Bramblestar’s Storm

Chapter 8

Bramblestar scrambled through the long grass, heavy with rain, back up the slope to the hollow. Thornclaw was still crouched by the entrance; he leaped to his paws and stared in astonishment when he saw Bramblestar, drenched to his skin.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“The lake is flooding!” Bramblestar panted. “The water is coming up through the forest.”

“What? It can’t be!”

“Come and see.”

Bramblestar whipped around and led Thornclaw at a run back down the hillside. This time he knew what to expect, and he halted beside the tree stump, right at the edge of the floodwater.

“Wow!” Thornclaw breathed. “That’s some flood!”

In the darkness Bramblestar thought there was something sinister about the water, the surface ruffled by the wind and glinting in the light from the stars. Waves slapped against the tree trunks, sucking and gurgling around the roots.

“What should we do now?” Thornclaw asked.

“I’m not sure,” Bramblestar admitted. “Let’s get back to the camp and see what the others think.”

The rain began lashing down more heavily, and by the time Bramblestar and Thornclaw reached the hollow, they were equally soaked through. While Thornclaw went back on watch, Bramblestar slipped inside the warriors’ den and roused Squirrelflight and Brackenfur.

“What is it?” Squirrelflight muttered, struggling up out of her nest. “A fallen tree?”

“No, thank StarClan.” Bramblestar gestured toward the entrance to the den. “Come over here where we can talk without waking the others.”

Brackenfur picked his way among sleeping warriors to join them, disturbing Graystripe on the way. The gray warrior glanced up, and when Bramblestar beckoned to him, he hauled himself out of his nest and padded over to the little group by the entrance.

“What’s the problem?” he asked with a massive yawn.

Bramblestar explained how the lake water had risen and flooded the forest. “It’s still some way away,” he meowed. “I don’t think it will get this far.”

“What do you want us to do?” Squirrelflight meowed.

Bramblestar gazed out across the camp. The clearing was covered with puddles that were starting to run together as the rain hissed down. “We need to decide what to do about hunting and border patrols,” he mewed.

A screech from the elders’ den interrupted him and Purdy stumbled into the open. “There’s water all down my back!” he yowled.

Daisy emerged after the elder, her shoulders hunched against the downpour, and began chivvying him across to the nursery.

At the same moment Bramblestar heard cats stirring in the den behind him, and grunts of complaint as water seeped through the roof and showered the warriors. Cloudtail jumped up and shook himself with a disgusted look at the woven brambles above his head. Rosepetal tried to burrow deeper into the moss to get away from the cold trickles, while Berrynose snarled with annoyance as he squashed himself into a tiny, dry corner.

“We’re going to be washed out of here,” Bramblestar meowed. “Brackenfur, can you check the other dens, and see if anywhere is watertight?”

“Sure.” Brackenfur slipped out into the storm and pelted across to the nursery.

“Do you think we need to leave the hollow?” Squirrelflight suggested.

Bramblestar glanced at Graystripe, wondering what he thought.

Graystripe shook his head. “It’s just as wet out in the forest as it is here,” he pointed out. “And it’s too dark to see where we’re putting our paws.”

“There’s more danger out there, too,” Bramblestar agreed. “The wind is still strong enough to knock over trees. No, I think we’ll stay put.”

“What are you going to tell the others about the lake?” Squirrelflight asked.

Bramblestar hesitated for a moment. “Nothing,” he decided. “They’ll find out soon enough, and there’s no point scaring them in the middle of the night.”

Squirrelflight didn’t look as if she agreed with him, but she just dipped her head and mewed, “Okay.”

Behind them in the warriors’ den, more cats were waking as the rain forced its way through the roof. Startled squeals sounded through the darkness.

“This is no good, Bramblestar,” Cloudtail grumbled, squelching his way through the soaked moss and picking up each paw to shake it. “It’s like trying to sleep under a waterfall!”

“We’ll all die of greencough at this rate!” Spiderleg called out.

For a moment Bramblestar didn’t know what to tell his Clanmates. I can’t make it stop raining!

Just then Brackenfur returned, his pelt drenched and his legs splashed with mud. “The nursery is dry,” he reported. “And so is the apprentices’ den.”

“Good.” Bramblestar puffed out a breath of relief. “Jayfeather should be able to fit a couple of cats into his cave, and my den on the Highledge will be sheltered, too.” He turned to face the shivering cats in the warriors’ den, raising his voice so they could hear him above the clamor of wind and rain. “We have to move out of this den. Graystripe, take Blossomfall, Dustpelt, and Sandstorm to join Millie and Briarlight in my den. Mentors, you can bed down with your apprentices in their den. Brightheart and Cloudtail, go to Jayfeather. The rest of us will sleep in the nursery.”

He stood with Squirrelflight at the entrance to the den, watching as his Clanmates darted out into the storm, hunched and miserable. Sandstorm and Dustpelt bounded toward the tumbled rocks, while Berrynose touched noses with Poppyfrost before she scurried off to join her apprentice. Whitewing seemed reluctant to leave Dovewing, who looked spooked by what was happening, as if she was straining to listen to all the forest at once.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Lionblaze promised.

Whitewing flashed him a grateful glance, then dashed through the teeming rain after Poppyfrost.

As the last of the warriors left the soaked den, another cat raced up to Bramblestar; peering through the darkness he made out Leafpool’s pale tabby pelt.

