Echo in the Whispering Wind- thanks! :D
Long Shadows Chapter 15
Jaypaw forced one paw in front of the other toward the end of the tunnel. As he emerged into nearly blinding sunlight, several cats crowded around him, mewing excitedly.
"Jay's wing! It is you!"
"Well done! You're a sharpclaw now."
"Congratulations!"
Jaypaw could barely make out individual cats among the press of furry bodies. Then a decently sized dark brown she-kit squeezed through to stare up at Jayfeather, her amber eyes wide with wonder and her scent was familiar.
"Wow! You made it Jay's Wing!" the kit squeaked and trotted over to his front legs, looking awed.
Jaypaw's nose twitched at the kit's scent, it was familiar, Clan like even. Just as he bent his head to sniff the young kit, a ginger and white she-cat thrust her way through the crowd.
"You're lucky Jay's Wing! To survive the challenge!" the she-cat yowled. Her voice quivered with sorrow, and her amber eyes were full of bitterness. "Have you forgotten that Fallen Leaves never came out of the tunnels!"
"Mom!" the dark brown kit complained as the ginger and white she-cat picked her up by the scruff, "put me down! It's not fair!"
A small gray and white she-cat with her belly heavy with kits, padded over to the ginger and white she-cat and gently nudged her away from Jaypaw. "Come on Broken Shadow," she murmured gently, "let's go find a patch of sunshine to rest in and let Prickly Briar play with the other kits."
"Let me go!" the dark brown kit complained and wriggled against her mother's grasp, "I wanna say hi!"
"You don't understand, Rising Moon!" the ginger and white she-cat named Broken Shadow wailed around the kit in her jaws, "my only son!"
Jaypaw's mind raced, what was going on? He recognized the area as the entrance to the tunnels, but the trees were smaller, letting through large amounts of sunlight, and there wasn't much undergrowth. It was his home, but at the same time, it wasn't.
Where am I? Who are these strange cats? Has ThunderClan been invaded?
He searched for his clan mates and found none, Looking? This feels too real to be a dream. He could feel the wind in his fur and hear the voices of the other cats like the breezes through the territories in his ears; his belly rumbled loudly and his paws dragged as thought he had really been awake all night, searching for a way out of the tunnels in order to become a sharpclaw.
A pale gray she-cat bounded up to him, her blue eyes sparkling with affection. She batted playfully at his ears with a paw.
"You're a sharpclaw! It's so exciting!' she meowed and bounced gently on her paws. Suddenly her tail drooped. "I wish our mother could see you."
Jaypaw stiffened. This she-cat was his sister?
Who does she think I am?
"Perhaps Falcon Swoope can see you." A silver furred she-cat padded up to Jaypaw, she was rather slender and had long legs and bright blue eyes.
"Do you really think so, whispering Breeze?" Jaypaw's sister meowed hopefully.
"Dove's Wing, I'm sure she still loves you, wherever she may be."
"I hope so," Dove's Wing murmured.
Jaypaw didn't understand. Don't these cats go to Starclan when they die? And why do they all seem to know me?
"Hi!" Prickly Briar scampered back over, amber eyes bright and happy.
Jayfeather caught the kit's scent and his eyes widened slightly. "Briarkit?" he mewed in surprise, the kit matched the ThunderClan kit's scent perfectly, was the kit really here with him?
Prickly Briar's amber eyes twinkled and the kit squealed and bounced around, "hi!"
Whispering Breeze looked puzzled, "Who's Briarkit? That's Prickly Briar, there aren't any other kits here."
"Maybe Rock told him about a Briarkit?" Dove's Wing suggested, faintly anxious.
Rock? Jaypaw's belly lurched. Did Dove's Wing know the sightless cat who lived in the tunnels?
"Oh! Tell me about the tunnels!" Prickly Briar mewed excitedly, "did you see Fallen Leaves?"
He opened his mouth to answer, but another cat padded over, a dark ginger tabby tom with muscular shoulders and amber eyes. "Don't forget sharpclaws never talk about what goes on in the caves," he warned. "That's a secret they must keep for the rest of their lives."
