Chapter 6 | Injury
Lightningpaw's eyes snapped open; his stomach was growling furiously and his mouth was nearly stuck together with dryness. He saw a moss ball soaked in water near his nest and gratefully lapped at it. Three mice were piled by his nose, and he gulped them down eagerly, quieting his roaring stomach.
He got up and stretched, feeling restless after so many days of being weak and stuck in the nest. Cobwebs and dried pulp fell off of his fur. Lightningpaw turned and began grooming his fur, clearing it of dry blood and herbs. He yawned, waking Swiftbreeze who was dozing nearby.
Swiftbreeze looked up sleepily, but when she saw Lightningpaw sitting up in his nest, she bounded up to him and exclaimed, "You're awake! Thank MoonClan you made it! You've been fighting death for several days!"
Lightningpaw looked down at his paws and said, "I feel much better now. Thank you Swiftbreeze! Can I go outside? Please?" He looked at Swiftbreeze pleadingly; with a start, Swiftbreeze noticed that Lightningpaw was as big as her.
She responded, "Well, you can go into the clearing, but you may not go beyond the camp walls. No strenuous work, because you're still very weak."
Lightningpaw dashed out of the den and called behind his shoulder, "Okay, okay!" When he stepped outside, he screwed up his eyes against the sunlight. Yellowtail, who had just finished her fresh-kill, trotted over to him and purred, "You're finally awake! You've been out for several sunrises!"
Lightningpaw told her, "I feel so restless now! I'm longing to get out of camp and hunt for the camp, but Swiftbreeze said that I couldn't." He looked longingly at the woods surrounding the camp.
Yellowtail chuckled and said, "Well, we don't want you getting hurt again now do we?" When Lightningpaw looked as though he couldn't think of anything to say, she added, "Here, I'll show you some more advanced hunting techniques, if that's okay with Swiftbreeze." She glanced over at the medicine lion, who nodded.
Lightningpaw growled happily, "Oh, yes! I'll be the best hunter WaterClan has ever seen!" He leaped high into the air in excitement.
The next day, Sparrowstar came to visit WaterClan, and Swiftbreeze told her that Lightningpaw was strong enough to train. "Just don't work him too hard," she warned. Sparrowstar nodded and summoned Lightningpaw, and told him, "As you have seen, the fresh-kill pile is very low, and with leaf-bare coming, we need to fatten the Clan for the cold months of no prey."
Meanwhile, Swiftbreeze had gone over to the fallen log behind the stream to look for cobwebs. She pushed it over, suddenly losing her balance, and fell headfirst into a large, cold, underground cavern! "Help!" she screeched, hoping that someone would hear her. Her leg was throbbing in pain; she must have sprained it. Her fur was fluffing up to keep out the biting cold.
As Lightningpaw was heading out of camp, he heard Swiftbreeze's agonized screech. He turned around and raced back to the source of her voice and finally found her stuck deep in an underground cavern. Bewildered, he asked, "How did you get in there anyways? This cave-"
"JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS- this, CAVERN!'' Swiftbreeze screeched at him.
Lightningpaw jumped to his paws and responded, "Okay, okay, I'm coming." He assessed the situation, then leaped nimbly down the boulders to where Swiftbreeze lay. She was heavily panting and was shivering uncontrollably.
Lightningpaw grasped her by her scruff and started hauling her up the rocks. "Can't you be a little more careful?!" gasped Swiftbreeze grumpily as her hurt leg scraped a sharp rock. Lightningpaw quickly adjusted his grip and mumbled around her fur, "Sorry." Swiftbreeze just sniffed. He knew that he was hurting her pride, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As he reached the top, Yellowtail bounded over to him. Her eyes widened, but she quickly reached out and grasped her legs; Swiftbreeze yelped in pain. "That hurts! Be careful!'' she snapped. Together, Lightningpaw and Yellowtail carried Swiftbreeze to her nest.
"What herbs do you need?" asked Yellowtail anxiously.
"First I need you to set my leg in place," Swiftbreeze explained. "You do that by putting it in the right position and then setting it with cobwebs. Then hold the cobwebs in place with burrs."
Lightningpaw held the leg in place. Swiftbreeze winced but stayed silent while Yellowtail quickly bound the leg with cobwebs and secured it with burrs.
"Now what?" Lightningpaw asked.
