Tales Of ForestClan by Chocolatemeerkat (Echopath) . (popular books of all time .txt) 📕

Chickenpaw hesitated for a moment, but then flung himself at Echopath. The two cats wrestled, giving each other playful shoves until Echopath pinned down Chickenpaw. "Not bad, not bad. Could do with a couple of improvements, but I'm impressed. Rabbitleap taught you well." she complimented.

"Thanks!" the apprentice chirped in delight. "Could you let me up now?"

Echopath laughed and removed her paw to let the little tom crawl away. She then turned to the other kit. "Featherpaw, attack me."

"I-I don't want to hurt you." Featherpaw stammered. The warrior sighed, but then lashed her tail and bared her teeth. "Pretend I'm an enemy cat trying to break into the nursery." she said. Chickenpaw nearly pounced, but he knew well that he'd had his turn in the spotlight. He murmured some words of encouragement, and eventually Featherpaw leapt at Echopath. However, Echopath managed to pin down the apprentice almost as soon as she landed. She shook her head and sighed. "An enemy warrior would have teared you apart by now. You're much too slow, so you must work on that. Prehaps Chickenpaw would be able to help you, but you must learn soon or I might have to talk to Bramblestar."

"Oh, please don't!" Featherpaw begged. "I don't want to get in trouble!"

Echopath let the apprentice go and then glanced at Chickenpaw. "Right. Both of you, come with me."

They padded through the forest and avoided the brambles until they reached a large gorge. This was their camp. Desperate not to show that she was in a bad mood, Echopath slided down and stalked off towards the warriors den.

She needed rest.

Lots of it.

Just as she settled down in her warm nest, she heard paw steps outside. Echopath pricked her ears up, staying alert. Thankfully, it was only Flamesnake, Frostear's mate. He had been made a warrior with Echopath and Pigeonwing, who was a close friend of Echopath's. Sighing sleepily, Echopath greeted the warrior. "Hi. Who are you looking for?"

"You, actually," Flamesnake replied, sitting down in his nest. "I thought you were training Roseheart's kits."

Echopath shivered when the tom mentioned her sister's name. It had been a while ago since she was taken by dogs, but she still didn't want to bring it up. Everyone had grieved for many days, especially Chickenpaw and Featherpaw. Now, they had no living parents, as their father had been killed before the kits were born. But that hadn't bothered them in their dreams to become great warriors. Echopath knew they had a rough kithood, and she was surprised to see them forget about their dead parents.

Remembering Flamesnake was beside her; she turned around and snapped out of her daydream. "Well, I'm here. What do you want?"

"Um... you haven't seen... um... Heatherkit, have... you?" Flamesnake asked, hesitating.

Echopath shook her head. "Why? Has she gone missing?"

"Yes." Flamesnake replied. "I was just wondering if you could help me find her."

Echopath sighed. "Well, I was going to sleep, but obviously that's not going to happen now. Why don't you go and ask one of the apprentices? Or even another warrior that isn't me?" She then curled up and pretended to fall asleep, waiting for Flamesnake to leave the den. But Echopath could hear him growling, and then he scratched her back. Echopath jolted up with a start. "Ow!"

"Come on!" Flamesnake hissed grumpily. Echopath knew that she couldn't be forced into wasting her sleep, so she refused to move. The ginger warrior's fur bristled angrily, and he stalked out of the den. "See if I care."

See if I care, you mouse-brain. Echopath thought to herself before falling asleep in her nest.

Swiftpaw crept silently towards the mouse, his eyes glued to it's every move. He was attempting to catch it first time, as his mentor had just taught him how. Quickly, he jumped from his spot and landed on the mouse, giving it a swift death blow. It now laid limp in his paws, blood pouring out. Proudly, Swiftpaw picked it up in his jaws and trotted back into the bushes.
"Well done!" His mentor chirped when he returned. Swiftpaw dropped the mouse and nodded. "Thanks, Sandtail. Can we go now? I want to check on my sister."
Swiftpaw had been born when his sister, Poppyfoot, was a apprentice. She was now a queen with four healthy kits. However, Swiftpaw had never taken a liking to her mate, Rabbitleap. Swiftpaw hadn't got on with the brown warrior, which bothered him. Thankfully, Bramblestar had wisely seperated them when they were selected for patrols.
"I guess I've worked you hard enough. Come on." Sandtail replied. Her blue eyes then sparkled with amusement. "I'll race you back."
"Bring it on!" Swiftpaw challenged, running on. Behind him, Sandtail was on his tail, growling playfully.
It took a couple of minutes to reach the gorge. Swiftpaw had only just won the race by a whisker. Luckily, the apprentice had found a short-cut which Sandtail was unable to get through. The only problem was that the short-cut was a bramble bush, so Swiftpaw had twigs and brambles stuck to his pelt.
"You look like a walking bush." Sandtail joked when they reached camp. "You'd better go to Oakpelt and check that you haven't got any wounds."
"Alright." Swiftpaw replied, padding off towards the medicine den. As he entered, he thought the den was empty. But a small grey she-cat was sat in the corner, sorting herbs. She turned around, gave a little gasp, and rushed over. "What in the name of StarClan have you been doing?"
"Racing." Swiftpaw replied. "I found a short-cut through the brambles, and Sandtail thinks I've cut myself." The medicine apprentice purred in amusement and looked him over. She then cocked her head up. "You have a couple of cuts and wounds, but first we'd better remove those brambles and twigs out of your pelt." She concluded.
Carefully, the two apprentices pulled out the brambles and twigs. Swiftpaw then saw all of his wounds, and a few were still bleeding. "What are you going to give me for these, Flowerpaw?" He asked curiously. The little she-cat shook her head. "I'll apply some cobwebs to the worst wounds, but the rest don't need treatment. You'll need to lick them though." She then padded off towards the pile of cobwebs, and she sorted through them.
Why do I always seem like I'm floating when Flowerpaw is sorting out my wounds? I need to keep my mind on training, not her.

