"Echopaw!" Cliffpaw purred.
"Hello, Cliffpaw." Echopaw meowed in return as she reached the NightClan apprentice. To her disappointment, Cliffpaw was sitting with Pebblepaw and two other older NightClan apprentices: one was a dark brown tabby tom with a white underbelly and pale green eyes. The other was also a dark brown tabby tom, but he had a light brown underbelly, and white flecks on his face. He, like the other tom, had pale green eyes. They were definitely brothers. Echopaw cautiously padded up to them, and to her relief, Cliffpaw smiled when she saw her.
"How was it when you got home? I'm surprised your Clanmates didn't banish you from DawnClan!" Pebblepaw taunted, and the two older apprentice brothers laughed mockingly. Echopaw was reminded again about how much she disliked the white- and black-patched she-cat.
"Oh, stop it, you three," Cliffpaw muttered to her Clanmates, sounding annoyed. Echopaw looked at Cliffpaw and blinked, thanking her for sticking up for her. But Cliffpaw just meowed, "Oh, this is—" about ready to introduce Echopaw to her Clanmates, but was cut off by the tom with the white underbelly.
"We know! Pebblepaw told us. This is Echopaw, the cat we so kindly saved from the river," he sneered.
Of course Pebblepaw told them! Echopaw thought bitterly. She didn't like the way the tom annunciated 'kindly'. It had an air of foreboding with it.
"Fine, you three can gossip about nonsense. Come on Echopaw, let's find somewhere else," Cliffpaw meowed.
"You don't have to do this, you know," Echopaw warned Cliffpaw as she padded away, "They'll probably tease you and call you disloyal for sticking up for me. They may think I'm your new best friend, then—"
"Oh, come on, Echopaw," Cliffpaw flicked her tail, signaling that the conversation was done. "By the way, those two toms were Duckpaw and Goosepaw, you remember me telling you about them, right?"
Echopaw nodded, "Yes. But which one is which? They look really similar."
"Oh, yes they do," Cliffpaw nodded. "Well, the one with the white underbelly is Goosepaw, and the one with the light brown underbelly and white flecks is Duckpaw."
"Oh, okay," Echopaw nodded, searching for something else to talk about.
"What did you do today?" Cliffpaw asked, and Echopaw was spared having to think of a conversation-starter.
Echopaw thought back to the events of earlier that day. Catching the shrew felt like a lifetime ago. Pride filled her chest as she meowed, "I caught my first prey today."
"Congratulations!" Cliffpaw meowed. "Today, I scented a fox in our territory and, with a few warriors, we chased it out," she declared proudly.
Echopaw wondered if the fox Cliffpaw had chased out was the same fox her and Bronzepelt had seen not even a half-moon ago while training in the meadow. Echopaw decided to tell her mentor and see what he thought.
Echopaw glanced around the clearing and saw Aspenleaf announcing something proudly to Gingerfur, the DuskClan warrior. Echopaw guessed she was telling her about her having kits. Echopaw purred in amusement and turned to the left to see the group of DayClan apprentices Whisperpaw had gone to sit with earlier, but her sister wasn't with them. Worry filled the pit of her stomach again, and she decided it was time to find Whisperpaw. "Bye, Cliffpaw. It was nice to talk to you again, but I've got to go find my sister," Echopaw meowed as she trotted away.
"Oh, okay. Bye, Echopaw," Cliffpaw meowed, then she turned and padded away.
Echopaw reached the DayClan apprentices and asked them, "Have you seen my sister? She's a silver tabby, and she has brown eyes."
The gray-brown she-cat with black stripes she'd seen earlier answered. "I don't know. She disappeared a while ago, along with my brother, Bumblepaw. I think they went to meet other cats, but..." She sounded worried.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine." Echopaw sighed in relief. It didn't sound like her sister was in trouble. "They probably—" she started, but was cut off.
"I know they'll be fine," snapped the DayClan apprentice.
"Then why are you so worried?" Echopaw retorted.
The apprentice ignored her and instead asked, "What's your name?"
"Echopaw. But why—"
"Mine's Songpaw."
