Chapter Twenty-One
Oakstar's death. Echoshine shivered. It had nothing to do with the rain seeping into her pelt. The words felt so ominous. So foreboding. So… Final.
She was still sitting where Willowleaf had left her.
Still waiting for the great leader to bound back into camp with exciting stories of the Moontree.
But he didn't come back.
And he wouldn't.
Echoshine blinked slowly, then padded in the direction that Willowleaf had gone.
As she entered the warriors den where her father and Willowleaf were sitting, the medicine cat acknowledged her with a flick of her ear, then continued talking to Beetlewhisker.
"Come outside," she said to him, "Echoshine and I must tell you something." She looked around at all of the warriors that hadn't been sent on a patrol and were waiting out the storm in their dens. "Something private."
"Okay."
Echoshine peered around Willowleaf to see her father. His tail was twitching uneasily, as if he knew that the medicine cat had bad news to share.
The three cats wordlessly sloshed through the muddy undergrowth and over to a small dry spot beneath a slender pine tree.
"What is it?" The black-and-white deputy asked Willowleaf hesitantly.
"This storm… Well, StarClan's sent me an omen." Willowleaf paused, then continued. "Oakstar is not going to return to ThunderClan."
"No." Beetlewhisker's shoulder fur bristled. "No!" He stared up at the stars through the leafy canopy above, like Willowleaf had done just moments before. "Oakstar!"
Echoshine had never seen her father so distressed. She wrapped her tail around his flank, wishing she could do more to help.
Suddenly, the wind seemed to shift. It swirled and twisted, ruffling Echoshine's fur, but no leaf was moved and the strange breeze made no sound.
Echoshine looked at Willowleaf and her father to see if they had noticed, but they weren't there.
She gasped as the wind died down and turned opaque, forming the shape of a cat.
A cat with stars on her fur.
"Rowanbreeze?" Echoshine gasped. She had figured that since ThunderClan had been victorious against the rogues in the battle, the StarClan she-cat was finished.
"Yes," the she-cat mewed.
Echoshine was taken aback. "You talked! O-out loud!" She stammered. Then she thought about what she had said. She sounded like a kit that had just learned hedgehogs had wings!
The pretty black she-cat nodded, amusement clear in her gaze. "I did."
Echoshine looked around for the first time. She wasn't in ThunderClan territory anymore! Vast meadow that they were standing in stretched on to meet the horizon far in the distance. A wide assortment of wildflowers carpeted the ground, and every once in a while a tree dotted the landscape. Echoshine could scent every type of prey. Squirrels chased each other from tree to tree, birds sang in high in the cloudless sky, and rabbits could be seen munching unworriedly on the bright flowers. Her mouth watered. But where was she?
"I have taken you to StarClan's hunting grounds." Rowanbreeze seemed to sense Echoshine's confusion.
"StarClan's hunting grounds… You mean I'm dead?" If she was, it wouldn't be too bad if this was where she lived.
The starry cat laughed. "No, no. You are still very much alive. And you will continue to be for a while yet. You have an important destiny."
Echoshine didn't know what to make of it. "Destiny? I'm not special! I'm just… Me."
Rowanbreeze nodded, "exactly. You're you. And the Clans need you."
Echoshine cocked her head.
"I was watching when you told Willowleaf of your vision. I was watching when she told you falsely of your destiny. She told you that your only role in the vision was telling her and Oakstar." Rowanbreeze smiled grimly. "She was wrong."
"What?" Echoshine didn't know what the StarClan she-cat was talking about.
"You will have the fate of the Clans in your paws: do not take that responsibility lightly." Her sleek black pelt faded slowly away. But before she was completely out of sight, she whispered, "an Echo of greatness long forgotten will spark a storm to save the Clans."
"Rowanbreeze, don't go! What did you mean?" Echoshine wailed.
But already, StarClan faded away and she was back beneath the pine tree.
Beetlewhisker and Willowleaf were leaning over her, eyes full of concern. Beetlewhisker sighed in relief when she opened her eyes.
"What happened? You blacked out!" His lavender eyes were filled with concern.
Willowleaf nodded, "you kept mumbling. It sounded like a cat's name. You were saying Rowanbreeze. You repeated the word multiple times. Are you okay?"
Echoshine shook her head, "I'm fine." She felt her pelt heat up in embarrassment. Couldn't Rowanbreeze have picked a better time for her to pass out and mewl like a kit? "I'm going to go rest."
Willowleaf nodded. "You will feel better after you get some sleep. Right now, you'll need it. It's hard, losing a leader."
Echoshine nodded gratefully and walked to the warrior den. She sighed, then thought about what Rowanbreeze had said. An Echo of greatness long forgotten will spark a storm to save the Clans.
When she reached the den, she curled up in her nest, involuntarily sinking into sleep.