into the wild woods

CHAPTER THREE

authors note: gore warning in the chapter

Shocked yowls erupted from the clowder of cats, echoing through the forest. Ravenpaw stumbled a little. His right foreleg glistened, moist with blood from his shoulder's deep cut. "We m-met five whispering river knights beside the stream, not far from the sun Carin," he said with a trembling voice. "Oakjaw was among them."

Ravenpaw gagged as he remembered what happened. He stood awkwardly to keep the weight off his shoulder because his wound was still bleeding heavily. "Whispering river cats came charging. It was difficult to see what was going on. The combat was brutal. I noticed Oakjaw have Pigeonpelt pinned on the ground, but then Pigeonpelt..." Ravenpaw lurched sideways as his eyes rolled in his head.

He fell onto his side hitting the hard baked earth hard. A dark tortoiseshell tom bolted from a corner of the came alongside a blue-gray Charlie, they grabbed Ravenpaw as they dragged him to where they came from.

A dark ginger tabby molly pushed through the thorn and bramble barrier, in her jaws was a cat, his throat was torn out with bits of flesh and blood dripping down from the tom's throat. The sight made Rustpaw gag, cats stared at the body as the molly dropped it in the middle of camp.

She raised her head As the molly dropped the cat amid the camp, shock rippled through the clowder like a frigid breeze. Hurricanepaw sobbed out behind Rustpaw as anguish washed over him. "pigeonpelt!"

"How did this happen, Tigerfang?" Snowstar questioned from her vantage point atop the Highrock. "He died with honor, killed by Oakjaw." "I couldn't save him, but I managed to take Oakjaw's life while he was still gloating over his victory," Tigerfang said, her voice soft yet powerful.

"pigeonpelt's death was not in vain, for I doubt we'll see whispering rivers knights in our territory again." After a brief pause, many of the cats advanced to lick the pigeonpelt's ragged fur. They murmured quiet remarks to the deceased cat while grooming.

Snowstar walked over to Tigerfang, uttering something in her ear, and Tigerfang turned her head to gaze at Rustpaw before padding over to him, "so you're my new rookie?" she questioned, tilting her head, and Rustpaw nodded.

Tigerfang observed a slice across his nose and said, "How did you get that cut?" "Oh, I got into a fight with a tabby with a long whip-like tail," Rustpaw meowed as he licked his paw wiping it over his nose, Tigerfang stood up laying her tail on Rustpaw's shoulder

"Come on let's take you to Spottedblossom he can fix your nose," she murmured while she guided him over the fern-enclosed corner the pale tabby had disappeared into.

"he's our healer, you'll see him when you need healing or if he needs you to help him gather herbs'' As they reached the den, Spottedblossom was standing over Ravenpaw, putting green goop on his shoulder and then spreading cobwebs on it.

Spottedblossom looked up to see Rustpaw and Tigerfang; as soon as he laid eyes on Rustpaw, his eyes widened, and he gazed at him as if he had seen a ghost. "W-whos this?" "My new rookie," Tigerfang exclaimed proudly as she puffed up her chest.

"He's going to be the best warrior in the clan," she boasted confidently. "Is that Tigerfang?" said a voice from the back of the den. "Yes it's me cricketdawn," Tigerfang meowed before turning to Rustpaw, "this is cricketdawn, our other healer, like I said you'll only see zer if you need them to heal you or if ze asks you to help gather herbs." Rustpaw nodded again, wondering why Spottedblossom looked and sounded so familiar.

Tigerfang encouraged Rustpaw to follow her, and as they padded out of the den, Rustpaw could swear Spottedblossom was staring at him with a sorrowful expression in his eyes.