What If Squirrelflight Chose Ashfur? (WARRIOR CATS FANFIC)

Chapter 8

Icepaw shifted through the dusty pile of herbs sitting sadly at her paws. Clan life was peaceful, almost boring in fact. Icepaw sighed and sifted through the marigold and dock leaves, discarding the dried, brittle ones that had no use left. Icepaw paused and took a deep breath, straining her ears to hear. The sounds of squirrels, birds, mice, and all sorts of prey chirped in the forest. Icepaw's heart lifted as she heard the sounds of her clanmates near the WindClan border.

"Well done, Dovepaw!" 

Icepaw heard Dovepaw's mentor congratulate her. Icepaw figured Dovepaw had caught something plump.

"Where's Ivypaw?" 

Dovepaw's meow echoed in Icepaw's ears. Icepaw listened to the thumping and bellows in the forest and breathed in. Ivypaw's scent reached her, and she pinpointed Ivypaw around 15 tree-lengths from camp, although her paw steps echoed a strange way. Icepaw heard Ivypaw stumble, and listened more closely to the sounds of her paws. One thump. Two. Three. But the fourth paw didn't touch the forest floor.

"She must be limping!" Icepaw heard herself whisper out loud.

Icepaw shook the leaves from her fur and darted into the forest, leaping over shrubs and bushes until she found Ivypaw, stumbling through the forest on three paws.

"What happened?" Icepaw demanded.

"I was climbing a tree and -gasp- I fell. It wasn't that high but -gasp- I hit my paw and I can't walk on it and it's twisted." 

Ivypaw looked hopefully behind Icepaw. 

"Are Leafpool or Jayfeather with you?"

Icepaw ignored the sting from Ivypaw's comment and ran her paws over Ivypaw's twisted paw.

"It's dislocated." Icepaw announced. "But, I can fix it. It will hurt though. And I need some cat to hold you down."

"Are you sure- I mean, not that I doubt you, but, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Icepaw rolled her eyes. "Oh, because you're asking if I'm sure because you believe in me. Who's the medicine cat here, you or me? Lie down."

 Icepaw was surprised by her own words, then chuckled inwardly when she figured Jayfeather was rubbing off on her. Surprisingly, Ivypaw obeyed and lay down, although uncertainty was still in her eyes.

"Trust me. Just hold as still as you can, no matter how much pain you feel, okay?" Icepaw added in a softer tone.

"Okay." Ivypaw sounded scared. "Hawkfrost is going to be so mad." Ivypaw muttered.

"What? Who's Hawkfrost?" Icepaw blinked in confusion.

"Oh, no cat." Ivypaw mewed quickly.

Icepaw settled her paws in the right position, paused to give Ivypaw a moment to prepare herself, then shoved Ivypaw's paw intot he correct position. Ivypaw let out a yelp, and Icepaw could see her straining to keep still.

"Are you okay? How do you feel?" Icepaw blinked anxiously at her, suddenly worried. What if she had made things worse instead of better?!

"Actually... my leg hurts a lot less." Ivypaw seemed relieved. "Thank you."

"Don't worry. Keep your weight off of it and I'll help you get back to camp." Icepaw felt a warm pride bubble up inside her. She'd treated her first patient correctly! Keyword: Correctly.

"Come on, don't sit there gawking all day." Icepaw added when Ivypaw didn't move.

"Oh, right." Ivypaw stood on all three paws and leaned on Icepaw until they got to camp. 

By then, Icepaw could see that Ivypaw was feeling better, and she was putting a little more weight on her hind leg. Everyone rushed forward when they saw Ivypaw.

"Are you alright?" Whitewing blinked at Ivypaw nervously.

Ivypaw's mentor, Cinderheart, stepped forward. "There you are! We were wondering where you'd went! What happened to your hind leg?"

Ivypaw blinked happily at them. "I fell from a tree and dislocated it, but Icepaw helped me and now it feels almost completely better!"

"What?" An angry hiss came from the back of the crowd as Jayfeather stormed his way forward.

"Icepaw healed you on her own?!"

Icepaw gulped.