New Chappie! YAY!
Chapter 4: Patrol
Flowerpaw woke up to hear Badgerface calling her name. She poked her head out of the Apprentice den as the cold, Leaf-bare wind whipped her face and saw Badgerface sitting by the river running through camp. Flowerpaw padded over to Badgerface and yawned. By the time Flowerpaw had got back from seeing Blackbird, it had been close to dawn and she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. Badgerface flicked his ears, as if to dismiss the yawn from his apprentice.
"What are we doing?" Flowerpaw asked her mentor
"We are going on the sun-high patrol today." Badgerface said, shaking his fluffy black fur. "Foxtail will be leading it."
"Is any other cat coming with us?"
"No, it will only be the three of us. Now get something to eat, we will be leaving shortly."
Flowerpaw ran over to the fresh-kill pile, only to be disappointed by seeing a scrawny shrew and an old squirrel.
"There will be an outbreak of Greencough if things keep on going like this." A voice put in beside her
Flowerpaw turned around to see Sandclaw padding to her. He gave a sniff of both prey and shook his head with a sigh. His single amber eye glittered with sadness.
"Even though with all that catmint you brought me, I can't stand treating the dreaded disease."
"Why is that?" Flowerpaw asked
"I always lose at least one cat. And the last one I lost was Badgerface's sister, her name was Deerpaw."
"How come I never heard of her?"
"Because she died in so much pain. So much worse than dying from battle wounds. She kept on coughing and sputtering, she was so weak that she couldn't eat any of the herbs I gave her. She coughed out blood, showing me that her Greencough became Blackcough."
"Couldn't you have done anything to save her?"
"I tried my best." He said sadly. "But there hasn't been a single medicine cat that has found the cure for Blackcough. All the cats that have gotten Blackcough died before their medicine cats could do anything. And I have unfortunately joined the ranks of Medicine cats that couldn't save their clanmates from such a horrible death." Sandclaw said, lowering his pale brown head.
Flowerpaw's cream and white stripped tail bushed out as Sandclaw finished his tale. She was horrified by what Blackcough can do to a cat so fast. Flowerpaw managed to smooth the fur on her tail and push the fear away. She looked at the two small pieces of prey, thinking about how much Deerpaw might have needed to avoid dying from Blackcough. She looked at Sandclaw, he had sat down with his head lowered, shoulders slumped, and tail wrapped tightly around his paws. Flowerpaw couldn't help but think that the pale brown tom blamed himself for Deerpaws death. She felt pity for the medicine cat in how he dealt with the she-cats death. Flowerpaw then heard a squeal of alarm by the nursery and saw Windkit pinning down Moonkit. Moonkit was wailing feebly as the white tabby held her down, and Tuliptail ran out of the nursery to help out her smallest kit.
"I'm sure that won't happen when Moonkit becomes you're apprentice." Flowerpaw told Sanclaw
He looked up to watch Tuliptail as she sternly told off Windkit. Sandclaw smiled at them and sighed.
"I guess you're right." He then paused and flicked his ears. "I think you should go now. You should go and train to become the best warrior you can be."
Flowerpaw nodded and ran over to Badgerface and Foxtail as they were walking up the trail to start the patrol. They walked up the trail to get to the top of the gorge. Flowerpaw watched the experienced ginger she-cat as she sniffed the air for any unwanted scents in the territory. Foxtail suddenly stopped and stiffened her muscles, her fluffy ginger tail bushed out. She then whirled around and saw something behind Flowerpaw that made her yellow-green eyes widen in panic.
"Get away from there!" Foxtail yelled at Flowerpaw.
Flowerpaw looked behind her to see two foxes that had their teeth bared and were looking at her with hunger in their eyes. Flowerpaw let out a yowl of terror and pain as one of the foxes lunged at her and buried its teeth in the scruff of her neck. She flailed her paws in panic and managed to catch one in the nose as it tried to bite her leg. Badgerface and Foxtail leapt at the two foxes. Badgerface attacked the fox holding Flowerpaw and clawed its flank, that made the fox yelp and release Flowerpaw. Badgerface looked at Flowerpaw with blood dripping into his eyes from a scratch on his forehead.
"Don't just stand there!" Badgerface yelled at her, shaking the blood out of his eyes. "Get out of here!"
Flowerpaw ran away from the battle, her cream and white stripped tail streaming out behind her. Bushes whipped her face, and the back of her neck dripped blood and stung where the fox bit her. She ran blindly through the foliage that she didn't see the cliff. Flowerpaw's paws skidded out from under her and she slid over the edge of the cliff. She managed to grab onto the cliff before she plummeted to her death at the bottom of the gorge. Flowerpaw widened her eyes with fear and panic as she felt the ledge beginning to crumble beneath her claws, she dug in her claws and tried to scramble up the the ledge before she fell. She then felt the ledge crumble beneath her claws and she let out a yowl of terror as she fell to the bottom of the gorge. Pain erupted in her left foreleg and side as she hit the ground and everything started spinning in her line of vision. She had one last thought before she blacked out.
"This is it. I will be joining Flamekit and Deerpaw in Starclan today. And to think that I was helping Sandclaw deal with Deerpaw's death earlier."
Authors note:
Please don't hate me! I made this happen for specific reasons that i'm not talk about right now. You have to figure it out yourself! Leave a review on why you think I made Flowerpaw fall off the cliff and if you get it right, you will get a free virtual Flowerpaw plushie! And remember that the pole is still up about whether or not Blackbird should join Skyclan, and if you select yes, PM me what his warrior name should be or if his name should remain the same. The pole will end on February 15 2014, so if you don't vote by then, well tough luck! It's your fault that you didn't vote.
P.S. Please review!
