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Feathertail opened her eyes, immediately regretting it. Her leg throbbed, sending hot bursts of pain like fire through her body.
"Feathertai!l"
It was Crowpaw. The WindClan apprentice was walking unsteadily towards her. Feathertail saw her own relief reflected in his eyes. They had all made it through alive-or had they?
"Where's Tawnypelt?" she choked out. We can' lose another cat!
Crowpaw didn't reply; he was staring at her leg in dismay. Craning her neck, Feathertail forced herself to look.
Bile rose in her throat at the horrific sight. Blood soaked her silver fur, staining it red. The leg was bent at an awkward angle, and halfway up a jagged bone end gleamed in the faint light.
Feathertail's stomach heaved. Fighting not to be sick, she caught a glimpse of tortoiseshell fur.
Tawnypelt was alive!
The ShadowClan warrior was dragging herself up the slope. Her fur was streaked with dust and blood, and her tail was bent like a broken branch; Feathertail guessed it was broken.
Crowpaw shakily got to his paws.
"Tawnypelt! Over here!"
Tawnypelt turned her green gaze towards the WindClan apprentice. Hauling herself over a small boulder she stared in shock at Feathertail.
Crowpaw began to scrape furiously at the soil and pebbles that covered the lower half of Feathertail's body. Tawnypelt leap down, wincing at her broken tail, and joined him.
Feathertail was being borne off on another wave of pain. Struggling to clear her vision, Feathertail thought she saw something move at the top of the gorge.
"Crowpaw, Tawnypelt, look!"
A pair of brilliant blue eyes was staring at them from the shadow of a rock. As the Clan cats watched a cat emerged, picking its way carefully down the slope.
Crowpaw crouched protectively over Feathertail, snarling. Tawnypelt stalked forward to meet the strange cat, fur bristling. But they were both exhausted, in no condition for a fight.
The other cat had a cream-colored pelt. Her paws, ears and tail tip were a rich brown, and she had the brightest blue eyes Feathertail had ever seen.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Crowpaw growled.
The stranger regarded him calmly.
"I am Luna from the Tribe of Rolling Hills."
POV
Stormfur crouched over Squirrelpaw. The apprentice was sleeping, but her breathing was uneven, and she twisted around in the makeshift nest Stormfur had made. He licked her fur, trying to calm her, but his mind was whirling.
Where had the strange cats come from? Why had they attacked, and why had they only wounded Squirrelpaw and left? There had been enough of them to easily kill Stormfur and Squirrelpaw, weakened as they were from their near-drowning in the river.
He was worried about that wound. It was long and deep, and Stormfur was afraid it would become infected without herbs. He had found a couple of cobwebs that had stopped the bleeding, but he didn't know anything about herbs in the mountains.
He raked his memory, trying to remember what Mudfur, the RiverClan medicine cat, had used in the forest. They probably didn't grow here, but maybe something like them did.
Marigold.
That was it. Mudfur had put it on his scratches after a fight with a WindClan patrol, less than a moon before they had left the forest.
Getting to his paws, he sniffed the air and was rewarded by a faint tang. Nose to the ground, he followed the scent away from the overhang. He could only hope it wouldn't lead too far from Squirrelpaw. He didn't dare leave her alone for too long.
A few fox-lengths away from the cliff his paws stumbled into a small clump of plants. Sniffing them, he was remained faintly of marigold and other herbs in Mudfur's den. A wave of homesickness swept over him as his bit of as much as he could carry.
Will any of us ever see home again? And where are the others?
Chewing up the herbs and patting them on Squirrelpaw's wound, he could only hope that StarClan would protect them all.
Well, that's it for now. Please review, and I'll update soon. More reviews mean faster updates! :D