salt in the wound || warrior cats

chapter 22

midnight swim

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IT SEEMED TO HAPPEN IN slow motion for Violetpaw. She watched as Ravenpaw's claws sank into Oakbounce's pelt, and the dark gray tom's startled yowl as he twisted around to see what was going on. 

She watched Oakbounce's eyes widen and lunge at the black tom. Ravenpaw narrowly pulled his tail from between the SkyClan warrior's mighty jaws, and Oakbounce's teeth clamped down on air. Then, when Ravenpaw saw that Violetpaw was still standing at the medicine den opening, frozen with shock, he lashed his tail and yowled, "Go!"

It was only at the sound of Ravenpaw's voice that Violetpaw sprinted for the camp's opening. She stopped short of exiting the camp completely, glancing over her shoulder and mewing a muffled, "Ravenpaw!"

However, the black tom was already on his way. Despite still being an apprentice, he was already a large cat, and his legs were longer than Oakbounce's. He bounded for the entrance, and though the SkyClan warrior leaped after him, Ravenpaw managed to get away with only a scratch on his flank.

"C'mon, c'mon," he hissed, wrapping his tail around Violetpaw and yanking her forward.

"Crowstar!" Oakbounce's voice boomed through the camp. "Crowstar, wake up!"

Adrenaline burst through Violetpaw as her heart started beating louder and louder, blood rushing throughout her body. She was free. Free. She and Ravenpaw would be okay.

As the two raced blindly through the forest, slipping and sliding on the ice and narrowly dodging the brambles, Violetpaw's mind suddenly jumped to Ashbird. Could one of these frosty patches have taken down Crowstar's daughter? Or was it something - or someone - else?

Just then, the branches above them rustled. Violetpaw's head snapped upwards to see who it was, and to her horror, she met the pale, furious blue eyes of Snowbird. The SkyClan deputy was a little ways behind them, but was quickly catching up with her mighty leaps as she darted from tree to tree.

As the white she-cat twisted her head further back, she found that behind Snowbird was an entire patrol. Ferndust, Treefrost, Oakbounce - even Sorrelpaw, her green eyes flashing with determination as the group closed onto the two ThunderClan apprentices.

Violetpaw whipped her head forward again, narrowly missing a tree as Ravenpaw pulled her out of the way just in time. Despair began taking hold of her as hope started to diminish; ThunderClan's territory was still out of sight, and who knew if she and Ravenpaw were even running the right way? 

The SkyClan cats behind them were getting closer and closer, as they hopped from tree to tree to...

"Tree!" Violetpaw mewed, an idea suddenly flashing in her mind. "We need to get out of the trees!"

However, it seemed the catmint must've muffled her mew, for Ravenpaw squinted at her. "The bees?"

"Trees!"

"Free?" he meowed, glancing at their chasers. "I don't think we're going to be free for that long. You'd better come up with someone to accuse as the Ghost Assassin."

The white she-cat simply rolled her eyes in response. She could hear the sound of the lake waves lapping the shore to her right and started steering her and Ravenpaw in that direction. He looked properly confused, but (thankfully) complied all the same. 

A low hiss came from Snowbird as she came to a sharp stop before veering to her right. Still, this detour didn't slow her and her patrol down by much.

But it gave Violetpaw and Ravenpaw the time that they needed. The two apprentices burst out of the forest to the lakeshore, and the white she-cat kept running until they were right next to the lake. The icy water lapped onto their paws, and Violetpaw flinched from the feeling, but she didn't move away; she's never been so thankful for the distance between herself and the forest.