| abstract | - Finwhisker grabbed his fallen clanmate by the scruff. It was little Featherpaw, who had hardly lived a day as an apprentice before she had been dragged into this battle. The forces of BadgerClan had left the battle field. Whitefang stepped towards him to help, but Firestorm nudged him away and padded over to assist instead. Whitefang had been badly injured; one of his eyes had been scratched badly, and it didn't take a medicine cat to figure out that he might lose the eye. Firestorm hoisted Featherpaw onto her shoulders, and Finwhisker did the same. Poor Featherpaw almost weighted like nothing. Finwhisker knew she could have been a great warrior. Shellshine will be crushed, he thought. Shellshine was Featherpaw's mother, and all of her kits had been killed. Featherpaw was in what would most likely be her last litter. Now her only surviving kit was Cloudpaw. Finwhisker and Firestorm carried Featherpaw back towards their camp. At the river, the two cats set the body down and nudged her across the stream. When Featherpaw hit the edge, the cats leaped in and swam across the river. Once they were on the other side, they grabbed Featherpaw and continued on their way. The river circled back to the main path, creating an island for their camp. Finwhisker pushed himself through the reeds and gasped. Blood and dead bodies were everywhere, and about ten cats remained, mourning the dead. Finwhisker ran towards the circle of the dead, and placed Featherpaw down. He darted over to Hailstar. "What happened?" Hailstar turned to face him. He was shocked to see that his leader's face was covered in blood and scratches, and a thin scar cut across his neck. Hailstar must have lost a life! Finwhisker thought, alarmed. "While your patrol was gone, DarkClan cats raided our camp. They slaughtered us, Finwhisker. Even Willowmist and Yarrowpaw are dead!" Finwhisker gasped. "But that means we have no medicine cats!" Hailstar grunted. "They want to weaken us. If we can't get healed, we will be weaken. Severely." "Umm, Hailstar?" mewed a voice. Finwhisker looked down to see a small gray figure. Cinderpaw! "Yes?" Hailstar replied. "I've actually always wanted to be a medicine cat, but there was already two. Do you think I could be one now?" Hailstar grinned. "If StarClan approves," he replied. Cinderpaw smiled. Hailstar began to speak again; "I'm planning on going to the Moonhill tonight. You could come with me." Cinderpaw nodded. "Thanks, Hailstar!" She padded off to join her siblings: Echopaw and Splashpaw. "How will she learn?" Finwhisker wondered. Hailstar shrugged. "I suppose StarClan will give her guidance," he replied mellowly. Finwhisker glanced up. The sun was setting, and night was begin to fall on the world. Hailstar said, "I'm going to go." Finwhisker nodded and padded of to join his friends Owlclaw and Miststripe. "I miss the old days, where we didn't have to fight pointless battles every day," Miststripe was saying. Owltalon nodded. "I miss peace." Finwhisker nodded. "Now, we simply live our lives in bloodshed." His friends nodded. Finwhisker felt he was being watched. He whipped around and saw Echopaw, Splashpaw and Cinderpaw were right behind him. "Stop poking your noses in other private conversations! That's the third time this quarter moon!" The apprentices nodded, but didn't move. "There was peace once?" Echopaw asked in awe. Finwhisker nodded. "Now scram!" The apprentices ran off. Why are they asking such mousebrained questions? he wondered. Then, he realized it. The three had been born during the time that the border disputes had started. The cats had never had lived in a time of peace.
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