“On its back?” Minty breathed, horrified.
“Show me the spring,” Jessy urged.
“Okay.” Bramblestar took a pace forward that brought him to her side. “First, get into the hunter’s crouch.” As Jessy pressed herself to the ground, he added, “Now, remember that your hind legs—”
He broke off as he spotted movement in the corner of his eye, and looked around to see Squirrelflight emerge into the clearing. She bounded over to him with an anxious look in her green eyes.
“I heard about the fox,” she told him. “Is everything okay?” Glancing down at Jessy, she went on, “Uh… what are you doing?”
“Discussing ways to fight off a badger,” Bramblestar meowed.
“Oh… are you?” There was an odd note of strain in Squirrelflight’s voice. “We met a badger once in the old forest; do you remember? Me and you and Thornclaw, when I was your apprentice.”
She raised her head, and her eyes locked with Bramblestar’s. His memories came flooding back. She looked at me like that back then, too, he recalled. Just for a heartbeat, as we ran from that badger.
Squirrelflight gave her pelt a shake. “I’ll go check for any more traces of that fox,” she mewed.
“Be careful,” Bramblestar warned her.
“I can look after myself,” Squirrelflight responded. “You trained me well.” There was warmth in her voice, but the brilliance of her gaze faded as she looked down at Jessy. She swung around abruptly and loped out of the clearing.
Bramblestar glanced down at Jessy, patiently waiting. Great StarClan! he thought. Is Squirrelflight jealous because I’m training Jessy now? That’s ridiculous!
Jessy wriggled out of the crouch and turned half away, giving her chest fur a few vigorous licks. Bramblestar thought she looked embarrassed.
“We should head back to the tunnels,” he decided. “Frankie, don’t forget your mouse.”
“I’ve decided that if I meet any foxes or badgers I’m going to run away very fast,” Minty announced as they trekked back toward the camp. “Or climb a tree. They can’t climb trees, can they?” she added anxiously to Bramblestar.
“No, they can’t,” he reassured her.
“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Minty decided.
On the way back, a light rain began to fall, quickly becoming heavier. Bramblestar lashed his tail with frustration. After a few dry days, he had hoped that the bad weather was over.
When they arrived at the tunnel entrance, he found Lilypaw, Snowpaw, Dewpaw, and Amberpaw dashing up with bunches of leaves in their jaws to cover up the fresh-kill pile, which had only been moved into the open the day before. Poppyfrost, Lilypaw’s mentor, was supervising them.
“Hurry up,” she urged them. “Or we’ll all be eating soggy mice!”
“Amberpaw!” Spiderleg called from the tunnel mouth. “Get in here right away! Your cough will get worse if you stay out in the rain.”
“My cough’s fine,” Amberpaw grumbled, though she obeyed her mentor and trotted into the tunnel.
The remaining apprentices quickly covered the fresh-kill pile, pausing for a moment so that Frankie could deposit his mouse. Graystripe and Millie appeared, dragging a squirrel between them, then headed for shelter, pausing to shake rain off their pelts before they slipped past the mudfall. Poppyfrost and the apprentices raced after them.
Bramblestar thought how much easier it was to cope with rain in the stone hollow, where all the den roofs were reinforced with brambles and ivy to keep the nests dry. We could settle in to talk or take a nap, and wait for the sun to come out again. Here, it’s uncomfortable whatever we do.
The kittypets headed for the tunnel, and Bramblestar was about to follow when he spotted Leafpool brushing through the sodden undergrowth with a bundle of herbs gripped in her mouth. Bramblestar nodded to her as she padded up, rain dripping from her whiskers. “That looks like a good haul,” he commented.
“I went nearly to the top border to find them,” Leafpool told him, setting her bundle down. “They’re daisy leaves, to help ease the aches and pains in the older cats. Purdy, of course, and Graystripe, Sandstorm, and Dustpelt. Not that they’ll admit they’re old,” she added with a half-amused, half-impatient snort.
“Don’t look at me,” Bramblestar protested. “It’s not up to me to tell them when to become elders.”
“I know.” Leafpool sighed. “But living in this tunnel isn’t helping, I can tell you.”
She picked up her herbs again and slid past the mudfall. Bramblestar followed her to see that most of the Clan was already there. The tunnel was unpleasantly crowded, the air thick with the scent of wet fur.
From farther down the passage, Bramblestar could hear Daisy’s voice raised in annoyance. “What were you apprentices thinking of?” she scolded. “How many times have you been told not to go farther down the tunnel than the last nests? Does every cat have to watch you every moment of the day? And as for you, Cherryfall and Molewhisker, you should be ashamed of yourselves for encouraging them.”
“Sorry,” Cherryfall muttered.
“But it’s boring down here,” Molewhisker retorted. “I’ve been stuck in this tunnel for moons!”
“Boring?” Daisy was unimpressed. “I’ll show you boring. If you need something to do, you can play hunt the tick on Purdy.”
“What, all of them?” Purdy grunted. “I’ll be prodded to death!”
The thick air and the voices of his Clanmates seemed to press in on Bramblestar. For a moment he felt that he couldn’t breathe. I have to get out of here. “I’m going to check the water levels,” he announced to no cat in particular.
“I’ll come with you,” Lionblaze offered, rising from his nest and pushing between Birchfall and Cloudtail to reach his leader.
Bramblestar noticed that the golden-furred warrior was still limping badly from the wounds he had suffered in the battle with the kittypets. “No, you need to rest,” he ordered.
“I’ve rested until I’m sick of it!” Lionblaze snapped.
“Bramblestar’s right,” Cinderheart mewed, stroking Lionblaze’s side with her tail. “You need to be more patient.”
Lionblaze glared at his mate. “I’ve been patient!”
“I’ll come with you, Bramblestar,” Cloudtail offered, heaving himself to his paws.
“Thanks. Let’s go,” Bramblestar meowed, turning away from Lionblaze. He’ll have to accept that things are different for him now.
Outside the rain was as heavy as ever, but after the crowded tunnel Bramblestar didn’t mind the cold water seeping through his pelt. He took deep breaths of the damp air as he and Cloudtail headed through the dripping trees.
“The Great Battle seems so long ago,” Cloudtail meowed after they had trotted in silence for a while. “And at the same time, it feels as if it was less than a moon away.” He sighed deeply. “I miss Firestar.”
Is he telling me I’m no good as leader? Bramblestar wondered for a moment, guilt clawing at him. Then he remembered that Cloudtail was Firestar’s kin.
“I miss him too,” he murmured.
“Oh, you’re doing a great job!” Cloudtail assured him, suddenly cheerful. “Just trust your instincts, and trust Firestar to have made the right choice!”
The older warrior’s praise warmed Bramblestar, and he felt more optimistic as they came into sight of the floodwater. But he was puzzled as he padded along the water’s edge looking for the marker sticks.