One thought filled Waterpaw's mind, reverberating through her rattling skull with enough force to split the earth if only she could harness it to do so. That one thought was this: I cannot die. She couldn't afford to. It wouldn't be right. What about the prophecy? She had to stay alive, and so she could not die.
She clung on to that thought even as the owl carried her over the tops of trees that she recognized, even with her vision blurred from pain, as ThunderClan territory. Waterpaw closed her eyes for a moment and the next thing she knew they were flying over a thunderpath, deserted of monsters at this time of night. It was well past moonhigh by now, surely. Would any cat be able to help them? It seemed highly unlikely. She'd have to get herself out of this one.
Waterpaw groaned; the place where the owl had cut her flank still hurt, but the talons that squeezed her back now were even worse with how hard they dug in. She didn't have the energy to twist her head around and see for herself, but she could feel the places where it was bleeding.
Dangling next to her was Grasspaw- still out cold, and if he didn't wake up soon Waterpaw was worried that he wouldn't be alive for much longer. A talon had punctured his belly, and blood was still dripping down and falling all the way down to the ground, probably to leave a trail or red splatter on the ground for some cat or other creature to track. Waterpaw was hopeful for a minute that one of her Clanmates would find the trail and follow it, but then she remembered Grasspaw's- and her own- failure to outrun the owl. No cat would be able to track them down in time at this rate. The owl was significantly weighed down by them, but the air currents were helping it fly faster than Waterpaw would have thought possible.
Grasspaw stirred slightly, and Waterpaw perked up, swaying a bit in the owl's grip to propel herself closer to him. "Grasspaw," she whispered. "How are you feeling?"
He didn't answer. Waterpaw's spirits fell when she noticed the wind in her fur. Maybe he hadn't stirred at all- maybe it had just appeared that way with the wind blowing in his fur. Worse yet, a faint trickle of blood was coming out of the corner of his mouth. His head flopped limply at the end of his neck, where the owl had grabbed him; Waterpaw shivered, glad that at least the owl wasn't carrying them upside down. She'd hate to have all the blood rush to her head like that.
The owl, which had been flying very slowly since it was carrying two apprentices, shot up very suddenly into the sky- it must have hit a thermal. When they went up suddenly, Waterpaw coughed, choking on something. She scrabbled opened her jaws, coughing up blood.
Waterpaw stared at the blood falling out of her own mouth. Where did that come from? she wondered, moving her tongue around the inside of her mouth and wanting to gag at the salty taste of her own blood. It stuck to her fangs as if she'd just killed a piece of prey, but in reality it was her own because she was going to be the prey very soon if she didn't do something.
A glance down at herself revealed the source of the blood- the wound on her side was deeper than she'd thought. Waterpaw felt bile sliding up her throat, and before she could clamp her jaws shut she puked, with blood mixed in. Waterpaw coughed and sputtered, wiping gunk away from her mouth and shaking it off her paws. The puke fell to the ground just like her blood, and Waterpaw wondered if the bird had even noticed. She knew she certainly would have if she'd been carrying a mouse and it had thrown up.
Stop thinking like that, she told herself. I am not a mouse! I've got a destiny already, so I have to stay alive to do what StarClan wants me to do!
Waterpaw stuck her claws into the gaps between the owl's talons and pushed away at them, using all the strength she had in her. If this failed, there would be nothing more for her to lose. To Waterpaw's admitted amazement, the talons loosened their grip on her- just a tiny bit, but it was a start. A newfound determination pumped through Waterpaw, and her adrenaline rush kicked in as she pried the talons another whisker-length or so off of her. Before long she was free to jump down whenever she wanted, which she intended to- but not just yet.
"Grasspaw, wake up," she hissed, batting at Grasspaw's tail to get his attention. He didn't respond, and panic flared through her. "Wake up!" she repeated, louder and more urgently this time. "You've got to wake up! Grasspaw!"
The owl let out an annoyed hoot, and dug its talons tighter into Waterpaw's fur. This time, it reached its grip further down Waterpaw's body, so that it was practically wrapping around her. Despite her terror, Waterpaw couldn't help but be a bit impressed. It must be quite strenuous on the bird's talon-muscles to reach so far across the body of a cat her size.
Bile burned her throat again, and Waterpaw's admiration vanished. She tilted her head back and forced herself to swallow it back down. She didn't want to throw up again; it would only add more humiliation to her excruciating and already fairly humiliating pain. Waterpaw fought to stay awake and ward off the pain, but she was beginning to feel numb…
In a last attempt to free herself, Waterpaw reached her leg up to the bottom of the owl's wing- the one that was already damaged. It was quite a reach, but the indignant strain of her muscles was an afterthought. She dug her claws in as hard as she could and the owl let out a high-pitched hoot, flapping its wings frantically. Its altitude dropped slightly and for a second its grip loosened enough for Waterpaw to slip out of its talons altogether. In that time, she dug her front claws into the owl and scratched and bit at it furiously, not letting up even when its altitude dropped significantly lower; Waterpaw spared a quick glance at the ground and was relieved to see trees. That meant they'd probably survive the fall.
Encouraged, she opened her jaws as wide as she could and took a bite out of its wing. The owl screeched, trying to stay in the air but not doing a very good job of it anymore. Its erratic flight patterns almost made Waterpaw throw up again. She wrapped her front paws the leg of the owl, digging her claws in so she wouldn't slip off, and kicked her back legs out at the owl's other foot. Grasspaw still dangled there, frighteningly limp, but Waterpaw reassured herself that he wouldn't be there for long.
The owl loosened its grip on Grasspaw's scruff and he slid slowly out. Waterpaw decided it was as good a time as any to let go, so she did, letting the owl fly lopsidedly away, leaving a trail of blood falling behind it. The two cats fell toward the trees below, and as she fell Waterpaw felt her conscious mind giving way to a dark veil.
Pain.
That was the first thing Grasspaw felt- a sharp, sudden pain that he soon learned was from tree branches digging into him. The second, third, fourth, and fifth things he felt were all pain as well, but all different kinds: a devastating pain in his stomach, a fading but still stinging pain in the back of his neck, a dull but still very present pain that wracked his entire body, and finally, a faint pain in his wringing brain.
Grasspaw fell from one branch of the tree to the next, down and down which each impact hurting, but not nearly as much as he hurt already, so it didn't matter. Actually, it did matter, but Grasspaw did his best to suck it up. What would Waterpaw think of him if-?
Waterpaw! Panic flared in Grasspaw's chest. Was she okay? Was she alive?! She must have been alive if Grasspaw was, unless the owl had just decided to drop them for no reason at all. He tried to turn his head to look for her and was met with more pain at the movement, and it was amplified as the back of his head smacked into yet another branch. Grasspaw braced himself for another branch, but instead he got a fall of about a fox-length and then leaf-strewn, root-covered ground. Needless to say, he didn't exactly land on his paws. Grasspaw groaned and lay there, afraid that if he moved his organs would spill out.
He must have passed out again at some point, because the next thing he knew, he was being immersed in water.
Grasspaw's eyes shot open and terror spiked through him; he couldn't breathe! "Rmmmnth," he protested, flailing against the current. It wasn't until the fangs that dug into his scruff- reminding him momentarily of the owl carrying him- and the light blue-gray paws that held him in place gently lifted him out of the water and laid him down on the bank that he realized the current hadn't been moving him.
His body convulsed and he coughed up water, horrified but not too surprised to see some blood and bile come out as well. That same blood was all over the leafy riverbank, a trail of it flowed down the current now, being slowly diluted by the water until it was gone.
That same blood also covered the paws he found himself staring at. Although, Grasspaw realized with a shudder that led to coughing up more blood and bile, maybe some of that blood was her own. When Grasspaw slowly raised his head, his own body fluids dripping down his muzzle, and formed his messy jaws into a small smile, he expected Waterpaw to wrinkle her nose at him in disgust. He was certain he looked awful. Waterpaw may not have been looking her best either, but there was no amount of injuries that could stop her from being attractive.
