Bramblestar’s Storm

“Why are you helping me?” Frankie asked after a few moments.

“Because right now you are my Clanmate,” Bramblestar replied, drawing his tail-tip along Frankie’s flank. “I would do the same for any of my cats.”

The trail led to a narrow opening in the ground. At first Bramblestar thought it was another entrance to the tunnels, but then he realized it was something made by Twolegs. A neat square hole had been built into a raised bank of earth, supported by stones like the ones used to build Twoleg dens.

“That’s a drain,” Frankie meowed. “There’s usually a cover on it, but it must have been washed away.”

Bramblestar felt his fur start to prickle as he pictured what might have happened to a struggling cat, his fur heavy with floodwater, swept off his paws by a wall of water. I don’t like this one bit, but some cat has to check it out. Then he took a deep breath and crawled into the drain.

The air was damp and full of a thick, rotting stench. This was nothing like the tunnels, which seemed light and spacious compared with this dank hole. Bramblestar’s pelt brushed against the slimy walls on either side. His own body was blocking the light, and ahead of him was only choking darkness. Oh, StarClan, please don’t let me get stuck!

Bramblestar’s heart was pounding hard, and it took a massive effort for him to keep putting one paw in front of another. He was wondering how long he ought to go on when he bumped into something soft and furry. A tiny slice of light from a gap overhead revealed a heap of black-and-white fur, cold and solid and a long way from life. Every muscle in Bramblestar’s body stiffened as he realized that he had found Benny.

Gagging at the smell, Bramblestar nosed about until he located one of the dead cat’s legs and fastened his teeth in it. Then he tried to crawl backward, but Benny’s body was stuck against something, and wouldn’t move. Bramblestar reached out one forepaw and felt around for whatever was blocking Benny. His paw touched something hard and chilled, lodged slantwise in the drain and wedging Benny’s body underneath it.

Bramblestar gave it a shove. Maybe it’s the drain cover that Frankie said was missing.

At first nothing Bramblestar could do would shift the obstacle. His legs started to ache as he heaved at it, stretched to his limit to reach past Benny’s unmoving body. He was on the verge of giving up when it gave way with an echoing clang against the side of the drain and slipped to one side.

Bramblestar tried moving Benny again and this time the cat’s body slid easily toward him. Carefully he backed away, dragging Benny with him, until he felt a welcome draft of fresh air on his haunches, and emerged into the daylight. Frankie was waiting beside the drain entrance and helped him to pull Benny the last couple of tail-lengths out into the light.

Bramblestar coughed to clear the stench of the drain from his throat. “Is that your brother?” he meowed hoarsely, though he was in no doubt about the answer.

Frankie crouched beside the body, his head bowed. The dead tom looked small and pathetic out here, his black-and-white pelt plastered to his sides, covered in mud and slime.

“Oh, Benny…” Frankie touched his nose to his brother’s cold side. His voice began as a whisper, then rose to a grief-stricken wail. “What am I going to do? I can’t leave him here!”

“We’ll bury him,” Bramblestar told him. “We’ll give him a warrior’s farewell.”

Together he and Frankie managed to hoist Benny onto their backs and carry him up the slope to the top of the hill, where the ground was drier. They laid Benny on the grass while they scratched a hole. The sun was setting, bathing the hill with scarlet light, as they settled him inside it and covered him with earth. Bramblestar stood beside the small, dark mound of soil and spoke the words that a medicine cat would say over the body of a fallen warrior.

“May StarClan light your path, Benny.” His voice rang out over the heap of stones and earth. “May you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter when you sleep.”

Frankie looked up to where the warriors of StarClan were beginning to appear, crossing the sky in a glittering pathway of stars. “Do all cats go to StarClan?” he asked. “Even Benny?”

Bramblestar wasn’t sure if a kittypet would be welcomed into StarClan. He guessed that even Jayfeather or Leafpool would have trouble answering that question. But he knew that he had to give Frankie some comfort. “Well… there are a lot of stars,” he mewed. “More than there have ever been warriors, I’m sure.”

Frankie peered more closely at the shimmering swathe of light. “I wonder which one is Benny?” His voice quivered. “Benny, I’ll look up at you every night. If you look down on me, then we’ll still be together.”

Bramblestar leaned closer to Frankie, lending him his warmth and feeling him tremble from more than cold.