Warriors Dazed (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter five

As Dazepaw and Berryclaw padded back into camp, Sparroweye noticed them and rushed over to them, staring at Dazepaw's wound on her shoulder.
"What happened?!" She meowed, concerned. Berryclaw began to explain what had happen, but Dazepaw quickly cut her off.
"I tripped in the forest and cut myself on a twig."
Berryclaw looked bewildered, as if she couldn't believe why the apprentice was standing up for a cat that nearly killed her.
"That could get infected! You go see Stripeblaze right now!" Sparroweye continued, not taking any notice of Berryclaw. Dazepaw nodded and quickly limped over to the medicine clearing, being careful not to put pressure on her aching leg. Blood still oozed from the deep wound in her shoulder and she gave it a brisk lick to clean a bit of the dark red liquid. Stripeblaze poked his head out of his den as soon as he scented the acrid smell of blood.
When he noticed Dazepaw's wound, he just rolled his eyes and flicked his tail for the apprentice to follow him into the den. She smiled, a bit embarrassed, and followed him in.
As she walked in, the strong scent of fresh herbs hit her; she guessed that Stripeblaze had recently gone herb collecting. The young grey medicine cat grabbed a wad of cobwebs on his paw and pressed it onto Dazepaw's wound, soaking up most of the blood. He briskly padded back to his medicine stock and grabbed a mouthful of marigold and started chewing the golden petals. He spat it out onto his paw and started patting it onto the deep cut on the apprentice's shoulder. Dazepaw winced as the poultice seeped into the cut, making it sting even more.
"So, what happened?" Stripeblaze meowed curiously. Dazepaw felt hot with anxiety; she didn't want to lie to the medicine cat but she also didn't want to get Toadfluff in trouble, however much he deserved it.
"I, ugh, fell over and cut it on a twig." She hoped he would believe her. Stripeblaze stared at her with disbelief.
"Really? Because I've seen my fair share of stick cuts and this one looks a lot more like a claw mark." His light brown eyes glared into hers and she knew she was in trouble. She was about to tell Stripeblaze about the battle training incident when a loud shriek cut her off. Stripeblaze jerked his head around and raced out of the den. Dazepaw tried to follow as quickly as she could but her shoulder was in too much pain. She limped out of the den just in time to see the medicine cat disappear into the elder's den. Moments later, he emerged again and bolted back into his den.
Dazepaw managed to hobble across the camp and into the elder's den. Berryclaw was standing next to her mother, Flamestripe, while the elderly tabby she-cat writhed in her nest in pain.
"What happened?!" Dazepaw started getting worried for the old she-cat, she was weak and wouldn't last long if she got horribly sick. Berryclaw shrugged in reply, not tearing her gaze away from Flamestripe.
Dazepaw heard a grunt behind her and quickly moved out of the way as Stripeblaze entered the den again, this time with yarrow leaves, water mint and a large beech leaf in his mouth. He dropped his supplies and pushed the beech leaf towards Flamestripe with the yarrow leaves on it.
"Give her some space," he instructed to the surrounding cats. Luckily, Mosssting was still asleep. The other cats all took a step away from Flamestripe as she started gulping down the yarrow. A few moments later, she retched up an acrid pile of vomit onto the beech leaf. As Dazepaw looked at it, she realised that Flamestripe must have eaten crow-food. Stripeblaze obviously also knew this as he hastily informed Berryclaw what had happened.
"How did she eat crow-food?" Berryclaw questioned.
"Someone must've brought it back after hunting," the medicine cat replied calmly.
Flamestripe managed to hold her head up.
"Leafeyes brought it to me," she rasped.
Leafeyes! Dazepaw started to feel angry with the young deputy, she was too immature to be deputy and this was proof! She couldn't even catch a piece of fresh-kill that was actually fresh!
Then it struck her. 'This is my fault! I am cursed!' She started remembering back to the time that she brought back a mouse that was rotten, even though she thought it was fresh when she caught it. Maybe the Clan would kick her out again, and she'd have to live as a loner, or a rogue! No Clan would ever accept her, would they?
She was about to blurt out that it was all because of her when another shrill yowl came from the warriors den. Stripeblaze pushed the water-mint to Flamestripe then dashed out to the warriors den. Berryclaw settled down beside her mother, gently licking her ear. Dazepaw thought she would be intruding if she stayed any longer so she limped back out of the den. She tried to place her foreleg on the ground but her deep cut still made it too painful.
Again, she watched Stripeblaze rush out of the warriors den and into his own den, emerging with yarrow, water-mint and a beech leaf. She guessed that a warrior was suffering from the same ailment. As she looked over at the warrior's den, she saw Leafeyes waiting worriedly for the medicine cat, and she guessed that it was Leafeyes's mate, Leopardpelt, that was sick. Leafeyes must have taken some fresh-kill to the elders then straight to her mate.
