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

Lionclaw's and Lostsong's back story from when you were loners. You still fear for your brother, in case he dies like Lostsong."
"What about this prophecy then you have gathered us for?" Dawnsong asked.
"There will be four. One is a-"
Lightleaf's voice was droned out by a blood-curdling cry, then a blackness fell apon the three ForestClan warriors. Eagletalon couldn't see or hear a thing.
He had been plunged into a neverendering darkness.
*9*

"The kits are coming!"
Dawnsong awoke to hear Silverleaf's yowl. She had been midway through finding out a prophecy before being disturbed by a strange, uncomfortable blackness.
"What is going on?" Flashkit squeaked, snuggling up against the young she-cat's pelt.
"Silverleaf is giving birth, so you'll get some new friends." Dawnsong explained, wrapping her tail around both kits. "It will be alright."
Oakpelt and Flowerpaw dashed in, herbs dangling from their jaws. They stood beside the queen and laid the herbs down close by.
"First one coming." Oakpelt meowed. "Bite down on this stick while you push."
Dawnsong watched as her friend pushed with all of her might, until a small bundle of white and silver appeared beside Silverleaf. Flowerpaw started swiftly licking the kit.
"Last one now." The brown medicine cat meowed. "Keep going, you're doing great."
After a minute or so, two small kits were suckling Silverleaf. Oakpelt stood up properly and smiled. "Two beautiful daughters!"
Bramblestar was instantly inside, beaming. "What will call them?" He purred. Silverleaf flicked her tail towards the first kit. "The silver and white one can be Dewkit. You can decide the last one."
"The light brown one with one white paw can be Willowkit." Bramblestar meowed with a smile. "We now have two beautiful daughters: Dewkit and Willowkit."
Dawnsong smiled as Galekit crouched down and sniffed the two she-kits. His yellow eyes sparkled with excitement. "Yay! New friends for us!"
"Hush, you can't play with them until they open their eyes." Specklenose pointed out. "Why don't you go outside and play with my kits? It will do you some good."
"Have they opened their eyes?" Dawnsong asked. The older queen nodded, and flicked her tail towards her three kits. Secretkit and Cloudkit had blue eyes, while their brother Mysterykit had yellow eyes, almost like their father. Dawnsong couldn't help feeling that these kits could bring something bad to the clan, but she had been told not to judge others by their family history.
She watched as Galekit and Flashkit went off with the three kits. She knew that she had made a promise to Crowpelt to look after them, but they were already becoming a pawful of mischef and trouble.
I cannot care for them all the time.

Dawnsong realised. I have greater things to achive at this time. And I need to think about my own kits.

"Are you quite alright, Dawnsong?" Frostear asked, flicking the younger queen's ear with her tail. Her eyes was full of pride and joy. "My kits are becoming apprentices today!"
Dawnsong padded out into the sunlight, and glanced around at her clanmates. Many of them were gathered under the highrock, waiting for Bramblestar to speak. Flamesnake was ushering his kits out of the nursery, while Frostear cleaned them so they looked acceptable to be presented in front of the rest of the clan.
"Stop it!" Gorgekit wailed, crawling away from his mother. "I'm clean enough!" Dawnsong purred in amusement as she sat down beside Echopath and Runningbreeze.
"Today, ForestClan are weloming two new apprentices. Can Gorgekit and Heatherkit come up here please?" Bramblestar called. The two little kits scurried away from their proud parents and rushed up to the highrock, eager to recieve their mentors.
"Until this cat has recieved his warrior name, he shall be known as Gorgepaw. May StarClan guide his paws down the right path as he becomes a full warrior. Eagletalon will be your mentor." Bramblestar then turned to the gold and white tom. "Eagletalon, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Brokenheart, and you have shown yourself to be brave and willing. You will be the mentor of Gorgepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Gorgepaw."
"I will." Eagletalon meowed, touching noses with the apprentice. Bramblestar turned to the final kit.
"From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Heatherpaw. Your mentor will be Spiderleg." The leader turned to the young black tom. "Spiderleg, you are ready to take on your first apprentice. You recieved excellent training from Specklenose, and you have shown yourself to be a skilled hunter and swift. You will be mentor of Heatherpaw, and I expect you to pass all you know to Heatherpaw. Clan dismissed!"