“Jayfeather and I have spare dry bedding,” she mewed. “Where do you need it?”

“Take some to the Highledge,” Bramblestar ordered. “They’ll be short up there. And check the apprentices’ den. The nursery should have enough.”

“Okay.” Leafpool sped off again.

“Thanks, Leafpool!” Bramblestar called after her.

When all the cats had left, he and Squirrelflight headed for the nursery, but Bramblestar veered aside to check on the apprentices. When he stuck his head inside the den, he saw that all of them were awake now, squashed up tightly with their mentors.

“Are you all okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” Whitewing replied. “We could do with a bit more bedding—”

“And a bit more space,” Spiderleg added. “Lilypaw, take your tail out of my eye.”

“This is exciting!” Amberpaw squeaked, her eyes gleaming in the dim light.

“No, it isn’t!” Ivypool retorted. She was licking herself to dry off her pelt. “We’re cold and wet, and StarClan knows what the camp will look like in the morning.”

“Apprentices think everything is exciting,” Bumblestripe pointed out as he burrowed into the dry moss.

“Except finding Purdy’s ticks.” Seedpaw yawned.

“I just thought of something!” Dewpaw exclaimed. “We must be warriors now, because we’ve got warriors sleeping here, so this is the warriors’ den.”

“Yay! No more ticks!” Snowpaw yowled.

“In your dreams!” Spiderleg meowed.

Poppyfrost rolled her eyes. “Very funny. Now be quiet and go to sleep.”

Obediently the apprentices curled up, but Bramblestar could hear stifled snuffles of amusement, and see the glimmer of mischievous eyes peeping out over the tails that wrapped their noses. He drew back and spotted Leafpool scurrying across the clearing with a load of bedding. Jayfeather loomed up beside Bramblestar at the entrance to the apprentices’ den, a bundle of moss wedged between his chin and his chest, with another bundle in his jaws.

When he shoved his burden through the ferns that sheltered the den, Bumblestripe’s voice called out, “Thanks!” and there was an outraged squeak from Lilypaw.

“Hey! You buried me!”

As Jayfeather turned away again, Bramblestar halted him with a touch of his tail, then drew him out of earshot of the apprentices’ den. “Any more omens?” he meowed.

Jayfeather gestured with his tail to take in the whole camp. “Let’s see… wind, rain, leaking dens… What exactly are you looking for, Bramblestar? You should thank StarClan that no cats have been injured.”

Bramblestar twitched. Unpleasant as the storm was, he didn’t feel it was bad enough to be the terrible doom that Jayfeather had prophesied. Unless there’s worse to come. Maybe the lake…

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Jayfeather asked sharply.

“No,” Bramblestar replied, still unwilling to reveal the encroaching lake. “We just need to make sure our Clanmates are okay. You’d better get back to your den.”

When Jayfeather had gone, Bramblestar ran to the nursery and pushed his way in, thankful to be sheltered at last. The air inside felt still and welcoming after the chaos outside, in spite of the tang of wet fur. It was almost completely dark, but he could just make out the shapes of his Clanmates, and spotted Squirrelflight waving her tail at him.

“Over here, Bramblestar. I’ve kept a space for you.”

Bramblestar headed toward her, weaving his way with difficulty between his Clanmates, who were packed in tightly from one end of the nursery to the other.

“Hey!” Molewhisker yelped. “That’s my tail you’re treading on.”

“Sorry,” Bramblestar muttered.

Cherryfall swiped her brother across the ear. “Careful, Molewhisker. You don’t talk to our Clan leader like that!”

“It’s okay,” Bramblestar meowed. “It’s tough for all of us, squashed together like this.” He squeezed into the gap between Squirrelflight and Birchfall and wriggled into the moss, trying to get comfortable. But his pelt was still wet, and it took a while for the warmth of the nursery to penetrate through it.

Some of his Clanmates were already snoring, though the younger warriors were whispering to one another with occasional mrrows of laughter.

It’s an adventure for them, Bramblestar thought wearily. I hope it turns out to be no worse.

From somewhere at the back of the nursery he heard Purdy’s voice. “This is nothin’ compared to the storms I remember when I was a kit…”

There was something soothing about the elder’s words. Nothing will stop Purdy telling his stories! The tale rumbled on as Bramblestar closed his eyes, but sleep was a long time coming. At last he fell into a doze, haunted by dreams of rising water and drowning cats, their paws stretched out helplessly as the waves swept them away.

“Bramblestar!” The voice jerked him awake, along with icy drops spattering onto his pelt.

Bramblestar opened his eyes to see Thornclaw standing over him. The warrior’s golden-brown pelt was dripping, plastered to his sides, and he was shivering violently. The first gray light of a new day was seeping into the den, but the storm hadn’t let up. Rain thundered down onto the roof of the den, and the wind still blustered through the camp.

“Bramblestar, there’s something you need to see,” Thornclaw mewed through chattering teeth.

Careful not to disturb his sleeping Clanmates, Bramblestar followed Thornclaw into the clearing, flinching as icy rain poured down on him. The floor of the hollow was awash with leaves and twigs floating on the water, while here and there a bigger branch rocked in the current with one end wedged in the mud. Up above, gaps had opened up in the line of trees, telling Bramblestar that some of them had fallen. Part of the thorn barrier had been torn away, leaving a ragged gap where the entrance had been.

