Warriors: Falling Stars Book 1: Sunlight

Chapter 4

Spottedpaw raced into the clearing, using the moonlight to guide her pawsteps. After finding the she-cat unconscious over the border, she had sprinted back to camp and placed her blackbird on the pile.

"Spottedpaw!" She heard a mew from behind her. The she-cat turned around to come face to face with Ivypelt. "What did I tell you about getting rest? Your wounds are going to reopen themselves!" She scolded her apprentice.

"I'm sorry Ivypelt, but this is really important!" Spottedpaw protested. "I need to get Clearmist or Lilypaw, right now!" Spottedpaw knew that Ivypelt would punish her as soon as the calico she-cat had pushed past her and headed to the medicine den, but that black apprentice needed a medicine cat.

"Clearmist!" Spottedpaw sighed in relief. The she-cat was busy shuffling through her herbs when she turned around, startled. "Spottedpaw? Have you hurt yourself again?"

"No," Spottedpaw started. "I found a BlazeClan cat right by the border. She was unconscious, and there was blood, and..."

Clearmist grabbed a bundle of herbs in her mouth. "Let's go. Lead the way." The two cats started to run out of the camp with the moonlight shining on their backs.

Spottedpaw stopped at the border and pointed to the cat, lying still on the ground. She twitched occasionally. The blood had stopped trickling out of her paw, but a pool of it glistened on the grass.

Clearmist dropped her herbs and picked up just one. She chewed it and then spread it over the cat's paw, making sure that she covered every inch. Then she examined the paw. "Hmm," she muttered to herself. "It's not dislocated..." Spottedpaw winced as the medicine cat grabbed it in her teeth and twisted it the right way. The unconscious cat mewled quietly, but laid still nonetheless.

"Right. Now I just have to wrap it in cobwebs... she'll be fine." Clearmist told Spottedpaw absentmindedly as she placed the thin web around her paw.

"How are we going to get her back to her camp?" Spottedpaw asked, sniffing the she-cat. Clearmist shrugged. "I'm surprised that no one has come to look for her yet..."

The two cats sat in silence for a moment, watching the steady rise and fall of the black cat's chest. She seemed so peaceful. Spottedpaw felt her eyes droop in exhaustion. The warm night wasn't helping her stay awake either. Can't we just bring her back to our camp? Spottedpaw thought drowsily. I'm ready to collapse on my own paws!

Suddenly the cat jerked, and she started to yowl ferociously. Clearmist mewed in surprise and grabbed another plant firmly in her jaws. Spottedpaw blinked in shock and took a step back, not wanting to be anywhere near the writhing ball of fur. Clearmist slowly approached the cat, and placed a paw on her back comfortingly. At her touch, the cat snarled and woke up, hissing and screeching. "No!" She screamed as she flipped around and grabbed Clearmist's paw in her teeth. Clearmist yelped in pain and dropped the herbs from her mouth.

Spottedpaw gasped and suddenly was able to move again. She shook away the fear and pounced onto the she-cat, knocking her off of Clearmist. The cat flailed her paws, and the cobwebs fell off, leaving the wound exposed.

"You piece of ungrateful foxdung!" Spottedpaw snarled, her paws pinning down the cat at the throat. "She just healed you and your foot, and you attack her? I should have just left you here to suffer," She spat, pressing down harder. Suddenly Spottedpaw realized that the cat was no longer struggling and her green eyes were glazed in fear. Spottedpaw blinked and slowly climbed off of the black cat. She started to cough and shook her head, dazed.

"I..." she rasped, glancing at her foot. "Ow." The she-cat sat down and examined it. She lifted her paw, about to lick it when Clearmist stepped forward. "Don't," she mewed blankly. The light gray she-cat grabbed more cobwebs and placed them over her wound. "Glacierfur will see to you." Clearmist said, referring to BlazeClan's medicine cat, and stepped back and sat down, her paw bleeding slightly. Her gaze was off in the distance, unfocused.

The she-cat stared down at the medicine cat's paw and closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I was having... a dream..." She mewed, looking at the ground. "I'll... be going now." The she-cat started to limp away. Clearmist said nothing.

As Spottedpaw watched her leave, she felt Clearmist stand up beside her and grab the herbs in her mouth. The she-cat limped away to camp, leaving Spottedpaw sitting alone at the border.

"Wait." The black she-cat stopped in her tracks. She turned her head around and looked at Spottedpaw once again. Her green eyes widened. "You..."

Spottedpaw growled uncomfortably. "What?" she asked.

The black cat padded back and sat facing Spottedpaw. "You were in my dream. What's your name?"

Spottedpaw blinked uncertainly. "Spottedpaw," she mewed quietly.

"I'm Tigerpaw." The black cat mewed. "Sorry about the whole... attacking your medicine cat. That dream I had..." She gazed at her paws again. "I think it was from StarClan."

Spottedpaw snorted, half amused and half disbelieving. "Only medicine cats get dreams from StarClan," she mewed.

Tigerpaw glared at her but then regained her composure. "So? I think it was important. There was..." she stopped midsentence. "Why am I telling you this? You're a StormClan cat. This dream has nothing to do with you." She turned around. "Thanks for healing my paw anyway. And... see you again, sometime."

Spottedpaw watched her leave in confusion. What was that all about?

She shrugged and yawned. After making sure the cat had padded off her territory, Spottedpaw headed back to camp. She needed some sleep. Besides, I can worry about Tigerpaw tomorrow, can't I? She thought, wondering about the strange apprentice. Shaking her head, Spottedpaw slowly padded through the woods and back into camp through the dirtplace entrance. She didn't want to have to go through whoever was guarding camp. It was all silent and every cat was in their den except for Bramblefang, a young brown tabby warrior who was sitting at the entrance, staring into the forest. Spottedpaw sighed as she watched him. He was Mudpaw's brother, except he was made a warrior before Mudpaw. Mudpaw seemed to hold a grudge against him for this reason. She shook her head. She couldn't imagine holding a grudge against Fernpaw. Except the time he put thorns in her bedding as a joke. Spottedpaw grimaced as she remembered rolling onto one.

Sighing, she padded into her nest, now extremely cautious of thorns. Finding none, she silently curled up so not to disturb her denmates, and fell asleep quickly.