Fading Echoes

“Dovepaw!” Lionblaze’s call sounded through the yew branches.

Ivypaw snorted. “Great timing,” she complained. “You were just getting to my itchy spot.”

“Sorry,” Dovepaw apologized. “Got to go.” She leaped from her nest and pushed her way out of the den into a haze of rain. “What is it?”

Lionblaze was sitting, whiskers dripping, in the rain-soaked clearing. “Hear anything?”

Dovepaw sighed. This had become his usual greeting. Did he think she was nothing more than a pair of gigantic walking ears?

“No,” she hissed, her irritation deepening as she noticed Firestar emerge from his den, his gaze flicking straight toward her.

A ripple of dark fur caught her eye. Briarpaw was scampering toward her, brown pelt plastered with rain. Thornclaw, her mentor, padded slowly after her.

“We’re going on border patrol!” Briarpaw skidded to a halt, slewing muddy water against Dovepaw’s pelt. The wind, circling down into the hollow, tugged at her whiskers.

Dovepaw purred, cheered by her denmate’s enthusiasm. It was as if the young cat hadn’t even noticed it was raining.

Thornclaw clearly had. He shook his whiskers crossly, sending droplets spraying. “Are you ready?” he asked Lionblaze, casting a brief glance at Dovepaw. “Brambleclaw wants us to check ShadowClan’s markers.”

Dovepaw felt a surge of excitement. A run through the forest would warm her up. “Come on!” She raced for the thorn barrier, beckoning to Briarpaw with her tail, and slipped through, happy to be out of sight of Firestar’s watchful gaze.

Thornclaw caught up to them outside.

“Which way should we go?” Dovepaw panted.

Thornclaw was staring along the gully. “We’ll go by the ancient oak,” he decided. He headed through the trees, his paws slapping over the wet leaves.

As they headed into the dripping forest, Dovepaw screwed up her face. Mud was clogging her claws and oozing up through her toes. Each time they pushed through a thicket a fresh shower of water seeped through her pelt.

Suddenly pawsteps slithered behind them. “Wait for me.” Graystripe was hurrying after them. “Firestar asked me to join you.” The gray warrior was puffing. His leaf-bare pelt, normally so thick, was rain-slicked against his body and he looked unusually lean.

Thornclaw flicked his tail. “Has ShadowClan been crossing the border again?”

“No prey has been stolen.” Lionblaze narrowed his eyes. “Just a few stray scent trails on our side of the border.”

Graystripe shook the rain from his fur till it stood in spikes. “Firestar wants us to keep an eye on the situation.”

Briarpaw’s eyes were round. “Do you think Firestar will mention it at the Gathering tomorrow?”

“I don’t see why not,” Graystripe meowed.

Thornclaw peered up through the trees. “If there is a Gathering.” Dark clouds swarmed the sky, heavy with more rain.

“There’s a good breeze,” Graystripe observed. “I think it’ll have blown away the clouds by morning.” A hefty gust buffeted its way through the canopy and whisked the undergrowth. Graystripe dug in his claws as the breeze streamed through his whiskers. “If it hasn’t blown us away too.”

The stream was in full flood and it took Thornclaw a while to find the narrowest place to cross. He leaped first over the gushing brown water and turned to watch Briarpaw safely over. Dovepaw jumped next, her heart lurching as her paws skidded on the muddy bank. Thornclaw grabbed her scruff while she found her feet. Graystripe and Lionblaze made the crossing in easy bounds.

“It’s hard to believe the lake was ever empty,” Graystripe commented, watching the water swirl away downstream.

Lionblaze was already pushing on, leaping onto a fallen tree. The bark was green and shiny with wet moss, and as he landed his paws skidded, sending him hurtling over the other side. “Oof!”

Dovepaw heard him grunt as he crashed down through the dripping foliage. The smell of wild garlic tainted the air. She stretched her front paws up the log, peering over the top. “Are you okay?”

Lionblaze was thrashing around in a patch of dark green leaves, turning the air sour with their scent as he crushed them beneath him.

Dovepaw swallowed back a purr of amusement as Lionblaze finally scrambled to his paws, his fur ruffled. “I’m fine,” he snapped.

“Should we all disguise our scent?” Dovepaw asked as innocently as she could.

“That wasn’t my intention and you know it!” Lionblaze flicked his tail and headed on through the forest while Thornclaw and Graystripe bounded over the fallen tree after him.

“Be careful,” Briarpaw warned with a sparkle in her eyes as Dovepaw mounted the log. “It’s a bit slippery.”

Dovepaw snorted.

Briarpaw was purring loudly as they caught up with their mentors, but she hushed when Thornclaw flashed her a stern look. Instead, she wrinkled her nose at Dovepaw. “At least we won’t lose him,” she whispered, glancing at Lionblaze.

The golden tom stank of garlic, but was striding ahead as though he hadn’t even noticed.