“It’s going to take a lot of work to put this right,” Bramblestar meowed with a flick of his tail.

“It gets worse,” Thornclaw warned.

He led the way right up to the thorns. Staring through the gap, Bramblestar saw water surging up the slope toward them, gray and menacing. The line of waves broke and swirled as they met swift-flowing streams that had burst their banks and now crisscrossed the forest, flattening the undergrowth.

“Great StarClan!” Bramblestar gasped. “The lake has reached the camp!”

There was a tang in the air that reminded him of the sun-drown-water; the eerie sounds of lapping waves and trees groaning sent a shiver through him from ears to tail-tip.

“We need to leave,” Thornclaw meowed urgently.

Bramblestar spun around and raced back to the center of the hollow. “Cats of ThunderClan!” he yowled. “Come out now!”

For a heartbeat no cat appeared, though he could hear startled murmurs from the dens. Then Squirrelflight rushed out of the nursery. “What’s going on?”

“Go and look beyond the thorn barrier,” Bramblestar told her.

Squirrelflight sped up to the camp entrance, then halted abruptly as she saw what was outside. When she returned her face was frozen in fear, her eyes stretched wide. But her voice was steady as she asked, “What are we going to do?”

By now, cats were spilling dazedly from their makeshift nests, staring around with a mixture of fright and anger. Bramblestar splashed his way across the hollow and climbed the rocks to the Highledge. He hoped that from up there he could make himself heard above the noise of the storm. Millie and Briarlight and the other cats who had been sheltering in his den were huddled at the top of the slope, and Bramblestar had to push his way through them.

“The lake has flooded the forest!” he yowled. “We need to leave the hollow right now!”

Screeches of disbelief came from his Clanmates. “It couldn’t have!” Rosepetal gasped. “The lake is at the bottom of the hill!”

“Not anymore,” Bramblestar meowed.

As he spoke, water began trickling through the gap in the thorns, mingling with the rainwater already there. At first it looked like nothing more than a shallow ripple, easy enough to wade through. Then there was a surge of gray-brown waves crested with yellowish foam, sloshing through the thorns. When the waves retreated, they swept most of the barrier away, leaving room for more water to rush in, deeper and swirling.

For a moment all the cats stared at it in horrified silence, broken by yelps of panic as they realized that the unthinkable was happening.

“Lilypaw! Seedpaw! Over here!” their father, Brackenfur, called, while Cloudtail and Brightheart rounded up the younger apprentices.

“Bramblestar!” Millie was staring at him, her eyes wide with terror and her claws raking frenziedly at the wet stone of the Highledge. “What about Briarlight? She won’t be able to swim if the hollow floods!”

“No cat will have to swim,” Bramblestar reassured her. “There are other ways out of the hollow.”

Leafpool, who was standing outside the medicine cats’ den, waved her tail to attract every cat’s attention. “Follow me!” she ordered.

Bramblestar silently thanked StarClan for the steep, twisting path that led up the cliff from the bushes near the entrance to the medicine cats’ den. It would be a hard climb, he knew, but it was their only escape route from the rising water. He turned to face the cats clustered on the ledge behind him. “Graystripe,” he ordered, “get the others to help you bring Briarlight down. I’ll see you at the bottom of the path.”

Graystripe crouched down while Dustpelt and Sandstorm began lifting Briarlight onto his back. Bramblestar left them to it and ran down the tumbled rocks to join Leafpool.

By now most of the Clan was clustered around the medicine cats’ den, while Leafpool and Squirrelflight forced a way through the bushes, revealing the first few tail-lengths of the path. The cats crowded into the space behind the thorns, which was slightly sheltered from the force of the storm.

“Wow!” Snowpaw squeaked, tipping back her head to follow the path up the cliff. “How did Leafpool know about this?”

Brightheart gave her daughter a flick around the ear. “Medicine cats know a lot of things,” she mewed.

Bramblestar swallowed hard as he gazed up at the path. It was a tricky scramble at the best of times, but it was going to be treacherous in this pouring rain and fierce wind. What if a cat falls? They could break their neck, and it would be my fault. He shook himself to clear his head. I’m the leader of this Clan. It’s my responsibility to protect these cats, and there’s no other way to leave the hollow.

“Brackenfur, Spiderleg,” he meowed briskly. “You go up first. Make sure we can still get out that way. And for StarClan’s sake, be careful.”

With a grim nod, Brackenfur sprang up the path with Spiderleg hard on his paws. Bramblestar narrowed his eyes against the driving rain, trying to watch their progress. From time to time he lost sight of them as they vanished behind bushes or jutting rocks, but at last he made out Brackenfur’s light brown pelt at the edge of the cliff top.

“It’s okay!” Brackenfur yowled. “But the path is very slippery… Don’t try to rush it.”

“Right, let’s get moving,” Bramblestar ordered. “Daisy, you next.” He beckoned with his tail to the shivering she-cat, whose long, cream-colored pelt hung like rats’ tails around her. “Lionblaze, follow her up and make sure she’s okay.”

“I’ll be fine,” Daisy mewed. “I’ve done it before.”

