Raine's Stained Paws

Chapter Three

Bloodpaw lay in her nest. She had her wounds treated by Hawkthistle but they still stung. She felt terrified to know some of them would leave scars.
Did all the mentors do that? Did they all belittle and manipulate their apprentices? She thought as she curled up into a ball.
A wave of shock washed over her as she remembered what she did to her friend. I didn't mean to... She thought.
She flinched as a shadow loomed over the entrance. Brittlethorn pushed his way in and stood over her.
"You know what to say if someone asks you about those scratches right?" Brittlethorn hissed the question.
"Y-yes it was some twoleg fencing..." Bloodpaw answered weakly.
"Good. Now get up you have to apologize to Cloudpaw she finally woke up." Brittlethorn growled as he pushed his way out of the den.
Bloodpaw pinned her ears as she slowly followed him out of the den. She shivered at the touch of cold snow under-paw. She quickly raced towards Hawkthistle's den.
She found her way in and slowly approached Cloudpaw, who was laying on her side with many leaves and cobwebs wrapped around her neck.
"Cloudpaw..." Bloodpaw began.
Cloudpaw moved her eyes to look up. She said nothing but huffed.
"I want to apologize.. I didn't mean to hurt you honest! It was an accident I wasn't thinking..." Bloodpaw said as she looked to her paws.
"I- it's okay, what happened to you?" Cloudpaw asked as she looked at Bloodpaw's wounds.
"Oh uh a twoleg fence! Yeah.." Bloodpaw spat out her fur bristling.
"Are you sure?" Cloudpaw asked.
"Yes! I have to go." Bloodpaw answered as she ran out of the den.
Relieved Bloodpaw looked around camp for a moment. She sneezed as snow landed on her nose. Snow again? She thought as she padded away up to a small hollow in the ground. It smelled faintly of fresh kill.
Of course the hollow was empty now.
Hunting for myself I guess. She thought as she limped away towards the camps entrance. The other cats in the clearing ignored her presence or went into their dens to exscape the cold.
Bloodpaw shook her head and began to head deep into the pine forest. She wasn't supposed to go out on her own but it's not like her mentor would care.
She padded through the soft snow under the coverage of pine.
She angled her ears towards the direction of the moon river. Why can't I hear it? She thought as she headed in that direction.
Bloodpaw carefully aproched the moon river, gasping in shock as she saw it was frozen.
She cautiously placed a paw on the ice, instantly dragging her paw back at the shock of how cold the ice was.
Woah!
She placed both of her paws down on the ice. She yelped as her paws slipped and she hit her jaw sharply on the ice.
"Ow!" She hissed as she got to her paws.
She flinched as she saw a flash of red and black on the other side of the river.
"What was that?"
Bloodpaw looked across the river and backed up her fur bristling as she recognized the orange pelt of a fox.
The fox growled at her as it inspected the ice before carefully making its way over.
Bloodpaw bolted towards camp without hesitation the fox yipping behind her as she ran.
She dodged trees as she ran through the rock arch into camp.
"Fox!" She yowled as she turned around.
The fox stared down at her as it ran into the camp.
Bloodpaw watched out of breath as many warriors ran forward and began to claw at it.
The fox yowled as it batted it's massive claws at the warriors. Bloodpaw watched as Brittlethorn charged forward, leaping onto the foxes back digging his claws deep into its fur.
The fox shook wildly causing Brittlethorn to fly off. Landing harshly onto a rock his head bleeding.
Bloodpaw ran to his side panicked as the fox quickly fled through the entrance and through the forest.
"Brittlethorn?" Bloodpaw gasped.
Brittlethorn lay still his flank slowly rising and falling.
"Get out of the way!" Hawkthistle hissed as he began to inspect Bloodpaw's mentor.
"Bloodpaw!" A bellow sounded behind her.
Bloodpaw turned around quickly to see Nightstar before her.
"What happened?" He said flicking his tail angrily.
"I- a fox I was out hunting and it spotted me so I ran. I didn't mean to lead it here." Bloodpaw said in a rush.
"Did Brittlethorn say you could go out alone?" Nightstar asked.
"No. He didn't." Bloodpaw answered.
Nightstar glared down at her.
"You need to listen to your mentor next time. Since he's going to be out of commission for a while I will take over your training. Hopefully you will learn something." Nightstar growled as he pushed past her and into his den.

819 words.