Seaferns P.O.V
Then I hit water. The shock of the cold water knocked the breath from me, so that I found myself flailing beneath the waves, my lungs screaming for air while I struggled to work out which way was up.
I sat up in my nest as quick as lighting. Jaypaw was drowning! I shot out of the den and out of the camp stopping at a log nearby. I closed my eyes, stretching out my hearing and mind.
I tried to wail out loud, but water filled my mouth and my eyes and my ears. I'm going to drown!
THE LAKE NEAR THE MOOR!I thought and rushed out as fast as I could. I spotted Jaypaw's grey pelt sinking in the Lake. I leapt of the cliff and dived in with Jaypaw. He was sinking, fast. I sank my teeth into his scruff and yanked him upwards, holding my breath. As I broke the surface, gasping, I could feel Jaypaw doing the same, spluttering out water. "Keep still!" I hissed through my teeth. He churned the water with his paws and I grunted in annoyance. "Stop wriggling!". Swimming my way to the moor, I dragged him toward the bank. When I was almost at the bank, another cat jumped in with me and grunted, "I'll take him from here". Letting go, I sighed, taking in some deep breath's in. He dragged Jaypaw to the nearby shore and I walked up to it. Pumping my paws on his belly, he spat out mouthfulls of water and started breathing again. "Will he be okay?" The nerby cat asked. "Great Catfish, Jaypaw! If it wasn't for me, you would've drowned!" I spluttered. "Who's there? Are you warriors? I can smell Seafern, right?" He whimpered. "Yes." I panted. "What do you mean?" Asked another cat.
"He can't see!" I spat. "What in the name of StarClan is he doing out here by himself?" The white cat asked. She started to lick his limp body and I sat down, doing the same. "Will he be okay, Whitetail?" One of the apprentices mewed. She crept forward and crouched beside Jaypaw. "He'll be fine" I grunted through licks. "Can you hear me?" The she-cat asked. Jaypaw nodded. Clumsily he dragged himself into a sitting position. His ears were full of water, and he shook his head to clear them. The other cats leaped away from the droplets that sprayed from his waterlogged fur. "Typical that a ThunderClan cat should thank us by trying to drown us!" An apprentice mewed.
"Excuse me? I would've saved him if it wasnt for... What's your name? Anyway, but I must admit I needed him off my paws for a second." I mewed, licking my own fur. "Crowfeather. I'm Crowfeather. Let me help you." He padded forward and started licking my pelt. "I don't need help thanks!" I said, but he ignored me and continued licking the back of my pelt. "Thankfully, your Warrior friend and I were there to see you and save you." Crowfeather said to Jaypaw through licks. "Me? I'm an apprentice." I replied. Crowfeather stopped licking me. "What? You an apprentice?" Spat the small tom. "Really?" Crowfeather asked. "Yes."
"But you're definitley a warrior! You're HUGE! And you have a warrior name!"
"Breezepaw!" Crowfeather growled. "Shut up!"
"What? Are you gonna be soft for a ThunderClan warrior?"
"BREEZEPAW!" Crowfeather growled, leaping on him. "Fine! I'm just saying, she's no apprentice."
"You're quite frankly wrong. I'm only six and a half moons old. So is Jaypaw here." I rolled my eyes. "She acts like a warrior!" Breezepaw hissed quietly to the she-cat apprentice. She pushed him aside. "Don't be rude."
Crowfeather leaned in to Jaypaw, suddenly cross. "What were you doing so far from your camp?" He demanded. "Is there anyone else with you?"
"Be gentle, Crowfeather," A warrior pleaded. "He's had a bad shock." She licked his ear. "You're safe now, little one." Jaypaw relaxed against her, sheltering from the wind in her warm, dry fur. "I'm Whitetail," The she-cat went on. "This is Crowfeather, and these are our apprentices. Heatherpaw and Breezepaw. We won't hurt you."
"I think he might have guessed that by the way we just saved his life!" Breezepaw muttered. "Not just you, me too."
"I wish you'd teach your son some manners, Crowfeather!" Whitetail meowed sharply. She turned her attention back to Jaypaw. "Yeah, please do." I whispered to the cross warrior. He grunted, a purr starting up inside him. He turned back on Jaypaw. "What were you doing out here alone? Did you know you were heading for WindClan territory? Are you in trouble?" Windclan? Another clan that I didn't know of?
"I will be," Jaypaw mewed under his breath. "Thats true." I replied. "I should hope so," Crowfeather snapped. "What was your Clan thinking, letting you wander off like that?"
