Bramblestar’s Storm

Realizing anything he said would just make things worse, Bramblestar led his patrol out of the camp and through the trees to the ShadowClan border. When they reached it and saw the extent of the flooding in their rivals’ territory, Spiderleg and Leafpool halted, gazing in shock at the waste of water.

“I had no idea the lake had stretched so far!” Leafpool exclaimed.

“It’s pretty bad.” Cinderheart, who had seen this on her previous patrol, was calmer. “Life must be so hard for ShadowClan now.”

“Life’s hard for all of us,” Spiderleg mewed unsympathetically.

Bramblestar had no idea how to find ShadowClan’s temporary camp, so he led his patrol along the border, staying on the ThunderClan side, his ears pricked for the sound of cats and his jaws parted to pick up their scent. Eventually a whiff of ShadowClan scent reached him and he heard the swish of long grass as cats brushed through it.

“Hey, ShadowClan!” he called out, stopping. “Over here!”

He waited, his Clanmates bunched around him, until Crowfrost appeared around a bramble thicket with Tigerheart and Scorchfur a pace or two behind. All three cats looked desperately thin, their ribs showing beneath their pelts.

“What do you want?” Crowfrost growled as he stopped in front of Bramblestar. “You have no business being here.”

“We haven’t crossed your border,” Bramblestar pointed out mildly. “But we’d like to visit Rowanstar. I want to welcome him as your new leader.”

“I think they just want to find out where we’ve made our new camp,” Scorchfur put in, glaring over Crowfrost’s shoulder.

“Well, we don’t have to take them there,” Crowfrost responded. “If that’s really what you want,” he added to Bramblestar, “then we’ll bring Rowanstar to you here.”

Bramblestar would have been prepared to settle for that, but Spiderleg broke in. “Look, we’re all suffering from the floods,” he snapped. “The last thing we want is to attack your camp. Just take us there!”

“That’s enough!” Bramblestar warned him, raising his tail.

Before he could say anything to the ShadowClan cats, Crowfrost’s shoulders sagged. “Okay, then, come on,” he meowed, sounding too weary to argue anymore.

The ThunderClan patrol crossed out of their own territory and followed the ShadowClan cats, heading toward the top border. The ground began to rise steeply and a cold wind whipped their fur the wrong way and rattled the tops of the spindly trees. Crowfrost came to a halt in front of a dense bramble thicket. There was a strong reek of ShadowClan, and Bramblestar could hear sounds of movement and muted mews coming from deep within the brambles. It looks like they camped as high up as they could because they were afraid the water wouldn’t stop rising.

“Wait here,” Crowfrost ordered. “I’ll bring Rowanstar out to you.” Pressing himself to the ground, he wriggled his way inside. Scorchfur and Tigerheart remained outside on guard. Ready to spring if we put a paw wrong, Bramblestar thought.

Eventually there was movement among the brambles and Rowanstar appeared, followed by Crowfrost and two or three other ShadowClan cats.

“Greetings, Bramblestar,” the ShadowClan leader mewed. “Crowfrost, thank you for bringing them to see me. Crowfrost is my new deputy,” he added to the ThunderClan cats, who murmured congratulations.

“And of course we congratulate you on receiving your nine lives, Rowanstar,” Bramblestar meowed. “We know you will be a strong leader for ShadowClan. I see that you’ve managed to find a good place to camp while the water is high.”

Rowanstar gave a brief nod. “Yes, we’ve had to move, just as you have, no doubt. But the water will soon go down, and meanwhile we’re surviving.”

For all his brave words, Bramblestar could see the panic in the Clan leader’s eyes. His tucked-up flanks suggested that he had been giving all the fresh-kill to his Clanmates. But Bramblestar knew there was no point in challenging him directly about the trouble he was in. There’s no way he would ever admit it.

Leafpool stepped forward, dipping her head to Rowanstar. “May I speak to Littlecloud?”

“Yes, of course,” Rowanstar replied, respect for the medicine cat showing in his eyes. “Dawnpelt, please go get him.”

The cream-furred she-cat, her belly swollen with kits, turned and pushed her way back into the brambles. That’s Tawnypelt’s daughter, Bramblestar thought. My kin… and her kits will come soon. I must do something to help this Clan.

Littlecloud emerged from the thicket a moment later. Bramblestar was shocked to see how old and frail he looked; his eyes seemed to be fixed on some point in the distance, and his haunches quivered as he lowered himself to the ground.