Dark River

Chapter 20

Water roared in Hollypaw’s ears as the pale light of the cave faded from sight. The river dragged her into the tunnel, the current pulling her under. Her lungs screamed for air. She fought the urge to suck in water and kept her jaws firmly clamped around Thistlekit’s tail.

Rock scraped her ears and she felt air on her face as the river swirled her upward. She drew a quick breath before the river dragged her down once more.

A body brushed hers and was swept away. Thistlekit struggled, raking her nose with thorn-sharp claws. She resisted the urge to fight, trusting Jaypaw, letting the flood carry her, feeling stone graze her flanks as the water tossed her against the sides of the tunnel.

The roaring grew louder till she thought her ears would burst.

Then peace.

The current let her go and the noise died away. She strained to see through the darkness. Was that light? Bright dots sparkled in the distance. Was StarClan waiting to welcome her?

Her head swam and blackness pressed in on the edges of her consciousness. She fought her way upward, frantically seeking the surface, praying that she wouldn’t find rock above her. With a final desperate effort she pushed up and up until she thought the whole world must be water.

Suddenly, she burst through the surface of the lake, startled by the chill of the wind as it swept her face and filled her nose and ears. They had made it! She gasped and spluttered, drawing in lungful after lungful of cold, wonderful air.

Blinking water from her eyes, she saw that the dots were stars, glimmering through wind-torn clouds. The rainstorm was moving away.

Thistlekit thrashed in the water beside her, fighting to keep her head above water. Hollypaw grasped the kit with her forepaws, let go of her tail and grabbed her scruff, paddling with her hind legs to keep both their heads out of the water.

She forced herself to relax, letting the water support her and working her paws in a steady rhythm that held them afloat.

Thistlekit coughed and wheezed, trembling against her chest.

Hollypaw scanned the dark surface of the lake for the others. Joy sparked in her belly when she saw Lionpaw’s golden head bobbing a few tail-lengths away. Sedgekit was clinging to his back, eyes shining in the moonlight.

Bubbles exploded near him, and Breezepaw burst to the surface with Swallowkit.

Jaypaw? Heatherpaw? Panic started to grip Hollypaw. Had they made it? She heard splashing behind her and she twisted around, dragging Thistlekit so fast he squealed with surprise.

Jaypaw and Heatherpaw were flailing beside each other, their paws spraying water as they fought to stay afloat.

“Jaypaw!” she called.

“We’re okay!” Heatherpaw coughed.

Hollypaw swam toward them, kicking out with her hind legs, surprised to find herself swimming like a RiverClan cat.

“The shore’s over there!” She could see it not far off and, reaching Jaypaw, she nudged him toward it.

Heatherpaw was splashing toward Lionpaw. Why wasn’t the WindClan apprentice trying to help her own Clanmate?

Then she realized that Lionpaw was thrashing in the water, ducking his face under. As he came up for a breath, she saw his eyes were wild with panic.

“Sedgekit’s gone!” he yowled.

Heatherpaw dived beneath the surface. Hollypaw held her breath, treading water as Lionpaw ducked under again. Had the current dragged the kit back down into the black, bottomless water?

Suddenly, Heatherpaw bobbed up, Sedgekit between her jaws. The kit’s paws flapped wildly. He was alive!

Lionpaw broke the surface, his eyes lighting as he saw Sedgekit. He swam to Heatherpaw’s side and grasped the kit’s tail between his teeth, and together they headed for the shore. Hollypaw swam beside Jaypaw, casting an eye back to make sure Breezepaw was still managing. The black WindClan apprentice was pounding through the water with Swallowkit’s scruff in his jaws and his eyes fixed on the shore.

Hollypaw’s muscles burned with exhaustion, but she didn’t dare stop moving. With Thistlekit’s fur blocking her mouth, every breath was a struggle, but she kept her gaze pinned on the shoreline and pushed on. At last, she felt pebbles graze her hind paws and, reaching down, touched the bottom with a forepaw. Thank you, StarClan!

