Warriors: A New Beginning #2: Midnight Rising

Chapter 22

When they reached the WindClan camp all heads turned to look at them. Midnightpaw felt a little nervous.

"Rabbitstar." Pinefoot dipped his head. "Midnightpaw requests the help of Heatherstalk and Moorwhisker."

"Why does she?" Rabbitstar's sharp gaze turned to Midnightpaw, who, stuttering, told the WindClan leader what she had told Pinefoot.

"What's happening?" Moorwhisker poked his head out of the den. His eyes widened when he saw Midnightpaw and Leafdawn. "Never mind. Bring her here. I heard what happened."

Midnightpaw nodded and helped Leafdawn over to the medicine den.

Heatherstalk had a bundle of feverfew in her mouth. Her eyes widened when she saw who Moorwhisker was with.

"Why are we treating a ThunderClan cat?" she asked.

"She could die any minute!" Moorwhisker retorted sharply.

As if the words had activated something, Leafdawn collapsed.

"Leafdawn!" Midnightpaw exclaimed.

"Put her in a nest," Moorwhisker ordered.

Midnightpaw dragged the unconscious tabby into a nest and looked at her chest. She sighed with relief when she saw the familiar rise and fall and heard Leafdawn's breath. "She's breathing."

"But we don't have much time." Moorwhisker glanced at Leafdawn's eye wound. "Heatherstalk, since you know where the herbs are, I need every single herb for wounds and infection we have!"

Heatherstalk nodded, seeming to understand the urgency of the situation. She dropped the feverfew and rushed to the herb storages.

Midnightpaw's heart was pounding. She felt like she should help, but she didn't want to get in the way of the busy Moorwhisker.

Heatherstalk quickly came back with a huge bundle of herbs. Moorwhisker pushed some goldenrod to Midnightpaw. "Chew this into a poultice!"

Midnightpaw swiftly did so. "Where do you need the poultice?"

"Just keep doing poultices for all of her wounds— except for her eye wound. I'll deal with that," Moorwhisker replied.

Midnightpaw laid the poultice on a gash in Leafdawn's flank, then chewed up another poultice, laying that on another wound. She lost count of how many poultices she made.

WindClan has a lot of herbs, she thought.

Meanwhile, Moorwhisker was using a herb Midnightpaw didn't really recognize. He was being very careful around Leafdawn's swollen eye. He looks like he knows what he's doing.

"Okay, all the wounds have poultices on them," Midnightpaw finally declared. "What...what should I do now?"

"I'm almost done with this wound," Moorwhisker told her. "Then she'll be fully treated. But I'm afraid that she can't travel."

"We can't carry her?" Midnightpaw asked.

Heatherstalk shook her head. "She's too weak, her eye wound is very fragile... She's also not fully unconscious. She's only half-aware of where she is right now."

"Then what will I do?" Midnightpaw glanced worriedly at Leafdawn.

Moorwhisker glanced at Heatherstalk. "I think I know. Hold on while I talk with Heatherstalk." The two medicine cats went off farther into the den to talk in private.

Midnightpaw slowly padded over to Leafdawn.

"Leafdawn..." she whispered. "If you can hear me, I'm sorry that I didn't come soon enough."