Bramblestar’s Storm

Chapter 9

“We can’t shelter under this tree forever,” Bramblestar announced. “We need to find somewhere to make a temporary camp.”

When the patrol had returned from the flooded hollow, Bramblestar had called a Clan meeting. To his surprise, his Clan seemed undaunted by the challenge of finding a new home.

“What about the old Twoleg nest?” Blossomfall suggested.

Bramblestar shook his head. “It’s lower than the hollow,” he replied. “It’ll be flooded.”

“Why don’t we use the tunnels?” Ivypool meowed.

Bramblestar heard a sharp intake of breath from Lionblaze, and remembered how the golden tabby warrior had once been trapped when the tunnels flooded. Other cats were exchanging nervous glances. But remembering his own vague knowledge of the tunnels from Hollyleaf’s training and the battle with WindClan, Bramblestar thought the idea had possibilities. It’s probably the best we can do.

“Good thinking, Ivypool,” he meowed. “And no cat needs to worry about getting lost or trapped by rising water. We’ll stay well away from the cavern where the underground river flows.”

His Clanmates started talking to one another, raising their voices to be heard above the clashing of the branches overhead. To Bramblestar’s dismay, the lull in the storm was over. The rain had started again and the wind was growing stronger. Heavy drops of rain penetrated the branches of the beech tree, soaking fur that had begun to dry out.

“I don’t care where we go,” Berrynose declared. “I just want somewhere out of the wet!”

Bramblestar ordered Lionblaze and Cinderheart to take the Clan to the tunnel entrance on the hillside above the cliffs.

Squirrelflight gathered the apprentices together and spoke in a low voice. “I want you all to look after Purdy,” she told them. “He’s had a tough time and he must be feeling sore and tired. But for StarClan’s sake, don’t let him know that you’re helping him.”

Lilypaw nodded, looking thoughtful. “I know! We’ll ask him to help us.” She pattered over to Purdy. “We’re scared about going into the tunnels,” she mewed to the old cat. “Will you stay with us?”

“Sure, young ’un.” Purdy heaved himself to his paws. “Nothin’ to be scared of when you’re with me.”

He stumbled off after Lionblaze and Cinderheart with all the apprentices clustered around him.

Squirrelflight glanced at Bramblestar with a smug flick of her whiskers. “Easy…” she murmured.

Bramblestar blinked gratefully at her, then turned to Dovewing. “Can you guide Jayfeather?” he asked her.

“Sure.”

“I can guide myself, thanks,” Jayfeather cut in with a snort.

“No, you can’t.” Bramblestar stood over the scrawny medicine cat. “Jayfeather, there may be a time when it helps for you to be an uncooperative furball, but this isn’t it. The whole forest has changed because of the wind. There are fallen trees, branches scattered everywhere… Just let Dovewing help you, and put up with it.”

Jayfeather sighed. “Yes, O great Clan leader.”

Leaving Dovewing to cope with him, Bramblestar went to look for Briarlight. He found her near the trunk of the beech tree with Millie and Graystripe. “Up you come,” he meowed, crouching down so that she could climb onto his back. “We’ll soon have you somewhere dry.”

“I’m giving you so much trouble,” Briarlight murmured as Graystripe helped her onto Bramblestar’s shoulders.

“No, you’re not,” Millie purred, though her eyes were worried. Bramblestar guessed that she was bothered by her daughter’s depressed mood.

“You’re doing me a favor, actually,” he told Briarlight. “You’ll keep the rain off my back while you’re up there. And you’re no heavier than a good-sized squirrel!”

That wasn’t entirely true, he thought as he plodded up the hillside. Briarlight’s weight pressed down on his shoulders, making it hard to force a way through the tangled undergrowth. The rest of the cats followed in a miserable line, their heads down and their tails trailing in the mud while the howling wind swept their fur backward.

When they reached the entrance to the tunnels, half-hidden behind an outcrop of rocks, the cats clustered around, waiting for their turn to squeeze inside. Though the dark hole looked forbidding, they were all eager to get out of the storm.

“Wow, this is so weird!” Amberpaw exclaimed as she padded a couple of tail-lengths down the tunnel. “You said Hollyleaf lived down here? Did she really?” she asked Spiderleg.

Her mentor nodded. “She did, for several moons. None of us knew she was here.”

“And you fought WindClan here?” Dewpaw added. “How did you see anything?”

“What happened if you got lost?” Snowpaw shuddered, though Bramblestar thought he was enjoying the adventure. “What if you never found your way out?”

