Redstorm hated, and she meant hated her mate.
When she first had met Spiderleap as an apprentice, she'd been infatuated with the handsome tom. He was strong, fast, a good hunter and had seemed humble. As soon as they were made warrior's, Redstorm had made her move. He graciously accepted her, and they'd settled down happily. A few moons later, she found herself bearing his kits. A few moons after that, she'd found herself with a sturdy young tom and two beautiful she-cats in her nest.
And then Redstorm had seen the change in him. She felt like a mouse-brain; gradually, he'd become more and more arrogant, bragging to everyone about how great his skills were, and then how great his mate was, and now about how great his kits were. She could barely stand it. Everything was because he was great. She had been drawn to him because he was so great. His kits were great all because of him. They were going to be great warriors.
Oh, and he had his sights on being deputy, too. Sunwillow, the current deputy, was preparing to retire after moons of faithful service. Nightstar seemed to think Spiderleap was a good choice.
"Redstorm! Redstorm, we want to go out of camp! Please, please mommy please," Redstorm awoke in her nest to the wonderful sound of her kittens. Purring, she rose her head, blinking away the sleep from her eyes. It was Sunnykit and Mosskit, her daughters, pawing at her tail with bright eyes wide. Redstorm curled her tail up to keep it away from their energetic paws.
"Sweeties, you're only three moons," she told them, moving in to touch noses with each of them. "You have to wait until you're apprentices and have mentors before going out of camp." Sunnykit sighed, looking downcast, while Mosskit pouted.
"But Spiderleap took Harekit out of camp! They're out hunting right now!" she protested. Redstorm's eyes widened, and she struggled against baring her teeth. He can't! She thought, jumping to her feet.
"What?" she demanded, feeling frantic. It was against the warrior code, it was against the rules of camp; why had her idiot mate gone and done such a thing?
"Yeah!" Sunnykit mewled. "He said that we were his kits and we were perfect, so we could go out before then." Redstorm's head spun, and soon, anger overtook her. He did, did he? She brushed past her kits, her fur bristling with rage. Before they could follow, Redstorm snapped, "Stay here!"
Ignoring the surprised calls of the warriors, she stormed out of camp, trying to find a scent trail. Where are they? Did they go to the burnt sycamore? The marshes? Carrionplace? The thought made her sick. She had to calm herself down before she found anything to follow. One led out of camp, through the brambles and towards the WindClan border, that matched Spiderleap's scent. She tracked it all the way to a section of the pine woods that a fox had recently been driven from.
Spiderleap could scent Redstorm approaching before he saw her. He rolled his eyes, annoyed. What's her problem? She wasn't even making an effort to be silent. Over the course of ten moons, Redstorm had become more and more problematic. She always doubted him, disagreed with him, on everything. From how to name the kits to his hunting techniques. For some reason, the adoration he'd once sensed from her had been replaced with annoyance. He wondered why.
His latest antic, he knew, would enrage her: taking their kits out into the forest. Well, one of them, anyways. Harekit had readily agreed to keep their little hunting excursion a secret. Mosskit and Sunnykit had wanted to ask Redstorm first. I don't need permission to take my kits wherever I want, he thought as he sat patiently, waiting for Harekit to return from tracking his mouse. They are my kits of course. They're perfect, and training them early can't be a problem. In fact, it should only strengthen their training when they're apprentices.
That was his train of thought when Redstorm burst through the undergrowth, her fur on end. "Where is Harekit?" she demanded, her teeth bared. "Where is my son?" Spiderleap smirked, and nodded his head towards the forest ahead of them.
"Hunting," he replied. Redstorm hissed.
"He's barely three moons old!"
"Yes, but he's my son, which means that he's a perfectly good hunter already." Spiderleap was already tired of arguing with Redstorm. Frankly, he didn't give a mousetail about what she thought. Redstorm hissed.
"Where is he?" she demanded again, staring unrelentingly at him. He smirked.
"I sent him off to the WindClan border. He can probably catch something from that stinking moorland and bring it back in no time."
Redstorm's head spun. He sent my son to WindClan? She wanted to scream, to jump at Spiderleap, give him a few scars for his cockiness. But she didn't instead, she pushed past him, ignoring his cry of protest, and stormed ahead, trying to detect the slightly milky scent of Harekit.
Eventually, she found it. And it was mixed with the smell of... blood. And adder. Her own blood seemed to chill as she stumbled forward, trying desperately to locate her son – and then she found him. A small gray lump, lying in a fen, two small toothmarks in his neck. Blood. Blood gushing from the marks into the boggy soil. Redstorm didn't stop her scream this time. Shrieking, the queen darted right into the growing pool of her son's blood, and pressed her nose into his shoulder. "Harekit? Wake up, please! Your mommy and your sisters and your - " the word 'daddy' stuck in her throat, and she refused to say it. Spiderleap got my baby killed!
Spiderleap followed his mate's scent trail, nonchalant. "She's overreacting," he murmured, passing through the undergrowth. He could scent fear-scent mixed in with Redstorm's and thought nothing of it. Until, of course, he smelled blood.
Then he picked up his pace, and suddenly stumbled into a marshy area, and saw Redstorm leaning over the form of -
Harekit. Spiderleap gasped, darting to her side. "What?" he whispered, amber eyes wide as he stared at the growing puddle of blood. "Who did this?" he snarled, glaring at Redstorm. She gazed back at him, looking desperate.
"Adder," she whispered. He could barely hear her. "An adder got to him..." And then, Spiderleap could see a change in Redstorm he didn't understand. She seemed angry. "You sent him here! You got my son killed!" she spat at him, unsheathing her claws. His eyes widened even more.
"This isn't my fault!" he snapped in reply, backing away. "This... Harekit wasn't ready - "
"And you didn't see it!" Redstorm interrupted. "You murdered my son!"
"This isn't my fault!"
"Yes it is!" she snarled, bowling him over. Spiderleap finally reacted, and shoved her into the fen.
"Stay off of me!" he retorted. Redstorm was overreacting, blaming him. Harekit had failed, and now he was dead, and that was unfortunate. None of it was his fault.
Redstorm opened her mouth to speak again, but then shock and pain filled her eyes. The scent of adder was overwhelming. Spiderleap glanced at her leg, and saw it. The adder had just sunk it's teeth into Redstorm's hind leg, filling it with venom, paralyzing her instantly. Then it retracted it's teeth and slipped away into the grass. The tom just stood there, watching as his mate crumbled to the ground, leaving him alone. With his arrogance. In a moment of clarity, Spiderleap realized what he'd done.