The Rogue Traitor #3 - Two Worlds

Chapter Five

"You need to go see Flowerstem ," meowed Whiskerstar, looking down at his apprentice with concern, "see if they can do anything to numb the pain or stop any damage to that shoulder." Birdpaw nodded, not really wanting to show any weakness in front of her Clan, but she knew she had to do something about her shoulder.

She looked just behind Whiskerstar and noticed that Foxleap stuck super close to his leader, glaring at the apprentice. She looked back over and focused on getting back to camp without limping, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Foxleap. It was like he seriously thought that she would attack their leader and kill him, honestly! Some of her Clanmates must think she was so evil...

"Birdpaw," interrupted Whiskerstar, "did you hear what I said?" The apprentice looked over her shoulder at Foxleap again, who rolled his eyes, and then back at her mentor.

"No," she mumbled, "sorry."

"It's fine," he smiled softly, "I was just saying how Leaf-bare doesn't seem as harsh as it has been other years. We haven't had as much snow, the wind has been warmer and we haven't had many storms. Maybe the weather is slowly becoming less harsh." Birdpaw nodded, not really bothering about the weather, but she knew her mentor was trying to break the awkward silence.

Thankfully, they hadn't been too far from camp and made it back before it could become too awkward. Foxleap rushed off to what seemed like his 'We Hate Birdpaw and Think She Wants to Kill Our Leader' group, which contained Foxleap, Lilysong (suprisingly), Vineleaf and Grassheart. Whiskerstar didn't notice his absence, and if he did, he didn't know any emotion, instead helping Birdpaw walk over inside the medicine cat den.

"My favourite patient!" Called a voice and Birdpaw smiled, despite her pain, and rushed over to Flowerstem as best as she could. In the moons that the apprentice had been away, Chiveleaf had retired to the elder's den, leaving the patchy she-cat as the only medicine cat and making the den much more pleasant.

"I am sorry I didn't get to see you sooner," purred Flowerstem, "everything has been so chaotic. There was the fight over the prey and then you went for training-".

"It's fine," smiled Birdpaw, also purring, "I am here now."

"You're not hurt or anything?" Asked the medicine cat, stepping back and looking over the apprentice, "Whiskerstar wasn't too harsh in training was he?" She looked over at her mate and smiled, but when he didn't return it, it faded away from her face.

"What happened?" She asked in a warning tone, looking at both mentor and apprentice narrowed eyes.

"Foxleap attacked her," growled the leader, showing his first emotion of the ... misunderstanding. Flowerstem gasped, eyes darting to the younger she-cat, who smiled slightly as the pain continued to flare in her shoulder.

"What did he do?" She pressed, taking a step forward before noticing the way the apprentice held up her front left shoulder. Her eyes widened and she gasped again.

"No," she whispered, hurrying over, "no, no, no, no, no. Why? Why would he do this?"

"It was a misunderstanding," replied Whiskerstar gravely, watching as his mate began flitting around the den, gathering different herbs and berries, "he thought that she was attacking me when we were only training. He knocked her off me, which caused her to land on her shoulder and-".

"You don't know how hard it is to get those kits off me," interrupted a voice and everyone turned to see Dewpaw burst into the den, panting, "I think I may have slipped away without them seeing but-". He stopped mid-sentence when he spotted Whiskerstar nearby and looked over at Birdpaw and Flowerstem, who had paused with one paw raised and a bunch of leaves in her mouth.

"Oh sorry," he apologised, "I didn't realise I was interrupting something." He checked outside the den and slowly began to slink out as Whiskerstar continued.

"And he almost suffocated her," he finished, causing an uproar.

"I am sorry, what?!" Yowled Dewpaw, rushing back into the den.

"He what?!" Cried Flowerstem, dropping all of her herbs. Birdpaw swayed, eyes wide at the sudden explosion of noise while Whiskerstar rushed to steady her.

"Does anybody to care to fill me in?" Asked older apprentice as the medicine cat began to gather all of her dropped herbs. The leader quickly helped his apprentice lay down in a nest before filling the cream tom in on everything. Flowerstem crouched down next to the younger she-cat and placed a clump of daisy-like flowers next to her.

"Feverfew," she whispered, smiling slightly, "it will help to ease any headache. Also, take some of this dandelion, it will ease the pain in your shoulder, as will these poppy seeds." Birdpaw didn't argue and swallowed the herbs, wincing at the taste. Slowly everything began to feel better and she even felt a bit tired, not trying to resist the sleep as it came over her.