The Raging Storm

“Is he really okay?” Twigbranch asked anxiously. “He’s hardly moving.”

“That’s the poppy seeds working,” Alderheart told her. “I gave him plenty.”

“Tell me when he’s ready to be carried back to camp,” Bramblestar meowed.

Alderheart nodded, not pausing his work.

“We should tell Tigerstar what’s happened,” Finleap meowed.

“Yes.” Bramblestar nodded. “Take Twigbranch and go to the ShadowClan camp.”

Finleap glanced at the border. “Should we wait for a ShadowClan patrol to escort us?”

“No.” Bramblestar twitched his tail. “Cross the border. Tigerstar will understand why you’re on ShadowClan land once he hears the news. Tell him we’ll take care of Puddleshine until he is well enough to return. He is welcome to send a patrol to check on him.”

Twigbranch glanced at Finleap. What if a ShadowClan patrol attacked them before they had time to explain why they were there?

He blinked at her. “Come on.” Leaping away, he skirted the silverthorn and headed across the border.

Twigbranch followed him. Her heart quickened as she crossed the scent line. “Do you know the way to the ShadowClan camp?”

“No, but you do.” Finleap slowed and let her take the lead.

She hurried past him and led the way up a rise. She knew this trail well. She had traveled to the ShadowClan camp many times—usually in secret—to visit her sister, Violetshine, when they’d been kits. She’d been scared then, but she felt more anxious now. Since Tigerstar had returned, no cat had heard much from ShadowClan. Who knew what sort of leader he’d become? She glanced nervously between the pines. “What if Tigerstar is angry that we’ve taken Puddleshine to our camp?” she asked Finleap in a hushed mew.

Finleap fell in beside her, matching her stride. “How can he be angry when we’re trying to help?”

His confidence soothed her. He seemed so sure of himself. Even when he’d been pulling Puddleshine free, he’d known he could do it. He was sure they’d be mates too and that they’d have kits one day. And the thought didn’t scare him. Anxiety wormed beneath Twigbranch’s pelt. Then why does it scare me?

CHAPTER 2

Violetshine padded into a glade, where newleaf sun dappled white patches of snowdrops. Mintfur walked beside her while, ahead of them, Sandynose sniffed the air, his whiskers twitching as a mild wind carried the scent of the lake through the forest.

“Look here, Fidgetflake!” Frecklewish stopped beside a patch of dark green leaves sprouting between the roots of an alder.

The younger medicine cat hurried toward her, his black-and-white pelt prickling eagerly. “Is that some kind of comfrey?”

“It’s wood sorrel,” Frecklewish told him, plucking out a few leaves with her claws. She held it out for him to sniff.

Fidgetflake wrinkled his nose, backing away. “I know what it smells like. Horrible and sour.”

“It tastes even worse,” Frecklewish murmured. “But it makes a good poultice for boils and abscesses. It draws out infection and dries the wound.”

She stripped a leaf from a nearby bramble stem and began to roll the sorrel leaves into it. “We’ll take this back for the herb store.” She purred happily. Frecklewish had been eager to join the border patrol. The herb store had been depleted by the long, cold leaf-bare, and she wanted to collect fresh supplies. “The newest growth is the strongest,” she’d told Fidgetflake as they’d followed Sandynose, Violetshine, and Mintfur out of camp.

Now Violetshine halted at the bottom of the glade, relishing the feel of sunshine on her fur. As she waited for Frecklewish and Fidgetflake to bundle up the wood sorrel, Sandynose padded around her, scanning the trees.

Mintfur lay down and rolled in the warm dry leaf litter, clearly enjoying the fresh scents of newleaf. “It’s good to have our territory to ourselves again,” she meowed, sitting up and shaking the dust from her gray fur.

“It’s good to have our camp to ourselves,” Sandynose grunted. “I don’t know how Leafstar ever thought ShadowClan could fit in. They’re too different.”

“Not so different.” Frecklewish looked up from her herbs. “They’re still warriors, after all. They follow the warrior code. And they eat and sleep and hunt just like us.”

“They hunt like foxes and snore like badgers,” Sandynose grunted.

Mintfur licked her paw and drew it over her ear. “Well, they’re gone now, and we don’t have to worry about tripping over them anymore.”

“It was good of Leafstar to return their land without a fight,” Sandynose meowed. “After all, ShadowClan gave it to us. And then slept in our dens and ate our prey for a moon.”

“Tigerstar thanked her for our kindness,” Violetshine reminded him.

“They owed us more than thanks,” Sandynose sniffed.

Frecklewish padded to Mintfur’s side. “Everything’s back to how it should be,” she mewed. “Five Clans living beside the lake. It’s best for everyone this way.”

Sandynose narrowed his eyes. “I just hope Tigerstar agrees.”

The warrior’s suspicion made Violetshine uneasy. “Why wouldn’t he?”