Alderheart Saves Puddleshine All Parts! | WARRIORS AU |

Part 1

Flypaw caught up to her as she reached the scent line. "Is this the border?""Can't you smell it?" Twigbranch opened her mouth and tasted the stench of | ShadowClan mingling withThunderClan scent.Flypaw copied her, frowning with concentration. "Is that musky smell ShadowClan?""Yes." Twigbranch followed the scent line. The markers were fresh. She stopped beside the root of a pine and left her own marker. "Leave your scent on the next tree," she told Flypaw.As Flypaw crouched beside the trunk, Finleap and Snappaw sniffed the trees a few tail-lengths away.Finleap wrinkled his nose. "It smells like ShadowClan cats have been leaving scent marks twice a day."Twigbranch shrugged. "They're probably just pleased to have their territory back."I guess." As Finleap padded to her side, Snappaw hurried ahead with Flypaw."Can we mark every tree?" Snappaw asked."It's a long border,' Finleap told him. "Save some scent for farther along."Flypaw was sniffing a fern clump. Curled fronds poked up from the moist earth. "There are so many scents out here." She turned to sniff between the roots of a tree where fresh grass was sprouting. Then she dug through a heap of rotting leaf mold and sniffed until she sneezed. "What does a mouse smell like?" she asked.Snappaw padded past her. "You'vesmelled mouse before!" he meowed. "We've eaten them in camp.""ve never smelled a Jive mouse." Flypaw blinked at Twigbranch. "Do they smell different from dead mice?""That's a good question!" Finleap commented before Twigbranch could answer.She shot him a look. Let me train my own apprentice. "Live mice smell sharper than dead ones," she told Flypaw."Sharper?" Flypaw looked puzzled."They have a . . ." Twigbranch searched for the word. "A tang. You'll understand when you smell one."But Flypaw had turned away. Twigbranch flexed her claws. "I can smell something else," Flypaw mewed."Is it tangy?" Snappaw lifted his muzzle. "Are there mice around?"Twigbranch tasted the air. The scent markers were so strong here it was hard to detect another scent. But Flypaw was right. A musky smell tainted the air."It smells like a ShadowClan cat," Finleap meowed.Twigbranch's pelt prickled. Was a patrol approaching the border?Finleap stalked along the border. "This way," he breathed. "Follow me, but be quiet."Snappaw and Flypaw hurried behind him, bumping into each other as they tried to stay close. Twigbranch followed. Another scent was mingled with the ShadowClan smell. Blood. She quickened her pace. Skirting past Finleap, Flypaw, and Snappaw, she took the lead. She strained to see between the tree trunks and, pricking her ears, heard a groan. Breaking into a run, she hurried toward the sound.A large bundle of silver mesh was caught between two trees. Beneath the mass of thorny twine was a brown-andwhite pelt. Puddleshine, the ShadowClan medicine cat, was struggling underneath it, groaning with pain. The scent of blood was strong. "Puddleshine!" She hurried toward him, careful not to touch the vines, which massed like brambles between the trees. Borage sprouted around him. Was that what he'd been reaching for? She could see that his pelt was caught on the sharp thorns of the vines. Blood welled at every wound."Don't move. Yov' ll make it worse." Panic fluttered in her chest as she met the ShadowClan medicine cat's agonized gaze. "We'll get you out," she promised. "Just lie still."Finleap caught up, Flypaw and Snappaw at his heels."What is this?" Flypaw stared at the mesh, her eyes wide with horror."Its silverthorn. A Twoleg vine,"Finleap explained. "They use it to make barriers around their land. The thorns keep animals trapped in their meadows. Only StarClan knows why they left a bundle of it here.""T can reach him." Snappaw dropped onto his belly and squirmed beneath the silverthorn."Be careful!" Finleap warned.Snappaw wriggled toward Puddleshine. "We'1l get you out," he told the medicine cat."Every time I move, I get more tangled." Puddleshine sounded weary with pain.Finleap looked at Flypaw. "Can you find your way back to camp?"Flypaw nodded. "Run home and fetch help. Tell