Yo! eh, I meant to update this two days ago, obviously, it didn't happen. Sorry for being lazy guys.
REVIEWS
"Leviathan48"- Guessing is encouraged!
"Birdflame"- Which one? lol
"Indigostartherandomkitty"- Good!
Pianodevotion- that was the point
"RedBirdSong"- Yes, the ultimate end of both this, 'book,' and the whole trilogy.
"TheMouseOfAwesomeness"- Read and find out!
Dawnfeather- No problem! and you can now find out!
Sunfire- Yeah! its going to be so fun ;)
Popcat- Don't know if everyone else would agree, but it may happen.
I Stay Unnamed- Possibly!
Chapter 35: Who Did It?
"Rainstone?!" the outraged and desperate hiss was the first thing Scampfur said.
"Yes, now be quiet!" Rainstone murmured, forcing herself to stop shivering.
"Why? You're invading my camp! Look, we're enemies as long as we are in different Clans, you need to understand that," Scampfur growled.
"I do understand! But there is a bigger enemy here and I need your help right now," Rainstone growled, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.
Scampfur opened his mouth then closed it, thinking. Rainstone knew he was too curious to make her leave without at least hearing her out. "Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say, but not here," Scampfur murmured, looking around quickly.
He then led her quickly to a side tunnel at the back of the camp. Rainstone wrinkled her nose at the stench but followed him without complaining until they slid through a torn gap in the barrier and were out in the forest.
"Okay, so what's this about?" Scampfur sighed, turning toward her with a wary but curious expression.
"I suppose you've heard about Nightwing of ShadowClan who turned rogue?" Rainstone started and Scampfur nodded.
"He's made a group of cats designated for taking the Clans down-"
"What does that have to do with you being here though?" Scampfur sighed, interrupting her impatiently.
"Be quiet and you might find out," she growled, curling her lip. How did I ever love him once? She didn't recognize that cat anymore. "Anyways, I spied on his group for a while and leaned that Nighwing has an ally, it's Pinefur, your deputy," Rainstone hesitated, wondering if Scampfur would believe her.
It seemed their past counted for something for even though Scampfur looked surprised, he didn't question her. "I-I've heard Pinefur is a little shady at times, though I doubt many cats in the Clan would deem him a traitor," Scampfur muttered.
Rainstone shrugged and continued, "I also have reason to believe that he has his own set of cats that are not in the Clans. Now, I need to know if you know if Pinefur has any very close allies in ThunderClan and if there is any place near here that would resemble a cave," Rainstone asked, leaning forward and remembering the scent on the two cat's fur that were accompanying Pinefur.
Scampfur frowned, "He has plenty of supporters… Ivyfur and Icewhisker are pretty close to him, but I don't know if they'd be part of something against the Clan. Especially Icewhisker, he's very loyal and Stormstar's nephew," Scampfur mused.
"What about a cave-like place? Anything where he could hide a bunch of cats nearby?" Rainstone asked insistently. It didn't sound like Pinefur had many ThunderClan cats, if any, in on his plans.
"Well… No, I don't really know… Wait!" Scampfur jumped up with pricked ears. "There are tunnels between ThunderClan and WindClan, I always thought they smelled like the caves back home, but I've never been in them. They're checked on patrols to make sure no WindClan cat's been using them, but they are blocked off and all cats are forbidden to use them."
Rainstone nodded, "Sounds like an ideal hiding place to me," she mewed, glad that this trip was turning productive. "I'll need you to show them to me," she added, looking at Scampfur steadily.
"What, tonight?" Scampfur looked alarmed and ready to refuse.
"No, mouse-brain, not tonight. I need to be getting back to RiverClan, but I'll return in three nights by the ShadowClan border near the lake and you can show me then. My paw is still broken so I can't travel this far too often," Rainstone winced, it didn't hurt, but she could tell from her leg that it was aching.
"Okay, well, I'll show you to the border," Scampfur offered, looking much friendlier now than when he'd first seen her.
"Oh, thanks, but I need to go find the other cats who came here with me," Rainstone mewed.
Scampfur started, "You didn't come by yourself?" he asked.
Rainstone glared at him. "Do I look like the kind of idiot that would go into enemy territory all by myself when I can't even run right?"
Scampfur's eyes took a sarcastic glint and he opened his jaws.
"You know what, forget I asked that," Rainstone snapped, cutting off whatever Scampfur was going to say. "Now lets go," she sighed, feeling exhausted and with the night only half over.
Scampfur followed her as she circled back over to the top of the hollow and approached a fern bush that smelled faintly of her two companions. "Come on, guys, let's get going," Rainstone mewed quietly.