Bramblestar remembered how Squirrelflight, Brightheart, and Cloudtail had climbed the path with Daisy and her kits to rescue them from the badger attack, so many moons ago. Now—in spite of how he had longed for a nursery full of kits—he was thankful that there were no tiny cats who had to be carried out of the hollow. Moving Briarlight will be hard enough…

Once Lionblaze and Daisy were halfway up, Bramblestar sent the apprentices, each with their mentor to keep an eye on them. He sent Cloudtail with Amberpaw, since Spiderleg had already made the climb. The young cats showed no fear at all, sure-pawed and nimble as they followed the narrow path back and forth across the cliff face.

“Dovewing next!” Bramblestar called.

The pale gray she-cat splashed forward through the puddles, her ears twitching. “I’m not sure I can do this,” she muttered. “I keep looking for stuff that isn’t here, and I can’t see what’s right under my nose.”

“Of course you can do it.” Her father, Birchfall, padded up to her. “I’ll be right behind you. I won’t let you fall.”

Taking a deep breath, Dovewing began to climb. At first she was slow and nervous, but gradually she seemed more sure of herself and her pace quickened.

“Take your time,” Birchfall urged. “This isn’t a race!”

“Now you, Thornclaw,” Bramblestar meowed. “Once you get to the top, find a bush or something to take shelter. You’ve had a terrible night.”

Thornclaw gave his Clan leader a brief nod. “I’ve had better.”

By now the daylight had strengthened a little, but the sky was covered with heaving gray clouds. There would be no sunrise. The rain still pelted down, sweeping in waves across the hollow as it was buffeted by the wind.

Peering upward, Bramblestar could see a growing crowd of cats at the top of the cliff. None of them had lost their footing so far. Maybe we’ll all make it. “Molewhisker and Cherryfall, off you go,” he ordered.

Cherryfall set off first, scrambling confidently from one paw hold to the next, disappearing into the driving rain, but when Molewhisker tried to follow he halted a few tail-lengths above the ground, his ears flat and his eyes staring in terror.

“I can’t do it!” he wailed. “I’m going to fall!”

Bramblestar’s heart began to thud. “You’ll be fine!” he called up to the panicking young tom. “All the other cats have done it.”

“I’m slipping! Help!”

“Mouse dung!” Bramblestar muttered.

He was about to start climbing to give Molewhisker a boost from below, when he spotted Lionblaze making his way carefully down from the top of the cliff.

“Hang on, Molewhisker!” the warrior yowled. “I’m coming! You see that rock just there… the flat one?” Lionblaze slithered to a halt, leaning into the cliff face with his hind paws gripping the loose stones. “Put your forepaw there. Now bring your hind paws up to that crack. That’s right…”

Very slowly Molewhisker started to move. The two cats climbed together until Bramblestar lost sight of them, and Lionblaze’s reassuring tones were lost in the howl of the wind.

Brightheart and Cinderheart shuffled up to the end of the path. “We’re ready, Bramblestar,” Brightheart mewed.

“Wait a moment,” Bramblestar warned. “I want to be sure Molewhisker gets up safely. If he falls, he could knock any cat below him off the path.”

As he finished speaking, he heard Lionblaze again, yowling from the cliff top. “We made it!”

Thank StarClan, Bramblestar thought. And thank Lionblaze! “Okay, off you go,” he told the two she-cats.

They set off well, taking small, cautious steps and keeping their bodies low and close to the rock. Then a gust of wind caught Brightheart, who was climbing a fox-length behind Cinderheart. She slipped and hung off the edge of the path, her paws scrabbling wildly, letting out a screech of terror. “Help!”

Bramblestar bunched his muscles to leap up to her, but before he could move Cinderheart had turned back, her claws clinging to the rock. She fastened her teeth in Brightheart’s scruff and hauled her back onto the path.

Brightheart crouched, trembling. “Thanks, Cinderheart,” she gasped.

“Are you okay?” Cinderheart mewed. “Can you keep going?”

Brightheart nodded. “Let’s go.”

As Bramblestar watched them struggling slowly up the cliff face, he felt water washing against his belly fur and he realized that the flood in the hollow was getting deeper. Time is running out! Glancing around at the cats who were left, he saw that Graystripe had arrived with Briarlight and the other cats who had spent the night in the den on the Highledge. Purdy had joined them. The two medicine cats were standing near their den, while Berrynose and Mousewhisker were closer to the bottom of the path, their claws working impatiently as they waited for their turn. Rosepetal was hanging farther back with Squirrelflight.

Bramblestar gave a nod to the two toms, who set off with quick, steady paw steps. For the first few tail-lengths he kept an eye on Berrynose, knowing that the cream-colored warrior tended to be overconfident, but both he and his brother vanished up the path with no trouble.

Squirrelflight stepped up to him. “Rosepetal’s nervous,” she murmured in Bramblestar’s ear. “I’ll go up with her, if that’s okay.”

Bramblestar gave his deputy a grateful nod. “Please. I know she’ll be safe with you.”

“Come on,” Squirrelflight meowed, giving Rosepetal a friendly shove. “You chase squirrels up trees all the time. This is no different.”

Rosepetal nodded, but she clearly wasn’t convinced. “I’ll try,” she whispered.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Squirrelflight promised. “I won’t let you fall.”

Just do it now, not tomorrow, Bramblestar thought, conscious of the rising water.

Squirrelflight nudged Rosepetal over to the path and they began to climb. To Bramblestar they seemed to be going agonizingly slow, but the she-cats steadily gained height, and to his relief Rosepetal didn’t freeze with terror like Molewhisker. Bramblestar noticed that Lionblaze and Cinderheart were standing at the top of the path, helping their Clanmates up the last few paw steps. Thank StarClan for them, he thought. And for all the cats who’re helping. Where would we be without them?

