Book 1: Echoing Voices - Warriors

Chapter 22

Drizzlepaw's POV

"Who-" Drizzlepaw flattened his ears and shot a glare at Meadowfern.
"We need to know why StarClan has abandoned us. Why won't you tell anyone?" Meadowfern asked, she almost seemed as desperate as Flowerlily and Lakestar were.
"No one needs to know." he spat.
Flutterstar narrowed her eyes slowly, but Swiftstar looked unfazed. Meadowfern was impossible to read. She was smaller than the two other she-cats, as if she never got to grow to a normal-sized cat, but she was definitely the more intimidating one.
"Why are you holding back?" Meadowfern demanded.
Drizzlepaw paused. That was a good question. One he didn't really have an answer for. There wasn't really a particular reason, but something was holding him back from telling. He didn't want to say anything until he knew what that 'something' was.
"I can't. Not yet." he murmured.
Meadowfern narrowed her eyes slowly. Flutterstar and Swiftstar exchanged thoughtful glances.
"Drizzlepaw, Dawnbreeze needs some help in the medicine cat den. Why don't you stay with him for now?" Flutterstar meowed.
He didn't need to be told twice. Drizzlepaw turned around and padded over, in a sort of slow fashion, to Dawnbreeze's den.

When he poked his head in, her perked his ears and was hit with the familiar strong scent of herbs. He wasn't use to it anymore and he had to old back a cough, but even without looking, he could pick out a few different herbs by their scent.
Drizzlepaw pushed his way into the den and searched around slowly for this Dawnbreeze cat. His ears perked curiously as he caught sight of the herb stock. Everything looked pretty full, so he doubted Dawnbreeze was out hunting for herbs.
"What are you doing in here?"
Drizzlepaw practically jumped out of his fur. He snapped his head around and his gaze met with dark amber eyes. It was a young pure brown she-cat with black paws and ears.
"Uhhh...looking through the herbs?" Drizzlepaw meowed. Stupid, that's not obvious at all.
The she-cat tilted her head slightly, "Are you looking for my brother?" she asked.
Drizzlepaw nodded slowly, "I'm guessing that's Dawnbreeze?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm looking for him too. He has the tendency to just walk off and out of camp. He comes back empty-pawed and just straight back to the den. He should be back soon." she meowed.
Drizzlepaw narrowed his eyes slightly, that's unusual. Even for a medicine cat.
"Right. Why are you looking for him?" he asked.
"I've got this thorn in my paw. Must've stepped on it when I was hunting." she explained.
Drizzlepaw perked his ears, "I can help you." he meowed.
She hesitated and leaned more onto one side than she already was.
"How? Are you a medicine cat?" she asked.
Drizzlepaw couldn't fight the urge of a snarky answer, "No, I'm a random cat that appeared in this den and claims to know how to treat a simple thorn-pulling." he muttered sarcastically.
The she-cat actually didn't react. She almost looked amused. He had to hold back from narrowing his eyes,
"Alright then, pull it." she offered her paw.
Drizzlepaw's eyes caught where the thorn was easily. He grabbed a hold of the thorn and by the size of the base of the thorn that was sticking out, he could tell it had dug deep into her pad.
"This is gonna hurt." he warned.
"I'm not a kit." she replied.
Never gotten that answer before.
Drizzlepaw clenched his jaw on the thorn before quickly tanking it out. It pulled out smoothly and the she-cat winced.
He padded over to a leaf and gently set the thorn down, making a mental note to get rid of it later. He reached over to the marigold and padded back over to her, who was still holding out her paw.
He squeezed out the juice of the herb and it dropped onto her pad.
"What's that for?" she asked.
"Prevents infection." he mumbled in reply before spitting out the crumbled herb.
She glanced at the leaf that was now on the ground and she scrunched her muzzle slightly before nodding.
"Thanks." she meowed before heading out the den. "I'm Runningwillow by the way."
Drizzlepaw glanced up and nodded, "Drizzlepaw of RiverClan."

