Night Whispers

Starlingpaw trotted up to Flametail. “We want to play prey-stone. It’s this game we just made up.” He called to Pinepaw. “Slide the stone over here!” He stopped the smooth fat stone with an expert paw as Pinepaw slid it fast over the ice.

“This is the prey,” he explained, pushing the stone toward Flametail. “Over there is the prey-hole.” He flicked his tail and Flametail peered across the ice.

“It’s not a real hole, but all the ice between that tree and that holly bush”—Starlingpaw flicked his tail toward the shore—“is where the stone’s safe. If you get in there, you win. If me and Pinepaw stop you, we win, and we have to swap places.”

Flametail narrowed his eyes. “Got it.” He put his paw on the stone.

Olivenose padded past him. “I’m on your team,” she told him. “Slide the stone to me if they block your path.”

Starlingpaw and Pinepaw were already taking up position guarding the “prey-hole.”

Flametail quickly realized it would be impossible just to slide the stone past them. Instead he turned and began batting it away from them. “Keep up with me!” he called to Olivenose. She scampered a few tail-lengths away from him and stayed level as he pushed the stone farther out across the lake. The ice was freezing under his paws, lightly dusted with snow, but wonderfully slippery.

Out of the corner of his eye, Flametail spotted a group of ThunderClan cats stepping gingerly onto the ice near their territory. He didn’t care. There were no boundaries on the lake. Anyway, he was a medicine cat. He could go wherever he chose. As he picked up speed, he stopped lifting his paws and let them skate over the surface instead. The wind rippled his fur, and he felt as if he were flying. He let himself glide, then shoved the stone toward Olivenose.

She stopped it with a paw and spun around. “Let’s attack!” she yowled.

Flametail turned and, matching Olivenose’s speed, headed back toward Pinepaw and Starlingpaw. They were crouched on the ice, eyes narrowed and fixed on the stone, ready to lunge and stop it whisking past them.

“Here!” Olivenose sent the stone toward him.

Flametail caught it, not missing a step as he skated forward. He batted it back to Olivenose. She was ready and parried it back toward him. Starlingpaw and Pinepaw looked from side to side, trying to follow the stone as Flametail and Olivenose flicked it between them faster and faster, all the time closing in on the prey-hole.

Flametail fixed his gaze on the gap between the two apprentices and, with an almighty shove, flung the stone across the ice. It whizzed toward the gap, straight as a diving hawk. Flametail slowed to a halt and watched it get closer and closer with excitement rising in his belly.

“I’ve got it!” Pinepaw yelled to her denmate, and flung herself across the ice. She slid on her belly as fast as a snake and stopped the stone dead with an outstretched paw. Yowling in triumph, she hurled it back out across the ice. It hurtled past Flametail, shooting toward the middle of the lake. Flametail turned, paws skidding, and raced after it.

He skated past Ratscar and Crowfrost, chasing the stone as it whirled onward. With a rush of satisfaction he saw it slow and slide to a halt. Dropping onto his belly, he slid after it.

Crack!

The world split beneath him.

Terror gripped Flametail’s chest as he felt the ice heave under his paws and tip him into the water. He slid into the freezing depths with a shriek. The water was instantly black around him. It dragged at his fur, so cold it felt like claws.

Above him, the light faded as the water sucked him down.

This is what I was seeing in my dream!

He began to churn with desperate paws, fighting for the surface.

Why didn’t StarClan tell me?

He blinked, focusing on which way the bubbles around him were drifting, then headed upward with a surge of hope. His paws thudded against a solid wall.

No!

He could see light beyond the whiteness, and scrabbled toward it. This time his claws ripped against the jagged underside of the ice. He saw movement above him, shadows over the ice. He heard yowls and mews calling his name as paws thundered above him.

Then the water began to pull him down. He was too tired to fight it. As the noise and chaos faded, Flametail felt numbness spread through his body. He let his paws grow still, allowed the water to cradle him.

Such quiet.

Such calm.

Suddenly the water started to churn. Flecks of ice and bubbles floated around him. He saw silky gray fur wafting near him.

Jayfeather? Had the ThunderClan medicine cat fallen in, too? It’s quiet here. He wanted to reassure his fellow medicine cat that everything was okay. Don’t fight it.

Suddenly claws tugged Flametail’s fur. Jayfeather had grabbed hold of him. He was trying to pull him up. Where did you learn to swim underwater?