CHAPTER TWO
The wind ruffled Ravenpelt's fur. She was many fox-lengths into the air, her claws digging into the trunk of an oak tree. She loved the feeling of being in the sky. She knew how birds felt. It was as if no one could bother them if they were this close to touching the clouds.
Foxfeather was down on the ground, pacing and looking for scent trails. Ravenpelt opened her mouth to search for any nearby birds she could ambush. She sensed a thrush in the tree next to her. She used her keen eyes to pinpoint its exact location and she jumped.
Three of her feet landed firmly on the tree and she dug her claws deep into the bark. The other foot was used to stick a claw into the thrush before it managed to fly away. Ravenpelt finished off the attack with the killing bite.
Wish the thrush in her mouth she descended from the tree and hopped excitedly onto the ground, ready to show off her catch to Foxfeather.
Foxfeather was nowhere to be found. Ravenpelt had been so consumed with her thrush that she had neglected to watch where her friend was going. She dropped the thrush and followed Foxfeather's scent trail.
She found her next to a bush, sniffing around suspiciously. She didn't know that Ravenpelt was there until Ravenpelt gently nudged her with a soft paw on the shoulder.
"Oh, Ravenpelt, you followed me," she said unreadably. Ravenpelt shook with embarrassment.
"Sorry… I didn't mean to be a bother."
"No, it wasn't a bother. I just didn't expect you to, that's all. Most cats just leave me alone. Sometimes I swear I'd be better off as a loner."
Ravenpelt looked at Foxfeather lightheartedly as she continued to ramble.
"Speaking of loners, smell this bush. There's an off scent on it. I'm right in saying this is not one of our clan mates?"
Ravenpelt didn't like to talk about rogues or loners. Mostly because she had formerly been one, in her kit days. That is before her mother abandoned her and left her for dead in leafbare. Shredclaw found her and nursed her back to health just as she was weaning off Foxkit and Lilykit.
Ravenpelt smelt the bush and looked up at Foxfeather curiously.
"Yeah there is something different on this bush. Maybe we should tell Shadestar about it."
"Mouse-dung. Don't know what that'll accomplish. Shadestar refuses to take action on anything. This'll be something that me and you will have to investigate on our own, how about that?"
Ravenpelt's heart raced. She would get to spend more time with Foxfeather. She couldn't dream of anything better.
"Of course," Ravenpelt spoke quietly.
"Great!" Foxfeather purred. "I can't wait." Ravenpelt noted the twinkle in her eye when she said this, and couldn't discern if it was for the thought of adventure, or the thought of her. Ravenpelt swallowed nervously and began to head back to where she dropped off her thrush. She picked it back up in her mouth and headed back to camp to drop it off in the freshkill pile, Foxfeather trailing close behind.
Redblaze sat in the middle of camp next to a rock, grooming himself. He met eyes with Shredclaw as she padded over to sit next to him. Their pelts didn't touch, but the two sat at a comfortable enough distance that it appeared that they wanted to be close by each other.
Redblaze leaned his head over to groom his chest fur. Shredclaw flicked her tail lightly over his back. The two were mates, but something appeared to be up. What it was, well, no one was really sure.
Pebblepaw dashed into the wood, his gray, white, a cream tabby pelt blurring through the trees, and his mentor trailing cautiously behind him. His ears were alert, searching for the slightest noise of prey. He heard the fluttering of a bird a couple trees over and he halted, abruptly.
He flicked his ears in the direction of the bird as his mentor skidded to a halt. Onenight nodded and Pebblepaw stalked forward. He had yet to spot or sense the bird, but his hearing had always been his most keen ability.
Onenight was scenting eagerly, hoping his apprentice was really on the trail of something good. His heart dropped as he spotted the large bird in the tree ahead, its vicious eyes locked on his tiny apprentice. All he could hear was the thumping of his heart.
Pebblepaw was still looking for the bird, unaware of the impending danger. The jet black tom had had stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the eagle straight ahead. Running would be pointless, the bird could catch Pebblepaw no matter how fast his ran. Onenight was too far away from his apprentice to cover him. Onenight watched helplessly as the bird jumped from the branch and flew straight for Pebblepaw.
Adrenaline kicked in and Onenight sprinted for his apprentice. He was too late. Pebblepaw turned his head, startled and eyes opened wide only to see a pair of talons heading for his back. The bird clasped hard on the small apprentice's spine, claws digging into his flesh. Onenight leaped at the bird, but fell just short of its tail as it began to fly away. He leaped again, higher this time, and slashed at the bird's wing.
