Disclaimer: We don't own Warriors.
When they woke up the next morning, Foxblaze's leg had swelled up, and Mudtalon doubted that the tome would be able to run, let alone hunt. He offered to hunt for him, and at first, Foxblaze had tried to refuse.
"I don't want to be a liability." The tom had said when Mudtalon had suggested the idea.
"Tough. You'll be more of a liability if you try to hunt. You'll scare all the prey away. Just stay here." Mudtalon had replied, before padding away from the annoying tom.
It didn't take him long to find prey. It was terrible that his Clanmates were starving because it was leaf-bare and there were not enough hunters to feed everyone. But here, he and Foxblaze were practically fattening themselves up on the prey. It was because this side of the stream was so dangerous; no cats ever came here since Coain died.
Coain. The young tabby tom he had met when he was a young warrior, and a few kits had been taken from the Clan. They had wandered off and found a rogue, it seemed, and Mudtalon had been sent to follow his trail. Coain had helped him take a shortcut over the harsher areas around the stream, but when they had been attacked, well, Coain had tumbled over a cliff.
The kits had been returned safely, but Coain was dead. And Mudtalon had almost died, too, from infection. He hadn't known, back then, that his wound would keep infecting.
He caught a plump robin, enough for the both of them. He'd feel worse if he brought back even more. He made sure to also get some chervil, but there wasn't much because of the frosts.
Foxblaze thanked him for the robin, but he still seemed a little annoyed that Mudtalon had to hunt for him. He'd watched curiously as Mudtalon applied the chervil. Mudtalon started pacing, waiting for Foxblaze to finish. Or to get back enough strength to move.
Foxblaze lay on the ground, his bad leg extended to the side, watching Mudtalon pace around. He licked his whiskers, feeling guilty that he hadn't been able to help the tom hunt. Fortunately the throbbing in his joint had eased, when he got back, he would have Tigertail take a look. Perhaps a dip in the water later, he'd seen Tigertail apply cold water to cats' wounds before, and then he wouldn't have to lie around like an elder.
For now he settled following Mudtalon with his eyes, thoughts churning.
"What?" the other tom finally snapped, Foxblaze flicked his ears back.
"You said Grassfoot was sick." he spoke softly, watching Mudtalon's reaction, anger, scorn, and then a flinch. Worry.
"Yes."
"My friends are sick. Most are apprentices. But Leopardwind got ill a few days ago."
Mudtalon flicked his ears at Foxblaze's former mentor's name. "Should you really tell an enemy warrior your deputy is ill?"
Foxblaze snorted, "What are you going to do about Mudtalon? Your Clan is as sick as mine. The knowledge is of no advantage to you, unless you want to wound the few healthy cats each Clan's got."
The other warrior glanced at him, "I figured you were looking for the water mint too, when I first found your scent."
Foxblaze shrugged, not sure what to say. This was the most he'd ever talked with an enemy warrior. "Mudtalon?"
"My StarClan, Leopardwind must've found you annoying. What now?"
Foxblaze glanced away, "never mind. I was just a mouse-brained rumor."
"It was about me and Grassfoot wasn't it?" the PebbleClan tom snapped, he barely waited for the response he wouldn't get, "Want to know if the rumors are true?"
Foxblaze blinked, shame settling in his stomach as he didn't look at Mudtalon, even when the warrior loomed over him.
"You had a question, ask it!"
"Well?" Foxblaze asked softly, "are the rumors true?"
"Yes." Mudtalon stalked away, glaring at the younger warrior, "they are."
Foxblaze lifted his head; Mudtalon's tail was lashing behind him, he glared over his shoulder as if daring Foxblaze to judge him.
"Do you remember a border skirmish about five moons ago? Two border patrols got into a fight?"
Mudtalon turned his head, eyes still narrowed, "yes."
"I was on that patrol." Foxblaze admitted, carefully watching his expression, "Grassfoot was on the other one. It was my first battle; I was a seven moon old apprentice, scared out of my pelt."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
Foxblaze flinched at his growl. "I ended up fighting him, I remember… He let me go. He pinned me down, could've clawed me, but he just looked at me. I was trembling, I'd already been injured but I was trying. I was terrified; I had no idea what he'd do."
Mudtalon looked interested in spite of himself, so Foxblaze continued. "What he did was talk to me. He told me the battle was almost over, just go find my mentor and stay with them. Then he let me go."
"The kind of thing he'd do." Mudtalon mumbled, an odd expression on his features, "let me guess you bit him."
"Actually I didn't." Foxblaze muttered crossly, "I did as he said. Leopardwind never asked what I done in the fight. It just stood out to me, that's all, that even in battle he could let an apprentice go."
Mudtalon shrugged, and groomed the base of his tail. "Just remember he let you go, not me."
The ginger tom huffed, "like you'd let me forget." He studied Mudtalon, wondering why the tom had reacted so strongly to the small question.
Foxdung! Mudtalon hadn't meant to say that much about him and Grassfoot. It was bad enough that all of his Clan knew, let alone a cat from another Clan. And there were already rumors? Just his luck. He didn't need a reputation for having some kind of weird sickness that made his mate a tom.
But more importantly, Grassfoot didn't need that. Grassfoot was ill, and he was everything.
Steeling his resolve once more, Mudtalon vowed to StarClan and everything he loved that he would cure Grassfoot.
"Hey, Foxpaw, we need to get moving."