CHAPTER 4

"Echopaw, do you understand?" Talonclaw broke into the apprentice's thoughts.

"Huh?" Echopaw couldn't focus the whole morning. He had woken up feeling sluggish and slow and his head hurt from thinking too much about Dawnpaw's warning. He didn't dream at all in the night after he had returned from the forest but he had slept uneasily.

Talonclaw sighed. "What is wrong, Echopaw? You don't seem too well today."

Echopaw shook his head. "No! I'm fine. Please tell me what I have to do again."

The brown and white tom flicked his tail impatiently and repeated what he had said. "You will be paired up with Hazelpaw during the assessment. I want you to follow her orders so her mentor can test her thinking skills and strategy. Both of you will be hunting by the lake today."

Echopaw nodded in understanding. Behind Talonclaw, Stormpaw was waiting eagerly by the camp entrance with Loudfire, already given the conditions for today's assessment. Echopaw felt a little nervous. This was an important day for both Sleekpaw and Hazelpaw, he didn't want to mess it up for the both of them.

"Let's go." Talonclaw nodded to Loudfire and the four cats exited camp to where they would meet the apprentices and their mentors in the training area.

"There you are!" Hazelpaw exlaimed, bouncing on her paws. Her pelt was ruffled with excitement.

Treestone nodded. "Let's get started. Hazelpaw, you know where to go."

The orange apprentice flicked her tail for Echopaw to follow. "Come on, this way," she meowed, commandeering him away from the other cats. Sleekpaw and Stormpaw took the path to the old Twoleg nest.

"Remember, you're not suppose to know I'm watching you," Treestone reminded her. "Pretend you are just on a normal patrol and you'll do fine."

Echopaw trailed behind the bigger apprentice as she skirted the bushes, taking the trail to the lake. Between the trees, Echopaw could see the sunlight reflected off the lake as if the whole of StarClan had went for a dip. The fur at the back of his neck rose unsteadily as he thought about the cold water engulfing him.

"Echopaw, come here." Hazelpaw was hiding behind a bramble bush, she flicked her tail to beckon him. "I can see a blackbird there and I need your help. Wait here and I'll skirt to the other side. When I give the signal, you pounce."

Peering through the branches, Echopaw could make out the bird pecking at the ground below a tree. When Hazelpaw had gone, he carefully crept forward, careful not to make a sound. When he was confident he was close enough to land squarely on the bird, he stopped and waited for Hazelpaw to give him the signal. He could see her fur behind the undergrowth at the other side. He waited for a sign to attack. The more time dragged on, cold fear gripped his heart as Hazelpaw hesitated. The bird could spot her orange and white pelt easily, why wasn't she allowing him to attack?

The bird must've sensed something was wrong. It stopped pecking and lifted it's beak. Without waiting for a moment longer, Echopaw pounced out of the bushes and landed on the bird. He killed it with a swift bite and looked at satisfaction at his catch.

"Hey!" Hazelpaw snarled, jumping out of the bushes. "I was about to chase it to you!"

"If you had waited a little longer there would be nothing to chase to me," Echopaw argued.

"You are a stubborn apprentice," Hazelpaw lashed her tail furiously. "Don't you realize that this is an important day for me? Why are you ruining it?"

"I'm ruining it? There's more prey that can be caught with the time we used to bicker right now," he meowed indignantly.

Hazelpaw huffed. "Whatever. Don't follow me this time!"

"But Treestone and Talonclaw wanted us to work together!"

"I don't need moon-old apprentice telling me what to do."

Echopaw glared after her in fury. He had done nothing but caught prey that the Clan could feed on. He looked at the ground which was covered in claw marks. Without noticing he had unsheathed his claws and tearing at the ground while he was arguing with Hazelpaw. His whole body was hot with anger and he allowed himself a few deep breaths to calm down. He allowed the familiarity of the forest to sooth him and his senses.

He suddenly realized that he could get in trouble for not helping with Hazelpaw's assessment. With a snort of frustration, he covered the blackbird with dirt and ran after Hazelpaw, following her scent through the forest. He couldn't let her fail this.

He emerged into a clearing where Hazelpaw's scent was still fresh and stopped. The scent trail had disappeared suddenly as if she had gone in mid-air. He lifted his head to taste the air, Hazelpaw was definitely around him somewhere, her scent was strong. The clearing was surrounded by tall birch trees and a flat boulder rested at the end of one side. Where could Hazelpaw be? Hunting for mice behind the big rock?

Suddenly, something creaked above him and a gasp of horror sounded. Talonclaw's shriek pierced the once-calm forest air. "Echopaw!"

Time seemed to slow down all around him as Echopaw tried to comprehend what was happening but his paws seemed to move by themselves on instinct. Dawnpaw's voice flashed into his mind; When your mentor calls for you, leap towards the boulder. No hesitations.

His breath was caught in his chest as he made a mighty heave towards the boulder.

