Chapter 9

"…And this is comfrey it's used for-" Quickclaw was cut off from teaching Hailpaw useful facts about herbs by a yowling in the clearing, the medicine cat's head whipped up immediately, and he beckoned Hailpaw to follow him outside.

Most of ShadowClan were stood in a circle muttering amongst themselves, Birdstar was just padding over to see what was going on, when Hailpaw saw what was happening. Rainfall.

Rainfall was stood in the circle, surrounded by the Clan, he didn't look scared, he looked interested. Dogpaw was stood next to him, her ears flattened against her head, Hailpaw heard Quickclaw gasp from beside him.

"Dogpaw, who is this cat and why have you taken him to our camp?" Birdstar demanded, her voice was calm like usual, but hostility blazed in her eyes. Rainfall glanced at Quickclaw and shook his head quickly, motioning for the cat to not reveal his identity, then Rainfall stepped forwards.

"I am merely a cat descended from the Clans and wanting to come back to his kin." He mewed. Quickclaw cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"What? Explain more!" Birdstar growled, the other cats were staring in confusion.

"My mother's mother was a part of ShadowClan, she left to become a loner, but she taught my mother about the Clans, who in turn taught me about them. I have come here because my home over the mountains has been wrecked, and I could think of nowhere other than here to turn to." Rainfall lied. Hailpaw wondered why he was here in the first place. It was clear no cat recognised him.

"You wish to join our Clan?" Asked Birdstar, narrowing her eyes, "Absolutely not, we can't go around inviting loners, kittypets and all other kinds of cats into ShadowClan, what would we become?!" She yowled. Grasswhisker briskly walked up to her and placed his tail on her shoulder.

"May I suggest, instead of turning Rainfall away, we could test him to see if he's trustworthy, and to see if he's a valuable warrior." The tom meowed, "We are very short on warriors, Birdstar, and Leafbare will only make this harder. We need strong cats."

"How would we test him?" Birdstar meowed. Grasswhisker looked up, gazing at all the cats around.

"I propose a day of testing. Tomorrow, Rainfall will be asked to show how well he can fight, hunt and scent for other cats! Then we will vote on whether he may stay!" There was a hint of amusement in Grasswhisker's voice, many of the younger cats were whispering excitedly, while the older cats were looking suspiciously at Rainfall, who stood with great confidence next to Dogpaw, who had so far been ignored by most of the cats. Quickclaw took this opportunity to speak.

"I would like to question Rainfall and Dogpaw if that's okay. I also welcome Rainfall to stay in the medicine cat's den for the night if he wishes." The medicine cat meowed. Rainfall nodded curtly,

"That would be much obliged, thank you." The tom meowed, then he flicked his tail at Dogpaw, urging her to follow him as he made his way through the crowd towards the medicine cats.

"Why are you here Rainfall? What happened to your Clan?" Quickclaw demanded. Hailpaw and Dogpaw had been told to do an errand while he questioned Rainfall.

"I poisoned a lot of cats and I am now exiled." The tom meowed. Quickclaw blinked.

"What?"

"I poisoned a lot of cats." Rainfall repeated, "I put deathberries in their food and a lot of them are dead. In fact, from what I've seen from spying on them, only about five of them are alive, and three of those cats are kits, one is our leader, and the other is Voleclaw, a she-cat who has always hated me and will no doubt inform the other cats of my evil ways and I will be slaughtered."

"Why did you come here?" Quickclaw growled. Rainfall sneered,

"ShadowClan seemed the friendliest Clan around here. ThunderClan are too obsessed with blood purity, I would not fit into WindClan, and of course, most of RiverClan are dead. I needed a Clan to rest in, and also, my last victim is in this Clan."

"Who is your last victim? I know you killed Eaglewing, and you also killed Rabbitfur-" Quickclaw was cut off.

"No. Greymask killed Rabbitfur, he also killed Duskpelt. I only have one cat left to kill. That cat is Sunstripe." Rainfall mewed.

"Why?"

"She killed my friend." Rainfall meowed simply.

"What? Are you speaking about Fernpaw?! That was seasons ago, and you're taking action now?!" Quickclaw growled, Rainfall glared at him,

"May I remind you of the situation I was in at RiverClan? Most of the cats hated me, even my own parents, but Fernpaw was my friend, and Sunstripe killed her in battle. Sometimes, a friend is all that's needed to keep someone from becoming mad."

"That was an accident Rainfall-" Quickclaw began,

"Are you implying you want to stop me from killing your Clanmate, even though I am one of the circle and it is against the rules to stop a fellow circle cat from killing anyone?" Rainfall asked his voice filled with aggression. Quickclaw shook his head quickly.

"Good. I will just be in your Clan for a few days. But if I were you, I'd stay away from the fresh-kill; you may find a few unwanted berries in there." And with that, Rainfall padded to his nest and lay down, closing his eyes.

Quickclaw turned away from the tom, knowing that he would be catching his own fresh-kill from now on.

Hailpaw padded through the trees with his sister, looking for the herbs Quickclaw had told them to collect. Dogpaw hadn't stopped talking since they'd gotten out of camp, about how weird Rainfall was, about what was going to happen to him tomorrow and about how excited she was about getting to know him more.

"He seems like a really interesting cat!" She meowed, "Jaypaw doesn't like him, but what else is new, Jaypaw doesn't like anything interesting."

Hailpaw wondered why she was so obsessed with Rainfall, he seemed pretty creepy, and not at all a nice cat. But what did he know, he didn't have feelings.

"Birdstar asked me about where and how I'd met Rainfall, she was really angry, I wonder if she thinks he's suspicious or untrustworthy, he must seem like that to everyone, he is a strange loner who came to our forest. But his story makes sense." Dogpaw continued. Hailpaw felt the evening breeze ruffle his fur.

"Jaypaw seems angrier than usual. He's changed you know, he's actually really good at fighting and stuff! He should be becoming a warrior soon." Dogpaw mewed. "Rainfall used a Clan fighting move on me when I attacked him. He said his mother taught it to him, that's pretty cool." Dogpaw was very used to speaking, some cats said she spoke enough for both herself and Hailpaw, which made up for the fact Hailpaw didn't speak.

Dogpaw seemed to notice they were walking in circles and groaned,

"We forgot to get the herbs Quickclaw wanted!"

With that, the two siblings rushed away.