Legacy (Book 1)

Chapter 34: No Help

Chapter 34: No Help

Rainstone flexed her broken paw and glanced up at Flickertail. She hadn't felt so good since she'd left RiverClan. No bones ached, no scratches stung, no paws were sore. She picked at a stray dock leaf on one of her paw wraps and glanced at Flickertail again.

It'd been three days since she'd returned and she'd been in his den for the entire time. However, Willowwater had given her some good news yesterday...

"It's all set! Needlepine will meet us on the dock at the border just after sunset. I have to admit, I didn't think he'd go, but I guess I was wrong," Willowwater whispered in her ear with one eye on Flickertail.

"Good," Rainstone breathed back, "Though I might have some trouble with getting Flickertail to let me out of here so late in the day..."

"Leave that to me!" Willowwater had purred, and then she'd left.

Rainstone hadn't seen her since and with the sun starting to go down, she was anxiously awaiting Willowwater and hoping her plan wouldn't mess anything up. Although, Willowwater is a little edgy and catches on quickly enough... she'd have been a lot more useful than Needlepine.

But Rainstone couldn't help but miss Needlepine's honest naivety, always trying to do his best and help every cat. He wasn't the smartest cat, but he knew when it was time to do his part. She wondered how long it'd be until this whole mess was resolved and they could meet more regularly. Rainstone wasn't ready to let this friendship go yet.

It's weird, I grew up hating toms, except for my brother of course, but now my favorite friend is a tom! So weird... Rainstone shifted to a sitting position in her nest, preparing herself for the night ahead.

Flickertail glanced back at her over his shoulder from where he was making a poultice for the elder, Sheeplight. "Are you still hungry? I can go get another fish if you want," Flickertail offered, neatly wrapping the poultice in a leaf packet with a few poppy seeds. Something Rainstone hadn't had in the mountains and wasn't sure what they did exactly.

"Nah, I'm good, I'm just feeling restless. I'm not used to lying around," Rainstone mewed, feeling a twinge of gloom as she thought about when she'd been confined in the cave in the mountains. At least she'd been able to walk around.

"Well, you can start trying to walk on it tomorrow, okay?" Flickertail mewed, his constantly flicking tail knocked over a carefully placed pile of leaves, sending them in all directions. "Frog-dung!' Flickertail cursed under his breath and set to gathering them up while keeping his tail from not knocking over anything else.

Rainstone watched him quizzically; does that tail have a mind of its own or something? Or does he just do it for comedy? Watching as Flickertail growled to himself, she guessed it w as the first one.

"Hey! Rainstone!" Rainstone jerked her head away from watching Flickertail race around the den after flitting leaves like a kit.

"Willowwater, what is it?" Rainstone asked levelly, keeping herself calm and poised, no way she was going to allow the medicine-cat to be the first to become suspicious!

"Why don't you come out into the clearing, catch a bit of the sun and share a meal!" Willowwater invited.

Rainstone groaned inwardly, but decided to test Willowwater. "I already ate, sorry," she mewed as Flickertail paused to glance at Willowwater for a moment.

"Sorry, but Rainstone needs to rest now. Maybe tomorrow," the red-brown tom's fur glowed bronze and his cream dappled spots glowed white in the sun.