Flames At Night: Book 1: A Shattered Path

Chapter Thirty-Three

Okay, fine... cliffhanger ending.

Patterpaw

The black and white she-cat stirred awake to the scent of strong herbs. Am I in the medicine den? Suddenly she remembered what had happened, and leaped to her paws.

"You're awake!" Swiftpaw appeared next to her, pushing her back down into the nest. "Stay here, you still need to rest. I'm going to get Darkshine and Blizzardripple!" He dashed out of the den, before poking his head back in. "Are you hungry? I can get you a piece of fresh-kill if you'd like."

"I'm fine," Patterpaw replied. She waited until he had left again, then carefully touched the wound on her throat.

There was still a large wad of cobwebs on it, with a sizable amount of marigold leaf poultice under. When she stretched out her neck, a twinge of pain shot through the injury, so she quickly pulled her head back as her sister barged in.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" The pale blue-gray she-cat nuzzled Patterpaw. "It'sbeendaysIcan'twaituntilyo-u'rebetterAcornfallisSOEVILRowanfootsaidyou'dbeokaybutIwasn'tsuresince-" She was cut off by a tail covering her mouth.

"Great StarClan, did you always talk this much?" Darkshine purred with laughter.

"Only when I'm excited!" Echopaw bounced up and down. "I'm so happy you're awake!"

"Be careful," Swiftpaw reminded her, entering with a vole which he set on the edge of Patterpaw's nest. "Her wound still needs a quarter moon to heal."

"A quarter moon?" Echopaw pouted. "I don't want to wait that long! Can't she be better now?"

"I'll try and get better as soon as I can," laughed Patterpaw. Echopaw squashed into the nest beside her, giggling.

Blizzardripple came into the den, anxiously inspecting the dressing on Patterpaw's throat. "When I was on border patrol, a WaveClan cat came and asked if you were alright."

"Dolphinshine?" she guessed. Her father nodded. "I know him from Gatherings." I hope he's okay. He shouldn't feel guilty; he was trying to help.

"Guess what happened while you were asleep?" Echopaw meowed. "Ravenwillow had her kits!"

"Really?" exclaimed Patterpaw. "I can't wait to meet them."

Rowanfoot poked her nose into the den. "Hey! Is she awake? Let me through, please." She squeezed between Darkshine and Swiftpaw and came up to the black and white she-cat. "Do you mind leaving for a little bit? I need space to check her over."

Patterpaw's parents left the den. Echopaw touched noses with her sister. "I'm sorry for teasing you about being short," she whispered. "I'm going to visit you every day to make up for it. Please don't be mad at me!"

"I'm not," Patterpaw promised. "When my neck heals, I'll go on as many patrols with you as I can."

The pale blue-gray she-cat smiled and dashed out of the den. "I'm so happy you're going to get better!"

"You're probably going to have a scar." Rowanfoot's mew recalled Patterpaw's attention. The dark brown medicine cat was frowning as she applied a fresh poultice to her patient's wound. "A big one. Hopefully your fur grows in to cover it some."

Swiftpaw bristled. "She's lucky she survived, scar or not!"

"I know, I know." Rowanfoot wrapped cobwebs around Patterpaw's throat. "We still haven't found Acornfall yet. I'm just hoping she doesn't come back."

"I remember Laurelheart told her to leave and not come back." Patterpaw tried to recall exactly what happened. Her memories were fuzzy. I must have blacked out.

"Apparently she didn't." Swiftpaw started to clean up a few scraps of herbs that littered the floor of the medicine den, brushing them to the side more violently than necessary. "She may as well stay away for all I care."

A gray she-cat poked her nose into the den. "Hi, Patterpaw," Ravenwillow mewed. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," the black and white apprentice answered. "Echopaw told me you had your kits."

"They're a pawful, definitely." Ravenwillow paused and looked at Patterpaw. "Lionpounce and I were going to name one of them after you, if you died. I'm glad we didn't have to."

"Oh." Patterpaw unconsciously touched her throat. "What did you name the kit instead?"

"Well," Ravenwillow said, rubbing a paw over her ear, "we thought that you should name her. You don't have to if you don't want to."

The black and white she-cat smiled. "I think you should name her Crowkit."