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.
After a moment Frankie spoke, his gaze still fixed on the stars. “Don’t you need to get back to the Clan?”
Yes, Bramblestar thought, but that’s not important right now. “There’s plenty of time,” he murmured. “I’ll stay with you for as long as you need.”
Chapter 26
The last of the sun had gone and shadows were gathering fast before Frankie stirred, lowering his gaze from the stars. “What will happen to me now?” he mewed sadly. “My housefolk have left, and my home is still full of water. Everything has gone.”
“But the water is going down.” Bramblestar tried to sound encouraging. “Your Twolegs will come back.”
“But what will I do right now?” Frankie wailed.
“Come back to ThunderClan.” The answer was so obvious to Bramblestar that he found it hard to understand why Frankie was asking the question. “We’ll look after you until you can go home.”
Frankie let out a sigh. “Thank you.”
Bramblestar led the way back to ThunderClan territory, retracing their previous route. Night had fallen by the time they reached the woods above ShadowClan, and Bramblestar felt his pelt rise at the eerie silence. The scents of ShadowClan warriors wreathed around him from every side, as if they had been hunting regularly beyond their border since ThunderClan had dealt with Victor and the other kittypets.
“If we spot a ShadowClan patrol, climb a tree, quick as you can,” he murmured to Frankie. “I know we’re not actually trespassing, but I don’t want them to catch us.”
When they reached the forest above ThunderClan, Bramblestar relaxed briefly, only to stiffen again as he picked up a trace of the bitter scent of badger. “Let’s get a move on,” he meowed, not telling Frankie anything about his fears. “I can’t wait to get back to my nest.”
A quarter moon was shining down on the clearing when Bramblestar and Frankie returned to the makeshift camp. Squirrelflight was stalking up and down in front of the tunnel entrance, her tail-tip flicking and her whiskers quivering.
“Bramblestar!” she exclaimed as the two cats limped out of the undergrowth. “Where have you been?”
At the sound of her voice, Minty, Jessy, and Millie erupted out of the tunnel.
“Are you two mouse-brained?” Millie demanded as she shot across the clearing. “Do you know how worried we’ve been? Do you care?”
“Great StarClan, look at you!” Squirrelflight gasped.
Bramblestar realized how they must appear: thorn-scratched and exhausted, their fur soaked and muddy, stinking of death. “It’s been a long day,” he muttered.
Millie’s anger died as she reached Frankie and Bramblestar and saw them more clearly. “What happened?” she hissed. “Are you hurt?”
“Did you fight a badger?” Minty asked, bounding up and giving Frankie’s filthy pelt a shocked sniff.
“Benny’s dead,” Frankie responded wearily.
Minty’s eyes stretched wide. “Oh, no! How?”
While Bramblestar gave a brief account of their search and the discovery of Benny’s body inside the drain, more of his Clanmates emerged from the tunnel. Murmurs of sympathy arose from them as they listened.
“We buried him on a little hill overlooking the lake,” Bramblestar finished.
“I’m sure StarClan was with him at the end,” Leafpool mewed, padding up to Frankie and giving his ear a comforting lick.
“I hope so.” Frankie’s voice was bleak. “Because I wasn’t.”
“You did all you could,” Millie told him. “At least now you know what happened.”
“Yes,” Jessy added. “You don’t have to worry anymore, and you can grieve for him properly.”
Frankie nodded, gazing around at the group of cats who surrounded him with looks of sadness, but he said nothing.
“You should have told us where you were going,” Cherryfall meowed. “We could have come with you. I’d have helped you find him.”
“Come on.” Leafpool gave Frankie a gentle shove. “Into the tunnel, and I’ll take a look at you. You can have some thyme leaves for the shock.”
“I’ll bring you some fresh-kill,” Minty offered as the medicine cat led Frankie away.
Once Frankie had gone, Jessy padded over to Bramblestar. “Thank you,” she mewed. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Bramblestar dipped his head toward her. “My cats never have to suffer alone,” he told her.
Jessy’s ears flicked up. “Is that true?” she pressed. “That we are your cats?”
“For now,” Bramblestar replied, feeling a purr rise in his throat.
Jessy touched her nose to his. “Good.”
Bramblestar opened his eyes to see dawn light seeping into the tunnel. For a moment he felt as if he couldn’t move a muscle. Weariness from the long trek the day before, and the struggle to free Benny’s body from the drain, weighed down his limbs. He staggered to his paws and stumbled out of his nest, still half-asleep.
“Hey, that’s my tail!” Jessy’s voice meowed.
Bramblestar turned to see that the brown she-cat had dragged her nest next to to his, and was looking up at him with amusement in her golden eyes. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s okay. How do you feel? You had a tough time yesterday.”
“I’ll be fine.” Bramblestar shook each leg in turn, his muscles protesting, then arched his back in a long stretch. “I need to get moving, that’s all.”
Jessy followed him as he headed along the tunnel and into the cool dawn. The sky was a pale, milky blue with small puffs of white cloud. No rain today, Bramblestar thought gratefully.
In the clearing most of his cats were milling around Squirrelflight, who was organizing patrols. “Cloudtail,” she was mewing, “you can go and check the border with WindClan. Take—” She broke off as she spotted Bramblestar and Jessy emerge from the tunnel, held Bramblestar’s gaze for a heartbeat, and then turned back to Cloudtail. “Take Mousewhisker, Berrynose, and Birchfall with you,” she finished.
As Cloudtail gathered his patrol together, Bramblestar padded up to his deputy. “I want to lead a patrol out beyond the top border,” he announced.
“I’ll come!” Jessy offered.