"Thanks," Bramblestar panted with a nod to b.u.mblestripe. "Where"s Dovewing?"
b.u.mblestripe angled his ears across the clearing. "There," he mewed grimly.
Looking where he pointed, Bramblestar saw Dovewing attacking a young badger side by side with Tigerheart. First one, then the other would dart forward, slash at the badger"s muzzle, and leap back, confusing the badger because it didn"t know which cat to attack first.
Leap and slash . . . leap and slash . . . At first Bramblestar was impressed by the unspoken closeness between the two young cats, the natural rhythm they shared as they drove the badger back into a bramble thicket. But after a moment the sight began to trouble him. Where did they learn to fight together like that? Any cat would think those two had known each other for moons, and trained together.
But Bramblestar had no time to think about that. The sounds of battle were beginning to die away. Some of the badgers had already fled, and the others were yielding, ready to be chased off. Bramblestar allowed himself a sigh of relief.
It"s almost over!
A heartbeat later he realized he had allowed himself to relax too soon. The biggest, most ferocious badger hadn"t given up. Bramblestar gaped with amazement at its speed as it lumbered across the clearing away from the main throng of battle. He realized that its target was two small ShadowClan cats-apprentices by the look of them-who were crouching together in the shelter of a clump of ferns, licking each other"s wounds. They looked up with horror in their eyes as the badger bore down on them.
Bramblestar launched himself forward, but he was too late to stop the creature. He raced after it, then spotted Jessy hurling herself at the badger from the opposite side.
She waved her tail when she saw Bramblestar. "With me!" she screeched.
Jessy shot straight in front of the badger, distracting it from snapping at the two young cats, who plunged deeper into the undergrowth with squeals of terror. Jumping up and down in front of the badger, backing away so that she was always just out of reach, Jessy lured it toward the edge of the trees.
"Come back!" Bramblestar yowled.
"No," Jessy responded. "I know what I"m doing!"
Terrified for her, Bramblestar streaked across to her side and kept pace with her as they pelted ahead of the badger. Tree roots tripped them and bramble tendrils reached out to snag their fur. Exhausted from the battle, Bramblestar knew he was too slow. He imagined he could already feel the badger"s hot, stinking breath on his fur and braced himself for the sting of snapping teeth.
Suddenly the leaf-strewn ground vanished, and the two cats lurched to a halt at the edge of the stream on the far side of ShadowClan territory. The water had gone down, but it was still far too wide to jump across. And there was no hope of swimming across the swift-flowing current, which s.n.a.t.c.hed debris and branches downriver in front of them.
"Great StarClan, we"re trapped!" Bramblestar gasped. "We"ll have to fight our way out."
Jessy ignored him; she was frantically scanning the water. "It"s here somewhere," she muttered.
"What?" Bramblestar panted, aware of the badger crashing through the undergrowth, getting nearer with every heartbeat.
Jessy began running downstream, her gaze flicking back and forth. Suddenly she halted and turned to Bramblestar, balancing right on the edge of the surging black water. "Follow me," she meowed.
"We can"t swim across that!" Bramblestar protested.
Jessy fixed her amber gaze on him. "Trust me."
Bramblestar hesitated, then touched his nose to hers. He nodded. "Lead on."
The badger broke out of the undergrowth and covered the open ground between them with ma.s.sive strides. Bramblestar flexed his claws as it loomed over him and Jessy and he looked up into its tiny, malignant eyes.
Jessy gave one more glance around, took a deep breath, and jumped into the stream. Bramblestar flinched, waiting for her to be swept underwater, then realized that she was still standing, fighting the current, but with water only reaching up to her belly.
For a moment Bramblestar stood still, gaping in astonishment.
"Quick!" Jessy screeched.
Knowing that he was trusting her with his life, Bramblestar leaped into the water beside Jessy. His paws struck something hard just beneath the surface, but before he could get his balance he started to slip. Jessy grabbed his scruff in her teeth and hauled him back before he could fall into the stream.
"There"s a tree trunk crossing the stream just here," she panted. "It"s underwater now, but I remembered where it was."
