Bramblestar's Storm Part 1

Bramblestar's Storm.

Erin Hunter.

DEDICATION.

To Akbar: Be brave and live the dream, and become the artist you always wanted to be.

ALLEGIANCES.

THUNDERCLAN.

LEADER BRAMBLESTAR-dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes.

DEPUTY SQUIRRELFLIGHT-dark ginger she-cat with green eyes MEDICINE CATS JAYFEATHER-gray tabby tom with blind blue eyes LEAFPOOL-light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes WARRIORS (toms and she-cats without kits).

GRAYSTRIPE-long-haired gray tom DUSTPELT-dark brown tabby tom SANDSTORM-pale ginger she-cat with green eyes BRACKENFUR-golden-brown tabby tom CLOUDTAIL-long-haired white tom with blue eyes.

BRIGHTHEART-white she-cat with ginger patches MILLIE-striped gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes THORNCLAW-golden-brown tabby tom SPIDERLEG-long-limbed black tom with brown underbelly and amber eyes APPRENTICE, AMBERPAW (pale ginger she-cat) BIRCHFALL-light brown tabby tom.

WHITEWING-white she-cat with green eyes APPRENTICE, DEWPAW (gray-and-white tom) BERRYNOSE-cream-colored tom.

MOUSEWHISKER-gray-and-white tom CINDERHEART-gray tabby she-cat IVYPOOL-silver-and-white tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes APPRENTICE, SNOWPAW (white, fluffy tom) LIONBLAZE-golden tabby tom with amber eyes DOVEWING-pale gray she-cat with blue eyes ROSEPETAL-dark cream she-cat POPPYFROST-tortoisesh.e.l.l she-cat APPRENTICE, LILYPAW (tortoisesh.e.l.l-and-white she-cat) BRIARLIGHT-dark brown she-cat with sky-colored eyes, paralyzed in her hindquarters BLOSSOMFALL-tortoisesh.e.l.l-and-white she-cat b.u.mBLESTRIPE-very pale gray tom with black stripes APPRENTICE, SEEDPAW (golden-brown she-cat) CHERRYFALL-ginger she-cat MOLEWHISKER-brown-and-cream tom QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) DAISY-cream, long-furred cat from the horseplace ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired) PURDY-plump tabby, former loner with a gray muzzle SHADOWCLAN.

LEADER BLACKSTAR-large white tom with one jet-black forepaw DEPUTY ROWANCLAW-ginger tom MEDICINE CAT LITTLECLOUD-very small tabby tom.

WARRIORS CROWFROST-black-and-white tom TAWNYPELT-tortoisesh.e.l.l she-cat with green eyes APPRENTICE, GRa.s.sPAW (pale brown tabby she-cat) OWLCLAW-light brown tabby tom SCORCHFUR-dark gray tom TIGERHEART-dark brown tabby tom.

FERRETCLAW-black-and-gray tom APPRENTICE, SPIKEPAW (dark brown tom) PINENOSE-black she-cat STOATFUR-tortoisesh.e.l.l-and-white she-cat POUNCETAIL-brown tabby tom.

QUEENS s...o...b..RD-pure-white she-cat DAWNPELT-cream-furred she-cat ELDERS SNAKETAIL-dark brown tom with tabby-striped tail WHITEWATER-white she-cat with long fur, blind in one eye RATSCAR-brown tom with long scar across his back OAKFUR-small brown tom.

SMOKEFOOT-black tom KINKFUR-tabby she-cat, with long fur that sticks out at all angles IVYTAIL-black, white, and tortoisesh.e.l.l she-cat WINDCLAN.

LEADER ONESTAR-brown tabby tom.

DEPUTY HARESPRING-brown-and-white tom APPRENTICE, SLIGHTPAW (black tom with flash of white on his chest) MEDICINE CAT KESTRELFLIGHT-mottled gray tom WARRIORS CROWFEATHER-dark gray tom APPRENTICE, FEATHERPAW (gray tabby she-cat).

