Grasspaw woke up, and blinked out rain from his eyes. "It rained again?" He murmured, and looked over at Yarrowpaw who was sitting uncomfortably under the ferns. Yarrowpaw began to clean his pelt, and Quailpaw batted at his tail.
"Stop moving," Quailpaw growled, and Yarrowpaw looked at him sideways.
"I want to clean myself." Yarrowpaw simply responded, spitting at some poultices he got on his tongue.
"See! You lapped off some of the herbs! You can clean yourself tomorrow. Also, I'm glad your swelling on your eye has gone down! You look normal now! Try opening it." Quailpaw encouraged, folding his paws neatly underneath himself. Yarrowpaw's eyelid opened, and Quailpaw's jaw opened slightly.
"I can't see out of my eye. Everything is black in that eye." Yarrowpaw stated blankly, and closed his eye again. Quailpaw's fur raised, and he looked around nervously.
"I'm so sorry, Yarrowpaw... I think you went blind in that eye..." Quailpaw squirmed, and Yarrowpaw screeched in dismay.
"My eye! I want to see out of it! I don't want to be half blind! I don't want to be an elder early! I want to be a big warrior, and a leader!" Yarrowpaw pouted, and Grasspaw ran over to him, and pressed his chin on his flame coloured head.
"Don't think of the negatives, Yarrowpaw! You can still be leader, and a brave warrior! Plus, you have a cool scar on your eyelid." Grasspaw complimented, trying to cheer up Yarrowpaw. Yarrowpaw padded into the clearing, and looked at the ground.
"I don't think I can be a warrior. Not like this." Yarrowpaw sighed, and limped off somewhere. Quailpaw and Grasspaw exchanged looks of, 'what should we do? Should we go after him?' but nobody followed Yarrowpaw.
Lilacpaw's motionless body fell off the branch she was on, and she woke up just in time to hang on by her front paws. "Foxhearted tree!" She growled, and grunted, hauling herself back up. "Y'know, I should've slept down there. Now I'm soaked from the rain. Where's Yarrowpaw, guys?"
"Out for a walk." Quailpaw simply responded, shifting on his small white paws. Lilacpaw jumped down, and raced away.
"You shouldn't leave a brute on his own." Lilacpaw mewed, and then was gone. Grasspaw cast Quailpaw a quick look.
"Would you like to live in this territory?" Grasspaw questioned, though he hoped that Quailpaw didn't. Quailpaw looked at Grasspaw, then began to clean his tail.
"Nah, I'd rather live somewhere near water. Not here. Anyway, when Lilacpaw drags back our 'brute', we should get moving. I don't think any of us can handle more foxes." Quailpaw explained, and Grasspaw nodded.
"Lilacpaw is very overprotective of us. Haven't you realized that?" Quailpaw flicked his tail in acknowledgement, and at the same moment, lightning rippled across the sky, and Quailpaw dropped to the ground, while Grasspaw's pelt bristled.
"I hate that! Why must it rain so much lately? Any rivers we find will overflow." Quailpaw continued to curse under his breath, and Grasspaw sighed. He didn't want to leave this area quite yet.
Grasspaw's head whipped around when he heard an earsplitting yowl not too far away. Quailpaw heard it to, and the two of them rushed toward the sound. They found a tangled cat in some muddy ferns.
"Lemme go you dirty ferns!" Lilacpaw hissed, and Grasspaw purred in amusement. He nipped at the stems of the ferns, letting the muddied Lilacpaw escape. Lilacpaw shook herself, and pointed toward a dark moving figure in the distance.
"I found Yarrowpaw. He said he's going back into the forest. Not on my watch! I ran into the ferns when I heard the lightning, it scared me a lot." Lilacpaw admitted, and raced toward the small speck of a figure.
"I don't think we can keep track of everyone for much longer. When we get Yarrowpaw, let's get out of here. And, that isn't a 'let's think about it' that is my word, and we'll go by it." Quailpaw continued to rant on the conditions of the weather, most of it blocked out by the booming thunder. Grasspaw's tail dragged on the sodden earth, watching as Lilacpaw pulled Yarrowpaw by the scruff toward them.
"Yarrowpaw stop being a pain!" Grasspaw heard Lilacpaw say, and Yarrowpaw responded bitterly.
"I don't like being half blind, y'know! I never asked for it!"
"It makes you look cool." Lilacpaw responded, dropping the ginger ball of fur on the ground in front of Quailpaw.
Quailpaw sighed, and flicked his tail. "That's enough out of both of you, let's head toward the woods again. I found a stream that leads us toward there, but it is probably full of water now so be careful. Follow me everyone."
Yarrowpaw hissed at Quailpaw's order, and Lilacpaw bristled a bit. The group followed Quailpaw through the moorland, ducking behind bushes every so often to take shelter from the icy rain. It was starting to ease a bit, and blue spots could be seen in the sky. Quailpaw payed no attention to the sky, yet kept up a steady trot toward a swollen stream.
"Here we are." Quailpaw sighed, and stretched. He lowered his muzzle to drink from it, and the rest of the group hesitantly followed him and began to lap from the stream.
Yarrowpaw looked at Quailpaw. "You don't need to be so bossy all the time. I'll feel sorry for your mentor." Yarrowpaw commented, and Quailpaw shot him a glare of frustration.
"I basically saved your life, Yarrowpaw, and you tell me I'm bossy?" Quailpaw shot back in disbelief, and Yarrowpaw nodded.
"I'm grateful for that, but sheesh, tone it down a bit." Quailpaw and Yarrowpaw did not exchange any words the rest of their walk along the stream.
They made it to a swampy area, but the mud covered area soon disappeared behind them, and a gigantic river was presented, with a pebbly shore covered in small flowering plants, decorated with dew drops.
"This is amazing," Quailpaw breathed, bouncing toward the river. He jumped in, and paddled wildly to the other side, panting loudly when he had made it. "Come guys! It is easy!" He mewed, but Grasspaw had already found a way over, by crossing a rotting log.
The rest followed, Lilacpaw behind Yarrowpaw just in case he decided to fall down. Quailpaw was rolling around in the undergrowth, a entertaining sight to see. Quailpaw yowled, and then it got quieter. Grasspaw gasped, and dove into the undergrowth, yelping as he sped down some sort of rock like hill.
There was no sun above his head, just darkness and more darkness. It was slippery, so he couldn't stop himself from plummeting deeper into the deep tunnel. He heard a 'thunckt' deep below him, and he tried to turn around, but he failed. He realized the tunnel was slippery because there was a stream pushing him down.
Suddenly, Grasspaw flipped over, slamming into a hard stone. "Ouch." Grasspaw mewed, his back resting against the cold stone. He was on a dry surface, and he could actually see. Three rocks were behind him, pointing upwards. About five large holes decorated on the ceiling of the cave, letting light shine in and illuminate the area.
He noticed that Quailpaw was passed out in the shallow water that surrounded the bottom of the cave, and Grasspaw hauled him up onto the dry land. He explored the area, his nose pressed against the rock walls.
He could feel the groves in the ground, probably from countless amounts of cats coming down into this area. But where was he?
How did you like this chapter? And yes, poor little Yarrowpaw is now blind in one eye. I kinda feel sorry for him, but at least he will have awesome scars!
Leave a comment and recommend ideas for me!
- Kate
