Chapter Text
Crowpetal followed Jayfeather through the forest, her maw was slightly open as she searched for the scent of prey. It was leaf-fall, soon to be leafbare, and the Clan needed all the prey they could get. The remaining prey would soon be skinny and lean, it would be barely a mouthful for a warrior. Jayfeather suddenly halted, causing Crowpetal to bump into him. He turned around, staring at her with his blind blue eyes, they looked angry, which suited his tone of voice and personality perfectly. "We aren't hunting, Crowpetal. We're searching for poppy seed-" he was cut off abruptly by a piercing yowl of another cat a distance away. The fur of the medicine cat and the warrior's were both littered in spikes as they stared at eachother. Jayfeather's jaws were still open, and he straightened up a little bit, before Crowpetal interrupted him.
"I'm... going to go see what that was. Just... Stay here, I suppose." her voice was shaky as she padded off in the direction of the noise before Jayfeather could protest. She began to speed up into a canter as Jayfeather followed, to her concern, but afterall, did whatever yowled like that even have time for them to argue before it inevitably ended up in StarClan? Crowpetal sniffed the air. It was polluted with the metallic, earthy scent of blood and dirt and mouse dung, and most importantly, the bitter scent of dog, which made the pelt of the black and brown cat bristle on her haunches and neck, and her nose wry with disgust.
"I'm coming too! You're a mousebrain if you believe you'll be alright alone against a dog!" Jayfeather snapped, breaking into a sprint alongside Crowpetal. She was still confused at how the blind cat could navigate around the forest and swerve around bramble bushes so easily despite his lack of sight. It was impressive, but now wasn't the time for any curiosity besides at if that cat was okay, considering how agonised that screech sounded.
Jayfeather seemed to slow down a little as they exited their territory, although they could both hear and feel their paws thudding against the earth and crunching leaves. Jayfeather slowed down, and Crowpetal did too once she was quite a few fox-lengths from the medicine cat. Fortunately, it seemed only one dog was here, and it was quite small, and skittered off at the sight of them, causing a sigh of relief from Crow. In a short-grassed clearing that stood out from the long grass, weeds and trees around it, a lump with colors similar to Crowpetal was in the center of it, ginger and dark red mixed into it's fur. Blood was visible in patches scattered across the grass.
"Jayfeather! Get over here now!" Crowpetal yelled, dashing across the clearing. Looking at it closer, it was, as predicted, a cat. Her leg was covered in bite marks, twisted and mutilated, sticky with blood where patches of flesh and fur were shredded up by sharp teeth. She was unconscious, her chest still rising and falling shallowly. Fresh claw and teeth marks covered her torso, luckily the wounds around her belly were lighter than on her tail or leg. Jayfeather rushed over, skidding next to the limp feline.
"Get herbs. Now." Jayfeather turned back to Crowpetal, adding, "Poppy seeds, it'll hurt. Cobweb. That's... self-explanatory. What are you waiting for?! Go!" he snapped, crouching next to her.
Crowpetal stiffened at Jayfeather's demands, but beetled back into the forest. With wide strides, she leaped across thorn bushes and bracken, adrenaline rushing through her systems until she found cobwebs. She knew she'd have to carry the poppies in her mouth, so she wrapped it around her forelegs. They felt sticky and disgusting now, but she couldn't let Jayfeather down. Especially not when the life of a cat was right inbetween the slits of her claws and the pads on her paws. Sprinting around like a rabbit with it's eyes torn out, she finally found poppy, plucking four heads and returning to Jayfeather.
"Jayfeather!" She called, claws digging into mud as she dropped the heads. The she-cat had opened her eyes, hazy, amber and staring at them through pupils dialated nauseously. Jayfeather went wordless, hooking his claws against the webs clinging to Crowpetal. He bundled them against the loner's injuries, shaking poppy seeds of the head.
"Way to take your time." He stated through narrowed eyes, placing a paw with poppy seeds next to the black, brown and orange mess bloodied and sprawled across the floor. "Lick them up." he demanded, watching the she-cat weakly raise her head and lap them up, mumbling a weak "...thank you..."
Jayfeather took bloody cobwebs off the wounds, putting more on and tearing more off of Crowpetal's legs. Crow swore she could've felt Jayfeather tear a little fur. "What's your name, you can speak, can't you?" Jayfeather requested her.
"B-Burrow..." she stammered out fearfully, her ears pinned to the sides of her head.
Jayfeather sniffed at the wound on her tail, placing a paw over it. The wound had begun to scab over with white already. He placed his paw on it, pressing it into the ground, his ears going into a timid state due to her shrieks of suffering, watching pus bleed from the wound, turning red as it seeped out. Jayfeather placed a paw on the tip of her tail, watching the middle part writhe involuntary. Placing a hand on the underside of the base of her tail, he snapped half of it. Burrow sobbed, her yells fading into soft whines. From there, he nipped at her tail base just after where the infected substance leaked from the scar on it, weakening the flesh and then biting off the entirety of it.
Crowpetal sat helplessly near them her tail tucked over her paws, watching. The poor cat infront of her. How did this happen? She raised her head up to where the dog had disappeared. How did such a pretty loner get into this situation- wait, pretty? Oh well... That was just a describing word, wasn't it? Not like she'd ever feel that way for some helpless, barely conscious cat half-dead and mauled by one of those mangy, rabid mutts. Was there? It was a she-cat, and outside her Clan, at that! One she hadn't ever spoke to one-on-one with before!-
Her racing thoughts got interrupted by Jayfeather sprouting demands at her yet again. "What are you doing?! Go fetch somecat!" Crowpetal ran off to go get help from another Clanmate. For once, she was grateful for Jayfeather's snappy attitude disturbing her rummaging thoughts. Why did she find a cat she wouldn't even likely remember the name of and didn't know the personality of so... oddly beautiful? Even while covered in blood and mangled and weak and traumatised?