His gaze fixed on the cliff, he didn’t see Millie until he felt her tail touch his shoulder, and turned to see her beside him, her whole body tense with worry.

“What about Briarlight?” she whimpered. “She’ll never climb up there!”

Bramblestar felt a heavy weight in his belly. He had imagined that some cat would carry Briarlight up the path, but now that he had watched his Clanmates make the climb, he knew that would be impossible. Glancing past Millie, he saw Briarlight waiting quietly beside Sandstorm and Dustpelt. She trusts me! Great StarClan, what am I going to do?

“We’ll get her out,” he promised. “Let’s send up as many of the others as we can first. Graystripe, Blossomfall, you go next. Sandstorm, as soon as they’re out of the way, can you help Purdy?”

“Sure, Bramblestar,” Sandstorm responded.

Purdy frowned at the narrow, twisty path. “I’m not sure my old legs will get me up there,” he grunted.

“Of course they will,” Sandstorm reassured him. “And think what a great story you’ll have to tell afterward!”

With a muffled curse, the old cat began to climb the cliff. Sandstorm followed, encouraging him every step, but his progress became slower and slower as he climbed higher. Purdy was less than halfway up when part of the cliff face flaked off beneath his paws and he plunged backward in a shower of stones. Sandstorm dived forward to grab him, but she was too late.

“Purdy!” she screeched.

As he fell, Purdy grabbed for a scrawny bush that was growing in a crack in the rock. His front claws sank into it, while his hind paws scrabbled against the cliff face.

“I’m stuck!” he yowled.

Sandstorm leaned over, gripped Purdy’s shoulder fur in her teeth, and heaved, but she couldn’t pull him up.

Bramblestar gave the waiting cats a swift glance. “I’ll be back,” he meowed, then began to climb.

When he reached Purdy, who still clung grimly to the bush, he realized the problem was worse than he thought. Just above them, the cliff face was starting to crumble away, probably eroded by the rain, and the weight of several cats was breaking it up even more.

“Sorry, Bramblestar!” Purdy gasped. “I’m too old and stiff for this. I can’t get up or down, so I’d better live here, okay?”

Bramblestar could see that the elder was trying to be brave, but he was clearly scared and humiliated by his failure. “No, this is no good as a den,” he responded, thinking quickly. “Sandstorm, go to the top and find a good, strong ivy stem, long enough to stretch down here. Get Lionblaze to help you.”

“We’ll never haul Purdy up on an ivy stem,” Sandstorm objected. “He’s too heavy.”

“Too many voles,” Purdy attempted to joke. “Not enough exercise.”

“We might not be able to get him up,” Bramblestar replied to Sandstorm. “But we can lower him down. Once his paws are on firm ground, we can think again.”

“Firm ground?” Purdy scoffed. “It’s a lake down there!”

Sandstorm gave her Clan leader a brisk nod, and headed up the path. Bramblestar thought she was moving too fast for safety, but he didn’t call out to her, just appreciating her care for her Clanmate.

Bramblestar stayed with Purdy until a long tendril of ivy came snaking down from the cliff top. Several stems had been twined together, making it strong.

“We’re ready!” Sandstorm called down.

“Okay, Purdy, grab the stem in your teeth,” Bramblestar instructed, guiding it into the old cat’s reach.

Once Purdy was biting down on the tendril, Bramblestar climbed down to the next curve of the path, so that he was directly underneath the old cat. “Let go of the bush!” he yowled.

Purdy hesitated, then pulled his claws out of the branch and clutched the ivy instead. He lurched down the cliff face, crashing and swinging from the tendril. Bramblestar fixed his hind claws into the gritty path and reached out with his front paws to take Purdy’s weight, guiding him to where he could stand. Purdy was stiff with fear, his eyes staring, but he let out a little snort of satisfaction when he felt his paws touch the rock.

Bramblestar thought it was too risky to expect him to climb down the path on his own. Instead he made Purdy keep hold of the ivy tendril and yowled instructions up to Lionblaze and Sandstorm, who lowered the old cat stage by stage until he reached the bottom of the cliff.

“We’re down!” Bramblestar called out to the cats at the top. But what do we do now?

“I’ll be fine,” Purdy meowed, shaking himself free from the ivy. “The hollow won’t fill right up. I’ll wait out the storm on the Highledge.”

“I’ll wait with him,” Briarlight meowed.

Millie moved closer to her daughter. “In that case, I’m staying too.”

Bramblestar looked at the water flowing into the camp through the thorn barrier. Already it was high enough to reach his flanks, and Briarlight was having to strain to keep her head above the surface. “No cat will be left behind,” he growled.

“Then what are we going to do?” Millie hissed, her eyes wild with fear.

Bramblestar spotted a branch bobbing past in the floodwater, and a plan began to form in his mind. “To start with,” he told Millie, “I want you and Leafpool to climb the cliff. Then I’ll know you’re safe.”

Millie stared at him in disbelief. “Have you got bees in your brain? I’m not leaving Briarlight!”

