Wildfire

Chapter 2

Pinepaw winced as her paw slipped from the branch of the birch tree, and she scrambled to keep her balance. Chivepaw snickered, easily leaping down from the tall pine. "It's not that easy for all of us!" Pinepaw shouted at her sister, and Chivepaw squealed unconvincingly. "Oh-no! You need help to climb a tree!"

Pinepaw grumbled, letting out a little squeak as she nearly fell from the branches. She scowled as Chivepaw nearly fell over laughing. Determined to show her, she launched her body from the tree, over Chivepaw's head. "Pinepaw, careful," Coniferfoot yelped.

Pinepaw twisted her head to look at her mentor, forgetting she was falling. She hissed in surprise as she hit a frond of spruce needles. She lost momentum, falling to the ground with a thud. "Pinepaw? Oh, Starclan, Pinepaw?" Chivepaw fretted. "Are you ok? Are you alive?!"

"Nngh," Pinepaw groaned. Her ears were ringing, and Coniferfoot and Chivepaw were fading in and out of focus. She closed her eyes and let Coniferfoot drag her back to camp.

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Pinepaw came to in the medicine den, feeling sore all over. Wrenclaw, Flakepaw's mentor, spotted her and padded over. "Awake, I see," he commented.

Pinepaw rolled over and felt a piercing pain. "Don't move that much," Wrenclaw said. "You got a pretty nasty bonk on the head."

Pinepaw moaned. Everything hurt. Wrenclaw licked her ear, applying what seemed to be a poultice. She winced as the herbs stung her torn ear. "You should stay in the medicine den. I told Pumpkinstar that you shouldn't go to the gathering."

Pinepaw gasped. "But he promised! He told me that I could go this moon!"

Wrenclaw shook his head sadly. "I have to leave with the others now." He silently padded out of the medicine den, leaving Pinepaw alone.

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Pinepaw sniffed, shuffling the poppy seeds in front of her. Near her, Wildclaw snoozed in a soft moss nest. She was a little envious of the elder, when she ended up pulling a thorn from her nest. There was nothing to do here, it was so boring! The least she could do was look at the herbs Wrenclaw taught her in case someone was hurt when he and Flakepaw were away. She sighed as she ran them through her head.

Alder bark, toothaches. Borage, sooths bellyaches. Bright-eye and lovage for coughs. Catmint for greencough. Cobwebs for wounds. Dock poultice for scratches. Feverfew for aches, fevers, and headaches. The list went on and on.

Near her, Wildclaw began to cough. Pinepaw looked over at him, hearing the rattling in his breath. Pinepaw knew about herbs, and grabbed the pink bright-eye to help him. What she didn't know about was lovage. She remembered it's yellow flowers from when she had needed some as a kit. She sniffed a stalk of parsley, flipping it over to look for the flowers. Parsley with yellow flowers is lovage, she reminded herself. She gasped happily, finding a lovage stalk. She picked it up gingerly, for all she knew, it was slightly toxic. She strained the lovage and bright-eye in water, and soaked moss from Flakepaw's nest into the water, and dabbed it against Wildclaw's mouth. Wildclaw wheezed, and his breath evened again. Koifall walked in silently, making Pinepaw jump when she spoke. "That's a good tactic."

"You scared me!" Pinepaw glared at the white and ginger she-cat.

"Sorry, sorry," Koifall laughed. "I just couldn't help but notice that tactic you used to help Wildclaw. Never seen that before. You would make a good medicine cat."

"No way!" Pinepaw complained. "I'm going to be the best warrior there ever was!"

Koifall chuckled. "Alright, but could you fetch me a herb for my headache?"

Pinepaw nodded, rushing to grab the feverfew. I'm going to be the best warrior in Mudclan. Koifall can't change that. There's no way I would be a good medicine cat.

Would I?

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Pinepaw was ready to scratch her sister's ear off as she kept gossiping about the gathering. Chivepaw was yapping about her third gathering to anyone who would listen. "You know, Blazeclan has this new apprentice, Spikepaw, and he seems really stuck up, he wouldn't answer any of my questions about Blazeclan, like, what's life like there? Is the terrain hard to hunt in? Why does Blazeclan not have a lot of prey? Is it because of the terrain?"

Pinepaw hissed softly, quiet enough that Chivepaw couldn't hear. She could be such a nuisance sometimes. She yawned, curling up in her nest again. Chivepaw twitched her nose. "How come you stay here? It smells so weird."

"It's not like I have a choice," Pinepaw yawned. "I can't leave because I'm hurt."

"Well, it's not my fault that you're hurt. When are you going to come back out so we can adventure again?"

It was your fault, fox-heart! "I don't know. Can you please leave so I can rest?"

"Why should I leave you? I'm your littermate! I'll always take your side!"

"Chivepaw, I need some space."

Chivepaw refused to leave the medicine den, always sitting uncomfortably close to Pinepaw. She secretly hoped that Wrenclaw and Flakepaw thought that Chivepaw was in their way, and kicked her out. Pinepaw pretended to be asleep, when Chivepaw leapt on her. "Wake up! You've been asleep for long enough!"

Pinepaw grumbled, looking up at the sky. The sun had hardly moved. "Can I please sleep a little more?"

"Noooo!" Chivepaw whined. Then who'll keep me company?"

"Badgerstripe or Koifall," Pinepaw grumbled, listing their parents.

Chivepaw pouted, chewing a piece of honeycomb sulkily. "Ach, my paws are all sticky." She wiped them on Pinepaw's nest, and left the medicine den, leaving Pinepaw fuming.

Pinepaw curled up in the nest, it's leaves scratching her side tomorrow would be a new day. Tomorrow would be better.