Fading Echoes Read online

  “Dovepaw?” The ThunderClan leader gazed at the pale gray apprentice. “Have you sensed anything?”

  She stared at her paws. “Nothing,” she mumbled.

  Lionblaze guessed she was uncomfortable being used as a spy. It seemed that, while Jayfeather secretly relished being able to creep into other cats’ minds, Dovepaw wasn’t used to following her senses farther than any ordinary cat could go.

  She’d better get used to it. She’d been given her power for a reason.

  “ShadowClan is up to something,” Firestar warned. “Border incursions are bad enough, but telling lies about them is low, even for ShadowClan.”

  “They’ve always been sneaky,” Lionblaze reminded him.

  “We must be even more vigilant,” Firestar growled.

  “Extra border patrols?” Jayfeather suggested.

  Firestar shook his head. “They’ll see it as provocation.”

  Outside, the haze of rain that had obscured the camp all morning was lifting; sunshine was arcing into the hollow. But the gale that had blown the clouds away was roaring through the forest and buffeting the dens. It whined at the den entrance.

  Lionblaze noticed Dovepaw stiffen. “It’s just the wind,” he murmured.

  She shook her head, her eyes widening. “There’s something else.”

  Lionblaze leaned closer. He recognized the distant look in her eyes. “What?”

  “A sucking noise.” Fear lit her gaze. “Roots.” Her breath quickened. “Roots coming out of the ground.” She stared directly at Lionblaze. “A tree is falling. One of the trees at the top of the hollow.” Her shrill mew echoed around the cave. “Clear the camp!”

  Firestar was on his paws in a moment. “Is it true?” he asked Lionblaze.

  “It’s true.” Lionblaze had no doubt that Dovepaw was describing something real. “We’ve got to get everyone out.”

  He pelted out of the cave, taking the rockfall in three bounds. “Everyone leave the camp!” he screeched. The wind howled around him, almost drowning his words.

  Faces peeped out from the den entrances. Dustpelt and Brightheart, who had been picking through the fresh-kill pile, spun around.

  “What’s going on?” Alarm filled Dustpelt’s call.

  “A tree is falling!” Lionblaze stared up at the rim of the hollow, trying to spot the tree that was losing its grip on the rain-drenched earth. The whole forest was swaying in the gale. It was impossible to tell if one was about to crash down onto the camp. “Clear the dens!”

  Brambleclaw skidded from the warriors’ den as Firestar scrambled down the rocks from Highledge. “You heard him!” Firestar yowled. “Clear the camp!”

  Brambleclaw headed straight for the nursery.

  Firestar nodded to Dustpelt. “Apprentices’ den.” He turned to Brightheart. “Elders’ den.”

  Jayfeather raced over the clearing. “The medicine den’s empty.”

  “Double-check it!” Firestar ordered. He turned to Lionblaze. “You check the warriors’ den; I’ll check the rest of the camp.” The ThunderClan leader pelted past the warriors’ den as warriors began to stream out.

  Lionblaze pushed his way in between Thornclaw, Foxleap, and Toadstep as they crowded through the entrance, ripping it wide in their rush to escape. Frantically he began searching the dark thornbush. “Hurry up!” he snapped at Cloudtail, who was stretching in his nest.

  The white warrior blinked sleepily at him. “What’s happening?”

  “Just go!” Lionblaze ordered. “Get every cat out of camp!”

  He weaved through the nests, reassuring himself that each one was empty, then darted outside. The Clan was bunched together at the entrance to the tunnel through the barrier of thorns.

  Brambleclaw stood at the nursery entrance, pulling Ferncloud by the scruff as she squeezed through the brambles after Daisy. He ducked inside, then hopped out. “Nursery clear!”

  Poppyfrost was running for the tunnel with Molekit swinging in her jaws. Cherrykit sprawled on the ground behind her, wailing, her eyes glazed in terror. Daisy scooped her up and headed after Poppyfrost.

  “Apprentices’ den clear!” Dustpelt’s yowl rang across the clearing.

  “Warriors’ den empty!” Lionblaze called.

  “No one in the medicine den!” Jayfeather’s fur was barbed with prickers from the brambly entrance.

  Firestar emerged from behind the nursery. “Perimeter clear!” He charged over to Brambleclaw, who was guiding his Clanmates through the barrier. “Slow down!” he ordered as Rosepetal slipped and Brackenfur tripped over her.

