“Just visiting,” Daisy told her through gritted teeth. “Was that you watching us go to the island last night?” she asked Smoky.
Smoky nodded. “Yes, Coriander wanted to see these famous cats, and I know that you all go to the island on the night of the full moon, so we lay in wait.”
“You should have come to talk to us,” Daisy meowed.
“Well…” Smoky scuffled his paws awkwardly in the grass. “We didn’t want to interrupt anything.”
“Okay.” Daisy’s shoulders sagged, and Bramblestar could see that the visit wasn’t turning out the way she had hoped. “I guess it’s time we left.”
“Don’t you want to see inside the barn?” