Chapter 2
Angelpaws heart was racing as she stared panic stricken at the wounded cats before her. She took a shuddering breath of fresh air and forced herself to relax. She was the calm, level headed one of the group, she would have to keep calm.
"We haven't explored the rest of the cave yet but we will have to do that now because we need a sheltered medicine cat den where I can treat my patients." Angel mewed suddenly.
"I'm on it!" Snowpaw mewed immediately, racing out of the hollow of dreams before Ravenpaw could protest.
"Mousebrain." Ravenpaw mumbled before chasing after him.
"Stormpaw help me wash the blood off of Smokepaw and Stonefur so I can have a good look at their wounds." Angelpaw ordered.
Stormpaw padded over to the waters edge, splashing water onto both Smokepaw and Stonefur.
"Good. Shadepaw and Shadowpaw go look for some moss to use as bedding." Angelpaw murmured while watching them race off.
Angelpaw now approached the cats, doubts once again creeping into her head. Stormpaw had already managed to get most of the blood off although both Stonefur and Smokepaw continued bleeding without showing signs of stopping.
"Cobwebs to stop the bleeding." A soft voice whispered in her ear.
Angelpaw jumped and looked around but there was no sign of the cat that had just spoken.
Is it a Starclan warrior guiding me? , Angelpaw wondered.
She had no time to think about the mysterious cat, all she could do was follow instructions.
"Help me find some cobwebs!" Angelpaw mewed urgently.
"Cobwebs?" Stormpaw questioned, looking puzzled.
"Now!" Angelpaw snapped.
Stormpaw cast her another confused look before turning away in search of cobwebs. Angelpaw looked around the den and spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She was quick to go over and retrieve the precious cobwebs she had spotted in the corner of the den. Angelpaw then padded over to her patients. It wasn't much but it would have to do until Stormpaw came back. Angelpaw carefully pressed cobwebs against Stonefurs wounds, being sure to use most for his throat wound. To her astonishment, Stonefur slowly stopped bleeding. In that moment Stormpaw reappeared with a huge bundle of cobwebs dangling from his muzzle.
"Theres more from where this came from" Stormpaw spoke, dropping the cobwebs beside Angelpaw.
Angelpaw pressed a couple more cobwebs into Stonefur before padding over to Smokepaw and pressing cobwebs into his wounds. Smokepaw groaned, his eyes flickering open.
"Get away from me." Smokepaw snapped rudely, attempting to get up but falling back down once again with a cry of pain.
"Stay still and let her take care of your wounds." Stormpaw snapped.
Angelpaw blinked gratefully at her brother and cautiously approached Smokepaw. Smokepaw swiped a front paw at her with claws out.
"Don't you dare touch her you mangy flea pelt." Stormpaw growled, defensively.
Smokepaw hissed in anger but suddenly he saw the state his back leg was in.
"My leg!" He wailed.
Angelpaw approached him once more and he gave her a defiant look.
"Your leg will never heal if you don't let me take a look at it." Angelpaw coaxed gently.
"Fine." Smokepaw spat but there was fear in his eyes.
Angelpaw removed the cobwebs now that he had stopped bleeding.
"Use burdock for the wounds to help heal them. Burdock looks like thick green leaves. You can find them at the edge of the water and then bandage the wounds in cobwebs to avoid letting in infection." The voice came again.
Angelpaw immediately went over to the edge of the water and sure enough found a cluster of burdock leaves. This supply would come in handy. Angelpaw bit off a couple leaves, trying not to let the bitter taste of the leaves affect her. She chewed up the leaves and spat them onto Smokepaws wounds, gently spreading the thick green moisture over Smokepaws wounds. Stormpaw watched her carefully before doing the same, although he didn't have the same natural skill as Angelpaw, he still managed to spread it well enough over Stonefurs wounds.
"Thanks Stormpaw." Angelpaw sighed. "Help me wrap up the wounds with cobwebs."
Stormpaw flashed her a smile before obediently doing as she asked.
"Make sure Smokepaws leg is properly stretched out to avoid it being permanently damaged." The voice whispered.
"This might hurt." Angelpaw mumbled, nudging Smokepaws leg a bit so it was properly stretched out.
Smokepaw let out a yowl of pain and glared at her.
"Poppy seeds help with the pain. There should be some right outside the cave." The voice spoke.
"Go find some poppy seeds just outside the cave." Angelpaw told Stormpaw.
"How do you know there are any?" Stormpaw asked puzzled.
"I just know." Angelpaw retorted and watched him go.
Angelpaw then approached Lillykit who was breathing shallowly and shivering slightly. Angelpaw wrapped her body around the kit to keep her warm. Just then Snowpaw and Ravenpaw came into the den, looking excited.
"We found a perfect den for the medicine den! It has enough room for several nests and crevices to store herbs." Snowpaw spoke in excitement.
"And we found this. We figured it might be useful." Raven replied, dropping a cluster of leaves at Angelpaws paws.
"That's Borage. Its useful to cure fevers." The voice came again.
"Thankyou." Angelpaw mewed in relief and grabbed some of the leaves.
Lillykit was still small so Angelpaw chewed up the leaves into a pulp and spat them out. Lillykit whimpered softly as Angelpaw gently coaxed her to eat the herbs. Lillykit eventually ate the herbs and once again pressed against Angelpaw, shivering.
"That's all I can do for now. Lets move them into the den." Angelpaw sighed.
They eventually managed to move all three cats into the den with plenty of complaints from Smokepaw who was turning out to be an annoying furball. Shadepaw and Shadowpaw were already in the den with the moss. They had arranged some of the moss into nests and then put the spare moss into one of the crevices for storage. Once all three patients were in the nests, Stormpaw appeared with the poppy seeds.
"Thanks." Angelpaw murmured, putting a poppy seed into each of the patients mouths.
"Weve all decided to sleep in the hollow of dreams until we decide where all the other dens will be." Ravenpaw told Angelpaw.
"Alright. You should go rest then." Angelpaw replied, touching her nose to theirs before watching them leave and curling up in her own nest in the medicine cat den. Although the young she cat knew it would be a long night of worrying about her patients.