“That’s enough,” Whitewing meowed. “You can’t stand here chattering all day.”

“Yes, you’re blocking the tunnel,” Ivypool hissed. “Cats are waiting out in the rain.”

“Sorry,” Seedpaw mewed, nudging the younger apprentices ahead of her. “They’re still kits, really,” she added to Ivypool.

“Kit yourself!” Amberpaw retorted.

“Let’s explore,” Dewpaw urged. “I want to see everything. Come on, Purdy.”

“Don’t go far!” Ivypool called after them.

Hoping that Purdy would stop the apprentices from doing anything too stupid, Bramblestar followed them down the tunnel. When he reached a place where it grew a little wider, just before the light from the entrance faded entirely, he let Briarlight slide from his shoulders. Millie rushed up to her daughter and began to groom her fur, licking it the wrong way to dry it and warm her up.

As the rest of the cats settled around them in pulpy mounds of wet fur, Bramblestar wondered what kind of life Hollyleaf had led in the darkness of the tunnels. He had a vivid memory of the starlit cat who had stood over Hollyleaf as she died in the Great Battle. What was his name? Fallen Leaves. He wasn’t a Clan cat, but he seemed to know Hollyleaf very well. I wonder if they met down here.

“Bramblestar.” Cinderheart’s voice roused him from his thoughts.

Bramblestar twitched his ears. “Yes, what is it?”

“Do you think we should explore a bit farther?” the gray she-cat asked. “Should we check if there’s any flooding belowground? With all this rain…”

“Good thinking,” Bramblestar responded, though inwardly he winced at the thought of having to get up and move again. “Find some other cats to go with us.”

Cinderheart nodded and padded away, returning a moment later with Lionblaze and Ivypool. Bramblestar rose to his paws and led them down the tunnel. They had to pick their way through the rest of the ThunderClan cats, who bunched anxiously together, unhappy in the cold shadows. Purdy was farthest down the tunnel, with all five apprentices clustered around him.

“So we all climbed onto the branch,” he was meowing. “Squirrelflight had to tie Briarlight on with a bit of ivy…”

The apprentices had their jaws open with excitement. Even in his weary state, Bramblestar had to stifle a mrrow of amusement to think that their desperate struggle for safety had already become a thrilling story for Purdy to tell. Satisfied that his Clan was safe for the time being, he headed into the darkness. The damp underpaw owed nothing to the recent rain and everything to the absence of sunlight and fresh air down here. Bramblestar had always been uneasy in the tunnels, but this time something was different. Before he had always felt as if he was being watched, as if there was something just out of hearing or sight in the shadows. But now the passages felt silent and empty. Somehow this made them even bleaker and more unwelcoming, especially as the light faded behind the warriors until they walked in complete darkness.

Bramblestar could tell that Ivypool and Lionblaze felt the difference too: There was a wariness about them, a subtle change in their scent, as if they were expecting something to happen.

The tunnel led downward in a straight line, so narrow that Bramblestar could feel his pelt brushing the walls on both sides.

“We should come to a side tunnel soon,” Lionblaze meowed after a while. “We ought to take it, and check out the main cave.”

Before he had taken many more paw steps, Bramblestar felt a colder flow of air from one side, and turned into the new tunnel. This passage was narrower still, and twisted around sharp corners so that Bramblestar had to swallow down a fear of getting his shoulders wedged. A dull roar came up the tunnel to greet them, growing louder as they headed farther down. Gradually Bramblestar realized that he could see the walls ahead of him in a dim light.

“We’re getting close to the cave,” he reported.

A heartbeat later he halted with icy black water lapping against his paws. The cave was filled with a dark torrent, waves glinting in the light that came from the crack in the roof.

“Get back!” Bramblestar warned.

When he and his Clanmates had retreated several paw steps from the water’s edge, Bramblestar stopped again, looking back. “We ought to make sure that the water isn’t rising,” he mewed.

Cautiously he crept back along the passage and scored his claws down the wall to mark the highest point of the water. Moments dragged by as he crouched there watching. After a while he realized that Lionblaze was peering over his shoulder.

“It’s not getting any worse,” the golden tabby warrior murmured.

Bramblestar nodded. “I think we can go back,” he decided. “This is the lowest part of the caves, so we should be safe where we are.”

He let Lionblaze take the lead back to where their Clanmates were waiting.

“It looks like we’ll be okay here,” Bramblestar announced. “But the big cave is flooded, so no cat is to go farther down.” He turned around to give the apprentices a hard look. “Understood?”