"Okay, but you still haven't answered my—"
"I don't know where your sister is, alright?" Songpaw snapped again, in a tone that said, we don't want you here, so go away.
"Fine," Echopaw muttered bitterly, and she walked away. Great StarClan! DayClan cats are so mean! she thought as she stalked away back toward her mentor grumpily.
"Are you alright?" Bronzepelt asked as she sat down grumpily next to him.
"DayClan cats are so rude!" Echopaw growled.
"Shhh!" Bronzepelt hissed, but it was too late; Burningwood had heard her. He stalked forward toward them, and Echopaw shrunk in toward Bronzepelt for protection.
"What?" Burningwood growled.
"I-I just m-met Songpaw, a-and—" Echopaw stammered, trying to find the right words.
Burningwood seemed to have forgotten they were there and muttered, "I thought I told her to act nice and not give away anything about our..." and then he stalked away. Echopaw stared after him in relief, hardly picking up on what the DayClan warrior had said.
"That was close. DayClan is already upset as it is. We don't need to add fuel to their flame," Bronzepelt growled as he stared after Burningwood with narrowed eyes. He seemed to have picked up on the meaning of what Burningwood had said.
Echopaw nodded. "Is Burningwood Songpaw's mentor?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Well, let's hope he takes care of her!" Echopaw growled.
Bronzepelt purred in amusement.
"Oh, have you seen Whisperpaw?" Echopaw asked. "I haven't seen her since she went to talk to some DayClan apprentices."
"Maybe they dragged her to their camp and took her as a prisoner," Bronzepelt suggested playfully, but Echopaw just glared at him. "Um, no. I haven't. But it's nearly moonhigh and the Gathering is about to start, so we'd better go sit down."
"Alright, she'll probably show up then," Echopaw meowed hopefully, and followed her mentor to sit over by Spruceclaw, Gravelpelt, Copperleaf, Creekfall, and Aspenleaf. Echopaw noticed that a few DayClan cats glanced nervously at Aspenleaf when they saw her. Echopaw remembered that DayClan had given Aspenleaf her near fatal wound. Creekfall glared at them and Echopaw also remembered that he'd promised to shred the fur off the cats that had hurt Aspenleaf.
Echopaw sat down next to Aspenleaf and meowed in her ear, "Are any of them the ones who attacked you?"
Aspenleaf shook her head. "The one who actually gave me the wound isn't here. His name is Cougarfang. But that she-cat and tom over there," she flicked her ears toward a white she-cat with pale blue eyes and a dusky brown tabby tom with blue-green eyes, "were on the patrol that attacked ours. The she-cat is named Frostwhisker and the tom's name is Weedfoot."
Echopaw shivered, "Wow, we'll remember to look out for them then."
She looked at the Lightning Tree and saw Eveningstar leaping up to one of its branches, sitting beside Orangestar. On the other side sat Beechstar, the pale ginger tom Echopaw had seen when she'd washed up in NightClan's territory. A few heartbeats later, a white she-cat with sparse black patches, a black-tipped tail, and black ears clawed up the tree to join the other Clan leaders. She was really strong and swift, despite her scrawniness and the fact that her ribs showed through her fur. A silence rushed over the clearing, and the air was suddenly buzzing with fear and worry.
Echopaw gulped, heart pounding. The white she-cat sat next to Beechstar commandingly and swept her gaze across the clearing, as if challenging any cat to question her abilities. At that moment, Echopaw realized it was Rainstar, the leader of DayClan. Echopaw lowered herself to the ground as the DayClan leader's cold, icy-blue eyes raked over her. She swallowed nervously, and noticed that even Bronzepelt flattened his ears in surprise and fright. Echopaw felt as if she'd done something wrong, but couldn't remember what; she felt weak and helpless under her icy glare.
Rainstar lowered her gaze and looked at the other Clan leaders calmly, but the tension in the clearing still hung in the air. Echopaw watched as Rainstar glanced down at a brown tabby tom with a reddish brown underbelly. They nodded slightly at one another, and Echopaw felt chills racing down her back, causing her neck fur to rise.