Firestar that we'll need many paws to get Puddleshine out. And we'll need a medicine cat. He's bleeding badly."Twigbranch called to Snappaw. "Go with her. We'll stay with Puddleshine." She didn't trust Flypaw to fetch help alone. What if she forgot the message or got distracted along the way?Snappaw wriggled from underneath the silverthorn, and the two apprentices hared away between the trees, urging each other to run as fast as they could.Twigbranch flattened herself to the ground and peered at Puddleshine through the silverthorn. "They'll be back with help soon."Puddleshine looked at her, his eyesglittering with pain. "The thorns are sticking in everywhere," he meowed weakly.The borage leaves around him were stained with his blood. Twigbranch could see where the thorns jabbed through his pelt, tearing his fur on both flanks and along his spine. One had snagged the back of his neck, forcing his chin to the earth. She fought back a shudder and blinked at him encouragingly. "Our warriors will find a way to get you out."Finleap padded around the edge of the tangled mass, sniffing at the vines, as though looking for a gap that might let him reach Puddleshine. He poked his paw beneath a vine and lifted it gently.The whole bundle shivered, and Puddleshine grunted with pain. Finleap frowned. "It's going to be hard not to hurt him.""With many paws working together, we can do it." Twigbranch didn't take her eyes from Puddleshine.Overhead, birds chattered excitedly. The newleaf sun reached warm claws through the canopy and made the budding leaves glow so that the forest seemed swathed in an emerald haze. Twigbranch grew stiff as she held Puddleshine's gaze. Finleap circled the silverthorn. At last, the thrumming of paw steps sounded through the earth."They're coming!" Finleap lifted his head toward the swish of leaves asFirestar burst first from the bracken. Blossomfall, Thornclaw, and Bumblestripe slowed to a halt beside him. Behind them, Alderheart was carrying a thick wad of cobwebs between his jaws. He dropped them on the ground as Molewhisker and Larksong caught up.Firestar padded around the tangled silverthorn, anger sparking in his gaze. "Don't Twolegs have enough territory where they can dump their rot without leaving it on our land?" Even as he spoke, his gaze was darting over the silverthorn. Twigbranch guessed he was looking for the best way to lift it from the ShadowClan medicine cat.Alderheart ducked down and blinked at Puddleshine. "Do you know how many wounds you have?""Pve lost count. It hurts too much." Puddleshine stared back desperately."ve brought you poppy seed." Alderheart reached for the wad of cobweb and picked poppy seeds from the sticky strands with his teeth. He flattened himself beside Twigbranch, spat the poppy seeds onto his paw and reached beneath the vines. With a groan, Puddleshine stretched forward and lapped them up.Firestar beckoned to Thornclaw with his tail. "You lift here. Larksong, lift there." He nodded the black tom toward a vine farther along, then padded around the silverthorn. "Bumblestripe,take this vine. Blossomfall, take that one, and Molewhisker, can you reach through that gap and lift the vine on Puddleshine's back?"Molewhisker nodded and poked his paw through the gap Firestar had gestured to.When the patrol was in position, Firestar hooked his paw beneath the vine that twisted in front of Puddleshine's nose. He looked at Finleap. "When I give the word, we're going to lift the silverthorn. Can you pull Puddleshine out?"Finleap nodded. Twigbranch saw determination in the young tom's gaze. Wasn't he scared? She felt queasy at the thought of tearing the medicine cat free. Bramblestar turned to her. "I want you to unhook any thorns catching in Puddleshine's fur as Finleap pulls him."Twigbranch swallowed. "Okay." She felt sick."Alderheart, get cobwebs ready," Bramblestar ordered.Alderheart scrambled to his pile and began tearing it into strips."When I say now, lift." Firestar glanced at his warriors. They nodded. "Now!"Growling with effort, Bramblestar lifted the vine with his paw. Around the silverthorn, the other warriors lifted too. The