The young cats nodded seriously, and Bramblestar hoped that their adventures so far had taught them how dangerous water could be.

Glancing around his Clan, Bramblestar was pleased to see that they seemed more relaxed than when he had left them to explore the tunnels. They had dried off and groomed themselves. One or two were sleeping, but most of them were watching him with bright, expectant eyes.

“So this is our new camp,” he began. “We have to assume that we’ll be here for several days.”

“Then we’ll need clean, fresh bedding,” Daisy meowed. “I’ll take charge of that, if you want, Bramblestar.”

“That would be great, Daisy,” Bramblestar replied. “Pick a few cats to go with you, and see if you can salvage any dry moss and leaves.”

“We might find some inside hollow trees.” Daisy rose to her paws and glanced around. “Rosepetal, Mousewhisker, will you come with me?”

The three cats slipped out together into the rain-drenched forest. Bramblestar realized with relief that while he had been down in the tunnels the storm had blown itself out again; only a light drizzle was falling. He noticed that Leafpool was leaving the tunnel too, hard on the paws of the other cats, without telling him where she was going. He felt a stab of annoyance, then reminded himself that medicine cats didn’t have to answer to their Clan leader.

“What about prey?” Cloudtail called. “My belly thinks my throat’s clawed out! I’ll lead a hunting patrol if you like.”

“So will I,” Bumblestripe added.

“And me,” Graystripe meowed. “Though what we’ll find out there, I don’t know.”

Several cats joined in, offering to join the patrols. Cloudtail raised his voice above the clamor. “What about the fresh-kill pile, Bramblestar? Where do you want it?”

“It’ll have to be in here,” Bramblestar meowed.

“What?” Berrynose gave a snort of disgust. “Sleeping next to fresh-kill? Yuck!”

Bramblestar suppressed an irritated hiss. “If you have a better idea, share it with the rest of us,” he mewed. “If we leave prey outside, it will get wet, or foxes will steal it.”

As the warriors divided themselves into groups, Bramblestar began padding up the tunnel to join Cloudtail’s patrol. He was stopped by Sandstorm, who blocked his path with her ginger tail.

“I think you should stay here, where your Clan can see you,” she advised him in a quiet voice. “They need to know that you’re safe and in control.”

Bramblestar knew she was right, though his tail-tip twitched in frustration to see the hunting patrols going off without him. He was distracted by Leafpool, who reappeared just as the hunters were leaving.

“Where have you been?” Bramblestar asked her sharply. Medicine cat or not, she shouldn’t be wandering about on her own in the flooded forest.

“Only down to the top of the hollow,” Leafpool mewed. “When I looked down into the camp, I thought I could see some bundles of herbs floating in the water. Can I go fetch them?”

Bramblestar’s first instinct was to refuse. “It’s too risky,” he began.

“No, I’ll be fine, really,” Leafpool assured him.

“Some cat needs to go,” Jayfeather broke in from where he sat nearby. “We’ve lost so many herbs to this flood; we need to salvage as many as we can.”

Bramblestar could see that the medicine cats had a point. Any one of us could go down with greencough, or get injured on all the branches lying about the forest. “Okay,” he meowed to Leafpool. “But take a warrior with you. One who doesn’t mind getting wet!”

“Thanks, Bramblestar.” Leafpool went out, beckoning Cherryfall to follow her.

“I’ll go into the forest and see if I can find any herbs that haven’t been washed away,” Jayfeather mewed, hauling himself to his paws.

“Not alone,” Bramblestar ordered.

Jayfeather heaved a long sigh. “Okay, not alone. Brightheart, will you come with me?”

When they had gone, Bramblestar looked around. Most of the cats were out on patrol now, except for Millie and Briarlight, Purdy and the apprentices, and Thornclaw, who was deep in sleep, worn out after his tough night on watch. It had to be a good idea to keep to the Clan’s daily routine as much as possible, if only to stop them from worrying.

In spite of Sandstorm’s advice, Bramblestar was too restless to stay in the tunnel for long. He padded out and headed for the cliffs, his pelt soaked and muddy again as he tried to find a clear route through the undergrowth. By the time he reached the top of the hollow he saw that Leafpool and Cherryfall had made their way down the steep path and were swimming around in the flood, grasping at scraps of floating greenery. Their voices drifted up to him.

“Leafpool, is this anything useful?”

“No, it’s just an oak twig. I found some tansy, though.”