"Who is that sitting below Rainstar on the roots of the Lightning Tree?" Echopaw whispered in her mentor's ear.
"That's Heatpool, the deputy of DayClan," Bronzepelt whispered back. "The deputies sit below the leaders during Gatherings. See, over there is Twigfoot, and next to him is the deputy of NightClan, Mapleleaf. And, next to Heatpool is Falconflight, the deputy of DuskClan."
Echopaw nodded in understanding and scanned the clearing again. Her heart leapt in relief when she saw Whisperpaw was sitting next to Gravelpelt a few fox-lengths to the left of her.
Echopaw looked up at the leaders once more and watched as Eveningstar motioned to Beechstar, inviting him to speak first. Beechstar nodded his thanks to Eveningstar and stood up to address the Clans. But, before he could speak, however, a voice growled, "I will speak first."
Echopaw gaped at Rainstar. How dare she? Echopaw's claws dug into the dirt, anger making her shiver. Rainstar smiled mockingly, her icy blue eyes taunting the other Clan leaders as she wrapped her tail neatly around her paws. She licked her paw, as if thinking. Echopaw could see that Orangestar was becoming more impatient by the heartbeat as Rainstar continued to groom herself. An eerie silence swept over the clearing, and no cat made any sound. It was so quiet that Echopaw could hear the distant roaring of the Thunderpath.
"If you're not going to speak, let Beechstar, or any other one of us," hissed Orangestar. Clearly, no one, except maybe DayClan, was happy with Rainstar.
Rainstar calmly looked up at Orangestar, her blue eyes full of fake concern. "I am going to speak." The icy calm of her voice made Echopaw's fur tingle with anticipation and foreboding. She was taunting the other leaders on purpose, and Echopaw knew it was not right.
Before Orangestar could retort, Beechstar meowed sternly, "This is the night of the full moon. Don't upset StarClan, we don't want to break the sacred truce."
Rainstar shook her head, as if she was disappointed, "No, we do not. Right Orangestar?" she added mockingly.
Orangestar was puffing up, his tail nearly twice its usual size and his claws unsheathed.
Rainstar narrowed her eyes and kept her tail wrapped around her paws.
"Just speak already," Orangestar snarled, claws unsheathing.
Just then a shadow fell over the clearing. Echopaw's heart skipped a beat; she jerked her head up and saw a large, dark cloud covering the moon from her view. Gasps came from cats all around her, especially from DuskClan.
Rainstar shook her head and growled, "Now look what you've done, Orangestar. If you hadn't yelled like that, we wouldn't be sitting here in the shadows."
"If you would have started talking sooner, we'd be almost done announcing our news, and the shadow would never be here in the first place!" Orangestar retorted.
Every cat held their breath as Rainstar spoke again. "Well, it's done, Orangestar."
Echopaw glanced around the clearing. Besides the DayClan cats, all the cats looked up at the leaders with confused and scared looks in their eyes. Echopaw looked back up to see Rainstar straightening up as she prepared to speak. Echopaw glared up at the DayClan leader, hating every hair on her pelt.
"Back to the announcements. I'm sure you all remember that rain storm a half-moon ago." She paused, lashing her tail. "Well, how do you think it would feel to be on open moorland? It's all downhill! Our territory was flooded. We have no deep roots of trees to help stabilize our land!" Rainstar was hissing and shouting now, and Echopaw cowered in surprise. "It caused mudslides! Five cats were killed just from one mudslide alone: two kits, an elder, and two apprentices! Then, while you were all happily enjoying the sun, we couldn't find any prey to feed the other remaining kits and a few of them died!"
"How do you know we were 'happily enjoying the sun', as you say? You know, we all suffered too!" yowled a voice to Echopaw's right, and Echopaw recognized the NightClan warrior, Robintail. There was a mutter of agreement around them as cats took in Robintail's statement.
Echopaw glanced up again and was horrified to see Rainstar glaring down at Robintail, looking ready to attack. "I was under the impression that I was speaking," she growled, menacingly calm. She sat taller, as if she was flaunting her power over them at that moment, and continued, "What I'm demanding is that you allow DayClan to hunt in your territories while we recover."
