Warrior Cats: Sky of Storms

Chapter 4

Echopaw streaked through the forest, keeping her eye's on the white rabbit's tail. Leaves pressed against her face, and twigs and thorns caught on her fur, making the new apprentice yowl in frustration. She dodged a large rock jutting out of the ground and jumped over a small bush.

The rabbit slipped through two rocks and disappeared. Echopaw mewed at her failure to catch prey for RiverClan and headed back toward the camp, embarrassed that she would turn up empty-pawed.

When she reached the river, Echopaw shouted in alarm, her fur rising on ends, as she saw that the river was completely black. More black than anything she had ever seen, and it felt as if Echopaw would be sucked into it at any moment.

She paced up and down the bank, and saw cats drowning in the black water, and some sprawled around the bank, clearly dead. She spotted Mothwing lying out across the rock, hyperventilating, and Wavepaw beside her. The apprentice's back leg was submerged in the black water, and she was trying to get out to make her way over to Mothwing and help her.

She turned and saw a brown cat, watching her with calm eyes, sitting under the shade of a small tree. He was flicking his tail in interest but avoided the view of the helpless cat's around them.

"Do something!" She shouted. "We need to help them!"

The cat moved into the light, and Echopaw had to regain her balance before she toppled in surprise into the black water. She unsheathed her claws just in time and buried them into the soil, looking back up at the cat.

It was Mudfur.

"Echopaw!"

She opened her eyes in alarm and jumped up, her fur raised and her teeth bared before she returned to reality and realized who had said her name. She lowered her arched back and bowed her head submissively.

"Sorry," Echopaw said to Waterpaw. "I just had a nightmare."

Waterpaw nodded. "I figured. You've been murmuring in your sleep for the past half hour."

Echopaw bowed her head, embarrassed, and settled in her nest at the back of the Apprentice's Den. She started to share tongues with Waterpaw, still shaken from her dream.

Why was the river completely black? Echopaw thought worriedly, picking off a tick from Waterpaw's tail. The river isn't that black, is it? I haven't seen it since I hit my head.  

She thought of Mohwing and Wavepaw, and all the other cats that were being drowned in the black water. Why was Mudfur there? Was it a message from StarClan?

But StarClan only shared dreams with the leader and Medicine cats, so it had to be a regular dream right? Echopaw wasn't convinced.

She didn't think she was important enough to be noticed by StarClan, in fact, she didn't think she was good enough to be seen by any cat.

"How was your first time in the Apprentice's Den?" Wavepaw asked as they walked out of the den. The sun was hidden from dark grey clouds, and the blue sky was nowhere to be seen. 

More than half of RiverClan was already out of the Dens. She saw Reedwhisker organizing the dawn patrol, and Mistystar, Splashpaw, and Stormfur carrying Mudfur's body out of the camp.

A few cats had already left to go hunt, and Echopaw could see Blackclaw and a dark brown tabby walking out of the west entrance, but stopping to talk.

"That's Swallowtail if your wondering," Waterpaw said, following her gaze and not waiting for an answer. "Everyone knows that when Reedwhisker becomes leader, Swallowtail will become his deputy, if she survives that long at least."