Silence answered her and her belly clenched in apprehension. "Guys?" she asked nervously, cautiously stepping forward, fully aware that Scampfur was watching her in horror. Oh no, if they cause ThunderClan trouble then I don't think Scampfur will help us!
With a shaky paw, afraid of what she'd find, or more exactly, what she wouldn't find, she moved the fern leaves aside. "Are you kidding me?!" she snarled, feeling her blood boil in a heartbeat and anger flash behind her eyes.
Willowwater and Needlepine lay curled together under the fern bush with soft snores and sleepy breathing. How could they fall asleep at a time like this?! "Get up!" Rainstone snarled, poking them sharply with a claw.
Willowwater jumped at the first touch and stared at her groggily while Rainstone practically had to heave Needlepine to his paws. "Now get up! We're leaving!" Rainstone snarled as quietly as she could.
Willowwater yawed and nodded while Needlepine just followed her dazedly. Scampfur gave her an odd look and she felt herself flush in embarrassment. Could they seriously not even stay awake for me? Scampfur is going to think I've found the biggest losers to help me!
Flushing with anger, she fumed as Scampfur led them back to the border. On the way, the two followers woke up enough to realize she was murderously furious and that they had screwed up. "Thanks for the help Scampfur, you won't forget, right?" she asked, still unable to meet his gaze for embarrassment.
"Nope, I'll see you then, anything to help against this menace. I want my kits and mate o be safe, and that won't happen until this is taken care of," Scampfur mewed, his eyes serious and sincere.
Rainstone's heart creaked with pain as he said those words that showed he cared so much for another cat. But she pushed it away, so what if she didn't have any cat to care about like that? That didn't mean she wouldn't. She glanced at Needlepine, feeling herself flush with heat again, but this time it wasn't from anger.
"C'mon, we need to get home," Rainstone announced and marched off with a wave of her tail at Scampfur.
The two cats were silent as they followed her, and Rainstone relished in the calm quiet. Finally, Willowwater broke the silence, "Sorry about falling asleep," she muttered.
"So you should be," Rainstone snapped back angrily, "Falling asleep on a mission like that and in enemy territory no less! You two have worse sense then kits!" Rainstone snorted.
"Sorry," they chorused in unison.
"Well, you'll pay for it. Since I won't require either of your assistance any further," Rainstone went on snappishly.
Willowwater sighed, as if she'd been expecting that, but Needlepine gave a sound of distress. "No! you can't do it alone, it's too dangerous!" he protested, hurrying up to her side.
Rainstone glared at him, "It would be more dangerous to take along a cat that can't help himself. Besides, I'm not alone; I've got Scampfur to help me," Rainstone continued.
"About that, how do you even know him anyways? You were a rogue! How did you know that he'd help you?" Needlepine asked suspiciously.
"If you must know, and you don't, we actually came from the same group of rogues. Funny how we ended up finding each other here after leaving," Rainstone laughed with a twinge of sadness.
"Did you love each other?" Needlepine blurted out, green eyes deadly serious.
Rainstone was surprised by the question and hesitated, fully aware that Willowwater was listening intently. She was definitely not going to tell them the truth. "Maybe, I'm not sure. We were close, if that's what you wanted to know. But Scampfur has obviously moved on," Rainstone added in a tone that didn't invite any more questions.
Needlepine fell silent and trialed behind her and Willowwater kept quiet as well until they finally reached the RiverClan border. "Well, I'll be saying goodnight Needlepine, maybe I'll see you at the gathering," Rainstone mewed casually, though she would probably contact him before then.
"Yes, goodnight, Rainstone, Willowwater," Needlepine mewed in tight courtesy, then turned and disappeared into the forest.
"Well, that was an interesting walk. It's past moon-high, what do we tell the Clan?" Willowwater asked as Rainstone just breathed in the wind coming off the lake.
"Simple, we were on a walk that took much longer then we meant it too," she smirked.
…
"Rainstone! Where were you last night? I couldn't find you anywhere!" Flickertail exclaimed, standing over the makeshift nest in the apprentices den.
"I just went out of camp to get a drink and Willowwater joined me, so we ended up talking and getting back much later then we meant," Rainstone muttered, like any rudely awaken cat would.
"How come you didn't come back to the medicine-cat's den then?" Flickertail demanded, looking completely exasperated.
"Because," Rainstone groaned, pushing herself to a sitting position. "It was late and I didn't want you to wake up and lecture me," she muttered, licking her paw and smoothing her frayed whiskers.
Flickertail growled then sighed in resignation. "Well, how did your paw hold up on that short walk of yours?" Flickertail asked with a gleam in his eyes and Rainstone huffed.
So he knows there was more to it than just a walk, I bet it's because Willowwater was so suspicious last night when she tried to get me out of the medicine-cat den.
