Bramblestar’s Storm

This is what we get for fighting outside our territory, he thought, shaking his pelt. We don’t know where the hollows are, or the brambles, or the fallen trees that could trap us in a corner. The battle inside the ThunderClan camp had been hideous, but at least they had known their own terrain well.

Poppyfrost had disappeared in the moments it took Bramblestar to recover. Now he spotted Dovewing dashing up to a badger and raking its side with her claws before leaping back out of range. All her fears seemed to have vanished in the heat of the battle. As she prepared to dart in for a second blow, she seemed to notice a ShadowClan warrior writhing on the ground with the foot of another badger planted on his back. Dovewing whirled and raced toward the huge beast, sinking her claws and teeth into its leg. The badger shifted to attack her, raising its paw enough for the ShadowClan cat to crawl away, and Dovewing ducked away from the badger’s snapping jaws with one last well-aimed blow at its muzzle.

She may have lost her powers to see and hear afar, Bramblestar thought, but she’s managing pretty well without them.

A few tail-lengths away Lionblaze was fighting with one of the old badgers, snarling defiance as he leaped up over and over again to slash his claws across its eyes and ears. The badger lurched from side to side, swiping with its huge paws, but it couldn’t land a blow on the whirling, dodging, golden-furred warrior.

“He’s being too reckless!” Squirrelflight gasped, appearing at Bramblestar’s side. “Doesn’t he know that he can be hurt now?”

“Oh, he knows,” Bramblestar replied, pride in the young warrior warming him through. “But he’s going to be a father. He’s fighting to protect Cinderheart and their unborn kits. That gives him all the courage he needs.” He hesitated, then added, “Once I felt the same.”

Squirrelflight’s green gaze rested on him for a heartbeat that seemed to last for seasons. “You are still their father,” she meowed. Then she darted away, back into the chaos of the battle.

Bramblestar glanced around, checking to see if any of his cats needed help. He glimpsed Cloudtail and Dustpelt, flinging themselves into the thick of the fighting together. Blossomfall, Rosepetal, and Berrynose had surrounded a badger, confusing it with matching attacks until the creature stood helplessly roaring in pain. Lionblaze was fighting side by side with Pinenose, while Mousewhisker and Stoatfur attacked a badger from each side, nimbly leaping out of the range of its massive paws.

Bramblestar noticed that the two kittypets had taken on one of the younger badgers. Jessy stood in front of it, teasing it by jumping in to tap its nose lightly with her paws, her blows hardly grazing its skin, while Frankie attacked from behind, digging his claws into its hindquarters and biting down hard on its tail. The badger roared in fury and frustration, turning around and around in its efforts to get at Frankie, while the she-cat in front of him kept distracting him.

That’s a new move, Bramblestar thought, amused in the midst of danger. I’ll have to remember it.

In the next heartbeat the badger broke away, with Frankie pursuing it into the darkness under the trees. Bramblestar lost sight of Jessy too, as he dodged around a tree stump to help Scorchfur, who was battering vainly with his hind paws at a badger that held him in its claws. Bramblestar launched himself at the badger with an earsplitting screech, scoring his claws down its shoulder. The badger dropped Scorchfur, and for a few moments the dark gray tom and Bramblestar fought together, attacking the badger from one side and then the other. It was already injured, blood pouring from a wound in its side, and too slow for its blows to land on the swifter cats. Soon it turned and staggered away, thrusting a path through a dense thicket of brambles.

Scorchfur and Bramblestar faced each other for a heartbeat, breathing hard. Then Scorchfur gave a tiny nod. “You fight well, ThunderClan cat.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Bramblestar responded.

Turning back to the battle, he spotted Jessy again, this time perched on the back of a badger with Ivypool and Snowpaw. She and Snowpaw were clawing vigorously at the badger’s back, while Ivypool balanced on its neck and raked her claws across its eyes.

Bramblestar shuddered. A Dark Forest move…