Jayhaven Chronicles
Not So Owlcatcher

When Rapid awoke, he was in the massive Healer headquarters, and his friends were all around him, muttering anxiously. “He’s waking up! He’s waking up!” Peak murmured excitedly.

“Yes, I’m waking up.” Rapid opened his eyes and saw Peak, Hawk, Sedge, Storm, Raven, and Flame all huddled around him, smiling with relief. “I told you, Little Blue doesn’t die.” Storm nudged Rapid playfully.

Rapid sat up and looked at his wound. It was bound in cloth, but no blood showed through. “How long have I been out?”

“Only a few hours.” Flame replied.

“And have you all been watching me sleep?”

Hawk laughed. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Sedge chuckled with him. “Don’t blame me! I told them to give you privacy.”

Rapid smiled, realizing that Hawk and Sede had finally made up. “Good to see you all.”

He rose to his feet. “So did we win? Are the owls gone?”

Sedge nodded. “Pretty much. We killed one or two, and the rest flew off. But, um.”

Rapid blinked. “What? What happened?

Raven bowed his head. “Few cats have been injured, nothing serious. But… Claw collapsed mid fight. He’s not dead- but he’s close.”

Rapid shook his head, the ground beginning to sway beneath him once again. “No, Claw can’t die. He might be scarred, but he’s not much older than Dusk or Crisp.”

Peak touched his tail tip to Rapid’s shoulder. “Believe me, I don’t want Claw to go any more than you do. But this isn’t about age. Claw is deathly ill. But no one knew about it until it was too late.”

Rapid sank to the ground in despair. I tasted sickness on his breath! If I would have told someone, Claw might be here, talking to me too!

Sedge blinked empathetically at him, then her gaze fell to the floor. “He still had so much to teach us.”

Hawk twitched his tail. “Hey, Claw isn’t dead yet. Let’s not get our tails in a twist over a cat who doesn’t even have a paw in the grave. Rapid’s awake! Why aren’t we celebrating that?”

Storm nodded. “Hawk’s right. Your substitute, Onyx, seems nice. How about we go order some cream-stuffed mice from the Provider Cafe?”

Rapid suddenly realized how hungry he was. He hadn’t eaten since the day before. “Okay.” But he didn’t feel right leaving yet. “Shouldn’t we visit Claw before we go?”

All the others hesitated, before Sedge gave a reluctant nod. “Alright. If the Healers let us, That is.”

Peak, who knew this building like that back of his paw, lead them to Room 906. Cats were bustling inside and out, bringing in equipment and mouthfuls of herbs. One orange she-cat flew out of the room and barreled straight into Rapid.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, jumping back. “What was that for?”

But the she-cat spun and rushed away before he could get another look at her face. “Huh.” Peak gestured after her as she disappeared down the hall. “It’s against the rules to run that fast in the facility.”

By this time the other Healers had noticed the students just kinda standing there. One crabby looking tom padded up to them and gave them a harsh glare. “What’re you kids doing here? This is a private area.”

Flame stepped forward and looked the tom right in the eye. “We want to see Claw. We’re his students.”

The tom sighed and called to a she cat a few feet away. “We have a bunch of troublemakers over here. Say they’re Claw’s students. Should we let them in?”

Rapid bit back a sharp retort, but the she cat nodded compliently. “They’re fine. Most of us have cleared out already.”

The students were led into the pristine white room, and scanned it for Claw. They almost couldn’t find him, but there he was, sprawled out on a cot and looking frail and tiny.

Raven gasped. “That’s… him, right?”

Rapid took a few steps closer and didn’t reply. All his life he had looked up to Claw. He was a flawless Battler, had never lost a fight, until now. Now he was dying.

They stood there for a while, until Sedge gave Rapid a comforting nudge. “I think we’ve seen enough.”

Rapid blinked away the beginnings of tears and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get dinner.”

Storm lead them out of the facility and to the cafe, which was a square building with a stone roof. Smoke billowed from a chimney, and Rapid’s mouth watered from the delicious smells coming from within.

The door was opened for them by a lithe she-cat. “Welcome to the Provider Cafe, where we take a portion of the day’s catch, and make your day!”

She paused and gawked at them. “Wait. You’re the one who took down that huge snowy!” She yowled and pointed at Rapid, whose pelt was growing hot.

She then turned around and hustled to a bar. “Hey, guys! Owlcatcher is here!” Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Hawk burst out laughing. “I think I like little blue better.”

Rapid stomped his foot. “That’s not fair! Sedge was fighting off two owls at a time, while I was sleeping in a bush!”

Sedge waved her tail. “It’s fine. I didn’t know you went viral overnight.”

Rapid rolled his eyes. Great. He was famous for doing nothing.

“Blimey, Owlcatcher. We were all really impressed.” A black tom gave Rapid a pat on the back. “That owl was about to go after my grandchildren.”

“I just crippled it.” Rapid tried to say, but the excited mews of the cafe cats drowned him out.

Rapid sighed and stalked back out the door. “I didn’t do anything! Give the title to someone else!” He called over his shoulder.

He heard the thrum of the others’ pawsteps as they approached him. “You didn’t need to be so harsh.” Flame mewed sternly.

Rapid whipped around. “I fought one owl and passed out. You, Raven, and Sedge did so much more. I should have fought harder.” He pressed to the ground and looked at his paws. “I was useless.”

“No, you weren’t.” Sedge took a step towards him. “Everyone played a part in the battle. Those people are really thankful that you saved them.”

Rapid turned back around and began to slink away. “They shouldn’t be.” Claw is dying, because of me. Cats are hurt, because I was too tired to keep fighting. “I’m going home.”

“Rapid, wait!” Peak called. But Rapid was too wrapped in his anger, remorse, and renewed exhaustion to care.

When Rapid got to his den, he immediately curled up and tried to sleep. Guilt at lashing out pricked at his skin, but he tried to shrug it off. “Owlcatcher. Pph.” he muttered.

Sleep wasn’t coming, so Rapid began to fidget with his silk ball, a trinket that Peak gave to him.

Left to his own thoughts once again, Rapid thought about the recent battle. He thought about the panic of the news at first, and how he smoothly slipped into the fight once it started. He remembered Sedge’s plan, and how she had subtly become the leader of their small fighting party. Rapid closed his eyes. If I cannot stand the consequence of battle, then I should not be a Battler. Next time, he would stay strong and save everyone he could.

Rapid finally found sleep, thinking about his friends and future.

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