By sunhigh, the kits were asleep, to Dawnsong's relief. She had been thinking about the prophecy. StarClan had made no more attempts to contact her, so perhaps it was a false dream?
Her head was spinning with the events that happened over the past few days. Too much had gone on, and far too soon. The apprentices disappearing and Willowstream's death had shaken the whole clan. But not just that was a concern.
The other clans were still not hostile enough for Dawnsong's liking, and they could attack at any time. She really didn't hope that CourageClan didn't attack, or she would be fighting her brother, her mate and her mother.
Her track of thought was disturbed when she heard quiet mumbles from above. She quickly rose to her paws and stepped outside. There were three pairs of eyes in the bushes above the gorge where ForestClan's camp sat.
Dawnsong crouched down, growling. One of the pairs of eyes stumbled out, and the young queen realised that it was Thunderpaw, the grey CourageClan apprentice. Dawnsong stood up, but more of her clanmates were coming over. Bramblestar was among them, glaring. "Show yourselves!" He snarled.
The other two cats appeared. One of them was Peacerain, and the other was a very defeated-looking Hollypaw.
"What happened?" Sandtail asked calmly.
The ForestClan cats watched as Peacerain gently nudged Hollypaw up onto her paws. The apprentice coughed, and then spoke.
"ReedClan have attacked our camp!"

~10~

Echopath watched as her leader glanced anxiously around at his own clanmates. He was going to help CourageClan, it was obvious by the look in his eyes.
"I want 8 cats left behind to guard camp." Bramblestar meowed. "Rabbitleap, can you round up some cats to help you with that?"
"Of course." The senior warrior replied. "I'll take Floatingcloud, Leapthroat, Spiderleg, Icebound, Snakebite, Twistpelt and Frostear." Bramblestar nodded, and signalled for his clan to come forward.
"Follow us." Peacerain mewed, nudging the apprentices along.

As the cats entered the entrance to CourageClan camp, they were greeted by a ear-splitting cry piercing the air. It sounded like Fishstar, ReedClan's leader.
"Now!" Bramblestar yowled.
Echopath raced into action with her clanmates, hissing and snarling. She pounced onto Lizardtail and bit down into his scuff, her teeth digging in. The tom yowled in pain and slashed the ForestClan warrior's muzzle.
Another cat cannoned into Lizardtail and dug their claws into his flank, causing a puddle of blood to appear. Lizardtail yelped and dragged himself away from the battlefield, coughing. Echopath chuckled cruelly and leapt onto a small ReedClan apprentice, who she reconised to be Sharkpaw. She tore at his dark grey fur, ignoring his desperate cries for help.
"Leave him alone!" Antpelt, the apprentice's mentor, sprung at Echopath and pinned her down, choking her. The she-cat dug her claws into his leg, but it didn't do much as he pushed down harder.
A blur of brown sped across the battlefield and hurled itself into Antpelt. Echopath reconised it as Ivypool, one of the young CourageClan warriors. She sent him running out of her clan's camp within a few seconds.
"Thank you." Echopath mummured softly, giving the young she-cat a quick lick on the shoulder. "You saved my life."
"I owe your clan my thanks for coming this way to help us. And you would do the same for me." Ivypool replied with a small smile. "Now, you'd better go and help that apprentice of your's over there before he gets slaughtered."
Echopath spun round in horror and realised that Gorgepaw was being pinned down by Hurricanefire. With a angry roar, she charged at the ReedClan tom and sliced his leg. Blood trickled out very quickly, so Echopath let the warrior limp away. He wasn't worth her time.
Her ears pricked up when she heard a screech. She turned round and saw Eagletalon at the claws of Applewhisker. The she-cat pounced onto the deputy and slashed his muzzle. He yelped in pain and bit down into her scuff.
Echopath instantly felt the blood trickling down. It was painful, especially as Applewhisker then dragged his claws across her flank. She let out a loud gurgling cry and balanced unsteadily on her paws, trying to get away from the battle. But she couldn't move at all.
She then felt someone usher her away from the crowd of fighting cats. Echopath turned her head round and saw Lionclaw. He had a cut just above his eye, two small wounds on his neck and a gash on his leg which reduced him to a limp. Echopath gently licked his ear, but then turned her head away as she let out a spluttering cough.
"Are you alright?" Lionclaw inquired. Echopath quickly nodded. "Why wouldn't I be alright?"
"You've lost a lot of blood." The tom pointed out, running his tail across the wound on her flank. His eyes then hardened. "You know that Applewhisker is too strong for you to handle. That wound he inflicted could have killed you. Why did you attack him?"
"He would have killed your brother." Echopath coughed again. "Applewhisker attacked Eagletalon, and he was about to give him a death blow."
Lionclaw no longer looked angry. Instead, he was suprised. Despite there still was a battle going on, he was quite happy to stop walking. "You nearly sacrificed yourself to save my brother, who hasn't been the nicest cat to you?"
"Yes." Echopath told him. "He is still my friend, and I will give my life to save any of my clanmates."
"Would you two like to sit there while we all get slaughtered?" Tigerpelt growled. "Get a move on!"
The two injured cats didn't need to be told twice as