Эрин Хантер - Fading Echoes

Ratscar!

Undaunted, she raked claws across his nose, drawing blood.

His eyes lit with surprise. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you”—he batted her back with a hefty blow—“just because you’re an apprentice.”

Dizzy from the clout, she rolled sideways. His forepaws split the grass a whisker from her ear. She leaped to her paws and reared again.

Blossomfall appeared. “Want some help?”

“Yes, please,” Ivypaw grunted. She began swiping with her forepaws and, as Blossomfall joined in, ducked and scooted behind Ratscar and crouched beneath his legs. Blossomfall drove him backward and, as he tripped, Ivypaw pushed herself up in a surging jump that sent him spinning away, shocked and unbalanced. Before he could find his paws she was clinging to his back, churning her hind paws mercilessly.

“Get underneath him!” she snapped at Blossomfall.

The young warrior obeyed and slid beneath the raging ShadowClan tom, unbalancing him again. Ivypaw let go before Ratscar tumbled onto his back, then plunged her forepaws down hard onto his belly. The breath huffed from his mouth and he lay stunned for a moment before scrabbling up clumsily, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

“Wow!” Blossomfall breathed. “Cinderheart must be an awesome mentor!”

Ivypaw glanced at the young warrior, her mind fizzing. I have a better mentor than you could ever imagine!

Ratscar was snaking away into the writhing mass of pelts. Ivypaw searched the battlefield. ShadowClan had spilled over the new border and was pressing ThunderClan back into the long grass.

Dovepaw? She searched for her sister.

In the swirl of pelts and mist, Ivypaw couldn’t pick her out. She plunged into the fray, shouldering her way between the wrestling bodies. The fighting was vicious. Dovepaw hadn’t been trained by Hawkfrost. She must need help.

Dovepaw dug her paws deeper into the grass as Blackstar strode from the trees, flanked by Russetfur and Rowanclaw. She would not give way, no matter what. Ivypaw was pressing against her flank. Dovepaw was aware of her sister’s stillness beside her own trembling body. Wasn’t Ivypaw scared?

She could hear ShadowClan coming, stalking through their territory, their paws scuffing the needle-strewn forest floor, their pelts brushing against pine trunks, their breath coming short and fast. She could picture them slicing through the sparse undergrowth, scoring marks on the ground with unsheathed claws. Their stench rolled over her, choking her until she felt as if she could no longer breathe.

Blackstar was challenging Firestar.

Blood roared in her ears. She could see her leader’s mouth moving but heard nothing but her own blood pulsing through her.

Then ShadowClan warriors erupted like a flock of ravens from the misty pine forest.

“Make every blow count!” Dovepaw hardly heard Lionblaze’s order before he leaped away.

Crouching low, she fought to remember her battle moves as her mind emptied of everything except panic. Cats lunged on either side of her and she shrank back, staring wildly around her.

Then the noise began. Every breath, every rip of fur, every scrape of tooth on bone. Growls and shrieks tore at her senses. As she struggled to shut out the chaos of sound, the scent of fear and of blood swamped her tongue. Was that Dustpelt’s breath knocked from him as a warrior hurled him to the ground? Was that pain in Sorreltail’s shriek, or was it triumph?

A cream pelt flashed toward her. Paws slammed her shoulders and knocked her flying; then claws gripped her flank. The ShadowClan she-cat smelled like Tigerheart.

Dawnpelt?

Instinctively Dovepaw battered the warrior’s belly with her hind paws until the she-cat let go. It was Dawnpelt! Dovepaw jumped to her paws and ducked under Dawnpelt’s belly, breaking from the line, racing forward, slipping through the ShadowClan ranks as she desperately tried to escape the shrieking mass of warriors.

Her ears twitched with too much noise. Was that the sound of more ShadowClan warriors pounding through the undergrowth toward her?

Her paws skidded underneath her. The ShadowClan cats had driven ThunderClan back toward the middle of the clearing. Dovepaw couldn’t get a grip on the slippery grass. Her claws couldn’t reach through to solid ground.

Dawnpelt was on her tail.

She turned and reared and met the ShadowClan warrior in a clumsy flurry of swiping blows. Dawnpelt fought back. Knocked her muzzle. Unbalanced her.

Help me, StarClan!

She tried to spring up but Dawnpelt held her down, raking her spine with hind claws. Pain seared her pelt and a yowl escaped her. Writhing to escape, she glimpsed golden fur.

Lionblaze was staring down at her. “You seem to have strayed from your Clanmates,” he growled.

There was a blur of movement above Dovepaw, and suddenly Dawnpelt let go. Raising her head with a wince, Dovepaw saw Lionblaze fling the ShadowClan warrior away.

“Can you manage now?” he asked.

She nodded, hoping she could, and Lionblaze dashed back toward the battle line.

Ivypaw slowed to a halt beside her. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Dovepaw panted. She fought to block out the yowling of her Clanmates.

“Look out!” Ivypaw warned.

Dovepaw spun around as Foxleap backed into her. His forepaws were raised as he swiped at an advancing ShadowClan warrior.

Crowfrost.

Two ShadowClan apprentices—Starlingpaw and Pinepaw—flanked the black-and-white tom, their eyes fixed on Foxleap as they drove the ThunderClan warrior toward the pine forest, separating him from his Clanmates.

Ivypaw darted forward and nipped Starlingpaw’s foreleg. Dovepaw knew what she had to do. Yowling, she hurled herself at Pinepaw, knocking her backward with such ferocity that Crowfrost glanced up to see if his Clanmate was okay. In an instant, Foxleap regained his balance, dropped onto four paws, and launched himself forward. He sent Crowfrost hurtling backward and the pair rolled away while Dovepaw dug her claws into Pinepaw’s flanks and tore until the she-cat shrieked and struggled from her grip.

Starlingpaw was dragging at the grass as Ivypaw pulled him backward and sank her teeth into his neck. Dovepaw froze. Her sister looked as though she were killing prey. She felt a flash of relief as Ivypaw let go and Starlingpaw raced back toward his Clanmates.

Ivypaw turned to face Dovepaw, curling her lip to reveal teeth stained with blood. “Who next?”

Suddenly Brackenfur and Thornclaw appeared, pulling up in front of Dovepaw and Ivypaw, their breath clouding the air.

“Brambleclaw wants us to try something different,” Brackenfur panted.

His gaze fell upon Foxleap; the tawny tabby was beating Crowfrost backward, helped now by Toadstep. Overwhelmed, the ShadowClan warrior turned and slipped back among his own ranks. Brackenfur nodded approvingly and beckoned with his tail.

Foxleap raced over, Toadstep a pace behind. “What is it?”

“ShadowClan keeps regrouping,” Thornclaw told them. “They’re pushing us back across the field.”

Toadstep nodded. “It’s impossible to get a good grip on this grass.”

“Brambleclaw wants us to outflank them,” Brackenfur told him.

Ivypaw leaned forward. “How?”

“I’m going to lead a separate patrol,” Thornclaw meowed, “and try to draw ShadowClan away from the clearing, back into their own territory.”

Brackenfur rubbed his muzzle with one paw. “We stand a better chance in the woods,” he growled. “There are brambles and trees. The ground will feel more familiar. And we can try out our new tree tactics.”