Wading from the water, she dropped Thistlekit in the shallows and stood panting for a moment, struggling to get her breath back. Heatherpaw and Lionpaw already lay farther up the shore, their flanks heaving while Sedgekit crouched beside them, vomiting water onto the pebbles.

Pebbles clacked behind her as Jaypaw followed her out of the lake.

“How did you know it would carry us into the lake?”

Hollypaw gasped.

“It… it made sense,” Jaypaw mewed between coughs. He splashed onto the beach, and Thistlekit stumbled after him.

Breezepaw was struggling out of the shallows a few foxtails along the shore. Swallowkit dangled from his jaws, her paws flailing as she fought to be put down.

“We’re all safe!” Hollypaw breathed. She padded to Lionpaw and Heatherpaw, her trembling paws slipping on the wet pebbles. “Are you two okay?”

Lionpaw lifted his head. “Only half-drowned.”

A purr burst from Heatherpaw. She flicked Lionpaw with her dripping tail and got to her paws. “We’d better get the kits back to camp.”

Hollypaw glanced up the beach. Brambles and ferns crowded the shoreline, the forest dark behind them. This was ThunderClan territory. “Let’s take them to Leafpool,” she suggested. “It’s nearer and we need to make sure they’re okay.” Sedgekit was still coughing up water. Thistlekit had collapsed beside him, and though her eyes were open, her breathing was rapid.

“Hollypaw’s right.” Jaypaw joined them. “They need treatment for shock.”

Swallowkit hurried toward them, Breezepaw at her side.

“That was the horriblest thing I ever did!” She shook the water from her fur.

“You wait till you taste Leafpool’s medicine,” Jaypaw warned.

Breezepaw’s eyes glittered with suspicion. “Leafpool?”

“The ThunderClan camp’s closest,” Heatherpaw told him.

“We should get them treated.”

Breezepaw stared at Swallowkit. There was blood on her fur where the rocks had scoured her pelt. “Okay,” he agreed.

Jaypaw pricked his ears. “Listen.”

Threatening yowls rang through the night air. Hollypaw stiffened as she recognized her father’s voice, countered by the menacing growls of WindClan cats.

“It’s coming from the forest border,” Jaypaw mewed.

Had their disappearance made things even worse?

“There’s going to be a battle if we don’t get back soon!”

Hollypaw gasped.

Lionpaw leaped to his paws. “We can show them the kits.

If they know they’re safe, there doesn’t need to be a fight.”

“Are we going to the battle?” Swallowkit’s eyes grew wide as an owl’s.

“I can help fight!” Sedgekit mewed.

“There won’t be a battle if we get there quickly,” Hollypaw mewed. Sedgekit had no idea that he’d helped cause this mess, or that he’d be fighting some of the cats who’d just saved him. “Do you think you can make it?”

“Of course we can!” Thistlekit flicked her tail.

Jaypaw sniffed each kit in turn. “They need herbs,” he mewed doubtfully. Then he lifted his chin. “But it can wait a while.”

“Walking will warm them up,” Heatherpaw pointed out.

Hollypaw led the way up the beach. She scrambled up the bank and pushed aside a swath of ferns, holding back the fronds to let the others pass. Heatherpaw nudged Swallowkit up the slope while Breezepaw followed Thistlekit, pressing his muzzle against her flank to stop her stumbling. Lionpaw grabbed Sedgekit by the scruff and swung him up the steep bank, letting him drop beside Hollypaw. She pressed the ferns back as the kit padded past. He was staring up at the branches, eyes wide as though he’d never walked beneath trees before.

“What’s Jaypaw doing?” Lionpaw was staring at his brother on the shore.

Hollypaw narrowed her eyes. Jaypaw was crouched beside a stick.

“You stay with the others,” she told Lionpaw. “We’ll catch up with you.”

She darted back onto the beach. “Are you okay?” she called to Jaypaw.

He didn’t seem to hear her. He was staring at the stick, eyes closed like he was asleep. She padded closer, feeling as if she were intruding.

“All safe, just as you promised,” Jaypaw was murmuring, his muzzle pressed against the smooth, pale wood. “Thank you.”

“We have to go!” Hollypaw urged.