"Its fine, my leg started to ache when we were close to ending, but it didn't hurt," Rainstone mewed.
Flickertail frowned and looked at the paw. Rainstone had fixed the splint last night so it didn't look like she'd trekked half way across the lake twice last night. "Well, it looks okay. But for goodness sakes, be careful!" Flickertail sighed.
"Sure thing," Rainstone purred. She had no intention of being careful, and from the annoyed look Flickertail gave her, he knew it.
"So, what time is it?" Rainstone asked, it seemed to be fairly early, but she could hear plenty of cats already up and about.
"Mintbreeze just finished sending out morning patrols. And I told Sweetberry you can do some hunting today if you're careful," Flickertail mewed reluctantly.
"Good, it's annoying to be an, 'apprentice,' when I'm so much older than an apprentice should be," Rainstone grumbled. But I do like having a den to myself, she reminded herself.
"Well, you should go looking for her then, you know she doesn't like to be kept waiting," Flickertail mewed, flicking her ears with his tail. Rainstone remembered that Sweetberry was Flickertail's sister.
"Later, I need something to eat first," Rainstone yawned, feeling her belly rumble.
Flickertail huffed but didn't object as she got up and limped out. Rainstone looked around and snuck around to the fresh-kill pile as discreetly as possible. She grabbed a tiny fish and then looked around before gulping it down.
"Hey! We need to get training, finish your meal later!" Sweetberry called impatiently.
Rainstone scowled, one tiny fish would hardly tide her over until later! But she didn't object and meandered over to Sweetberry who was waiting by the entrance. "Come on, I want you ready for your assessment as soon as that paw is healed," the honey-gold she-cat mewed as she led her out of camp.
"Just asking, what left do I have to learn?" Rainstone asked with a sigh.
"Your swimming skills could use some work, especially in the fighting region," Sweetberry snapped.
Rainstone ignored her; she knew that she was a fine swimmer and an even finer fighter. Sweetberry glanced back at her, as if waiting for something. "What?" Rainstone asked, trying to smooth the grumpiness from her voice.
"I was just expecting you to make some smart remark about how your skills already outclass mine," Sweetberry mewed with a note of surprise in her voice.
Rainstone stared at her in confusion, "Why would I do that? I mean, I thought it, but I wouldn't say it."
Sweetberry rolled her eyes, though there was a laugh in her voice, "Well, I guess a cat can't change that much in one moon."
Rainstone shook her head and decided to ignore Sweetberry's odd remarks. I haven't changed at all! She's just remembering me all wrong. But now they were near the area where they usually would fish and so she put the thoughts away.
Crouching down, Rainstone shifted onto her belly, so that she could use her uninjured paw for catching the fish, while not putting any pressure on her broken paw. Sweetberry settled down a few tail-lengths downstream and stared into the water.
Rainstone stared into the river as well, but was absent-minded apart from searching for a flicker of scales. The sun soaked into her fur and soothed her tired muscles and the rock was warming in the rising sunlight. She dashed her paw into the water instinctively and hooked out a large pike which she finished off quickly.
A moment later, Sweetberry was hooking out a trout and Rainstone focused more intently on fishing, determined to catch more than Sweetberry to show she was more than ready to be a warrior.
She flashed out a paw as she saw the gleaming silver scales of a fish, but it dove down and she let out a hiss of annoyance. A moment later, Sweetberry hooked out the same fish and gave her a superior smirk. "You have to do better than that," her mentor laughed.
Rainstone settled down once more, completely concentrated on hooking out fish as they swam past. By sun-high she had just as impressive a pile as Sweetberry and her mentor was nodding in satisfaction.
"We can head back to camp now, any more fish and we won't be able to carry it all back," Sweetberry mewed distractedly.
Rainstone felt the same and rolled on her back, scratching herself against the warm rock. But as she exposed her belly, she flipped back to her paws instinctively and looked around suspiciously. The hair on her neck bristled and she sniffed the air, trying to block out the babble of the stream.
"Something wrong?" Sweetberry asked.
"Somethings… Not right," she murmured, flexing her claws.
"Hmm?" Sweetberry stood erect, ears pointed straight.
"Smell that?" Rainstone murmured, backing against Sweetberry so that their backs were to each other.
"Yeah… rogues?" Sweetberry whispered.
"Not just any rogues," Rainstone growled, looking down at her faded black paws. They looked like a very dark gray now, but could just as easily be mistaken for black. In short, she still looked like, 'Pepper.'
"Three cats, we can take them," Rainstone murmured.
"But you're hurt! The first chance we get, we head for camp," Sweetberry hissed.
"No way, I have a suspicion there's some kind of trap. I mean, why would they attack just two cats?" Rainstone growled, although she had the nagging suspicion they had targeted her.