'Great! Just perfect! I'm killing the Clan with my curse!' She looked up at the sky; it was clear blue and the sun was slowly rising to sun-high. She wondered if StarClan was watching over her, or if they hated her because of her curse.
Soon, the horrid smell of vomit filled Dazepaw's nostrils again. She poked her head into the warriors den to see Leopardpelt curled up in his nest, asleep. Leafeyes and Stripeblaze were arguing. The medicine cat looked furious and Dazepaw could tell he was biting back a snarl.
"Don't you ever check prey before picking it up?!"
"Of course I do! I don't know what was wrong with this prey, I found it in the territory and took it back," she snorted. Stripeblaze stared at her in disbelief.
"You mean you didn't catch it yourself?!" His eyes flashed with even more anger and this time his lips drew back in the beginning of a snarl.
"Well I wasn't about to leave perfectly good prey lying about! But now I think of it, this might explain why it smelled weird......" She trailed off and shrank into the shadows after finally realising what she had done.
"Didn't your mentor ever tell you not to grab crow-food?!" He continued, his fury building up.
"Of course he did! Buzzardwish was a great mentor! But that was moons ago now!"
Dazepaw noticed Stripeblaze digging his claws into the soft ground, stopping himself from leaping at the red-brown warrior.
Hissing at Leafeyes one last time, Stripeblaze stormed out of the warriors den, almost colliding with Dazepaw. He jumped as he noticed her, but calmed down quickly.
"Oh Dazepaw. I have something I want to ask you; can you please take the beech leaves into the forest and burry them?" He meowed. Dazepaw stared at him with wide eyes.
"You mean, the ones that you used for Flamestripe and Leopardpelt?!"
Stripeblaze rolled his eyes.
"I know it's not the most glamorous job but you'll be okay. Get Roughpaw or Snowpaw to help," he finished and dashed out of the camp. Dazepaw stared after him, annoyed that he was treating her like his apprentice.
She grumbled one last time and padded over to the apprentice's den looking for Snowpaw. When she poked her head in the den, she noticed it was empty. 'He must be out hunting.' Her thoughts were confirmed as the thorns of the camp entrance rustled as Snowpaw padded into camp, a thrush and a vole dangling from his jaws.
He smiled as he saw Dazepaw and bounded over to the fresh-kill pile, placing his prey on the top. He wrinkled his nose as the vomit stench hit him and Dazepaw came to join him, quickly explaining the whole ordeal that Leafeyes had caused.
Snowpaw rolled his eyes.
"Of course it's Leafeyes that did this, it just had to be my mentor and the Clan deputy!" He meowed frustratedly. Dazepaw knew he shared the same concerns as her that the red-brown she-cat was too young and inexperienced for such a major role in the Clan. But they couldn't do anything about it so they had to do the job.
Dazepaw padded back into the warrior's den and bundled up the beech leaf, trying not to inhale the horrible stench, while Snowpaw went to the elder's den to get the leaf from Flamestripe. The two apprentices met at the camp entrance and padded out together, their pelts brushing as they walked side by side.
The smell of the vomit made it hard for Dazepaw to pick up any other scents but she heard the scrabbling of prey under a fern bush. She placed her leaf carefully on the ground and crept toward the ferns, staying aware of where she was pacing her paws. Suddenly, a squirrel shot out from the ferns and made a run for the nearest tree, but Dazepaw was too quick. She leapt after it and dug her claw into its tail as it started up the tree, trapping it. She dug her other claw into it and bit down on its spine, tasting it's warm blood on her tongue. She jumped off the tree with the squirrel's bushy tail clamped in her jaws.
"Wow!" Snowpaw exclaimed, "I don't think I could catch a squirrel like that!"
Dazepaw felt hot with embarrassment and pride.
"Berryclaw taught me," she replied.
After scraping some dirt over the fresh-kill, she grabbed her beech leaf again and headed deeper into the forest to bury the awful smelling things.
"This is a good spot," Snowpaw remarked as he set down his leaf and looked around. He was right, the dirt was loose and easy to dig up but also thick enough to hide the scent of the rotten vomit.
Dazepaw nodded and set down her beech leaf and started to dig, getting dirt under her claws. When she had dug down far enough, she pushed the beech leaf into the hole and covered it over with the loose dirt she had dug up. Snowpaw did the same and wrinkled his nose at the smell. Dazepaw flashed a guilty smile at him.
"Sorry I dragged you with me," she meowed.
"It's," Snowpaw gagged quickly, "fine," he finished as he took a deep breath. "I think I need some water," he mewed.