"Do you see that plant with bell-shaped flowers?"
"Yeah," Yellowtail said. She was closer to the herbs.
"That's called comfrey. Can you chew some of it into a pulp and put it on my leg? Then I need to eat some and have a small poppy seed for pain relief."
Lightningpaw quickly retrieved the seed while Yellowtail made the poultice. Swiftbreeze lapped up her herbs and then looked at Yellowtail's pads. "Those pads of yours look cracked, Yellowtail. What happened?"
"I was hunting water voles over rocks."
"Well, come here and I'll put some yarrow on that." Swiftbreeze stood up, wincing slightly as she put weight on her injured leg. She padded stiffly to her rock shelf herb store and applied a poultice to Yellowtail's paws. "That looks better."
"It is," Yellowtail confirmed, sighing in relief.
"Great!" said Lightningpaw. "Now I can ask you how you fell into that cavern."
"Well, I was looking for cobwebs under that old log," began Swiftbreeze. "And then I just fell into that hole. I don't know how it happened."
"I've been meaning to mention this," Swiftbreeze continued. "My mother, Robin- she lives with MoonClan now- she came to me in a dream and gave me a message. Apparently we're going to have a really hard leaf-bare, and we need to store food. We've got to hunt and save up fresh-kill and present a strong front to the other Clans. Maybe that cavern-"
"I can do that," Lightningpaw interrupted, growling. "Those Clans had better not try."
"And so what I was saying," Swiftbreeze continued, giving Lightningpaw a sharp look. "That cavern is really cold."
"Really?" asked Lightningpaw in surprise. "It wasn't all that bad."
"Easy for you to say. You've got the thickest fur I've ever seen in my life," muttered Swiftbreeze. "Anyways, as I was saying, that cavern is really cold, so we might be able to store food for long periods of time, and in large quantities, because it's so big. I think we can also take refuge in there if need be, because I saw a small stream flowing, and I think I even saw some rabbit's ear moss!"
"Wow! Good idea!" Yellowtail spoke up. "Lightningpaw and I can start hunting and store food in there!" She beckoned to Lightningpaw with her tail and began heading out of the den when Swiftbreeze called, "Wait! There's one more thing I've been meaning to tell you!'' They both came back, Lightningpaw's tail flicking with impatience.
"Robin also gave me a prophecy: Before the warm season ends, lightning shall scorch, and lightning shall heal. I've been trying to figure out what it means, and I thought you two might have ideas."
"That doesn't make any sense!" argued Yellowtail. "How can lightning hurt and heal?"
"If MoonClan can see the future, can't they just tell us what's going to happen?" growled Lightningpaw frustratedly.
"I guess it's their nature," Swiftbreeze guessed. "Anyways, let's not spend too much time dwelling on it. You guys need to hunt and I need to gather herbs to prepare for leaf-bare. It's almost leaf-fall, guys. Hurry! We might not survive the next moons if we don't prepare."
Lightningpaw padded to the huge pine tree in the middle of WaterClan's territory, called the Old Pine. Mice and birds often liked to nest there, so Lightningpaw would probably be able to catch a lot there, and then fish for himself in the stream next to camp.
Almost immediately a meaty scent tingled his nose. Mouse! Lightningpaw dropped into the hunting crouch, remembering to land his paws lightly as the mouse would be very aware of vibrations. But it didn't seem disturbed by Lightningpaw's light, careful stalking and darted out of its burrow to nibble an acorn.
When Lightningpaw was two tail-lengths away from it, he sprang, landing neatly on top of it. He carefully buried it for later, resisting nibbling on the delicious fresh-kill. All his catch went to the Clan. Once Yellowtail and Swiftbreeze were well fed, then he would eat.
His nose caught another scent, but it was different. It wasn't a prey-scent, but predator-scent. It was the scent of a mountain lion whose "territory" he'd walked upon.
The huge, lumbering mountain lion roared and stretched up to its full height, towering over Lightningpaw. Lightningpaw was not intimidated. He would drive this predator off WaterClan's land. Lightningpaw roared and leaped onto the mountain lion's back, digging his claws into the stinky, tufty, coarse fur. The mountain lion roared again and tried to shake Lightningpaw off, but Lightningpaw's thorn-sharp claws wouldn't let go.
