The Forgotten Warrior

Chapter 16

Dovewing stood motionless in the clearing while around her the cats split up into their patrols. Her mind was whirling.

No wonder Hollyleaf wasn’t part of the prophecy, she thought. She killed a cat!

Ivypool came over, her fur fluffed up with excitement and her blue eyes showing the same confusion that Dovewing felt. “I can’t believe this!” she murmured.

“Ivypool,” Dovewing mewed hesitantly, “have you ever seen Ashfur in the Dark Forest?” Her belly clenched as she waited for her sister’s reply; she knew how defensive Ivypool could be if any cat questioned her about her visits to the Place of No Stars.

But Ivypool merely looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t know him if I saw him,” she admitted. “But I don’t think I have. At least, no cat has ever pointed him out to me.”

“He was horrible to Squirrelflight before he died,” Dove-wing reflected. “But maybe he got to go to StarClan because he died so terribly.”

Before she got the last words out she was aware of Brambleclaw looming over her, his amber eyes gleaming with annoyance.

“Stop gossiping,” he ordered. “Ivypool, I thought I told you to join Sandstorm’s border patrol. Dovewing, you’re in a training session with me, but Firestar wants to see you first. You’ll find him in his den.”

Ivypool scuttled off, and Dovewing turned toward the Highledge. Climbing the tumbled rocks, she wondered briefly why Firestar wanted her. The answer wasn’t difficult to guess. WindClan!

Dovewing reached the Highledge and approached the entrance to the den. “Firestar?” she called, looking in.

Firestar was sitting in the shadows at the back of his den, on his nest of moss and bracken. His green eyes gleamed in the dim light. He beckoned Dovewing with his tail. “Come in.”

When Dovewing was sitting beside him, Firestar went on. “I asked you to come because of your special senses,” he began. “I expect you can guess why.”

Dovewing dipped her head. “You want me to tell you what’s going on in WindClan.”

“That’s right,” Firestar meowed with a nod. “If you can.”

Pride surged through Dovewing as she sent out her senses and settled down to listen, tucking her forepaws under her chest. This isn’t sneaking around, she thought. I’m truly using my powers to protect my Clan. She let her senses range across the border stream and over the moor until they were focused on the WindClan camp. Onestar was standing in the middle of the shallow scoop in the ground, with some of his senior warriors clustered around him.

“I can see their camp. Onestar is there with Crowfeather and Sedgewhisker,” she reported to Firestar. “Ashfoot just joined them. And there are a couple of cats I don’t know.”

“Is Onestar speaking?” Firestar asked. “Can you hear anything?”

Dovewing nodded, concentrating hard as the WindClan leader’s words faded in, as if he were approaching from a long distance.

“…trouble with ThunderClan,” Onestar meowed. “Border patrols need to keep a special lookout. If you pick up their scent on our side of the stream, I want to know about it.”

“You will, don’t worry,” Crowfeather growled, digging his claws into the earth.

Dovewing repeated what she could hear to Firestar, who twitched one ear in surprise.

“That’s almost word for word what I said to ThunderClan,” he murmured. “Has Onestar mentioned Sol at all?”

Dovewing kept listening, but the WindClan leader had gone on to give Ashfoot instructions about hunting patrols.

“Not a word,” she replied to Firestar.

“Then either he doesn’t know what Sol is planning,” Firestar mewed, “or he’s being very careful about what he says. At any rate, it doesn’t sound as if the attack will happen anytime soon. Can you see Sol?” he added.

Dovewing cast her senses out again, carefully searching the WindClan camp, then widening her focus to take in the whole of the WindClan territory as far as the horseplace. Sweeping back toward the ThunderClan border, she encountered one of the tunnel entrances and tried to penetrate the tunnels, but after a few fox-lengths the weight of stones and earth blocked her from continuing.

Returning to reality in Firestar’s den felt like coming back to the surface after sinking for a long time into dark water.

“Not a trace,” she replied to Firestar’s question. “He doesn’t seem to be in WindClan, unless he’s down one of the tunnels. My senses don’t work too well underground.”

Firestar nodded thoughtfully, not speaking.

“I suppose it’s too much to hope that Sol has gone away?” Dovewing suggested after a moment.

“No, he’s still here,” Firestar assured her. “He has a score to settle with the Clans—I just don’t know why.”

When Firestar dismissed her, Dovewing ran lightly down the tumbled rocks to find Bumblestripe waiting for her.

“Brambleclaw went ahead with the others,” the young warrior explained. “He asked me to wait for you and show you where we’re going to train.”

“Okay, thanks,” Dovewing mewed. It felt comfortable to head across the clearing beside Bumblestripe.

“What did Firestar want?” the gray tom asked. “Are you in trouble?”

“No, it was just… stuff.” However much she liked Bumblestripe, she couldn’t tell him what Firestar had asked her to do. That would take a whole moon to explain!

“Firestar has never invited me into his den,” Bumblestripe continued, sounding slightly envious.

Dovewing shrugged. “It was no big deal.”

Leading the way through the thorn tunnel, she realized that she wanted to push her special powers to the back of her mind when she was with Bumblestripe. She just wanted to be an ordinary cat. It’s a nice change from when I was with Tigerheart! Then I always had to be listening to make sure no other cats found us.

Brambleclaw had taken the rest of the group to a small clearing on the ShadowClan side of the territory, not far from the dead tree. Holly and elder bushes lined the rim of a shallow dip, which was filled with long grass and ferns.

