Her breaths quickening with every heartbeat, Rainkit skidded down the side of the ridge Torrentpaw had fallen, claws gripping into sand as she gazed at his body haplessly.
"What am I supposed to do?" She questioned into the air, taking a glimpse of Torrentpaw. His head had a wound underneath one ear, and a further one round the back, which must've been the main impact. In this time, Rainkit was truly stuck. She'd just killed a Clanmate, not in cold blood, but she'd been the one to cause it.
Respectively, she wiped the blood away from his wound on his ear. His blue eyes were dull and sullen, pools of fog never to see again.
"Pondpaw definitely won't be my friend now." The tortoiseshell quivered with guilt. BirchClan couldn't know about this. Turning briskly, she dunked her paws into the shallow water of the river, watching as blood dissolved into the whirling tide.
There was only one place she could return to. QuailClan. She realised with a pitiful sigh. As much as she would like to return to BirchClan, well, it was pretty obvious from the dead body beside her she couldn't.
"I'll be back soon." Voice unwavering, Rainkit turned to look at the vast stretch of forest, looking down upon her. Her green eyes diverted to the undergrowth before her, and a slight movement twitched from it.
"Rainkit!" A familiar yelp alarmed her out of her pelt. Leopardkit. Climbing down the ridge further, hoping her fur wouldn't been seen amongst the sandy rocks, along Rainkit scrabbled along, running from Torrentpaw's body. She winced as every pebble crushed underneath her paw, but she had to get away.
Leopardkit's voice sounded after her in a strangled meow. And a trail of words following.
"What have you done?!"
Wincing at the sound of her brother's voice, the tortoiseshell kept on running, her green eyes fixated on the path in front of her. To get back, she'd have to swim back over the river, and that most likely wouldn't end well. It was then she noticed a thin, gangly branch leaning precariously over the river.
It was ridiculously unstable, and Rainkit was smart enough to know that. But it was her only escape.
"That side's got the worst of the water. So if I lean to the left a little.." Rainkit pondered, noticing some particularly gleaming rocks to the right of the feeble branch.
With one deep breath her claws curled around the branch. It wavered under her weight, making her paws practically brush the water beneath her.
"This won't work!" She snapped loudly, looking down at the water hesitantly. Without a second thought, she let her claws unlatch, and plunged into the icy water. Flailing her paws, Rainkit must've been lucky.
This particular current of the river wasn't so bad, only slightly strong, if that. The tortie allowed herself to be pulled closer to the shore as she paddled along with it.
Looking up, Rainkit allowed her green eyes to scan in where QuailClan she was. But this wasn't QuailClan?
Tilting her head to the side, Rainkit padded forward, her ears pricked up tall. A slight scent of prey filled her nose as her stomach rumbled. Huffing with frustration, Rainkit glances at her claws. She knew that there was no way a two and a half moon old kit would be able to catch prey.
Rainkit couldn't help but have a slant of dread in her stomach. If she was to bump into any cats here, they wouldn't be kind. Even though she was a kit, these cats had learned how to survive and adapt to these conditions. She, was used to being surrounded by family, and being called a mistake. Couldn't forget that.
Grimacing as she caught sight of a bramble bush, Rainkit walked over to them, picking a bunch from their stems and scoffing them. Trying not to gag as she consumed them, the kit casually moved ahead, her tail swishing slightly.
Just as she took another small step forward, a ginger tabby with a puffed tail stepped in front of her. Amber eyes narrowed downwards, an overbite of fangs bared threateningly.
"And what are you doing here, Clan cat?"
A/N: So another new character introduced! Haven't updated in a while, in reality three days, but the weather's been scorching in the UK this weekend. Who do you think this mysterious boi is?
See ya! <3
- Ember