Chapter Nineteen

"Echopaw, how are you?" Darkclaw dipped his head as she appeared next to him.

"Hello, Darkclaw," she meowed, "What are we doing tonight?"

"Discussing future plans," Darkclaw meowed, "Follow me."

Future plans? Echopaw followed Darkclaw to a very dark point in the forest, where a group of cats sat around in a circle, they were all frail. "Echopaw, meet my clanmates," Darkclaw meowed.

Clanmates? Isn't all of StarClan his clanmates? "Hello young one, my name's Shrewstar, I'm the leader of the dark forest," a frail brown tom introduced himself, he was sitting on a large tree stump. The Dark Forest? Echopaw felt as if she couldn't move for a moment, Oh no, what have I gotten myself into? How didn't I think that this was the dark forest! "Don't be scared young one," Shrewstar meowed, "We don't mean harm."

And hedgehogs can fly! Oh StarClan, how am I going to tell them I don't want to be here, they'll kill me! These cats are evil! "Come on Echopaw, you weren't shy when I met you," Darkclaw tried to nudge her forward.

"No," she growled, "this isn't StarClan, Darkclaw."

Darkclaw's eyes widened with shock, "Well young one, it seems as if you aren't as dumb as we suspected, eh?"

Echopaw flicked her tail with annoyance, "Yes and I want to go home and never come back."

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that," Shrewstar unsheathed his claws, "you'll go back and tell all of your clanmates about us and then we won't be able to go forward with any plans let's say."

"What he's saying is we're going to have to kill you," Darkclaw added, his voice was now deep and he sounded serious.

"Well I won't let you!" Echopaw lashed her tail from side to side angrily.

"Really, you think an apprentice would be able to kill a whole clan of full grown warriors?" Darkclaw challenged.

"Yep!" Echopaw lied, trying to sound confident. Oh no, what have I done to myself?

"Well that's funny," Darkclaw smirked, "Try us."

A loud growl rumbled in Echopaw's throat as she pounced onto Darkclaw's back, and held him by the scruff. "Not so fast young one." Darkclaw meowed in a teasingly matter as he threw her off and into a tree. Before he could get the her, Echopaw leapt to her paws and jumped over him. "Come on Darkclaw, you're as bad as a kittypet!" one of the warriors scolded.

Darkclaw just scoffed and then leapt at Echopaw, pinning her to the ground. She retaliated quickly by kicking at his belly and then once he'd let go, she reared up onto her hindlegs and leapt onto him, biting at his neck, until finally, he fell limp. Echopaw looked down in horror, her paws trembling. I can't believe I just did that! "You killed him," Shrewstar snarled, "now you'll have to pay."

Oh no, run! Echopaw made a dash for it, running as fast as she could, trying her best to not look back. Please don't catch me! She kept running until she skidded to a halt, a large tree log, far too big for her to leap over appeared in front of her. StarClan no! As Shrewstar started to corner her, a pale grey shape appeared out of nowhere and pinned him to the floor. "Stonestar!" she yowled, relief flooding over her like water.

"I will not let you harm a piece of fur on that cat!" Stonestar hissed, "Don't you see how important she'll be to ThunderClan one day?"

"And you really think I care?" Shrewstar snorted, "ThunderClan is full of soft kittypets, not warriors, I couldn't care less about their future and I never have or going to!"

"I always thought you'd be better than that Shrewstar," Stonestar spat and looked back at Echopaw, "Go wake up, return to your nest!"

Echopaw awoke with a jolt, Oh my StarClan, was that close! "Echopaw, are you okay?" Pricklepaw looked up from his nest.

"Y-yeah just a bad dream," she meowed.

I can't go back to sleep, It's too much of a risk of returning to that excuse for a place. Echopaw rested her chin on her paws. I will not let you harm a piece of fur on that cat! Can't you see how important she is to ThunderClan's future? Stonestar's words rang in her head, What does he mean?

I hope this chapter was a bit more interesting, I didn't want the whole training thing to drag on forever, as it'd get boring so I ended it there, but that's not the last of them. As always, please review, I absolutely love reading your thoughts and feedback!