Jaypaw didn’t stir. “Go carefully, Fallen Leaves,” he whispered. “I hope you find your own way out one day.”

“Come on, Jaypaw!” They must hurry. The yowls from the border were growing fiercer.

Jaypaw lifted his head. “I’m coming.” He left the stick and padded to her side.

“What were you doing?”

“It’s not important,” Jaypaw replied, turning his sightless eyes on her. Hollypaw knew him well enough to guess that it was. Sometimes she wished she understood Jaypaw better.

Lionpaw was easy. His friendship with Heatherpaw had broken the warrior code, but there was no mystery in his liking the pretty WindClan cat. But Jaypaw seemed to be guided by invisible paws, as though he walked in a secret world she could never be part of.

They caught up with the others. Hollypaw’s chest ached and her paws felt raw after the journey through the tunnels.

How soft the forest floor felt on her pads after so much rough stone. Breezepaw pushed the pace harder and the kits had to scurry to keep up. Thistlekit tripped over a root. Lionpaw instantly scooped her up and she didn’t complain, hanging limp from his jaws, her eyes glazed with exhaustion.

Sedgekit was panting hard.

“I can carry you,” Hollypaw offered. The kit shook his head, too breathless to speak.

Suddenly, Swallowkit squealed. A bramble had snagged her fur. Jaypaw plucked it free with his teeth. Hollypaw’s chest tightened. It was cruel to make the kits travel so quickly through the forest. But they had to stop the battle.

“We’re nearly there,” she mewed.

The ground sloped down and Breezepaw broke into a run.

Sedgekit and Swallowkit skittered after him.

An angry yowl echoed from the forest ahead. “I told you, we don’t have your kits!”

It was Firestar.

“Then where are they?” Onestar spat back. “RiverClan swears they don’t have them either. But they must be somewhere and we mean to find them.”

“Put one paw across the border and we’ll shred you!”

Hollypaw strained to see her Clanmates. Through the trees, she could make out Brambleclaw squaring up to Ashfoot on the WindClan side of the gully. Firestar stood shoulder to shoulder with his deputy. Thornclaw, Whitewing, Spiderleg, and Berrypaw were bristling behind them as the WindClan cats faced them, fur on end, lips drawn back in threatening snarls. Crowfeather was tearing at the ground beside Onestar and Ashfoot, claws unsheathed, while Owlwhisker and Tornear paced up and down behind them.

Heart pounding, Hollypaw swerved past the kits and chased after Breezepaw. Brambles sprang back in his wake, lashing her muzzle. She burst from the undergrowth just in time to see Breezepaw leap across the gully.

“Stop! We found the kits,” he yowled.

“There’s no need to fight!” Hollypaw stared anxiously over her shoulder, willing the others to hurry.

“Where are they?” Onestar demanded.

“They’re coming,” Hollypaw promised.

The warriors stared in astonishment as the undergrowth shivered and Heatherpaw nosed Sedgekit and Swallowkit out into the open. The kits stumbled to a halt and stood blinking in the moonlight. Lionpaw padded out of the brambles, Jaypaw following, and placed Thistlekit gently beside them.

“Where in StarClan did you find them?” Onestar’s eyes stretched wide.

Lionpaw’s fur was prickling along his spine. He glanced at Heatherpaw and stepped forward. “They found their way into—”

Hollypaw cut him off. “They were down on the shore,” she mewed. “They’d made themselves a camp to shelter from the rain.”

What was the point in giving away Lionpaw’s secret? The tunnels between the two Clans were blocked now. Any tactical advantage was lost and it would only get Lionpaw into trouble.

She glanced at the others, silently praying that they would agree.

Heatherpaw nodded. “They were just inside the ThunderClan border, right down on the beach.” Her gaze fixed on Breezepaw. “Lionpaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw saw us looking for them and called us over when they picked up their scent.”

“What scent?” Onestar meowed. “We didn’t find one.”

Breezepaw blinked. “The rain must have washed it away,” he mewed.

Onestar beckoned the kits toward him with his tail.

“Come here!”