Heatherpaw leaned closer in, brushing Jaypaw's pelt with her whiskers. "Can you see anything at all?" She asked curiously. I rushed by Jaypaw's side. "Heatherpaw! He doesn't like it when you mention his blindness!" I snapped. She stepped back. "I'm sorry." Breezepaw snorted. "If he can, he must be stupid, walking off the edge of a cliff!"
"I didn't walk off the edge! Plus, Seafern went in after me! It was much stupider to dive in then fall off!" Jaypaw hissed. I purred, smiling down at him. "It looked like it from where we were standing!" Breezepaw sniffed. "Be quiet, Breezepaw!" Crowfeather scolded. Breezepaw fell silent. "I suppose I'd better take them back to ThunderClan," Crowfeather meowed. "Are you well enough to travel?" He asked us. Jaypaw nodded. He stood up. "Thank you for rescuing me, but I can find my own way home with Seafern," He mewed politely. "There's no way I'm letting you wander off by yourself again. Even with Seafern," Crowfeather insisted, shooting me an apolegetic glance. "Whitetail, you take Heatherpaw and Breezepaw back to camp." He laid his tail firmly on Jaypaw's shoulder and began to guide him up the beach. I followed. "See your medicine cat as soon as you get home!" Whitetail called after Jaypaw. I caught up to him as he wandered off with Jaypaw. "Don't say you forgot about me." I rolled my eyes. "No, I didn't. I thought maybe you could find your way back home."
"Well thats pretty stupid. You're going to my camp and so am I, so obviously, I should come with you mouse-brain." I purred. He smirked, embarrased. "Okay then, come with me. Mind that root." He told Jaypaw. We got close to the ThunderClan camp and I saw Jaypaw's worried face. He was scared about what Firestar would say of Jaypaw wandering off on his own. "Um, Crowfeather, I think I can take him home myself now. After all, I'm practically a warrior, right?" I meowed. "I guess, but you're still an apprentice, so no." He grinned. I rolled my eyes. "Crowfeather?" Stormfur's surprised mew sounded from the bracken ahead. Squirrelflight shot forward and pressed her muzzle to his. "Jaypaw! What in StarClan happened to you?" She licked him ferociously between the ears. "Where did you find him?" She asked Crowfeather.
Then she saw me. Soft-furred and clean as always next to two stupid but quite amusing, wet, mange-pelts. "And why is Seafern here?"
"He'd wandered into WindClan territory," Crowfeather explained gruffly. "I had to fish him out of the lake." Jaypaw bowed his head, his pelt burning with embarrassment. "Excuse me, you barely did anything! I dived off the cliff, saved him from drowning and all you did was take him off my paws once we were able to stand on the pebbles!" I pointed out. He ignored me. "Do your kits always go out by themselves?"
"I'm not a kit; I'm an apprentice! Same with Seafern!" Jaypaw snapped. "Crowfeather," Jaypaw's mother meowed coolly, "I believe WindClan once had cats who went wandering farther than they should." Her mew was laced with a meaning I didn't guite understand. But Crowfeather clearly did. The WindClan warrior flicked his tail away from Jaypaw's shoulders and snorted. "You should get him back to camp," he meowed. "He almost drowned, and the water was freezing."
"Yes, I should.," Squirrelflight agreed curtly. She nudged Jaypaw down the slope that led to the thorn barrier. "Maybe I need to teach you some manners as well as your son!" I hissed at Crowfeather. He looked at me. "Let me see, taught how to use manners by an apprentice? No thankyou." He smirked. I rolled my eyes. "Idiot." Brook fell into step beside Jaypaw. "Do not be ashamed," She purred in his ear. "I got up to far worse when I was still training." She pressed her warm flank against his cold, wet pelt. Suddenly the thorn barrier rustled, and Mousepaw rushed out of the camp entrance. "You found him!" The apprentice called, delighted. "And Seafern? I didn't even know she was gone."
"Correction, I found him and saved him. Why do every one assume it was Crowfeather? Seriously!"
"Because I'm a more reliable Warrior than you." He grinned. "HA! Now you call me a warrior!" I cried. Squirrelflight sighed. "Yes, we found them."
"Go and find Brightheart's patrol and tell her to stop searching," Stormfur told Mousepaw. "Ask Cloudtail if you can take Cinderpaw with you."
"Yes, Stormfur," Mousepaw mewed, dashing back into the camp.
