Foxgaze's Haunting

Chapter 28

(Cat above is Snowpaw)
Foxgaze limped back to camp. A deep gash was still leaking blood on the bridge of her nose and from a bite on her shoulder. Most of the other blood though was from Reedpool.

Specklefrost and Snowpaw were outside the thorn barrier. Specklefrost gasped when she saw Foxgaze "Dear StarClan! What happened to you?"

"Rougues" Foxgaze shook her head to keep consciousness "One of them attacked Wolfpaw and I retaliated".

Wolfpaw, looking slightly embarassed looked up at Foxgaze "I should fought back for you but... Reedpool was too strong".

Specklefrost narrowed her eyes "Who is Reedpool?"

"It's a long story" Foxgaze sighed before Wolfpaw could answer "Can we get through to talk to Dawnstar? We might have rouges still in our territory".

"Of course" Specklefrost dipped her head and padded back. Snowpaw took a step back as some of Foxgaze's blood dripped dangerously close to her clean paws.

Several cats swarmed around Foxgaze as she stumbled into camp. They all asked questions like "What happened?" and "Who would do this?"

Leafshade shoved past them "Move it you flea-pelts, this cat needs help!"

He ushered Foxgaze to the medicine cat den, past the crowd. She stiffled a small laugh when Wolfpaw sneezed and mud came out. Leafshade dug some cobwebs from out of a corner and plastered them on the slash on her nose.

After sniffing the bite he padded off again "This one's gonna need marigold". While he was gone, Foxgaze stared at Wolfpaw and wondered what was happening inside his head. The tom had his brow furrowed and kept looking at her eyes.

***
(Wolfpaw's POV)

How come Foxgaze has the same eyes as Beechpaw? Wolfpaw thought. Glazepool and Foxgaze must be kin or something.

Wolfpaw thought about Reedpool. The black and white fish-breathed tom made Wolfpaw unsheathe his claws. I should have fought back against him he hissed at himself. A second voice spoke to him It was an unfair fight. You could have been seriously injured by Reedpool. Wolfpaw gazed at the green-leaf pines in the forest beyond camp. That lousy rougue is dead anyway. Foxgaze killed him.

The whole death scene replayed in his mind. Himself struggling to breath through all the mud in his nose while Foxgaze slashed the throat of Reedpool, making his blood splatter everywhere.

"Do you have any wounds?" Leafshade flicked Wolfpaw's side with his tail.

"Err...no. I didn't know if I had to leave or not-" Wolfpaw stammered.

"It's alright, you can leave" Leafshade nodded towards the entrance "Foxgaze will be fine".

Wolfpaw, scolding himself for being clumsy with words, nodded and scrambled away. The sunlight was pleasant as it shone down on the camp. Wolfpaw remembered when he was a kit and getting to walk around camp for the first time. That was during leaf-bare and Wolfpaw remembered being fascinated by snow.

A cold shove made him nearly loose his balance. Wolfpaw let out a suprised mew. "Hey!"

Beechpaw was standing behind him, her gaze metallic "Follow me mousebrain".

What's her problem? Wolfpaw sighed. Beechpaw stopped just outside the empty nurserey. She looked around camp "So...I heard about your confrontation with those rougues today".

"Of course you did. Everyone knew about it" Wolfpaw lashed his tail.

Beechpaw lowered her voice "I also heard you didn't fight back".