He could feel pain as something brushed sharply against his flank and at the same time he landed, a loud crash came from behind him and he whipped around in fear. Talonclaw and Treestone emerged hurriedly from the cover of the undergrowth and rushed to the pile of branches piled up where he was standing just a moment ago.

"Hazelpaw?" Treestone called. He started to lift the branches with Talonclaw's help. "Hazelpaw, where are you?"

"Ow," Hazelpaw whimpered as Treestone lifted another branch. Echopaw could see her frail body laying across the pile.

"We've got you," Talonclaw soothed her. "We'll get you straight back to camp."

They gently hauled the apprentice in between them and carried her. Echopaw followed, unsure of what to do.

The apprentice was still in a daze. If he hadn't jumped out of the way quickly enough, he would have been crushed under the weight of the branches and Hazelpaw's body. Dawnpaw's words echoed in his mind again. He shook his head and stopped in his tracks.

How had she known that that was going to happen? And why had she warned him? She was from a rival Clan and cats should only be loyal to their own Clanmates. As far as he was concerned, Dawnpaw wasn't a medicine cat apprentice otherwise she would have joined the other medicine cats at the Gathering. That meant she wasn't suppose to receive dreams from StarClan. Considering she was training to be a medicine cat, why had StarClan sent her a dream about when he would have died instead of sending it to Briarnose?

"Echopaw?"

He spun and saw the puzzled face of Sleekpaw and Stormpaw staring at him.

"What's wrong?" Sleekpaw asked. "Where's Hazelpaw?" Her voice was growing in panic with each word that came out of her mouth.

Echopaw was still too stunned to speak. His raised hackles and the stricken look in his eyes must have given away the worst to Sleekpaw. She picked up that something terrible must have happened to her sister and raced back to camp. Stormpaw stayed behind with his brother, coming over to sooth him. He put his tail over his shoulders and led him back to camp.

When they entered the hollow the camp was in agitation. Barkstar was below the High-ledge talking to Talonclaw and Brightfur, who was Hazelpaw's mother. Brightfur wailed and shrunk away from Talonclaw before racing to Briarnose's den.

Talonclaw went over to the apprentices after he had spoken with Barkstar. "You look like you are still in shock," he meowed. "Stormpaw, accompany him to Briarnose's den and get him something for it."

"Come on, Echopaw," Stormpaw tried to coax him towards the den in the cleft of the wall.

Anxious voices drifted from within the den and Sleekpaw emerged along with Brightfur, both of their gazes looked lost and grief-stricken. When Sleekpaw met Echopaw's gaze, there was a dullness in her eyes that he couldn't read but he was caught in its familiarity to how much it was similar to Foxtail's sad eyes.

"I - I'm sorry," he stuttered.

Sleekpaw shook her head. "It wasn't your fault."

The two apprentices pushed past the lichen curtain covering the den entrance. It took a while for Echopaw's eyes to adjust in the darkness, and when he could finally see,he saw Hazelpaw laying in a nest with Briarnose trying to feed her berries.

"She sprained her paw," Briarnose muttered as he looked up. "She will get better in a few sunrises."

"Will she be able to become a warrior?" Echopaw feared the worst.

Briarnose went to the back of his den to sort through the herbs he had stacked up. "She will, don't worry. It wasn't a high drop and from what I was told, there were branches to soften her fall. It all depends on how she did on her assessment."

Echopaw looked closely at Hazelpaw. She was breathing softly, her fur was sticking out all over the place and there were leaves still tangled in her orange fur. He remembered the furious look she gave him after she thought that the younger apprentice had messed up her assessment and guilt swept over him. Maybe if he had given her a chance and let her caught the prey instead this wouldn't have happened. The two older apprentices would've returned back to camp joyous and excited and Barkstar would've announced the makings of two new warriors instead of just one.

Echopaw trod under the forest trees with Stormpaw tailing behind him, an uncomfortable silence hanging between them. Stormpaw was unsure of what he could say to cheer his brother. Echopaw found the place where he had burried his catch and retrieved it back to camp.

"Don't feel too bad about yourself," Stormpaw finally tired to reassure him as they approached the thorn barrier. "It wasn't your fault. If only she hadn't been so cocky and bossy. We all know how Hazelpaw is."

Echopaw dropped his catch on the pile before turning to face his brother. "I can't, Stormpaw. How will you feel if you could stop something from happening and it happened anyway? I feel dreadful."

"Do you want to go back to Briarnose's den to get those herbs?"

Both of the apprentices had completely forgotten why they had went to the den in the first place. The sight of Hazelpaw made the both of them forget the herbs that would treat Echopaw's shock.

Echopaw shook his head. "I'm going to sleep," he muttered and made a beeline to the apprentices' den.

"But you haven't eaten!" Stormpaw called after him.

The grey apprentice curled into his nest and shut his eyes, willing for sleep to overcome him as fast as it can. Then a thought suddenly came at him; Dawnpaw's warning. Fear gripped his heart. He would have to confront her to next time he saw her. He couldn't shake off the feeling that she had something to do with this.