I can"t believe this! Bramblestar thought, stunned. Every hair on his pelt rose in alarm as he stood on top of the turbulent current. There was no way of seeing the tree beneath the surface, but it was definitely there, solid and steady against the flow of water. Bramblestar sank his claws into the perilously narrow trunk and braced himself. With Jessy beside him he stood firm as the badger let out a roar and lunged toward them.
But the badger didn"t know where the tree trunk was. There was a huge splash, soaking both cats, as it plunged into the stream and vanished beneath the surface. Moments later it reappeared as the current washed it down toward the lake, sputtering and bellowing as it thrashed its paws.
Jessy"s eyes gleamed as she watched it out of sight. Then both cats jumped back to the bank and shook water from their pelts. Bramblestar wanted to let out a yowl of pure joy and admiration for Jessy"s courage and quick thinking.
Instead he gave her a nod. "Not bad-for a kittypet," he meowed.
Jessy let out a small mrrow of amus.e.m.e.nt. "Not bad-for a wild cat," she retorted.
Together Bramblestar and Jessy raced back to the clearing, to find that the rest of the badgers had gone. Warriors from ShadowClan and ThunderClan stood side by side, their chests heaving, blood trickling from their wounds, as they a.s.sessed the damage.
"How"s Crowfrost?" Bramblestar demanded. He couldn"t see the ShadowClan deputy, and knew how badly hurt he had been.
"He"ll be okay," Pouncetail replied. "Pinenose and Stoatfur are helping him back to see Littlecloud."
Looking around at the rest of the cats, Bramblestar saw that none of them was unmarked. Spiderleg was one of the worst injured, with almost all his fur missing from one side, while Scorchfur had both ears slashed, and Ivypool was standing on three legs with one paw raised and bleeding. But all the wounds looked as if they would heal in time.
We won! Bramblestar thought, exhilaration flooding through him. We defeated the badgers and survived!
Then he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned to see Brightheart, her single eye full of sorrow. "It"s Dustpelt," she whispered.
With a lurch of horror in his belly, Bramblestar followed Brightheart across the clearing. Dustpelt was lying on his side in the midst of the trampled debris from the battle. Blood was trickling from his mouth and his brown tabby body was lacerated with countless claw marks. His eyes were closed and his breath came in short, shallow puffs.
Bramblestar crouched beside him. "Hold on, Dustpelt," he begged. "We"ll get help."
The tabby tom"s eyes flickered open. "It"s okay," he rasped. "It"s my time."
"No!" cried Bramblestar. He leaned forward so that his forehead rested against Dustpelt"s. "Not yet. Not here. You have served your Clan so well and for so long. Now it is our turn to serve you. The elders" den is waiting for you, Dustpelt."
The tip of Dustpelt"s tail twitched. "That is not where I want to be," he murmured. "Thank you, Bramblestar, for everything. May StarClan light your path, always."
The ShadowClan cats stood back and allowed Dustpelt"s Clanmates to gather around him as his breathing grew feebler and his eyes closed again. As Dustpelt sighed out his last breath, a pale gray shape appeared beside him, a cat with a pale gray pelt that glimmered in the moonlight, and the frosty glitter of stars around her paws. Her blue eyes shone with love as she gazed at the fallen warrior.
"Ferncloud!" Bramblestar breathed.
Other, fainter shapes appeared behind her: Bramblestar recognized Foxleap, who had died from his wounds after the Great Battle; Icecloud, who had succ.u.mbed to the recent bout of greencough; and others with them, all the lost kits of Dustpelt and Ferncloud, warriors of StarClan who had come to honor their father. Bramblestar stared in amazement as the spirit of Dustpelt rose from his mutilated body and padded up to Ferncloud, bending his head to touch noses with her. The two cats twined their tails together and for a moment the clearing shone even more brightly with silver light. Then the starry shapes began to fade, until all that was left was a few wisps of shimmering mist, and then nothing.
A long sigh escaped Bramblestar. His grief at Dustpelt"s death was tinged with a strange feeling of joy. He found it so hard to go on without Ferncloud, and now they"re together again.
Bramblestar realized that Tawnypelt was standing at his side. "I"m so sorry," she whispered, dipping her head toward Dustpelt. "He was a n.o.ble warrior. All of the Clans will grieve for him."
