The Clash of Stars Book 1: The Key

Chapter 4: Thornpaw

Thornpaw stared in silent shock at the bat-winged cat, forgetting about the herbs they were meant to be gathering. How did this cat get here? There was only one way into the cave from what Thornpaw could tell, and it was right behind them. Their thoughts ran, trying to think of what to say, but then the cat spoke.

"Oh, thank goodness!" she yelped, waving a paw wildly at them. "Hey! You! Please help me! Some rocks fell in this tunnel and my wing got caught!"

Thornpaw still studied the molly. They wondered if this was some sort of strange fear tactic from FlashClan — after all, they were the only Clan where Thornpaw had ever heard of winged cats coming from.

"It really hurts!" the cat continued, though Thornpaw scarcely heard her. "The rocks on my wing, I mean."

Thornpaw tried to connect the thoughts together. They wondered if the "bat wings" were some sort of sick covering over a regular FlashClan cat's wings, though they didn't recognize this cat. Not in this dark tunnel, anyways.

The trapped molly spoke again. "My name's Wildpaw?" she tried, as if experimenting.

Thornpaw jolted to their senses. "Wildpaw?" they asked. "That's a Clan name. Are you from FlashClan?" She didn't smell like FlashClan, but she could've been in the caves for awhile.

Wildpaw looked bewildered, squinting at them in the dark. "What's a 'Clanname'?" She said the word as if she'd never heard of it before.

Thornpaw spluttered for a moment. "It's — are you okay?"

Wildpaw narrowed her eyes. "No, I told you it hurts!" She flapped her unstuck wing, slapping it on the stone ground with indignation. "Is there a cleric apprentice around here?"

"Um, I'm a cleric apprentice," Thornpaw offered, unsettled. They flattened their ears. "But wouldn't you rather have a full cleric?"

Wildpaw looked awkward. "Whichever works," she decided. "They told me to find a cleric apprentice. I don't know what a 'cleric' or 'apprentice' is, but I'm guessing it's a kind of cat."

Thornpaw was bewildered at this point, wondering how to even start asking who "they" were. "It means I'm training to be a cleric," they explained. "I heal injuries."

Wildpaw brightened. "Wanna practice on my wing?" As if forgetting her situation, she tried to shift, only to yelp in pain and curl up on the cave floor.

Thornpaw straightened. "Oh! Oh StarClan, I'm sorry for leaving you like that," they stammered. They started to dig at the rockfall around Wildpaw's wing to get her out. They were pretty adept at the skill — it was the first thing an EchoClan apprentice learned, whether they were training to be a shield, warrior, or cleric. As they dug, they wondered how a cat would know the words "cleric apprentice," yet not know what a "Clan name" was.

The rocks loosened around Wildpaw, and her wing twitched as she pulled herself free. She jumped to her paws with excitement and tried to flap her wings, but winced and stumbled. Thornpaw moved to let her lean on their flank, supporting her. "Of course it hurts; don't move it too much or you'll make it worse," they chastised.

Wildpaw nodded. Seeming to recover from the whole ordeal in an instant, she asked, "Hey, you said 'StarClan'! What's that?"

"StarClan are the Clans' warrior ancestors," Thornpaw said carefully, wondering the morals of indoctrinating an outsider who didn't seem to know her tail from a clump of heather outside. "You can see them among the stars in the sky at night, and I talk to them in my dreams sometimes. All the clerics do."

Wildpaw's eyes widened in wonder. "You must be pretty important, then, to be in charge of healing your Clan and talking to ghosts!"

Thornpaw was too flattered at being called important to get annoyed at her calling their ancestors "ghosts." "Well, I'm not exactly, in charge," they started, then cut themself off, frowning. "You said that your name's Wildpaw! But you don't know what an apprentice is. Wildpaw is an apprentice's name. Like, a young Clan cat's name."