Chapter 9
"No, Owlpaw! You're doing it all wrong!" Dawnfeather hissed.
Owlpaw growled. He wished that Shimmertail was still his mentor. The dark brown she-cat had never treated him like a kit, but she had retired to the elder's den a quarter moon before, complaining of stiff joints and aching paws.
"Owlpaw! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't stick your tail up into the air like that! Why don't you ever pay attention to me? You seem so distracted all the time!"
Like I have nothing to be distracted by, thought Owlpaw sarcastically. Hollypaw being furious with me is nothing at all.
"OWLPAW!" Dawnfeather growled. She stalked up to him and shoved his tail down. "And adjust your hindquarters!"
Owlpaw hissed. "I can do it!"
"Then please do!" retorted Dawnfeather. "It would make my life a whole lot easier if you became a warrior so I didn't have to mentor you!"
Owlpaw ignored her. After a quarter moon, all the harsh words didn't hurt him anymore.
"Owlpaw! Pay attention!" Dawnfeather cuffed him around the ear. "A mouse went right by and you didn't hunt it!"
"Then why didn't you?"
"I'm an actual warrior, so I get to tell others to hunt it! You, on the other paw, are not a warrior and never will be! You think the clan hasn't noticed how you're skulking around the medicine cat's den all the time?"
"I'm not skulking!"
"Oh, sure!"
Owlpaw slashed at a leaf in his frustration. It shredded beneath his claws. "Leave me alone!" He turned and ran back towards the camp.
"Don't think this is over!"
Owlpaw fled toward the camp. "I wish that Shimmertail was still my mentor. Not Dawnfeather. She's so rude and cross and shouty," he muttered under his breath.
"Hey Owlpaw! Where've you been?" Amberpaw asked as he entered the camp.
"Hunting," Owlpaw mumbled.
"Did you catch anything? It's leaf-bare, and I'm starving!"
"Aren't we all?" Owlpaw sighed. He was about to go to the apprentice's den for a nap when he heard a shriek of pain. A shriek that sounded a lot like Hollypaw.
"Help! Help me!" Owlpaw spun around. Hollypaw's voice screeched again and again, "Help! Someone! Anyone! Help! It's rats!"
"I'm coming, Hollypaw!" Owlpaw yowled. He ran through the entrance of the camp. "Hollypaw! I'm almost there!"
Hollypaw let out a screech of agony. "Please!" Owlpaw tried to locate the source of the sound.
"Help me! I can't fight them all off!"
"Hold on!" shouted Owlpaw. The screams sounded like they were from the twoleg den. He sprinted toward it.
Hollypaw shrieked again and again. "HELP!"
Owlpaw finally arrived. The twoleg den was swarming with rats, and Hollypaw was in the middle. There were scratches on her legs, a nasty wound down her flank, and bite marks along her cheeks, but nothing that seemed life threatening.
"Don't worry!" Owlpaw looked over his shoulder. Rosepaw, Sorrelpaw, and Mistwing had come too.
Rosepaw.
"Help!" Hollypaw spotted the cats. "Help me!"
Owlpaw leapt into the rats. Immediately, a rat clambered onto his back and sunk it's tiny, sharp fangs into Owlpaw's neck. He tried to shake it off, but it held on. Another rat scratched Owlpaw's muzzle, and yet another bit his tail. Owlpaw yowled and slashed at a rat in front of him, and rolled over to get rid of the rat on his back.
Bad idea.
The rats jumped on his exposed, soft belly and started slicing at it with thorn-sharp claws. Screeching, Owlpaw raked his claws at the rats on his side, and tried to flip over. He managed to shake most of the rats of, but a few still clung to him.
Owlpaw chanced a glance at his clanmates. Mistwing was fighting four enormous rats, Sorrelpaw was hissing at a particularly large pair, and Rosepaw was...not in Owlpaw's sight.
"Rosepaw?" he asked. "Rosepaw!" He then spotted four pale brown legs sticking out of a mound of rats. They thrashed from side to side, and a small head poked out. "Help!" Rosepaw shrieked.
"Rosepaw!"
Owlpaw looked at Hollypaw. She was fighting even more rats than Rosepaw, and they had cornered her against one side of the twoleg den. Hollypaw saw Owlpaw and yelled, "Owlpaw! Help me!"
It came down to who Owlpaw loved more: Hollypaw or Rosepaw.
Definitely Rosepaw.
"I'm sorry, Hollypaw." Hollypaw gawked at him as Owlpaw lunged at Rosepaw. He flung a bunch of rats aside with a swing of his paw, and slashed more across the throat.
"O-Owlpaw?" Rosepaw said timidly.
"I'm here now, Rosepaw."
Owlpaw screeched as a rat found it's way onto his head, slashing at his forehead, sending drops of blood into his eyes. He shook his head and it fell off, but another one clawed Owlpaw's flank. Yet another rat sliced Owlpaw's nose.
"We're here!"
Owlpaw jerked his head up, sending a rat clinging to his nose flying through the air. Pinestar was racing across the grass to them, followed by Peareye, Brackenclaw, Timberfoot, Dawnfeather, and Thorntail.
"Let's kill some rats!" yowled Peareye.
Thorntail ran to his son. "Thank Starclan you're okay, Owlpaw."
"Let's do this!"
Mistwing fought side by side with her mate, Timberfoot, while Dawnfeather and Peareye worked as a pair to kill the rats. Brackenclaw was taking down rat after rat, and Thorntail was helping Owlpaw.
"We beat them!"
Owlpaw looked at the source of the exclamation. After what seemed like an eternity, Sorrelpaw had finally spoken what everycat had hoped for.
No more rats.
"Hollypaw, are you okay?" Owlpaw looked guiltily at the friend he had left behind. Hollypaw was laying on the ground, moaning in pain. "It hurts...it hurts..."
Owlpaw stepped cautiously over the dead bodies of the rats. There was a deep slash across Hollypaw's belly, and one of her paws was twisted at an awkward angle. "Owlpaw...Owlpaw...why...why didn't you...didn't you help me...?"
Owlpaw looked at his paws. "I had to help Rosepaw."
"But we were going to be mates...right?"
Owlpaw looked away.
"Whatever I did to make you not want to take me on as a mate, I'm sorry."
Owlpaw sighed. "No, Hollypaw, I'm sorry."
Hollypaw purred. "So are we friends again?"
"Always."
So, how did you like that chapter? Thanks for all the great reviews, by the way!
HalfSun out!