What he wasn't expecting was to see Waterpaw's ears pressed back and her voice to quiver as she mewed in a hoarse whisper, "Grasspaw… I'm so glad you finally woke up."
Grasspaw tucked his splayed-out paws neatly underneath him, although he prickled at the sticky wetness of the blood coating his underbelly. "Same here," he mewed weakly. "It's better than the alternative, at least."
He'd heard a lot of great things about StarClan- usually when some cat had just died- but he'd found that no cat seemed to say those things when there had been no recent deaths. Besides, no matter how great of a place it was, Grasspaw was nowhere near ready to go there yet.
"When the owl was carrying us, I called your name," Waterpaw murmured, her voice trembling. She stared at her blood-speckled paws. "You didn't respond. Even when I reached out and prodded you…" She broke off, her voice growing into a shrill wail. "You were lying so still… I thought… I thought…"
Despite how shaken he was about his injuries, Grasspaw felt the overwhelming need to convince Waterpaw that he was all right. He reached out his front paw- trying not to wince at the sharp pain that came with every movement- and laid it on top of hers.
"Hey," he meowed calmly, even though he felt nothing close to calm. "It's okay. I'm okay. We're both alive, and it's all…" Grasspaw dragged himself forward a couple mouse-lengths to press his muzzle to Waterpaw's paw. "…Thanks to you."
"Thank you, Grasspaw," Waterpaw mewed. Then she blinked, as if just realizing something. "That's right… it is thanks to me, isn't it?"
"Don't brag about it too much," Grasspaw said, rolling his eyes. "I don't need to hear about how special you are again."
"Oh, I won't tell you about that," she assured him. "I know you've heard it all already. But just let me have this one, okay?" Her face, which had been so sad a moment ago, split into a triumphant grin. "I saved us both! Without me, we'd be dead! Can you believe it?!"
Grasspaw nodded, albeit somewhat absentmindedly. He was happy for Waterpaw's success- especially since he owed his life to it- but something was dawning on him that took precedent over her celebration. When he opened his mouth to taste the air, the only scents Grasspaw was met with were foreign.
"It's no wonder StarClan chose me to save… whatever it is I'm gonna save," Waterpaw giggled. "I'm awesome! Hey, what if that was what the prophecy was about? Did you see if the owl went down and fell into some waves? Oh wait, but it's not raining… ah, well, it's better that it's not what the prophecy's about. I'd rather do something way cooler than that!"
"Say, Waterpaw," Grasspaw interrupted. She stopped praising herself and grew serious again; Grasspaw had the uneasy feeling that things would remain serious from here on. "What forest is this? It's not ThunderClan territory; I don't smell them. I definitely don't smell any RiverClan or WindClan cats. How far from the lake are we?"
Waterpaw was silent and Grasspaw had his answer: far enough.
Not only must Grasspaw have passed out again after being dropped, but Waterpaw must have passed out too, because it was midmorning. Maybe dawn had been approaching when they'd been dropped, but Grasspaw had been unconscious at the time, and Waterpaw admitted she couldn't remember but guessed it must have still been just a little after moonhigh because when she'd woken up, it had still been dark out. She explained how she'd landed quite a distance from Grasspaw, but had found the river she'd washed him off in and washed herself off. Then she'd come across him after a bit of searching.
"How long do you suppose you searched for?" Grasspaw inquired. "I'd hate you think you wasted too much time on a cat like me."
"Oh, not too long," Waterpaw mumbled, although she didn't make eye contact with Grasspaw, which made him suspect it had been longer than she wanted to admit. "You were lying fairly close to the river, but on the opposite side that I landed on. I dragged you back over there as soon as I found you, and washed you off. Thankfully, most of your bleeding had stopped by then."