Then somehow, the mountain lion's front leg reached up and plucked Lightningpaw off his back, tearing fur in the process. The mountain lion sliced down Lightningpaw's chest, reopening the stomach wound he'd gotten from the ThornClan patrol. Then it started clawing his back, ears, and belly. Lightningpaw gasped in pain but bravely fought back, scoring his claws down the mountain lion's chest and head.
The mountain lion hissed in pain and dropped Lightningpaw, who immediately snarled and bared his powerful fangs. The mountain lion fled deeper into WaterClan territory, closer to camp.
That won't do, Lightningpaw thought, pursuing the mountain lion. Swiftbreeze usually would be able to defend herself against a mountain lion, but not when she's injured. Then he gasped in horror. Swiftbreeze wasn't in camp; she was at the source of the camp stream, gathering watermint! The mountain lion wasn't fleeing at all, but heading towards an easier target! It must know that it would be easier to fight Lightningpaw while he had to defend another lion!
Lightningpaw sped up desperately, but the mountain lion sensed his realization and scooted ahead. "Swiftbreeze!" Lightningpaw yowled desperately. "Mountain lion coming your way!"
Too late, Swiftbreeze got his warning. A loud shriek came from her as the mountain lion savagely roared.
Lightningpaw threw himself into the clearing. The mountain lion had Swiftbreeze cornered and was about to deliver the death blow when Lightningpaw landed on its back again. The mountain lion shook him off, again dislodging fur, and, apparently thinking that these were too much work, fled down into the mountains.
"You're injured!" Swiftbreeze gasped. Lightningpaw's stomach injury was bleeding very heavily, and it hurt like crazy, as did the rest of his body. He limped back to camp with Swiftbreeze by his side.
Yellowtail came tearing back to camp and panted, "I heard you guys roar, and I came to see what's going on." She paused when she saw Lightningpaw, her eyes widening.
"A mountain lion came and-" Lightningpaw couldn't finish his sentence, for his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the ground, fainting from the pain and loss of blood.
"No," Swiftbreeze whispered.
"Yellowtail looked up at her comrade. "Will he make it?" she inquired softly.
Swiftbreeze's eyes clouded and she responded, "He may not, so soon after being torn apart by ThornClan." Then her eyes cleared and she said, "Help me get him to my den." Yellowtail obeyed, and then raced off to drive the mountain lion out of the territory (hopefully into ThornClan, she thought secretly).
Meanwhile, Swiftbreeze was using fresh moss to wipe away the blood on Lightningpaw's fur and clean the dirt from the cuts. Her eyes widened with horror at what she saw: Lightningpaw's stomach was sliced down the middle, starting at his throat and ending near his tail. Other deep cuts were adjacent to the main cut; his nose had a deep scratch. His muzzle was scratched- he would be scarred for life; tufts of fur dangled from his back, which was covered in bites. Oh, MoonClan, she prayed, please don't let this wolf die. He lived such a noble life, and he is to rebuild WaterClan. She received no reply.
Swiftbreeze retreated into her den and came out with her whole stash of marigold in her jaws. She chewed it into a poultice and applied it to Lightningpaw's stomach slice; then, she pinched it together, waking Lightningpaw. He drew in a sharp breath; Swiftbreeze knew he was trying to hide his pain, but it came out in an earsplitting howl of agony. She quickly made a poultice of goldenrod, horsetail, dock, dried oak leaf, and burdock root. The herbs were the strongest she could make them, and she gently placed them on the wound. She squeezed her eyes shut; then she started to use cobwebs to hold the wound together, securing it with burrs, but he started thrashing about in pain, howling uncontrollably. Swiftbreeze felt sympathy flood her heart; Lightningpaw was just past cubhood, and this pain would be harsh on even a full-grown wolf, so it would be unbearable to a young apprentice.
At that moment Yellowtail came tearing back and reported triumphantly, "That mountain beast fled into the territory of those ThornClan brutes. I-" Her voice broke off at the sight of Lightningpaw. "What can I do to help?" she demanded.
"Get him a sturdy stick for him to take his pain out on," Swiftbreeze instructed. "And get plenty of moss and cobwebs." Yellowtail nodded and dashed off, bringing back the stick; Swiftbreeze almost laughed- Yellowtail was covered with cobwebs, and it looked as though she would drown in all the moss she brought. "Thanks," she said.
