Spiderpaw gently began placing dock leaves and horsetail onto the wounds when they had been broken up enough to let the juices out. He had laid Vinetail out just the way Honeyflower had taught him all of those moons ago, his legs and arms stretched out so he had full access to the flank.
He was so tired. His eyes pounded with exhaustion, and he longed to collapse right there any now. He almost didn't want to trust himself treating another cat with herbs when he had such little sleep. But every time he felt his eyes shutting, he forced himself to awaken again, no matter how infuriating that was.
He turned around to see Aspenclaw behind him, and almost felt envious that the tomcat was able to actually relax.
Nevertheless, his envy turned to surprise as the footsteps sounding outside made him jump. Only seconds later did Sedgepool walk in with a bulky golden tom at his heels.
Spiderpaw dipped his head as Sedgepool followed Talonstar in. He could see the large golden cat's round ears flicking downwards with surprise when he saw the warrior so weak.
"Greetings, you both," Talonstar meowed quickly, rushing forwards and halting before the warrior. His voice became much weaker as he continued. "Thank you for coming to aid."
"Any cat would have done the same," Aspenclaw spluttered, half asleep. Spiderpaw didn't know whether his lack of sleep made him feel slightly angry at the cat, considering he was the one that found Aspenclaw in the first place. Nevertheless, he tried to brush that off and continue on.
Spiderpaw continued to flush the berries onto the warrior, but he felt a rush of relief when Sedgepool approached him and took the herbs from him.
"There's no need," Sedgepool spoke, beckoning Spiderpaw to sit down and continuing to pat the herbs down. "Relax."
Spiderpaw really wanted to do such a thing.
He watched as Talonstar scanned over the warrior as he gratefully backed away from Vinetail and sat down besides his brother, who looked pleased to finally be washing his pelt.
"Sedgepool reports that you found Vinetail on your land," Takonstar grumbled, his eyes filled with sleep as if he had been woken up from a dream. Spiderleaf wasn't sure whether he sounded more angry - or disappointed of his own warrior.
Spiderpaw nodded, trying to look as alert and as focused as he could. "That's right," he grumbled sadly, hating how he had to lie. "I smelled the scent of blood and immediately followed. I wasn't taking any risks."
Talonstar nodded his head gently. "Were there any signs of a fox?"
Spiderpaw shook his head. "No badger, either. The only scents I could pick up were SunClan and wounds."
Talonstar nodded again, and Spiderpaw felt guilty for the amount of confusion he could see on the leader's face.
"And you're sure there wasn't a border scuffle?"
"If there was, some cat would have alerted me," he meowed. "But I'm not sure."
Talonstar looked away. "I apologise," he murmured, taking a pause as he took a glance down to Vinetail.
"This isn't the way I teach my warriors to behave."
"We aren't accusing you," Aspenclaw meowed tiresomely, picking himself up slightly as Talonstar turned to look at him. Spiderpaw's felt himself fixed upon the sharp teeth that were poking out below his lips.
"We were probably just as confused as you are now."
Talonstar dipped his head. Sedgepool spoke up from the side.
"You both better be getting back," he mumbled. "You look exhausted."
Talonstar shook his head. "They have done much for us tonight, Sedgepool," he meowed. "We can give them at least one favor."
He turned to Aspenclaw and Spiderpaw and glanced at them.
"You're welcome to stay for the night. I can have a patrol escort you back tomorrow. You can have some prey before you doze off."
Spiderpaw heaved. He would have loved to be able to tuck into anything right now, even moor prey. But he knew he couldn't leave Briartail for much longer."
"I would love to," he meowed. "But unfortunately I have a cat that needs treating."
Sedgepool glanced a scowl over at his leader, but Talonstar, even if he was suspicious, kept calm.
"One cat has whitecough," Spiderpaw explained, as convincingly as he could. "Although not dangerous, I don't want to take a risk of developing sickness."
Talonstar looked surprised, but he dipped his head. "That's okay," he meowed. "I understand you must leave at once."
Spiderpaw heard Sedgepool snort at the leader's words, but he tried to disregard his rudeness. He would have been dismissive too, if two warriors from SunClan wandered into his camp and told him he needed to work.
After the two cats had answered a few more questions, Talonstar lead them back the way they had came.