Unknown P.O.V
A pale gray tabby padded through the birch forest, a vole in his jaws. He padded closer to the border and heard strange noises that sort of sounded like battle. He dropped his vole and buried it. He padded cautiously towards the border to Mountainclan.
His jaw dropped as he saw a small silver apprentice fighting a fox twice her size. In the bushes a few tail-lengths back, were three kits, bundled together tightly and watching the apprentice fearfully. His eyes widened as the silver tabby, who was clinging on the fox's back, was heavily sandwiched between the fox and a tree as the fox threw itself at a tree. He saw her try to get to her paws as the fox neared her, but she fell and passed out.
He let out a yowl and launched himself towards the fox, not caring that he had crossed the border and hurtled himself at the fox. Unsheathing his claws, he slashed his claws across the fox's muzzle before diving underneath it and clawing its underbelly. The fox screamed in pain as he dove out and landed on its back. He saw scratch marks as well as a bite wound on its neck from the apprentice. He bit down on its neck and clawed the fox's flank many times until the fox ran. He leaped off the fox and hissed angrily as the fox whimpered and cowered in fear. He lashed his tail and snarled one last time before the fox ran off into the forest outside of clan territory.
Once he was sure the fox had gone for good, he turned his attention to the battered apprentice. Her small, wounded body made his heart break at the sight of such a young apprentice being ripped apart by a fox. He padded over to her and nudged her gently. Her eyes flitted open before she scrambled backwards in fear.
"Wh-who are you?" she squeaked.
"My name is Ice-bergfang," he mewed. "I'm an Iceclan warrior. I heard and saw you fighting the fox and then you blacked out, so I had to save you so you didn't die."
"Thank you," she mewed sincerely. "I'm Silverpaw. I was tracking down those kits when I found the fox. I had to fight it off, but I guess I wasn't strong enough." Silverpaw dropped her head before wincing in pain.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Silverpaw shook her head before showing him her injuries. Her leg was stuck out at a funny angle. The fox most likely wrenched it when it threw her, Ice-bergfang guessed. She also had a nasty bite on her shoulder as well as a wound on her head when she hit the rock. She whimpered in pain as he touched her chest with his paw. She had a scratch on her chest and it seemed that she broke her ribs from hitting the tree and being squished by a creature twice her size. Ice-bergfang gave her a sympathetic look and gave her a small lick to straighten out the fur on her scruff. Silverpaw closed her eyes as she lay there.
"Could you check on the kits for me?" she asked. He nodded and padded over to the thorn bush. The kits squeaked fearfully and bundled closer together.
"Don't worry," he mewed soothingly. "I won't hurt you, I'm just making sure you're okay." The kits relaxed a bit but were still wary of him.
Finally, one of the kits spoke up. A small gray she-kit. "Why do you smell so funny?" she mewed.
"I'm an Iceclan warrior," he explained carefully. "I heard Silverpaw being attacked so I ran here to help her."
"Thank you," she squeaked. "Thank you for saving us. We thought the fox was going to eat us."
"We wouldn't let that happen," he promised. "Don't worry, you're safe now."
Silverpaw's P.O.V
Silverpaw lay in front of a tree while Ice-bergfang checked on the kits. Suddenly, she heard pawsteps approaching and she stiffened. He noticed this, and before he could say anything, Antroot's patrol, along with Mountainstar, appeared. Ice-bergfang quickly took a few steps back and dipped his head politely at them.
"What happened here?" Mountainstar mewed worriedly.
"I'm okay," Silverpaw mewed quickly. To prove it, she attempted to get up, but let out a gasp of pain before slumping back down to the ground. Volepaw and Mountainstar rushed over to her side while Antroot, Hawkfeather, and Frostwind checked up on the kits. Before they could ask any questions, Mountainstar noticed Ice-bergfang off to the side. He padded slowly to him and narrowed his eyes.
"What is an Iceclan warrior doing on Mountainclan territory?" he growled, bristling. The other warriors bristled and Antroot stepped protectively in front of the kits. Volepaw let out a low and threatening growl. Silverpaw dragged herself in front of Ice-bergfang and looked at Mountainstar defiantly.
"You can't hurt him," she mewed. "He saved my life."
Mountainstar's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"I was tracking the kits and there was a fox." Silverpaw began before Volepaw widened his eyes.
"You fought a fox on your own?" he gaped.
"Yes and no. I fought it, but I almost died and Ice-bergfang was patrolling the border and saved me from the fox," Silverpaw mewed quietly.
Mountainstar turned his gaze to Ice-bergfang, who had his head bowed. Mountainstar padded over to him. "Thank you, for saving her and the kits," Mountainstar mewed genuinely.
Ice-bergfang nodded. "You're welcome," he mewed. "I should probably head back to my territory."