Bramblestar nodded. "May he be at peace now." He suddenly felt exhausted, bitterly aware of every scratch and bite on his pelt. He wondered if his legs had enough strength to carry him back to his own territory.
Tawnypelt traced his flank with the tip of her tail. "I can never thank you enough for what you did tonight," she purred. "This was more than ThunderClan protecting its own hunting grounds, wasn"t it? You came because you are my brother, and I needed you."
Bramblestar gazed into her warm green eyes. "Always," he murmured. An image flashed into his mind of the lake filling with scarlet water that swirled to the surface until it swallowed the reflected starlight. Firestar"s strange prophecy echoed in his ears: When water meets blood, blood will rise. His vision of Yellowfang had shown him the same thing. And finally Bramblestar understood.
Tawnypelt shares my blood. We are the son and daughter of Tigerstar and Goldenflower. When the flood threatened us both, our kinship gave us strength to survive. That"s what the prophecy meant!
Bramblestar didn"t try to explain all this to Tawnypelt. He knew this wasn"t the place or the time. But he raised his head to look at the stars glittering above him, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks to StarClan.
"Tawnypelt, it"s time to go back to camp." Rowanstar"s voice broke into Bramblestar"s thoughts.
Tawnypelt dipped her head, then touched noses briefly with Bramblestar before turning away to join her Clanmates, who were limping out of the clearing.
Rowanstar faced Bramblestar. His orange pelt was ruffled and smeared with blood, and one eye was swollen closed. But he held his head high, and stood with his shoulders squared. "Thank you for your help," he meowed. Then hostility flashed into his eyes. "But we didn"t ask for it!"
Bramblestar said nothing. He wasn"t going to get Tawnypelt into trouble by telling her mate about the plea for help. He wondered when Rowanstar would realize that ThunderClan had enabled them to win this battle. He waited for one of the ShadowClan warriors to pitch in and point out that without ThunderClan, the badgers would have destroyed them all. But no cat spoke, and Rowanstar still glared at Bramblestar as if he was on the verge of continuing the battle.
"Don"t be like Firestar," the ShadowClan leader growled, drawing his lips back in the beginnings of a snarl. "Stop interfering, Bramblestar. This is your last warning!"
CHAPTER 32.
Sunlight, golden and thick as honey, bathed the forest. Outside the tunnel most of the cats of ThunderClan were basking in the sun"s rays, licking their wounds and telling one another stories of the battle against the badgers. Two sunrises had pa.s.sed since their expedition to help ShadowClan, but the excitement of their victory still bubbled up among them like springs of pure water.
"You should have seen Lionblaze fighting!" Amberpaw mewed. "He was like three cats, all on his own."
"And Jessy was brilliant," Frankie added. "She wasn"t scared at all!"
Bramblestar couldn"t share in their cheerful talk. A dark mood had settled over him as he wondered if he had been right to take his warriors to fight ShadowClan"s battle. Rowanstar"s furious parting shot had forced Bramblestar to question the risks he had taken for an ungrateful rival.
If I hadn"t insisted on helping ShadowClan, Dustpelt would still be alive. Bramblestar was missing the sharp-tongued, cranky warrior more than he would have thought possible. Now he watched Dustpelt"s son Spiderleg returning from the place where his father had been buried on the slope above the tunnel. Spiderleg"s head drooped sadly and his tail trailed on the ground. So much pain . . . Hasn"t enough ThunderClan blood been spilled?
In addition to grief for Dustpelt, Bramblestar wasn"t looking forward to hearing what WindClan and RiverClan would have to say about the way ThunderClan had interfered again. He had no doubt that Rowanstar would claim it had been unnecessary and overconfident, and a threat to the independence of all the Clans.
Yes, the badgers have been driven off, but at what cost to my warriors?
A joyful yowl from the direction of the lake distracted Bramblestar from his gloomy thoughts. A moment later Jessy and Millie rushed out of the trees.
"The water has gone!" Millie announced. "We can get into the hollow!"
Several cats sprang up and crowded around the two she-cats. Their excited voices echoed around the clearing.
"Is it really dry?"
"We can go home!"
"No more sleeping in that horrible, dark tunnel!"