NIGHTCLOUD-black she-cat APPRENTICE, HOOTPAW (dark gray tom) GORSETAIL-very pale gray-and-white tom with blue eyes WEASELFUR-ginger tom with white paws LEAFTAIL-dark tabby tom, amber eyes APPRENTICE, OATPAW (pale brown tabby tom) EMBERFOOT-gray tom with two dark paws HEATHERTAIL-light brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes BREEZEPELT-black tom with amber eyes FURZEPELT-gray-and-white she-cat.

CROUCHFOOT-ginger tom LARKWING-pale brown tabby she-cat QUEENS SEDGEWHISKER-light brown tabby she-cat ELDERS WHISKERNOSE-light brown tom WHITETAIL-small white she-cat.

RIVERCLAN.

LEADER MISTYSTAR-gray she-cat with blue eyes DEPUTY REEDWHISKER-black tom APPRENTICE, LIZARDPAW (light brown tom) MEDICINE CATS MOTHWING-dappled golden she-cat WILLOWs.h.i.+NE-gray tabby she-cat.

WARRIORS MINTFUR-light gray tabby tom MINNOWTAIL-dark gray she-cat MALLOWNOSE-light brown tabby tom APPRENTICE, HAVENPAW (black-and-white she-cat).

GRa.s.sPELT-light brown tom DUSKFUR-brown tabby she-cat MOSSPELT-tortoisesh.e.l.l she-cat with blue eyes APPRENTICE, PERCHPAW (gray-and-white she-cat) s.h.i.+MMERPELT-silver she-cat LAKEHEART-gray tabby she-cat HERONWING-dark gray-and-black tom QUEENS ICEWING-white she-cat with blue eyes.

PETALFUR-gray-and-white she-cat ELDERS POUNCEFOOT-ginger-and-white tom PEBBLEFOOT-mottled gray tom RUSHTAIL-light brown tabby tom.

CATS OUTSIDE CLANS..

SMOKY-muscular gray-and-white tom who lives in a barn at the horseplace.

CORIANDER-tortoisesh.e.l.l-and-white she-cat who lives with smoky.

MAPS.

PROLOGUE.

Firestar brushed through the long gra.s.s beneath the trees and drank in the warm scents of prey. Sunlight sliced between the branches, casting dapples onto his flame-colored pelt. For a moment he paused, unsure which of the tantalizing aromas he should follow. Then he picked out the scent of a squirrel; it had swarmed up the trunk of a nearby oak tree and was hiding somewhere in the branches above his head.

It's been a while since I tested my tree-climbing skills, he thought, remembering how he had taught his Clanmates to hunt aboveground. Lionblaze really hated it at first. With a purr of amus.e.m.e.nt Firestar recalled the golden-furred warrior standing at the foot of a tree, reluctant to set paw on the trunk. Unlike Cinderheart, who seemed ready to sleep in a bird's nest once she learned how to climb.

Firestar sprang up the tree, digging his claws into the rough bark, and spotted the squirrel on one of the outer branches. He leaped toward it, reveling in the strength in his haunches, pleased that he still kept his sense of balance. The squirrel fled, jumping from branch to branch, higher and higher. As Firestar crouched, ready to follow, he heard a voice calling him from below.

"Firestar! Firestar!"

He halted; the leaves around him rustled as the squirrel vanished into the dense foliage. Firestar allowed himself a single hiss of regret, then turned and scrambled down the trunk to the ground.

Bluestar, the former ThunderClan leader, was waiting for him at the foot of the tree. Her blue-gray fur s.h.i.+mmered in the sunlight. "Sorry to disturb you, Firestar," she meowed. Her eyes glinted. "I see you haven't lost any of your hunting skill. You looked pretty comfortable up there . . . but I'm happy to leave the tree hunting to others. Walk with me," she added, nodding deeper into the forest.

Firestar padded by her side, enjoying the sun's warmth soaking into his pelt. StarClan has everything to make a cat content, he thought. But I still miss my old home and my Clanmates. Sometimes it seems like I left them when they needed me most.