Bramblestar clenched his teeth on a sharp reply. He understood Millie’s anxiety for her daughter, but she wasn’t helping. To his relief, Leafpool stepped forward and curled her tail around Millie’s shoulder. “Come on,” she urged kindly. “Briarlight will be fine. You can trust Bramblestar.”

I hope she’s right, Bramblestar thought.

“It’s okay,” Briarlight mewed. “Go with Leafpool. I’ll see you at the top of the cliff.”

Millie narrowed her eyes at Bramblestar. “If she dies, I’ll never forgive you.”

Bramblestar dipped his head to her. “Millie, I promise you that I’ll get Briarlight out, or die trying.”

Millie held his gaze for a moment longer, then turned away with Leafpool. The two she-cats vanished up the path.

“I can climb the cliff too,” Jayfeather announced.

“No, I need you to help with Briarlight,” Bramblestar replied. “No cat knows as much about her condition as you.” And I don’t want a blind cat dangling off the cliff face. “Dustpelt, I’ll need your help too,” he continued. “And it would be good to have Brackenfur.”

He yowled the order to the top of the cliff, and a few moments later the golden-brown warrior appeared, treading sure-footedly along the path.

Squirrelflight scrambled down after him. “What’s going on?” she called.

“We need to find a different way out of the hollow,” Bramblestar explained. “I thought we might use some kind of branch to float Briarlight and Purdy and Jayfeather out on the floodwater.”

“Great StarClan, that’s risky!” Brackenfur exclaimed. “Do you want us to find a branch?”

“I have one in mind,” Bramblestar told him. “The memorial branch with the claw marks for the cats who fell in the Great Battle.”

Jayfeather let out an outraged yelp. “Can’t you use a different one?”

“It’s by far the longest and strongest piece of wood in the camp,” Bramblestar pointed out. “Besides, if we use it, perhaps our fallen Clanmates will be able to help us. If ever we needed StarClan, it’s now.”

Dustpelt and Brackenfur exchanged a glance, as if they were wondering whether their mates were watching over them.

“We’ll get it,” Dustpelt meowed.

The memorial branch had fallen on its side, but it was still visible, poking up out of the water below the Highledge. Brackenfur and Dustpelt waded over to it and dragged it back to the bushes where the other cats waited.

“It’s not floating very well,” Brackenfur remarked dubiously.

“That’s because the water’s too shallow here,” Bramblestar meowed. “We need to push it farther out.”

Dustpelt and Brackenfur maneuvered the branch away from the cliff face, until they stood in water that lapped against their shoulders. “It’s fine here!” Brackenfur called.

“Come on, then, this way,” Squirrelflight urged the other cats.

“You don’t have to do this,” Bramblestar murmured to her as they guided Purdy, Jayfeather, and Briarlight toward the branch. “You should go back up the cliff to the others.”

Squirrelflight turned a green glare on him. “You annoying furball, if you think you can send me—”

Bramblestar interrupted her by resting his tail on her shoulder. A spark of warmth woke inside him at his deputy’s courage and bold spirit. “That’s no way to talk to your Clan leader,” he purred. “Come on, I won’t argue.”

Squirrelflight snorted. As they headed into deeper water, Briarlight was hardly able to keep her head above the surface. With her hind legs dragging behind her, she could only raise herself on her forelegs, and the floodwater washed around her muzzle.

Bramblestar pushed through the swirling water until he was alongside her. “Here, hang on to me.” He tried to hide his wince of pain as Briarlight dug her claws into his shoulder. She managed to raise her head a mouse-length, but with her added weight Bramblestar could hardly make any headway through the water. His paws sank into mud, and the young she-cat’s body dragged at him.

“Wait,” Squirrelflight mewed. “I’ve got an idea.”

She splashed over to the side of the hollow where Brackenfur and Dustpelt kept their den-building supplies, and came back with a bundle of twigs clamped in her jaws. “Here, Briarlight, shove these under your belly. They should hold you up a bit.”

Briarlight let go of Bramblestar while Squirrelflight thrust the twigs into place. To Bramblestar’s relief they boosted her a little way out of the water, enough for her to keep her muzzle clear and drag herself forward.

The other cats were waiting for them beside the memorial branch. Pushing it ahead of them, they waded toward the camp entrance. Water was gushing in from the flooded lake, the strong current threatening to sweep them off their paws. For a moment Bramblestar wondered if they had enough strength to push their way against it, and he kept an especially close eye on Briarlight.

There was a squawk from Jayfeather as he lost his balance, the cry cut off abruptly as his head went under. Bramblestar plunged toward him and dived below the surface, wondering if he would be able to find him in this chaos of water. Then a thrashing tail hit him in the ear. Bramblestar lashed out a paw and sank his claws into sodden fur. He dragged Jayfeather upward; the medicine cat’s head broke the surface and he began coughing up mouthfuls of water.

“Thanks,” he spluttered, managing to stand again. “I really hate water!”

The current swirled and bubbled around them as they forced their way through the gap. Outside the camp the flood stretched in all directions. All Bramblestar could see was tossing water with debris floating in it and trees looming out of it, their roots, trunks, and even some of the lower branches swallowed up by the rising lake.

“Okay,” he meowed. “This is where you climb onto the branch.”

“I don’t think this is goin’ to work,” Purdy muttered, eyeing the branch.

“Come on,” Squirrelflight encouraged him. “Twolegs do this all the time. We’ve seen them floating on the lake in those flat things with pelts sticking up to catch the wind. If they can do it, so can you! You’re not telling me you’re more stupid than a Twoleg, are you?”

