Bramblestar’s Storm

When they reached the entrance to the tunnels, half-hidden behind an outcrop of rocks, the cats clustered around, waiting for their turn to squeeze inside. Though the dark hole looked forbidding, they were all eager to get out of the storm.

“Wow, this is so weird!” Amberpaw exclaimed as she padded a couple of tail-lengths down the tunnel. “You said Hollyleaf lived down here? Did she really?” she asked Spiderleg.

Her mentor nodded. “She did, for several moons. None of us knew she was here.”

“And you fought WindClan here?” Dewpaw added. “How did you see anything?”

“What happened if you got lost?” Snowpaw shuddered, though Bramblestar thought he was enjoying the adventure. “What if you never found your way out?”

“That’s enough,” Whitewing meowed. “You can’t stand here chattering all day.”

“Yes, you’re blocking the tunnel,” Ivypool hissed. “Cats are waiting out in the rain.”

“Sorry,” Seedpaw mewed, nudging the younger apprentices ahead of her. “They’re still kits, really,” she added to Ivypool.

“Kit yourself!” Amberpaw retorted.

“Let’s explore,” Dewpaw urged. “I want to see everything. Come on, Purdy.”

“Don’t go far!” Ivypool called after them.

Hoping that Purdy would stop the apprentices from doing anything too stupid, Bramblestar followed them down the tunnel. When he reached a place where it grew a little wider, just before the light from the entrance faded entirely, he let Briarlight slide from his shoulders. Millie rushed up to her daughter and began to groom her fur, licking it the wrong way to dry it and warm her up.

As the rest of the cats settled around them in pulpy mounds of wet fur, Bramblestar wondered what kind of life Hollyleaf had led in the darkness of the tunnels. He had a vivid memory of the starlit cat who had stood over Hollyleaf as she died in the Great Battle. What was his name? Fallen Leaves. He wasn’t a Clan cat, but he seemed to know Hollyleaf very well. I wonder if they met down here.

“Bramblestar.” Cinderheart’s voice roused him from his thoughts.

Bramblestar twitched his ears. “Yes, what is it?”

“Do you think we should explore a bit farther?” the gray she-cat asked. “Should we check if there’s any flooding belowground? With all this rain…”

“Good thinking,” Bramblestar responded, though inwardly he winced at the thought of having to get up and move again. “Find some other cats to go with us.”

Cinderheart nodded and padded away, returning a moment later with Lionblaze and Ivypool. Bramblestar rose to his paws and led them down the tunnel. They had to pick their way through the rest of the ThunderClan cats, who bunched anxiously together, unhappy in the cold shadows. Purdy was farthest down the tunnel, with all five apprentices clustered around him.

“So we all climbed onto the branch,” he was meowing. “Squirrelflight had to tie Briarlight on with a bit of ivy…”

The apprentices had their jaws open with excitement. Even in his weary state, Bramblestar had to stifle a mrrow of amusement to think that their desperate struggle for safety had already become a thrilling story for Purdy to tell. Satisfied that his Clan was safe for the time being, he headed into the darkness. The damp underpaw owed nothing to the recent rain and everything to the absence of sunlight and fresh air down here. Bramblestar had always been uneasy in the tunnels, but this time something was different. Before he had always felt as if he was being watched, as if there was something just out of hearing or sight in the shadows. But now the passages felt silent and empty. Somehow this made them even bleaker and more unwelcoming, especially as the light faded behind the warriors until they walked in complete darkness.

Bramblestar could tell that Ivypool and Lionblaze felt the difference too: There was a wariness about them, a subtle change in their scent, as if they were expecting something to happen.

The tunnel led downward in a straight line, so narrow that Bramblestar could feel his pelt brushing the walls on both sides.

“We should come to a side tunnel soon,” Lionblaze meowed after a while. “We ought to take it, and check out the main cave.”

Before he had taken many more paw steps, Bramblestar felt a colder flow of air from one side, and turned into the new tunnel. This passage was narrower still, and twisted around sharp corners so that Bramblestar had to swallow down a fear of getting his shoulders wedged. A dull roar came up the tunnel to greet them, growing louder as they headed farther down. Gradually Bramblestar realized that he could see the walls ahead of him in a dim light.

“We’re getting close to the cave,” he reported.

A heartbeat later he halted with icy black water lapping against his paws. The cave was filled with a dark torrent, waves glinting in the light that came from the crack in the roof.

“Get back!” Bramblestar warned.