Hello! It's me, the co-author of this story. You can call me J. And it has to be in italics ;) Lol just kidding, but in all seriousness, here is the second chapter! :)
Rainsong padded back to camp slowly, her mind filled with one thought. Stoneclaw.
Even at the mention of his name, her heart rate increased. Why? They had been friends forever! Why was this happening now?
They couldn't be together. That much she knew. She was the medicine cat! She couldn't take a mate! Besides, Stoneclaw had dozens of she-cats falling for him already. He wasn't interested in plain old her.
Feeling slightly self-conscious now, the light grey she-cat gave her chest a quick lick.
She'd always been ordinary. Her mother had told her that when she was a kit, hadn't she? Plain as the rain she'd said. But that didn't matter now. Right now she had to get back to camp. Robinpaw needed her full attention if he was going to get better.
"How do you feel?" Rainsong asked the apprentice when she reached her den.
The ginger tom yawned and looked at the grey medicine cat. "Better." He admitted. Then he coughed. "Like I said, better. Not perfect."
Rainsong nodded and dug around in her herb supply. A moment later, she produced a clump of tansy.
"Eat this." She instructed. The apprentice obeyed quickly then jumped to his paws.
"Can I go now?" He begged. "I feel so useless, just sitting here!"
Rainsong sighed and shook her head. "You have to rest if you're going to get better. Besides, I can't afford having you spread this. I'm already running low on herbs."
The tom sighed and sat back down, grumbling about how he felt fine. She laughed a little and shook her head. "You'll thank me later, Robinpaw." She assured him.
"Probably not." He complained, laying his head on his paws.
The medicine cat smiled to herself and padded out of the den. "I'm going to collect more tansy," She told the apprentice. "Stay here."
There was a loud sigh in response. Rainsong shook her head, then saw Stoneclaw talking to his apprentice, Silverpaw. The she-cat almost laughed at the look of pure admiration filling the young she-cat's eyes.
"Stoneclaw," She called, padding to his side.
He looked up and smiled. "Meet me in the training hollow," He told Silverpaw, then he padded towards his friend.
Silverpaw glared at Rainsong then turned and walked way, her head held high.
Rainsong bit back a chuckle and directed her attention to her friend.
Her very muscular, incredibly nice, friend. Stop it! She scolded herself.
"Rainsong?" She blinked as Stoneclaw said her name, probably not for the first time either.
"Oh. Sorry." She said sheepishly, trying to calm her heart. He's just Stoneclaw! She snapped at herself.
"You needed something?" He asked.
"Oh! Right." She nodded in agreement. "Um… Yes. Robinpaw is in my den. I was just going to ask you to make sure he stays there. I mean, you don't have to watch him, but if you see him training send him back." She stopped quickly. She had started to ramble.
Whiskers twitching in amusement, Stoneclaw nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him." He assured her.
"Thank you." She sighed in relief, then turned, glad to have an excuse to leave. If she stayed much longer she wasn't sure if her heart could handle it.
"Rainsong?" She paused and turned to face her friend, an amused look on his face. "Elegant as usual."
Rainsong forced out a laugh, then practically ran away, her heart banging almost painfully against her chest.
Taking deep breathes, she padded through the forest, glad for the quiet. She tasted the air for tansy, and was pleasantly surprised to scent some nearby.
Head still spinning slightly, the young medicine cat was surprised she managed to pull up any tansy without passing out from their strong scent.
She was even more surprised to feel a set of claws digging into her back. A squeak of fear escaped her, and the claws dug deeper into her back.
"Hold still, sweetie." A voice sneered. "And you won't get hurt."
Rainsong didn't move. She could hardly breathe. Who were these cats? What did they want with her?
Suddenly she was pulled off the ground and thrown roughly to the side. Before she could even think of running away, a black tom with angry grey eyes shoved her to the ground.
"You're going to scream," He growled, digging a claw into her throat. "And then you're going to call for help. Think of your favorite warrior. Or your leader. Just call someone."
Rainsong nodded, and the claw was released from her throat. But the tom kept her pinned down.
"Help!" She yowled, not knowing what else to do. "Stoneclaw!"
Pain shot through her belly as a set of claw was raked down her front.
"HELP!" She yowled again, her throat burning. "HELP!"
"Rainsong!" The last thing she heard before passing out was Stoneclaw's panicked voice calling to her.
I know it's short, but I promise that as it gets more 'dramatic' the chapters will be longer.
-J
