Эрин Хантер - Fading Echoes

Wordlessly, Ivypaw unfolded the wrap and placed a pawful on the nest that Dovepaw was shaping.

“Aren’t you going to speak to me at all?” Dovepaw begged.

Ivypaw ignored her. The honeysuckle rustled and Dovepaw turned to see Purdy leading Mousefur into the den.

“See,” purred the old loner. “I told you they’d have the nests ready.” He nodded to Dovepaw and Ivypaw. “They look lovely. Thank you.”

Mousefur stared blankly around the new den. “It’s very big,” she murmured.

Dovepaw waited for her to start complaining about drafts, but the old she-cat didn’t say anything else, just curled into one of the nests and rested her nose on her forepaws.

Dovepaw wished she’d planted a burr in the moss. Anything to get the elder complaining again. It wasn’t right, seeing her so sad. “Not too damp?” she prompted.

“I preferred the old nests.” Mousefur sighed. “They smelled of Longtail.”

Purdy glanced at the apprentices and Dovepaw guessed that he wanted them to leave. As she turned to the entrance, she saw him circle down into his nest, pressing close to Mousefur. With a pang she wondered if she and Ivypaw would ever curl up together like that again. Watching Ivypaw stomp out ahead of her, she guessed not.

“Hey!” Rosepetal called as they reached the clearing. She was standing beside the fresh-kill pile. “Do you want a mouse?”

“Yes, please!” Ivypaw trotted away as if Dovepaw didn’t exist.

Dovepaw was too sad to feel hungry. Maybe Briarlight wanted company. She padded toward the medicine den, her paws scuffing through the beech leaves that littered the ground outside. She paused outside the den to listen to Jayfeather and Briarlight working on exercises.

“That’s it,” Jayfeather urged. “Stretch just a little bit more.”

“Oof!” Briarlight panted. “A few more of those and I’ll be able to wrestle Thornclaw!”

“Good!” Jayfeather purred. “I would love to see the look on his face!” The tang of fresh herbs was drifting through the brambles. “Three more stretches, and then you should have your medicine.”

“Can’t I just go outside and enjoy the last of the sunshine?” Briarlight pleaded. “The Clan will be sharing tongues soon and I don’t want to be stuck in here.”

“Eat your herbs first,” Jayfeather insisted. “Then you can share a mouse with your littermates.”

“Are they back from patrol?”

Dovepaw looked around the clearing. Blossompaw and Bumblestripe were padding into camp, carrying fresh prey. She should have known that as well as Jayfeather. She’d been so busy worrying about Ivypaw that she’d forgotten to keep her senses open to movements around the camp.

“Yuck!” Briarlight gagged on the herbs. Then Dovepaw heard her hind legs dragging across the den floor. She backed out of the way as the brambles swished and Briarlight’s head poked out. “Can’t you find a way of making them taste better?” she called back to Jayfeather.

“I’ll do my best,” he promised.

Briarlight hauled herself from the den and over the shifting leaves. Her eyes were bright but her teeth were clenched with effort. She spotted Dovepaw.

“Hi!” The greeting came as a hiss. “Sorry,” she groaned. “This is hard work! It’ll get easier.”

She headed toward the fresh-kill pile, where Blossomfall and Bumblestripe were arriving with their catches. Their eyes lit up as they spotted her.

“Briarlight!” Blossomfall hurried to greet her sister, a mouse dangling in her jaws. She dropped it at Briarlight’s paws. “Want to share this?”

Dovepaw ducked into Jayfeather’s den. “Hi,” she murmured wearily. She needed advice. She wanted to be friends with Ivypaw again. She wanted to share a mouse with her littermate, like Blossomfall and Briarlight.

Jayfeather was sweeping herb fragments with his tail into a dusty pile. He looked up as Dovepaw padded in. “Would you rather eat herbs sweetened with nectar or mouse blood?”

“Mouse blood,” Dovepaw answered absently.

Jayfeather let his tail lie still. “What’s wrong?” His blue eyes glowed in the dim light of the den.

“Please can I tell Ivypaw about the prophecy?”

Jayfeather sighed and went back to his sweeping. “No.”

“But it’s making it really hard to stay friends with her.”

“How?”

“She thinks I’m getting special treatment.”

“She’s jealous?”

“No!” Dovepaw suddenly felt defensive of her sister. Then she sighed. “Well, yes, sort of. I guess.”

“Lionblaze and I never told any other cat,” Jayfeather pointed out.

“But you had each other!”

“Not to start with.” Jayfeather began to pick the cleanest fragments out of the pile. “I was the first one to find out, and I couldn’t share it with Lionblaze and Hollyleaf until I was sure they were the ones.”

“But Hollyleaf wasn’t one of the Three.”

“I thought she was.” Jayfeather shook out another herb fragment. His eyes darkened. “She thought she was too.” He put the leaf shred carefully down. “Not being one of us was the hardest thing for her to live with in the end.”

“She didn’t know how lucky she was,” Dovepaw muttered under her breath. Curiosity pricked her pelt. “What did happen to her?”

“She went away.” Jayfeather picked up another shred. “She couldn’t stay here.”

“Because she wasn’t included in the prophecy?” Dovepaw frowned. She sometimes tried to imagine what it would be like to be an ordinary warrior. It had to be easier, surely?

“Partly,” Jayfeather mewed.

“Partly?” What was the other reason?

Jayfeather scooped the pile of shreds in his jaws and carried them to the split in the rock where he stored his herbs. Clearly he wasn’t going to give any more information away.

Secrets! Always secrets! Crossly, Dovepaw pushed her way out of the den.

Blossomfall, Bumblestripe, and Briarlight lay in a patch of dying sunshine sharing their mouse. Ivypaw was lying beside Rosepetal, sharing a blackbird.

Dovepaw gazed at her sister. I would tell you if I could.

Ivypaw swallowed her last mouthful and began grooming Rosepetal.

But I have to keep this secret. Even if it means losing my best friend.

Ivypaw shivered. A chilly wind had stripped the flowers from the meadow and driven pale gray clouds across the sky. The ground trembled beneath her paws. The horses were running, crowding along the edge of the meadow, their eyes wild and their ears flat back.

Where was Hawkfrost?

Ivypaw felt nervous. She didn’t want to be alone in the wide pasture today. The breeze was moaning across the dull, dry grass, ruffling her fur the wrong way.

There! A dark rump showed above the grass, thick, bushed tail flicking.

She scampered toward the RiverClan warrior.

“You’re here!” she puffed, relieved when he turned and fixed his familiar dark blue gaze on her. “I thought you weren’t coming! I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

Hawkfrost sat up and gazed at her lazily through half-closed eyes. “Lucky you found me today, then.”

“Teach me something new!” she begged. Cinderheart was already impressed by the progress she had made in training; she wanted to please her mentor again today when they practiced battle moves.

Hawkfrost yawned, hunching his shoulders as he stretched his spine.

“Just one battle move,” Ivypaw pleaded.

“Haven’t I given you enough to practice already?”