Purdy grunted and began hauling himself onto the branch while Brackenfur and Dustpelt steadied it. To Bramblestar’s surprise, once Purdy was crouching on top of the stick, he balanced quite easily, and turned his head to give Squirrelflight a smug look.

“Reckon I could teach Upwalkers a thing or two,” he purred.

Jayfeather climbed quickly onto the branch once Bramblestar showed him where to put his paws, his light weight making it easier for him. But it was a struggle for Briarlight to haul herself up. She couldn’t move her hind legs; when Bramblestar shoved them onto the branch they fell off again. The water tugged at them, threatening to sweep Briarlight away.

“What should I do?” she wailed.

For a horrible moment Bramblestar didn’t have an answer.

Then Squirrelflight exclaimed, “Wait!”

To Bramblestar’s alarm she turned around and headed back into the camp, half wading and half swimming as the current swept her along.

“You can’t go back in there!” Bramblestar yowled after her.

Squirrelflight’s voice came faintly back through the wind and the rain. “I’ll be fine!”

Bramblestar’s heart thumped painfully as he waited for her return. He sagged with relief when he saw her battling her way back through the water. She was dragging something with her; as she drew closer he saw that it was the ivy tendril they had used to lower Purdy down the cliff.

“We can use this to tie Briarlight to the branch,” Squirrelflight panted as she came up to the others. “Quick, lift up her hind legs.”

Once Bramblestar was holding Briarlight’s legs in position, Squirrelflight took the twisted ivy stems in her jaws and dived underneath the branch, coming up on the other side. Brackenfur grabbed the tendril and wrapped it around Briarlight, ready for Squirrelflight to carry it under the branch again.

“That feels secure,” Briarlight meowed when they had repeated the move a few times. She looked tiny and fragile, her pelt slicked flat with water and her blue eyes huge as moons. Her front paws were wrapped around the branch, claws dug into the pale wood.

Squirrelflight resurfaced for the last time, water streaming from her dark ginger pelt, and tucked the end of the tendril underneath Briarlight’s chest. “Tell me if you think it’s coming loose.”

With all three cats balanced on the branch, Squirrelflight and Dustpelt began to guide it through the water from the front while Bramblestar and Brackenfur pushed from behind. As soon as they began to move the branch wobbled violently. Jayfeather let out an apprehensive hiss, but all three dug their claws in hard and managed to cling on.

As soon as they were outside the hollow, the water grew deeper, so that Bramblestar and his Clanmates had to swim. Bramblestar fought his way through churning water, hissing when his legs kept getting caught on branches and foliage below the surface. Once his paw was trapped in what felt like brambles; he had to wrench it hard to free himself and keep swimming. Wind ruffled the water and dashed rain into his face, but all he could do was go on battling his way forward toward higher ground.

StarClan, save us! he prayed silently as his drenched pelt dragged at him. We can’t do this alone!

The only way he could keep going was to grip the branch in his teeth while paddling furiously with all four legs. Water gushed into his mouth; he had to keep swallowing, making it almost impossible to breathe. I won’t let go! Beside him, Brackenfur was having the same difficulties, and his breath rasped noisily over the sound of the wind. Bramblestar only caught glimpses of Squirrelflight and Dustpelt at the front of the branch, just enough to know that they were still afloat, still swimming.

Slowly the four cats maneuvered the branch around the side of the hollow toward the closest spot where the sloping ground emerged from the floodwater. Bramblestar gasped with relief when his paws thrashed against solid earth and he could walk under the water, pushing the branch forward with his chest and paws until it grounded. Purdy heaved himself up and stepped off, splashing through the last tail-length of floodwater until he was standing on the rain-soaked grass of the slope that led up to the cliff top. Jayfeather scrambled after him.

Squirrelflight waded to Briarlight’s side and began tearing at the ivy tendril, but before she could free her Clanmate a huge brown wave swelled up and crashed against the branch. It knocked Squirrelflight off her paws and she vanished into the water. The branch flipped over, trapping Briarlight beneath the surface. Bramblestar plunged down, finding Squirrelflight almost at once and shoving her up into the air. Then he groped toward the branch and tore the ivy away with his teeth and claws. He knew Briarlight was free, but he could feel her body sinking helplessly down into the flood.

The water swirled again and Bramblestar spotted Dustpelt diving down beside him. Together they grabbed Briarlight’s body and hauled her upward, thrusting her toward the slope where Brackenfur dragged her clear of the water. Gasping for breath, Bramblestar looked down at the she-cat. Briarlight lay unmoving, a trickle of water escaping from her mouth.

“She can’t be dead!” Squirrelflight wailed.

I promised Millie, Bramblestar thought. I said I would save her or die trying.

“Get out of the way!” Jayfeather thrust Bramblestar aside and pounced on Briarlight, working feverishly as he pressed her chest down again and again. “I won’t let her drown!”

There was agony in the medicine cat’s voice. Bramblestar remembered how Jayfeather had struggled in the lake to rescue Flametail, how he had nearly drowned trying to bring the ShadowClan medicine cat back to the surface. He failed then; StarClan, please don’t let him fail now!

Suddenly Briarlight’s body jerked and she coughed up a mouthful of dirty water. Bramblestar saw her chest rise and fall as she took a breath. A moment later she raised her head. “Did we make it?” she asked feebly.

