Quote:
Originally Posted by Charmer
Shinefang looked at Gorsepaw, his mind whirling as he tried to formulate a plan. Whatever he did, he would have to do soon. If he waited until morning, the apprentice could already be showing signs of infection. and the way she was trusting him so completely... it was too much like Acornpaw. He had told the young tom that he would be fine by morning. He had been wrong. The head injury that he was sure was a minor problem had killed him in his sleep, and he had drifted off to sleep certain that he'd wake up the next day. Shinefang had told him he would, and Acornpaw had trusted Shinefang. He was the medicine cat after all. He was supposed to know these things. But Shinefang had had no mentor, no training. He had just picked up what he knew during his many trips to the medicine den during his long career as a warrior. And here he was again, having to flail through a life or death decision for an apprentice who trusted him completely. The tom grit his teeth, trying to sort out his plan. The tail would have to be removed, that was a give in. But how? And what could he give the apprentice to manage the pain? And there would be pain. More than the shecat could imagine. "It'll be a minute," he said to the apprentice. "I just need to get you something to help... with the pain." Shinefang slipped out of his den and searching quickly, grabbed a mouse from the freshkill pile. He dropped in front of the apprentice along with the rest of the willow bark scrap he'd been eating. "The bark will help with the pain, and the mouse is to make the bark easier to swallow. Shinefang only had one water-soaked mossball left. He placed that in front of the apprentice too. "This is to wash it all down."
|
"
Thanks" she mewed and tucked into the bark right away. She would take a bite of the willow bark, a bite of the mouse, a bite of the bark, a bite of the mouse and so on. Once she'd devoured both the prey and the herb, Gorsepaw lapped up the water from the moss ball. The wood had felt rough and scratchy on her throat and it gave the mouse a strange taste but a scratchy throat and a tangy mouse were the least of Gorsepaw's problems right now. "
Okay, what next?" The brown tabby anxiously shuffled her paws.