Warriors: Rainfeather's Honor

Chapter Four

Rainpaw and her littermates were lined up in the sandy hollow in front of their mentors. The other mentors and apprentices were waiting on the rim of the hollow. Rainpaw faced Beesting, trying to remember every battle move she'd learned in the past two days.

"Show me what you've got." The yellow deputy readied himself for his apprentice's attack. Rainpaw crouched down in a battle stance. Focusing her gaze on Beesting's shoulder to trick him, she threw herself at her mentor. She aimed her strike at his tendons. His legs buckled and Rainpaw pinned him down. She felt him go limp and knew he was trying to fool her.

Well, I'm not a fool.

Beesting pushed up from the ground, but she anticipated this and hopped clear in time. She shot under him before he could regain balance and, with her claws sheathed, pummeled his belly with her paws. Then, she wrapped her forepaws around his neck and flipped him neatly to the ground. Scrambling up, she pressed him into the sandy earth.

Yowls sounded from the edge of the hollow. Glancing up, Rainpaw saw her Clanmates cheering for her and her littermates. Wasppaw and Rushpaw were meowing compliments. Stonepaw was watching her, his stare unreadable. Wolfpaw was gazing at her, admiration in his gleaming eyes.

Rainpaw felt a warm feeling spread throughout her body. In the past two days, she and Wolfpaw had gotten even closer, sharing prey at every meal and curling up next to each other every night.

"You can let me up now," came a muffled voice below her. Looking down, she saw that her paws still held Beesting.

"Sorry." She shuffled off of him, waiting for him to be furious at her for pinning him down. But, to her surprise, when she looked up at him, there was respect and excitement glittering in his eyes, not anger.

"Are you sure that was your first actual fight? Many warriors fall for the going limp trick, let alone apprentices. I'm glad Blossomstar made me your mentor." He looked around the hollow, making sure that everyone else was done with their fighting practice. Then he lifted his chin and yowled, "Let's start!"

The rest of the apprentices skidded down the sandy hollow rim to join Rainpaw and her littermates. Wolfpaw stopped beside her and touched his nose to her ear.

"I told you you'd do okay. In fact, you did more than okay. I might have competition now, right?" The gray tom nudged her playfully with his muzzle.

Rainpaw batted his face gently with a paw. "Maybe. I still think you're a great fighter, though."

Wolfpaw leaned closer to her. "Thanks. I think you're great, too." Rainpaw could tell he wasn't talking about her fighting skills. She felt a warmness start in her paws and spread throughout the rest of her body. The silver she-cat blinked her eyes happily. Wolfpaw scooted closer to Rainpaw until their sides were pressed together.

"We are going to split into two teams for this mock battle," Beesting started. "One team will try to capture those ferns." He flicked his tail towards one side of the hollow, where large, waxy ferns grew in clumps. "The other team will be trying to take the alder." He swiveled his ear to the other side of the hollow. A red-barked alder grew precariously over the edge of the hollow.

The deputy ran his gaze over the apprentices. His eyes narrowed when he saw Wolfpaw sitting so close to his apprentice. Rainpaw shuffled her paws self consciously. Her mentor had told her not to be distracted by toms, but surely it was okay for her to have friends? Besides, as long as nothing interfered with her training and how hard she worked, it was none of Beesting's business.

Beesting spoke once more. "Wolfpaw, Stormpaw, Wasppaw, and Floodpaw will try to seize the alder. Rushpaw, Stonepaw, Torrentpaw, and Rainpaw will try to take the ferns." Rainpaw's mentor snapped his stare back to her. He narrowed his eyes at something behind her, then got up and joined the other mentors at the edge of the hollow.

Rainpaw glanced at Wolfpaw apologetically. He returned the look and they parted to join their teams. Rainpaw, Torrentpaw, Rushpaw, and Stonepaw huddled together to come up with a plan.

Stonepaw took the lead. "We're mostly evenly matched. They have Wasppaw and she's pretty good at fighting, but other than that we should have no trouble beating them."

