Warriors: The Prophecy of Fire

Chapter Four

Almost a moon had passed since her accident and she was healing well. She had been spending most of her time helping Mosstail or chatting with Nightpaw and her littermates. Featherstep's kits, Dovekit and Twigkit, were now apprentices. Dovepaw's mentor was Berrytail and Dawnsky was Twigpaw's. Hawthornepaw had left the medicine cat's den a few days ago and was back to the now very crowded apprentice den. Nothing really exciting had happened, she went on patrols with the other apprentices, hunted, and practiced fighting with her littermates. It was sunup and Hawthornepaw had left on patrol with Dovepaw, Nightpaw, and Silverpaw and their mentors, Berrytail, Hawkheart, Lakeclaw, and Lilypelt. They walked around the borders, marking where the scent was weak. They got to the ShadowClan border by the Thunderpath and ShadowClan's scent was really strong.

"Is it supposed to be that strong?" Dovepaw asks, her eyes wide and her nose crinkled at the nasty smell.

"No," Lakeclaw said, her eyes glistening with anger. "It's pretty fresh, I think their still here." The patrol split up, tracking down the scent. Hawthornepaw followed the scent and it got really strong by a bush.

"Over here!" she yowled, and the patrol raced over. She dove into the bushes and there were two cats, a golden tom and a white she-cat. They hissed as Hawthornepaw landed right next to them and darted out of the bushes into the patrol's waiting paws. They skidded to a stop and hissed at the patrol, Hawthornepaw stepped out of the bush and walked over to the invaders, her fur standing on edge. 

"Lionpelt, Roseear, what are you doing on RiverClan territory?" Berrytail asks, venom in her voice. 

Lionpelt ducked back into the bushes and pulls out 3 frogs and a lizard, dangling from his jaws. 

"These crossed into your territory, but their ours. We had been chasing them for a few tree lengths, so we weren't just gonna let them go."

"Well," Lilypelt hissed, "it doesn't matter, you can't cross the borders. They're there for a reason. We all know that if we crossed your border you would claw our ears." 

Dovepaw turned to Nightpaw and Hawthornepaw, "Why are we arguing over those slimy things, they smell disgusting," she whispered, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"It's not over the prey," Nightpaw meowed back, "it's because they crossed the border, and cause they tried to hide. You never cross the borders, no matter what." Dovepaw nodded in understanding and they turned back to the warriors. 

Lakeclaw was hissing at the ShadowClan warriors, her fur raised.

"You're mouse-brained if you don't let us just walk away." 

Nightpaw joined in with Lakeclaw and hissed at the invaders, "We are going to follow you back to your camp to tell Beechstar what you've done, and you know he won't be happy." 

Roseear hissed back, "No you won't," she said, leaping on top of Dovepaw. Hawthornepaw jumped over and pushed Roseear off of the small apprentice. These ShadowClan cat's are even more minnow-brained than I thought, it's two against eight, who do they think will win? Hawthornepaw thought as she circled around Roseear. She leapt on top of her and unsheathed her claws, raking them against the white she-cat's exposed belly. Roseear yowled in pain and kicked out her hind legs, knocking Hawthornepaw back. She jumped up and hooked her claws on the back of her pelt, digging in, causing Roseear to screech. Roseear rolled around, trying to dislodge the smaller tortoiseshell, but she did not prevail. Hawthornepaw lowered her jaws and nipped Roseear right on the tendon by her shoulder, causing her to collapse in pain. She pinned her down and looked around. Lionpelt was pinned down by Hawkheart, but Dovepaw had a big scratch down the side of her face, her cream white fur now pink with blood. Nightpaw had collapsed, she couldn't see any wounds but he was laying flat on his belly with blood soaking the grass beneath him. Silverpaw was next to Dovepaw, helping her up and letting her lean on her shoulder, helping her walk back to the medicine cat den, Lilypelt on the other side. Lakeclaw saw Hawthornepaw with Roseear and her eyes glimmered with pride as she made her way over.

"I'll take care of Roseear, you help Nightpaw back to camp, ok?" Hawthornepaw nodded and walked over to Nightpaw, his legs splayed out beneath him. She nosed his muzzle and he looked up, his eyes full of pain. He knew what he needed to do and he pushed himself up with shaky legs, leaning on her shoulders. She pushed back as they stumbled to the camp, heading to the medicine cat's den. They got there and she brought him to the den, letting him collapse in a nest. He landed on his side and she saw scrapes deep in his belly and she gasped. She raced over to the herbs and grabbed the goldenrod that Mosstail had applied to her cuts. She chewed it up, tasting the sour flower in her jaws. She spit it out and spread it on his cuts, he cried out in pain but she hushed him. She then raced back to the stock and grabbed some cobwebs to stop the bleeding. Pressing their sticky strands tightly to his belly. When Mosstail saw what she was doing, he raced over to her and looked at her in astonishment.

"What did you do?" she asked, not in an intimidating way but in more of a happy and surprised one. 

"I remembered the goldenrod you gave me and every cat knows if they have common sense that cobwebs help stop the bleeding."

Mosstail looked at her, his eyes shining in what looked like pride and confusion, "Wow, good job." He raced over to the stocks and brought back the familiar poppy seeds, giving Nightpaw two seeds and she saw him drift off into sleep. "Have you ever considered being a medicine cat?" Mosstail asked and Hawthornepaw quickly shook her head.

"I've always wanted to be a warrior. Even now, thinking about it, I know that that is what I want to do." He nods understandingly and checks her over. Her usually soft fur is crusty with blood, from both Roseear and Nightpaw, but none from her. 

"I do see why you want to be a warrior, you're an amazing fighter. You have no cuts and I bet that the other cat is in a lot worse shape than you. What happened?"

Hawthornepaw explains about the prey and the fight and by the time she's finished, Mosstail's fur is standing on end.

"Those fox-hearted mouse-brains are always itching for a fight. You better get some fresh-kill and head back to your den, I bet Brushpaw and Twigpaw are anxious to hear what happened." Hawthornepaw nods and heads back to the apprentice den, telling them what happened. By the time she had finished it was almost moon-high and she was exhausted. She curled up in her nest and drifted off into sleep.