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Drizzlepaw sprung up in panic from his little nap. Only to find a brown tom with white paws staring at the broken parts of the marigold leaf.
This must be Dawnbreeze. Identical to Runningwillow almost.
He was just a little taller than Drizzlepaw while Runningwillow had been shorter. Runningwillow had looked thin and agile, Dawnbreeze just looked the complete opposite.
"What have you dooooone?" he cried and dropped to a crouch while he wailed at the broken leaf.
Drizzlepaw let his fur lie flat and he just stared at the tom in utter confusion.
Dawnbreeze actually looked like he was going to cry. He gently patted the leaf and continue to let out painful mews.
"Alright. Calm down, I'll clean it up." Drizzlepaw hissed and began to pick up the little pieces of leaf.
"No!" Dawnbreeze shouted, "What gives you the right to touch these?"
Drizzlepaw pinned his ears back and immediately dropped the leaves.
"Okay, what? I helped your sister with a thorn." he explained.
Dawnbreeze didn't seem to hear and he continued to wail. Drizzlepaw scoffed and pushed past the tom and out of the den. He realized that was a pretty bad idea too.
Most of the cats were staring at him, though none of them looked concerned, he felt really awkward. His pelt pricked slightly and slowly began heading towards the prey pile.
"Hey, you're fine. Dawnbreeze just doesn't like crumbled herbs on the ground." said the orange tom with black paws.
Drizzlepaw almost mistook him for Auburnpaw. He flattened his ears at the thought of the ThinderClan cat.
"Does he think the herbs have feelings or something?" he muttered, suddenly having a lost for appetite.
"Something like that." the tom replied, "I'm Bobby by the way."
Drizzlepaw had to pause and make sure he heard that right, "Bobby?"
The orange cat nodded, "I'm a daylight warrior." he explained.
"That makes so much more sense!" Drizzlepaw meowed with sarcastic enthusiasm.
Bobby seemed to take it seriously, "Yes yes, we go to our twoleg homes at night and we help out here in the day."
Drizzlepaw's jaw dropped, "Do you even know the warrior code?" he demanded.
That's when Flutterstar butted in out of nowhere, "Bobby is completely welcome to this Clan. Just as you were. Treat him just as any other warrior along with Dessertflower." the leader meowed.
Her voice seemed full of authority and her gaze was slightly darkened, as if she was giving him a warning. Drizzlepaw had to admit she had a point. He didn't argue and padded away from the two cats.

Drizzlepaw exited the camp and glanced back. He was going to find that camp, then he was going to get Auburnpaw and Lavenderseed out.
"Hey!"
Drizzlepaw's ears flattened and he slowly turned around. He couldn't get a moment away from this Clan. He immediately recognized Spottedpaw once he had turned his head.
"What?" Drizzlepaw muttered.
Spottedpaw didn't give off any sort of emotion, he just looked awkward.
"You know that apprentices aren't allowed out of camp alone, right?" Spottedpaw mewed.
Drizzlepaw hesitated, "Yeah, but I'm a medicine cat apprentice. I can come and go as I please."
Spottedpaw shot him an unsure look, "I don't think that's how it works."
Well, you broke one rule by letting kittypets into your Clan, what's one more? Drizzlepaw ignored his own thought.
"Look, if you want to come along, let's go. I just need to check something in the territory." Drizzlepaw meowed.
It was true, he had no intentions of actually leaving to find Auburnpaw and Lavenderseed, it would be suicide. He just needed to search for clues.
Spottedpaw didn't reply for a while.
Drizzlepaw twitched his whiskers, "You chose. It's not like I'm leaving." he muttered.
He headed into the territory, not particularly caring if Spottedpaw followed. His main concern was to find his...friends.
Can I even call them friends?

Drizzlepaw neared the area where Riversong, Leopardpaw, and Wolffang. Spottedpaw had been following him, but made no noise. Like at all. He was just an aura of Spottedpaw.
How do you even describe this cat? He's just kind of...there. Drizzlepaw pushed away his thoughts yet again and began to glance around slowly.
"Is this where you wanted to go?"
The sound of Spottedpaw's voice made him jump. He actually had begun to forget he was there.
"Um, yeah." Drizzlepaw replied at a mumble.
He lowered himself to the ground and shifted leaves, trying to scent something, but it had been too long. There wasn't a clear scent before, so there probably wouldn't be a clear scent now.
"Drizzlepaw?"
He was quiet for a while before he glanced over at Spottedpaw, "Yeah?"
Spottedpaw perked his ears, "What?"
Drizzlepaw glances around, "What, what?"
Spottedpaw gave him a confused look.
"Drizzlepaw!"
Spottedpaw definitely wasn't saying that.
Drizzlepaw looked around carefully and Spottedpaw's eyes widened. Drizzlepaw turned around just in time to be tackled by a heap of fur.