Book 1: Echoing Voices - Warriors

Chapter 19

Drizzlepaw's POV

Drizzlepaw opened his jaw, not wide, but still noticeably.
"You know this tom." Raven's voice echoed faintly in his ears.
Her words hadn't been a question.
Drizzlepaw tried not to shudder, he narrowed his eyes before glancing at Raven, pulling himself together.
"Yeah? I've spoken to him before." Drizzlepaw meowed.
Raven's gaze was shielded, it made Drizzlepaw want to take a step back. He knew why she was leader. She may be young, but she knew how to take control.
"You know this tom." she repeated.
Drizzlepaw tried not to react, "We've just crossed paths once." he answered through gritted teeth.
It was true, Drizzlepaw had only ever crossed paths with Auburnpaw once, he never said for how long though.
"You're lying." Raven meowed.
Her gaze darkened.
"Bad things happen to those who lie. Don't you know?" she muttered.
Lavenderseed stepped back from where she was, visibly shaking. Meadowfern lashed out at the tom who tried to pull her away from Auburnpaw.
"What happened to him?" Drizzlepaw questioned.
Raven was dangerous. Even more dangerous than he thought.
She has control over so many cats she doesn't know who many of them are. Of course she's dangerous. Drizzlepaw wanted to scratch himself for being so stupid.
"None of your concern, I'm sure Flame would love to explain to you himself." Raven hissed, her gaze went cold like ice.
Drizzlepaw flattened his ears and glanced down to see Auburnpaw struggling to get up. Meadowfern wasn't paying any attention, she was just trying to keep everyone away from him.
"What are you going to do?" Drizzlepaw asked.
Raven tilted her head as if she was thinking, "I suppose you'll have to find out."
The tip of her tail twitched and she turned away. That must have been a signal because Ravine stepped out from the tunnel and rustling sounded around them. The last thing Drizzlepaw saw was a bunch of cats fling out of the bushes before his vision went black and he collapsed.

When Drizzlepaw woke up, he found himself in the middle of nowhere.
"Okay..." he slowly pushed himself to his paws and checked to see if anything was injured badly by shaking out his limbs.
Nothing hurt too bad, maybe a few bruises and stiff muscles.
Drizzlepaw flattened his ears and slowly searched around the area, where were the others? Was Lavenderseed and her kits okay? What about Auburnpaw?
Drizzlepaw blinked as he padded around a tree and started to smell the air. There was barely a trace of the cats that had left him here. Was he really out for that long? He had so many questions.
He padded towards the scents, hoping to find some clue or something of Auburnpaw.
And Lavenderseed and Meadowfern of course.
Drizzlepaw's pads felt like they'd fall off. They were sore and cracked, he was use to the softer land of RiverClan territory. He started to feel nostalgic. Just thinking of this old home and how easy it had been was made him stick.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and perked his ears. Auburnpaw looked like he was in such a bad condition. He may have been dying. And now Drizzlepaw had no idea what happened to any of them. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he felt guilty.
"Drizzlepaw?"
He spun around, his ears flat. He turned around just in time to see Meadowfern jumped down from a tree branch.
"Meadowfern? What happened?" he demanded.
Meadowfern's ear twitched, "I'm not sure. I just remember Ravine coming out from the tunnel. You were thrown unconscious then they took Lavenderseed and Auburnpaw away before my vision went black." she explained urgently.
Drizzlepaw's ears lowered slowly, "Oh, this is bad." he whispered to himself, his gaze falling to the ground.
Meadowfern shot him a look, "You think I haven't put that together?" she asked.
Drizzlepaw shook out his fur, ignoring her.
"We need to find them. Fast." he meowed.
Before he could go anywhere, someone else spoke that wasn't Drizzlepaw nor Meadowfern.
"You two aren't going anywhere."

Drizzlepaw let out a groan, "We don't have time for this."
Meadowfern nudged him, as if to say; just shut up.
"Is there a reason you're in our territory?" came a different voice.
One was a she-cat the other was a tom, that's all Drizzlepaw could put together so far.
"I think we should just kill them before they actually take some prey, if they know how to hunt, that is."
It was a younger voice.
"Yeah. Let's do three against two. Maybe you should get a few more friends and it'll be even." Meadowfern meowed.
Her voice gave away no hostility, she was just trying to buy time.
"I like her." the older she-cat mused.
Drizzlepaw tried to scan the branches, the cats were nowhere a cat would be in the trees.
"We're not here to make friends with them." the tom snapped.
That's when a white and grey tabby she-cat leapt down.
Drizzlepaw perked his ears in surprised with his jaw slightly opened.
"Where-"
Two more cats followed her. The tom was a orange and black tom and the younger she-cat had a spotted golden pelt.
"We know how to hide in the trees." The older she-cat meowed.
Drizzlepaw twitched his ear and exchanged glances with Meadowfern.
"You said we're in your territory. Are you-"
The tom cut Meadowfern off, "Part of Raven's group? No."
Drizzlepaw decided to step in, "Then who are you?"
The younger she-cat glanced at the older she-cat, who nodded.
"I'm Leopardpaw," she meowed, "This is Riversong," — she gestured to the other she-cat — "and that's Wolffang."
Drizzlepaw almost didn't hear her. The cats had Clan names, but he'd never seen them before.
"Are you...SkyClan cats?" Drizzlepaw asked, his voice lighter than he had intended.
Wolffang's piercing amber gaze darkened, "How would you know?"
Riversong lowered her stance into a more threatening positions, Leopardpaw glanced at Riversong and attempted to copy her.
"We're Clan cats a well. I'm Meadowfern of WindClan and this is Drizzlepaw of RiverClan." Meadowfern explained quickly.
Riversong seemed to relax ever-so-slightly, but Wolffang held his gaze with Drizzlepaw in an unsettling way, "What are you doing this far from your territories? And aren't you a bit old to be an apprentice?" the large tom questioned.
Meadowfern kept a calm expression. Drizzlepaw didn't even need to talk she was so good at it.
"Well, maybe if you could provide some prey for us, we could explain everything?" she asked.
Drizzlepaw waited for someone to reply. The SkyClan cats seemed hesitant.
"We know your story already. Swiftstar of WindClan has already come for help with a few of her cats with her." Riversong mewed.
Meadowfern's jaw dropped, "W-what?"