Whispers and Echoes

Chapter 7

Two and a half moons had passed since Echopaw's and Whisperpaw's first tour of the territory, and the two of them were coming along well as apprentices; they had just finished a hunting lesson with their mentors and were on their way back to the camp.

Green-leaf had officially arrived, bringing the daily warmth with it. Hunting patrols seemed to be bringing back more and more prey each day, and there seemed to be no more trouble from DayClan, not since the day Aspenleaf had been wounded. The young warrior was still in Goldheart's den; she would have been out a moon ago, but her wound had started to become infected, so Goldheart had ordered her to stay with him for a while longer until he was absolutely sure that she was healed.

Yellowkit had finally become apprenticed yesterday, even though she wasn't six moons old yet; Goldheart had wanted to start her training early, and having Aspenleaf in the medicine cats' den would give Yellowpaw some good practice and help her learn faster.

Echopaw shook her head to clear her thoughts and followed Gravelpelt, Bronzepelt, and Whisperpaw into the camp.

Bronzepelt turned to the apprentices. "You two, go fetch the elders some fresh-kill, then you can get some rest. It looks like we won't we doing much more today; the clouds are coming in, and they may be bringing a storm with them."

Echopaw and Whisperpaw dipped their head to the red-furred warrior and trotted across the clearing to the fresh-kill pile. Echopaw grabbed a blue jay and a vole, and Whisperpaw picked out two mice. The two sisters pushed their way through the pine branches of the elders' den and found Spruceclaw and Ferrettail sharing tongues, while Fogtail slept in the corner.

Ferrettail looked up at the two apprentices. "Oh, is all that for us?" he asked.

Echopaw dipped her head and set the vole and blue jay down. Whisperpaw dropped the two mice she was carrying beside the prey Echopaw had brought.

"Did you two catch any of those?" asked Spruceclaw.

Echopaw shook her head slowly, staring at her paws. "No... We haven't actually caught our first prey yet."

"Don't worry; you'll get there soon enough," Spruceclaw meowed gently, his brown eyes encouraging.

Echopaw smiled and nodded. Whisperpaw dipped her head to the two elders, then lead the way out of the den, and Echopaw followed.

As soon as they crossed the clearing, Echopaw noticed the clouds Bronzepelt had been talking about. They were giant, puffy, and gray, and they were climbing higher and higher into the sky, while creeping closer and closer to the forest. A shadow swept across the camp as the clouds blotted out the sun, and a cool breeze began to stir the bushes around the camp. The grasses of the clearing bent over, and the trees began to sway as the strength of the breeze heightened.

Echopaw shivered and stared around the camp. Eveningstar, Twigfoot, Sunfur, Copperleaf, and Sparktail were deep in conversation, but when the wind buffeted their pelts, they all gazed up the graying sky and broke apart, each heading to different parts of the camp.

Sparktail padded towards Echopaw and Whisperpaw, lashing her tail and flattening her ears. "Eveningstar has just told us that a big storm is on its way, so finish up your apprentice duties, then get into your den as soon as you can."

Echopaw nodded and stared up at the clouds again.

"Those clouds signal a coming thunderstorm, with pouring rain, cold winds, and sometimes even hail. It's dangerous for a cat to be out in a thunderstorm, especially if it's hailing, so there's not going to be an evening patrol; Eveningstar doesn't want to risk cats getting hurt." Sparktail sighed. "You'd better get to your dens."