Brackenfur rose more slowly. "Calm down," he meowed, thrusting himself into the enthusiastic throng. "It"ll take a lot of work to rebuild the old dens. I"ll come down now and take a look at the damage."
"We"ll come with you!" Snowpaw bounced up and down. "We"ll all help!"
With the apprentices scampering ahead, all the cats ran into the trees and headed down the slope. Bramblestar fell in behind them, and found that Jessy had waited for him at the edge of the trees.
"Isn"t this great?" she cried, bouncing up to him. "At last I can see your home!" Then she paused, tipping her head on one side. "Are you worried about how much damage has been done?" she asked more gently. "You don"t seem as excited as the others."
Bramblestar shook his head. "No, I know we can repair our dens. Don"t worry, I"m fine."
Together they followed the rest of the cats down to the hollow. The lower slopes, where the water had just retreated, were still wet and slippery. Bramblestar watched Amberpaw lose her footing and roll down, tail and paws waving, until she managed to stop herself by grabbing a tuft of long gra.s.s. She sprang up again, slicked with mud but not at all bothered by the fall, and pelted on after her littermates.
Bramblestar padded into the hollow and looked around. The thorn barrier at the entrance had been almost completely swept away; that would need restoring before they could feel safe. He was relieved to see that he could identify all the dens, though some of the branches and all of the moss and leaves that plugged holes in the roofs and walls had vanished. The nursery roof was sagging and washed-up branches blocked the entrance to the medicine cats" den.
Walking farther into the camp, Bramblestar had to pick his way among debris and a few surviving puddles. Sc.r.a.ps of bark, twigs, and leaves littered the ground, and there were even a few dead fish.
"Look, a fresh-kill pile already!" Berrynose joked as he padded past.
Poppyfrost wrinkled her nose and winced. "Not all that fresh," she muttered.
Brackenfur was moving from den to den, followed by Cherryfall and Mousewhisker as he inspected the damage. "We"ll need a lot of brambles to patch that up," he warned, waving his tail at the roof of the warriors" den, which had a jagged hole in the middle. "Dustpelt, do you think-" he mewed, then broke off, flinching. "Sorry, I forgot," he mumbled. "I"m not sure I can do this without him."
Whitewing rested her tail across Brackenfur"s shoulders. "You worked with Dustpelt for many seasons," she meowed encouragingly. "You know just what he would have done. And we"ll all help rebuild our home. You"re not alone."
Bramblestar watched the golden-brown tabby brace himself and examine the warriors" den more closely. "We"ll need to find the longest bramble tendrils we can, to weave between the branches," he told Cherryfall and Molewhisker. "Ivy is good, too. And then plenty of moss to plug the gaps. But first we have to clear out all the mud and mess."
"How do we do that?" Mousewhisker asked, ducking under the branches of the fallen tree to peer at the clots of sludge that covered the floor of the den.
"Hmm . . ." Brackenfur narrowed his eyes. "There are plenty of dead leaves and ferns lying around. They should help to sop up the worst of the mud."
"Brackenfur!" Daisy"s voice called from across the camp.
Bramblestar turned to see that the cream-furred cat had emerged from the nursery with a disgusted expression on her face. Cinderheart followed her a few paces behind.
"Brackenfur, the nursery is a disgrace!" Daisy announced. "Cinderheart"s not having her kits in there."
"It"s not that bad-" Cinderheart began to protest.
"It"s worse than the tunnel!" Daisy hissed. Turning to Brackenfur, she added, "You have to do something right now, so it"s ready for when the kits arrive."
"Okay, okay," Brackenfur soothed her. "I"ve only got four paws, you know. But I"ll make sure the nursery"s ready; don"t worry. I"ll come over with you now, and see what needs to be done."
Satisfied, Daisy turned to head back to the nursery, and was nearly knocked off her paws by all four apprentices, who were giving Frankie, Jessy, and Minty a tour of the camp.
"This is where we sleep," Dewpaw announced, waving his tail at the wreck of the apprentices" den. "You can go in if you like."
Minty peered over the waterlogged ferns that edged the den and drew back with a twitch of her whiskers. "Er . . . very nice," she murmured. "But I won"t go in just yet, if you don"t mind."