"Are you sure?" Mountainstar asked. "If you're injured, it's easier for you to come back to our camp and get treatment."
Ice-bergfang shook his head. "I'm okay," he assured them. "I'll be on my way now." He turned around and padded to the border, crossing it. He turned around to face Silverpaw one more time before trotting back to his camp.
With the help of Volepaw, Antroot, Mountainstar, and Hawkfeather, Silverpaw limped back to camp while the other warriors carried the kits back. As she entered, Silverpaw noticed that all the search parties had come back to camp. Dewdrop and Snowpaw rushed over to Silverpaw.
"Silverpaw! What happened to you?" Snowpaw exclaimed.
Silverpaw groaned, having to tell the story again. "Long story short, I was looking for the kits and saw a fox attacking them and I fought it. An Iceclan warrior saved me and we came back here." she explained, exhausted.
Dewdrop helped her to the medicine den and Leaffeather gave her a thorough exam. "That bite you've got is probably going to get infected," Leaffeather noted. She turned to Snowpaw. "Can I leave you to take care of your sister, Snowpaw?"
Snowpaw gave her a worried look. "By myself? What if I do something wrong and I kill her?"
Leaffeather purred in amusement at her anxiety. "It'll be okay. I trust that you'll do fine. I need to check up on the kits so you can tell me what you did when I get back," she mewed before padding away.
Snowpaw sighed before sniffing Silverpaw all over. She padded into the store and brought out a bundle of herbs before taking some in her mouth and chewing them into a pulp. Silverpaw decided to tell her about what happened while Snowpaw treated her.
After a while, Snowpaw finally finished treating Silverpaw and Leaffeather padded in. "How is everything?" she asked.
"I used some marigold and horsetail for the bites and used some comfrey for her leg. I put dock on her scratches and gave her a poppy seed," Snowpaw reported.
Leaffeather purred. "You did excellently, Snowpaw. Don't doubt your skills. I'll need some of that dock for the kits. They got scratched in that thorn bush." Leaffeather took some dock leaves and brought it back to the nursery.
Silverpaw limped to the apprentices den and saw Crystalpaw inside. "Hi, Silverpaw," Crystalpaw mewed.
"Hi Crystalpaw," Silverpaw replied. She noticed some fresh pigeon feathers in her nest. "Thanks for the feathers."
"That wasn't me," she mewed, a knowing look in her eyes. "It was Volepaw. He also changed your bedding so that's fresh moss too."
Silverpaw was too tired to reply so she sunk into her nest and immediately fell asleep.
Silverpaw awoke the next day at sunhigh. She looked around and noticed all the apprentices had gone. She struggled to stand as her wounds from yesterday stung. She winced in pain and stumbled out the den just as Snowpaw padded over.
She quickly rushed to her sister's side. "No, Silverpaw!" she mewed worriedly. "You shouldn't be moving around so much. Your leg hasn't healed and your wounds are still pretty fresh." She guided her to the medicine den. "You should probably stay here for today."
Silverpaw groaned. "I'm supposed to stay here all day? I'll die of boredom!"
"Don't worry," she purred. "You can help me. Besides, you might learn a thing or two."
"I'm not a medicine cat," Silverpaw argued. "Why would I need to learn herbs?"
"Well," Snowpaw replied. "You never know when you might need the information. It wouldn't hurt to learn the basics in case of emergencies and there are no medicine cats around."
Silverpaw nodded. "I suppose you're right," she sighed.
Snowpaw let out a grunt of satisfaction before checking on Silverpaw's wounds. She carefully peeled off the herb poultices and sniffed her injuries carefully.
"Well, I think your injuries are becoming infected," she told her, wrinkling her nose at the stench. "It'll be okay though. I can fix it." She padded into the store and pulled out a few chervil leaves as well as some other herbs. She chewed the chervil leaves and dripped the juices onto her wound. Silverpaw let out a hiss of pain as the juice stung her wounds but stayed still as Snowpaw treated her wounds and explained the uses of all the herbs she was using.
"Done!" Snowpaw mewed happily as she sat back. "Your leg is healing nicely there so everything's fine."
"Great," Silverpaw mewed in a neutral voice. She plopped her head on her paws lazily and watched Snowpaw clean up her herbs. She inwardly groaned about how slow the day was and closed her eyes. Her mind drifted to from Volepaw, to Dewdrop, to Snowpaw's dream, before it settled on Ice-bergfang. She snorted. Yea, right, Silverpaw thought to herself. Like that's ever going to happen. Silverpaw rolled around until she was comfortable before falling asleep.
A/N: There ya go! I can never tell when I write a cliffhanger and then I write what happens and I dunno whether I let you all down or not. Hopefully I don't. School's about to start so don't expect too many chapters from me as school can be a pain. Bye!