Fading Echoes

A lithe ginger shape appeared above the edge of the hollow.

Weaselfur.

His gaze flicked over the two ThunderClan apprentices, and then Sedgewhisker. “What are you up to now?” he mewed wearily. “Haven’t you caused us enough trouble today, getting your patrol tangled up with that dog?”

Sedgewhisker bristled. “I was the only one hurt!”

Weaselfur looked back at the camp. “Invaders!” he called. There was no urgency in his yowl. “Why didn’t you alert the Clan?” he asked Sedgewhisker, hardly paying any attention to Dovepaw and Ivypaw.

“I was handling it,” Sedgewhisker growled.

Ivypaw straightened up, whiskers quivering. “We don’t need handling,” she mewed crossly.

“Hush!” Weaselfur turned on her, his hackles rising.

WindClan cats began streaming through the gaps in the scrub wall and swarmed up the bank.

A blue-eyed tabby she-cat circled them, tasting the air. “ThunderClan!”

“Is it an invasion?” A brown-and-white tom curled his lip.

A tabby tom lashed his tail. “I can’t smell any others.”

“They may have disguised their scent,” snarled a black she-cat.

“Do you really think they’re that clever, Nightcloud?” sneered the tabby.

Breezepelt slunk over the rise, his pelt bristling. “What are you doing here?” His eyes flashed with menace.

Dovepaw blinked hopefully as Onestar appeared and stepped in front of the young warrior. “Harespring!” The WindClan leader nodded to the brown-and-white tom. “Take Leaftail and Owlwhisker and search the area.”

The three warriors raced away, tails down, hackles up.

The blue-eyed tabby watched them leave, her claws kneading the grass. “Can I go too?”

“Calm down, Heathertail,” Onestar ordered. “They’ll call if they need backup.”

Dovepaw’s heart was racing. “We came alone.” She wrapped her tail around Ivypaw and tried to keep her chin high.

Onestar’s gaze was stern. “Why did you come?” he demanded. “Did Firestar send you?”

Dovepaw shook her head.

Sedgewhisker looked at her Clanmates. “She knew about the dog. She knew it chased us.” She flashed a look at Dovepaw. “Though it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Onestar widened his eyes. “How did you know?”

Dovepaw was ready for the question. “I heard it from the forest, while I was training.”

Heathertail growled. “How could you tell it was chasing our warriors?”

Dovepaw struggled for words. “I just…er…guessed,” she mewed at last.

“You guessed?” The WindClan leader sounded unconvinced. His Clanmates exchanged doubtful glances.

Breezepelt slid around his leader and glared at the two ThunderClan apprentices. “What else have you guessed about us?”

A small white she-cat appeared over the rise. Whitetail! She bristled when she spotted Dovepaw.

Dovepaw stared at the ground. She didn’t want Whitetail’s disapproval as well as Sedgewhisker’s. What had happened to the friendships they’d made?

Whitetail approached the two ThunderClan apprentices. “The quest is over,” she told Dovepaw. “You must respect boundaries. Your loyalty should be with your own Clan.” There was gentleness in her mew, as if she, at least, understood Dovepaw’s disappointment.

“Don’t they teach ThunderClan ’paws about scent markers?” A young WindClan apprentice was pacing angrily behind Whitetail, his lip curled.

“Of course they do,” Ivypaw replied hotly.

Onestar swept his tail over the heather. “Go back to your dens,” he ordered his Clanmates. “Heathertail and Breezepelt will take these foolish apprentices back where they belong.”

Dovepaw’s pelt flashed with heat. “We’re not foolish!”

Onestar gazed at her. “Then why are you here instead of tucked up in your nest?”

Dovepaw couldn’t meet his gaze. I thought my friends were in trouble! Anger and sadness squirmed in her belly. It was her stupid power’s fault that she’d heard the dog attack Sedgewhisker! She was only trying to be a good warrior. And a good friend. But it seemed friendship counted for nothing. She hung her head as Heathertail nudged her down the flank of the hill.

“Let’s get you home,” the blue-eyed warrior mewed.

Dovepaw shrugged her away and stomped through the heather. Ivypaw padded beside her. “At least they didn’t shred us,” she whispered.

Remorse stripped Dovepaw’s anger away. “I’m sorry I made you come.”

“You didn’t make me do anything!” Ivypaw answered indignantly.

The two WindClan warriors flanked them as they crossed the moor. No one spoke, but a low growl rumbled occasionally in Breezepelt’s throat.

Heathertail swung her head and glared at her Clanmate. “Will you stop making that noise!” she growled.

“Do you want to make them feel welcome?” Breezepelt snapped back.

“I think they got the message from Onestar,” Heathertail pointed out. “They don’t need you snarling at them all the way to the hollow. They’re just apprentices.”

“It’ll teach them not to do it again.”

“Just shut up!” Heathertail snorted. “No one died and made you leader.”

Breezepelt let out a hiss, then was quiet.