ForestClan Adventures - Chocolatemeerkat (Echopath) (primary phonics txt) 📗

to be Whisper. Legend had journeyed with her to find The Outcasts several moons ago.
"The brown cat is called Captain." Arrow explained. "Like the others, he possed a important skill: The ability to identify what makes a true cat. If you talk to him, he'll explain."
Swiftpaw followed Arrow's instructions and padded over to Captain, who greeted him with a small nod. "Can I help?"
"Arrow told me that you knew four things that a cat had. Will you share this with me? It might be a lesson to teach my clanmates back at camp." Swiftpaw asked.
"Of course you may hear them, little one." Captain gave a rusty purr. "There are four things that a true cat has: Strength, faith, stealth and love." He motioned for Swiftpaw to sit down before continuing. "A cat must have strength to excell in life. You will need strength to have the courage to attack enemies, hunt well and defend your friends and family. A cat without strength will never survive in this world of fear and bloodshed. With danger at every turn, you will easily get slaughted without the strength to fight back and regain your honour."
"Go on." Swiftpaw meowed.
"Then comes faith. You will need faith in yourself, faith in your ancestors, to succsed. When all hope is lost and you think that you can't go on, have a little faith in yourself. When others fail, have faith in them. Faith is not a weakness, it is your greatest friend in battle. Wherever you may go, even if it is to the edge of the world, faith is always with you, waiting to comfort you." Captain meowed. "I now come onto the third thing, which is stealth. You will need stealth to sneak up on your enemies and your prey. Without stealth, you are simply a noisy, clumsy thing that will soon die because you can't feed yourself."
"What about love?" Swiftpaw pressed on, wanting to know more.
"Ah, you seem rather interested in this one." Captain purred in amusement, twitching his whiskers. "Saving it for a special cat?" He angled his ears over to Featherpaw, which made Swiftpaw go hot with embrassment under his pelt.
"Anyway, coming away from your life, I'll continue. You will need love for your clanmates and your family, so that you will be determained to protect them. Like faith, love is seen as a weakness, but feeling loved makes you desperate to win. It is the heart that makes you a warrior, after all. It's not always about your ability to fight and hunt. Love gives you a feeling of warmth and joy, yet it can also bring the worst." Captain finshed his words with a quick strech. "That, my friend, is what I told the other Outcasts when I came here. They've taken my words to heart and used it to teach the younger cats who join."
Swiftpaw then heard cats at the entrance of the large den. He spun his head round and saw two she-cats called Joy and Faith, Future, Clawedpaw and Rainpaw. They had returned from hunting, and by the looks of things, they had found a lot. Clawedpaw was dragging a huge barn owl back.
"My first bird." He annoucned proudly, placing it down on the pile.
"You did very well." Future purred, touching her nose to the apprentice's ear. "You're turning into a fine young hunter, Clawedpaw." Swiftpaw smiled at his clanmate, despite he hadn't been the easiest cat to get along with.
"Did you

catch that?" Moonpaw cried in awe. "That's an amazing catch, Clawedpaw!" She rushed over to her brother and purred. "I wish I could hunt that well!"
Moonpaw is very supportive of her brothers.

Swiftpaw told himself with a smile. I can see that she's Willowstream's daughter, always encouraging.

"Hey, Rainpaw," Featherpaw called. "did you catch anything?" The young blue tabby she-cat nodded her head. "I caught two mice and a squirrel." She replied. "I only wish Barleyfoot could see me now!"
"Any problems?" Captain asked the remaining patrol members.
"Yes, just one." Joy sighed, her black tipped tail twitching anxiously. "Young Clawedpaw here found a scent that we haven't noticed for many, many moons."
"Go on." Whisper meowed curiously.
"There's a huge pack of dogs loose from the Twolegplace," Faith continued, her eyes wide with fear. "They're heading this way!"

*18*

Dawnsong rested on her side in the glorious sunshine, her fur rustling in the cool breeze. She loved days like these, but the young she-cat missed bounding through the forest on patrol with her friends and clanmates. She would be stuck in the nursery for a few more seasons, but not for long. She had been informed that her kits would be here any day soon, to her relief. But she did feel a small prick of disappointment and guilt.
I've lied to the whole clan. Runningbreeze only knows half the story, that I've broken the warrior code and taken a cat from another clan as a mate, like my parents. The kits will think that they're pure ForestClan, they'll see Runningbreeze as their father rather than Noblespirit. But they don't know the truth.