  Lionblaze glanced at the elders’ den. Brightheart hadn’t made her report yet.

  Purdy was plucking anxiously at the ground outside the entrance. “Hurry up!” he hissed through the honeysuckle.

  Why were they dawdling?

  “Dovepaw!” Lionblaze caught sight of his apprentice. She was circling the clearing, staring up at the rim of the hollow. “Which tree is it?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know!” Terror filled her mew. “I can hear its roots slipping through the earth. It’s the rain. Too much rain! It’s loosened the roots!”

  Ivypaw paused beside the halfrock and stared at her sister, bewildered. “Get out of the camp!”

  “I can’t go till I’m sure!”

  Ivypaw blinked. “Sure of what?”

  “Which one is falling!”

  “Why in the name of StarClan do you need to know?”

  Lionblaze lashed his tail. “It doesn’t matter which one!” he screeched. “Just get out of the hollow! Both of you!”

  As the two apprentices scooted from the clearing, he turned back to the elders’ den. Still no sign of Longtail, Brightheart, or Mousefur. He pelted for the den, skidding past Purdy, and ducked inside. “What’s going on?”

  Brightheart was staring in panic at Mousefur.

  Mousefur glared back at her indignantly. “If I leave my bed, the moss will get wet!”

  Longtail was thrusting his muzzle under his denmate’s flank. “Just get up!” he urged. “We’ll get dry moss when we come back.”

  “Where are we going to find dry moss?” Mousefur objected. “It’s been raining all moon!”

  Fury surged through Lionblaze. “Get out!” His order barked like cracking wood, and Mousefur jumped to her paws, gazing at him in shock.

  “Get out!” he repeated, unsheathing his claws. He wasn’t going to let this stubborn old cat die for the sake of a dry bed!

  Brightheart rolled her eyes thankfully as Mousefur headed for the entrance. She nudged Longtail, herding them both through the trailing honeysuckle and into the clearing.

  Lionblaze darted after them. The camp was empty apart from the elders hobbling across the clearing. He stared around the top of the hollow, wondering again which tree was falling, praying that Dovepaw had overreacted, though his gut told him she was right.

  As Brightheart and Purdy steered Longtail and Mousefur through the tunnel, Firestar and Brambleclaw barged back in. Dovepaw slid in after them, her fur on end.

  “Is the camp clear?” Firestar demanded.

  Lionblaze nodded.

  Brambleclaw darted from one den to another, poking his head in.

  Dovepaw’s ears were pricked. “It’s clear,” she assured them.

  “Come on, then,” Firestar ordered. “Let’s join the Clan. They’re sheltering along the gully on the way to the lake.” He glanced at Dovepaw. “You’re sure they’ll be safe there?”

  Dovepaw was looking up to the top of the cliff that overhung Highledge. “It’s falling!” she whispered.

  She knows which tree it is. Lionblaze followed her gaze to a tall beech that still had nearly all its leaves. He could see the danger clearly now. The wind kept tearing at the tree’s heavy branches as it began to slip from the earth and slide toward the rim of the hollow.

  “Come on!” Firestar insisted. He prodded Dovepaw toward the entrance. Lionblaze ran across the clearing and followed her out, Brambleclaw and Fires
tar on his tail. As he ran, Lionblaze glimpsed the pelts of his Clanmates through the trees, huddling in the gully several tree-lengths from the entrance to the hollow. Then he spotted Mousefur stumbling toward him. She was trying to dodge back into the camp.

  Longtail stood in her way. “Leave the mouse! We can catch another.”

  “I’m not wasting prey!” Mousefur growled. “It’s an insult to StarClan!”

  “Then I’ll get it!”

  Before Lionblaze could stop him, Longtail had darted back through the thorn barrier.

  Briarpaw raced after him, a blur of dark brown fur. “Come back! It’s not safe!”

  Lionblaze slowed to a halt and spun around. He pelted after Longtail and Briarpaw. “The tree’s going to fall!” he shrieked, tearing through the thorns in time to see Longtail and Briarpaw disappear into the elders’ den. “Get out!”