Yellowtail prodded the stick toward Lightningpaw's mouth. "Here," she offered, "bite down on this." Lightningpaw obeyed and bit down, launching splinters into Yellowtail's pelt.
Swiftbreeze sighed. "Go get a bigger stick." Yellowtail obeyed, and brought back a huge branch to Lightningpaw, who splintered it again. "I guess the sticks won't work," sighed Swiftbreeze. "Help me by holding wetting down some of the moss and wiping away the blood." Yellowtail nodded, and bounded over to the stream. At that moment, Quailfur appeared with Stormstar.
"What can we do?" she asked, her eyes filling with pity at the sight of her son, who was still howling thunderously. Swiftbreeze looked up, and instructed, "Just try to calm him down by licking him or something." Then she turned to Stormstar, and said, "I need you to hold him down and keep him from moving." He nodded, and struggled to hold down his son.
Oakfur, and ancient medicine wolf, also appeared and said, "Here, young'un, let me help." Swiftbreeze nodded to him gratefully, then returned to applying the marigold to Lightningpaw's cuts. She added a bit of stinging nettle leaves to bring down the swelling and used a damp moss ball to make sure the herbs went into the wound. With some of the last marigold, she squeezed the healing juice onto the wound and used the leaves as a poultice on a large scratch.
Yellowtail came running back and began to gently wipe away the blood. Oakfur rearranged Lightningpaw's ruined nest, then began to apply fresh cobwebs over the poultice smeared over the cuts, securing them with burrs.
Stormstar had been able to hold down his son, who was was still howling, but more softly, apparently soothed by his mother's gentle licking; however, he was still struggling under his father's thick paws.
Finally, after working with Lightningpaw till after sunset, Oakfur declared, "That wolf's a strong one. He'll make it, I'm pretty sure."
Swiftbreeze nodded and responded drowsily, "Thank you so much for helping me. I don't know if I would've been able to save him without your help." Stormstar dipped his head, and Quailfur murmured, "We will be here anytime you need help." Then she, Stormstar, and Oakfur faded into the dark night, and their place was taken by Sparrowstar, who murmured to Swiftbreeze, "I'll watch over him. You can go to sleep." Swiftbreeze blinked gratefully, and fell asleep the moment her head touched the soft moss.
The next morning, Lightningpaw was still unconscious, but his sleep looked more natural, with deep, even breaths. Yellowtail came to visit right after dawn, bringing a squirrel to share with Swiftbreeze.
The two lions finished the fresh-kill quickly and quietly to avoid disturbing Lightningpaw.
"When do you think he'll wake up?" Yellowtail asked.
"I don't know," sighed Swiftbreeze, "but I hope within one or two days."
The lions went out into the clearing to get ready for the day's duties. Swiftbreeze made a mental list of the herbs she needed to collect before the frost of leaf-bare, and then she remembered. "Yellowtail! It's half-moon tonight. I need to visit the Starpool. Maybe they'll show if Lightningpaw is all right." And on the way I can collect some chervil and watermint, too. I'm running low on that… but I can't let any other medicine wolves know that WaterClan is preparing for a weak season.
Yellowtail apparently had the same thought. "Are you going to go now, or wait for night? I think you should probably go now; it would be safer."
"I agree," Swiftbreeze said, "I'm planning to go right after I finish collecting watermint from the stream. I had to drop it yesterday because of the mountain lion."
"Are you sure you should go there? The mountain lion might still be hanging around. And your paw is still slightly sprained, isn't it?"
"It is. I put more comfrey on today and it should be fine. But I'm pretty sure that Lightningpaw taught that creature a lesson."
"All right. Be safe."
Swiftbreeze walked out of the camp and returned with watermint and catmint in her jaws. "I found catmint by the stream! This is great! I'm expecting an outbreak of greencough this leaf-bare, so I'm glad I found it."
"Awesome!" Yellowtail said. "Are you going to go to the Starpool?"
"Yup, I'm going now." Swiftbreeze walked out of camp again and headed up to the mountains. WaterClan's territory was the closest to the Starpool, so Swiftbreeze wouldn't have to go through any other Clans' territory. They would probably be suspicious that she wasn't going to the Starpool at twilight, like she usually did.