“Yuck! That’s just slimy tree bark!”

Bramblestar turned at the sound of paw steps and saw Sandstorm padding up to him. He tensed, expecting a scolding for leaving the tunnel, but understanding shone in the she-cat’s green eyes.

“Firestar always found it hardest when he had to let his Clanmates do something dangerous,” she mewed. “He felt that because he had nine lives, he could spare a few!”

“He was right.” Bramblestar felt a wave of guilt sweep over him. “I should be the one to hunt in the flooded forest, or go swimming in the hollow after herbs.”

Sandstorm touched his ear with her nose. “You can’t do everything,” she murmured. “You have to trust your Clanmates.”

“I know,” Bramblestar sighed, but he felt a sharp pang of envy for his warriors, who were able to act on his orders.

He returned to the tunnel with Sandstorm to check on the cats who remained there. Briarlight was sleeping at last, with Millie drowsily licking her pelt. Purdy was asleep, too, while Dustpelt had lined up the apprentices and was testing them on their knowledge of the warrior code. Bramblestar was pleased to see him keeping the young cats occupied and out of trouble.

Not long after, Cloudtail returned with his hunting party, dragging three rabbits with them.

“Good job!” Bramblestar exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you to bring back as much as that.”

“We didn’t exactly catch it,” Cloudtail admitted, dropping his rabbit near the entrance to start a new fresh-kill pile. “These rabbits drowned. The floodwater must have washed them out of their burrow.”

“That’s crow-food!” Snowpaw spat, his lips curling back and his white pelt beginning to fluff up. “I’m not eating that.”

“Then you can go hungry,” Dustpelt snapped, swiping the apprentice over the ear with his tail.

“It’ll be okay,” Bramblestar meowed. “Those rabbits can’t have been dead long. We’re all hungry and we need to eat. We’ll find live prey soon.”

But when the other hunting patrols returned, Graystripe was empty-pawed, while Bumblestripe’s cats had only managed to kill one thrush.

The rabbits are starting to look a lot more appetizing, Bramblestar thought.

Sandstorm and Blossomfall began to dole out the prey, while Leafpool and Cherryfall returned with the few herbs they had managed to salvage. Leafpool found a hole in the tunnel wall to act as a store. Jayfeather and Brightheart weren’t far behind, carrying yarrow and marigold.

“It’s a start,” Jayfeather commented as he placed his herbs in the hole beside Leafpool’s. “But we’ve got no cobweb at all. I just hope no cats cut themselves.”

“Bramblestar?” Cloudtail beckoned him aside with a wave of his tail. “I need to tell you something.”

“Not more trouble?” Bramblestar asked, his belly starting to churn unpleasantly.

“I’m not sure. When I was leading the patrol along the floodwater, I drank some. The water tasted very odd. Do you think it could be poisoned?”

“Great StarClan, I hope not,” Bramblestar meowed. Had something bad been washed into the flood? “Show me where you went. I’d like to taste it for myself.”

He followed Cloudtail as the white warrior retraced his steps to the flood. It still felt very strange to see a huge lake lapping halfway up the hillside. How are we going to survive in the middle of all this water?

Cloudtail halted at the water’s edge. “Just here,” he meowed.

Reminding himself that a taste of the water hadn’t killed Cloudtail, Bramblestar crouched down and lapped. Cloudtail was right: The water did taste different. But Bramblestar had encountered the sharp tang before.

“It’s salty, like the water from the sun-drown-place,” he told Cloudtail, straightening up again and flicking drops from his whiskers.

“How has that water reached all the way here?” Cloudtail asked, amazed. “Is the lake going to turn into a sun-drown-place?”

“I don’t know,” Bramblestar admitted. “But I can tell you one thing. It isn’t poison. I swallowed enough of it when we traveled there and I fell in. But we still can’t drink it. The few drops I tasted have just made me more thirsty.”

“So what are we going to drink?” Cloudtail lashed his tail. “There are no streams up here. The closest is on the WindClan border.”

Bramblestar lapped up a few mouthfuls of rainwater from a puddle in the grass, to get the acrid tang off his tongue. Going thirsty won’t be a problem for us while it’s still raining, he thought. But how long will we have to rely on that? It could take a while for the lake to shrink again.

Returning to the tunnel, he called to Berrynose and Poppyfrost, who were sharing part of a rabbit at the entrance. “I want to take a patrol to the WindClan border,” he meowed. “We need to find out how easy it is to get to the stream there, and whether the flood has affected it.”

