The gray warrior crawled through the gap, flattening his body as if he were creeping up on prey. There was another windowsill inside the nest; Graystripe hesitated there for a moment, then jumped down. Dovewing followed him, but Thornclaw took a pace back, his lips curling as if he had just smelled crow-food.
"I don"t like it," he muttered.
"I"m not asking you to like it," Bramblestar mewed.
Thornclaw puffed out his breath. "I can"t believe I"m doing this."
While his Clanmate was scrambling through the gap, Bramblestar looked back and called out to the she-cat in the tub. "We"ll be with you in a few heartbeats!"
Inside the den, the scent of Twolegs wreathed around Bramblestar, and every hair on his pelt stood on end. All his instincts were telling him to run, but there was nowhere to run to. Solid white walls loomed all around, trapping him. Then he realized that all the scents were stale, and he managed to relax a little.
What a lot of stuff the Twolegs have in their dens! he thought as he glanced around. The floor was covered in a layer of dense green tufts that Bramblestar thought was gra.s.s, until he rubbed his paws against it and realized it was some kind of Twoleg pelt. More soft pelts lay scattered on top of it, and on top of a large, flat object that stood against one wall. There were big structures made out of wood, with hard, straight lines, not the soft contours of real trees.
"This is a bedroom," Graystripe announced. Meeting blank stares from the other three cats, he added, "The nest where the Twolegs sleep."
"Fascinating," Thornclaw muttered.
"Yes. Graystripe, can we just keep going?" Bramblestar meowed.
Graystripe nodded and led the way toward a gap in the den wall. As Bramblestar padded after him he realized how soft the pelts were against his paws. This would be a good place for cats to sleep too, he thought, provided there weren"t any Twolegs.
Following Graystripe out of the sleeping den, Bramblestar and his Clanmates slipped silently alongside the wall until they reached an uneven slope leading downward.
"This reminds me of the abandoned Twoleg den," Bramblestar remarked.
"They call it stairs," Graystripe informed him.
"You never told us any of this before," Dovewing mewed as they began to descend the slope. "It"s really interesting."
Graystripe snorted. "We"re Clan cats, not kittypets," he reminded her. "How they live has nothing to do with us."
Water was lapping at the bottom of the slope, and Bramblestar waved his tail for Graystripe to step back and let him go ahead. There were more gaps in the den walls, and at first he didn"t know which one would lead to the outside. Then he sensed a flow of cooler air coming from one of the gaps, and heard the shriek of the she-cat from that direction. "Where have you gone?"
Cautiously Bramblestar stepped down into the water, wincing at the cold, wet touch on his fur. At first it was shallow enough to wade, but as he stepped through the gap the ground suddenly gave way beneath his paws, and he found himself floundering, thrashing his paws until he managed to climb onto something solid.
"There"s another step just there, I think," Graystripe mewed helpfully.
"Whatever." Bramblestar gave his pelt a disgusted shake. "Jump from the top to this . . . thing I"m standing on," he instructed.
"It"s a chair," Graystripe told him. "And that big, flat thing over there is a table. If you jump up there, Bramblestar, there"ll be room for the next cat."
"Good idea," Bramblestar responded. "Thank StarClan you know a bit about these Twoleg places, Graystripe."
"I"ll still be glad to get out of here," the gray warrior grumbled.
Soon all four cats were standing on the table. More chairs were scattered around, as if the flood had carried them from their proper places. One of them was wedged by the opening that led outside, holding back the piece of wood that the Twolegs had used to block the gap.
Two jumps brought Bramblestar to this chair, and at last he was able to see outside. A fence ran around the garden and joined onto the den not far from where Bramblestar was standing. A few fox-lengths away a monster was crouching, with water lapping halfway up its shiny blue sides. Between Bramblestar and the monster was the tub, floating very low in the water now. The black-and-white she-cat was peering anxiously over the side.
"Please hurry!" she wailed. "The tub is sinking!"
Bramblestar turned to his Clanmates. "We"ll have to leap from here to the fence," he told them. "It"s an awkward angle, but we should be able to manage it."
"How are we going to get the cat out of there?" Dovewing asked as she landed neatly on the chair beside him.
Bramblestar wasn"t sure. Maybe the tub will b.u.mp up against the fence, and she can climb out of it. "Just go," he meowed.
Dovewing obeyed, reaching the fence with Graystripe and Thornclaw just behind her. But when Bramblestar tried to follow he misjudged the jump because he was trying to avoid his Clanmates, who were crowded together along the fence-top. His claws raked the wood of the fence, but he couldn"t get a grip on it. A heartbeat later he plunged into icy water. His yowl of alarm was cut off as the flood closed over his head.
Bramblestar flailed his legs desperately, feeling the cold sink deep into his pelt. His chest ached with the need to breathe. It seemed like a whole season before his head broke the surface. Gasping for air, he glanced around, but at first he could see nothing but the tossing water.