Grasspaw nodded bleakly, sparing a glance down at his tattered stomach. It was missing a lot of fur, and his wound had only barely congealed. It was also, despite all that had happened, grumbling very loudly.
He glanced up sheepishly to see Waterpaw staring at him. "Are you hungry?" she asked, then purred. "Fish-brained question, I guess."
"I guess," Grasspaw agreed. His eyes wandered over to the river. "Speaking of fish, what do they taste like?"
Waterpaw's tail twitched mischievously. "You want to try a fish?" she purred. "Hey, maybe when we get home you should try joining RiverClan."
Grasspaw had absolutely no intentions of ever joining those fish-eaters, but he went along with it anyway. "Maybe I'll just have to do that," he said, hoping Waterpaw could tell he was saying it jokingly. "I do like to hang out by the lake, after all. You could teach me to swim."
"We wouldn't have to work hard or plan in advance to meet up with each other," Waterpaw added. "We could see each other any time we wanted."
"You could introduce me to all your friends," Grasspaw purred. "If they're anything like you, I bet they're wonderful."
One more joke hung in the air between them, not said by either but pressing at both of their minds: they wouldn't have to worry about breaking the warrior code. Soon enough, both Grasspaw and Waterpaw had run out of other things to say in terms of advantages to living in RiverClan. An awkward silence settled over them until Grasspaw's stomach growled again, at which point they both decided it was time to eat.
"I'll catch a fish," Waterpaw mewed. "You can go hunt for forest prey. Just don't go too far."
"I won't," Grasspaw promised. He set off into the forest, looking for something that would sustain him for a while. Although he thought he might have heard something as he was heading into the forest, he assumed he imagined it, not realizing that Waterpaw had collapsed behind him, clutching her own wound, as soon as he had left the clearing.
By the time Grasspaw came limping back with a vole dangling from his jaws, the sun was high in the sky. Waterpaw had already dressed the wound on her side with a very basic poultice that Mallowpaw had taught her how to make. She had also caught and eaten three whole fish- she must have been hungrier than she'd realized- and was dozing in a patch of sunlight when the greenish-gray tom wandered back to the riverbank.
The acrid scent of blood that clearly didn't all belong to the vole filled Waterpaw's nose and she sighed, sitting up to look at Grasspaw as he staggered over to her. She cringed at the sight of his reopened wound.
"Stop right where you are," she commanded, padding over to intercept him. "Come on, lean on me. I'll try to stop the bleeding again."
Grasspaw complied, and Waterpaw left him alone eating his vole in the sun while she foraged the forest for leaves big enough to cover up Grasspaw's stomach wound. She grabbed a couple more just in case, as well as a few strands of long grass to secure the leaves in place. She came across a mouse on her way back, and stalked it for Grasspaw to eat, but she wasn't very good at hunting land prey and it got away. When she got back, Grasspaw was right where she'd left him- fortunately- and she looped the long grass around his back and tied a knot at the top so the leaf wouldn't just fall right off when he stood up.
"What should we do now?" Grasspaw sighed as they sat together in the shade of a tree. Now that the sun was climbing higher in the sky, it was getting quite hot. "We have to get home."
"I think the hawk was flying… that way." Waterpaw pointed with her tail. She chewed her lip, hoping she was right. "I can't remember for certain, though."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Grasspaw rose to his paws, wincing as he did so but taking a few determined steps in the opposite direction that Waterpaw had pointed. Waterpaw sat back and watched, slightly bemused, as he took a couple more steps forward and then stumbled and fell. Then the leaf that covered his wound became stained red and Waterpaw's bemusement faded.
Grasspaw pushed himself to his paws again, but this time Waterpaw wasn't having it. "Not so fast, mister eager," she chided him. "You've got to stay put for a while so the bleeding doesn't start again. Now, let me change your leaf and we'll work out a plan for when we're both all better."
Not without complaints, Grasspaw complied once again. He lay with Waterpaw for some time, and they talked about nothing in particular, trying to make their situation seem less hopeless.