Warriors Ironheart's Love

Chapter 5

When Ironpaw arrived back at camp, the patrol immediately dispersed. Redpaw padded back to their den, ready to hide away once again in her moss. Longpaw pranced around his brother, meowing so loudly that the other clans should be able to hear.

Yet there was one cat that she couldn't trust, and that was the cat named Oddsky. He padded with the patrol all the way to the front of the camp, where he slowly made his way to see Skyberry. She was busy in her den, sorting the herbs that she'll need to work with while the blizzard eventually died out.

Ironpaw eyed the black tabby suspiciously. He was pacing outside the den, flicking his eyes back and forth like he was about to commit such a horrible act. Then he looked Ironpaw's way and locked his gaze on her. She nearly felt herself jump out of her own fur. 

There just isn't something right with that cat. Ironpaw thought quickly, averting her gaze in a different direction from the tom. It might just be the fact the cold chilling her underneath her fur. Maybe she just needed to hide within the apprentices' den or maybe even talk to Arthur and Sharpsnap. That didn't seem like such a bad plan, so she attempted to find the pair within the camp.

It was much harder than what she originally thought, however. The duo was nowhere to be seen throughout camp. One of the older apprentices pointed their tail at Ironpaw, which made her heart race. Something good isn't going to happen out of this. She thought, and the two older apprentices starting padding up to Ironpaw.

"Oh look, Bigpaw is trampling all over camp!" Hawkpaw sneered at Ironpaw while Wrenpaw snickered at his comment. "She looks like she can't even walk on her paws! May Starclan protect her!" Hawkpaw and Wrenpaw howled out in laughter. Ironpaw's ears pressed against her head and attempted to walk away from the nearly made warriors.

The two older apprentices had other ideas for their confrontation. Wrenpaw ran ahead of Ironpaw to block her off. "Where you going, Bigpaw?" Ironpaw started to back away from her but Hawkpaw stood behind her, cutting off her only other escape route. "I-I was just going to find Sharpsnap and Arthur!" She stuttered out, watching as the experienced apprentices were circling her.

Their paw steps were so light that they could barely be heard, even when they crunched against the snow. "Hear that Wrenpaw? She wants to go see those losers!" Hawkpaw chuckled evilly, his glare more prominent as he got closer. "Maybe she should just go to the nursery for them to let her suckle! Oh, wait, both of them can't!"  Wrenpaw and Hawkpaw got closer until Ironpaw could swear she could feel their breath running down her spine.

She glanced around, attempting to find a way out of the situation. She wasn't even close to their size, as they were near fully grown apprentices. When she wasn't looking in their direction, Hawkpaw slashed out. His claws landed on her ear, and she let out a yowl. Ironpaw put her paw up to her ear and a warm liquid dripped onto her paw. It stung like a thorn in her pad that she couldn't pull out.

"Bigpaw over here is hurt! Hope she can deal with a little wound!" Wrenpaw snickered, her yellow eyes showing how bloodthirsty she was. Ironpaw's tail was in between her hindlegs. Hawkpaw licked the blood off his claw. "Look at that Wrenpaw, she got my claw bloody. Maybe she could get hers dirty!" Wrenpaw lunged at her again, aiming for her throat. Ironpaw legs tensed, waiting for the moment to run as fast as she could.

Wrenpaw jumped quickly, and Ironpaw could do nothing but watch her attack. Thinking quickly on her paws, she raised her big paws in an attempt to bat away the rush on her. It was an unsuccessful attempt, since Wrenpaw landed on her, slowly ripping her fur from her pelt to get to her skin. Ironpaw cried out with pain, gritting her teeth tightly. "Oh is Bigpaw in pain?" Hawkpaw meowed with fake sympathy, his ears pointed downward. She didn't dare respond. If she did, they would surely rip her muzzle apart. This would surely be the end of her life.

"Enough!" A yowl sounded across the camp that Ironpaw couldn't recognize. The apprentices must not have heard the yowl, as they kept on their horrid assault. A claw raked across her back, making her screech.

That made some warriors come out of their den's to see the horrible sight. Ironpaw heard Thornleaf's gasp and Cedarwater's 'Great Starclan' from across the camp. Ironpaw opened her eyes that she didn't realize that she closed to witness Arthur and Sharpsnap racing over to her.

"Wrenpaw and Hawkpaw, how dare you do this to a new apprentice! Be ashamed of yourself for this." Thornleaf snarled loudly, his normally soft green eyes turning wicked. Cedarwater started stalking towards the two apprentices, his eyes mear slits. "Because of your stunt, your assessment will be at least delayed a moon! Think about your actions before you do them!" Wrenpaw and Hawkpaw let their heads hang in defeat. They both knew that they were about to get an earful that would last a moon. 

Sharpsnap took her attention away from the scolding by nudging her. Arthur was on her other flank, attempting to assess the damage. Ironpaw could hear a dull ring in her ears that nearly muffled their voices. "We need to get Skyberry, but I don't think we'll be able to move her." One of the toms meowed. Ironpaw couldn't tell them apart anymore. Her vision was starting to get splotchy. "I'll run quickly to get her, maybe Oddsky's business here will be over."

"Ironpaw I need you to stay with me, alright? Focus on me and try to talk." The remaining one said to her. She attempted to focus on the tom, but couldn't do it. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open by the second. "Ironpaw, snap out of it! Thank Starclan that I'm not a medicine cat... Oh! Tell me about the life you had before you came to the clan." Ironpaw's eyes focused for a few seconds to recognize that it was Sharpsnap before the splotches returned.

"Mother was always trying to help us. Steel wasn't very strong though, so mother decided to let him go. He didn't get much food, the scraps at best. Within a half-moon, he was walking in the stars. At least that's what mother said. " Ironpaw slurred, her voice weakening by the word. She kept going on though, "Mother was such a good cat though. She always put Tin and me first before herself. Then the blizzard happened after Steel went away and mother was never the same."

Ironpaw managed to rasp out a few more sentences before she couldn't speak anymore. The dark spots were growing even when she didn't want them to. "Oh Ironpaw, I'll make sure nothing ever happens to cause you such harm again." Sharpsnap murmured, touching his nose to her neck fur. Is this what a true mother's love was supposed to feel like? Ironpaw couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it wasn't that sort of love either. She tried to meow out a thank you towards Sharpsnap yet she couldn't do it.

She let her eyes close to Sharpsnap's dismay. It was welcoming, the darkness without any pain to attack her. Not even a full day in Windclan and she was already messing up miserably. What did Nightspot even think of when this happened? Ironpaw knew she wouldn't be happy, but maybe she'll get to meet the great warrior one day. 


(Sorry guys for the long wait! School -specifically Chemistry- has been kicking my butt! I'll try to get a consistent pace, but that might not be able to happen. Thank you for supporting me in my time away from Wattpad!