The two cats hurriedly swallowed their last mouthfuls and came to join him. Glancing at Sandstorm, Bramblestar added, “Is it okay for me to leave? Again?”

Amusement glimmered in Sandstorm’s green eyes. “Oh, yes,” she assured him. “No cat wants an idle leader!”

Bramblestar took the lead as the three cats trekked through the soaked forest. The rain had stopped and the wind died down, but the trees were still dripping, and the banks of fern and long grasses spilled their loads of water on the cats as they brushed past.

As they crossed the territory, Bramblestar felt his tension rising. All the sights and scents of the forest had changed. His pads prickled with the knowledge that the edge of the lake was only a few fox-lengths below them. Apart from the sound of water lapping and drops falling from trees, the woods were silent. There were no faint scufflings to betray the presence of prey, no birdsong in the branches. Where have they all gone? Bramblestar wondered. How long will it be before they come back?

It took a long time to make their way around the flooded parts of the territory. At last they emerged into the stretch of sparse young trees that led up to the WindClan border. The sound of the stream, rushing and gurgling, reached their ears as they bounded through the thin woodland to the border. Just here the water usually flowed deep beneath overhanging banks. Now it was level with the top of the gully, a brown flood sweeping twigs and leaves in the fast current.

“Keep back, both of you,” Bramblestar warned.

He crouched down at the edge of the water, stretching out his neck so that he could lap. He dug his claws hard into the ground, fighting the fear of being swept away like a loose twig. But the water he drank had a cold, clear taste that reminded him of the mountains.

“Thank StarClan, it’s fine!” he meowed, rising and backing away.

As he spoke the patter of rapid paw steps came from farther upstream, along with angry yowls and hisses. To Bramblestar’s astonishment a WindClan patrol raced into sight on the ThunderClan side of the stream.

Weaselfur, who was in the lead, let out a furious screech. “Get away from there!”

Bramblestar faced him, his fur bristling. “What do you mean?” he demanded. “You’re on our territory!”

Behind him, he was aware of Berrynose and Poppyfrost sliding out their claws. The two other WindClan cats, Leaftail and Furzepelt, hurtled toward them as if they were about to leap into battle.

But Weaselfur halted when he reached the ThunderClan cats, signaling to his patrol to do the same. “This is the only clean water we have,” he mewed, glaring at Bramblestar. “We have reset the border markers to this side of the stream. It belongs to WindClan now.”

“Don’t be mouse-brained!” Bramblestar snapped. “Look at all that water! There’s enough for every cat.”

But the WindClan warriors were too wound up to listen. “Stay away from that water!” Furzepelt snarled.

Poppyfrost took a step forward. “Do you really want to fight for it?” she growled.

At once Leaftail hurled himself at her, knocking her over and clawing at her ears. Berrynose started forward to help her, but Bramblestar flung himself between them, pushing the cream-colored warrior back with a paw on his shoulder.

“Stop!” he growled. “Poppyfrost can cope. I don’t want an all-out battle.”

As the two cats rolled screeching on the ground, Bramblestar turned to Weaselfur. “This is madness,” he meowed. “You can’t shift an entire border because the lake has risen.”

“Yes, we can,” Weaselfur retorted, “and we have. If you have a problem, you’ll have to speak to Onestar. But know that ThunderClan cats will not be welcome in our territory.”

For a moment all Bramblestar’s instincts were to leap on the WindClan warrior and claw the stubborn look off his face. We can beat these scrawny rabbit-chasers easily! But fighting here wouldn’t solve anything. Instead he stalked across to the two battling cats and hauled Poppyfrost away from Leaftail.

“That’s enough,” he ordered. “We’re leaving.”

Poppyfrost stood up, panting. There was a trickle of blood coming from one of her ears, and she was missing a few tufts of fur, but the scratches down Leaftail’s side showed that it had been an equal fight.

“Is that it?” Berrynose hissed, coming to stand beside his mate. “You’re going to let them get away with this?”

“No,” Bramblestar replied. “But I’m going to think before I do anything.”

“Think!” Berrynose echoed, turning to Poppyfrost and giving her injured ear a lick.

Bramblestar ignored the hostile glares from the WindClan cats as he led his patrol away from the stream. His mind was whirling.

ThunderClan can survive without this stream while the forest is full of rainwater. But what does the flooded lake mean for the rest of the Clans? If ThunderClan and WindClan are so badly affected, have ShadowClan and RiverClan survived at all?