Chapter 18
"Have a safe journey, Cinderpelt!" Starrypaw called after the dark gray medicine cat.
It was a week after the secret journey to twoleg place, and tonight was the halfmoon, meaning that the medicine cats were meeting up at the moonstone. Leafpaw was staying behind, however, since tensions were still high. ThunderClan had been practically forced to expect an intruder around every corner, and they couldn't take any chances having no medicine cat.
Starrypaw glanced up at the halfmoon as it rose higher into the star speckled sky. Despite the nerves shared among her Clanmates, the past week had been relatively quiet. Starrypaw and Squirrelpaw had gotten many more training sessions in, and Whitepaw had earned her warrior name, being renamed Whitewing.
"Why can't we stay up?" Hollykit whined.
Starrypaw turned to see Ferncloud reprimanding her kits for being up too late.
"Because," Goldenflower broke in, "you guys are as strong and fearsome as warriors already, and you need your rest to keep up that strength."
The three kits held their tails and heads tall as they trotted towards the nursery without hesitation. Ferncloud threw Goldenflower a grateful glance before padding after them.
It's true, thought Starrypaw. Although the kits' defense training had reached an end, they were very strong for only being two and a half moons.
"Watching the kits?" Shrewhunter padded up to her, purring loudly.
A warm feeling rushed through Starrypaw from ear to tail tip as if the sun had just been released from behind a cloud. She nodded and touched noses with him in greeting.
"I know it's late," Shrewhunter began, "but I was hoping we could go for a little walk together, you and I."
"Of course! I'd love to! Do you know if Firestar or Graystripe would let me leave?"
"Maybe if you're with me. Let's go ask," Shrewhunter suggested.
They both headed over to where Firestar sat with Graystripe and Sandstorm, talking in low voices. Starrypaw shuffled her paws so that they didn't scare them with their arrival. All three cats' heads turned in surprise and expectation.
"Firestar," Shrewhunter began, stepping towards him. "We...well mostly just me I guess...uh...I want to know if it would be okay with you, and Graystripe, if Starrypaw and I went on a little walk in the forest. We won't be long at all."
Graystripe and Firestar exchanged a glance as if talking to eachother without words. Finally, Firestar turned back to them.
"That's fine I suppose, but please don't go near twoleg place. You know that we can't spare guards there at night."
Shrewhunter and Starrypaw nodded respectfully in unison before turning away and heading for the gorse tunnel. After slipping through quickly, they glanced at eachother, Shrewhunter beginning to purr.
"Come on!" He bolted away suddenly, causing Starrypaw to jump.
She quickly realized that he had simply wanted to play, and she raced after him.
"Wait up! Slow down!" Starrypaw panted, mrrowing in amusement.
Starrypaw finally caught up with him and leapt up to tackle him, but he dodged as she landed, and he tackled her instead. They play fought in the undergrowth like kits, both purring loudly. Eventually, Starrypaw didn't get up after Shrewhunter had her pinned, so he collapsed on the ground beside her.
"That..was..fun," Starrypaw said, panting heavily.
"You're not tired already, are you?" Shrewhunter asked, leaping up onto his paws. He bolted off again, making Starrypaw jump up after him.
In a flash, Shrewhunter was gone. Starrypaw slid to a halt, glancing back and forth. "Shrewhunter?"
Suddenly, Starrypaw was yanked into thick undergrowth. She jumped around, preparing to tackle Shrewhunter, but he slapped his tail over her mouth, gesturing with his head to the other side of the brush.
"Did you hear that?" a voice said.
Starrypaw peered around Shrewhunter to see a patrol of about eight twoleg place rogues all glancing around anxiously, except for their leader, who whipped around to face them.
"What, mouse-brain? This is the forest! Of course there's gonna be sounds! We need to be ready!" he hissed. "Now remember, this isn't the real deal. Think of it as a...a test or..a warm up. Of course it's with the benefit of none of their healer cats-or whatever Hawkfrost called them-there to help them."
Shrewhunter and Starrypaw exchanged a horrified glance.
"Now, once we reach the entrance tooo..."
"Do you mean their camp?" a young cat piped up.
"Yes yes whatever it's called. Once we reach it, we split up. Most of you follow me in, and the rest wait for those trying to flee."
"Viper should use that strategy when he leads us to attack for real!" the younger cat said again. "It's a great plan!"
"Hush! We are attacking for real...it's just not going to be as brutal as when we attack next-"
The leader broke off as Starrypaw's tail twitched and brushed some fallen leaves. She tensed up, feeling Shrewhunter do the same.
