Chapter 8:
Lakepaw sprang to her paws, scattering the feathers. "Hello?" She called uneasily.
Another wail, this one in pain, came again.
Lakepaw hesitated. The yowling came from across the border but if a cat was in trouble she had to help, didn't she?
She shook her head and bounded across the Riverclan border. A sand colored she-cat was writhing in pain on the ground. Blood stained the grassed bright red.
"Help me!" The she-cat gasped painfully.
"What? What's going on?" Lakepaw lifted one paw.
"My kits. . ." The she-cat panted.
Lakepaw understood in a flash. Snow had been like this when she gave birth! She paused, trying to remember what Luna had done. "Raspberry leaves for bleeding!" Lakepaw looked around. There were no raspberry leaves in sight. Thinking fast, she ripped off a pawful of cobwebs from an overturned rock nearby.
Lakepaw padded to the other side of the she-cat and rested her muzzle on the Riverclan cat's shoulder, placing on paw on her belly to soothe her.
Finally, three kits suckled at the queen's belly. One was pale ginger, one was a ginger tortoiseshell, and the other was mottled gray.
"Thank you." The she-cat blinked gratefully. "My name is Sandfrost."
"I'm Lakepaw." Lakepaw sniffed the kits gingerly. "Why were you out here?"
Sandfrost sighed. "I wanted to get away from the clan. From my brother."
"You're brother?" Lakepaw repeated.
Sandfrost nodded. "My mate's brother has kits in Shadowclan. They both left. Weaseltail, my brother, hasn't stopped trying to convince me he's a traitor since."
Lakepaw wasn't sure how to respond. If the mate abandoned the clan then surely he was a traitor?
"I know it doesn't make sense." Sandrfrost shook her head. "But I still love him."
"I should go get some of your clanmates to help you get your kits back to camp." Lakepaw stood up.
Sandfrost looked longingly at her kits. "I'm not sure they'll believe you. I would go and bring myself but my kits . . ."
"It's okay." Lakepaw trembled at the thought of walking into an angry clan's camp twice in one day but Sandfrost and her kits needed to be seen by a medicine cat.
"Thank you. Just be careful. They've been edgy since Sunstorm and Blackstorm left." Sandfrost warned.
"I will." Lakepaw promised. "Which way is your camp?"
"Over there." Sandfrost pointed with her tail deeper into the birch forest. The Riverclan queen hesitated for a moment before adding " The camp is located on an island, a bit close the Thunderpath." She obviously didn't want to tell the member of a rival clan how to find her camp.
"I won't tell my clanmates." Lakepaw called over her shoulder as she trotted through Riverclan territory. She probably wouldn't get close before a patrol caught her but kept on anyway. Her clan would be so angry with her when they found out. First Shadowclan and now Riverclan.
~*O*~
"I'm doing it to help a she-cat and her kits." Lakepaw reminded herself. She vaguely remembered the warrior code Crowclaw had taught her the night before but there was something in there about helping kits of all clans. This counted, right?
"Why are you in Riverclan territory?" A black and white she-cat edged cautiously over to Lakepaw with a white she-cat and black tom on her heels.
"I found a cat named Sandfrost giving birth a little inside your border. I had a sister who had kits and wanted to help." Lakepaw's tail twitched nervously.
"Why should we believe you?" The tom snorted.
"She has three kits! Her mate is either Sunstorm or Blackstorm and her brother is Weaseltail." Lakepaw tried to give the hostile warriors all the details Sandfrost had mentioned.
The white she-cat hesitated but the black and white one snorted. "You could've gotten those details from a gathering or one of your clanmates. And made up the part about kits. Sandfrost has another quarter moon until she's supposed to give birth."
"Just come with me." Lakepaw pleaded.
"So you can lead us into an ambush?" The white she-cat sniffed. "No way!"
"Please!" Lakepaw repeated desperately.
"Go home or we'll take you back to our camp." The tom snarled.
Lakepaw was about to do as he ordered but stopped herself. "No. Sandfrost needs you and I'm not leaving until you come."
"Is she serious?" The black and white she-cat rolled her eyes.
"Let's just go." The other she-cat sighed.
Lakepaw's spirit lifted. They would come!
"You two might be mousebrained enough to fall for it but I'm not!" The tom glared at them.
"I'll go alone then." The white she-cat decided.
"Softlily, you can't." The black and white she-cat stepped in front of her.
Softlily padded around the other she-cat. "I'll go with her, you two fetch more cats."
"Be careful." The black and white she-cat eyed Lakepaw suspiciously before darting off int the other direction,
The tom hesitated then followed.
"Good. Let's go." Softlily waited for Lakepaw to take the lead.
