The kitten tries to wriggle out of my paws as I rub the chewed up burdock into his cut. “Stop moving, Tigerkit!”
“But it’s cold!” he squeaks.
“It doesn’t matter! It’ll make your cut heal faster. You don’t want more pain, do you?”
“Oh, no!” Tigerkit meows, terrified. He’s so amusing. He’ll act brave in front of the other kits but when it comes to pain, he can be such a little baby.
I finish rubbing the burdock into his cut then let the squirming kitten go, getting a few scratches myself in the process. I’m about to go back into the herb storage when I start to hear rumbling. The whole camp gets silent. Suddenly, the hunting patrol (Cloudtooth, Mosspaw, Berryfire, Waterpaw, Slatebreeze, and Lynxclaw) bursts into the clearing.
“We have to get out of here!” yells Cloudtooth.
“Why?” asks my mother who just happens to be the leader, Spottedstar.
“Badger stampede!” Lynxclaw replies.
Without further question, the clan starts to flee into the forest, away from where the badgers are coming from. Should I take any herbs? I should just in case anyone gets hurt. My medicine cat mentor, Ryeheart, is not here to help me, though. He’s out getting catmint near the two leg place, which is thankfully not in the path of the badgers. I think I’ll just have to manage on my own. Then I see my sister, Mosspaw, coming my way. Is she going to help me?
“We have to get out of here!” she yells, panicked. Nope, I guess not.
I argue, “Some cats might get hurt, though!”
“We’ll come back then!” She nudges me forward.
I take one desperate look back at the medicine cat den as I’m half-pushed, half-trampled out of the clearing and into the dense pines. We pass Springspots, trying to carry all her kits, Posykit, Shadekit, and Flowerkit, at once. Mosspaw and I help her by me grabbing Posykit by the scruff with my teeth and Mosspaw, Flowerkit. She inclines her head thankfully.
Where should we go? If the stampede is really spread out, we should get off the ground. Yes, we should get off the ground! Trees! Without warning, I jump onto the nearest tree and start climbing, knowing that the cats behind me will follow suit. They do. Soon, all the trees within a twenty foot radius are filled with cats, sitting, panting, and waiting.
The stampede passes and we’re all silent. Then Spottedstar is suddenly doing a name check.
“Cloudtooth?” she yells so every cat can hear.
“Over here!” Cloudtooth replies from a tree a few feet to the right of Spottedstar.
“Airglider, Woodfur, and Morningwish?”
They all yell, “Here!” simultaneously from the same tree.
Spottedstar continues with the rest of the warriors, the queens, the kits, and our elder until she’s finally at the apprentices. When she asked where Ryeheart was I told her he was at the Twoleg place.
“Mosspaw and Marigoldpaw?”
“Here!” we both yell from our perch in the tree.
“Batpaw and Waterpaw?”
“Present!” they reply.
“Harepaw and Goosepaw?”
“Yup!”
“Last but not least, Fishpaw and Buttercuppaw?” asks Spottedstar.
There’s no reply.
“You sent them over to Moonclan to get help, remember?” a worried Morningwish, their mother, says.
“That’s right. It’s been an awfully long time though. I hope they’re ok.”
Morningwish starts to turn hysterical. “Can somebody go check they’re ok!?”
I find the words leaving my mouth. “I will.”
Morningwish’s head snaps my way.
I hear Mosspaw say, “I’ll go, too.”
“Be careful my kits,” warns Spottedstar.
“We will,” Mosspaw replies.
Carefully, we climb back down the tree and start heading towards Moonclan’s camp. We have to pass our own camp first, though. The sight brings tears to my eyes. All the dens are run over, the fresh-kill pile is gone, and my medicine cat herbs are nowhere to be found. Ryeheart and I will have to restock. But where will we go?! This is horrible!
A cat's voice breaks our shocked silence. "Hello? Hello!? We need help!" I recognize that voice.
"Rosepaw!?" I yell.
"Ya!" she replies.
She comes into view, her ginger and white fur and fluffy tail unmistakable. There's a bundle of fur in her mouth. At a first look, it just looks like fresh-kill but once you look closer you can see a long tail, 4 legs, and pointy ears. It's a kitten.
Mosspaw notices, too. "Is it…dead?"
Rosepaw gravely nods.
Mosspaw may not recognize the kit but I do. Skykit. Her name's Skykit. Rosepaw loved her so much.
"I'm so sorry," I hear myself saying.
"It's fine. She's better now. I'd rather her not feel any pain at all."
We're quiet for a few seconds when she suddenly bursts out, "Dewpaw's friend Birchpaw is really hurt! We need help, that's why I came."
I feel hollow when I reply, "Rosepaw, I'm so sorry but Ryeheart isn't here right now."
She looks crushed for a moment but recovers quickly. "Then we'll just have to heal him ourselves."
"But we're just apprentices..."
"So?" she replies, like it's obvious that it doesn't matter. We can do this.
"Wait! We're supposed to check on Fishpaw and Buttercuppaw. They went to Moonclan to--"
"I'll go get them," Mosspaw cuts in.
I look at my sister. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
I give her a playful bump in the side then leave with Rosepaw towards Valleyclan and Flameclan while Mosspaw goes the other way towards Moonclan. Hopefully, we can save Birchpaw and I'll see my sister again.