Warrior Cats: The Winding Path (Book 1)

Chapter 8 (Timberpaw)

Timberpaw woke up in a leaf-scented den, light flooding through the thin cracks of the lichen overhang. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked around the sandy hollow, confused.

"Good morning," the soft purr beside him made him jump. He scrambled to his paws, the sand fluffing up in clouds of dust. "Calm down, Timberpaw! It's me, Sweetscent." A tail tip touched his shoulder and he looked up.

"S-sorry, I forgot where I was..." Timberpaw hung his head, embarrassed.

Sweetscent shook her head and a bit of amusement was flecked in her bright eyes, "It's fine. Clean up your nest, okay? You sure made a mess!" The creamy golden-brown she-cat padded out of their den, leaving Timberpaw alone. He pulled his moss bedding from underneath the layer of sand with his teeth. He shook the sand remnants from the moss before laying it back down. Carefully, he prodded the moss back into place, remaking the nest.

He padded out of the den and peered into the herb storage, searching for Sweetscent.

"Looking for something?" a growling voice made Timberpaw jump. He whipped around to see Rattail, one of ThunderClan's younger warriors, standing in the medicine cat den entrance.

"Just my mentor," Timberpaw meowed defensively. He didn't know why but being around this cat made him nervous. I shouldn't be thinking like that. He's just a little fierce, that's all.

Rattail snorted, "Tch, as am I."

Timberpaw looked at the dark warrior in confusion, "Why do you need her?"

"None of your business," he grumbled with a self-conscious lick of his chest fur.

"Well I am the medicine cat apprentice," Timberpaw pointed out.

"I doubt you know anything of herbs where you stand now," Rattail's tail lashed to the side, showing his impatience.

"Well then, lets see. What's the problem?" Timberpaw gave him a challenging glare.

Rattail sighed, "There was a scuffle at the WindClan border the other day and my wounds keep reopening."

"Well you sure ought to not move around as much! Give your wounds a break and they'll heal better," Timberpaw meowed.

"First day as an apprentice and you act as if you're the medicine cat already," Rattail muttered under his breath.

"Are they scratch wounds?" Timberpaw asked as he took a step toward the warrior.

"That's what Sweetscent told me," the gray warrior shrugged.

"I'll get some dock!" Timberpaw turned and disappeared into the herb storage. He pulled out some dock leaves and carried them over to where Rattail was waiting. He began to chew up the herbs, the horrid juice spread across his tongue and he wrinkled his nose. Once the leaves were chewed into a fine pulp he spat them onto his front paw's pad. "Now don't move, it might sting," Timberpaw meowed softly.

Rattail stiffened and glared down at the chewed herb as Timberpaw lifted a paw up to Rattail's scratch wound on his shoulder. He rubbed the herb onto the wound. Rattail winced but refused to pull away, probably not wanting to admit it hurt.

Once Timberpaw finished applying the herb to the rest of Rattail's scratches, he stood back. Rattail went to lick at his wounds but he stopped himself as he saw Timberpaw's warning eyes.

"Well no wonder they've been reopening!" he scoffed as he dragged a paw along the ground to get the excess chewed leaves off.

Rattail muttered something quietly before turning away from him. He padded out of the medicine den with his tail held high with silent defiance.

"Well done, Timberpaw," the meow sounded from inside the sick cats den. He didn't even notice his mentor had been watching!

"Uh, er, you were watching?" Timberpaw shuffled his paws, embarrassed he hadn't asked his mentor for permission to use her herbs.

"Don't worry, you aren't in any sort of trouble. I'm proud really, you are quite good at remembering the things I tell you," she purred. Timberpaw brightened at his mentor's praise. "Anyway, today I will be showing you some of the duties of a medicine cat and maybe some commonly used herbs."

"We won't be seeing the territory?" Timberpaw's whiskers twitched with disappointment. He wanted to go with his siblings to see the territory!

"No, we'll save that for tomorrow, okay?" Sweetscent shook her head and padded back into the sick cats den, her tail flicking back and forth for him to follow. Timberpaw frowned and glanced back at the medicine cat den entrance. Did I choose the right path? This is everything I could ever want but I want to also be with Sagepaw and Nightpaw.

He followed his new mentor into the sick cats den. It was empty but a few of the moss nests reeked with the smell of blood and fear.

"There was a scuffle at the WindClan border as you've heard. Our warriors fought hard but in return they received some nasty wounds. Spiderstar has been increasing patrols along the border, warning WindClan to stay on their side of the territory," Sweetscent meowed.

"WindClan was in ThunderClan territory?" Timberpaw blinked in shock. He was surprised he and his siblings didn't hear about it yesterday, maybe Spiderstar had discussed it in a Clan meeting when they had been napping for the last time.

"Yes, but be calm. Medicine cats lay beyond the Clan rivalries, but don't get me wrong, I do not approve of WindClan stealing ThunderClan prey," Sweetscent meowed grimly.

Timberpaw nodded, he was glad his mentor shared the same feelings with him about the news of WindClan. He shuffled his paws to the side, "Do you ever feel lonely as a medicine cat?" He held his breath, hoping his mentor had suspected him of wanting to give up the life of a medicine cat. In truth, he didn't want to give it up, he just wanted to see his siblings.

Sweetscent looked thoughtfully up at the den's mossy ground, "Well ever since my old mentor had died, yes, I felt lonely. But if your asking me if I felt separated from the rest of the Clan then I can tell you my answer is no. All the medicine cat duties and learning herbs made me forget," she admitted.

"Oh..." Timberpaw trailed off. Forget? Does she mean she forgot about her Clanmates? No... she probably meant she forgot about how distant she was from them now that she had chosen a different path than most cats.

"Anyway," Sweetscent shook her golden-brown head as if to clear it of old memories, "it's time to go over some medicine cat duties."

"What's first?" Timberpaw meowed. He looked up at his mentor expectantly, he was ready to learn anything his mentor taught him.

"A great deal of the medicine cat life is treating sick or injured cats. We are lucky to not have any in our den now. Though, one would be nice to give you a demonstration." Sweetscent said. "After a battle, attack, or disease, we have to clean the sick cats den. As you can most likely smell, there is the scent of blood and the nests are stained. We must clean them out and get new ones," Sweetscent meowed. "I do understand that is the job of a warrior apprentice over a medicine cat apprentice, but sometimes they aren't available."

"It's not that hard to clean out, right?" Timberpaw meowed.

Sweetscent glanced at him but didn't answer. "I'll go get some fresh moss, you can start picking out the used nests from yesterday's scuffle," Sweetscent meowed. She ducked out of the den, leaving Timberpaw, once again, alone.

Timberpaw shook his head and began tearing out one of the blood stained nests. Its reek drifting up to his nose, cloying the air around him with it's putrid stench. He continued tearing it up and laying the moss in a pile at the edge of the den. All throughout picking at the moss one thought nagged at his head, is this everything I ever wanted?