Chapter 14: The beavers are real, Jayfeather

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I sighed. It was baking hot at the Gathering. The beavers… I thought. The river had been shrinking for the past few moons and my greatest fears have been confirmed. What are we going to do? I'm never going to be able to convince Brambleclaw to let me go in place of Lionblaze…

"You'd think it'd be cooler at night," Lionblaze muttered from next to me. I glanced at him, nodding.

"I know," Graystripe mewed from next to Lionblaze. The gray tom let out a sigh as he rested his head on his paws. "This season keeps getting hotter and hotter…"

"I don't even remember the last time it rained…" I murmured, worry seeping through me. Lionblaze and Graystripe murmured their agreements as we directed our attention to the Gathering.

Firestar was reporting; "Just like all the Clans, we have all been coping with the heat. But we have two new warriors - Toadstep and Rosepetal!"

"Toadstep, Rosepetal! Toadstep, Rosepetal!" chanted the Clan cats gathered. I beamed; Rosepetal had been assigned to Squirrelflight to mentor, and she couldn't have been a better choice.

Looking over the cats gathered, I couldn't help but look at RiverClan. They were shooting glares at the surrounding cats and were skinny - so skinny that their fur clung to the frames of their bodies. My eyes widened. I know it was described badly… but man, I didn't think it looked this bad… The drought really is affecting them…

"If you're all quite finished," hissed Leopardstar who was crouching on a branch, glaring at Firestar. "RiverClan still has a report to make."

Firestar nodded, unaffected by Leopardstar's tone. "Go ahead, Leopardstar."
Leopardstar's amber eyes accusingly raked over the cats gathered. "Prey stealers!" she snarled. Every cat jumped up in protest, aside from RiverClan. "What?" mews of anger flowed out throughout the cats gathered like a tsunami.

"Leopardstar, may we ask why you accuse us of that so suddenly?" Firestar asked calmly, although his green eyes were narrowed.

"You have all been taking fish from the lake!" Leopardstar hissed, "and everyone knows that that fish belongs to RiverClan!"

"No they don't," Blackstar mewed, standing up on his black paws. "The lake borders all of our territories. We are just entitled to the fish as you are."

"Especially now," Onestar added. "We're all suffering from the drought. Prey's scarce in all our territories. If we can't eat the fish… we'll starve."

I felt Lionblaze's fur fluff up from next to me. I glanced at him. His amber eyes were focused on the Clan leaders, widened in astonishment. I don't see why the other cats are shocked at Blackstar and Onestar getting their Clans to eat fish, I thought. In the books all the cats seemed to hate it aside from RiverClan… I don't know why - I liked fish when I was a human… But I guess I never ate raw fish.

Leopardfur snarled, gaining my attention. Her tail lashed angrily. "But it's worse for us! RiverClan doesn't eat any other kind of prey, so all the fish should belong to us!"

"That's mouse-brained!" Squirrelflight exclaimed, her green eyes blazing. "Are you saying that RiverClan can't catch any other kind of prey? Are you admitting that your warriors are so incompetent that they can't even catch a mouse?"

Shocked gasps erupted throughout the Gathering. I felt proud for my previous mentor for voicing her opinion, although she did insult RiverClan. Leopardstar didn't take keenly to Squirrelflight's comment, although she was making a point.

"The fish in the lake belongs to RiverClan!" she hissed, her voice high-pitched and thin, reminding me of the sound of reeds when the wind would blow them. "Any cat who tries to take them will feel our claws. From now on, I will instruct all our border patrols to include the water on every side."

"You can't do that!" Blackstar exclaimed, stepping threateningly close to Leopardstar - so close he could shred her if he wanted to. "Territories have never been extended into the lake!"

I closed my eyes, remembering how big the lake used to be. Beautiful, with deep blue water lapping like waves of an ocean. Now it was all dried out and reduced to the size of a puddle - it could barely supply one Clan for water, let alone all four.

"If any cat sets a paw on our territory," Onestar growled, baring his teeth in the beginning of a snarl, "they'll wish they hadn't."

Leopardstar met Onestar's gaze evenly. I willed to StarClan that all the fighting would stop. But not until Firestar stepped in.

"Leopardstar, listen," he meowed, his tail lashing from time to time, signaling that he was losing his temper. "If you carry on like this, you're going to start a war between the Clans. Cats will be injured. Haven't we got enough troubles without having to go look for more?"

"Firestar's right," Graystripe murmured from beside Lionblaze and I. I glanced at the older tom. "We should be helping each other, not fluffing each other's fur, getting ready for a fight."

Leopardstar was crouching close to the tree, her eyes glowering at the other Clan leaders, her tail lashing. She let out a snarl, her claws unsheathing.

… The time of truce! Oh StarClan, why are you letting this happen? I pleaded silently, looking up at the sky. The moon remained full and no clouds covered it, the stars still shining brightly as well.

I turned my attention back to the tree. Firestar had tensed, preparing himself if Leopardstar jumped on him. Instead, she lept down to the ground. With a furious hiss she waved her tail for her warriors to gather around her.

"Stay away from our fish!" she spat as she and the other RiverClan cats disappeared in the undergrowth, racing back to RiverClan territory.

