Warrior Cats SERIES 1: North and South (Book 1)

Chapter 14

Northpaw trotted over to the nursery, a herb wrap in his mouth. He pricked his ears as he heard the most recent hunting patrol entering camp and his stomach growled at him, though he knew he would not be allowed to eat until his mentor did. Meltedfur had put him on duty to check on every cat in their dens or when they enter camp, so until he had made sure his clanmates were safe from greencough, he wouldn't be allowed to have any prey.
          He slid through the tight close of brambles and felt the ground dip underneath his paws, it familiar on him. Northpaw had forgotten how small the nursery was, and had only noticed due to the fact he was larger now. He was well into his apprenticeship and had been training as a medicine cat for the past three moons. At first it was unusual being without Cottonpaw, but he had learned that there was nothing his clan could do for his best friend, and continued his duties and work regularly.
          "Hello, Northpaw. Oh, is that for me? How kind of you." Eagle-eye purred as he stepped toward her and placed down the herb wrap.
          "Yes, it is. But I put some of Maplekit's herbs in there." Northpaw replied calmly and politely, opening the wrap and gently taking up the small dose of catmint. Maplekit had recently fell ill of whitecough, and Meltedfur was anxious she would give it to Goldenkit or the queens, so the shekit had been confined to one area of the nursery as she wasn't too sick to go to the medicine den and, not only that, needed the supervision of Yolktail, her mother.
          "Maplekit, Northpaw has come to you with your medicine. Take it from him and say thank you." Yolktail mewed to her daughter, and Maplekit glanced up at him, reluctantly taking the catmint and chewing the leaves.
          "Thank you, Northpaw." She murmured and curled up, falling asleep.
          "In that case, if Eagle-eye has had her feverfew and poppy seed then I'm done here." Northpaw announced. Eagle-eye dipped her head gratefully in the nest next to Yolktail and Goldenkit.
          "I've eaten them all. Thank you. I should think this rotten headache will go now." She put her head down and attempted to doze off, clearly tired and unwell. Eagle-eye had picked up a fever. At first, Meltedfur was stressing over the queen, believing she was developing whitecough, although none of the symptoms were there. As it turned out, Eagle-eye only had a cold, with mainly a headache and high temperatures.
          Northpaw breathed in the crisp air of leaf-bare deeply as he muzzled his way out of the nursery and scanned camp until he found a group of senior warriors sharing tongues. Thankfully, as he trotted over, he spotted all the cats who had been taken on the patrol a moment before. Although he knew Webbedeye had joined the patrol, and the tomcat had only been a warrior for nearly six moons.
          "Verastep, weren't you on the hunting patrol just now? I need to check all of you over, if that's okay." He questioned to the deputy. Verastep turned her head to look up at him and nodded.
          "We didn't run into any trouble, but I know that Waterwave got a few thorns stuck in his shoulder, and quite deep, too." She flicked her tail over to the white tomcat and blinked slowly at Northpaw. He dipped his head in thanks and set to work checking her pelt. Every so often she would scratch her body and he frowned - could it be that the shecat had ticks? Sure enough, Northpaw found one crawling around on her shoulder.
          "You're alright for wounds, but you have a few ticks. Can you go and wait in the elder den? I need to help them with their ticks after helping Waterwave. I can deal with yours then." Northpaw cracked the tick in his teeth and locked eye contact with Verastep.
          "That's why I'm so itchy all over! Thanks, Northpaw, you're a great help. I'll see you in the elder den." She shook her fur and sat up, bidding her goodbye's to the other seniors and trotting away to find the elders.
          He spun around and walked over to the large, white warrior laying in the corner, sniffing his shoulder. Northpaw first noticed the blood trickling down the tomcat's fur and he groaned - Waterwave was one of his least favourite cats, so why did it have to be him?
          "Waterwave, Verastep told me you have a thorn in your shoulder. May I look? Meltedfur has told me to check over every cat in your patrol." He queried. Waterwave's whiskers twitched in a mocking manner, as if he found it funny Northpaw was set apprentice tasks. I'm an apprentice, stupid furball! It took great self-control to stop himself from raking the warrior's flank instead of help him.
          Northpaw crouched down and sniffed the wound, and once he discovered it wasn't infected, he set to work licking it. Waterwave flinched away from his tongue.
          "You're supposed to be a medicine cat, who heals me, not hurts me! Do it more gently, it's painful." He snapped. More slowly this time, Northpaw's tongue lapped the most sore area, where the thorn had fully embedded itself in Waterwave's shoulder. He dug his fangs into the blunt end of the claw-like spine, gently tugging. With no luck, Northpaw yanked it out. Waterwave yowled at the pain and flinched, more blood dripping down.
          "That's massive!" The warrior childishly gasped. Northpaw rolled his eyes, throwing the thorn away - it's barb would be dangerous, especially to kits, due to how unusually sharp it was. He set back to work licking the wound, putting more pressure on to stop most of the bleeding.
          "Come with me to Meltedfur's den, I need to grab some herbs." He ordered his patient. Waterwave climbed to his paws, limping after him as he saw Northpaw padding back to the medicine den with some sense of urgency. It was the first time Northpaw was allowed to help treat a cat without the help of Meltedfur, and he wanted to show his mentor he was fully capable.