Rainpaw felt a flash of annoyance. "Wolfpaw's good at fighting, too. He beat you and Reedflow in battle practice." Stonepaw turned his glare to her.

"He got lucky," he hissed defensively. "Either way, Rushpaw and I have been training longer than Wolfpaw. We know more than he does about strategy." The golden tom turned to Rushpaw.

"We should have the fastest runner head straight for the fern patch. The rest of us will spread out to defend the alder. Torrentpaw should be our runner." The cream-and-brown tom nodded to Torrentpaw's long legs. He moved his eyes to Rainpaw. "On second thought, you and Stonepaw can defend the alder. I'll back up Torrentpaw, just in case he gets into trouble."

The young cats all nodded. Separating, Torrentpaw and Rushpaw stood in front of the alder, on the lip of the hollow, ready to run. Stonepaw and Rainpaw flanked them.

Swiftsprout, Stonepaw's mentor, raised his tail. "Are both teams ready?" he called. After meows of agreement rose up, he yowled loudly, "Go!"

Torrentpaw shot towards the fern patch, with Rushpaw following slower. Rainpaw watched them sprint until a yellow pelt flashed at the edge of her gaze. Wasppaw! Rainpaw lunged towards the yellow tabby apprentice. Ramming into her flank, the two she-cats rolled into the sandy hollow. Rainpaw struggled to pin Wasppaw, while Wasppaw scrabbled to keep running towards the alder. Finally, after several moments of tussling, there was a loud, angry howl from the alder.

The she-cats pulled away from each other and looked towards the sound. Wolfpaw was lying on the ground, not moving. Stonepaw was staring down at the gray tom with smugness in his eyes.

Rainpaw streaked over to the toms. From the look of Wolfpaw, he was unconscious. Rainpaw whipped around to look at Stonepaw. "What did you do?" she asked in anguish.

Stonepaw shrugged. "I beat him. Do you think he's such a good fighter now? Wouldn't you want a strong tom to defend the Clan? To defend you? When you're expecting kits, who do you want to look out for you? Him?" With that, he walked away.

Rainpaw's jaw dropped. She'd caused this. She was the one who had told Stonepaw that Wolfpaw was a better fighter. And what was Stonepaw talking about when he said that she wouldn't want Wolfpaw protecting her when she was expecting kits? After a moment, she came back to her senses.

"Beesting," she called. "We need Wishflower!" The orange-and-white medicine cat would know what to do. Rainpaw's mentor hurried over to her. His eyes widened as he saw Wolfpaw.

"Rushpaw! Fetch Wishflower!" The cream-and-brown apprentice raced away towards camp. Turning to Rainpaw, the yellow tom asked, "What happened?"

"Stonepaw and Wolfpaw were fighting, and then I heard a yowl so I ran over and Stonepaw was standing there and Wolfpaw was like this." The words came out in a rush. She made sure to leave out Stonepaw's words. Beesting didn't need to know what his son had said to her. Rainpaw crouched down beside Wolfpaw and pressed her muzzle into his neck fur. Her eyes grew hot with sadness.

What if he never recovers? Why would Stonepaw do this? Wolfpaw is his denmate.

An orange-and-white she-cat suddenly bolted from the undergrowth towards them. In her jaws, she carried many sharp smelling herbs. She spoke quietly with Beesting, then turned to Rainpaw.

"Eat this," she said. Wishflower pushed several thin leaves toward her. "It's thyme, for your shock. You've had quite a scare. Beesting is going to take you back to camp so you can rest."

Rainpaw bent her head to lap up the leaves, cringing at the bitter taste. Her eyelids were drooping and she felt suddenly very tired. In a haze of exhaustion, she followed her mentor back to camp and curled up in her nest. Right before she fell asleep, grief shot through her chest as she breathed in the scent of Wolfpaw's nest and remembered all those nights when she had slept close to him.