Bramblestar’s Storm

Brackenfur wrapped his tail around his daughter’s shoulders. On trembling paws father and daughter approached Seedpaw’s body and stood looking down at her.

“How can I bear this?” Brackenfur asked hoarsely. “To lose her mother, and now this…”

“She walks with Sorreltail in StarClan now,” Bramblestar murmured, but he knew that his words were no comfort at all. “I’ll carry her back to camp,” he added, crouching down so that Brackenfur could load Seedpaw’s body onto his back.

Bramblestar walked slowly back to the tunnel, the other cats in a silent group behind him. He felt as though the weight of the whole forest was crushing down on him in Seedpaw’s fragile body.

Is this the role of a Clan leader? he wondered. To watch my cats die one by one while I can do nothing to save them?

Chapter 14

Another gray dawn found the grief-stricken Clan outside the tunnel, grouped around Seedpaw’s body as they kept vigil for her. At length, as the light strengthened, Purdy rose stiffly to his paws. “It’s time to bury her,” he announced.

“I’ll help you,” Daisy meowed. “I know it’s a duty of the elders, but you can’t do it all by yourself, Purdy.”

“I’ll help too,” Brackenfur added from where he sat at Seedpaw’s head, with Lilypaw pressed close to his side.

The three cats picked up Seedpaw’s body between them and gently carried her away into the trees. Sandstorm padded over to Lilypaw and sat beside her, giving her ears a comforting lick. Bramblestar saw that the little cat couldn’t stop shivering.

Beckoning Leafpool, he asked, “Is Lilypaw ill?”

“I’m not sure,” Leafpool replied, her eyes sorrowful as she gazed at the apprentice. “It may be the onset of whitecough, or it may just be grief. It’s so hard when we can’t get properly dry and warm.”

“At least yesterday’s patrol over the border brought back a decent haul of fresh-kill,” Thornclaw put in. “I’ll lead another patrol there today, if you like.”

“Good idea,” meowed Squirrelflight. “I’ll go too.”

“We have to find some dry bedding,” Bramblestar declared. His pelt still prickled with concern for Lilypaw, but he was aware that it was his duty to pull the Clan out of its grief and get back to normal. And if he could find the bedding they needed, it would help Lilypaw, as well as Briarlight and the other cats with whitecough.

“Where are you going to look?” Spiderleg asked. “Even if it’s not underwater, it’s soaked through. There’s no sun to dry anything out, and it looks like it’s going to rain again soon.”

“Spiderleg’s right,” Daisy mewed. “I’ve looked everywhere for moss, feathers, dry leaves, even inside hollow trees, and there’s nothing.”

Dovewing took a pace forward, her eyes shining. “What about those pelts in the Twoleg dens, Bramblestar?” she mewed. “Remember? They were dry, and really soft, too.”

For a moment Bramblestar was struck silent by Dovewing’s extraordinary suggestion. Raid Twoleg dens for bedding? Then he realized that she could be right. This could be our only chance of getting dry bedding to help Briarlight—and stop the rest of the Clan from getting whitecough. But a sense of dread stirred in him, as if he were looking down into dark water. Can I really justify taking cats back into that dangerous, flooded place?

“I’ll go if you want, Bramblestar,” Graystripe offered, stepping up to his shoulder.

His Clanmate’s courage made up Bramblestar’s mind. “No, you’ve done it once,” he meowed. “This time I’ll take Poppyfrost, Lionblaze, and Cinderheart, if they’re willing.”

The three warriors nodded, looking somber.

“You’ve done it once, too, Bramblestar,” Squirrelflight pointed out with an edge to her tone.

“And I’m going to do it again,” he snapped.

Squirrelflight snorted. “Being Clan leader isn’t just about being the bravest, you mouse-brained idiot.”

Bramblestar dug his claws into the wet ground. “I’m going,” he insisted stubbornly. “I can’t ask my Clanmates to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. Come on, the sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be back.”

Refusing to argue anymore, he set out with his patrol to cross ShadowClan territory. Clouds surged black and ominous above their heads, though so far that day there had been no more rain.

“I wonder where all the ShadowClan cats are,” Lionblaze meowed as they headed through the deserted pinewoods. “I’d have expected to see a dawn patrol by now.”

“There are no fresh scents, either,” Poppyfrost added.

“Maybe they’ve stayed in their camp to welcome Rowanstar back from the Moonpool,” Bramblestar suggested.