"It's not fair!" Prickly Briar complained, "I'll never be a sharpclaw!"
"Sure you will Prickly Briar," Dove's Wing purred before she addressed the tom. "It's okay Furled Bracken, Jay's Wing is just a bit confused."
Furled Bracken grunted. "Just so long as he remember what he was told when he went into the tunnels two nights ago."
"What? Two nights? I haven't been in the tunnels for two nights!" Jaypaw protested."
"We were so worried about you when you didn't come out on the first sunrise," Dove's Wing interrupted. "We thought you'd been lost."
"Like Fallen leaves," a new mew broke in. Jaypaw turned to see a sturdy gray tabby tom with glinting ice-blue eyes. Sadness radiated from his pelt. Jaypaw picked up such a strong image of Fallen Leaves from his mind that he guessed this cat must be the drowned cat's father.
"Stone Song!" Prickly Briar purred at her father, not at all effected by the sorrow displayed in his body language, "hi!"
"I know how hard this is so your," Furled Bracken mewed and touched his nose to the tabby tom's ear.
Stone song licked Prickly Briar between the ears before he sighed. "We waited a moon of sunrises for Fallen Leaves to emerge," he murmured. "But he never came." He glanced over at Broken Shadow where she was lying under a tree. Rising Moon was beside her, grooming her like a mother with her kit. "It is time to give up waiting." Stone Song finished quietly.
"So I can be a Sharpclaw too?" Prickly Briar asked as Jaypaw stared at the dark gray tabby.
How can it be only one moon since Fallen Leaves disappeared? If it's true, it means this must be long ago! Somehow Jaypaw had emerged from the tunnels a long time before the Clans, maybe even as far back as when the ancient cats trod the path to the Moonpool.
The stick! Jaypaw felt every hair on his pelt rise. I'm among the cats who are marked on the stick! He looked down at Prickly Briar who was looking at him innocently. 'But why is Briarkit here? He studied the she-kit who was much bigger than the poor scrap he was taking care who had green cough, how was the kit here, and why was she so much bigger? He realized with a jolt, There was a mark on the stick that was much smaller than the other marks that wasn't completely crossed. So what happened to her?
He tore his gaze away from the kit and looked toward the mouth of the tunnel. It looked ifferent now, because it was on an exposed hillside rather than surrounded by thick undergrwoth, but he sensed its shape when he walked through it to find the WindClan kits, and he was sure it was the same tunnel. Turning, he looked down at the lake, it's glinting surface clearly visible through the trees. The shape of the water was familiar, but when he looked over to the WindClan territory, he spotted Twolegs swarming over a mound of pale brown earth, pushing it around the yellow monsters. Their roaring hung in the air like the buzzing of a horde of bumblebees
Jaypaw padded forward to the edge of the slope to take a closer look. A moment later Furled Bracken and Prickly Briar joined him. "The Twolegs are still moving te earth," he meowed worriedly. "Chasing CLouds and I went down there to check it out, but we still don't know what they're doing."
"They're building nests," Jaypaw replied without thinking.
"Like a bird?" Prickly Briar asked curiously, looking up at Jaypaw with round eyes.
Furled Bracken looked sharply at him. "What, nests for Twolegs to live in? There are a few in the woods on the other side of the lake, but Twolegs have never tried to live any closer than that."
"Yes, there'll-"
Prickly Briar cut him off, "will there be four nests?" she wondered, looking out across the other slope and squinting to try and see it.
Furled bracken snorted, "we'll just guess random amounts Prickly Briar, that'll solve our problems won't it?"
"Yeah!" The kit squealed happily, she was standing at Jaypaw's front right leg, nosing through the few leaves, probably looking for something to do.
Thank Starclan! Jaypaw was immensely grateful, how the kit got there, he didn't know, but the young kit seemed to be saving his tail.
"What you doing out here?" Dove's Wing mewed as she bounded over to them and gave him a firm shoved back toward the deeper part of the forest. "You must be exhausted and starving after being in the tunnels all that time! You need to rest and I want Rising Moon to take a look at your pads. They're bleeding from walking on stone for so long."