tangled mass shivered as they moved it. Puddleshine shrieked. "Grab him!" Firestar ordered.Finleap shot into the gap the warriors had created. Twigbranch wrigegled after him, her gaze darting over Puddleshine's pelt as Finleap grabbed the medicine cat's shoulders between his forepaws and tugged. Twigbranch saw a thorn lift Puddleshine's pelt. She reached out with her paw and quickly unhooked it. Another thorn snagged him and she knocked it away. Slowly, Finleap hauled Puddleshine out. Twigbranch freed barb after barb as they caught in the medicine cat's pelt. She could see the strain on the warriors' faces as they held the silverthorn clear."Is he free?" Firestar sounded worried."Yes!" Finleap dragged Puddleshine away from the vines.Twigbranch wriggled out, her heart racing."Let it go!" Firestar yowled. The tangle of vines dropped as the warriors released their grip and landed, trembling, on the ground. A vine broke free and unfurled beside Bumblestripe, slapping the earth a whisker away."Is everyone okay?" Firestar glanced around at the warriors.Molewhisker nodded. Larksong licked his paw urgently, as though soothing a scratch.Thornclaw's ears twitched. "No injuries here."Bumblestripe looked at Puddleshine. "He's the only one hurt."Alderheart was already pressing cobweb into a wound on the medicine cat's flank. He balled up another strip in his paws and pressed it into a cut on Puddleshine's neck. Twigbranch stiffened as she saw the blood oozing from the tom's fur. There were too many injuries to count.Firestar gazed anxiously at Puddleshine. "Will he be okay?"Alderheart swabbed another wound. "None of the cuts are deep, but there are a lot of them and there's always the chance of infection. We need to get him to a medicine den so I can treat them properly."Firestar looked across the border. "There's no point taking him to ShadowClan. He's the only medicine cat they have. There will be no one to treat him there.""We'd better take him to our camp." Alderheart pressed another wad of cobweb into a wound.Puddleshine's eyes were glazed. He lay limply as Alderheart worked on him."Is he really okay?" Twigbranch asked anxiously. "He's hardly moving.""That's the poppy seeds working," Alderheart told her. "I gave him plenty.""Tell me when he's ready to be carried back to camp," Firestar meowed.Alderheart nodded, not pausing his work."We should tell Tigerstar what'shappened," Finleap meowed."Yes." Firestar nodded. "Take Twigbranch and go to the ShadowClan camp."Finleap glanced at the border. "Should we wait for a ShadowClan patrol to escort us?""No." Firestar twitched his tail. "Cross the border. Tigerstar will understand why you're on ShadowClan land once he hears the news. Tell him we' ll take care of Puddleshine until he is well enough to return. He is welcome to send a patrol to check on him."Twigbranch glanced at Finleap. What if a ShadowClan patrol attacked them before they had time to explain why they were there? He blinked at her. "Come on." Leaping away, he skirted the silverthorn and headed across the border.Twigbranch followed him. Her heart quickened as she crossed the scent line. "Do you know the way to the ShadowClan camp?""No, but you do." Finleap slowed and let her take the lead.She hurried past him and led the way up a rise. She knew this trail well. She had traveled to the ShadowClan camp many times—usually in secret—to visit her sister, Violetshine, when they'd been kits. She'd been scared then, but she felt more anxious now. Since Tigerstar had returned, no cat had heard much from ShadowClan. Who knew what sort ofleader he'd become? She glanced nervously between the pines. "What if Tigerstar is angry that we've taken Puddleshine to our camp?" she asked Finleap in a hushed mew.Finleap fell in beside her, matching her stride. "How can he be angry when we're trying to help?"His confidence soothed her. He seemed so sure of himself. Even when he'd been pulling Puddleshine free, he'd known he could do it. He was sure they'd be mates too and that they'd have kits one day. And the thought didn't scare him. Anxiety wormed beneath Twigbranch's pelt. Then why does it scare me?