“We did,” Bramblestar meowed. He felt dizzy with relief.

Squirrelflight gave Briarlight’s ear a lick. “Come on, let’s get you to the top of the cliff. Millie and Graystripe will be worried about you.”

Bramblestar could see that Briarlight was too weak to walk. “I’ll carry you,” he told her, and added to the others, “Lift her onto my back.”

He was about to begin the weary trudge up the hill when he noticed Jayfeather pacing beside the water. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I can’t find the memorial branch,” the medicine cat replied.

Scanning the edge of the flood, Bramblestar guessed that the branch had been swept away by the wave that had knocked Squirrelflight and Briarlight underwater. He thought he could spot it floating several fox-lengths away, but there were so many pieces of debris tossing on the flood that he couldn’t be certain it was the right one. “It’s gone,” he meowed. “Washed away.”

“But it held the memory of our dead Clanmates!” Jayfeather wailed.

“No, our hearts and minds hold those memories,” Bramblestar reminded him. “And the branch saved the cats who needed its help. Now we hold that memory as well.” When Jayfeather did not reply, he added, “When all this is over, you can make another.”

Jayfeather mumbled agreement and turned away.

Brackenfur took the lead as the little group of drenched cats plodded up the hill under the trees. His shoulders ached under Briarlight’s weight, and his paws kept slipping on the muddy ground. Branches lashed at them, the trees almost bent double in the wind. Closer to the cliffs the ground was more open, and the going would be easier, but Bramblestar didn’t dare go closer to the edge. We could all be blown over, back into the hollow.

“I’m going to fetch some of the others to help,” Squirrelflight announced, breaking into a run.

Where does she get her energy? Bramblestar wondered, feeling as weary and battered as the oldest elder. He carried on toiling up the slope until he saw Squirrelflight coming back with a group of his Clanmates. Millie was racing ahead, stumbling and skidding in her haste to get to her daughter. Graystripe was close behind, with Lionblaze and Cinderheart.

“Briarlight!” Millie screeched as she reached Bramblestar and the others. “Are you okay?” She covered her daughter with frantic licks.

“I’m fine,” Briarlight replied hoarsely. “My Clanmates looked after me.”

Millie turned toward Bramblestar, blinking in gratitude. “Thank you,” she meowed. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Bramblestar felt hot with embarrassment. “Every cat helped,” he mumbled.

Lionblaze stepped forward. “Here, let me carry her. You must be exhausted.”

Bramblestar was only too willing to let the other cats transfer Briarlight from his back to Lionblaze’s. As they set off up the slope again, Graystripe gave Bramblestar a boost under his shoulder, while Squirrelflight and Cinderheart helped Purdy. At the top of the slope Bramblestar saw that Sandstorm had gathered the rest of the cats under a beech tree. It didn’t give much shelter, but although the branches lashed and groaned in the wind, they were sturdy enough not to snap. Soaked and scared, the cats huddled together in a mass of drenched fur.

Several pairs of eyes stared anxiously at Bramblestar as he reached them. “We’ll stay here until the storm passes,” he decided. “Try to get some rest if you can.” He sank to the ground where he was, dazed with tiredness and only half-aware of Squirrelflight coming to lie next to him, warming him with her fur.

Bramblestar woke to a strange calm, and for a moment he wondered where he was. He should have been asleep in his den on the Highledge, not dozing uncomfortably on a thin layer of fallen leaves. Then he saw branches densely blocking out the sky above him, and heard his Clanmates stirring, and he remembered the desperate escape from the hollow in the middle of the night. The rain had stopped and the wind died down to a faint, whispering breeze. The sky was still covered with cloud, but it was much thinner, and a silver glow suggested that the sun had climbed almost to sunhigh. Bramblestar hauled himself stiffly to his paws and padded out of the shelter of the beech tree.

From up here, he could look out at the whole lake and the land beyond. For a moment he swayed on his paws. The forest was a wreck of swirling water and floating debris. Water reflecting the pale gray sky had risen up the sides of the hill and spilled over the far shore, swallowing up the fields as far as Bramblestar could see.

RiverClan has been completely flooded! he thought, every hair on his pelt rising in horror. WindClan should be okay, he added to himself as his gaze swept around to take in the moor. Their camp is pretty high up. His belly lurched when he turned to look out across ShadowClan territory. The flat area of pines was waterlogged, with only the top halves of the trees sticking up above the flood.

“This is terrible!” Birchfall gasped, padding up behind Bramblestar. “What has happened to the other Clans?”

“We need to worry about our own Clan first,” Bramblestar replied. We’re in no state to help any other cats.

More warriors emerged from the shelter of the tree and studied the devastation with looks of stunned disbelief. Bramblestar beckoned to some of them with his tail. “I want a patrol to come down with me and check out the hollow,” he meowed. “Cloudtail, Brightheart, Cherryfall—and you too, Birchfall.”

With the cats he had named squelching after him through the muddy grass, Bramblestar led the way down the slope to a point on the cliff top where they could get a good view of the whole camp. His heart lurched when he looked over the edge. All that was left of the ThunderClan camp was a pool of gray water that stretched halfway up the cliff. There was no sign of the clearing, or the dens, or even the Highledge. Our home is gone!

“Great StarClan!” Cloudtail whispered beside him. “What are we going to do now?”