Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 32: Time of Night

Time Of Night

"So, after all that you never even made it to the camp?" Boulderpaw snorted as Scorch finished recounting the occurrences in the 'expedition' she'd had with Mira earlier that day.

"Well... no," Scorch admitted, patching his cut shoulders with herbs. "But that wasn't the point!" she snapped.

"Well, then, what was it?!" Boulderpaw snapped back, equally annoyed.

"That kit..." Scorch murmured, dropping her voice abruptly. "Lay down, I can't get a good angle from here," she ordered, back in command. Boulderpaw grumbled a bit as he laid on his stomach and she gingerly climbed on his back to carefully clean the wound in between his shoulder blades.

The sun was setting behind the overcast sky and all the cats from the battle had returned not long after Mira had escorted her home from RiverClan territory. She'd been too focused on healing cats to really get the details of the fight, but she knew from Flickertail that every cat was accounted for. That's a relief at least...

"Hey, Scorch?" she looked up as an orange tom stopped by her, since she was operating outside the medicine-cat den to give Flickertail more room with the more serious wounded.

"Yes, Cedarheart?" she asked, looking up into his cloudy blue eyes.

"Willowwater... will she be okay?"

Scorch bit on her lip. "Of course she'll be fine! Her wounds were serious, but not fatal!" she forced cheerfulness. The silver and black tabby was most definitely in the worst shape of all the cats, but she'd been treated and was expected to survive. Of course that didn't guarantee anything, especially in the cold season.

"Yeah, but if she gets an infection she's a gone- ow!" Boulderpaw jumped beneath her as she whacked him across the head.

"That won't happen!" she reassured the doubtful tom with a confident smile. "We've gathered lots of herbs lately, she'll pull through just fine! It just may take a little longer than usual," Scorch mewed. I doubt she'll do much more than sleeping and eating for half a moon. But she kept that to herself as she waved Cedarheart on and returned to Boulderpaw's wounds.

"Are you almost done? You're squishing the life out of me! You're so heavy- hey! Ouch, that hurts! Stop it!" Boulderpaw complained as she rubbed in the stinging healing herb juice in a little rougher than was necessary.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you say something?" Scorch asked in one of her tones that clearly relayed it was time to be quiet.

"No..." Boulderpaw murmured and she finished binding his wounds in silence.

"There! All done!" Scorch huffed. Flickertail had finished the rest of the cats with Mira's help so now she was free. "Go find us a spot and I'll grab some prey. Sound good?" she turned to Boulderpaw as he got back to his paws.

"Yeah... but Scorch, that kit you told me about. You didn't tell me everything, did you?" His blue eyes were serious now.

"No, I didn't. And honestly, I don't want tom," she had only told him that she had given off a weird feeling.
"But there is one more thing I'd like to talk to you about..." Scorch dropped her voice. "Though, not in camp. Out in the forest. Later tonight."

Boulderpaw didn't look ecstatic at the thought of a late night discussion again, but he nodded wearily and lumbered over to an empty space by the leader's den. Scorch turned toward the fresh-kill pile and scanned the few scanty pieces worriedly. Boulderpaw can have a mouse. But I ate last night, I'll be fine for a little longer. Besides, its not like I fought or went hunting. All I did was mess around...