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EOTW: Faded Boundaries: Chapter Sixteen

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Warriors Series 5.5: Echoes of the War
Book 1: Faded Boundaries
Chapter Sixteen

     The elders buried Dewpaw before dawn. Amberpaw and Blazepaw helped, since Brightheart and Cloudtail were too grief-stricken to aid in the burial of their song, while Hazeltail went off alone with Foxheart to bury their daughter. Foxheart seemed almost dazed as he padded beside his mate, but once again Hazeltail displayed no emotion, only a hard, determined set to her expression. Blazepaw couldn't understand ho any mother could be so hard. But then, he supposed, every cat grieved differently.

     After their Clanmates were laid to rest, Blazepaw returned to the twoleg nest. The sun was just starting to rise, though it could barely be seen through the rain and clouds. His Clanmates had all turned in to sleep after the vigil finished. Every cat was cramped together uncomfortably. No one had bothered to try and find any moss for bedding. Cats had just fallen asleep on the cold stone, too tired to be uncomfortable.

     Blazepaw's legs were sore and wet from helping the elders bury his denmate. He'd licked all the mud from his pelt, but the cold wetness clung to him. He followed the elders and Amberpaw back into the twoleg den, picking his way through his sleeping Clanmates. Snowpaw was asleep beside Brightheart and Cloudtail. The young tom's expression was tight with pain, his paws and tail twitching in his sleep. To Blazepaw's surprise, the newly named Lightpaw and Sparkpaw were there, snuggled close to their new denmate. They must have come to offer comfort to Snowpaw so he could sleep through the night.

     The apprentice was shaking and exhausted as he and Amberpaw curled up beside Snowpaw. Blazepaw closed his eyes, letting the slow breathing of all the other apprentices lull him to sleep.

     When Blazepaw woke again, Lightpaw and Sparkpaw were gone, as were a good number of his Clanmates. Sunlight was streaming into the den. It looked like several hours had passed since Dewpaw and Petalkit's burial. Snowpaw and Amberpaw were still curled up next to their parents in uneasy sleep. Brightheart's paw was laid on her son's shoulder, as though she had clung close to him as she'd drifted off to sleep.

     Blazepaw got to his paws, stretching out his sore limbs. He noticed Cinderheart standing by the den's entrance and started towards her, careful not to disturb his sleeping Clanmates. “Hey,” he called out to her quietly. “Going out?”

     His mother looked up as he approached. “Morning. And yes,” she replied, touching noses briefly with her son. “I was going to take Sparkpaw out to start training him how to hunt. If you wanted to hunt, though, a patrol just left for the twisted hazel. You should be able to catch up if you leave now.”

     “Alright.” The apprentice's stomach growled. A lively morning hunt would be just what he needed to get his mind off Dewpaw's death. Blazepaw gave a final flick of his tail, then headed out into the forest.

     Outside, the sky was finally clear, not a cloud to be seen. The rain was gone, but every surface seemed to be drenched in rain and mud. Even through the muddle, rainy smells, he was quickly able to pick up the patrol's scent. He followed it to the twisted hazel, where the patrol was gathered.

     Blossomfall, Seedlight, Bumblestripe, and Toadstep were gathered around the tree, speaking in low voices. They all looked up as Blazepaw approached them. “Morning,” Bumblestripe greeted. “I thought you might sleep later. You can rest more, if you want.”

     Blazepaw shook his head. “I'd rather hunt,” he told his mentor.

     Bumblestripe flicked at ear. “Suit yourself.” The other cats were shuffling, ready to hunt, but Blossomfall was staring ahead dully. She had been Dewpaw's mentor. Blazepaw couldn't imagine how she must be feeling.

     “Alright, all of our prey was lost when we left the camp behind,” Toadstep announced. “We're going to have to work hard to bring back enough prey to feed everyone. Let's get started.”

     The patrol stayed out the better part of the day. Blazepaw worked in silent concentration. He didn't let himself rest until he had caught a swallow and two mice. As long as he concentrated on the hunt, he didn't have to think about the way Dewpaw's body had cracked when it hit the rocks, or Petalkit's terrified scream as she fell down into the camp.

     Toadstep was leading the patrol back towards the twoleg den when two cats met them on their path. Jayfeather padded out of the bushes, accompanied by Leafpool. Toadstep seemed surprised to see him. “What are you doing away from the twoleg nest?” he asked.

     The blind tom flattened his ears. “What am I, a prisoner?” he snorted. Somehow, his tone seemed to lack its usual bite.

     “All of the supplies were lost with the camp,” Leafpool explained wearily. The tabby had been demoted from her position as medicine cat when the truth had been discovered about her kits, but she still helped Jayfeather often enough that she was more medicine cat than warrior. After this many moons, no cat seemed to mind, or even notice anymore that she brought far more herbs back to camp than fresh-kill.

