Warriors: Rising Secrets (Book 1)

Chapter Seventeen; Gorsepaws' Attack

Dawnfire woke up beside Greynose, shivering as the cold wind blew. She could see a low fog, covering the ground. She could hardly see two tail-lengths in front of her.

"Oh great!" Grumbled Greynose. "The fog is so thick; we might not be able to go anywhere today."

Dawnfire mewed in agreement. She looked around to see the others waking up. Frostflower was beside the river sharing a fish with Foxclaw. Seeing her made her fur prickle. She still liked Frostflower, but now she were part of the prophecy. She wasn't angry at StarClan, or most of her anger wasn't because of StarClan, it was because they had been following them in secret. But the thing Dawnfire was most angry about, was that they saw the battle with the wolves and they didn't do a thing to help. Bluepaw lost a life because of the wolves. Dawnfire kept thinking that if they were there to help then Bluepaw might not of lost her life.

"Dawnfire, she said she was sorry. Why are you still mad?" Greynose asked obviously guessing she was still angry.

"It’s hard to explain." She replied.

Greynose nuzzled her cheek and began to groom her fur. The gentle rhythmic strokes of his tongue seemed to calm her down. It was like being a kit all over again.

When he finished she turned round to him. His yellow eyes seemed to be filled with happiness and love. She buried her muzzle into his medium-length fur.

He purred and that made her purr. Being with him made her happy, it made her forget all her worries.

"Greynose," She mewed.

"Yeah."

"I just want you to know that I really care for you. I'm so glad it was you who could make this journey with me and no other warrior."

Her comment seemed to make him purr even louder. "I care for you too Dawnfire. I've loved you forever."

"Well, not quite!"

He sighed. "Well, you know what I mean."

She mewed in agreement and pulled away from him. "I need to get the others organised."

He nodded his head and licked her ear. "I'll go hunt for both of us."

She returned the lick and walked out of the bush and gathered the cats around her. "Is everyone present?" She asked.

Gorsepaw stood up and stood in front of Dawnfire with hatred in his eyes. "Kestrelwing’s not here. Can't you see that? Are you blind? You could spot him from far away. He's the only golden tom here! Why can't you see he is not here?"

"OK, sorry Gorsepaw he's-"

"He's been taken away by something and it's your entire fault! If you didn't make us stay right here last night then he'd still be with me. Do you only think of yourself? You are nothing but a stupid ThunderClan cat. A liar! Haarepaw did not stael prey from you, ThunderClan are nothing but scrawny crow-food eaters!"

Why was Gorsepaw so angry? 

"Look, Gorsepaw. He's probably hunt-"

"Shut up Dawnfire! Why did StarClan send you to lead us? ThunderClan are useless pieces of fox-dung that show no respect!" Gorsepaw shouted.

Silverpebble walked up to stand beside him. "Calm down Gorsepaw. ThunderClan haven't done anything."

"Back of you fish eater!" He snarled raking his claws across her face. Rippletail hissed and ran over beside her Clanmate whose cheek was bleeding.

"Gorsepaw! There's no need for that!" Dawnfire hissed at him.

"Again. Why do I always have to repeat myself? You are nothing but fox-dung! This will be my last time saying it. You never were a good warrior just like the rest of ThunderClan! Redstar is a worthless leader and so are you!" He hissed. "You don't deserve to lead us through this!" He sprang at her and raked his claws across her flank.

She winced as pain seeped through her. She didn't want to fight back, but it was the only way. She rounded on him and bit his ear. He tried to slash his claws across her face but missed. He let go of her and she managed to climb onto his back. Her weight was pushing him down. She ran her claws across his sides causing him to collapse.

"Don't try it Gorsepaw! I'm a warrior. I'm a lot more experienced than you." She hissed.

"Dawnfire! Get off him!" Rippletail screeched as she came through the reeds. "If those wounds get infected you’re the one treating them!" 

"Well, maybe he should of thought twice about attacking her." Frostflower piped up. "If his wounds get infected, let them go untreated. He will deserve it for attacking her."

Dawnfire liked how Frostflower defended her against the RiverClan medicine cat. They always defended each other. It made her think. Maybe she should give her another chance. She released her grip on Gorsepaw and he sprang free.

"Come on Gorsepaw. Come with me so I can clean your wounds." Rippletail mewed. Before she could escort him Frostflower pushed herself in front of the medicine cat.

"Oh no! I think I made it pretty clear when I said his wounds were not getting treated." She mewed sternly.

"But he needs treatment" Rippletail protested.

"No! Leave him be." Frostflower hissed.

"Dawnfire?" Rippletail asked tilting her head to one side. "He needs treatment."

Dawnfire thought for a moment. He has wounds and wounds need to be treated. But he attacked her. 

"No Dawnfire. He attacked you. He tried to kill you." Frostflower mewed.

"I know he attacked me, I don't think he meant to try kill me though. But however, he shall get one dressing on and no more." Dawnfire mewed. Frostflowers' blue eyes darted to Gorsepaw and showed clear hatred.

"Thank you Dawnfire," Rippletail mewed dipping her head. "But why only one when I could heal his wou-"

"Rippletail! Dawnfire said one dressing. She is our leader just now so you must listen to her!" Frostflower shouted. 

"I'm not the leader. I'm just in charge and have to lead these cats.”

Frostflower flicked her ears but didn’t reply to her, she carried on talking to Rippletail. “You’re lucky she even gave you permission to give him treatment!”

Foxclaw came up beside Frostflower. “Come on.” He mewed. “Let’s just leave Rippletail.”

Frostflower followed Foxclaw into the bushes. Dawnfire heard a rustle behind her and spotted Greynose with a few pieces of prey in his jaws. He stopped dead when he saw Dawnfire and Gorsepaw covered in wounds.

“What happened here?” He asked dropping the prey to the ground.

“Gorsepaw attacked Dawnfire.” Silverpebble said. “He called her and ThunderClan fox-dung and stupid excuses for cats.”

Greynose glared and Gorsepaw. “How dare you!” He said. “How dare you call us worthless cats? Maybe you should take a look at yourself before calling other cats worthless.”

Gorsepaw flattened himself on the ground. “I- I’m sorry.”

Rippletail pushed herself in between the two toms. “Greynose, leave him alone. Dawnfire has already hurt him enough.”

Greynose grunted at the medicine cat and walked off. A rustling in the bushes made Dawnfire whip around. Kestrelwing had appeared with some more prey. Gorsepaw looked so happy to see that Kestrelwing had returned but his eyes darkened when he realised that he had attacked Dawnfire for no reason. Silverpebble once again explained what had happened and they settled down to eat some prey. Once they had finished, Rippletail escorted Gorsepaw to the river and began to treat his wounds.