Warriors: FlowerClan's War #1 - A Clan's Choice

Chapter 6 - Silverstar

Silverstar and her group of cats ran through the forest, Lightningstar at her side. Lightningstar had already explained how rogue cats had attacked her camp. As they approached the camp entrance Silverstar peered under the fallen tree. Cats were fighting everywhere, and it was clear that RainClan was losing. Before she could give the signal her cats were already leaping into battle. She stood shocked for a brief moment before leaping after them.

She landed on a light brown tom and started slashing her claws against his ears. He dropped down and Silverstar jumped nimbly away before he could roll over and crush her. He hit her chest with his hind paws and stalked into a large group of fighting cats before Silverstar could react. She got back onto her paws quickly and spotted Bluefeather fighting two rogues cats. She attacked the rogue that was closest to her, scoring her claws across her flank. The tortoiseshell she-cat let out a menacing hiss and turned towards Silverstar, balancing on her hind paws and aiming front paw swipes at Silverstar's head.

Silverstar ducked too late. One of the she-cat's forepaws hit the side of her face and her ear, leaving a decently sized nick in her ear. Silverstar stumbled as the wave of pain threatened to overwhelm her. She thought briefly of how it shouldn't have hurt so much, while Bluefeather grabbed her scruff and started dragging her out of the battle. The two rogues had already joined another to fight Petalshine and Silverstar weakly tried to escape Bluefeather's grasp to help.

Bluefeather dragged her to one of the dens near the fallen tree. Judging by the strong scent of Lightningstar Silverstar suspected that it was the leader's den. She stumbled to the nest as Bluefeather positioned herself outside the den, closed her eyes, and sank into darkness.

***

Silverstar woke up the next day, surprised that she hadn't had any dreams. Every day since her horrifying vision she had kept seeing small bits of it every night. She blinked in surprise as she noticed that her right eye was blurry on one side. She wondered where she was for a moment, then remembered the battle. A white tom was sorting herbs and as she sat up he pushed a few herbs towards her with a gray paw. She lapped up the healing herbs quickly, happy to find that they were some of the better tasting ones.

"I'm Frostpaw, the medicine cat apprentice." The tom said through a mouthful of herbs. He stopped chewing and started to spread the mixture across the side of Silverstar's head. Silverstar flinched as the juice of the herbs started to sting. Silverstar scented Lightningstar a moment before she walked into the den.

"How are you feeling Silverstar?" Silverstar turned towards her with her good eye.

"I'm fine, but I have a few questions," Silverstar said as Lightningstar nodded.

"That makes sense."

"Why did Bluefeather take me out of the battle? I was fine! I could have kept fighting!" Silverstar mewed as Frostpaw started to put the herb mixture on her ear.

"You almost passed out. If Bluefeather hadn't saved you, that she-cat could have killed you." Lightningstar said cautiously, as Bluefeather happened to walk past the den.

"It was only a scratch! Cats have had much worse injuries and still fought." Silverstar grumbled.

"And kits have only scratched their eyes a little bit, then had to stay in the medicine den for days," Frostpaw said, finishing with the herbs.

"You have a deep scratch on your eye. You'll most likely have a scar, but we don't know about your eyesight. Can you see out of that eye?" Lightningstar said, pointing with her paw to Silverstar's injured eye.

"A bit," Silverstar said, glancing away to look at her paws. How could she be a strong leader if she couldn't see out of half of her eye?

"That's good." Before Silverstar could reply Lightningstar left to join a patrol. Now she was alone with Frostpaw.

"How long will I have to stay here?" Silverstar snapped, ready to run out of the den at the slightest implication that she could do so.

"A few days probably. At least until you get your strength back." Frostpaw said cheerily.

"I'm ready now!" Silverstar jumped up, suddenly feeling light-headed. She sat back down when it became apparent that the feeling would not be going away.

"Have you ever had a sign from StarClan?" Silverstar asked after a few moments of silence.

"I haven't, but Cherryfrost had one just today." Frostpaw mewed, his eyes shining. "She was in the woods and she saw a huge rock and it fell over onto a clump of flowers. She said only StarClan could have moved the rock."

"Cherryfrost is the medicine cat, right?"

"Yup! She's a great mentor" Frostpaw walked out of the den, leaving Silverstar alone for a few moments. He returned with a light brown she-cat who was limping. As the she-cat sat down in a nearby nest Silverstar could see that on one of her front paws the pad had been ripped to shreds and slathered in herbs.

"This is Petalshine. She was badly injured too." Frostpaw said.

"Frostpaw! I have to talk to you!" A voice right outside the den said as Frostpaw exited the den. Silverstar angled her ears towards the entrance to hear what they were saying, her right ear hurting a bit.

"Frostpaw, I think you are ready to become a full medicine cat."

"But...I don't know half of the herbs!" Frostpaw's voice said.

"You're ready when I say you are! Let's go tell Lightningstar." Silverstar heard their pawsteps fade into the distance as she looked over at Petalshine. The light brown cat looked just as shocked. Clearly, this wasn't normal behavior for Cherryfrost, who had seemed calm and incapable of yelling at gatherings.

The two cats silently stared at each other until Silverstar heard pawsteps approaching angerly outside the den.

"Silverstar! Go home! You're fit enough now! Go!" The red she-cat snapped as she entered the den, her tail lashing angrily. Silverstar nervously got up, the lightheadedness returning. As she padded weakly out of the den she looked back. Cherryfrost was giving her a death glare like Silverstar had done something terrible.

There was definitely something wrong with that medicine cat.