The Barn Cat

Chapter Thiry-Four

    Ivypaw pushed himself to keep running when his lungs were burning on fire. He was being trained, but it wasn't like the other apprentices. Springstar was training him much harder, stating that Ivypaw needed double the amount of training to make up the time he had missed being here. It was a punishment, and everyone in the clan knew that, but no one said anything. He felt himself growing dizzy, running out of breath. He was being forced to do laps around the water pool in the center of their territory, having to leap over the Running River every lap since it ran straight through their territory from the top right corner to the bottom left. There was a singular stone in the middle that allowed him to make the jumps. Blazestorm, Lightnose, and Badgerpaw were watching him, but could only see him when he made a full lap since the trees and bushes would block out their vision of him.

    "Only one more lap, Ivypaw. Then you can be finished with the days training!" Blazestorm called. He pushed past them, not wanting to see their annoying faces. Then again, he couldn't see anything anymore. The world around him had become a blur, and his vision was nearly black. He staggered on his paws, pushing himself to keep going. Everything seemed to be spinning around him, but he didn't give up. He kept running, making it to the last stage of the lap. The stones in the Running River. He launched his back paws and landed smoothly on the stone, but the dizziness took over his body. He collapsed on the stone, making his lungs gasp for air when it left his body. He felt the current drag him in, his body being swept away by the water. He tried to fight back, but his legs couldn't take it. They were numb from all the running, and his head seemed to have it's own heart beat. He could hear his name being called every time his head bobbed out of the water, but he couldn't understand anything else.

     He let himself float along with the water, pain hitting him every now and then when his body would scrape against stones and sticks sticking out of the side's of the river. He tried to gasp for air every time his head floated above the water for a heart beat, but in this attempt a strong wave dragged him to the bottom, and water got sucked into his lungs. His chest was on fire, his head was aching, his body was numb, and his heart was full of panic. He needed to get out of there, but couldn't. Then his vision started to disappear, and everything started growing dark. This couldn't be how he died, no way. Then everything went dark, and he couldn't feel the pain any longer.

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      The brightness of the sun drew Ivypaw out of his coma, and he could feel all the pain come rushing back again as he coughed up some water. He was on a river bank, with Specklestone's words guiding him through what was going on. He couldn't understand him though, his words were muffled by the water stuck in his ears. He opened his eyes, the first cat he could make out was Duskfeather. Ivypaw tried to call for him, but choked on more water. "Good good, we need to get all of that out of you," Specklestone whispered, "you're doing great, Ivypaw." Ivypaw was on his side, shocks of pain were sent through them every time he tried to move. He coughed up a little bit more water, then finally was able to speak. "Duskfeather?" His father grew closer, and Ivypaw's blurry vision could finally make out his father's horrified stare, "I'm right here." The tom rubbed his head on Ivypaw's, letting Ivypaw relax a little.

     "Okay, I think he's well enough to be helped back to camp." Specklestone's soft mew grew Ivypaw's gaze back to normal, allowing him to focus on his surroundings. Blazestorm was also there, as well as Lightnose and Springstar. Ivypaw tried to pull himself to his paws, but wasn't able to. He felt himself fall backwards, but Specklestone's paw stopped his head from slamming back into the ground. "Here, let me help," Blazestorm mewed, trotting over to Ivypaw's back. The warrior pushed Ivypaw to his paws, and he leaned against Duskfeather. The cats walked back to camp in silence, the area around them feeling tense. Duskfeather and Springstar must have gotten into a fight, because both of their fur was ruffled, not with fear, but anger. Ivypaw felt anger towards his leader, this was his fault. If Springstar would have let Ivypaw become a warrior, or even let him train normally with the other apprentice's, this wouldn't have happened. They slowly made their way back to camp, and Duskfeather made sure he walked slow enough that Ivypaw could stay leaning on him.