Every cat looked at each other in disbelief. An uproar of protests filled the air, each cat yowling furiously. Beside Echopaw, Bronzepelt was hollering insults up at Rainstar, who sat rigid, her white and black fur bristling. Echopaw glanced up nervously at Eveningstar, hoping he'd hold his ground and stand up to the DayClan leader.
Orangestar was the first to answer. "Are you out of your mind?" he growled, baring his teeth and lashing his tail back and forth. "DuskClan will never allow DayClan onto its territory!" The DuskClan cats around Echopaw shouted their agreement with their leader.
Rainstar looked furious, but kept her voice calm as she replied, "No need to get hostile. It was only a friendly request."
Echopaw heard Creekfall snort in disbelief, and Echopaw couldn't blame him; Rainstar's demand for the other Clans' territories was anything but friendly.
Eveningstar glanced around the clearing and then looked at Rainstar with his eyes narrowed, "DawnClan will not allow DayClan on its territory either. The Clans have always been able to support themselves on the territory they have now. Why would that change? It was just one rain storm."
Murmurs of approval rippled throughout the clearing.
Yeah, Echopaw thought angrily, tail lashing. It was just rain! She's just trying to get more control over us!
Rainstar wasn't pleased by the reaction. She stood up and faced the other three leaders. "Our territory was destroyed! Our kits have died, and more will follow if we can't find food for them! What kind of warriors are you? You'd let a helpless kit die because of something out of its control?" she roared, claws digging deep into the branch she was balancing on.
Beechstar looked uncomfortable and scared as he watched Rainstar yell, and looked hopelessly around the clearing. He closed his eyes and sighed. Then, without opening them, he muttered, "You may hunt in NightClan's territory, Rainstar. I cannot let helpless kits die from hunger if I can help it."
Gasps of shock came from every cat around the clearing, especially from NightClan. Echopaw heard a yowl come from across the clearing, and saw the NightClan deputy, Mapleleaf, staring in horror at his leader. "How could you, Beechstar? DayClan should not—" He was cut off by a hard stare from Beechstar, but his tail still lashed angrily behind him.
Beechstar continued, turning to Rainstar. "But only under this condition will you be allowed to hunt on our territory: you must be supervised. My Clan needs fresh-kill just as much as yours, and I expect that prey will start returning to your territory soon; the rain storm was a half-moon ago."
Rainstar dipped her head in what seemed to be gratefulness, but Echopaw caught a glimmer of mischief and evil satisfaction in her eyes, which caused and icy claw to rake down Echopaw's spine. But the next moment it was gone and she meowed, "Of course, Beechstar. We will respect your Clan's needs as well. We just want our Clan to grow healthy and strong again."
Beechstar dipped his head. He turned to Eveningstar and asked, "Do you want to announce your news now?"
Eveningstar met his eyes stiffly and replied, "No, you can."
Beechstar looked offended for a split second, but quickly got over it and meowed, "Fine," then turned to the whole clearing. "StarClan has blessed our nursery this past moon. One of our queens, Brownear, had three beautiful, healthy kits. We congratulate her." Beechstar paused."And, one of our apprentices, Cliffpaw, scented a fox in our territory and we drove it out." Echopaw looked across the clearing and found the small pale ginger she-cat sitting up tall and proud, and Echopaw felt happy for her. Beechstar continued, narrowing his eyes at Eveningstar. "Finally, this past moon we rescued a DawnClan apprentice after she washed up on the riverbank in our territory, and gave her food, shelter, and healed her injuries for her. In return, we'd like DawnClan to repay us, for they are in our debt."
