Chapter Three: At the Gathering

Echopaw tried to concentrate on hunting the rest of the morning, but her mind kept wandering back to Tanglepaw. Now that she thought back to their meeting by the Thunderpath, his voice had seemed more urgent than anything else. Echopaw couldn't work out what that meant.

By Sunhigh, all Echopaw had caught was the two lizards, the toad from earlier, and a lucky mouse. As a result, a stern Wingflight sent her back out again. This time, she was determined to catch enough fresh kill to feed the Clan. When she finally decided that she had enough fresh kill, she headed back to camp to get something to eat.

"Well done, Echopaw," meowed Wingflight from behind her.

"Thanks," purred Echopaw, pleased with herself. She had defiantly made up for her lousy hunting earlier. Wingflight smiled.

"You've done so well that I think I'll have enough time to ask Racingstar if you can go to the Gathering tonight," she meowed cheerfully. Echopaw's belly did a flip. The Gathering! She had forgotten all about Tanglepaw's preposition to meet her at the Fourtrees. For a moment, Echopaw started to have second thoughts about going to the Gathering. 'No! I promised,' she thought. She picked up a plump toad from the pile and started eating. She finished just before Racingstar slipped out of his den, with Roaringpath at his side, and walked over to the enterance of the camp.

"Wildtail, Scarpelt, Clawscar, Mintleaf, Wingflight, and Echopaw," he called, "You'll come to the Gathering with Roaringpath and I." Echopaw started shaking as Racingstar called her name. Wingflight leaned over to her.

"You okay?" she whispered in Echopaw's ear. Echopaw nodded and stared determinedly straight ahead. She kept shaking all the way to the Fourtrees, but when ShadowClan arrived, the shaking suddenly stopped! With a flick of his tail, Racingstar lead the Clan down into the clearing, where the cats instantly began to break up into separate groups and combine with cats from other Clans. Echopaw quickly slipped into the back to see Tanglepaw and two other cats waiting for her. Her stomach started leaping again.

"Echopaw, this is Blackpaw of WindClan," meowed Tanglepaw, flicking his tail at a jet black tom with dark gray eyes, "and Oakpaw of SkyClan," he continued, this time nodding his head at a light tabby tom with random dark stripes all over his body. Echopaw nodded her head to both cats.

"Now the only cat we're waiting on is Lakepaw," meowed Blackpaw, licking his fur.

"You won't have to wait long," said Oakpaw calmly. "RiverClan just arrived." And so they had. RiverClan cats were pouring into the clearing, just as the ShadowClan cats had done moments before. Echopaw spotted a single individual making their way through the crowd of cats toward them.

"Hi," meowed the sleek, blue-gray she-cat. "I'm Lakepaw."

"Echopaw."

"So, we should probably get right down to business before the leaders start," meowed Tanglepaw quickly. He turned to Echopaw and said straight out, "Stoneheart was in our territory last night." Echopaw narrowed her eyes.

"Stoneheart would never do that," she meowed. "He's a loyal ShadowClan warrior, who follows the warrior code!"

"Not based on what we saw last night," said Lakepaw cautiously, as if she there was something that she wasn't looking forward to telling.

"We?"

"He was on ThunderClan, RiverClan, and SkyClan land last night, Echopaw," Tanglepaw explained quickly. "He cut through our territories on his way to the Twolegplace. We all followed him."

Echopaw stared at him with shock. "You must have mistaken him for someone else."

"Clawscar certainly seemed to think it was him," meowed Oakpaw. "He was there too…"

"We'll talk about this later," interrupted Tanglepaw. "The point is, there is a Clan in the Twolegplace, who somehow got really strong without warrior training, named BloodClan." Echopaw shivered at the horrible name while Tanglepaw continued. "A cat from BloodClan, I think the leader, killed Stoneheart and told Clawscar that he had to get all the Clans out of here by the next full moon, or he tear us all apart!" Okay, Echopaw had not expected that.

"Do we tell our leaders?" she asked. Tanglepaw shook his head.

"That would only make matters worse. They would panic and all choose sides or something. It's always something with leaders. No, we're going to take care of BloodClan ourselves, one apprentice from each Clan!"

"Yea right," meowed Echopaw, shooting a disbelieving look at Tanglepaw. "We'd be torn to shreds!"

"We've got to try," meowed Lakepaw determinedly. "Are you with us or not?" There really was only one choice to Echopaw.