StarClan isn't real..

Chapter 13

Fallowpaw's ears pricked as he heard a screech. Turning away from Grassleg, he bounded towards the heather tunnel, ignoring the gorse as it tore at his pelt. He broke into the moor, heading straight towards the ShadowClan border, were the patrol was crouched around a rather thick gorse bush.

"What's going on?" Fallowpaw shrieked.

Blacktooth, his mother, turned to him. "Fallowpaw!" She cried. "It's your brother. He went through the gorse bush, and we don't know what happened to him." Panic filled her mew. "We can't get through!"

"Move!" Fallowpaw hissed. He bounded towards the bush, pushing past Specklebird, and slid through a gap in the stems.

In the space, it was dark, and as Fallowpaw crept forward, the ground fell away beneath his paws. He let out a muffled screech, and thumped down a slope, eventually landing painfully on the sandy ground. "Logpaw?" He cried, sensing another cat in the den with him. He could hear breathing; two cats.

"Fallowpaw?" His brother's voice echoed in the darkness.

Fallowpaw scrambled to his feet, his vision gradually clearing. "What happened-" He asked, then broke off at the sight of a horrible matted figure. It was Yellowpaw, bloody and engulfed in shadows, so he couldn't see her well.

"We need to get her out of here, so we can see how bad her injuries are." Logpaw grunted. He grabbed Yellowpaw's scruff. "Help me out."

Still horrified, Fallowpaw grabbed his adoptive sister's leg and began to drag her up the sandy slope. It was slippery, and he felt a pang of guilt whenever Yellowpaw's head banged against the slope, but they managed to get her back to the gap in the bush anyway. Logpaw let go of her scruff and pushed her from behind as they edged into the gorse bush.

After what seemed like moons of squeezing through gorse, the two apprentices managed to emerge into the open. Logpaw and Fallowpaw dropped Yellowpaw's body, and the both of them stepped back to take the sight in.

It was horrid. Yellowpaw's fur was covered with horrible claw marks and bites, and her pelt was coated with blood. Her left ear tip was gone, ripped off by unhinged jaws. Worst of all, the left side of her face was completely torn off, replaced by a red, bloody mass of flesh. There was a deep claw mark where her eye had been, and she appeared to be bleeding badly. But somehow her chest still rose and fall, very weakly.

"What in StarClan's name..." Specklebird murmered.

Beetleshine broke the silence. "Come on. We need to get her to Weedtooth and Stormcloud." His voice cracked, and in his eyes was all the horror every single cat was feeling. What happened?

***

Finchpaw felt tense, wondering what the shriek had been. She remembered Fallowpaw, her brother, racing out of camp. He hadn't returned yet, and she was beginning to wonder if she should look for him, when the heather tunnel rustled.

The patrol that had went out to look for Yellowpaw returned. Between Beetleshine and Blacktooth was a ginger figure, limp and bleeding terribly. Finchpaw's eyes narrowed. Her face appeared to be ripped off, and from what she could see, Yellowpaw's left eye was also gone. She watched as the apprentice was carried into the medicine den.

As the patrol entered the den, Stormcloud heard footsteps. She turned to see Blacktooth and Beetleshine carrying a terrible sight; a mangled Yellowpaw.

They set the apprentice down in the middle of the den, allowing Stormcloud to take in the sight of the apprentice. She was terrible mauled and bleeding, half of her face ripped away and replaced by uncovered flesh. Her remaining eye was unfocused, but she seemed to be still breathing.

"Where is Weedtooth?" Specklebird asked, appearing beside Beetleshine.

Stormcloud didn't take her gaze off Yellowpaw. "He's out collecting herbs," She rasped, horrified. "What happened?" She didn't wait for the warriors' responses. "Nevermind that. Move her to a nest!"

As Beetleshine and Blacktooth carried the apprentice towards one of the piles of bedding, Stormcloud turned towards the herb store. Cobwebs, yarrow... marigold, I believe.

She gathered up the herbs and wrapped them in a leaf bundle, untidy due to her rushing. She carried it towards Yellowpaw and emptied the bundle. "Blacktooth," She hissed. "Put the cobwebs on her face and hold them in place. Put as much pressure as possible," She added. "It'll stop the bleeding."

Blacktooth nodded and gathered up a wad of herbs, while Stormcloud picked up a few leaves of yarrow and started to chew them.

Once she had chewed them into a good poultice, she plastered it on Yellowpaw's other scratches. She had terrible gashes along her entire body, and as the herb juice seeped in, the apprentice stirred, groaning.

"No! No," Stormcloud hissed. "Beetleshine, get poppy seeds."

Yellowpaw's eyes opened a slit. "Stormcloud..?" She rasped, then grunted and let out a long wail of agony. Luckily, Beetleshine appeared with a pawfuls of poppy seeds, and Stormcloud was able to slip them into her mouth. Within moments, the apprentice was asleep, coughing fitfully as she dozed.

"Fever," Stormcloud hissed.

Blacktooth seemed to hear. "Fever?!" She shrieked. "Does that mean the wounds are infected?" The warrior lost her grip onto the cobweb, and the herb slipped out, followed by a gush of blood from the wound.

"Hold it!" Stormcloud snapped. Blacktooth still seemed too scared, to Beetleshine picked it up instead and held the cobweb in place.

Stormcloud waited until the bleeding had seemed to stop, then waved Beetleshine and Blacktooth away. "Get out of my den," She mewed. "I can't guarantee Yellowpaw's survival, but I'll do everything I can."

***

Weedtooth emerged into the clearing, his jaws laden with herbs. Borage, chervil, dock... the Clan would be set for moons! He was confused by the uneasy looks from the rest of the Clan, but ignored it and simply slipped inside the medicine den. This haul of herbs would be exactly what the Clan needed!

As he entered his den, he saw Stormcloud, his apprentice, crouched over a ginger shape. Dropping his herbs, he called, "Stormcloud?"

His apprentice turned, her crooked jaw swaying slightly. "Weedtooth!" She gasped, her voice filled with relief. "It's bad- Yellowpaw got mauled by something. The bleeding has stopped, but she has a fever. Did you get borage?"

"Yes," Weedtooth murmered, shocked.

Stormcloud waved her torbie tail. "Quickly!"

Picking out the purple flowers from the pile of herbs, Weedtooth bounded across to Yellowpaw. "These are far too big for us to force down her throat," He mewed briskly. "She'll have to wake up."

Stormcloud's eyes widened. "She could hardly survive waking up for a second..." She muttered, but nudged the apprentice anyway. "Yellowpaw."

After a few prods, the ginger she-cat stirred. "Whuh..?" As she returned to the waking world, her eye lit up with pain. "No! No, stop!" She screamed. "Specklebird, help! Specklebird, where did you go?!"

Quickly, Weedtooth shoved the borage in her mouth. "Chew!"

Yellowpaw swallowed instinctively, the began to choke, panic and agony in her eyes. Weedtooth immediatly slapped her back with a paw, and she coughed out a wad of borage.

She got a little down, He thought, relieved.

That seemed to be the only bit of strength the wounded apprentice could use at the moment. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. The only way Weedtooth could tell she was alive was by the faint rising and falling of her chest, and the way she coughed fitfully with every time she tried to breath.