Echopaw froze in shock. She shrunk toward the ground as she was reminded in front of all four Clans that she'd run away and fallen into the river. Cats from DayClan and DuskClan glanced at the DawnClan cats curiously; obviously they'd never heard this story. But the NightClan cats mockingly stared at Echopaw, and Echopaw noticed Pebblepaw, Duckpaw, and Goosepaw glaring at her with twisted smiles. Echopaw felt their gazes burning holes through her pelt, and she sunk lower toward the ground. Guilt and embarrassment radiated from her pelt, and her ears burned with shame. Echopaw looked around the clearing and saw Cliffpaw staring at her paws, and Echopaw guessed that she had known that this would happen. Echopaw looked away from the NightClan apprentice, not wanting anything to do with her anymore. Echopaw's Clanmates had been right: NightClan had just been kind to her because they'd want to get payment in return to benefit themselves. Echopaw flattened her ears and stared guiltily at her paws. Now she wished that Eveningstar had never chosen her to go to the Gathering.
Echopaw looked up nervously at her mentor, preparing to see him with a look that said, I told you so. But when Echopaw met his eyes, they were full of sympathy. "I'm sorry," she murmured, feeling the waves of guilt washing over her once again.
Eveningstar looked uncomfortable as he asked, "What would the payment be?"
Beechstar looked around the clearing and then turned back to Eveningstar, "I have discussed this with my warriors, and we have decided that we'd like some catmint, juniper berries, and marigold to prepare us for the upcoming leaf-bare."
Eveningstar narrowed his eyes, and Echopaw could see the fury hidden in the brown depths. "And just how much will you be needing?"
"Oh, we won't take all of it," Beechstar replied lightly, licking his paw and looking pleased with himself. "We just need to have the right herbs to treat illnesses in leaf-bare."
"And what about my Clan?" hissed Eveningstar, his tail lashing.
"Well, you do owe us something for saving your apprentice. We could have left her there on the riverbank. She very well could have died if it weren't for us."
There was a silence in which Echopaw was sure Eveningstar was silently vowing to punish her, and Echopaw felt her throat dry with guilt. Her eyes misted. She'd let her whole Clan down.
Eveningstar flattened his ears and meowed stiffly, "Fine. A patrol will meet you by the Thunderpath tomorrow at dawn to give you the herbs."
"Sounds good," meowed Beechstar cheerfully. "Would you like to speak next?"
Eveningstar ignored him and shouldered his way past, pushing against the NightClan leader as he did. Then he raised his voice so all the cats could hear him. "We also saw a fox by the river. Echopaw and Bronzepelt saw it, and we thank them for warning DawnClan."
Echopaw saw her Clanmates giving her warm, approving looks, and she looked up at her leader, thankful that he hadn't taken his anger at Beechstar out on her. Echopaw ignored the mocking stares from NightClan, then sat taller. Bronzepelt blinked encouragement at her. She smiled back weakly.
Eveningstar continued, "One of our warriors found out she was having kits a few sunrises ago. Aspenleaf will soon be joining the other queens in the nursery."
Warm looks of congratulations came from cats around Aspenleaf, and she looked proud and happy. Creekfall licked his mate's ear in encouragement while he purred loudly.
"Also, two of our new apprentices are here: Echopaw and Whisperpaw."
Echopaw forced her chest outward and pretended to look proud like Whisperpaw was while all the Clans looked at her yet again. The clearing echoed with their names for a few heartbeats, and Echopaw was glad when it was over.
"That's all I have," Eveningstar finished, then stepped back to sit on the branch again.
Orangestar stepped forward and meowed, "Now that NightClan has agreed to let DayClan on their territory, and DuskClan and DawnClan have not, how is DayClan going to get there? You don't share a border with NightClan, Rainstar."
Rainstar's blue eyes filled of forced concern. "I would have thought you'd let us walk along the edge of your territories if we needed to. After all, we let the other Clans walk through ours during the nights of Gatherings."
"That's different," meowed Eveningstar. "StarClan decreed that all four Clans attend Gatherings. They did not say the same about hunting in other Clans' territories."
Rainstar nodded solemnly and growled, "I see. I guess we'll just walk on the Thunderpath."
"Good," grunted Orangestar. "I have nothing important to report except that we have scented Twolegs on our territory, but it's nothing serious. We've always had to deal with Twolegs. Other than that, prey is running well." He stepped back and asked, "Anything else to add?"
