For those of you asking, I took down the website for this book. But I still have some art I drew and I can make more if you have any scene you particularly want to see! Thanks for your continued support
"Rainheart go!" Wolfmask ordered immediately. "Keep her in your sight!"
The gray warrior didn't wait. He took off back down the path to the river. He didn't have time to panic as he slid down the hill this time. Already he could see Echospring was ahead of him, disappearing under the heavy current.
Racing as fast as his paws would take him, Rainheart crossed down the flatland, where the water came up to his belly fur uncomfortably. Echospring resurfaced a few tail-lengths ahead of him, her paws churning uselessly against the current.
"Echospring!" he called after her. It wouldn't do much, but it would certainly let her know she wasn't alone.
For one desperate second, she looked at him, panic in her gaze. Her mouth opened, as if she were trying to call out to him. Then her head disappeared under the surface again.
Rainheart pounded through the mud after her. All thoughts of personal safety left him as he dug his paws into the mud even harder to try and keep up. To his horror, he saw her again, now a bundle of fur several fox-lengths ahead of him. The current was too strong. He was going to lose her.
No! Rainheart screamed in his head. He was not the fastest cat in WindClan for nothing.
Mud splayed behind him as he raced up the tiny crevice path. He had to slow down to cross here. But he placed his paws as fast as he could with the care he had to take, desperately trying to keep his Clanmate in sight. He got to the other side with a jump that jarred his knees.
For a moment he took in the river below him, trying desperately to find his Clanmate. At last he saw her tumbling around the bend. She only appeared for a second before going back underwater.
He followed the path downriver, keeping an eye out for her brown fur. He saw her head bobbing out of the middle of the river. To his immense surprise, she was staring right at him. So far, she had not drowned. But he could tell by her expression that she would not be able to keep herself alive forever. Sooner rather than later, she was going to run out of energy and drown.
Voices from across the river caught Rainheart's attention. He lifted his gaze and saw a RiverClan patrol darting along the waterway. It was clear that they had seen him, and Echospring, and were chasing her as well.
Rainheart tore down the path again, wanting to get ahead of his Clanmate. The musky scent of ThunderClan bathed his nose as he ducked further into the underbrush to avoid the swollen riverbank. Thankfully, the scents were all stale. No patrol had been this way recently.
Diving around the ferns and mossy undergrowth was more challenging than Rainheart wanted to admit. It was even more frustrating because the forest-dwelling cats made it looks so easy. He had a drowning Clanmate to keep up with! Why was this so difficult?
For a moment he couldn't see the river through the trees. Panic struck him hard in the chest as he turned around and around. Everything here was so green. The treetops, the ground, the undergrowth…even the light filtering through the trees was green. It turned him around easily.
He stopped, breathing deep and listening. The pounding water seemed to resonate all around him. Finally he heard yelling. The RiverClan patrol was still chasing her.
Diving through the ferns, he found himself again at the river. And to his relief, Echospring was not that far ahead of where he was. The patrol was only just ahead of him.
Rainheart pounded along the bank, careful to not let his paws sink too deep into the sand for fear of getting stuck there. Echospring's top half was on a log, the rest of her body hanging limply in the water. She didn't appear to be trying to move anymore, just floating listlessly on the branch. Maybe she was unconscious. Maybe that branch supporting her was the only thing keeping her alive.
They rounded a corner and abruptly the scents around Rainheart changed. No longer was he bathed in ThunderClan scent, but SkyClan.
Echospring was caught in a eddying current, turning one full rotation before being pushed forward. The branch she was attached to got caught on a rock, jarring to a complete stop and launching her into the water. Rainheart yowled as she floated, her head still underwater. There was no effort on her part at all, as far as Rainheart could tell. But she seemed to be edging closer to the side nearest him. If he could just catch up fast enough…but he wasn't going to catch up fast enough. His Clanmate would be carried away before he could reach her.
Suddenly a paw darted out of the forest, claws hooking into Echospring's wet fur. A cat prowled forward. For a few stunned seconds, Rainheart didn't recognize the SkyClan leader. But sure as day it was Falconstar having caught her. He leaned down, grabbing her scruff in his strong jaws. He yowled wordlessly, and two more cats darted forward to help. Rainheart recognized Brilliantheart, and Spottedlily.
The two cats joined their leader, sinking their teeth into her long matted fur. With a mighty heave, the three cats managed to pull Echospring out of the water and onto land again.
"Echospring!" Rainheart called, racing forward and stopping beside the small patrol. He didn't pause to thank the SkyClan leader for his impromptu rescue of the WindClan Clanmate. Instead he leaned down, looking at his Clanmate with worry. She did not appear to be breathing at all, as far as Rainheart could tell.
"Yellowblaze!" Falconstar called. A fourth cat, one that Rainheart had only ever seen from a distance, padded forward. He was a blue-gray tomcat, with long white stripes and bright amber-yellow eyes. This was the SkyClan medicine cat.
The tabby tom leaned down, sniffing along Echospring's body carefully. The tom pressed his ear against her chest, listening with narrowed eyes.
"She's breathing," he said quietly. "But her temperature is low…" He calmly, but firmly laid his paws along her, first against her jaw, then her skull. He pressed against each knob of her spine the whole way down, stopping to test move each of her legs. "And she has a broken back leg," he completed his assessment. "She'll need it wrapped with brush as soon as possible, before it sets wrong. She'll probably need honey and a warm nest as soon as possible, and she'll need to be washed. She should probably have thyme for shock and lungwort to clear her airways."
"I'll get Auburnmist," Rainheart said. "And a patrol. We can take her back to our territory."
"No!" Yellowblaze said. "She needs care immediately. Your Clanmate may be on land but she's still in trouble. She'll freeze if we don't get her warm immediately. And I still have to clear her airway to be sure she won't drown."
Horror crept in Rainheart. "She can still drown?"
Yellowblaze ignored the WindClan warrior altogether. "Falconstar," he appealed to his leader. "We have to take her back to camp immediately. I can only help so much here, and if she doesn't get immediate care, she'll die."
To his surprise, Falconstar actually looked thoughtful. "Rubbish!" Rainheart spat shakily. For some reason, in that moment, he could feel the eyes of the RiverClan patrol boring into him from across the river. If it were those cats offering Echospring help, Rainheart wouldn't question it. But something about Falconstar's face, the way his eyes didn't look worried. He didn't seem concerned for Echospring's safety at all. But something else seemed to be going on in his head. "Auburnmist can take care of her!"
But Falconstar was shaking her head. "Yellowblaze is right," he said. Was Rainheart imagining the sneer in his voice? "This cat needs immediate care. We shall take her back to our camp for treatment."
"I'll come with you," Rainheart volunteered, heart pounding.
The SkyClan leader snarled. "I think not!" he growled. "This cat needs help. What you need is to go back to your own Clanmates."
He said this imperiously, standing between Rainheart and his Clanmate, who had still not woken up. By now, Brilliantheart and Spottedlily and gotten underneath her on both sides, and were starting their journey into the trees.
It was clear that Falconstar's words were an order. Even though Rainheart wanted to follow Echospring into the trees, to stay by her side until WindClan got there to free her, he couldn't. Backing away, Rainheart crossed the ThunderClan border, then turned and darted back the way he'd come.