When Dovewing and Bumblestripe arrived, Brambleclaw was sitting at one side of the hollow, watching Toadstep and Blossomfall as they stalked around each other. Without warning, Blossomfall darted in, skillfully hooked Toadstep’s legs from under him, and delivered a blow to his hindquarters before leaping back out of range.

“Well done,” Brambleclaw meowed. “You’ve got that move perfectly, Blossomfall.”

Toadstep scrambled to his paws and shook scraps of fern out of his pelt. “She sure has!”

Brambleclaw looked up as Dovewing and Bumblestripe padded down the slope to join the others. “Good, you made it. Now I’m going to show you a new move.”

“Great!” Blossomfall exclaimed, bounding over to Bumblestripe. “Come on,” she urged him, “let’s work on it together.”

Bumblestripe looked briefly embarrassed. “Er… sorry, but I’m going to partner with Dovewing.”

Blossomfall’s ears shot straight up in surprise. “Excuse me, but who’s your littermate?” she muttered. “You could show a little loyalty, you know.”

Dovewing was slightly shocked at Blossomfall’s hostility. Why is it such a big deal? “I don’t mind if you partner with Blossomfall,” she told Bumblestripe.

“No, Blossomfall’s being ridiculous,” Bumblestripe retorted. “Of course I’m not being disloyal if I partner with you.”

“Do you mind?” Brambleclaw rose to his paws and padded over to them, his strong shoulders thrusting the ferns aside. “Stop twittering like a lot of starlings and let’s get on with it.”

Blossomfall spun around, stuck her tail in the air, and stalked across the clearing to Toadstep.

“I’ll demonstrate the move first, and then you can try it yourselves,” Brambleclaw meowed. “Dovewing, you’re a WindClan cat. Come and attack me.”

Instantly Dovewing let out a yowl and hurled herself at the Clan deputy. Brambleclaw reared up on his hindpaws, his forepaws stretched out with claws sheathed. As Dovewing tried to duck under his guard and claw his exposed belly, he flipped backward, away from her. She lost her balance, and as she tried to recover Brambleclaw leaped on her and braced his forepaws on her belly.

“Like that,” he purred, stepping back to let her get up.

Dovewing rolled over and sprang up to see the Clan deputy watching her with a faint trace of pride in his amber eyes.

“That’s brilliant!” she panted. “Let’s try it.”

First Brambleclaw made them practice the backflip until they could do it and land squarely on their paws. When he was satisfied and let them work with their partners, Dovewing was surprised at how strong and agile Bumblestripe was.

It’s been a long time since I trained with him, one on one like this. He’s so bulky, I’d expect him to be slow…

As Bumblestripe flipped neatly away from her attack, Dovewing’s paws skidded out from under her. She flopped onto her side; while she was struggling to get up Bumblestripe sprang toward her and reached out with one forepaw to touch her gently.

“I win, I think,” he mewed, his eyes narrowed with amusement. “Paws belong on the ground, not in the air.”

Huh! Dovewing thought, stung. When Bumblestripe attacked her, she backflipped on the opposite side, catching him unawares. The gray tom missed his footing and landed hard among the ferns, his paws flailing.

“What was that about paws going on the ground?” Dove-wing teased as she pounced on him.

“Why don’t we watch each other?” Blossomfall suggested when all four cats had practiced the move several times. “We might pick up some helpful tips that way.”

Brambleclaw nodded. “Okay. You and Toadstep go first.”

Watching the other pair, Dovewing noticed how good Blossomfall was already, both in attacking and performing the new move. She had worked out how to stay balanced, and knocked her weight into Toadstep before he could recover from the backflip.

“Blossomfall, that’s really great!” she told her Clanmate. “You’ll have to be a bit faster, Toadstep.”

Toadstep nodded. “I’m working on it.”

When it was her turn to demonstrate with Bumblestripe, Dovewing felt that they had both done pretty well. She was surprised to see Blossomfall looking at her with a disdainful expression.

“Bumblestripe was fine, but Dovewing, you need to do a lot more work,” she meowed. “Your paws were all over the place. And you seem to have forgotten that you even have a tail. It’s there for balance, you know.”

Dovewing muttered something noncommittal, embarrassment flooding over her until every hair on her pelt burned. “Blossomfall wouldn’t have said that if you hadn’t chosen me as your partner,” she whispered to Bumblestripe. Trying to set her own hurt aside, she added, “I’m sorry if I’ve made things difficult between you.”

Bumblestripe rested his tail comfortingly on Dovewing’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s not you causing the problem,” he mewed, glaring across the clearing at his sister.

“I think that’s enough for one session,” Brambleclaw announced. “Back to camp, all of you, and take your pick of the fresh-kill pile. You’ve all worked hard.”

“You should walk with Blossomfall now,” Dovewing murmured as the group moved off. “Littermates are more important than friendship.”

Bumblestripe paused and gave her a long look. “I was kind of hoping that what we have is more than friendship,” he mewed at last.

Dovewing stared at him, not knowing what to say. To her relief, Bumblestripe didn’t press her. He just ducked his head and trotted off, catching up with Blossomfall and touching his nose to her ear.

Dovewing padded on; a moment later Toadstep bounded up to join her.

“What’s going on between you and Bumblestripe?” he asked with a little mrrow of amusement.

Dovewing felt her neck fur beginning to fluff up, and forced it to lie flat. “Bumblestripe is a great cat,” she replied calmly.

As she spoke, an image of Tigerheart popped into her head: the gleam of green eyes as he thrust his dark tabby head out of a clump of ferns. Resolutely she pushed it away. That was different. I can’t think about him anymore, she decided. Tigerheart can’t be part of my life… but Bumblestripe could be.