“Yes!” Molepaw gave an excited little bounce. “Go on about the dog, please, Sol.”
“Well, it was with a couple of Twolegs and their kits,” Sol began. “They were walking in the woods where I was staying at the time, and the stupid creatures let their dog off that tendril-thing they use to tie themselves to animals. It picked up my scent and came yapping through the ferns toward my den. So do you know what I did then?”
“No!” Cherrypaw breathed out. “Tell us!”
“I climbed a tree,” Sol went on. “I waited until the dog came running underneath, and I dropped down right on top of it!”
Dovewing heard several cats catch their breath in excitement. They actually believe this nonsense?
“That mangy fleapelt yowled to the moon and back, I can tell you,” Sol went on. “It went yelping back to its Twolegs with its tail between its legs and me still clinging onto its neck.”
“Did the Twolegs catch you?” Blossomfall asked breathlessly.
Sol shook his head. “Just before the dog ran up to them, I jumped off and hid in some ferns. They shouted at the dog for running off, and put its tendril-thing back on. And that was the last I saw of it.”
Trying to ignore the admiring comments from her Clanmates, Dovewing stared at Sol. She cast back through her recent memories in case she could pick up any faint sounds that might have been him trespassing on ThunderClan territory. But there was nothing. She shook her head in frustration.
If only I had my proper senses… What if I never get them back?
Dovewing jumped as a tail rested on her shoulder, and turned to see Cinderheart.
“Cheer up,” the gray she-cat meowed. “Whatever’s worrying you, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know,” Dovewing murmured. “It’s Sol… I don’t like him, and I don’t like the fact that he’s here.”
Cinderheart nodded, her blue eyes sympathetic. “I’m not too sure about Sol myself,” she confessed. “But if he did save the apprentices, then the Clan owes him a decent meal and shelter, at least.”
While Dovewing was thinking that over, she noticed Bumblestripe getting up from his place beside Blossomfall. The thick-furred warrior, his pelt just like his father’s, stretched before padding over to her.
“Hi, Dovewing,” he meowed. “I feel like going for a walk in the forest. Do you want to come with me?”
“Not right now,” Dovewing replied. “I’ll probably go to my den soon.”
Bumblestripe blinked, a hurt expression in his eyes. “Oh, okay.” He turned away and vanished down the thorn tunnel.
“That wasn’t very kind,” Cinderheart murmured. “Don’t go trampling on Bumblestripe’s heart. He really likes you.”
Dovewing wriggled, feeling her pelt grow hot with embarrassment. “No, he doesn’t…” she began.
“Of course he does.” Cinderheart sounded convinced. “You know,” she added more seriously, “if there are no obstacles to getting to know a cat better, then you should take the opportunity.”
“Does that mean that you and Lionblaze—”
Dovewing broke off as Cinderheart shook her head, her blue eyes clouding with sadness. “No,” she mewed. “There is an obstacle to that, but you’d never understand.”
Dovewing stared at her. Does Cinderheart know about Lionblaze’s special power? Is that the obstacle?
She opened her jaws to question Cinderheart, but the gray she-cat never gave her the chance. “Off you go after Bumblestripe,” she urged. “It’s not too late. He’ll be so happy to see you.”
Though she still had misgivings, Dovewing didn’t argue. Ducking through the barrier, she emerged into the cool, dusky wood. Moonlight shone through the leaves, turning the forest floor into a pattern of silver and shadow. A faint breeze stirred the grass and rustled the leaves above Dovewing’s head.
“Bumblestripe!” she called.
There was no reply. Dovewing tried to send out her senses, straining to listen. After a moment she picked up the sound of paw steps, and the image of a cat sitting by the lake. Excitement tingled through Dovewing from ears to tail-tip. Maybe my special powers are starting to come back!
She raced through the forest in the direction of the cat she had seen. It was harder to stay focused, and the image was fainter than before, but when she burst out of the undergrowth onto the lakeshore she was delighted to see Bumblestripe sitting at the water’s edge, his face turned upward to the stars. The stripes on his pale pelt stood out sharply in the silver moonlight.
“Bumblestripe!” she called, her voice high-pitched with joy that she hadn’t lost her power for good.
Bumblestripe sprang to his paws and whirled around. “Dovewing!” he exclaimed, running to meet her. “You came,” he added, purring so hard he could hardly get the words out. “Come and sit beside me. It’s beautiful here.”
Dovewing suddenly felt awkward. “Is it okay if we go for a walk instead?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Together the two cats turned to pad along the shore, Bumblestripe walking close enough that their pelts brushed. Dovewing fished for something to talk about.
“Do you remember Sol from when he was here before?” she asked as the silence began to drag out.
“Sort of,” Bumblestripe replied. “I recognized him when he turned up today. But I was only a kit then.”
“What do you think of him?”
Bumblestripe shrugged. “He thinks a lot of himself, doesn’t he?”
A sudden spurt of amusement bubbled up inside Dove-wing. “Yes! All those stories! Jumping down onto a dog’s back… please! I know we leaped out of trees when we were fighting ShadowClan, but you’d have to be totally mouse-brained to try it with a dog.”
“Oh, I’ve had enough of Sol,” Bumblestripe meowed. “Let’s not talk about him here as well. Toadstep told me how you won that race the other day. Do you want to race with me?”
“Great!” Dovewing responded. “Where to?”
“That tree stump over there?” Bumblestripe asked, angling his ears toward a stump at the edge of the forest farther along the shore.
Dovewing nodded and bounded off, her paws flicking up little stones behind her. For a few moments Bumblestripe kept pace with her, but soon she began to draw ahead. Wow, I really can run fast! But then Dovewing became aware of sounds from the other Clans across the lake: A RiverClan cat was fishing in the stream beside their camp, while in ShadowClan a gray-muzzled warrior was teaching his apprentice about night hunting.
She felt as though her senses were surging in and out, like a wave on the lake. Sometimes she picked up everything clearly, sometimes the images were blurred, but excitement and relief pulsed through her as she realized that she was recovering.
It just needed time, she thought. Lionblaze was right! My senses were overwhelmed by the journey to the mountains, that’s all.
Dovewing was so pleased to have her senses back, and was concentrating so hard, that she didn’t notice where she was putting her racing paws. Something coiled around one forepaw; Dovewing was flung down onto the pebbles, letting out a startled yowl that ended in a gasp as the breath was driven out of her body.
Bumblestripe flashed past her. Dovewing tried to scramble up and realized that an ivy tendril, snaking out from the edge of the trees, had tripped her. As she wrenched her paw free, Bumblestripe was by her side again.
“Are you okay?” he panted.
“Fine,” Dovewing replied, struggling to get her breath. Even though she felt battered from her fall, happiness was surging through her like a stream in flood. I haven’t lost my senses. Everything’s okay! “I’m absolutely fine,” she repeated.