Melody of the Rain

Chapter 17

TW: DEATH, STRONG LANGUAGE, AND DEPRESSION

A soft breeze blew through the long leaves of a willow tree. Rainsong lay on the lowest branch, curling her claws gently into the soft bark. A happy purr rose from her throat as she felt the soft brush of whiskers against her cheek. She turned her head to see a familiar gray face, amber eyes sparkling with amusement and affection.

She butted her head against Skyfall's, and she felt the vibration of his purring against her flank. With a contented sigh, she lay her head down and looked out at the lovely green pine forest surrounding them.

Happy, excited squeals caught her attention, and she looked down to see two beautiful kits wrestling in the grass beneath the tree. Our kits. They were exactly as she'd imagined they would be: Healthy and strong, curious, and cheerful. Just all-around perfect.

Rainsong turned her head towards Skyfall and saw him gazing at the kits with such affection that it made her heart ache with love for him. She wondered if she looked the same way when she saw them.

One of the kits was a tiny, fluffy gray tom with a cream underbelly.  He was the spitting image of Skyfall, only darker, with pale stripes on his legs and face. He had her leaf-green eyes. The other was an even smaller tortoiseshell she-cat. She had the same coloring as Rainsong herself, just opposite. Where Rainsong had black, she was ginger, and vice-versa. Her eyes were Skyfall's honey amber.

She pictured their names in her mind as if they'd been spoken aloud. Birchkit and Fallenkit.

Birchkit bowled his smaller sister over, but quickly helped her back up when she mewled in protest. She pounced in his tail in response. They tumbled around and Rainsong and Skyfall watched them play. Her mate wrapped his tail around her.

The peaceful scene changed in what seemed like an instant. There was a loud thunderclap, followed by a flash of lightning so bright, that Rainsong's vision grew spotty. Rain began to pour down. She squinted through the downpour to try and locate the kits but couldn't find them anywhere.

Skyfall had also disappeared. His warm flank wasn't settled next to hers as it had been before. Rainsong stood up but slipped on the wet bark and fell out of the tree. The tortoiseshell tried and failed to turn her body in the air as she fell, landing on her side instead. 

Before she had a chance to stand up, razor-sharp claws slashed across her face. Skyfall? She gasped in pain, collapsing onto her side. Before she had time to react, he was slashing his razor-sharp claws across her belly, tearing it open.

Rainsong screamed as her stomach exploded in agony. Warm, sticky blood pooled around her body as she lay, defenseless, in the driving rain. Skyfall wore a sickly satisfied grin on his handsome face. She gasped for breath, feeling herself fading out of consciousness as more blood left her body.

"I have no more use for you," he growled, "You're nothing to me."

Rainsong's eyes shot open. Still reeling from her dream, she glanced around wildly, shredding her nest in a panic. She briefly registered that she was laying in the medicine den. She tried to stand, but agony shot through her belly, for real this time. It was as if her dream had followed her to the waking world! She let out a scream.

Immediately Moonblaze was there, his pale tabby pelt bristling in alarm. "Rainsong! What's wrong?" She wanted to reply, but a new wave of pain turned her words into another deafening screech.

Moonblaze's eyes searched her heaving body, widening as he noticed a growing pool of blood around her haunches. "Oh no," he whispered. Rainsong wailed again. Her vision grew hazy, and she let her head fall onto the ground. A new scent wreathed around her. Meadowfrost.