"Not quite, Pepper," a loud voice rang out. "It seems you thoroughly deceived us, and the information you hold could be sensitive," Rainstone recognized the speaker as Shadow, but because the voice echoed, she couldn't pin-point it.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't so foolishly assume you're better than anyone else?" Rainstone answered sharply.
"Mewl away while you can, because you won't be doing it much longer," Shadow hissed now and Rainstone knew exactly where she was.
She gave a harsh laugh in answer, though she felt a tremble along her tail. She felt the warm and surprised gaze of Sweeetberry, it was admiring and pitying at the same time. "Look, one of the cats is behind that rock, and the other is in that willow tree," Rainstone whispered to Sweetberry, sweeping her tail over the marks that both lay in shadow.
"And the third one?" Sweetberry asked.
"She's mine, the other two aren't much fighters, so you should be able to take'em," Rainstone mewed, readying her paws. Soot and Crow were young and new, Sweetberry would be fine especially with the advantage of the river.
Rainstone let out a yowl and leaped over the river and ducked behind a small shrub bush, barreling herself into Shadow. The older she-cat gave a hiss and Rainstone felt teeth dig into her torn ear. She retaliated, by burying her fangs into Shadow's shoulder, forcing the she-cat on her back.
Pinning her down, Rainstone glared into Shadow's angry eyes. "Don't mess with me, I was never even trying to fight back then," she growled and succeeded in getting a flicker of fear to appear in Shadow's eyes.
Holding her down with her front paws, she used her back paws to churn through Shadow's belly fur, while holding her legs so that Shadow couldn't kick her off of her. A shriek of pain from behind her broke Rainstone's concentration and she glanced over her shoulder to see Crow and Soot beating back Sweetberry.
Shadow took her distraction and kicked her off, sending her sliding across the stone that edged the river, her back paw slipping into the fast moving current as she stood up. She gave Shadow a daring look and the lithe she-cat raced for her, obviously meaning to ram her into the river.
But just before Shadow contacted with her, Rainstone allowed herself to slip into the river and she bobbed up instantly, watching Shadow fall into the water with a screech. One down, two to go.
Pulling herself, dripping, out of the river, Rainstone bounded back upstream and leaped across the river, her wet paws slipping and causing her to slide into Soot. "Sorry kid, but there's no messing with me or the Clan that saved my life," Rainstone growled, clawing at Soot's muzzle.
Soot snarled, but Rainstone saw a look of hopelessness alight in her dark hazel eyes. Feigning an attack at her ears, Rainstone bowled into Soot's chest and flung the she-cat backward into a rock where she lay, stunned.
Sweetberry, fur with red spots of blood on her golden fur, was chasing Crow off. The tom stopped to grab Soot and then was gone, racing toward the border. Rainstone sighed in relief and sat down, her paws trembling.
"Are you okay?" Sweetberry asked, sounding out of breath.
"Yeah, only a few scratches," Rainstone mewed, drawing a paw over her bloody ear. "What about you?" Rainstone asked, looking at Sweetberry's scratches, mostly on her shoulders.
"I'll heal," Sweetberry winced as she licked at the blood.
"We should get back to camp and report this," Rainstone yawned, feeling incredibly tired.
"Yeah, grab the prey too, we'll need to eat tonight and I'll bet there will be less hunting patrols after this," Sweetberry nodded, looking just as tired as she felt. Between the laziness of the warm rock and the intense scuffle, everything had been drained.
Rainstone grabbed her prey and Sweetberry grabbed hers and they started heading warily back to camp. Rainstone was constantly flicking her ears around listening for any suspicious noise since her nose was full of the scent of fish and the slippery creatures blocked most of her view.
But everything was quiet, and the only thing that was accomplished by flicking her ears around was that she sent drops of blood flying around. "Oh no," Sweetberry dropped her prey suddenly and stopped dead, eyes wide in horror.
"What?" Rainstone asked tensely, dropping her won prey and looking around.
"No!" Sweetberry cried, rushing forward and collapsing on the ground, pawing at something desperately while begging StarClan for it to not be true.
Then Rainstone saw it and her heart missed a beat. "Oh no…" she whispered in horror. She blinked back the tears in her eyes as Sweetberry started wailing. On the ground in front of her, covered in blood and terrible wounds, was a small brown and white patched tom.
It was Patchkit. And Rainstone was sure she knew who had killed him.
...
So make your guesses about who did it... if its not obvious in a collective term. I'm not going to ask for an individual, that'd be hard. ca
Uhg... I can't wait to be done with school, its making me hate it since it just won't end! No, I won't wallow anymore, not online anyways.
Please Review!