𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 - seasons of revenge - book three

Chapter 20

I'm screwed.

Rainkit could only think that as Hareleap stormed over, her tail thrashing. Carefully she skittered away from the two graves quickly.

Where had Duststar disappeared off to now? It was going to be hard to explain herself. Silently, Rainkit took a second to glance at Hareleap, who's eyes were filled with fury and confusion.

"Why did you do it?" Hareleap asked, voice bitter with furious pain. Her golden fur settled, waiting for a answer.

"Duststar was here." Rainkit admitted, her paws fumbling with a slight worry. "He went that way." Her paws gestured to a line of tall grass, which she'd seen the brown tom slither through last.

"I can see where he's been." Her mother remarked, her eyes scanning the trampled grass with slight confusion. "What's he got to do with this?" Her ears flicked towards Rainkit, who sighed heavily.

"Duststar did this to me." Her head felt heavy as she stepped out the shadows into the light, revealing the painful slashes. Hareleap gasped, all anger forgotten, as she ran towards her daughter, and began washing Rainkit's face in an instant.

Rainkit squeaked, pulling back from her mother in an instant. Her fur spiked up defensively. "How do I know if I can trust you?" She hissed, gazing at Hareleap, Who now looked very shocked.

"Rainkit, I'm your mother. Of course you can trust me." The queen responded, sitting down with her tail curled around her paws, hoping to appear relaxed in order for the kit to calm down.

"But, you can't trust anyone. Especially not your own kin." The tortoiseshell turned, taking another shaky step away from her mother.

Rainkit was torn between everything at the moment, it was like her head had been pulled apart and rearranged in a way that everything was confusing, even so much that her own thoughts disappeared. She pondered even further, thinking about what he had told her.

Trust no one.. She never did, really. If she told Hareleap of what was going on, she'd blab everything, and even if she wanted Duststar gone, the kit didn't want everyone to know.

"The only way I can stop it is by myself. But I have to fight. And nothing will get in my path." She muttered hesitantly under her breath, hoping that Hareleap wouldn't hear.

"Otterpaw made that for me, you know." Hareleap pointed to the juniper berry and branch. If her mother was trying to make her realise her actions, she already had. It wasn't as if she necessarily cared anyway. She'd never met her siblings.

"You don't care do you?" Hareleap must've noticed her distant glare. Her mother's face fell in sadness. "Fine. Don't care about your kin, Rainkit. Continue being heartless."

Rainkit snorted in ridicule as her mother trailed around her, her amber eyes looking sad.

"I don't know what to think anymore - Duststar made my thoughts different." Rainkit told her mother honestly, looking back down at her paws. Every single heartbeat that was going on, it was getting more awkward.

"Like what?"

"Training with claws unsheathed, getting authority for cats to respect you - and not to trust any cat." Rainkit looked up, her eyes darkening. "Which I don't."

Hareleap took a step forward, her fur bristling yet again. "What has that menace done to my daughter?" The golden queen took quite a step forward, causing Rainkit's hind legs to crash into the slimy rocks on the shore side. Her mother began mumbling yet again, trailing even further towards the river.

"I can't deal with this anymore." The long-haired cat muttered, shaking her head rapidly. "Why does everything bad have to happen to me and my family?"

She mustn't have realised the presence of Rainkit skittering back, trying to avoid her scuffling paws, and edged even closer to the swirling water. Rainkit became alarmed as her tail was whipped with the coldness spurts of water splashing up from the river.

"Hareleap! Stop moving please!" Rainkit called out to her mother in desperation, who trailed further along the shore of the river, distracted by her thoughts.

"Stop." Her furious yell made Hareleap stop and gaze worriedly at Rainkit. But it was too late.

Rainkit was knocked into the ravaging water below. The brunt of the cold water sent her into a abyss of blue. She could hear the muffled cries of Hareleap above.

Rainkit! Fight.. Hareleap can't lose another kit like this.

Rainkit tried. Her paws thrashing wildly as her head emerged from the water once, and she took a deep breath. Then a blow to the head from a rock behind her sent her back under.

Her paws lay still.