Who are you going to talk about first, Mother?
Yeah! Is it gonna be Tigerstar?
Tigerstar will come later, my kits. As for now, I will tell you the tale of a cat who put all of his heart and soul into his work.
A minor cat, one who is often glossed over. But he never let it stop him. He gave, and continues to give, all he has for his Clan.
Who is it, Fawnpoppy?
This cat, Honeykit, is called Thornclaw.
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Thornclaw bent down into a hunter's crouch, stalking his squirrel. The golden tabby tom slowly put a paw forward, his movements silent against the soft grass of newleaf. Prey was beginning to pop out of their dens, crawling in every hole, branch, and thicket.
The golden warrior leaped, slamming his paws down on the leaves. Unfortunately, the squirrel had scampered away in the nick of time.
"Mouse-dung!" Thornclaw muttered. He was as tired as an elder, going on patrols day and night. He sighed, drooping his tail and letting it touch the rough ground. At his moment of silence, he heard a mouse rustling the leaves of an abandoned rabbit hole.
Thornclaw snapped back into action. He thought of why he went on those countless patrols: to keep his clan protected and well-fed. He was dedicated to ThunderClan more than anything else in the forest.
Keeping his ear on the mouse, Thornclaw gazed up at the sky. Almost sun-high. He would have to hurry up with his prey if he wanted to meet up with the rest of his patrol.
Patiently waiting by the hole entrance, Thornclaw sliced the mouse's throat in an undignified swipe. And I'm supposed to be a senior warrior, he thought to himself begrudgingly.
He gave his thanks to StarClan, then heaved himself up to go join the rest of his patrol.
We've got so many warriors in ThunderClan. With Dovepaw and Ivypaw nearly ready to become warriors, we'll win every battle that comes our way!
Though... Ashfur was a good fighter as well. He'd be proud to see how strong his Clan has become. I'll slice the ears off the rogue that killed him!
The death of his blonde-haired friend made Thornclaw's ears flatten. Ashfur was a great warrior and companion. And I'll keep working harder until I make sure his death wasn't in vain!
With a startled mrrow of surprise, Thornclaw stumbled forward as his paw fell into a rabbit hole. Pain jolted through his body as he kept moving, but his paw stayed stuck. Thornclaw landed at the foot of a tree. He let out an ear-splitting yowl of pain.
As if summoned, his sister, Brightheart, rushed over to his side a few heartbeats later, though it might as well be moons and moons before the one-eyed warrior came about.
"Thornclaw! What happened?" Brightheart meowed, concerned. "Shall I call Jayfeather?"
"I'm fine," Thornclaw muttered through gritted teeth, sprawled out in an uncomfortable position. "Fell in a rabbit hole, nothing serious."
"You're not well. I'm getting Jayfeather. That paw obviously needs attention if you can't even take it out of the hole," she said, ignoring his protests and dashing off to camp.
Thornclaw sighed, going limp. Brightheart was right, it hurt to even lift his injured right paw out of the rabbit hole.
At least I've got my mouse, he thought wryly, glancing at the prey lying a few tail-lengths behind him.
Before long, he could hear the fleeting footsteps of Jayfeather and Brightheart.
"Hm. Just as I thought. Thornclaw, you've got a dislocated shoulder and sprained paw. Brightheart, help me walk Thornclaw to the medicine cat den so I can wrench it back into place and give him a few poppy seeds," the blind medicine cat ordered.
"But my mouse!" Thornclaw protested as he leaned on Brightheart's shoulder.
"You're more important than the mouse. The patrol should be heading back with a lot more prey, anyways. Besides, it seemed like a messy kill from the smell of it," Jayfeather retorted, wrinkling his nose. Thornclaw sighed in defeat.
Thornclaw looked at the green newleaf grass as he heard his patrol coming back. Brackenfur and Sorreltail had a large rabbit between them, while Bumplestripe carried a small vole in his jaws.
Sorreltail padded up to him, her eyes filled with concern for her clanmate. "Thornclaw, how did you get injured?"
"Fell in a rabbit hole," replied the golden warrior in a tense tone.
"Bad luck," his brother's mate consoled, shaking her head and walking back to Brackenfur.
Thornclaw watched as Jayfeather rustled through his herbs. "Hi, Thornclaw! Care for a pigeon?" came the happy voice of Briarlight, pushing a half-eaten pigeon toward him.
"No, thank you. You eat up," he instructed the dark she-cat, sweeping the bird back to Briarlight with his tail.
Jayfeather appeared behind him, holding up a couple of dark seeds on his paw. "Eat these poppy seeds so we can relocate your shoulder."
"I'm fine, really. Let me go back on patrols now," Thornclaw muttered between licks.
Pretending not to hear, Jayfeather took hold of his shoulder and paw, murmuring the instructions for relocating limbs to himself. "Alright, this will be extremely painful."
"Well that's not very- yeooow!" Thornclaw yowled as he felt a click in his body.
"Feel better?"
"A bit."
The silver tom went back into his storage. "Hang on, let me get some cobwebs..."
"Will you be alright, Thornclaw?" Briarlight, who had been watching, asked.
"It's a sprained paw and dislocated shoulder, not greencough, Briarlight," Jayfeather said sarcastically, appearing with a pawful of cobwebs.
"This is just to make sure that you don't move your paw around too much while you're resting," he explained, wrapping the webs around his paw.
"Resting?" Thornclaw yelped. "I can't rest! The Clan needs me!"
"You'll be in pain longer if you start romping around on patrols before you heal! Briarlight, go help Thornclaw make a nest, we can't risk him getting his paw injured in that noisy warriors den," Jayfeather ordered firmly.
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Night had fallen, and Thornclaw, curled up beside Briarlight, was restless. It was no use being holed up in the medicine den without being of use to his clan. I must keep working!
Slowly, Thornclaw rose up from his nest and silently padded toward the camp exit. "Thornclaw?"
The golden warrior froze. Who could be up at this time? I thought I was being silent!
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?" Jayfeather asked accusingly, stepping out of the shadows.
"I...I wanted to go hunting to make up for the patrol I missed," he answered. "What are you doing at moonhigh, for that matter?"
Jayfeather shifted on his paws uncomfortably. "Just thinking about...stuff."
The two stared at each other for a heartbeat before Thornclaw felt a wrenching pain in his paw, which he had been putting weight on.
"This is why you need to rest, not work yourself to death," Jayfeather said, leading him to the medicine den.
Reluctantly, Thornclaw settled down in his nest once more.
Not the best look for a senior warrior. If I won't be working these next few sunrises, I'll work twice as hard after!
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Wasn't Thornclaw in the Dark Forest, Mother?
Yes! How could one cat work so hard?
You're right, Robinkit, Thornclaw was training in the Dark Forest for a brief while. But when his loyalties were put to the test, he knew right away where his loyalties lay.
Thornclaw is a very hard-working cat, Honeykit, Ashfur's worried he'll work himself to death one day! While not all warriors are as hard-working as this cat, it is a very important part of being a warrior to give everything you have to your clan.
Oh, I get it! You have to dedicate yourself fully to be honored as a warrior.
I'll do that! I'll be the best StarClan warrior ever!
I'm sure you will, Robinkit. It's late now, isn't it? Head off to dreamland, my kits. More tales will come before you know it.