"ThunderClan has had a difficult time, hasn't it?" Bluestar commented, as if she had picked up Firestar's regrets. "Wounded cats had scarcely healed after the Great Battle when the greencough came."

Firestar hesitated before replying, swallowing the wail of grief that rose in his chest. We were already weakened by the battle; we didn't stand a chance of fighting the greencough.

He took a breath and let it out in a long sigh. "There has been so much loss, so much pain. But the sickness has gone, thanks to Leafpool and Jayfeather." He forced a note of optimism into his voice. "Brightheart and Cloudtail's kits have become apprentices. And Bramblestar is a fair and confident leader. ThunderClan will survive."

"Of course." Bluestar nodded. "Bramblestar had a good mentor. Do you walk in his dreams?"

"I don't need to," Firestar responded. "I trust him." He felt a familiar stab of anger in his belly. "I shouldn't have had to leave my Clan," he hissed. "I could have gone on serving them for many more seasons."

"Could you have saved them from the greencough? Healed their injuries more quickly?" Bluestar rested her tail on his shoulder. "You gave ThunderClan nine good lives. They could not ask for any more."

Ducking beneath some curling fronds of fern, they padded across a glade of bright green gra.s.s, circled by silver birch trees.

"All of the Clans have struggled this leaf-bare," Bluestar mewed. "ShadowClan has more elders than warriors, and WindClan lost most of its best hunters in the Great Battle. It is hard for every cat here to watch our Clanmates suffer." She paused to hold a bramble out of Firestar's way. "But there is always hope. Especially in StarClan."

"I know," Firestar meowed. "But I never realized how far I would be from my Clan. And I-I always thought Spottedleaf would be here to guide me." He pictured the beautiful tortoisesh.e.l.l she-cat, ThunderClan's former medicine cat, who had given up her existence in StarClan fighting for her living Clanmates. Her amber eyes seemed to glow with sadness in his memory.

"Spottedleaf will be much missed," Bluestar agreed, a slight edge to her tone. "But one day Sandstorm will come here to be with you."

One day. Pain clawed once more at Firestar's heart as he thought of his mate. How many seasons must I wait for her?

Firestar had made a warm nest for himself at the bottom of a hollow tree. It seemed strange not to be sleeping in a camp with other cats, though if he listened carefully, he could hear the gentle murmurs of StarClan warriors settling around him, hidden in the ferns. As he closed his eyes, he hoped that he would dream himself into ThunderClan.

Instead it seemed only a heartbeat since he had slipped into sleep when he was roused by a paw prodding him in the shoulder. Firestar raised his head, blinking.

"Wake up, Firestar," a voice meowed.

A cat was standing in front of him: a muscular gray tom with patches of white on his fur.

"Cloudstar!" Firestar exclaimed.

The former SkyClan leader dipped his head. "Greetings, Firestar."

Firestar scrambled to his paws and shook sc.r.a.ps of moss from his pelt. He had last seen Cloudstar many, many seasons before, after the gray-and-white tom had led him upriver from the forest to restore his lost Clan. Once Leafstar, the new SkyClan leader, had received her nine lives, Firestar and Cloudstar had said farewell. Firestar had never expected to see him again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "The skies you walk are so far away."

"I was allowed to visit you," Cloudstar replied. "We must talk together. Come."

He padded ahead of Firestar down a gra.s.sy slope to the edge of the forest. A pool of water stretched before them, its silver surface reflecting the light of the full moon.

"I want to thank you again, for understanding why it was so important to rebuild SkyClan," Cloudstar meowed, halting at the water's edge and resting his calm blue gaze on Firestar. "Sometimes one Clan cannot survive without the help of others."

Firestar nodded. "We've certainly learned that recently, if we didn't know it before," he murmured. For a heartbeat the darkness of the Great Battle swirled around him once more, the stench of blood and the shrieks of dying cats.

"I saw your terrible battle," Cloudstar meowed. "And for the first time I was glad that I had to lead my Clan to find a new home, because we were spared the vengeance of the Dark Forest."

