Эрин Хантер - Fading Echoes

“Briarlight would have loved this,” Bumblestripe mewed quietly. Anger flashed in his gaze. “It’s just not fair!” he growled. “She was trying to help Longtail. Why did StarClan have to punish her?”

Ivypaw wished she had an answer. “Sometimes bad things happen.” The words felt lame on her tongue.

“Then what’s the point of StarClan?” Bumblestripe looked utterly defeated.

Ivypaw padded to his side and pressed her head against his shoulder. “Briarlight won’t let this beat her,” she murmured.

“No.” Bumblestripe sighed. “But it didn’t have to happen.”

Feeling her Clanmate’s grief in every shaking breath, Ivypaw imagined Dovepaw dragging herself around the hollow like half-dead fresh-kill. She understood Bumblestripe’s fury. It was so unfair.

“We won!”

Leafpool had captured the ferns. She pressed a frond beneath her paws while Hazeltail circled her, snorting. Cinderheart dipped her head in gracious defeat, then glanced over to Bumblestripe. Her eyes narrowed in puzzlement. She was clearly trying to guess why the two young cats were sitting so close.

Then she blinked and nodded.

She understood.

“Hey! You two!” Cinderheart turned to Dustpelt and Birchfall. The toms were still fighting. Dustpelt thrust Birchfall away with his powerful hind legs, but Birchfall landed on his paws and spun around, ready to attack again.

Cinderheart cleared her throat. “I hate to break it up,” she called. “But the battle’s over.”

Dustpelt and Birchfall halted and stared in surprise at the gray she-cat.

Birchfall sat down, the fur ruffling on his shoulders. “We were just practicing battle moves,” he meowed self-consciously.

“Yes,” Dustpelt agreed. “That’s what training’s all about, isn’t it?”

Cinderheart’s whiskers twitched. “And I suppose if we happen to enjoy it, StarClan won’t mind too much,” she teased.

The sun was lifting over the trees, brightening the sky. “Looks like it’ll be a good day for hunting,” Leafpool commented.

Cinderheart nodded. “Let’s get back to camp and see if Brambleclaw wants us to join a patrol.”

Dustpelt nodded. “The Clan needs fattening before leaf-bare.”

Birchfall led the way through the bracken and disappeared among the trees. Cinderheart, Blossomfall, and Dustpelt followed.

Bumblestripe drew away from Ivypaw, his pelt smooth where she’d pressed it. “Thanks,” he murmured. He hurried to catch up with his sister and fell in beside her.

Ivypaw followed, feeling left out as the two young warriors walked side by side, speaking softly to each other.

“Ivypaw.” Leafpool’s gentle mew made Ivypaw jump. The pale warrior had caught up to her and was padding at her side. Leaves crunched underpaw, golden as Brackenfur’s pelt.

“Those were pretty advanced moves,” Leafpool commented.

Ivypaw glanced sideways but the she-cat’s amber gaze was fixed on the path ahead.

“I guess I just did them accidentally.”

“Lucky,” Leafpool commented.

“I suppose.” Guilt itched in Ivypaw’s pelt.

“And you’re sure you couldn’t do them again?” Leafpool pressed.

Leave me alone! Ivypaw quickened her pace, irritated when Leafpool kept up. Every other cat in the Clan had secrets—including Leafpool. Why wasn’t she allowed to have her own?

“Why didn’t you want me to bring Dovepaw?” Lionblaze sat down beside the wall. The abandoned Twoleg nest loomed above them, stark against the leafless forest.

“I didn’t want to scare her.” Jayfeather patted earth around his precious catmint, shoring up its delicate stems against the snow he knew would come too soon.

“She’s got to know sometime,” Lionblaze pointed out.

But not yet.

Jayfeather stiffened.

Pawsteps.

He lifted his muzzle and tasted the air.

Lionblaze jerked around. “What is it?” His pelt was pricking. “Oh, it’s just Sandstorm’s patrol.”

Bushes swished as Sandstorm and Cloudtail raced through the trees nearby. Squirrelflight and Spiderleg pelted after them.

“So what did you want to know?” Lionblaze swished his tail over the cold earth.

“Have you had any dreams about Tigerstar lately?”

“None.”

Jayfeather sighed.

“What’s on your mind?” Lionblaze kneaded the earth.

“He’s not just going to give up, is he?” Jayfeather sniffed at a patch of borage that he’d discovered growing wild beside the Twoleg wall. “Help me with this.” The biggest leaves had withered, but he could scent new shoots near the base that he wanted to collect. They were good for treating fever. He parted the dying stems so that Lionblaze could see the young growth. “Can you pick those?” he asked, holding back the foliage.

“Okay.” Lionblaze began to pluck out the shoots, making the air sharp with the scent of sap.

“So?” Lionblaze prompted. “Who do you think Tigerstar’s visiting?”

“Definitely Breezepelt. Why else would he attack me?”

Lionblaze plucked another pawful of shoots. He was quiet but Jayfeather could sense his mind turning. Finally he spoke.

“I thought I was special,” he murmured. “I thought that’s why he visited me. Because we were kin and he thought I’d make the best warrior.”

“You are special,” Jayfeather insisted.

“But Tigerstar never believed in the prophecy.”

“No.”

“And we were never really kin,” Lionblaze pointed out. “He knew all along that Brambleclaw wasn’t our father.”

“Yes.”

Lionblaze sat back on his haunches. “So why did he visit me ?”

Jayfeather let go of the stems and they swished back together. “Even without kinship or the prophecy, you’re one of our strongest warriors,” he reasoned.

“Is that all he wants?” Lionblaze asked. “Strong warriors?”

“He clearly needs warriors to fight for him.” Jayfeather began to bank earth up around the broken stems to protect them. “He’s already using Breezepelt. And remember the ghost warrior who fought with Breezepelt? Tigerstar must have found allies in the Dark Forest.”

“Allies?” Lionblaze growled.

“Not all cats go to StarClan,” Jayfeather reminded him. “But why is he doing this now?”

“He hates Firestar. All the Clans know it. What could be better than raising a force against him when he’s least expecting it?”

“I suppose.”

Lionblaze lapped at his chest. “Breezepelt seems like a strange choice for a recruit. He doesn’t have any kinship with Tigerstar.”

“But he does resent us because we are Crowfeather’s kits.” Jayfeather pawed the shoots into a pile. “Tigerstar’s clever. He knows most warriors are too loyal to break the code. So he has to exploit weakness.”

“He couldn’t exploit me!”

Jayfeather felt a surge of affection for his brother. “Of course not. But he tried. Who knows who else he may be trying to influence?”

Lionblaze’s paws shifted. “So we have to work out which cats have weaknesses he might use?”

“Or kinship.” Jayfeather sensed Lionblaze stiffen. “What is it?”

“That must be how he got to Tigerheart!” Lionblaze’s tail was flicking over the ground. “Do you remember me telling you the battle moves he used on the beavers were pure Tigerstar?”

“Of course!” Jayfeather’s belly tightened. Things were beginning to make sense. “And I found him at the border that night WindClan brought Dovepaw home, remember?”