Swiftbreeze completed the trek up the mountain easily, and she quickly hunted and caught a mouse to eat. It was outside the Clans' territory, so anything she caught, she was allowed to eat. By then it was just before sunhigh. Swiftbreeze walked into the dark pool of water. Even in the sunlight, the water was dark and sparkled with stars. Swiftbreeze curled into her favorite dip in the hollow and lapped up a few drops of sparkling, cold water.
Immediately her head grew heavy and Swiftbreeze sank into sleep.
She found herself in MoonClan, surrounded by warriors. Three of them stepped forward. She recognized Robin and Quailfur, but the last one, a silver-and-black lithe she-wolf, she did not know.
"Robin!" Swiftbreeze greeted her. "I've been thinking about your prophecy… what does it mean?"
Robin did not answer.
Puzzled, Swiftbreeze asked the same question to Quailfur, she she didn't move either. Swiftbreeze tried again on the mystery wolf and finally received an answer.
"Why aren't they responding?" Swiftbreeze asked.
"We are not allowed to interpret our prophecies," the wolf replied. "My name is Silverflame, mother of the FrostClan warrior Darkfire. I traveled far into the mountains during my lifetime, so I am not bound by the same rules as other MoonClan warriors are."
"Can you tell me if Lightningpaw will live?"
"That I cannot say," Silverflame replied. "Some things are not in the paws of MoonClan. Whether he shall live or not is in your paws."
"One more thing- who is Darkfire?"
Silverflame sighed wistfully. She really was a beautiful and elegant wolf. "Darkfire is my daughter. She is a senior warrior in FrostClan. All I can tell you is that she will be part of your life. Not as a friend, but as a formidable enemy."
"But, why are you helping me then?"
"I am a warrior of MoonClan, Swiftbreeze. I am on all sides at once. You will wake up very soon, but I have one last thing for you. This leaf-bare, greencough will hit you hard. Make sure that Lightningpaw doesn't die; if he does, the balance of the Clans shall be gone forever." Silverflame stared into her eyes sternly.
"Okay. I'll do that."
"Good. I wish you all the best, Swiftbreeze. MoonClan will always be there for you. I have taken a special interest in you because you are instrumental in MoonClan's plan. Good luck."
Swiftbreeze lifted her head in the Starpool hollow. It was just past sunhigh. She got up and headed back to camp.
On the way, Swiftbreeze decided to look on the FrostClan border to see if there was any marigold left. She was surprised to see that the marigold had grown back abundantly. She picked off a good bundle.
"What are you doing on the border?" snapped a harsh voice that sounded faintly like Silverflame's. Swiftbreeze turned and saw a beautiful jet-black wolf with blazing golden eyes staring down. This must be Darkfire. Behind Darkfire were two warriors that Swiftbreeze recognized as Snakeheart and Ambertail, both she-wolves. Swiftbreeze would stand no chance if a fight started.
"I'm collecting herbs," Swiftbreeze told them. She could hear Silverflame's voice, telling her what to do.
Don't appear threatening, Silverflame instructed. Just tell the truth and convince Darkfire that you're only doing your business.
After a long moment, Darkfire grunted and growled to her patrol, "Come on. Let's not waste time on this puny medicine lion."
Nice daughter you have, Swiftbreeze muttered to Silverflame.
She's just a product of her environment. If you're not tough in FrostClan, they either kill you or kick you out. That's why there's no elders in FrostClan.
Swiftbreeze suddenly felt queasy. ...Nice…
She scooped up the marigold, bounded back to camp and told Yellowtail what had happened.
Yellowtail thought about it for a moment. "We'll have to discuss it with Lightningpaw when he wakes up. He's kind of the strategist."
Swiftbreeze glanced at the fresh-kill pile, which was piled high with prey. "Looks like you went hunting. We'd better put this in that cavern I fell into to save it. I am now calling that the Cold Cave because I don't really like saying 'cavern'."
Yellowtail laughed and scooped up three squirrels to put in the Cold Cave.
Once the lions had finished stocking the Cold Cave with herbs, fresh-kill, moss, and confirmed that the stream ran through it, they decided to check on Lightningpaw. He was still sleeping, but Swiftbreeze announced that he would probably wake up next dawn.
The two lions started discussing Silverflame. "So is she like your guardian warrior now or something?" Yellowtail wondered.
"I don't know," Swiftbreeze replied. "She said that MoonClan doesn't have control over everything, though, so we should probably start being more independent."