Hollyblaze's side and dug her claws into her black fur.
Hollyblaze yowled in pain and kicked out with her back legs in a weak attempt to dislodge the badger. Blood was beginning to stain the badger's white fur red and Hollyblaze could feel herself beginning to weaken.
Suddenly a furious yowl sounded from the other side of the clearing. Hollyblaze looked up weakly and saw Lionclaw standing there with Jayfeather at his side. Even though Jayfeather was blind he was still a competent fighter as long as it was only a couple of opponents. Lionclaw screeched and
launched himself at the badger. The badger swiped Hollyblaze to the side and turned her attention to the more promising opponent. Lionclaw landed right in front of the badger and jumped into the air again. In midair he twisted and landed on the badger's back. The badger screeched and tried to dislodge the powerful warrior, but Lionclaw had his claws in deep.
While the badger was distracted, Jayfeather clawed at her hind legs. Jayfeather's sightless eyes were narrowed in anger. Whenever the badger tried to swipe at Jayfeather he easily dodged it and jumped right back into his scratch frenzy.
Hollyblaze watched her brothers fighting so hard to drive off the badger that had nearly killed her. I can't let them fight my battles for me, she thought determinedly.
With a massive push she managed to get back to her paws. Her side hurt terribly, but Hollyblaze wasn't about to let a small wound like that slow her down. Hollyblaze sprinted underneath the badger using a move that would work just as well on a RiverClan cat and slashed at the badger's soft belly. Before the badger could crash all of her weight down on Hollyblaze, she was well out of range.
The badger accepted defeat and began to retreat through the bracken. Lionclaw clung to the badgers back for as long as he could before he leaped off and hissed at the retreating badger.
Hollyblaze felt triumph at the fact that she and her siblings had been able to drive off such a powerful badger by themselves, but she couldn't ignore her injuries any longer. With a soft gasp she collapsed onto her uninjured side and trembled as her wound began to take its toll.
Jayfeather was at her side in less than a heartbeat and sniffed anxiously at the claw marks in her side. "I need cobwebs and marigold," he growled to Lionclaw who was running over. "Now!"
Lionclaw sprinted into the forest, leaving Jayfeather alone with Hollyblaze who was shaking. The wound wasn't as deep as it could've been, but it could still prove to be fatal. Jayfeather rested his tail on his sister's shoulder and began to lick the blood from the fur around the wound.
"Don't worry, Hollyblaze," he whispered. "I'm here to take care of you."
Blood was still coming out of the wound and Jayfeather knew that if the bleeding wasn't stopped she wouldn't make it back to the camp. Lionclaw soon burst through the bracken with a large wad of cobwebs in his mouth, much to Jayfeather's relief.
He put it by Jayfeather's paws and looked anxiously at his sister. "I don't know where to find the marigold."
Jayfeather scooped the cobwebs in his paws and pressed it onto Hollyblaze's wound causing her to wince in pain. "There's some in my den. But that can wait. The important thing now is to stop the bleeding. I need more cobwebs."
By the time Lionclaw returned with another wad of cobwebs the first ones were already soaked with blood. Jayfeather sniffed Hollyblaze's wound and twitched his ears.
"I think the bleeding has stopped. I can help her more back at camp though."
"We need more cats to carry her back to camp," Lionclaw observed.
"Then go get help," Jayfeather snapped.
Hollyblaze lifted her head weakly as Lionclaw raced back towards camp. "There's no need to be so harsh, Jayfeather."
"He may be brilliant in battle, but he is as useless as a mouse tail when it comes to the aftermath. I had to kick him out of the nursery after Honeywing had their kids because he wouldn't give me some space. Warriors," he scoffed.
Hollyblaze heard the thunder of paw steps as Lionclaw brought more warriors to help. She could faintly recognize the dark pelt of her father, Bramblestar, and the gray pelt of her best friend, Cinderstep.
"Lionclaw said that there was a badger," Bramblestar panted.
Cinderstep yowled in dismay as she saw the state her best friend was in and raced to her side. Cinderstep gently nosed Hollyblaze's shoulder and purred comfortingly. "Looks like Hollyblaze wanted to add a badger to her record. Killing a fox wasn't enough," she joked weakly.
"We need to carry her back to camp," Jayfeather growled. He pointed at the cobwebs on Hollyblaze's side and mewed, "I don't want those cobwebs moved. I stopped the bleeding, but I still don't want to risk moving them."