     Jayfeather nodded. “I'm trying to restock. With two pregnant queens and away from the safety of camp, we need all the herbs we can get.” The tabby's expression grew thoughtful, his gaze almost seeming to sweep over the patrol as he added, “I wouldn't mind another set of paws to help carry things back to camp.”

     “I'll do it,” Blazepaw offered. The longer he could stay away from the grieving cats at the twoleg den, the better. And he'd never had the aversion to herbs and medicine cat duties that his sister seemed to have.

     Toadstep hesitated, then shrugged. “Alright. We'll carry your prey back to camp. Be careful.” He took up Blazepaw's swallow in his jaws, then led the patrol back towards camp.

     Jayfeather waited until they were gone, then turned to the two cats. “Come on. We need to bring back as much as we can find. Let's see if there's any fennel or chervil by the lake's edge.”

     The three cats made their way through the woods, sniffing around for any herbs they could find along the way. All the plants seemed to be drowning from too much water. They managed to find some tansy, but it was withered and useless.

     When they finally reached the new borders of the lake, however, Leafpool and Blazepaw stopped in shock. Jayfeather nearly bumped into them when they halted, but neither noticed. They couldn't tear their gazes away from the lake.

     Jayfeather came to stand beside them, tail lashing in annoyance. “What are you two mousebrains gawking at?” he grumbled.

     Blazepaw couldn't find the words for it. The lake looked huge. The wide stretch of water before him was terrifying to look at. The Clans' territories suddenly seemed so small and insignificant in comparison. While he gaped in silence, Leafpool answered Jayfeather's question. “The lake's almost twice as large as it should be,” she replied in a hushed mew. “About half of our territory is gone. WindClan doesn't look so bad, but a good chunk of ShadowClan's territory is underwater. I – I can't even see RiverClan's territory. And all I can see from the Gathering island is a few trees.”

     Jayfeather stiffened. As Leafpool leaned against him in an offer of comfort, he lifted his muzzle and tasted the air, as if trying to scent how far the water stretched. Blazepaw still couldn't look away from the swollen lake. All he could think was, how will things ever be the same again?

     “The lake won't be flooded forever.” Jayfeather's snarl snapped Blazepaw out of his thoughts. The small medicine cat still looked shaken, but he had regained his sharp tone. Jayfeather flicked an ear, glaring sightlessly at the apprentice as he told him, “One little flood isn't the end of the world. This lake has survived worse. This forest has been around long before you, it's not going to dry up and die just because one apprentice is yowling and carrying on.”

     Blazepaw flattened his ears. “I wasn't yowling,” he mumbled. “If you don't want to hear me, get out of my head.” He'd lived his whole life knowing about Jayfeather's power, but it still unnerved him whenever the tabby knew exactly what he was thinking. He never understood how Silentpaw had been completely unbothered by it.

     Jayfeather pulled his lips back in a snarl, but before he could retort, Leafpool stepped between her son and her son's kit. The light tabby seemed weary, but there was still strength to her tone as she snapped, “Enough. Bickering about it isn't going to change anything. We came here to find herbs – let's get to it.” Without waiting for a response, she stalked past them, tail twitching as she made her way towards the water. Jayfeather snorted, then followed her with a bristling pelt, Blazepaw trailing after.

     As they made their way down the muddle slope and right up to the water's edge, Blazepaw asked, “So, what exactly are we looking for?”

     Leafpool halted in front of the water. She unsheathed her claws and began tracing a rough shape of a plant in the mud with one claw. She lectured briskly, “Fennel has thin, spiky leaves. Dig it up by the roots - don't break the stalks. Chervil looks a lot like ferns, but it smells sweet. Collect the leaves, or dig up the roots and bite them off the plant. Think you can find something like that?”

     Blazepaw shrugged. “I guess.”

     “Good. Then we'll split up to cover more ground. Blazepaw, would you check behind those ferns past there?” The former medicine cat flicked her tail to indicate where she meant. “Jayfeather and I will take the shore.” Blazepaw gave a short nod, then trotted off, away from the shore.

     As he nosed around, trying to remember the herbs Leafpool had described. All the plants seemed drowned in mud and water. He had no idea how Leafpool and Jayfeather hoped to find any usable herbs in this weather. But then, what did he know about herbs?

     After several minutes, Blazepaw was drenched in mud from crouching and pawing at plants to see what they were, but he'd had no luck in finding anything like what Leafpool had described. He was about to give up when he noticed an unusually large clump of ferns. The apprentice poked his nose at it, expecting to smell nothing but rain. He pulled his muzzle back sharply in surprise at the sweet scent. It had to be chervil.

