Dark Echoes - The New Dawn - Book one

Chapter 4

Hi guys, I'm sorry that I didn't updated this for a long time. But here, you have chapter 4! Enjoy :)

Sunpaw watched with terror as more cats appeared from the bushes.

"We can't win this battle," Amberpaw muttered. "We're outnumbered."

"This time you're wrong," mewed a gentle voice. Sunpaw turned, and saw a pretty tabby she cat.

"Who are you?" he mewed.

"I'm Hawktail," mewed the she cat.

"She's my mother," Seedtail twitched her whiskers.

"And as I said, this time you're wrong. StarClan cats can still fight. We're outnumbering them." Hawktail lashed her tail.

"No," mewed Seedtail. "I can't fight my sister." Her ears twitched. "And I didn't think that you could fight her."

Hawktail flicked her tail uneasily. "You're right," she sighed. "I can't fight her."

Sunpaw heard a mew from the other side of the clearing, "I can't fight my sister, Redheart. Please stop it."

Sunpaw turned, and he recognized a gray she cat. "You're Smokeheart!" he mewed. "But you died last leaf-bare! What are you doing here?"

Smokeheart bared her teeth. "I have news for you. I'm not on your side."

"Mapleclaw." Seedtail lashed her tail angrily. "What are you doing here?"

"I-" Mapleclaw stopped as Redheart flicked his tail for silence.

"I see that all of you are curious to know why you see us here," Redheart mewed. "Well, all the cats you can see here," he flicked his tail toward the other cats, "are cats that died. And cats that have died too soon. Cats who died before they finished what they wanted to do. Like Mapleclaw and me. When we died, we weren't ready to go to to StarClan. So StarClan let us live like an echo, an echo to the cats we were... and in the last few moons, these echoes became stronger. Much stronger. And now," Redheart bared his teeth, "we're ready to fight. And if an old legend is right, if we'll kill a cat, we'll come back to life."

Mapleclaw stepped forward. "I told you that too many times. I can't fight my sister, nor my mother, nor my father."

"Very well," Redheart snarled. "Stay behind and let me finish killing some cats."

Mapleclaw vanished into the bushes. "And by the way, let me present some cats." he turned and faced the bushes. "You can come out."

More cats appeared from the bushes; this time, Sunpaw noticed, they were living cats.

"This," Redheart pointed with his tail at a white she cat, "is Snow. She's formally a kittypet, but still a good fighter. And this," he twitched his ears toward a tabby tom, "Is Web. Sneaky as a spider, smart and fearless as a fox. And these ones," he flicked his tail toward a gray tom and a black she cat, "are Bat and Shadow. A brother and sister. And these ones," he gazed at a thin tabby tom and a dark tabby she cat, "are Spider and Twig. And this," he twitched his ears toward a ginger and white she cat , "is Grass. And these," Redheart pointed with his tail at a gray and white she cat and a black and white tom, "are Mountain and Badger. And these are Milk," he gazed at a cream white she cat," Bird, and Bracken," he twitched his ears toward a golden-brown tom and a dark ginger-golden tom.

"He has more allies than I expected," a dark gray tom murmured. He saw that Sunpaw is gazing at him, and added, "I'm Slateheart, Seedtail's father."

"And these are just my living allies," Redheart mewed like he had heard Slateheart. "These are Smokheart (a dark gray she cat), and her apprentice, Snakepaw (a dark tabby tom), Briarfoot (a dark brown tom), Nightbird (a black she cat with one white ear), Doetail (a tabby tom), and Duskpelt (a white she cat with gray and ginger patches)."

Sunpaw noticed that Seedtail, Slateheart, and Hawktail was moving to the side, like they didn't want to be a part of this battle.

Redheart bared his teeth. "Attack!" he snarled.

"Sunpaw! Look out!" Sunpaw heard his sister, Hailpaw, calling.

He turned; a tabby tom jumped on him. He rolled to the side, and understood it was a mistake. The tabby jumped on him; first, he felt like he can't breathe; then, the tabby (he thought was name is Doetail) started clawing his belly. He shrieked in pain. He tried to claw Doetail's front leg, but Doetail moved his leg backwards just in time, and Sunpaw clawed the empty air. He saw that Doetail bared his teeth, and was ready to give him the killing bite. He tried to fight back, but Doetail was twice his size. He closed his eyes. Is it really just going to end like that? He wondered. I'm not ready to go to StarClan. Then he shivered. One thing for sure, I'm not going to come back as an echo.

Then, he heard a meow, and he recognized Cloudflight's voice. He opened his eyes. Cloudflight leaped on Doetail, and pulled him away from Sunpaw. But as Cloudflight touched Doetail, it looks like she was starting to fade away; Cloudflight tried to bite Doetail's shoulder, but when her teeth met his shoulder, she just disappeared.

"Have you seen that?" Hailpaw mewed. "Cloudflight... she just disappeared!"

In the middle of the clearing, Redheart pinned Silverstripe to the ground. And after a few moments, Silverstripe disappeared.

He turned and saw that all the StarClan cats had disappeared; they were alone, and they were outnumbered. They can't win this battle. He saw only one thing to do.

"Run!" He yelled.