Trying to remember not to call him Tundrapaw is so hard! *sulks like a kit*
Tundrastride rolled over in his nest, felling tired. He hadn't gotten any sleep at all. What was that dream even about? He had never seen a cat with purple eyes before. Trying to slip back to sleep, even though it was dawn, his plans were interrupted by a commotion from outside. A quiet, but still noticeable one. Padding sleepily out of the den, he was shocked awake. Standing at the entrance to camp was a cat he had never seen before. A cat with purple eyes.
Of all the things he could have woken up to this morning, Raincliff did not expect this one. In his entire life, he had only met one cat with lavender-blue eyes like that.
But he had been fairly sure that he was dead. Standing in the middle of the camp, he stared. In disbelief, he cautiously asked this cat. "Wolfstep? Is that you?"
The cat smirked, padded up to him and said, humor in his eyes, "Well, could it be anyone else, Rainr- sorry, Raincliff?" Wolfstep sat down with a contented look on his face. "I suppose Sparrowkit, Rabbitkit and Mintkit got lonely without anyone to play with?" Raincliff stared at him awkwardly. Wait. Does he not.. Did he leave before we found out they were..?
He hesitated, then began. "Wolfstep, your kits were never dead." His jaw dropped. "...Well can I see them then? Are they full fighters yet? Come on, Raincliff! Tell me something!" Wolfstep was barely managing to keep all four paws on the ground, he seemed that excited.
Nightwhisper slipped out into the clearing, and padded up warily. "Well, I don't know who YOU think you are but-" Her hostile rant was interrupted by Raincliff, who silenced her with a glare. "Nightwhisper. Calm down." Even before he could finish his sentence, Wolfstep's face shone with pride and awe. "Nightkit.." He murmured to himself. Raincliff looked at him, then to Nightwhisper, then back. Do I really have to be the one to say this? He wondered. "Look." He paused, awkward. "Nightwhisper, this is your father, Wolfstep." She recoiled like she had been swiped on the muzzle. "Wait..." She stared at Wolfstep, then gave Raincliff an expression that clearly read, This guy is related to me? He looks like a stone with a tail and legs.
Tundrastride stared at the unfolding scene. He padded up nervously. "Nightwhisper, he's telling the truth. You really think someone would walk in and pretend to be our father? What would anyone even get out of that? Plus, Raincliff wouldn't play along with it." He saw the cat's- no, his fathers, eyes widen even more at the sight of him. "T-Tundrakit? But you were d-" Rockear, padding out from his den, cut him off. "He's not the first cat you thought was dead, and he's obviously not , so get over it!"
Wolfstep growled slightly. He had a tail that was slightly thicker in the middle than at each end, so the angry lashing of his tail looked quite funny, actually.
After a little while, Raincliff spoke up again. "Why are you here, Wolfstep? You were never one to go anywhere without a clear reason to be there." Wolfstep shuffled awkwardly. "Uh.. Yeah, about that... I wasn't really planning to stay, just stop Sto-" He was interrupted by a panicked scream. He visually wilted. "And I'm too late. Again."
Tundrastride whirled around in the direction of the noise, claws digging into the dirt. He barely had time to register what den he was looking at before he saw Dawnpaw bolting out, a disturbed look on his face. He was still on his paws, barely, stuttering so fast that no one could tell what he was saying. Tundrastride sat down next to his apprentice nervously. "Dawnpaw, what.. What happened? What's going on?" As if my day couldn't get more nuts.
Dawnpaw stared at his paws. His eyes were wide with shock. Looking around for what might have caused this, Tundrastride noticed Rockear looked almost exactly the same as Dawnpaw did. The apprentice finally looked up at him. "I-In the den! Foxpaw's still in there..." He went back to stuttering again, and Tundrastride sighed. "Coming, Raincliff?" He nodded. Rockear shivered. "A... Actually I'll come too."
Raincliff padded into the den, claws ready. Even he flinched at the scene. The rear wall of the bramble den had been torn down, and standing in the gap was a large, heavily muscled cat, with gray fur and harsh green eyes. Smirking at the sight of the others, he chuckled slightly. The dirt was smeared with blood, and limp at the tom's feet was the bloody form of Foxpaw. The tom looked down at the small apprentice, then gave him another nick in the ear. "Rockpaw, Rainripple, Wolfstep, how nice to see you.." He said in an overly sarcastic voice. "It really is a shame I can't stay... Bye now!" He slashed down Foxpaw's flank, then turned and ran, disappearing over a ridge within a few breaths. Tundrastride glared at Rockear. "Well aren't you going to do something?!" He yelled. Rockear didn't seem to hear. He merely muttered something, then passed out.
Nightwhisper rolled her eyes and ran to fetch Rabbitflower. As the she-cat trotted into the scene, her eyes widened. She turned back to Nightwhisper and started listing things that she needed her to bring here. Before Nightwhisper went to collect the herbs, she asked the question. "Rabbitflower, do you think he'll live?" She sighed. "I can only tell you that I'll try."
Wolfstep sat next to Raincliff in the center of the camp. Turning to him, Wolfstep sighed. "Did you hear what Rockear mumbled?" Raincliff looked at him. "No, what?" He looked around awkwardly. "The name of the attacker, who you should have recognized, correct?" Raincliff looked down at his paws. "Yeah. Stoneshadow."
No, keyboard, why do you do this to me?! I like Foxpaw! By the way, reread chapter 6 again if you can't remember who Stoneshadow is.
This book has a Forum! Yay! Somewhere for you to ask me questions! Look at it!
No questions, I'm off to yell at my keyboard. DX
