Signs Of The Moon Book 1: Moon Rise

Chapter 10

Making her way through the bramble tunnel proved itself to be more difficult as she returned home. Pain shot up Swiftpaw's leg as it snagged on a bit of the brambles as she made her way inside. Her ear burned as she turned and accidentally scraped the sensitive open wound against a thorn. As commanded, she took herself right over to the medicine den with no argument as soon as she was safely in camp. She had grown so accustomed to just walking inside and seeing Mistypaw that she didn't even think twice about it until she saw that the fluffy silver she-cat wasn't there. She blinked as she registered that it was only Snowfrost who was left in the den, as well as an unconscious Goldensong. Snowfrost was busying herself with checking her herb stock when she scented Swiftpaw's blood. Her ears pricked out of instinct and she immediately knew which herbs to grab. Without even speaking to Swiftpaw, the lynx point molly already had a spread ready for her. 

"You there, come sit," she commanded, pointing to an empty fern nest with her tail-tip. Swiftpaw hobbled her way over to it and sat down, leaving her bad leg to stick out a more comfortable angle. Snowfrost approached her, giving her ear and foreleg a sniff. 

"What happened?"

"I was battle training and things got a little more intense than they should have," Swiftpaw replied. Snowfrost only responded with a small "hm" before dragging a pile of flower petals resting on a leaf in front of her with her paw. She bent down, taking a couple of them into her mouth. She began to chew, spitting them back out onto another leaf. She dabbed her paw into the freshly made poultice, smearing it onto Swiftpaw's bite wound. The white and black patched molly hissed in response.

"That stings!" she spat. Snowfrost fixed her with a hard glare. 

"I know, calm down" she growled. "it's supposed to. That means its killing any dirt that might infect the wound. Now keep still, I'm not done with you yet." Snowfrost picked up some more of the petals. This time she grabbed them with her claw, pressing them to Swiftpaw's ear. She squeezed them, the juices flowing into the v-shaped cut and the scratches on her scalp. Swiftpaw winced, resisting the urge to flick her ear. 

"What even is that stuff?" she grumbled through gritted teeth, trying to distract herself while the medicine cat worked on her. 

"It's marigold," the silver lynx point she-cat informed her as she took some cobwebs to dress Swiftpaw's wounds. "You're lucky I even have any to use at this time. In a few days I'm going to need you to go with Mistypaw to find some, my supplies are running low. For now, I think there'll be enough to last until the new flowers bloom. As long as you don't plan on going around and getting yourself hurt again. Who was the one who attacked you?"

"Rabbitpaw," Swiftpaw responded bitterly. "I guess he got me pretty good."

"Rabbitpaw, hm? I always knew he'd turn out to make a fine future warrior." Snowfrost's tone oddly softened as she spoke of the fluffy tom, like a queen bragging about her kits.
"But yes, he did 'get you pretty good.' You ear will be permanently cut open, there's nothing I can do about that. The most I can do is keep infection away while it heals. I think you should stay in here and rest for the remainder of the day. I don't want you jumping around and messing up your dressings while tussling with your friends. Those herbs are too precious to waste." Swiftpaw parted her jaws, about to protest, but was quickly silence with a challenging glare. The young apprentice laid down, tucking her legs under herself. She watched as the lynx point medicine cat gathered what was left of her herbs and put them away. She listened to her quietly count her stock, taking mental notes of what to fetch later with Mistypaw.

"Poppy seeds," Snowfrost whispered at one point, drawing Swiftpaw's attention even more. "I definitely need more poppy seeds. I was sure I had more than this. Where did they all go?"
That was strange, Swiftpaw remembered Mistypaw and a warrior named Cowpatch bringing some back fairly recently. A "collecting" warrior, she remembered him being referred to as. What did that even mean? Swiftpaw reminded herself to find that out later. For now, she was more focused on a more pressing question. How was Snowfrost running low on poppy seeds so soon? Cats only take one or two at a time, she recalled Mistypaw telling her. If she remembered right, they were used to help cats calm down and to ease pain. She hasn't heard of many cats needing them within the tine that she'd been around. An unexpected, eerie feeling settled itself upon Swiftpaw, making the fur on the back of her neck stand up involuntarily. It was a perplexing; nothing was wrong right now whatsoever, not that she knew of anyhow. Swiftpaw groomed her chest fur, willing herself to calm down. she needed something to distract herself from the feeling.