"Isn't there anything else you can do here?" Bramblestar demanded.
Jayfeather's fur began to bristle. "I can help her more in my den. Now let's go!"
Bramblestar nodded and gently pushed his body underneath his daughter's limp form. Cinderstep stayed close to one side and Lionclaw the other to make sure that Hollyblaze didn't slip. They moved agonizingly slow back to camp. Jayfeather raced through the thorn tunnel ahead of them and ran to his den to prepare the herbs that he would need.
They didn't stop until Hollyblaze was situated on a soft nest of moss. Bramblestar protested when Jayfeather ordered them to leave, but he eventually bowed his head and exited the den. Jayfeather chewed up a few marigold leaves and gently pressed them into the wound after he removed the wad of soaked cobwebs.
"Don't move, Hollyblaze," he ordered when Hollyblaze started to move in her nest.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "How bad does it look?"
Jayfeather sighed and continued to chew up marigold leaves into a fine poultice. He began to lick it onto her wound and only stopped when he was satisfied that the entire wound was covered. "It's bad," he admitted to his sister. "If you can stay still you should be fine, but I'm still worried about infection. I could smell the dirt in that filthy badger's claws."
Hollyblaze lifted her head and looked at Jayfeather sternly. "Am I going to be here for as long as I was after the fox attack? I don't want to lose my first apprentice."
"If you do as I say and don't move you might be out of here in less than a quarter moon, but you won't be able to do battle training with Briarpaw for a while."
"No," she groaned and sank back into her nest. "He is such a talented apprentice and I love training him. I couldn't have asked for a better apprentice."
As if on cue a loud yowl sounded from outside Jayfeather's den. Before either Jayfeather or Hollyblaze could react a small silver shape burst through and stared at Hollyblaze.
"Hollyblaze!" Briarpaw gasped. Tentatively he padded over and touched Hollyblaze's cheek with his muzzle. "What happened?"
Jayfeather moved Briarpaw away with a cuff to the ear. "Don't get in my way," he growled. "Your mentor thought she could take on a large badger all by herself."
"Will she be okay?" Briarpaw asked. "Can I do anything to help? Please let me help," he pleaded.
Patience was not Jayfeather's strong point. "You can help by leaving my den so I can heal her," he snapped.
Hollyblaze blinked sympathetically at her frightened apprentice. "I'll be fine," she rasped. "Remember, I'm the perfect warrior who has no weaknesses."
Briarpaw purred in amusement at their private joke. After giving Hollyblaze a quick lick on the cheek he padded out of the den with his tail dragging in the dirt.
"Jayfeather," Hollyblaze asked painfully. "Before you give me some poppy seeds I would like to talk to Bramblestar."
"Sure," Jayfeather grumbled. Turning his head he yowled to summon his father, knowing that he was still standing right outside the den.
Bramblestar padded confidently in the den and turned to Jayfeather. "Will she be alright?" he asked.
"If she rests and if there's no infection, she should. But rest is the most important thing that can be done for her now is to let her rest. The wound isn't as deep as it could've been and she's strong. If there aren't any problems she should recover between a quarter and a half moon."
"Good," Bramblestar meowed in relief.
"Bramblestar," Hollyblaze meowed. "I want to know what you're planning to do about Briarpaw. I won't be able to train him for a while, but I don't want to lose him as my apprentice."
"He will need a temporary mentor," Bramblestar meowed thoughtfully. "Do you have anyone in mind?"
"I trust Lionclaw the most with my apprentice," Hollyblaze meowed sternly.
"Lionclaw it is," Bramblestar meowed happily. "I don't think that a ceremony is really necessary so I'll let Lionclaw and Briarpaw know."
Nodding to Jayfeather, Bramblestar exited the den.
"Alright, now I'm going to give you some poppy seeds," Jayfeather murmured and he rolled three seeds underneath Hollyblaze's muzzle. Amusement flicked from his pelt as he added, "Briarpaw will be disappointed that you won't be training him for almost half a moon."
"What do you mean?" Hollyblaze asked drowsily while the seeds took effect.
"Well not many apprentices would be as worried about their mentors as Briarpaw was about you." Jayfeather waited until Hollyblaze was asleep and her breathing slowed before whispering, "But, I'd imagine that any cat would feel that way if the one they loved was nearly killed by a badger."
A/N-I would like some constructive criticism. So if you're willing to read this fic, then you should be willing to review and let me know what I can work on. REVIEW!!