Jaypaw looked down and saw spots of blood smeared on the grass where he had put his paws. Pain suddenly swept over him, and his head spun from the hunger that stabbed at his belly. Maybe he really had been in the tunnels for two nights. He was glad to follow Dove's Wing into the trees, where the long shadows of early morning striped the grass. "Are we going to-" he asked and was cut off again by Prickly Briar.
"Come on! Lets go to your den!" Prickly Briar purred and shot past him and Dove's Wing, charging toward an oaktree with tendrils of ivy hanging down.
So these cats don't have a camp, Jaypaw guessed. Think before you ask any more questions, stupid furball! Prickly Briar won't always be able to save you tail.
"Prickly Briar, come out of there," Dove's Wing purred with amusement as the kit wriggled in underneath the tendrils of ivy "Jay's Wing needs rest, not play," she mewed and nosed aside some of the ivy tendrils to reveal a cozy scoop among the roots. The bottom was lined with moss and feathers; warm scent clung about it. Prickly Briar was playing with one of the feathers that was floating around in the air, the she-kit was trying her hardest to catch it, but it kept flying higher up as she batted at it.
This must be Jay's Wing's den. Jaypaw leaned down and sniffed the den, then his entire body stiffened, That's my own scent!
Dove's Wing nudged him toward the nest, "Lie down, I'll fetch Rising Moon." she looked over at Prickly Briar, "come-"
"I'll be good!" Prickly Briar chirped and sat down on the den's floor with a thump, amber eyes gleaming innocently at the older she-cat.
"Let him sleep," Dove's Wing directed the she-kit before she padded away, leaving the ivy tendrils guarding the entrance swishing slightly.
Worn out, Jaypaw curled up on the nest and closed his eyes. Anxiety clawed through him. Will I ever get back to ThunderClan?
"Jaypaw!" Prickly Briar prodded him with a paw, "get up lazy mouse!"
Jaypaw's eyes shot open and he focused on the dark brown mottled kit, "Briarkit?"
"Yup!" Prickly Briar, who was apparently Briarkit, chirped and charged around in circles, "It's me!"
"How did you get here?" Jaypaw asked and watched the kit scuffled around on the earth floor of the den.
"I don't know!" Briarkit chirped and sat back down in front of him, "but I do know that it's a lot different than our home and I'm not sick here!"
"Do you know how to go back?" Jaypaw mewed, hiding how much anxiety he was feeling.
"Rock usually comes and gets me," Briarkit mewed, her mew oddly calm for the bouncy kit. "But sometimes I can go to sleep here and wake up in ThunderClan! Although I don't really want to right now." her ears flattened against her skull, "I don't like being sick."
"I don't blame you." Jaypaw sighed and closed his eyes again.
Briarkit tilted her head slightly to one side, "I'll help you if I can," she mewed seriously, amber eyes glinting with a surprising amount of intelligence, "I've been here since I was born."
Jaypaw's eyes popped open again Since she was born? Not wonder the kit was at home in the strange place while he was fumbling around like he was a blind and deaf mouse.
Briarkit wriggled her way into his nest. The she-kit curling up in a ball near one of his flanks, snuggling up to the familiar cat.
Jaypaw closed his eyes once more, feeling his weariness tugging hard on his paws, maybe he really had been in the tunnels for two nights. His nose twitched as he drew in Briarkit's scent, her scent both familiar and she smelled slightly of ThunderClan, a comfort that temporarily soothed his anxiety and allowed him to fall into a shallow sleep.
". . . these are good juicy dock leaves." The voice roused Jaypaw from his doze. "Well done for finding that clump." Relief flooded through him. He was back in his nest in the medicine cats' den, with Leafpool talking about herbs close by.
Then he felt a small cat prodding him with a paw, "Jay's Wing!"
Jaypaw opened his eyes and saw tangled brown roots, soft feathered around his head, and the bright amber eyes of a healthy Briarkit. He could still see, Briarkit wasn't sick, and he was still with the strange cats. The voice he could hear wasn't Leafpool's, and when the ivy tendrils twitched to one side, Dove's Wing and Rising Moon looked down at him, their eyes huge with concern. Dove's Wing had a bunch of dock leaves held her jaws, which she placed on the ground to talk to him and the kit.