Eveningstar and Beechstar shook their heads, but Rainstar stepped forward.
"One thing," the DayClan leader meowed, her icy-blue eyes narrowed in warning, "You have denied us rights to hunt in your territories now. But that doesn't mean we won't do nothing to help our starving kits." With that, she jumped off the Lightning Tree and immediately started heading down the Pointed Mountain with her Clan following her.
Echopaw shuddered at Rainstar's last words. Foreboding filled the pit of her stomach.
Echopaw shook the thoughts away and looked around for Eveningstar. She saw him talking in a hushed voice to Twigfoot; both toms were shaking their heads and looking angered. Bronzepelt and Spruceclaw were saying their goodbyes to two DuskClan warriors. "May StarClan light your path," they said in return. Aspenleaf was nodding something to Gingerfur, the DuskClan she-cat, with Creekfall at her side.
Echopaw looked around for her sister. Where is she? We're leaving soon.
Finally she saw her, standing with one of the DayClan apprentices she'd seen her sister talking with earlier, Songpaw's brother, Bumblepaw. Whisperpaw was nodding at the young tom. Whisperpaw added something to him, and then she started walking toward the DawnClan patrol. The DayClan apprentice watched her go, then turned tail and ran after his Clanmates, who had already disappeared into the bushes.
Echopaw watched her sister, who was already heading down the slope of the mountain. Echopaw looked over around the clearing to see Snowpaw, the DuskClan apprentice, waving her tail at Echopaw in goodbye. Her two Clanmates, Pantherpaw and Raccoonpaw, were racing ahead to follow Gingerfur and Falconflight, along with the rest of their Clanmates. Echopaw smiled and flicked her tail in return to the pretty silver and white she-cat. Her amber eyes glowed, then she turned and darted away through the bushes and followed her Clanmates. Echopaw got to her paws and started following her own Clanmates down the slope, but a flash of sand-colored fur caught her eye and stopped her. She turned to see Cliffpaw slowly walking toward her. Echopaw's neck fur rose.
Cliffpaw looked at her with sadness in her eyes as she meowed, "Echopaw, I'm so sorry. I know how important herbs are; Icepaw is my sister, and she's the apprentice medicine cat."
Echopaw narrowed her eyes coldly, "You could have at least told me Beechstar was going to request that," she muttered bitterly. "I was shamed in front of all the Clans!"
Cliffpaw's eyes widened. "I didn't know! I'm an apprentice! Beechstar would only discuss what he's announcing at the Gathering with his deputy and senior warriors." Echopaw narrowed her eyes. It made sense, but why should she believe a cat from another Clan? "Echopaw, I swear to StarClan I did not know."
Echopaw looked into Cliffpaw's pale blue eyes and saw sadness and sympathy glittering across them. Echopaw sighed and replied, "Okay, I believe you." Cliffpaw's eyes brightened, but when Echopaw continued, they became dull again. "But that doesn't mean we can still be friends." Then seeing Cliffpaw's face, she quickly added, "Be logical, Cliffpaw. We're from different Clans!"
"I know," Cliffpaw sighed, her light ginger fur sagging on her shoulders.
Echopaw heard Bronzepelt calling her name, and she replied, "I'm coming!" Then she turned to Cliffpaw and meowed, "I'll see you later then." Cliffpaw nodded sadly, murmured goodbye, then walked across the clearing to where the NightClan patrol had disappeared.
Echopaw padded across the clearing as well, following the scent of her Clanmates. She looked up at the sky and saw the glittering spirits of StarClan watching over her; she'd need their help in the rough days to come. Not only was the prophecy unfolding, but now DayClan was becoming more of a problem too.
Echopaw gathered up her courage and thought, Let DayClan come! We'll be ready when they do! A shooting star passed over Echopaw's head and she knew that StarClan was with her; they always would be. And when the danger does come and the prophecy is fulfilled, I'll have the spirits of StarClan on my side! DawnClan will survive!
Hope filled Echopaw's heart as she picked up speed and raced after her Clanmates toward DawnClan territory once more, ready for whatever lay out there in the darkness of the night.