"Are we sure there's no one out here...listening?" the cat who had spoken first whispered.
The leader lifted his head, tasting the air. I don't know. All I can smell is their nasty forest cat scent. Chief, Mist, search the area. You two will be with the patrol waiting outside their...uh...camp yeah camp..when you rejoin us."
Starrypaw's heart hammered against her chest as the patrol began moving again and two cats split off, one heading in their direction. Suddenly, Shrewhunter put his nose to Starrypaw's ear.
"Go and warn camp. I'll distract them," he whispered as quietly as possible.
Starrypaw shook her head. "They'll kill you!" she hissed urgently.
"Just go!"
Starrypaw watched Shrewhunter leap out of the undergrowth, racing towards twoleg place. The whole patrol froze, and Starrypaw turned and ran for camp before she had a chance to see them begin to chase him.
The run back seemed a million times longer than the run she'd had with Shrewhunter, but finally, Starrypaw burst through the gorse tunnel, shoving past Brambleclaw and Sootfur guarding the entrance.
"Twoleg rogues! Coming! Now!" she yowled as loud as she could with no breath inside of her.
Firestar bolted out of his den. "ThunderClan! Wake up!"
Cats stumbled, bewildered, out of their dens, blinking sleep from their eyes.
"Shrewhunter distracted them so I could get help...he...he..they're gonna kill him!" Starrypaw explained to Firestar, staggering on her paws, feeling as if she might collapse. "They...they said it wasn't the real attack...it was just like a..a test...and..and..."
"Okay, Starrypaw, calm down. Take a breath. How many cats are there?"
Starrypaw struggled to recall the cats she'd seen. "Maybe like...eight or...more?"
Firestar's eyes flashed in fear, but he maintained his composure.
"Graystripe, Sandstorm, Dustpelt, Cloudtail, Ashfur, Sorreltail, Spiderleg, Whitewing, and Squirrelpaw, form a patrol and head out immediately. I don't want them to have a single chance to reach camp."
The patrol leapt out of the gorse tunnel, their paws pounding the forest floor.
"Leafpaw, be ready for injuries." Firestar ran after the fighting patrol, and Starrypaw began to follow.
"Stay here, Starrypaw," Firestar said over his shoulder. "Everything will be okay. We'll make sure of it!"
When the tip of the Clan leader's orange tail disappeared through the tunnel, Starrypaw started to pace, thinking of every horrible scenario that could've happened to Shrewhunter.
"Starrypaw," Leafpaw said, padding softly up to her. "Come and rest in the den for a moment."
Starrypaw closed her eyes. "Okay," she agreed reluctantly.
Inside the medicine cat's den, Starrypaw curled up on some moss, watching Leafpaw do a check on the herbs she had. Her breathing had slowed, but her heart had not, and she couldn't stop herself from imagining Shrewhunter's broken body lying somewhere near twoleg place.
In the distance outside of camp, many yowls could be heard. Starrypaw squeezed her eyes shut, trying to distract herself from the battle and Shrewhunter.
It seemed like forever before there was movement and sound in the clearing. Starrypaw jumped to her paws and bounded out of the den, hoping to see that the patrol had returned safely with Shrewhunter.
Instead she saw the rogue patrol leader grappling with Brambleclaw and Sootfur by the entrance. Up closer and not from a hidden distance, he was so much larger than Starrypaw had thought. Brambleclaw barely passed his shoulder.
The rogue swatted Brambleclaw aside with a huge paw and whirled on Sootfur. Starrypaw rushed forwards, feeling Rainwhisker, Brightheart, and Thornclaw at her side.
She leapt onto the rogue's broad shoulders, scraping him as much as she could. He quickly reared upwards, throwing Starrypaw off and slamming her into the ground. It drove the breath from her lungs, and she gasped for air. She watched with a fuzzy gaze as the rogue rushed at her, but with so many warriors fighting him, he was driven back.
Starrypaw was dimly aware of Brackenfur beside her. "Stay here. You're winded," he said before jumping into the fray.
She happily obliged, blinking hard, trying to clear her head. Everything seemed to be spinning around, and very slowly things were beginning to come into focus.
Finally, the yowls stopped with a single angry, painful screech. Starrypaw's eyes widened when she saw the body of the rogue lying still, blood spilling from a deep wound on his neck. She'd never seen a cat killed in battle before. Brackenfur rushed back over to her side, helping her to her paws. She thanked him and leaned against his shoulder.
