Ch 5~ Fallen Petals

Instructions

~Rowanpaw~ Rowanpaw looked up from his herb sorting as Leafstorm, Moonpaw, and Koipaw burst through the thorn barrier screaming. "Fox! Lichenstar is taking it on all by himself!" Koipaw screamed. "Sunpaw, we need to hurry. There will be some battle wounds." Rowanpaw said swiftly to his blind friend. Sunpaw nodded and quickened her pace. She seemed to be doing great at her duties despite her blindness. A few warriors joined the patrol, but Rowanpaw could see Moonpaw and Koipaw sneaking out behind them. He knew that Koipaw would want to join the fight, but her friend always stops her from doing wild things like that. Rowanpaw could only hope that Moonpaw could do it again. Time passed Rowanpaw grew anxious At last the silence of the camp was broken as Lichenstar dragged his feet into camp. Koipaw was covered in blood, Rowanpaw prayed it wasn't hers. Moonpaw ran to her sister, panting. She explained the fight in vivid detail; she seemed to know that Sunpaw would have a hard time imagining it. Rowanpaw pricked his ears to listen in. "...and then the fox threw Lichenstar against a tree! I watched as Koipaw ran in to attack the fox on it's flank. The fox tried to bite her but she rolled under his belly and slashed him with all of her strength! Then she ran to Lichenstar and pressed against him; that's what made her get covered in blood. I knew something was wrong so I ran from my hiding spot and saw that Lichenstar was dead! He obviously only lost a life though, since he just walked into camp. He's fine now. Anyways the patrol chased away the fox and..." Her voice faded off as she followed Sunpaw into the Medicine Den. Rowanpaw tried to find something else to do. He looked around camp. Lichenstar was walking up back to the highledge with his deputy, Oakpelt, nudging him along and urging him to get into his den. Reedtail went out collecting herbs when he heard of the fox attack. Rowanpaw's eyes caught Koipaw washing the blood off of herself. He ran down to her. "Koipaw! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He panicked. "It's not my blood." "I know most of it isn't but how do you know some of it isn't your own?" "Because I didn't feel myself getting hurt. Seriously, Rowanpaw, I'm fine. You need to go check on Lichenstar. We don't know if all of his wounds healed after he lost a life. And besides, he's more important." "But YOU'RE more important to ME!" "Rowanpaw..." Koipaw sighed. "I thought a Medicine Cat was supposed to heal with no bias and care for all of his Clanmates equally. YOU have to do that. You chose this path. Please, I'm fine." Rowanpaw looked at her more closely, "There's more blood than there was before! Koipaw, you're bleeding!" "The Clan leader is more important!" "He has nine lives to lose, you don't! Now get into my den and lick all the blood off and I'll see to you in a moment." He urged her into the Medicine Den. As soon as Koipaw went in, Rowanpaw continued to the Leader's Den. "Lichenstar? Can I come in?" He said softly, peeking into his den. The Clan leader lifted his head slightly, "You're fine. Come on in." "I've come to see how your wounds are." "Alright, if it makes you happy." Rowanpaw sniffed each and every wound to check for infection. "You're free of infection, but I better give you some Marigold so that you don't get it in the future." "Alright..." Rowanpaw tilted his head, Lichenstar was acting strange. "Is everything okay?" He asked. "Yeah... I'm fine..." Lichenstar mewed blankly. "Ohhhkayyy..." Rowanpaw left the den, not entirely convinced. As he made his way to his den to find some Marigold, be heard scuffling. When Rowanpaw entered he saw Sunpaw sniffing around the den panicking. "Sunpaw, is everything okay?" He asked. Sunpaw jumped at the sound of his voice. She's usually always alert, but this time she didn't seem to hear him coming. "I- well you- you see..." She stammered. "What is it?" Rowanpaw tilted his head. Sunpaw looked up at him, staring at him straight in the eye without seeing, "I heard Koipaw cleaning the blood off of her when the scent of FRESH blood filled the den. I knew she was bleeding, so I asked her to stay put while I went to fetch herbs from the store so I could take care of her. But when I came out...." "Sunpaw, what are you saying?" "Well you see.... Koipaw got out. She's not in camp either, I looked for her." "You mean she's out in the forest all alone, bleeding and unprotected, while there's still a FOX out there?!" "I'm... sorry..." Rowanpaw raced out of the den and into the forest. He had to find his sister, for she was in grave danger. He could only hope that he could reach her before the fox could come and take its revenge on the weakest prey in the forest.