Onenight sprinted forward and up the closest tree. He knew he needed to act fast because the eagle was going to get away with his apprentice and he wouldn't stand for that. The bird was injured, but still moving quickly into the distance. Onenight jumped from the branches of the tree and onto the eagle's back, causing the bird to tighten its grip on Pebblepaw. Pebblepaw screamed in pain. Onenight raked his claws into the bird and it screeched into the distance.
The eagle finally let go of Pebblepaw when Onenight bit harshly into its neck. Pebblepaw plummeted to the forest floor. The bird thrashed at Onenight's bite and the angry squirming threw Onenight off balance, and he lost his grip on the eagle, falling quickly to the forest floor, hitting a tree trunk hard on the way down. The eagle flew away, screeching angrily.
Onenight rolled over on the ground. His head ached incredibly and he had a sharp pain in his hind leg. He shook his fur and stood up, shifting all weight onto his three good legs. He began to hop toward the not moving body of his apprentice, sprawled quietly out on the forest floor. He reached the apprentice with a heavy, apprehensive heart.
He stared down at Pebblepaw looking for signs of life. The apprentice's front leg was bent at an unnatural angle, and there was blood spattered everywhere. A little drop of blood escaped the apprentice's mouth. Onenight's mind was eased when he saw the little apprentice's stomach rise and fall. Onenight quickly nuzzled himself under the apprentice's stomach, and threw the inert body over his shoulder and began carrying the apprentice carefully back to camp. He ignored the pain in his leg and desperately traveled to the safety of camp.
He reached the entrance and squeezed through.
"Fawnspots!" he called coughing brutally after uttering the words. The she-cat quickly exited her den and her eyes, red and watery, widened at the sight of the apprentice and his mentor.
Onenight then collapsed under the weight of the apprentice and his lack of strength. Fawnspots ran over to the pair, and others began to withdraw from their dens curious about the scene.
Fawnspots stared, wondering what to do. She began to pant heavily and her eyes looked around nervously. She could feel the eyes of the Clan beating down on her, pressuring her to do the right thing. She needed to save both toms, or she was going to be responsible for another death, and she couldn't live with that.
"Help!" she screamed urgently. "I need to get them into my den!" With that she ran into her den and started looting through her medicine stash, leaves flying and spiraling and crashing throughout the den. She scratched them into another larger leave, grabbed a stick, and almost the entire collection of cobwebs. Then, Frostfang and Shredclaw were carrying Onenight into the den, and Aspenleaf was following behind with Pebblepaw slung over his shoulder. Aspenleaf gently dropped Pebblepaw onto the nest and Frostfang and Shredclaw set Onenight down.
Fawnspots began spastically working.
"Cobwebs for bleeding." She stuck the cobwebs all over the little apprentice, and noted that Onenight didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere, but was just simply exhausted.
"Comfrey, to prevent infection." She applied the comfrey poultice to the wound.
"Stick, to set the leg." She set the stick next to Pebblepaw's mangled foreleg, and positioned it so the leg then fell even and parallel with the stick. She used more cobwebs to wrap the stick firmly against the apprentice's leg. She began to make a poultice of the many healing and pain concealing herbs she had.
She pawed the poultice close to the apprentice for when he awoke. Then she paid attention to the heavily panting, pained warrior.
She placed one paw on the bottom of his hind leg and her mouth at the top. Onenight grimaced. Suddenly, with one movement, she pushed down with her paw and over with her mouth, trying to put the leg back into place. Onenight yowled in pain. She tried again. Onenight yowled then looked up at her confused.
"Are you still biting my leg?" he asked. Fawnspots took her teeth off the leg.
"I was." Then, she pawed at the leg.
"I don't feel that. I don't feel any of what you're doing," Onenight cried. Fawnspots sunk back into herself. She had managed to further the injury. The leg was gone and could never be brought back. She had damaged it at its core and it was now rendered useless.
"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do…" her voice was frail and broken. She had failed him.
"You must be able to do something! Something else! Anything!" he yelled at the medicine cat. He was thrashing with anger. Fawnspots quickly made a poultice of thyme, dandelion, and poppy seeds and presented it to Onenight.
"It will bring back the feeling," she lied, and Onenight selfishly licked up every last bit of the poultice. He was soon asleep, and motionless.
She peered over at the apprentice who had yet to awake. He was breathing shallowly. She sighed. She was probably going to lose him too. She went to the medicine stash, choked down a few silver vine leaves, and prepared for the meeting she would have to have with Shadestar. Is this what the omen could've been about? She wondered.