Brambleclaw looked the most beat up with a large scratch going down his shoulder and many more smaller ones scattered across his back. He sank down onto his stomach, breathing heavily.
Brightheart limped to the medicine cat's den. "Leafpaw! We need you!"
Leafpaw rushed out, carrying cobwebs and many different herbs with her. She scanned Brambleclaw over before beginning to pack his largest wounds with cobwebs.
Starrypaw looked over the rest of the warriors who'd fought the rogue. A few of them had no scratches at all, but Starrypaw couldn't imagine what it was like for the patrol that was fighting the rest of them. She was suddenly very fearful of who may not return to camp.
Suddenly, the crowd at the gorse tunnel parted as a blood soaked Whitewing leapt inside.
"Leafpaw! It's Cloudtail!"
"StarClan help me!" Leafpaw yowled as she followed Whitewing out.
"I'll go with you," Brackenfur offered quickly. "Will you be okay?" he asked Starrypaw.
"Yes, thank you."
Brackenfur touched her ear with his nose and bounded after Leafpaw and Whitewing.
Right after they left, Firestar stumbled into the clearing, followed by Sandstorm. They glanced around, and Firestar sighed in relief when he saw the rogue collapsed on the ground.
"He came this way during the fight, and we were all terrified he'd lead the whole patrol to camp." The ThunderClan leader's sides heaved as he stood over the rogue patrol leader's body. His fur was sticky with blood, and upon further inspection, Starrypaw noticed a deep scratch along his back between his shoulders.
"What's wrong with Cloudtail?" Brightheart asked anxiously.
"He got a nasty neck wound," Sandstorm replied. Seeing the fear and worry in Brightheart's eyes, she limped forwards, touching her nose to Brightheart's ear reassuringly. "He'll be okay. Leafpaw will make sure he heals up nicely."
"Okay," Firestar began with a sigh, immediately taking charge. "If cats who aren't badly injured could help those who are back to camp, then that would be really great."
Starrypaw nodded, and she followed Thornclaw, Sootfur, Rainwhisker, and Mousefur, who had been guarding the nursery during the break in with the rogue patrol leader, out of the gorse tunnel. The opening felt different, and Starrypaw realized that the giant rogue had widened it. Hooray, more work on strengthening the tunnel, she thought somberly.
As they stumbled upon the site of the battle, the scent of blood hit Starrypaw like a claw, and her ears flattened in fear of how badly her Clanmates would be injured.
The first cat Starrypaw noticed was Cloudtail. Leafpaw scrambled to pack his oozing wound as he lay splayed out across the ground, the slow rising and falling of his chest the only indication that he was still alive.
Starrypaw also noticed Sorreltail looked badly beaten up. Thankfully it seemed that Brackenfur was already letting her lean on his shoulder to walk her back to camp. Seeing the gratitude and relief in Sorreltail's eyes made Starrypaw's heart ache all the more for Shrewhunter.
Making a split second decision while Thornclaw explained Firestar's instructions to Graystripe, Starrypaw slunk down and slipped into the undergrowth. It was hard to find anything that wasn't trampled or dead due to leaf-fall, but eventually, Starrypaw found a nice shrub to sneak behind. She headed towards twoleg place, determined to locate Shrewhunter and find out if he was okay.
"Starrypaw!" Graystripe called out.
Starrypaw froze, hoping desperately they were just looking for her. Unfortunately though it seemed that her mentor had spotted her as the next moment she heard him call her name it was much closer.
"Where are you going?" the ThunderClan deputy questioned, limping to a halt beside her. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Starrypaw turned to face him sheepishly. "I...I was.." She sighed, surrendering to the truth. "I was going to find Shrewhunter. I'm really worried about him! He risked his life to save the whole Clan, and if something happened to him then...then I don't know what I'll do!"
Graystripe's gaze softened. "I understand that you want to know if he's safe, but it's important that we get all the injured cats to camp. We also can't have anyone going that way, especially alone, when we just chased a giant patrol off in that direction."
Starrypaw closed her eyes for a moment, trying to force herself to forget her worry for Shrewhunter for the moment while she helped her Clanmates. She nodded to Graystripe and headed back to the blood stained battle field.
However, as Starrypaw made the slow trek back to camp with an injured Squirrelpaw leaning on her shoulder, she couldn't help her mind floating back to the last image she'd seen of Shrewhunter sprinting away right before she whirled off in the opposite direction.
He's my Clanmate too.