     The young tom felt a surge of excitement. He'd done it, he'd actually found herbs for his Clan. Blazepaw was no medicine cat, and he had no wish to be, but he'd done something useful. He began carefully nipping leaves off the stems, trying as much as possible not to rip them.

     The apprentice was so intent on his work that he didn't hear Jayfeather approached until the medicine cat spoke behind him. “I see you found chervil.”

     Blazepaw nearly jumped out of his pelt. “Oh. Um, Jayfeather. Yeah, I did.” He glanced at the herbs Jayfeather was carrying. “What did you find?” He tried to hide how his pelt had fluffed up in surprise, before remembering that Jayfeather wouldn't see it anyway.

     “Coltsfoot. Useless, until some cat catches a fever.” Jayfeather dropped the bundle of plants at his paws. “So. Silentpaw's safe in RiverClan. And you're not happy.”

     The apprentice ducked his head, trying to ignore Jayfeather's intense gaze. “I don't want to talk about it,” he mumbled.

     Jayfeather snorted. “Tough. So just say what's on your mind.”

     Blazepaw shook his head. The feelings he'd been keeping inside ever since Bramblestar's announcement were too harsh and angry. He couldn't say them out loud. Silentpaw had always been the confrontational one. She'd never been afraid to say exactly what was on her mind. But Blazepaw had always been quiet. He was too shy to ever be disrespectful, or to blurt out whatever he thought, because he was too cowardly to offend any cat. “You already know,” he pointed out.

     “Just say it out loud,” Jayfeather pressed. “Admit it to yourself. You're angry with her.”

     Jayfeather's words finally made Blazepaw snap. All the emotions he'd kept inside suddenly burst to the surface. He bristled, glaring at the medicine cat as he spat, “Of course I'm angry. She left us! She had to go run off and be the hero and didn't bother to tell anyone, let alone her brother, her littermate that's always had her back. Bramblestar told her that we needed every cat in camp, but does Silentpaw ever listen? And now we're driven out of our own camp, and Silentpaw isn't here to help, and Dewpaw's dead!” His outburst left him trembling in rage. His claws dug deep into the earth – he didn't even realize how badly he was shaking until Jayfeather reached out a paw to steady his shoulder. The apprentice took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. The depths of his own bitterness towards his sister for leaving left him truly surprised.

     The medicine cat didn't even flinch at Blazepaw's yowling. His expression was unchanged, though Blazepaw thought he saw a hint of weariness there. “Good. You got it out of your system. Maybe now you'll stop acting like a buzzing storm cloud whenever any cat mentions your sister.” The medicine cat began to turn away, but paused. “It's okay to be mad at her right now,” the tom mewed gruffly. “And I'm not your father or anything. But you can always talk to me. You know. Whatever you need.” With that, he scooped up his herbs in his jaws and started to pad away, leaving Blazepaw to stare after him in surprise.

     Soon after that, Leafpool declared they had gathered enough herbs for the time being. The sun was setting as they finally started back towards the twoleg den. Blazepaw was tired and covered in mud, but pleased. He'd gathered herbs to help his Clanmates, and somehow, after talking with Jayfeather, he felt lighter.

     As they walked back towards the twoleg den, Blazepaw heard Jayfeather speaking to Leafpool in a low voice. “When we get back to the den, would you mind nosing around the garden? I want to see if we can find any chamomile for Brightheart and Cloudtail. Dewpaw's death will hit them hardest – they're so old, I don't know how they'll take a loss like this.”

     “Of course,” Leafpool replied. “Try mixing in the juice of juniper berries. And give Hazeltail something to keep her strength up – she needs to stay strong enough to look after Finchkit.” The two continued to murmur about herbs and berries, but Blazepaw had stopped listening. The ache in his chest that he'd been trying to ignore all day suddenly returned full-force. It suddenly hit him that he would never hunt with the goofy gray tom again. His good mood evaporated, leaving his tail and ears drooping as he trudged after the older cats.

     Just before they reached the den, Blazepaw heard a dreadful wailing from that direction. The three cats stiffened in shock. But before any of them could react, a white blur hurled itself towards them. “Snowpaw!” Blazepaw mewed in surprise.

     The apprentice stood before them, panting and trembling. “Jayfeather, come quick,” he finally gasped. “Dovewing is having her kits!”

     Jayfeather's reaction was immediate. He broke into a full run, Leafpool pelting right beside them as Snowpaw led them back towards the den. Blazepaw followed along as well as he could. As they neared the den, the wailing grew louder, and more desperate.

     When they burst into the den, the air seemed full of tension and fear. Every cat was watching the birthing anxiously. Dovewing was stretched out on the floor, limbs stiff and tensed in agony, yowling and wailing. Bumblestripe, Ivypool, and Birchfall all hovered anxiously around her. Bumblestripe was crouched beside her head, licking her cheek and murmuring to her. Blazepaw could hardly stand the terrified glaze to his mentor's eyes.