"Did Prickly Briar bother you?" Dove's Wing asked her brother in slight worry, "she was supposed to let you sleep."
"I did let him sleep!" Briarkit complained indignantly, "I can behave myself!"
Jaypaw sat up and shook himself, he would have to wait for Rock to come get him it seemed, he and Briarkit must be here for a reason. Maybe this was a place where he'd find answers to his questions about the prophecy, answers the StarClan couldn't give him.
"Were you hurt while you were in the tunnels?" Rising Moon asked as she padded over.
Jaypaw shook his head before he answered, "no, I'm not injured. My pads are sore, but that's all."
"Were you scared down there?" Briarkit asked with wonder in her amber eyes.
"A bit," Jaypaw admitted, hoping it didn't sound like he had hit his head too hard on something. Briarkit gave him a look that said, continue… and he fumbled for what to say. "I'm really tired though, and hungry. I… I guess that's what made me so confused."
Briarkit twitched her ears in approval and bounced around the other cats' paws, unable to contain her energy any longer.
Jaypaw inwardly sighed, how was he going to do this? He had to convince these cats that he really was Jay's Wing. He wasn't sure what they would do to him if they found out he wasn't. The certainly wouldn't believe him if he told them the truth.
He had waited for so long to find out about the ancient cats, and now here he was, living among them with another ThunderClan cat! No other cat in the Clans or the Tribe of Rushing Water knew as much as this about the cats who once lived beside the lake. Jaypaw had always been conscious of them, felt their pelts brush against his, heard their whispers by the lake, and trodden in their paw steps on his way to the Moonpool
And know Briarkit and I are one of them!
Rising Moon blinked and looked thoughtful. "I guess there's nothing wrong besides your need for food and rest. Let's look at your pads." She padded closer to him and crouched down beside Jaypaw. She pair no attention to Briarkit scrambling up on her head to get a better view of what was going on, it must've been a common occurrence. "Have you licked them clean?" Rising Moon asked.
"Uh… no." Jaypaw mewed in reply, his ears flattening slightly, he already knew about doing that so why didn't he?
As Dove's Wing dropped the dock Jaypaw looked up from his licking. "I always thought-" he was cut off as Briarkit tumbled off of Rising Moon's head and landed on his muzzle, forcing him to stop speaking abruptly and try to not bump his muzzle on the ground.
"They don't have single medicine cat," Briarkit whispered, her amber eyes serious. "It's just a few cats who know about herbs." her amber eyes changed to excited, "Sorry!" she chirped at a normal volume and scrambled off of Jaypaw before she went and sniffed the dock, "what's this?"
"It's called dock," Rising Moon purred at the kit's silliness, "it'll stop the bleeding."
Huh, so they just have a few cats who the share knowledge about herbs. Jaypaw thought as Rising Moon rubbed the cooling dock leaves on his pads. And they don't know as much as a Clan medicine cat.
Jaypaw remembered how uncertain Dove's Wing had been that her mother might be watching her. If these cats had no medicine cat, that could explain why they weren't aware of their ancestors. What do they think happens when a cat dies?
"There." Rising Moon finished rubbing the last of Jaypaw's pads. "Does that feel better?"
"It feels great, thanks." Even though he knew that horsetail would have worked better, Jaypaw was still grateful for the cooling juices on his pads.
"You can rub your paws again later," the she-cat went on, pushing the remaining dock leaves together into a pile. "But you'd better get some sleep now."
"I'll bring you something to eat," Dove's Wing promised, "come on Prickly Briar, Jay's Wing needs sleep."
"Okay," Briarkit sulked and followed the she-cat out of the den, her tail dragging unhappily over the ground.
Jaypaw's jaws stretched in a yawn as he curled back up in his nest and closed his eyes. He was so tired that he barely noticed Rising Moon scrambling out of the den before he let himself drift off to sleep.