Book 1 - Warriors: The Shadow Outcast

Chapter Thirty

Rainfur quickly assigned cats to patrols as he waited anxiously for Stormpaw to awake. With the new-found power, Stormpaw would either be scared to death or very confused, both of which required Rainfur to be there for him. He was Stormpaw's mentor after all.

There was something else on Rainfur's mind. It was something that continued to be pointed out to him, and though he would love to say it's true, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Rainfur knew that if he told himself that he knew who Stormpaw was, a false hope would build that would break once again, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Rainfur sighed as he realised how true it was though. He and Stormpaw were similar, if not totally alike. The apprentice was different in personality and looks, maybe, but other than that, they were the same. They both had a shadowy past, and they both were whispered about. They were both loners, once and upon Stormpaw's awakening power, now they would be deadly.

With all of this evidence, Rainfur still didn't want to raise his hopes. Stormpaw would be the one to admit who he was, not some cats who had no idea what was going on. It was just how it was going to be. And until that day, he had to wait, no matter how much he didn't want to.

"Rainfur!" Poppyheart called from the medicine cat den. "Stormpaw is waking up!" Rainfur's heart lurched as he heard this. After quickly finishing his job, he darted over to the medicine den, feeling quite excited.

Rainfur quickly sat next to Poppyheart with a worried look in his eye. He had no idea how Stormpaw was doing, seeing as Poppyheart refused to tell him anything but, 'be patient'. Rainfur just really wanted to see Stormpaw up and well again, so that they could train on something other than the normal battle or hunting techniques.

Stormpaw's small body moved suddenly, and almost too soon was the apprentice sitting up, his eyes wide with fear. He looked very scared, not to mention sad at the same time. Rainfur felt sorry for him, but he didn't want to say anything just yet.

"W-what h-happened?" asked Stormpaw, his eyes wide as two whole moons. Poppyheart hissed in warning, getting the small tom's attention.

"You just got into a little fight," Poppyheart growled. "You need to rest here for a few days before you can continue training. Just try not to over-exhaust yourself, will you? I spent nearly a day fixing the wounds that you got, and with you squirming about like a squirrel it was quite hard." Rainfur smiled a bit before looking over to the young medicine cat.

"Would you mind leaving so that I can talk to Stormpaw?" asked Rainfur. "It's about, er—you know—what happened." Poppyheart glared at him for a few moments before shrugging.

"Just make sure you don't hurt him in the process," Poppyheart growled. "I'm sure you of all cats are aware of how tired he is right now." With that, she left, leaving Rainfur and Stormpaw alone. At first, it was just silence as Stormpaw looked to his paws and Rainfur waited for the many questions he was certain Stormpaw was thinking of.

"What really happened?" asked Stormpaw. Rainfur hesitated in answering, not really knowing how to answer the question he was given. Stormpaw hissed in fury at his slow response. "I know you know, Rainfur. What happened? I wasn't me! I wasn't thinking correctly. . .How could I go after a leader like that? She could have finished me easily! Then when you showed up I. . .I s-saw what happened to you, and what you'd done, and I just felt the need to kill you. It wasn't right!"

"Slow down, Stormpaw," Rainfur soothed. "I know what happened, and to be truthful, no one blames you. Since they know that I can train you out of it, they know that they will be safe. You and I just need to be careful, alright?"

"It can't be that simple!" Stormpaw hissed, standing up quickly. "I wanted kill you! I wanted torture you! How could they forgive me that easily? How are they not even the slightest bit afraid?" Rainfur sighed, realizing that it was going to be a bit harder than he'd expected to explain.