“What about Longtail?” Mousefur called out. “How do you expect him to get across here?”
“Mouse dung!” Squirrelflight muttered crossly. “We’d better climb the hill to the place we crossed before. It was easier farther up.”
“No, hang on,” Brambleclaw meowed. They didn’t have time for that, not if they wanted to reach the stone hollow before dark. “The water doesn’t look deep. Let’s see if we can wade across.”
He dipped one paw in the water, shivering at its icy touch, then stepped out into the current. The pebbly bottom shelved gently, and he found that even at the deepest place the water didn’t lap much higher than his belly fur.
“Come on!” he called as he leaped out on the opposite bank, shaking each leg in turn to get rid of the water. “It’s easy!”
A couple of yowls of protest rose from the other bank. “If you think I’m getting wet, you’ve got bees in your brain!”
Mousefur called across to him.
Brambleclaw sighed. It would take far longer to climb the hill to the stepping-stones, and if the Clan had to blunder about in the dark looking for their new camp, then the chances were that some cats would discover it the same way Squirrelflight had—by falling over the edge of the cliff. To his relief, he saw Firestar beckoning to his Clan with his tail.
“Come on!” he meowed impatiently. “We’ve come all this way. We’re not going to let a stream stop us now, are we?”
One by one, the Clan began to cross. Cloudtail and Sandstorm went first, wading slowly through the water with their tails washed sideways by the current. Dustpelt carried Birchkit across next, his head tipped back to save the kit from getting too wet, and behind him Brackenfur and Sorreltail guided Longtail. Squirrelflight finally persuaded Mousefur into the water by promising she’d soon be in a warm den, on a bed of dry moss; the older warrior grumbled every pawstep of the way until she pulled herself out on the other side and glared at Brambleclaw as she shook herself dry. Behind her, Squirrelflight rolled her eyes, as if she wasn’t looking forward to collecting all the moss she’d promised on the other side of the stream.
Firestar crossed last. “Right,” he meowed as he joined Brambleclaw on the bank. “Where’s this camp?”
Brambleclaw exchanged a glance with Squirrelflight. They hadn’t approached the hollow from this direction, and in the gathering darkness everything looked different. Squirrelflight was obviously no more certain than he was. She looked blankly back at him and gave the tiniest shake of her head.
Brambleclaw tasted the air, trying to judge their position from the stream and the slope of the hill. “It’s this way,” he meowed at last, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
The Clan followed him into the trees. Brambleclaw veered in front of his Clanmates to walk beside Squirrelflight.
“What if we can’t find it?” he mewed quietly.
Squirrelflight’s green eyes glinted in the darkness as she turned to look at him. “Then we’ll have a lot of furious cats on our tails. Stop worrying,” she added. “It’s around here somewhere. We found it even though we weren’t looking for it before, remember?”
Brambleclaw didn’t tell her that was precisely what he was afraid of—that they’d find the hollow only when a cat fell into it. He suddenly felt very small and vulnerable as he padded through the dead leaves, with smooth gray trunks rising up on every side. Even if we find the hollow, will the others think it’s any good? he wondered desperately.
He was just beginning to hear uneasy muttering from the other cats, who must have realized they weren’t following a direct route, when he saw Squirrelflight’s ears prick up.
“Look!” she meowed. “That gap between the trees over there, with the clump of dead bracken… I’ve seen that before.”
“Are you sure?” Brambleclaw asked, but Squirrelflight was already racing ahead. He followed her into a small clearing and skidded to a halt in front of the tangle of thorns where Squirrelflight had disappeared when she first found the stone hollow.
She was standing in the middle of the clearing, her eyes shining. “This is it!” she yowled triumphantly. Spinning around, she called to the rest of the Clan, “Come on, we’re here!”
Spiderpaw let out a screech of excitement. He broke away from the rest of the Clan and dashed forward, straight into the brambles. Brambleclaw stared in horror. They had found the hollow again, but that wasn’t the way in!
“Come back!” Mousefur called after her apprentice.
There was no reply. Brambleclaw caught a glimpse of his long black tail waving among the thorns and sprang forward, but Squirrelflight was faster.
Yowling, “No!” she burrowed among the thorns after Spiderpaw. Brambleclaw slid underneath the branches and found them on the very edge of the cliff. Squirrelflight had pinned Spiderpaw down with a paw on his neck, her flanks heaving with effort. Beneath her, the apprentice peered over the sheer rock wall, his eyes bulging.
“Stupid furball!” Squirrelflight exclaimed. “Do you want a broken neck?”
“Sorry,” Spiderpaw mumbled. “You said we were here, so I thought_”
Squirrelflight batted him across the ear with one paw, her claws sheathed. “Get back to the others,” she rasped. “And maybe you should try thinking less and listening more next time!”
Brambleclaw almost snorted out loud, hearing Squirrelflight give the same advice she’d heard so many times. He waited until they had crawled away from the cliff before following them out of the brambles.
“What’s going on?” Ferncloud, Spiderpaw’s mother, demanded as they came into the clearing. “Is there something dangerous in those bushes? Why didn’t you warn us before?”
Unease, sharp as a claw, raked down Brambleclaw’s spine.
“Er… we’ve found the camp,” he meowed. “It’s in a hollow on the other side of those brambles.” Hastily he added, “It’s not dangerous once you know where the edge is. Come and see. Not that way!” he growled as Whitepaw bounded curiously over to the thorns.
He and Squirrelflight led the other cats down the slope, weaving between brambles and hazel trees until they reached the gap in the circle of stone. Brambleclaw nervously watched his Clanmates as they filed in and stood looking around at the towering walls. The sky was almost completely dark now, with clouds covering the half-moon, and Brambleclaw had to admit the hollow looked dark and uninviting. There seemed to be more brambles and thornbushes than he remembered, making it feel cramped and overgrown. Some of the undergrowth would be useful for shelter, but the rest would have to be cleared.
Mousefur was the first to speak. “This isn’t a camp! Where are the dens? There’s not enough space for a snake to sun itself here.”
“Hey!” Squirrelflight protested. “You didn’t think StarClan would have it all ready for us, did you? I know there’s a lot of work to do, but think how easy it will be to defend, surrounded by these cliffs.”
“I think it looks great,” Thornclaw meowed. “We’ll soon sort out proper dens, and somewhere for the nursery.”
“I want to explore!” Whitepaw exclaimed, bouncing on her paws. “Can we, Brackenfur? Please!”
Her mentor gave her a gentle nudge. “Wait until tomorrow, when it’s light.”
Goldenflower was standing beside Longtail, her tail curled across his shoulders. “It’s a huge clearing with stone walls,” she mewed softly. “It’s quite dark, but I think the walls are covered with ferns and moss. Can you hear that trickle of water? It sounds more like rain draining off the rock than a proper stream. The hollow is full of brambles and thorn thickets, but there’s plenty of space for the Clan.”