"Over here!" the kittypet yowled. "Hurry!"
Bramblestar splashed in a circle until he caught sight of the tub, only a few tail-lengths away from him. It had floated away from the fence. Great StarClan! I hope I can move it!
Struggling to keep his head above the surface, Bramblestar thrashed his way over to the tub and started to push. It was sluggish, hard to move, because by now most of it was under the water. The black-and-white she-cat propped her forepaws on the rim, her terrified gaze fixed on Bramblestar. He didn"t have enough breath or strength to rea.s.sure her.
The tub was closer to the monster than the fence, so Bramblestar headed that way. At last he felt the tub b.u.mp gently against the shiny blue side. "Climb out!" he choked.
The she-cat floundered through the water that by now was filling the tub, and clawed her way onto the top of the monster. Bramblestar followed her, managed to give her a boost upward, then hauled himself to safety and flopped down on the monster"s back. Hearing a gurgle from below, he looked down to see the tub vanish under the surface of the water. The she-cat was watching it too.
"I could have been in that!" she gasped. "You saved me!"
"Not exactly," Bramblestar grunted, waving his tail to indicate the silver water all around them.
"But you did!" the she-cat insisted. "Thank you! My name"s Minty. What"s yours?"
"I"m Bramblestar." He angled his ears toward the other cats, who were approaching along the fence. "Those are Graystripe, Dovewing, and Thornclaw."
"What weird names!" Minty mewed, wrinkling her nose.
Bramblestar didn"t comment. When his Clanmates jumped down onto the monster"s back, he stood up and shook the water from his pelt. "What do we do with this kittypet now?" he asked quietly.
"I don"t see why we have to do anything," Thornclaw meowed. "We"ve saved her life. What she does next is up to her."
"You can"t leave me here!" Minty wailed. "My housefolk and my littermates have gone. What will I eat?"
Fish, with all this water, Bramblestar was strongly tempted to answer, but he stopped himself. It"s not her fault she"s so helpless.
"We can"t leave her here," Dovewing whispered. "She"ll starve or freeze. She"s a kittypet; they can"t look after themselves."
"Can I come home with you?" Minty begged, fixing a wide-eyed blue gaze on Bramblestar. "Where do your housefolk live? Did their houses escape the flood?"
Bramblestar exchanged a glance with Graystripe. "We don"t live with Twolegs," he explained. "We"re wild cats, from the Clans by the lake."
Minty"s eyes stretched even wider. "Wow, I"ve heard of them!" she exclaimed. "I mean, you. But you"re supposed to be dangerous. You eat bones and kill trespa.s.sers!"
Bramblestar sighed. "We really need to stop these rumors. We won"t eat you, we promise," he continued. "We don"t eat cats. Just mice and birds and squirrels, just like you."
Minty uttered a little shriek and looked as if she was going to pa.s.s out. "I don"t eat those!" She gave her tail a flick. "I don"t think I want to come with you after all."
Thornclaw shrugged, his whiskers twitching. "Okay. Stay put. Your choice."
Minty hesitated. "Why don"t you stay here?" she suggested after a moment. "The house is really comfortable, and there must be some of my food in the kitchen."
"No, that"s impossible," Bramblestar meowed. "Our Clanmates need us."
"There are more of you?" Minty squealed. Her tail drooped. "I don"t know where my housefolk keep my food. It"s probably ruined by the water anyway." She put her head on one side, thinking, then announced, "Okay, I"ll come with you."
"You"re not doing us any favors," Dovewing muttered. "Don"t act like we"re begging you to come."
If Minty heard the comment, she didn"t react to it. She stared at Bramblestar. "You promise the other cats won"t eat me?"
"Oh, no," meowed Thornclaw. "There"s not enough meat on you to be a decent meal."
Minty squeaked, and Bramblestar tapped Thornclaw with his tail. "Don"t torment her. Minty, you won"t be eaten. But we"ve got a long way to go, so you need to be prepared for a difficult journey."
Minty shrugged. "It won"t be difficult for me. I go outside every day."
Bramblestar blinked. That"s not exactly forest training, but I guess it will have to do. He turned to the fence. "Leap up there," he encouraged Minty, "and we"ll follow."
Minty peered up at the fence. "It"s awfully high," she mewed.
"For StarClan"s sake!" Thornclaw spat. "Have you never climbed a fence before?"
"Of course I have!" Minty retorted, stung. "It"s just that . . . Well, I used to climb up by the creeper there." She pointed with her tail over to the other side of the enclosed s.p.a.ce, where a plant with thick, glossy leaves was growing up the fence.
"Well, you can swim over to the creeper, or jump up here," Dovewing told her.
Minty blinked uncertainly. "You"ll help me, won"t you?" she asked Bramblestar.
"We"ll all help," Bramblestar promised. "Dovewing, you hop onto the fence and grab Minty when she jumps."
