GoldenHeart

Chapter 9

"GoldenPaw! My kit!" ShadowStripe wailed. She sprinted towards WolfStep and BlackPaw. "Wh-What happened?"

"ShadowStripe! What's going o—" AdderHeart broke off at the sight of WolfStep, his daughter's blood flowing over his silver-gray flank.

"GoldenPaw! My Darling! My daughter!"

"Oh, no!"

"Great StarClan!"

"GoldenPaw!"

"How awful!"

"What happened?"

"Back off!" SparkFlare snapped. "Let us through! Give the poor cat space to breathe!"

"SparkFlare, please. But, you're right," MintWhisker conceded. "Everycat, please give us room to work."

The crowd backed away, leaving a passageway for the medicine cats.

"WolfStep, please lay GoldenPaw on that soft patch of grass there. HawkFeather, MapleHeart, help him."

The cats gave SparkFlare a curt nod, then hurried to help WolfStep lower the wounded apprentice to the ground. As soon as GoldenPaw was situated, WolfStep fell to his knees, exhausted. LionPelt padded forward and began cleaning away the blood that was beginning to dry on his pelt. WolfStep looked up, shocked, but then became drowsy under the rhythmic lapping of her tongue.

SparkFlare bounded back to the medicine den while MintWhisker ran her nose over GoldenPaw's wounds.

"Is she hurt bad?" ShadowStripe fretted.

"The wounds look worse than they are," MintWhisker assured her. "They look deep, but they're actually quite shallow. LizardStrike just hit a blood vein, that's all. She'll recover quickly. She is, after all, your daughter, ShadowStripe."

"I know. But, I look at her now, and it's hard to think that she snuggled against me, blind and helpless, only a few moons ago. She's really grown, she and her littermates."

"Yes, they have—" MintWhisker was cut off by SparkFlare returning with the herbs.

"I want to check on WhiteCloud. Would you treat GoldenPaw?" MintWhisker asked.

"Of course. ShadowStripe, you can help."

"How? I'm no medicine cat!" ShadowStripe purred.

"You don't have to be. Would you help me clean her up?"

"Certainly." ShadowStripe and SparkFlare lapped at GoldenPaw's flank, cleaning away the blood and dirt. ShadowStripe wrinkled her nose against the warm, salty taste of the red life.

"There. Now, help me chew up these marigold leaves," SparkFlare instructed as he pushed a few leaves towards tge black queen.

ShadowStripe obeyed, carefully spitting out the scraps. SparkFlare gathered the pulp and smeared it onto GoldenPaw's wounds. With a quick word, he told ShadowStripe how to help him with the cobweb. The two black cats pinned the protective web over the wounds.

GoldenPaw stirred as the two cats finished.

"Hey! You're awake!" VineFall purred. "Hello, SparkFlare."

"Hello yourself," SparkFlare retorted with a small mrrow of laughter. "I'm busy."

VineFall nodded, and turned to GoldenPaw. "ThunderBlaze heard about you when he was hunting. BerryTail and BoulderStorm are trying to keep him away, so he doesn't interfere with your early recovery."

"He's that worried?" GoldenPaw breathed. Warm affection for the silver warrior welled in her heart. "I'm fine, now; promise. He can come back now."

"Great. I'll tell him that when I go back to fetch him."

SparkFlare watched VineFall trot away, admiring the slight sway in her hindquarters as she walked.

"Crush much?" ShadowStripe teased.

"No!" SparkFlare responded too sharply and too quickly, surprising ShadowStripe into suspicion. "She's a close Clanmate, like you, ShadowStripe."

She glared at him.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

GoldenPaw leaned heavily on her mother's shoulder as she limped towards the medicine den. MintWhisker sat by a nest, her mint-green eyes gleaming.

"Welcome, GoldenPaw," she purred. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to put up with us for a day or two. LightningHeart will be bored, that much is certain."

"Speaking of her, where is she? I haven't seen her since y'all left," SparkFlare meowed.

"Oh. She's... ah..."

"Let me guess... no mark?" ShadowStripe guessed.

GoldenPaw's eyes grew round. "How do you—"

"I have my ways." ShadowStripe's eyes flashed briefly. "My way being: living in ThunderClan with her all my life."

"Humph. When will I be able to start training again?" GoldenPaw asked quickly.

"Depends. As of right now, you'll be able to collect moss and stuff in a few days; going back to regular trading in a quarter-moon to a half-moon."

"Really? That soon?" GoldenPaw gasped. "That's great!"