𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 - seasons of revenge - book three

Chapter 34

Pondpaw froze. He did not expect a training session to become like this.

The grey tabby tom slowly backed away, closer to Mistflower, who had also backed away from the confrontation. It was obvious that by the senior warriors face that she had no idea what was going on.

"Did you know about this?" The she-cat muttered, and he jerked his head slightly. Her amber eyes widened with horror, and he sunk his head away, mortified.

"I knew about him manipulating Rainpaw." Pondpaw whispered, attempting to reassure her, but she didn't seem to listen. Pondpaw was completely disassociated with the shouts of Rainpaw and Duststar at this point, but could hear Mistflower get up beside him, and walk up to the two.

Silently, Mistflower jutted a paw in between the two of them, giving a reassuring glance down to Rainpaw. She gestured her paw backwards, telling the tortoiseshell to move back.

"You may think because you are leader that you have us under control. But not all of us are oblivious." The senior warrior said clearly, the hint of a snarl in her voice.

"Maybe so. But you know I am the leader of BirchClan! I have authority over you." Duststar struck back, stepping forwards to face Mistflower.

Suddenly her stern face dropped. Duststar had a sick smile on his face, a glint in his eye. Her face stared back, horrified at him.

"What a cat have you become? Stalkstar would not be proud of a son like you. She believed you would be responsible for BirchClan, a good leader." Her voice was cold, iced with disgust.

Shivers went down Pondpaw's spine as he heard those words. The apprentice could almost imagine the brown tabby unsheathing his claws, the snarls and shouts, the blood, the body.

"Warriors are tough. We will not always have peace in our Clans." Duststar spoke simply.

"We would if you wouldn't constantly drag us into battle." The white she-cat retorted back, her voice harsh. "Maybe if you got your delusional head out the clouds for a second."

"I listen to no one." The leader snarled back, his claws unsheathing as he said so. Mistflower took an instant step back, her tail fanning out and blocking his sight of Rainpaw behind her.

"Every cat has to listen to someone once in their life." Mistflower stated, then glaring at Duststar with a devilish grin. "So I advise you listen to your mentor, Dustblaze."

"But you didn't always listen, did you?" Duststar finally meowed back after a couple of heartbeats. Pondpaw realised that the tom must've been pretty shook by Mistflower's taunt.

"I advise that you wouldn't bring that up." Mistflower said coldly. "You wouldn't want to end up as mentally scarred as Rainpaw, would you?"

Both apprentices were shocked to their core. Rainpaw was quite offended to say the least, that her own mentor had called her mentally scarred. But yet again, she didn't think that her mentor was so feisty, so unexpectedly good with words. She always assumed that Mistflower was just protective, like the time she had defended her in the nursery.

"I wouldn't want to end up as mentally scarred as Darkwing, of course not." The leader sneered back, watching as Mistflower dropped her tail, overwhelmed, and walked back to Rainpaw and Pondpaw.

"What's he talking abo-?" Rainpaw was about to question, before Mistflower had scurried back up the slope, clearly worrying as she floundered up frantically.

"Beats me to know." Pondpaw shrugged casually, before sighing at Rainpaw. The air had become tense, and he knew Duststar was still there, his back turned to the two as he muttered to himself.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I did." Pondpaw began to say, looking down at the ground, before he was tackled down to the floor. In a panic, he pushed out his front legs in defence, but there was a purring laugh after it.

"I've missed you!" Rainpaw purred, and Pondpaw relaxed. He then realised how awkward it was. He was lying on the floor, Rainpaw beside him, one paw of hers twisted with his as she had batted away his defence.

"Umm." Pondpaw muttered awkwardly, and Rainpaw huffed, seemingly realising too. The tortoiseshell was practically so close face to face, their whiskers were even touching.

"S-sorry." Rainpaw murmured, getting up quickly and shaking out her pelt. "We better get out of here."

Pondpaw nodded in agreement, and was relieved when a tail tip rested on his back, directing him where he should go. Normally Duststar obviously never guided him, always meaning he'd accidentally trip over stones or tree roots.

"And find Mistflower." He grimaced, remembering the she-cat rushing off.

"I agree. But firstly we need to find Leopardpaw. I have some talking to do with him." He could feel Rainpaw's pelt spike up, and he wondered why in StarClan Rainpaw would be so troubled over Leopardpaw, and what they were going to talk about.

"-but you can't be there." Rainpaw finished. Slightly suspicious, he dipped his head, sighing.

I need to find out more about this. He thought, a frown scratched upon his face.

A/N: Oh poor Pondpaw.. you don't even know the half of what Rainpaw and Leopardpaw are gonna talk about. And Mistflower is a badass! Did anyone expect that at all? And about her and Darkwing...that'll be explained later.

Thank you so much for 3k reads! Aaah :D

See ya!

- Ember <3