Swiftpaw thought to himself. She's a medicine apprentice!

Swiftpaw's thoughts were disturbed when Flowerpaw let out a little screech of fear. Instantly, the black and white apprentice rushed to her side. "What's wrong?" The medicine apprentice's eyes flashed in terror as she said "Foxes!"
"Right, hang on." Swiftpaw tried to think of a solution without gathering up the rest of the clan. But nearly all of his ideas needed help from other cats, apart from Flowerpaw and himself.
"Please, Swiftpaw. Find the others." Flowerpaw begged, as if she was reading his mind. "I don't want to see you get hurt or killed." However, Swiftpaw was desperate not to show that he was weak. So he let out a loud yowl. Unfortuantly, that made the rest of the clan gather outside the medicine den. Leading them was Bramblestar. His hazel eyes were clouded with curiosity. "Swiftpaw," He started. "why were you yowling?"
"There's foxes outside camp!" Flowerpaw blurted out. Bramblestar was now alert. "Right. Sandtail, lead a battle patrol. Take atleast five cats." He then flicked his tail towards Rabbitleap. "Rabbitleap, lead a boarder patrol around the ReedClan boarder. Try and speak to Fishstar to see if he has seen any foxes. Take three cats." The leader then glanced at a small black she-cat. "Brokenheart, take another patrol around the CourageClan boarder and talk to Bravestar. Take three cats also."
Rabbitleap rounded up Amberfur, Floatingcloud and Leappaw. Brokenheart took Dawnsong, Runningbreeze and Lionclaw. Swiftpaw was desperate to go on patrol, but since Leappaw was the oldest apprentice, he didn't stand a chance. So instead, he stayed behind with the other apprentices to guard camp. Featherpaw, Chickenpaw and Rainpaw were the other apprentices, they were close friends.
"What are you doing?" A voice growled from the bushes.
The apprentices jumped, but Swiftpaw hissed back. "Who's there?"
"Longstripe. Now if you could excuse me, I'm going back to the elder den." The elder padded out of the bushes and away, his eyes angry. Swiftpaw sighed. Longstripe was naturally short-tempered, which irritated everyone. Many cats told of the elder being a loyal and quick warrior. But then it all changed one day when he returned with two kits. He had said that he'd found them in the forest, alone with no mother. So Cloudeye, who had been a queen at the time, took them in. She was a elder now, but maybe she knew what happened.
That's it! I'm going to talk to Cloudeye and see if she knows why Longstripe is such a mouse-brain at times!

Swiftpaw thought happily to himself. He then turned to his friends. "I'll be back in a moment."
"Ok. Just be careful." Chickenpaw warned him. Swiftpaw nodded and darted through camp and straight into the elder den. Longstripe was asleep, and Cloudeye was taking small, slow bites out of a sparrow. She faced the apprentice and smiled. "What can we do for you, Swiftpaw?"
"I was looking for you." Swiftpaw replied, shuffling his paws in embrassment. "Can I speak to you?" The elder smiled again. "Of course." She then looked at the expression on his face, and she frowned. "It's about Longstripe, isn't it?" Swiftpaw nodded, and sat down beside her. "What made Longstripe so irritating?"
"Oh. Well, it's mainly because of those kits he brought back, a long time ago." Cloudeye then stopped talking and stared at him. "Have you heard about when Longstripe brought two kits to ForestClan?"
"Yes." Swiftpaw replied quietly. "Nearly everyone knows about that." Cloudeye nodded, and continued. "I nursed them, but Longstripe always kept a close eye on them. Like I was a cold-hearted cat, out to slaughter them. His kindness faded away like fog on a warm day. He became short-tempered and angry, always wanting to stay away from everyone. But one day, one of the CourageClan patrols reported signs of Longstripe close to their territory. So Bramblestar retired him, before he did any more." The elder then turned her head away. "And that's all I know."
"Thanks." Swiftpaw mewed before leaving the den. Obviously, Longstripe had something to do with CourageClan. And Swiftpaw had to find out what it was.
Why would Longstripe do this?