"It wasn't vengeance. It was slaughter." Firestar felt the fur rise along his spine. "I had to watch my Clanmates die. I gave my last life to save them . . . and it wasn't enough."

"The battle was won," Cloudstar pointed out quietly. "You did not lose your life for nothing." He padded alongside the pool, stepping delicately among the vegetation that grew by the edge of the water.

Firestar kept pace with him, their pelts brus.h.i.+ng. "You haven't come all the way here to thank me for helping Leafstar, or to speak about the Great Battle. What is it, Cloudstar? Is there something wrong in SkyClan?"

Cloudstar stopped and sat down, looking across the pool. Suddenly he lifted his hind paw and sliced a foreclaw across his pad. A line of blood oozed out and dripped into the water, spreading in a scarlet cloud against the silver.

The violence of Cloudstar's response made Firestar wince. He stood with his mouth open, staring at the swirl of blood.

"I bring a message that you need to take to Bramblestar," Cloudstar meowed, still gazing at the water.

"A prophecy?" Firestar echoed. My first prophecy! I am a true StarClan cat!

"Yes. Listen well, Firestar. When water meets blood, blood will rise."

Firestar blinked. Is that it? "What does it mean?"

"We do not need to know the meaning," Cloudstar told him, turning until his eyes burned into Firestar's like two small moons. "Bramblestar will find that out for himself."

"And when do I give this message to Bramblestar?" Firestar asked. He resisted the urge to demand more answers from the old cat. Do all StarClan cats deliver prophecies that seem to mean nothing?

"You will know when the time comes," Cloudstar replied.

Could you be any more vague? Firestar thought irritably. But he kept his voice steady. "Does this mean that more trouble is coming for my Clan?"

"The life of the warrior Clans is always storm-tossed," Cloudstar meowed. "It's our duty-the duty of all StarClan-to watch over them, whatever happens." His gaze softened. "I'm sorry, Firestar. I know this isn't what you want to hear. But I promise, this message will help Bramblestar in the end. You have to trust me on that."

Firestar sighed. "I do trust you. But is it too much to ask that ThunderClan could have a few seasons of peace, after they've suffered so much?"

CHAPTER 1.

Bramblestar stood near the entrance to the hollow and breathed deeply. The sky was milky-pale with dawn, and mist still drifted between the trees, but the air was full of the scents of fresh, growing things, announcing new life. Each twig was tipped with green, and tight fronds of ferns were starting to uncoil in the midst of the dead bracken.

It's been a long, harsh leaf-bare, Bramblestar thought. The heavy snow made it harder, and we have so few warriors to hunt prey. Fewer still since the greencough . . . Then he gave his pelt a shake. His Clan had made it through the bitter, grief-wracked leaf-bare, and the warmer weather was returning. "We've survived six moons since the Great Battle," he meowed aloud. "And now we'll start to build up our strength again. Nothing will destroy ThunderClan."

"That's right."

Bramblestar jumped at the sound of Berrynose's voice. He hadn't noticed the cream-colored warrior emerging from the barrier of thorns behind him.

"Berrynose, you nearly frightened me out of my fur!" he exclaimed.

"Nothing frightens you, Bramblestar," Berrynose responded. "I'm leading a border patrol. Do you want to come with us?"

As he spoke, Millie and Rosepetal pushed their way through the p.r.i.c.kly wall, closely followed by one of the new apprentices, Amberpaw. Her mentor, Spiderleg, brought up the rear.

Amberpaw bounced up to Berrynose. "Where are we going today?" she chirped. "WindClan or ShadowClan? What will we do if we catch them trespa.s.sing? Will we need to fight? I learned a great move!"

Berrynose looked a little overwhelmed, and it was Spiderleg who replied. "Amberpaw, if you stop twittering like a blackbird and start listening, you might learn something."

His words were stern but not harsh, and Bramblestar was pleased to see that Amberpaw wasn't at all intimidated by her mentor. "Okay, Spiderleg," she mewed. "But-"

"We're going along the WindClan border," Berrynose interrupted. "And we're not expecting trouble." He strode downhill toward the lake.