"Okay." Dovewing bunched her hindquarters and propelled herself onto the fence in a graceful bound. Bramblestar suspected she was showing off.
"Come on," he mewed to Minty. "You can stand on me to get a bit nearer if you like." He crouched at the side of the monster nearest the fence and winced as the kittypet dug her claws into his back to heave herself onto his shoulders. Bramblestar forced himself to take her weight and stand straight, lifting her as high as he could. "Now jump!"
He felt Minty"s paws scuffling for balance, then a vigorous shove as she sprang upward. Shaking his pelt, he looked up to see her clawing frantically at the wood, while Dovewing leaned down and grabbed her by the scruff. A moment later she stood beside Dovewing on the fence.
"Great," Thornclaw growled. "Now can we get moving?"
Bramblestar let Graystripe lead the way along the fence-top while he brought up the rear, just behind Minty. He wanted to be close enough to help her if she slipped. But to Bramblestar"s surprise she trotted along more confidently than the Clan cats, not at all fazed by the narrowness of the fence. Of course, she must have done this often, visiting her friends in the other dens.
When they reached the corner of the fence and Graystripe turned toward the Thunderpath, Minty halted and stared at the vast stretch of flooded ground. "There"s so much water!" she exclaimed. "Parsnip and his housefolk are gone, and my housefolk, and all the housefolk and the cats! I"m the only one left!" She sounded lost and small, as if she hadn"t realized the extent of the disaster until now.
Graystripe glanced over his shoulder at her. "It"ll be okay," he comforted her. "They"ll come back and look for you when the flood goes down."
Minty nodded, but Bramblestar wasn"t sure whether she believed him.
Finally they arrived at the end of the fence where they had first heard Minty"s cries, opposite the drowned monster on the Thunderpath. Here the water still reached halfway up their legs, and Minty was starting to look scared again.
"We can"t go any farther," she mewed.
"Yes, it"s fine," Bramblestar told her. "We have to swim over to where you can see that drowned monster, then get onto the fence, and that takes us to dry ground."
Minty turned to him with her blue eyes wider than ever. "Swim?"
Thornclaw let out a hiss of annoyance. "Don"t tell me you can"t swim!"
"I don"t know," Minty replied. "I"ve never tried."
Bramblestar took a deep breath. "Graystripe, you go first. Dovewing, swim on that side of Minty, and I"ll swim on this side. Thornclaw, follow us. Minty, I promise we"ll get you across, okay?"
"Okay . . . I guess."
Graystripe launched himself into the water, powering toward the monster with strong sweeps of his paws. Minty clung to the fence until Dovewing gave her a shove. She plopped into the water with a startled squeak. With Bramblestar on one side and Dovewing on the other, the kittypet splashed furiously, wasting far too much effort, but somehow she managed to propel herself forward.
"Hey, I can swi-" she squealed. The last word was cut off as water slopped into her mouth. She started spluttering, and Bramblestar steadied her with a shoulder underneath her until she caught her breath.
Bramblestar knew that he was getting tired, and guessed that his Clanmates felt the same. The swim to the drowned monster seemed twice as far as it had on the way out. If we hadn"t stopped to help Minty, we"d be back on our own territory by now. He was exhausted by the time they stood safely on ShadowClan territory. It was an effort to make his paws move along the waterline, beside the drowned pines.
"Is this where you live?" Minty asked, and added politely, "It"s . . . er . . . very nice."
"No, this is where ShadowClan lives," Graystripe told her. "We"re ThunderClan." He waved his tail toward the other side of the lake. "We live over there."
"What?" Minty screeched. "I can"t walk that far! My legs will fall off!"
Bramblestar looked at her. "You"d better hang on to them," he teased her. "Or Thornclaw might find he has a taste for kittypets after all."
Minty let out a yelp and raced ahead, glancing back over her shoulder at Thornclaw with a look of terror in her eyes.
"What did you say that for?" Thornclaw looked bemused. "When did I ever eat kittypets?"
"Just show your fangs," Dovewing muttered. "At least she"s moving!"
Minty waited for them to catch up, though she stayed as far from Thornclaw as possible, and padded beside the Clan cats as they headed toward the open stretch of gra.s.s.
"How many cats live by the lake?" she asked. "Do you all live together? And do you really eat mice and squirrels and yucky stuff like that?"
"I don"t know exactly how many cats there are," Bramblestar replied. "Lots. Each Clan has its own camp, where they live together. And yes, we catch our own prey and eat it. You will too, while you"re staying with us."
Minty shuddered. "Never!"
Bramblestar exchanged a glance with Thornclaw, guessing that the golden-brown warrior was thinking the same thing. Wait until she gets hungry!
"It"s really dark under these trees, isn"t it?" Minty chattered on. "I wouldn"t like living here. Is it dark in your territory, too?"
Graystripe shook his head. "ThunderClan territory is more open than this."