Fading Echoes

Dovepaw could scent the camp just over a rise in the ground ahead. She could hear the gentle breathing of cats in dens. An image of the camp took shape in her mind: stiff bushes sheltering hollows scooped in the sandy soil; a paw-scuffed clearing; a gorse-shadowed dip, rich with the tang of medicine herbs. “Just a little farther,” she pleaded. She could sense Sedgewhisker clearly. The pale tabby she-cat was lying in a den beside Whitetail. Their denmates surrounded them, a jumble of pelts, warm and sheltered from the wind. Only Sedgewhisker stirred. She kept sniffing gingerly at her wound.

It can’t be too bad if she’s not in the medicine den, Dovepaw reasoned. Still, worry pricked at her pelt. She had to be sure!

But how in the name of StarClan was she going to get Sedgewhisker’s attention without waking the rest of the den?

I’ll worry about that when we get there.

They crested the rise. The earth dipped in front of them, a wide hollow denting the moorland. It was ringed by a grassy slope, edged at the foot by a wall of scrubby bushes. A sandy clearing glowed at the center, just as Dovepaw had imagined.

“That’s it!” Dovepaw could hardly keep her excited mew to a whisper. “The camp!”

Ivypaw flicked her tail across her sister’s mouth. “I bet Bumblepaw or Briarpaw’d never do anything like this!” she breathed. “You’re not really going to look for Sedgewhisker and Whitetail, are you?”

“Of course!” Dovepaw began to slink down the slope.

“You can’t!” Ivypaw protested. “It’s too dangerous.”

Dovepaw glanced over her shoulder. “You can stay at the top if you want!” she hissed.

Ivypaw darted after her. “No way! If you’re going, then so am I! We’re in this together, right?”

Dovepaw knew exactly where the warriors’ den was and crept toward it, the moorland grass slippery beneath her pads.

Ivypaw pressed behind her, hardly breathing. “Is everyone asleep?”

Dovepaw’s tail twitched. “Nearly everyone.”

Ivypaw hesitated. “What do you mean?”

“It’s okay,” Dovepaw urged. “It’s just a guard. He won’t see us.” She could see the silhouette of a single warrior in the clearing, his shoulders bunched with tiredness, his back toward them as he scanned the opposite horizon.

Ivypaw stiffened when she saw him and ducked lower as they slithered into the shadows around the scrubby camp wall. They slid through a gap between the stems and tiptoed toward a wide tangle of shrubs. The warriors’ den.

Slipping into the darkness beneath the branches, Dovepaw felt a glimmer of relief.

Ivypaw was trembling beside her. “What do we do now?”

“Sedgewhisker is asleep just beyond the wall.” Dovepaw touched her tail against the spiny branches, sensing her friend only a tail-length away. “Sedgewhisker!” she hissed.

“What are you doing?” Ivypaw gasped.

Dovepaw ignored her sister’s protest. “Sedgewhisker!” she hissed louder.

Leaves rustled beyond the wall. Sedgewhisker had sat up.

“She’s coming!” Dovepaw whispered to Ivypaw. She could hear Sedgewhisker picking her way between the nests on three legs, her injured leg tucked protectively under her.

The pale tabby appeared beside them like a moonbeam in the darkness. “Great StarClan, Dovepaw! What are you doing here?”

Dovepaw tipped her head to one side. The WindClan warrior sounded cross, not overjoyed to see her old friend from the quest.

“Follow me!” Sedgewhisker hissed, and limped through the camp wall and up the grassy slope. She scrabbled over the top and crouched beyond the rise, wincing with pain.

Dovepaw and Ivypaw scooted after her.

“Are you okay?” Dovepaw looked anxiously at Sedgewhisker’s hind leg, which was swathed in cobweb and reeking of herbs.

Sedgewhisker was scowling. “Why did you come here?”

Dovepaw felt her ears flatten. Wasn’t she pleased they had come? “I-I was worried,” she stammered. “I heard a dog chasing you.” She didn’t dare say more in case she gave away her secret, but it seemed she had said too much already. A growl rumbled in Sedgewhisker’s throat.

“Have you been spying on us?” the WindClan warrior snapped.

Ivypaw swung her head to stare at Dovepaw, her eyes flashing with alarm and confusion. “You didn’t mention a dog!”

Sedgewhisker leaned closer. “How did you know about it?”

Dovepaw flinched away. “I-I heard it while I was training.”

Ivypaw blinked. “When? You didn’t say!”

Sedgewhisker was watching them through slitted eyes.

Dovepaw felt a stab of disappointment. “I was worried you were hurt, that’s all,” she muttered.

Sedgewhisker bristled. “We can take care of ourselves, you know. We don’t need a ThunderClan apprentice to watch out for us!”

A voice grumbled from the shadows outside the bush wall. “What’s going on? Who are you talking to, Sedgewhisker?”

Dovepaw and Ivypaw froze. There was nowhere to hide! Pawsteps padded up the slope toward them. Ivypaw unsheathed her claws while Dovepaw struggled to slow her breathing. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.