     To the apprentice's surprise, however, they weren't the only cats by Dovewing's side. Brightheart was standing beside the young queen, one paw on her stomach. Blazepaw could see the elder was massaging Dovewing's stomach with an expert paw. When she noticed Jayfeather and Leafpool, she snapped, “Hurry up. This young cat needs help.” The numbness and grief from earlier was gone. Brightheart was as calm and professional as any medicine cat.

     After a brief pause, Jayfeather and Leafpool bounded to the queen's side. As Leafpool began murmuring instructions to the young warrior, Jayfeather glared sightlessly at his Clanmates. “Any cat who hasn't already had kits, out of the den,” he growled. “Dovewing needs room to breathe.”

     With some reluctant muttering, the den began to clear out. Blazepaw, Amberpaw, and Snowpaw headed out of the den together, coming to sit beside a clump of brambles. To be truthful, Blazepaw was glad to be out of that den. The fear-scent and the wailing all in that small space had been too much for him. He might be able to sniff out herbs, but he definitely wasn't fit to be a medicine cat.

     “Do you think she'll be okay?” he asked Snowpaw anxiously. Dovewing was so young to be having kits, and that wailing sounded dreadful. What if something was going wrong? The last thing ThunderClan needed was to lose more cats, especially one of the Three.

     Snowpaw looked shaken, but gave a firm nod. “Of course. She has two medicine cats looking over her, and Brightheart's trained with Leafpool before. With three cats to help her, she should be fine. I hope.”

     As the birthing dragged on, the sun dipped below the horizon, throwing the forest into darkness. The Clan began making nests for the night, as they seemed to realize they would not be allowed back into the den before it was time to sleep.

     The apprentices were bringing back the last haul of moss for their nests when he saw Jayfeather emerge from the den. Bumblestripe bounded towards him immediately. Blazepaw held his breath as the weary medicine cat addressed his mentor. “She's fine,” he told Bumblestripe. “You have two healthy sons.” Bumblestripe's tail bristled in joy. He pushed past Jayfeather, hurrying into the den to greet his new family.

     The young apprentice felt a blaze of curiosity. Ignoring Snowpaw's questioning mew, he stalked carefully towards the twoleg den, crouching low so he wouldn't be seen. Blazepaw came up to one of the crumbling walls of the den. Carefully, he peered inside.

     Dovewing was within, looking exhausted, but happy. Bumblestripe and Ivypool were beside her, while Birchfall looked on proudly. By her side were two tiny kits. Blazepaw could barely make them out from where he watched, but he could see they were both gray, one lighter than the other. They mewed and wriggled by their mother's side.

     Bumblestripe pressed his muzzle to her cheek. “They're wonderful,” he breathed.

     Something sad flashed in Dovewing's eyes. “I wish Whitewing was here,” the new mother mewed quietly. “She'd know exactly what to do.” Dovewing and Ivypool's mother had died a moon after the Dark Battle, in a battle with a fox.

     Birchfall's expression became tinged with grief, but his mew was still warm as he told his daughter, “I wish she was here too. But Ivypool and I are still here, and Whitewing is watching you now from StarClan. You're going to be a great mother, Dovewing, and we'll be beside you every step of the way.”

     When Jayfeather passed dangerously close to Blazepaw's hiding place, muttering something about needing to meet someone in dreams, he decided that it was time to retreat. He made his way back to the other apprentices, who were all laying on their nests. “They're really cute,” he told them, settling in his own nest for the night. “I didn't get a good look, but Dovewing and Bumblestripe looked really happy.

     Amberpaw purred. “Good. The Clan could use more kits.” She seemed more alert than she had after Dewpaw's death. Blazepaw hoped that Dovewing's new kits were enough to draw his friends out of their grief, even a little.

     One by one, the apprentices curled up and drifted off to sleep.
COVER: link
ALLEGIANCES: link
PROLOGUE: link
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NEXT: link

Disclaimer: This was written before Bramblestar's Storm was even announced. Any similarities to Bramblestar's Storm and it's plot are pure coincidence, you can check the dates, please don't kill me.

Sorry for the short description earlier, I had to leave to go somewhere quickly.

Anyway, more fun with Blazepaw and ThunderClan in the twoleg den. And new kits! I'll show their names and descriptions in two chapters. Sorry for the wait, but I have other story things to address first. ^^

Next up is Silentpaw.
© 2015 - 2024 Jayie-The-Hufflepuff
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Grapjuiceorkindheart's avatar
XD just rereading the books jayie (cause i got nothing else to do and  I must sustain my need of EOTW) and i noticed it said that they were mourning their song. XD but yeah this just shows how far you've come! (I mean this in a good way)