𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 - seasons of revenge - book three

Chapter 33

Rainpaw felt her paws itch with annoyance as she detected the presence of Mistflower behind her. She was aching to get to her brother.

The white she-cat sat beside her apprentice, giving an awkward nod in the process. The apprentice waited impatiently, her claws kneading the grass as each heartbeat grew longer. Staring up at Mistflower, Rainpaw darted her head away again, quickly.

"Can we go train with Leopardpaw?" She blurted quickly, watching as Mistflower's face contorted to mortified. Averting eye contact, the senior warrior sighed heavily.

"I thought you weren't especially close to your brother?"

Rainpaw glared at her. Sure, the tortoiseshell knew herself that she wasn't close with her sibling. But was it really that obvious?

"No, but I thought we could build our relationship more." Rainpaw struggled out her words, darting her eyes up to the sky. Clouds were dark overhead, layer upon layer of grey caked above their heads. A storm was obviously approaching, winds picking up a higher speed.

Mistflower sent a glare, not believing one word that her apprentice was saying.
"Come on then."

Rainpaw almost dashed out the camp furiously, wanting to catch up to her brother and hope to StarClan that what him and Rubblestep had been talking about wasn't about Torrentpaw. Although she noticed her mentor's slight disgraced look, and fell back a few paces to match her even stride.

Then, Mistflower seemed to turn her head briskly, her eyes scanning the area around them.

"Come on." Mistflower meowed lightly, gently placing her tail on Rainpaw's back. The tortoiseshell bristled, her eyes following intently the area where she had seen Leopardpaw disappear.

"But why?" Rainpaw groaned, tilting her head back in annoyance and reluctantly following her mentor. The tortoiseshell was ultimately very confused when the white she-cat lead her down a steep slope.

Clenching her jaw, Rainpaw gazed down the slope, where Mistflower was already half-heartedly sliding down. The apprentice placed her front paws on the slope, trying to walk down it, however before she could screech, Rainpaw felt her paws slip.

Embarrassment filled her as she skidded down the slope, so she shut her eyes, hoping it would end soon. Then she came to an abrupt halt.

The she-cat, ruffled nonetheless, opened one eye to see what had been the cause of her stop. She could hear a cat groaning in muffled pain in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Rainpaw asked, bewildered. She hadn't yet seen who this cat was, and when she saw them, she recognised his pelt instantly.

"I'm fine." The cat responded, lifting up his head to gaze at Rainpaw. Well he wasn't really gazing at her, more so focusing on nothing.

"P-Pondpaw?" Rainpaw stuttered. Great. Now she was face to face with the cat who had grown greatly distant to her ever since she was three moons old.

"Yeah?" He seemingly perked up slightly, then stood up on his paws, leaning out a front paw for her to grab so she could get up.

"You two are going to train today."

That voice made instant chills run down Rainpaw's back. Duststar was standing a few foxlengths away from the slope, looking at both with a haunting look in his eye. An uneasy aura followed as Pondpaw gulped beside her.

"Mistflower won't let us train with claws, don't worry." Rainpaw hissed under her breath, and Pondpaw must've heard it, for one of his ears flicked up and he stepped forward.

"I hope so." He murmured back, before walking aimlessly towards his mentor. Rainpaw watched him pitifully, holding back a sigh. The tom should be in the medicine den with Softclaw, not being shoved into imminent danger.

"So Rainpaw, this is a hunters crou-." Mistflower spoke, and as she did so, Rainpaw dropped into the crouch obediently. Then she began to observe her surroundings. There was the steep slope to one side, which she had no idea how they'd get back up. The ground was just dirt, clearly worn away, and barely any tufts of grass were there.

"I see you learned that already." Mistflower stammered slightly, turning her head to look at Duststar expectantly. The leader nodded gruffly, glaring at Pondpaw.

"Pondpaw. Hunters crouch."

Rainpaw could feel the tension as the grey tabby slipped into a crouch, although his front paws were too far forward, and he was leaning too far back on his haunches.

"Wrong!" Duststar snapped at him, and Pondpaw jerked back in a panic.

"Sorry." He murmured, attempting yet again, and getting a half-decent attempt at a crouch.

"I think we should stop this now. He's clearly not getting anywhere." Rainpaw pointed out, and Duststar gave her a distant stare.

"Of course. I would've, previously." The brown tabby remarked, sitting up tall and wrapping his tail around his paws tightly. At those words, Pondpaw almost bristled up twice his size in shock.

"What do you mean?" Rainpaw hissed, her voice low. She ignored Mistflower's meows of confusion behind her, and approached the leader.

"Had a little bird not tweeted to me that you hadn't fallen for it." The leader scoffed, eyes diverting to Pondpaw, who looked frozen to the spot, his ears pinned against his head.

"I wouldn't have cared." Rainpaw meowed, and the grey tabby apprentice looked at her, confused. "You should've been smarter to realise that I hadn't fallen for your stupid words." She snarked back, and smirked.

"You should've been smarter enough to realise that I was speaking the truth." Duststar growled back, his eyes narrowing.

Rainpaw stopped, stunned. Millions of thoughts begun to swirl into her head, and she sat down to steady herself.

I am a mistake. He- he promised me that Pondpaw would be safe under his mentorship.

Rainpaw suddenly froze, glancing over at her friend and scanning him muzzle to tail tip. The tom was ultimately confused, he could sense that someone was staring at him, making him feel awkward.

"So all of them were lies.. all of them things you said to me that day. You weren't sorry for my scars! You don't think I will prove myself in battle!" Rainpaw lashed out, storming up to the leader, who simply rested on his haunches.

He made eyes contact with her for a couple heartbeats, but didn't speak anything else.

"So, when you promised me that Pondpaw was safe under your mentorship... that you wouldn't injure, or k-kill him."

Rainpaw gulped before she said the last words.

"You were lying?"