  His yowl was smothered by a great creaking roar from the top of the hollow. With a deafening crack, the beech toppled over the rim and hurtled down the cliff. Its branches scraped the rocky walls like claws, showering thorn-sharp stones over the camp. Lionblaze shrank back against the barrier, shards of rock raining around him, terror pulsing through him as the clearing disappeared under a storm of flailing branches. He flattened his ears against the snapping, splintering wood and watched, frozen in horror, as the honeysuckle den caved under a tangle of branches. With a wrenching crunch, the beech trunk hit the ground and split like a shattered bone.

  He felt a pelt trembling next to his. Dovepaw was beside him, mouth open, eyes so wide he could see their white rims.

  “Briarpaw,” she breathed.

  Lionblaze charged toward the den, slithering through the tangle of branches, clambering over the ripped wood. He could hardly see the honeysuckle underneath the fallen beech. The tree was half propped against the far side of the hollow, its muddy roots reaching like talons around the nursery. Half the warriors’ den was gone, and branches obscured the entrance to the medicine den.

  “Wait!”

  Lionblaze halted when he heard Firestar’s yowl. He turned, balancing on the jagged end of a shattered branch.

  The ThunderClan leader was clambering after him, Dovepaw following on shaky paws.

  “Can you hear anything?” Firestar asked.

  “No.” Lionblaze glanced at Dovepaw.

  The gray apprentice shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “They still might be alive.” Firestar leaped past Lionblaze and began to wriggle through the fluttering golden leaves toward the flattened den. Lionblaze struggled after him, wincing as the jagged wood scraped his pelt.

  The tree creaked.

  “It’s not safe!” Dovepaw’s wail sounded behind them.

  Lionblaze felt the tree move around him.

  “It’s slipping down the side of the hollow,” Dovepaw warned.

  “I can see a shape,” Firestar called from inside the debris.

  Lionblaze squirmed deeper into the snarled branches, feeling a surge of hope as a honeysuckle tendril snaked out, whipping him across the muzzle. “Who is it?”

  “I can’t tell,” Firestar called back. “But I think it’s moving.”

  “The whole tree’s moving!” Dovepaw shrieked. “Get out of there!”

  With a groaning, scraping sigh, the beech began to slide down the wall of the hollow.

  “Out!” Firestar ordered sharply.

  Lionblaze hesitated. He couldn’t leave his Clanmates! He yelped as teeth clamped around his tail.

  “It’s collapsing!” Dovepaw’s mew was muffled by fur as she dragged him backward and the tree shivered beneath his paws. Firestar was scrambling out beside him.

  “Jump!” Dovepaw yowled.

  The three cats hurled themselves onto an empty patch of ground beside the apprentices’ den. Behind them, the tree groaned and dropped down, its branches caving beneath it as crumpled into the base of the hollow.

  Dovepaw let out a whimper.

  Lionblaze strained to see the elders’ den. Strands of honeysuckle snaked among the branches. There was still a chance that part of the den wasn’t crushed.

  “Firestar?” Brambleclaw was crossing the wreckage toward them. As he jumped down beside them, Lionblaze saw the rest of the Clan streaming back into camp. They barged through the barrier of thorns until it was as tattered and wrecked as the rest of the camp.

  “Stop!” Firestar yowled at his Clanmates.

  They froze and stared at the ruins of their home. Leafpool closed her eyes, as though praying to StarClan.

  “Where’s the camp?” Cherrykit mewled.

  Daisy bent to comfort the kit as Poppyfrost stared blankly at the fallen tree. “It’s gone,” she breathed.

  “It’s still there,” Firestar growled. “We just need to stay calm.”

  “Where’s Longtail?” Purdy asked shakily.

  “Briarpaw?” Millie’s mew cracked.

  “I’m going to find them!” Lionblaze promised, bracing himself to force his way through the smashed branches. If he thought of the tree as an enemy in battle, would that protect him from getting hurt?

  Firestar turned to his deputy. “Brambleclaw, I want a patrol to clear a way to the elders’ den and I want the rest of the Clan outside the hollow and taken care of.”

  Brambleclaw studied the tree. “We’ll need to clear the branches we can move and prop up the ones we can’t.” He called to Dustpelt, “How many warriors will you need to do that?”

  Dustpelt narrowed his eyes. “Four,” he meowed. “Any more would get in the way.”

  Lionblaze remembered how they had destroyed the dam. “We could use logs to lever the heaviest branches out of the way.”