"Your kits will be here soon." Spottedlark meowed, sitting down beside the young queen. "Oh, you and Runningbreeze are such a great couple!"
"Erm, thanks?" Dawnsong replied awkardly, licking her paw. "So are you and Barleyfoot."
"Oh, we're not mates." Spottedlark told her quickly. "Although he would be a great father. I'd love some kits of my own, even better if Barleyfoot was their father."
"Yeah, I guess so." Dawnsong meowed. She let out a loud sigh as she watched Lionclaw and Echopath sharing tongues nearby. "Those two will have a family within the next few seasons, I bet." She chuckled, flicking her tail towards the two clanmates. "They're more than friends."
"The whole clan knows." Spottedlark pointed out. "Yet I find it amusing how they don't know it."
Before Dawnsong could reply, Runningbreeze padded over with Eagletalon. They weren't carrying prey, but that didn't really matter.
"We checked for any signs of the missing apprentices." Runningbreeze sighed. "We picked up a trail, but it stopped at the edge of our territory. Their scent was mingled with a cat outside our clan and we caught a stale trace of dog. Probably from a few days ago."
"Do you think that they were killed?" Spottedlark asked, her voice trembling. Eagletalon shook his head. "I scented a Twoleg. My guess is that they were taken, so they must be safe." He then flicked his tail towards Dawnsong. "I need to speak to you a moment."
"Okay." The grey queen rose to her paws and followed the older tom towards a patch of grass away from everyone else. She glanced behind her shoulder as the tom's eyes slid back and fourth, making sure no one was listening in.
"Has StarClan spoken to you?" Eagletalon soon asked, sitting down in the grass. Dawnsong shook her head with a sigh. "Perhaps they've stopped bothering, because Swiftpaw is still missing."
"Actually, I've just had a idea!" Eagletalon chirped, his eyes suddenly lighting up in delight. "Maybe StarClan could help us find the apprentices!"
They could. But I thought they said that they were unable to find them.

Dawnsong realised. It wouldn't work.

Eagletalon had gone before she could reply, so she just sat there in thought. The warrior's idea was worth a try, but the only problem was the rest of the clan. Would they agree with his idea?

~19~

"Attack me."
Echopath crouched down, her eyes fixed on Lionclaw, who had challenged her in the first place. She growled at him playfully before lunging at him, dodging any blows he gave her. She batted him with her paws, but Lionclaw was much taller and muscular than she was, so he he managed to land more powerful blows on her.
"I give up!" Echopath groaned, flopping to the ground. "You're huge compared to me!"
"You're not trying." Lionclaw told her calmly, pinning her down. "Being smaller means you can get out of my grasp quicker. If I was a enemy warrior, I would have torn you apart, fur and all."
"Yay." Echopath mumbled sarcasticly. "Off to StarClan I go, then."
"Look, you really need to take this seriously." Lionclaw sighed. "If this was a real battle, the clan will loose a valueable warrior and I'll loose you. I don't want that to happen."
"You could do me a favour and let me go." Echopath grumbled. The golden tabby lifted his paw and let the silver she-cat scramble away.
Bramblestar wanted every single cat to sharpen up on their battle moves, as now all the clans knew about the missing apprentices, it would be a good time for ForestClan to be attacked. He wanted Gorgepaw and Heatherpaw to be put on a battle training program, luckily Eagletalon and Spiderleg were exprienced warriors, so they were progressing well in training. Echopath didn't want to be in a group of warriors, so she went off with Lionclaw in the forest, while many other cats went to the training hollow or stayed in camp.
"Try attacking me now." Echopath told her friend. "I'm concentrating."
Lionclaw instantly sprang at her, but Echopath ran to the other side and sent the golden tabby crashing down into the dirt. She let out a purr of amusement. "Bramblestar should have named you Dustface, because your face is covered in dust and dirt!"
"Charming." Lionclaw joked, shaking the dust off his pelt. "But you did well then. That might have not sent a fierce rogue running for their life, yet it might work with a clan cat. Well done."
"Thanks." Echopath purred. "You did better though. No wonder why Featherpaw is turning into a fine warrior!"
Oh wait, the apprentices aren't here.

The she-cat suddenly realised. Her sister's kits and the other apprentices were still missing, with no trace of them found. Lionclaw had tried his best to keep Echopath's mind of their disappearence, but every conversation ended up with mentioning the young cats.
"Echopath," Lionclaw meowed. "I need to ask you a question."
"Ask away, unless you're asking nicely to attack me." The silver warrior joked, her blue eyes sparkling mischeviously. "Then it isn't happening."
"Well, I know these past few seasons have been tough." Lionclaw started. "There is a possible murderer within our ranks and fewer kits are surviving leafbare and leaffall. The apprentices are still missing