Dawnberry's Escape

Chapter 14

Dawnpaw was in the clearing, practicing battle moves with her brother. They were given a day of rest so they could do whatever they like.

Bluepaw hissed and swiped a sheathed paw at Dawnpaw. Dawnpaw ducked and lunged, raking her paw across his ear, then darting behind him and delivering a blow to his side. Bluepaw bared his teeth and fluffed out his fur, then leaped onto Dawnpaw. Dawnpaw tried to shake him off, but Bluepaw wasn't going to let go easily, so Dawnpaw staggered a bit then sharply tilted to her right.

Surprised, Bluepaw let go of his grip and fell off Dawnpaw's back. Dawnpaw took the opportunity to pin him down, keeping a lookout on her exposed belly.

"Get off!" Bluepaw mewed, and he pushed Dawnpaw off. "I won!" Dawnpaw gloated.

"Well done." Ivywater padded out of the warriors den. "I've never seen that move before. You have to show me when we train sometime."

Morningpaw hurried out of the medicine cat den, looking worried.

"What's wrong?" Dawnpaw called, and Morningpaw gave a start.

"I.. I need to find some herbs." She stammered, as if she was hiding something. "I need a warrior to go with me."

"We could do that. Could we?" Bluepaw looked up hopefully at Ivywater.

"Fine. You'll get restless anyways and the exercise will be good. Take care of Morningpaw and if you find any intruders, come straight back and warn the camp, understood?" Dawnpaw and Bluepaw nodded enthusiastically.

Morningpaw led the way out of camp, still looking nervous.

"What's up? You look terrible." Bluepaw commented. Morningpaw gave him a glare, but sighed. "It's Whitepelt. Leafbare is giving him aching joints, and we're running low on daisy leaves and ragwort. Also, Flowerstem has whitecough, so I need to look for coltsfoot as well. We might take a long time."

"Whitecough?" Dawnpaw frowned. "Won't that turn into greencough easily?

"Yes!" Morningpaw mewed exasperatedly. "That's why I'm so worried. If we don't treat Flowerstem, greencough might spread." Then she looked at her siblings with huge, pleading eyes. "Please don't tell any cat. Nightleaf doesn't want any cat to panic. Please."

"I promise." Dawnpaw nodded, and Bluepaw said the same.

"It's leafbare, so if we can't find any useful herbs we'll have to ask the other medicine cats for herbs." Morningpaw sniffed around a clump of plants. "Comfrey, but we can't pick these. They need time to grow so we'll have some during greenleaf."

"Help me look for herbs. If you smell something like the medicine den, give me a call." Morningpaw started tasting the air, eyes troubled. Dawnpaw and Bluepaw exchanged glances and started sniffing as well.

After a while, Dawnpaw saw something yellow in the snow. "Morningpaw!" She called, and her sister ran to her side. "There." She pointed her tail at the roots of a large tree.

Morningpaw's eyes lit up. "Daisy! Thanks, Dawnpaw." She bit the stem off some of the daisy and passed them to Bluepaw. "Take these to camp and come meet us. We'll be scouting around here still."

Bluepaw nodded once and headed towards camp, leaving a scent of daisies in his wake. Morningpaw continued looking for herbs that are sheltered from the snow, her fur fluffed up to protect her against the gust of icy wind.

They looked farther, heading closer to the ShadowClan border, and Dawnpaw scented something else, but it wasn't a herby scent at all. It was ShadowClan. On RiverClan territory.