Gingerly, Sedgekit, Thistlekit, and Swallowkit approached the border, ears flattened and tails down, and stopped at the edge of the gully.

“Why did you leave camp without permission?” Onestar growled across the gap.

Sedgekit lifted his chin. “We were exploring.”

“Exploring?” Onestar echoed. “We’ve almost fought battles with RiverClan and ThunderClan looking for you.”

Swallowkit hung her head. “We’re sorry.”

“We didn’t think,” Thistlekit added.

“It seemed like fun to build our own camp on the beach.”

Sedgekit’s gaze darted toward Hollypaw with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He had no idea how important it was that the tunnels remain a secret.

Lionpaw padded to the scent-line. “You said almost fought RiverClan?” he mewed to Onestar.

Hollypaw’s pelt rippled with hope. “There hasn’t been a battle yet?”

“We gave RiverClan till dawn to return the kits.” Onestar gave an exasperated sigh. “But now it looks like we need to apologize for falsely accusing them.”

“Apologize?” Tornear lashed his tail. “Don’t forget they crossed our border!”

“They were chased by a dog,” Onestar reminded him.

“That’s what they said last time,” Crowfeather growled.

“I smelled the dog scent myself,” Onestar snapped. “We have to trust what our eyes and ears tell us.”

Crowfeather bristled. “But they still might invade.”

Onestar narrowed his eyes. “Or they might return to their old camp as they’ve promised. We’ll find out at the next Gathering. Until then we patrol our borders as usual. And if we see that dog, we’ll teach it to stay on its own land.”

Hollypaw felt weak with relief. The threat of battle was over. The WindClan kits were safe. She noticed Firestar staring at her.

“It looks like you were right, Hollypaw,” he meowed.

She dipped her head. “It was never about being right,” she mewed.

Brambleclaw ran his tail along her flank. “You look exhausted. We should get you all home.”

“Yes,” Onestar agreed. He hopped across the border and lifted the kits, one by one, over the gully. “I’m sorry that our kits caused so much trouble.”

“We have kits of our own,” Firestar replied, a hint of warmth in his voice. “So we know what it’s like.”

Tornear snorted and grabbed Thistlekit by the scruff. He turned sharply and padded away through the trees. Owlwhisker picked up Swallowkit while Crowfeather lifted Sedgekit.

“Thanks for bringing us back!” Sedgekit squeaked as he was carried away.

Brambleclaw glanced at Jaypaw, who was hanging back beside the undergrowth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jaypaw assured him. He began to wash his tail.

Hollypaw blinked. Didn’t he care they had stopped a battle? It was as though his quest had ended the moment they’d left the lake.

“I’d better go too.” Breezepaw nodded curtly at Hollypaw and Lionpaw. “Are you coming?” He stared at Heatherpaw, who was lingering on the ThunderClan side of the border.

“In a moment.”

Breezepaw snorted and hurried after his Clanmates.

Heatherpaw padded to Lionpaw and entwined her tail briefly with his. “Thanks for helping.”

Firestar narrowed his eyes and Hollypaw stiffened. She stared at her brother, claws itching as she waited for his reply.

One battle had been averted, but was another one still looming?

“We would have done the same for any cat,” Lionpaw mewed flatly.

Pain flashed in Heatherpaw’s eyes. “You’re going to be a great warrior, Lionpaw.”

Lionpaw watched as she leaped the gully and disappeared into the shadows. Then he blinked at Firestar, his eyes expressionless. “Are we going home now?”

Firestar nodded and began to lead his Clanmates away.

Hollypaw dug her claws into the soft, wet earth. Lionpaw had learned his lesson. The warrior code was more important than any friendship. It guided their paws in everything and it stopped more battles than it started. Jaypaw could get away with testing the code’s limits—he had his own mysterious relationship with StarClan—but she and Lionpaw were warriors. Without the code, they were nothing.

I’m not a medicine cat anymore. I can’t be friends with Willowpaw, not like we used to be. Obeying the warrior code is all that matters; if we do that, the Clans will be safe.

Muscles aching and paws weary, she followed her Clanmates into the forest. She could sleep soundly tonight.