  Squirrelflight stepped forward. “I’ll organize a team to find logs and props.” She glanced at her Clanmates. “Millie, Brackenfur, Birchfall, and Thornclaw, you can help me.”

  “Sorreltail, Graystripe, Cloudtail, and Berrynose.” Dustpelt nodded to his denmates. “Come with me.”

  Lionblaze stiffened as he heard a faint mewl from where the elders’ den had been. “There’s definitely a cat still alive in there.”

  Firestar nodded. “Then there’s not a moment to lose.” He flicked his tail at Whitewing. “Get everyone else back to the gully. Jayfeather, do what you can to treat any cat with shock. Daisy, I’m putting you in charge of the elders, queens, and kits. Keep them calm.” He nodded at Brambleclaw. “Work with Dustpelt and Squirrelflight.”

  Mousefur paced back and forth, a wail sobbing in her throat. “This is my fault! I should be buried under there, not Longtail!”

  Purdy weaved around her, steering her away through the shredded thorns. “They’ll find him,” he promised.

  Dovepaw was shaking from nose to tail-tip. “Why didn’t I hear it earlier? I could have stopped this!”

  Firestar glanced at the horror-stricken apprentice, then called softly to Whitewing. “Take Dovepaw with you. Make sure she’s okay.”

  Gently, the white warrior led her kit out of the camp.

  Blood pulsed in Lionblaze’s ears. He wanted to launch himself back among the tangle of branches and haul Longtail and Briarpaw out. But how? Even if he found them, how would he get the two cats past the shattered branches without hurting them?

  Dustpelt was already nosing around the edge of the beech. Reaching up with his forepaws, he snapped the first branch out of the way.

  Squirrelflight hurried to his side and grabbed the branch in her paws. “We can use this as a prop.”

  Dustpelt pushed deeper into the tree, forcing an arching bough up with his back long enough for Squirrelflight to wedge her branch underneath.

  “Briarpaw!” Millie wailed into the gap. “Longtail?”

  Sorreltail and Thornclaw shoved her away as they squeezed after Dustpelt, snapping branches where they could, propping others out of the way. Graystripe plunged in beside them, claws fraying as he ripped at the mangled beech wood.

  “Briarpaw!” Brackenfur rolled a log toward a heavy bough, and
while Birchfall and Cloudtail levered it up with a long splinter of wood, he pushed the log underneath. The beech creaked, but stayed still. They were making progress.

  “Longtail? Can you hear me?” Lionblaze peered down the tunnel that was beginning to form.

  No answer.

  Tendrils of honeysuckle shivered tantalizingly beyond the tangle of branches still blocking their way. Lionblaze turned to see his brother behind him, blind blue eyes glittering with worry.

  “I need to get to my den,” Jayfeather meowed.

  Branches blocked the entrance.

  “Poppyfrost’s in shock and Mousefur is beside herself with worry. And if you get Longtail and Briarpaw out alive, I’ll need to treat them.”

  “Can’t you gather fresh herbs?” Lionblaze suggested.

  Jayfeather’s eyes blazed. “It’s leaf-fall! There are no fresh herbs!”

  Firestar turned away from helping Dustpelt roll a log. “Fetch Rosepetal,” he ordered. “She’s skinny like her father.” It was true. She had the same lithe body as Spiderleg. “She might be able to find a way through.” He cast a glance at the branches blocking the cave. “It’s a mess, but there may be enough gaps.”

  Jayfeather turned and hurried away.

  “Lionblaze!” Squirrelflight was trying to wedge a forked branch into place.

  Lionblaze scooted over and helped her to push. The tree seemed to sigh as they lodged the branch under the trunk.

  “We’re nearly at the elders’ den,” Dustpelt announced. His pelt was threaded with splinters, and blood oozed from his paws.

  Lionblaze looked down the tunnel to the last pair of branches blocking their way. “I can push my way through.”

  “Do it,” ordered Firestar. “We’ll shift them while you’re inside so that you can get Longtail and Briarpaw out.”

  Millie and Graystripe stood side by side, looking past the rescue operation at the crumpled honeysuckle. Their daughter was somewhere in the wreckage.

  “Please, StarClan,” whispered Millie. “Let her be okay.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Firestar vowed, his eyes dark.

  Jayfeather raced back with Rosepetal. As he passed Millie and Graystripe, Lionblaze noticed him stiffen as though he’d stepped on a thorn. He can feel their grief.