Flames At Night: Book 1: A Shattered Path

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dolphinshine

"You can do it!" Dolphinshine meowed encouragingly as Cloverpaw stood shakily in the ocean surf.

"I still know how to swim!" she called back. "I just don't know how I'm going to know where I am!"

The sleek gray tom circled around so that he was treading water several foxlengths away from the shore. "Follow the sound of my voice," he shouted.

Cloverpaw still hung back. "How far away are you?" she asked.

"A treelength, more or less."

The tortoiseshell tabby sighed and carefully began paddling towards him. She kept her head above the water rather than diving, so she made her way over to him quite slowly. About halfway there, a huge wave crashed on top of her, and she nearly was turned around. Eventually, though, she reached out and touched his outstretched paws.

"Let's go home now," she meowed, clinging to her brother. Dolphinshine swam to the shore and helped her back to the camp.

There were three cats standing there, talking to Havenstar. For a moment, Dolphinshine groaned, thinking Fire Lily was back. Then he realized that he recognized them.

One was Patterpaw, as well as the red tom- Swiftpaw. The third was a golden-brown she-cat with dark blue eyes. Dolphinshine brought Cloverpaw to the apprentices' den, then stood at a respectful distance to listen to the conversation.

"We brought herbs from Twolegplace to treat the sickness," the golden-brown she-cat meowed. Havenstar nodded.

Whiterose hurried up next to the leader. "I'd like to take them sooner rather than later," she said apologetically. "We have a problem."

"What's happening?" asked the brown and white tom.

"Well..." Whiterose shot a quick glance at the SparkClan warrior. "I'll tell you later." She carefully picked up the leaves. "How do you use these?"

Swiftpaw stepped forward. "Tear them into small pieces and feed them to the sick cat. They should be really strong."

A paw prodded Dolphinshine in the side. He turned to see Patterpaw. "What is it?" he asked.

"I have to talk to you." She glanced nervously at the golden-brown she-cat. "It's important. And nobody else can hear."

Dolphinshine hesitated. "Needlepaw!" he called. "Can you come over here?"

The gray and white apprentice trotted over. "Yeah?" she said, looking at Patterpaw.

"I need you to distract the SparkClan cats," Dolphinshine told her.

"And... why?"

The sleek gray tom sighed. "Please, Needlepaw? I'll do your elder duty for half a moon."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "A full moon."

"Fine," Dolphinshine groaned. Needlepaw sprinted over to the cats and began talking extremely fast.

Patterpaw sighed in relief. "You have to give the herb to FrostClan!" she said. "Acornfall refuses to let us, and they need it too."

"Why won't she?" asked the tom.

"She says they killed her siblings," mewed Patterpaw. Her eyes flicked repeatedly over to Acornfall. "Please, Dolphinshine, I can't let her do this."

"Okay," said Dolphinshine. "But I'll need more leaves. I can't use WaveClan's."

"Right." Patterpaw padded to where her Clanmates were being confused by Needlepaw. As she whispered something to Swiftpaw, the red tom's eyes widened and he passed a few leaves to her. She brought them to Dolphinshine.

"I'll bring them to FrostClan," he hummed. "You can trust me."