Chapter 12

Rainfall led Dogpaw a long way, through RiverClan territory, then WindClan until the two of them reached a strange clearing near the twoleg farm, and Rainfall stopped.

"Fell! I am back!" He meowed. Nothing happened for a moment, then there was a rustle in the bushes, and a black she-cat emerged, she stank of disease and her fur was thick and bushy, but the most peculiar thing about her was the red eyes that glinted from her dark figure.

"Rainfall. It is good you are alive. But if I am not mistaken, is this a ShadowClan apprentice?" The she-cat mewed; her voice was grating and made Dogpaw want to scratch her ears out.

"This is Dogpaw, Hailpaw's sister. He and I request you keep her around. ShadowClan is getting destroyed, and we both think she is too valuable to let die. She's a loyal cat, and Hailpaw's kin, which amounts to something, don't you think?" Rainfall spoke easily to this strange cat, which made Dogpaw less nervous. But still more confused, what was going on?

"I will keep her around. If she proves herself one way or another, I will consider letting her live, she is Hailpaw's kin after all. I have some interesting news coming up, so we'll wait until the other cats get here to announce it. Meanwhile, your friend seems a little confused. I think you should explain the situation to her." Fell meowed, Rainfall nodded, and padded away, Dogpaw hurrying after him.

Dogpaw was relieved to be away from Fell, the cat was terrifying, she respected Rainfall more for not being afraid or intimidated by her. Then she blinked, she couldn't respect Rainfall, he could be anyone, he had probably lied to her about his past, and knew something about Sunstripe's murder.

The two cats sat down in a patch of shade under a tree, and Rainfall looked at her guiltily.

"Explain all of…this to me Rainfall, because I don't understand it." Dogpaw growled.

"Fell sent ThunderClan and WindClan after ShadowClan. They know the truth of what happened to RiverClan, and they were scared she'd destroy them too."

"What's the truth behind RiverClan?" Dogpaw asked, the mystery had been in place for a long time, moons in fact. Most cats had given up on the mystery.

"I killed the cats of RiverClan." Meowed Rainfall. She could here no remorse in his voice. She didn't believe him.

"This has got to be some kind of joke! What in StarClan's name is happening?! You're all mad!" She shrieked, standing up suddenly, but Rainfall jumped in front of her.

"You don't know the whole story!" He hissed, "Sit down. Please!" He begged. Dogpaw glared at him, but sat down; knowing he knew those fighting moves the other medicine cats all seemed to know.

"Fell wants to recreate the Clans, she wishes to make a new generation of loyal and brave warriors. A mixture of all the Clans. In order to do that, she must eliminate the Clans to make a fair place, so she can start over." Rainfall mewed; Dogpaw shook her head in disbelief.

"There are cats, medicine cats, with powers and abilities, Fell prophesised them a long time ago, and just now they have begun popping up. She wants them to be the leaders in her new Clan, these are the medicine cats, me, Hailpaw, Quickclaw, Leafpaw and the others."

"Hailpaw is destined to rule the Clan, with you all?" Dogpaw asked, Rainfall nodded slightly.

"Basically, and I want you to rule with us." Rainfall mewed, Dogpaw stared at him.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I love you."

Jaypaw lay on the floor; it felt like his body was on fire, like he was dying. He saw ThunderClan and WindClan ripping ShadowClan to shreds, while the cats screeched and cried, and all Jaypaw could do was watch.

Grasswhisker lay a few pawsteps away from him, dead. The deputy had gone down trying to defend Birdstar, who had only one life left, though he had failed, the leader was lying across the camp, her neck was sliced open.

"You're still alive aren't you?" A voice came behind him, a she-cat. Jaypaw turned around to see a young tortoishell cat standing over him.

"I've been told to take all survivors prisoner in WindClan camp." She meowed, she was WindClan herself, she smelled of moors and herbs, she was a medicine cat.

"Why did you attack us?" Jaypaw croaked he could hardly speak; his voice was shaky as well.

"Reasons." The she-cat mewed, "You'll find out soon enough anyway."

And with that, the she-cat grabbed his scruff and dragged Jaypaw towards his fate.

Hailpaw skidded into the clearing, Quickclaw hot on his tail, the two toms blinked at the sight. Rainfall was being stared at like he was mad by Dogpaw and Fell was watching them with an amused look. Dogpaw seemed to notice his arrival, and bounded up to him at once.

"Hailpaw, what in StarClan's name is this?! You've sentenced your own Clan to death, all so you can follow the plans of a weirdo with red eyes!" She hissed, Hailpaw blinked.

"I am not seeing she is loyal to us yet, Rainfall." Fell mewed, Rainfall shook his head,

"In time, I'm sure she will." He said. Dogpaw turned to glare at the tom, but it was more confused than angry.

"Well. We have a few name changes to go through before the others get here." Fell meowed, "I'm going to rename Hailpaw and Dogpaw. None of my warriors deserve the name of an apprentice."

Hailpaw nodded. A long time ago, he would have forced himself to act excited about this, leaving your apprentice name was important to Clan cats. Now Hailpaw didn't care.

"Dogpaw, because of your brutish name, I am renaming you Shadowpelt, no cat deserves to be named after a dog." Fell spat. Hailpaw glanced at Dogpaw. She looked angry, she had always been proud of her name.

"Hailpaw, from now on you will be Hailstorm!" Meowed Fell, her eyes slicing into the white tom, Hailstorm simply nodded and flicked his tail.

"This is all very nice." Meowed Rainfall. "But if you look to your left, I think you'll see an angry RiverClan she-cat."

The cats whipped their heads around, and sure enough, a cream coloured she-cat was standing at the side of the clearing, glaring at Rainfall.

"You!" She hissed, and leapt at the tom.

Author's Note : Again, sorry for not updating for a while! I've been quite busy, but I hope I'll be able to update more from now on! xxx