Everyone was silent. "The Gathering is at an end!" Firestar called. "We must return to our territories until the next full moon! May StarClan light our paths." He bounded down from the tree along with the other Clan leaders.

I glanced at Lionblaze. He looked furious. "She can't do that!" he exclaimed, digging his claws into the dirt.

I sighed. "She thinks she can," I meowed as we followed Firestar back to camp. Lionblaze shook his head.

"She's getting old," Jayfeather meowed from beside us. I jumped. I hadn't noticed the gray tabby had joined us. His blue eyes remained focused on the ground as he continued, "she doesn't know what she's talking about. Mothwing said that she lost a lot of her lives due to sickness. She was so sick she couldn't even get up to get a drink and died from that."

"So she's just doing it to prove her Clan is still strong?" Lionblaze meowed.

Jayfeather shrugged. "She's going about it the wrong way," he meowed.

I nodded. "Yeah… you can say that again…"

As Lionblaze bounded up ahead to speak with Cinderheart and Graystripe, I remained back with Jayfeather.

"Is this the beginning of the so-called beavers?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "The beavers are real, Jayfeather, and yes."

Jayfeather sighed. "How do we convince Leopardstar to bring her warriors? Do you know who goes from each Clan?"

"Two cats from each Clan," I answered, jumping over a tree log. Jayfeather heard me jump and did so as well. "I don't really remember who specifically, but I do know it's Lionblaze and Dovepaw from ThunderClan."

"Dovepaw?"

I nodded. "She's not an apprentice yet," I meowed, "but when she becomes one she realizes her true power… She's actually the one that realizes that there's something wrong with the water so Firestar tells everyone that it was a 'dream' she had from StarClan. Not many cats approved of an apprentice going, though."

Jayfeather glanced at me. "Do you want to go?"

I sighed. "I don't know… nothing bad happens aside from a RiverClan warrior dying… I don't want to take Lionblaze's place, though, since they need his fighting skills to defeat the beavers - they're really strong," I added when Jayfeather looked as if he didn't believe me.

He smirked. "I never said they weren't."

"Well it looked like you thought that," I muttered.

"You could go in Dovepaw's place," Jayfeather murmured. "After all, you know everything about the beavers. Even a way to stop them, right?"

I nodded. "But… it'll be good experience for Dovepaw…"

Jayfeather sighed. "Whatever you say…" he muttered as we reached the camp. We parted ways as I headed back for the warriors den. I sat down in my nest, yawning. Mistyshadow was farther up from me.

"How was the Gathering?" she asked.

I yawned. "Leopardstar thinks she owns the entire lake," I muttered, resting my head on my paws. My eyes began to droop as sleep as overcoming me.

"Really? Wow," Mistyshadow snorted. "Isn't she too old?"

"Hush," I scolded, but smiled nonetheless as my eyes finally closed and I was greeted by darkness.

When I opened my eyes again I was greeted by darkness. I stood up immediately, my fur rising on end. This is not StarClan… and these aren't my usual dreams… am I in the Dark Forest? My eyes widened in horror at the thought of being stuck in the warriors version of hell. I looked around in panic.

The all-too-familiar dark brown tabby tom with menacing amber eyes and a V-shaped nick on his left ear. "Hello, Echoflight," he sneered.

"Tigerstar!" I hissed.

He smirked, "you really are a bright she-cat," he meowed. "Someone we could use here."

"Yeah right, Tigerclaw," I snorted. "No way am I joining your lame-ass idea of a Clan."

Tigerstar's eyes narrowed. "Tigerstar," he hissed. "And you have no choice. Once you visit the Dark Forest, you always visit the Dark Forest. Kind of our rules." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "Like I follow the rules," I snapped. "And I'd rather not associate with a bastard like you."

Tigerstar's eyes narrowed, confused by human swear words. I smirked. It's actually funny to watch him confused. He never admits to anything he doesn't know about…

Tigerstar regained his composure, for he straightened up, baring his teeth in a wicked smile. "Well, say good-bye to your sweet dreams, Echoflight. Because from now on, you'll be waking up to nightmares."

"Tigerstar!"

Both Tigerstar and I turned around to see Spottedleaf. The beautiful previous-ThunderClan medicine cat bounded over, shielding me protectively. Her green eyes narrowed as she glowered at Tigerstar. "She does not belong here," she spoke assertively. Tigerstar returned her glare evenly. He then switched his gaze to me.

"Remember, Echoflight," he hissed. "I'm going to be your worst nightmare."

"In your dreams, Tigerclaw," I snarled. Spottedleaf nudged me away as we walked off. I glanced back over my shoulder and Tigerstar had vanished, along with the Dark Forest. Spottedleaf sighed with relief. She then turned her gaze to look at me.

"Echoflight, how did you end up there?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I-I don't know," I stammered. "I just went to sleep and then I woke up there." My eyes saddened. He had said that I would continuously wake up there. "Spottedleaf… am I always going to wake up there? He said I would work for the Dark Forest…"

Spottedleaf's green gaze softened as she touched her nose to my forehead. "Don't worry, Echoflight," she murmured. "StarClan will always walk with you."