          Darkness surrounded him as he slipped through the bracken, a bit of honeysuckle vine slipping over his back. Northpaw rummaged around for some marigold before carefully taking some in his mouth. He turned around and saw Waterwave waiting patiently.
          "Sit down." He told him, and the warrior obediently sat on the moss bed. Northpaw began chewing the marigold into a poultice and spreading it over the white tomcat's wound. He nodded his head when it was complete and looked back over at the herb store, picking up some cobweb and stretching it over Waterwave's shoulder, on top of the marigold. Northpaw pushed down and let it stick before grooming his pad and dabbing it on some poppy seeds, shaking off the excess. "Eat these, then you should rest." He let Waterwave lick the two poppy seeds off of his paw and curl up to go to sleep.
          Northpaw exhaled and remembered that the elders and Verastep were waiting for him. He swiftly picked up a wad of moss that had been soaked in mouse bile, and trotted out of the medicine den, speeding over to the elders' den.
         "... yes, that's right! Speaking of which, Sharpenedclaw caught an enormous water vole earlier - when Northpaw gets here and finishes with our ticks I can fetch it for you all to share." Verastep was mewing.
         "That would be lovely." Featherwhisper purred with delight. "I haven't a proper meal for a while now. Ah, Northpaw, hello."
         "Hello, Featherwhisper," Northpaw greeted politely, dipping his head to acknowledge the others. "Verastep, Splashingbreeze." Thankfully, Splashingbreeze had recovered from her case of greencough and whitecough, and had returned to the elders' den. Rushingwater, unfortunately, was still suffering. Northpaw silently groaned as he realised there was barely any catmint left in camp - the last dose had been given to Maplekit.
         "Verastep, you first." He beckoned the deputy and she obeyed, letting him search her pelt. Whenever he found a tick, he quickly stuck the wad of mouse bile to it until it released her and fell off. It wasn't long before he had removed all of them and had moved on to checking Featherwhisper. The shecat's beige fur was beginning to look unkempt, and Northpaw wondered if she was looking after herself properly.
         "Featherwhisper, have you been leaving camp recently?" He meowed, voice straining as he pushed the moss to a tick.
         "No, why?" Although her voice was calm, Northpaw felt a jolt of alarm rack his body, and felt the energy rush around the room as she spoke, as though something terrible was about to happen.
         "Don't worry. No reason." He blinked in surprise at how passionate the elderly shecat was. If she was so determined to lie, especially to a medicine cat, then her secret must be extremely important. Northpaw stuck the wad of moss against her last tick and let it drop off, turning around to face Splashingbreeze.
          "Me already? Go on, then." She groaned as she sat down and let Northpaw search her brown and white pelt for ticks. He had noticed earlier that Featherwhisper had the most ticks of them all, too. What was the shecat doing? "Hey, Northpaw! Are you going to help me with my ticks or not? I could be sleeping by now if you weren't daydreaming." Splashingbreeze snapped and he shook his head, setting to work, pressing the mouse bile-soaked moss against any ticks he found until they dropped off.
          Northpaw finished checking the three shecats for ticks. None of them thanked him and he didn't expect anything more.
          "Hey, Northpaw, could you fetch me something from the fresh-kill pile? I'm starved." Featherwhisper's whiskers twitched in amusement as she queried, tail curling tight around her as she lay in her moss bed.
          "Sure." He rolled his eyes. He had enough work as it was - why were they asking him instead of another cat? Besides, he thought Verastep had offered to get her something. Northpaw thought of Runningpaw. She was probably on a patrol, enjoying the new scents of leaf-bare and different training. He wondered when Meltedfur would let him train with her again. He hadn't done much battle or hunting training in a quarter moon, it would feel nice to stretch his legs instead of being cooped up in camp.
          After Northpaw had given Featherwhisper and Splashingbreeze their prey, he trotted over to the medicine den as Rushingwater was in need of some catmint. Do we even have any catmint left? Northpaw anxiously thought as he searched the herb store, hearing his former leader's weak coughing and sniffing. If he was desperate enough, he would have gone to the Horseplace to fetch some, but Meltedfur had told him he must take at least two warriors with him after Cottonpaw's accident. No, I'll just go near the Twoleg Greenleaf Place, they must have some there, he decided swiftly.
          "Hello, Northpaw." He spun around to see Meltedfur entering the den. "Are you checking the herb store? Good job."
          "Yeah. I was just about to get some catmint for Rushingwater." Northpaw replied to his mentor.
          "Near the Horseplace?" She questioned him, obviously concerned for his safety. Worry flashed in her amber eyes and Northpaw swallowed. Why did Meltedfur have to make such a fuss over him? It wasn't like she was his mother.
          "No. I'm going to go over to the Twoleg Greenleaf Place," He responded carefully. "I'm convinced there is catmint there."
          "Very well. What happened to Waterwave? Is he okay?" Meltedfur mewed and Northpaw looked over at the sleeping warrior.
          "He had a thorn stuck in his shoulder, but I got it out. I used marigold poultice, cobweb and poppy seed." He informed his mentor. She glanced at him in an approving manner, flicking her tail.
          "Well done. You're learning fast. You may go and collect that catmint now - I trust you to come back unharmed. Remember that you will be on the ShadowClan border and that the rogues might still be there!" She called after him as he left the medicine den, shouldering his way through cats who walked past.