Dawnpelt's Anger

Chapter 5

Jayfeather leaped up at the tree trunk, claws digging into the bark. The dog was racing towards him, barking loudly. Jayfeather scrabbled desperately, searching for a tree branch to grab hold of but felt nothing. Suddenly the dog's teeth clamped shut on his tail and Jayfeather yowled in pain. He pulled his tail free and kept trying to climb, but still couldn't find a branch.

"Help!" he yelled, feeling himself starting to slide down the trunk slowly towards the dog.

The dog leaped and grabbed him by the tail, dragging him down to the ground. The dog barked again loudly in his ears, and Jayfeather whirled around and lashed out his paw at its face. The dog yelped in pain and leaped back a moment, whining, but then jumped at him. Jayfeather took off, sprinting towards the fence where Dawnpelt and Briarlight were. He dived through the wooden fence and landed beside Briarlight, trying to calm himself. The dog let out a growl of annoyance and walked away.

"Are you ok?" Briarlight asked, sounding worried.

"I'm fine." Jayfeather replied, shaking scraps of tree bark from his pelt.

"Why didn't you climb the tree? You could of at least gotten the dock leaves before coming back." Dawnpelt meowed matter-of-factly.

"There were no branches to even climb on to!" Jayfeather hissed, anger seeping into him, "You could of at least helped fight off the dog so that I could make it up the tree!"

"I couldn't!" Dawnpelt insisted, "I was trying to keep Briarlight from limping out there to help! She would of been killed if not for me!"

Jayfeather was taken aback, amazed that Dawnpelt had actually helped. Maybe he could trust her after all.

Maybe I'm the one who shouldn't be trusted, Jayfeather thought, grief suddenly clawing his heart, I let both of her brothers die.

"Now I'll get the dock leaves." Dawnpelt meowed, stalking off into the field.

When she was gone, Jayfeather turned to Briarlight. "You shouldn't try to help when I'm in danger. That just puts us both in danger."

"But the dog could of killed you!" Briarlight said stubbornly, "I'm not just going to sit there and watch my one of my clanmates be killed."

"Well, if you hadn't tried to help, Dawnpelt could of came and helped me. Then we'd already have the dock leaves and be leaving by now. Your injury would just cause more trouble." Jayfeather reasoned.

Briarlight went silent, and Jayfeather wondered if he had said the wrong thing.

"Just like my blindness is a weakness." he added more softly, though he felt bitter about mentioning his blindness.

"Sorry." Briarlight's mew barely a broken whisper, "I just feel so useless. I may as well not exist."

Jayfeather felt sympathy flood through him. He had always hated being blind, but he still contributed to the clan. Briarlight couldn't even walk.

Jayfeather touched his nose to Briarlight's.

"You aren't useless. Every creature has a purpose, and coming on this journey to the mountains has proven you have courage. Don't ever give up."

Briarlight took a deep breath but said nothing.

"I'm back!" Dawnpelt's voice came, muffled through a bundle of dock.

"Thanks." Jayfeather said, padding up to her and taking some of the leaves.

He chewed the leaves into a poultice and applied it to Briarlight's wounds. Surprisingly her legs were still bleeding, but not too much.