Dazepaw nodded and led him to a small stream at the WindClan border. She lapped up some of the water with Snowpaw to clear the horrible taste from her mouth. Snowpaw shook water droplets from his long whiskers and sprayed Dazepaw.
"Hey!" She meowed playfully. She reached her paw into the water and flicked water at his face. She let out a mrrrow of laughter as he recoiled back when the water hit him.
"Oi!" Snowpaw copied Dazepaw and flicked water at her face but lost his footing and splashed into the water. Luckily, it was a shallow stream and he found his footing easily.
"Are you okay?" Dazepaw meowed, still laughing. Snowpaw glared at her and laughed sarcastically.  "Ha ha, so funny." He scrabbled out of the stream and shook his thin pelt, water spraying everywhere.
Dazepaw ducked as water droplets hit her and wiped her face with her tail. She turned and padded back into the undergrowth with Snowpaw following her closely.
On their way back, Snowpaw caught a thrush that had been pulling at a worm in the ground. Dazepaw remembered the squirrel she had caught earlier and made a detour to grab it.
"I think Flamestripe and Leopardpelt would be happy to sink their teeth into some fresh prey," she meowed, still thinking back to Leafeye's incompetence. Snowpaw nodded in reply with the thrush still dangling from his jaws.
As the two apprentices padded back into camp, Hazelbelly rushed over to them.
"Why are you so wet?!" She started fretting over Snowpaw and licking his head between his ears.
"Hazelbelly! I'm not a kit anymore!" He objected to his mother. Dazepaw suddenly felt a pang of sadness, her mother, Bunnytail, had never cared about her at all. She had just shooed her away and even denied her milk sometimes.
She was snapped out of her flashbacks when Snowpaw flicked his tail on her face. He was heading to the elder's den to give Flamestripe the thrush. Dazepaw decided to give her squirrel to Leopardpelt, so she quickly trotted over to the warrior's den. Inside, Leafeyes was softly grooming her mate's ruffled pelt while he slept. Dazepaw padded in gingerly and placed her fresh-kill at Leopardpelt's head. She saw his nose twitch as he smelled it and he slowly opened his eyes. He yawned and stretched his forelegs as he saw the squirrel in front of him.
Leafeyes shot a glare of defiance at Dazepaw.
'At least this one isn't rotten,' she wanted to meow, but she bit her tongue, not wanting to cause any more drama.
Leopardpelt smiled gratefully at the blue-grey apprentice and gulped down the squirrel in a few swift bites. Dazepaw backed out of the den and winced slightly as her shoulder wound started to sting again. She gave it a couple of licks and limped back into the clearing. She saw Snowpaw standing outside the apprentice's den with the thrush still in his jaws.
"Didn't you give it to Flamestripe?" She asked as she got closer to the white apprentice. Snowpaw shook his head.
"She said she still isn't hungry, and I don't blame her."
Dazepaw nodded in agreement and sat down with her tail wrapped neatly around her paws.
"I guess we'll just have to eat it," she meowed cheekily as Snowpaw sat next to her. He smiled and nodded before taking a bite from the prey. Dazepaw did the same and took a bite of the thrush.

By the time they had finished sharing the plump fresh-kill, the sun was starting to set. It had been a very busy day for Dazepaw; the dawn patrol, battle training with Roughpaw and Toadfluff, getting injured in the process and helping with Flamestripe and Leopardpelt.
Dazepaw slumped down into her nest and started drifting to sleep, when a voice jolted her awake.
"Not going to sleep this early are you? I thought you would go for another moonlit walk."
Dazepaw glanced up sleepily to see Roughpaw standing over her, his broad shoulders blocking her vision of the den entrance.
"Getting attacked by your mentor took a lot of energy out of me," she grunted.
Roughpaw flinched, but stood his ground. "He was just standing up for me," he mewed awkwardly.
"Sure," she replied sarcastically. "He was just looking for an excuse to attack me." This time she folded her tail over her nose and looked away. Then a thought hit her.
"Where's Snowpaw?" Dazepaw saw a flash of anger in the dark apprentice's eyes.
"Checking on Flamestripe," he mewed coldly. His tone made Dazepaw wince and she finally realised why he got so angry whenever she mentioned Snowpaw. 'He likes me! He must feel jealous of his brother,' she thought.
"Oh Roughpaw," but before she could talk to him, he had bounded out of the den.
Dazepaw felt guilt rush through her and padded out of the den to see Roughpaw sharing tongues with his mother, Hazelbelly. The brown warrior shot a glare at Dazepaw as cold as ice, making her shrink back into the den.
'It's no good, he won't listen.' She curled back up in her nest and drifted off to sleep, undisturbed by anyone or dreams.