Lurking shadows (Jaguarfur POV)

Chapter 7

The two cats were locked in battle when a yowl came from behind them, and he turned to see all of the ShadowClan cats fleeing from the clearing, leaving patches of blood and tufts of fur on the ground. Blood welled from a scratch in his cheek, nearly blinding him in one eye. He padded over to his sister, who had less scratches than him, but it was still very obvious she had been fighting.
"Thanks" he panted, still catching his breath.
"No problem, you looked like you needed some help" she purred.
"You fought well" came a voice behind him, and Falconsoar appeared next to him. She had far more scratches than him, but none were too bad.
"Thanks"
"You need to get that gash checked out tho" She nodded to the claw mark on his shoulder. A thin red line of blood ran down his shoulder, but it hurt less than he expected.
"Let's go" The brown tortoiseshell signalled with her tail for her warriors to go back to camp. Jaguarpaw waited to the back of the patrol for Blazepaw to catch up.
"What did you think?" He asked when the ginger and white Tom reached him.
"It was good, and I'm still alive which is a bonus" He purred. Specklepaw turned around from where she was talking to Foxfern.
"Are you two okay?" She asked, worry flashing in her blue-green eyes.
"We're fine, but Falconsoar said we need to go to the medicine den" He said, trying to make her worry less about them.
"I didn't mind that battle" Blazepaw said as they walked into the medicine den.
"I wouldn't have minded it so much if my scratches didn't hurt so much" Said Jaguarpaw. The tingling sensation had wore off now, and his whole body stung with small cuts.

When they padded into the medicine den, Whiteberry was treating a wound on Bluefeather's thigh. The medicine den was full of cats waiting to get cobwebs on their wounds. Then Maplepaw appeared from around the corner and made her way over to him and Blazepaw.
"You need cobwebs?" She guessed, and all three apprentices nodded.
"Go and wait on the nests, I'll come and help you soon" She flicked her tail to the three tightly woven nests.

They padded over to them and waited for a bit before Thistledawn and Maplepaw entered the smaller part of the cave and began treating them. Jaguarpaw noticed Maplepaw go straight over to Blazepaw, letting Thistledawn treat his wounds. The she-cat seemed unusually rough while pressing the cobwebs onto his wounds, but he didn't say anything.
"Have you had many cats with bad injuries?" He asked.
"Stripedflower had quite a bad one, but no one has fatal ones" Maplepaw responded.
"Good job, Maplepaw" Thistledawn praised her apprentice after giving them all a quick sniff, and both cats padded back into the main part of the medicine den.
"Do we go now?" Asked Specklepaw.
"I suppose, they didn't tell us to say" he shrugged and made his way back outside. His wounds still stung, but he felt too tired to do anything else apart from sleep.

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Jaguarpaw poked his head through the apprentices den, dawn pink light filtering through the branches.

"Specklepaw" He whispered.

"Hm?" She muttered.

"Dawnflights' having her kits" As soon as he mentioned it, his sister jumped up, worry glistening in her turquoise eyes. He knew as well as she did why the camp was so tense; her kits weren't supposed to be born for another moon.

Halfstar paced around the bottom of highrock, casting anxious glances at the nursery, where Whiteberry, Thistledawn and Maplepaw scampered from the medicine den to the elder bush. Suddenly, a white face popped out of the entrance.

"She's had the kits" Thistledawn announced. First Halfstar and Blazepaw padded in, while Specklepaw got to her paws and dropped a mouse by Pigeonfeather, who looked lost in thought as he watched cats slowly start milling about camp. Eventually, most cats had seen the kits by the time it was their turn. As soon as they entered the nursery, the smell of warm milk hit the roof of his mouth, taking him straight back to when he was a kit, huddled up with Specklepaw and Poppydawn. In the corner, Dawnflight lay with two tiny kits curled up next to her belly. There was a larger, dark brown tom and a smaller, lighter coloured she cat. Whiteberry was sniffing the two kits before nodding to the queen and padded out of the den. The brown she cat looked exhausted, so he decided it would probably be best to let her rest.

"Come on" He murmured to Specklepaw, and they squeezed back out of the nursery. "They where so cute!" She said when they were back out.

"I wonder if we where that cute as kits" Jaguarpaw wondered aloud.

"Obviously I was the cutest" Specklepaw purred. He pounced on her and pinned her to the dusty ground. They wrestled for a bit before a shadow covered them, and Falconsoar appeared, an amused glimmer in her eyes.

"Lets go, we have a hunting patrol" She meowed, and Jaguarpaw scrambled to his paws, remembering he was going on a patrol.

"See you later" He flicked his tail to Specklepaw and followed his mentor out of camp.

"Do you remember when you were a kit?" He asked, catching up to his mentor, who was leading the patrol.

"Of course I do, i'm not that old you know!" She purred.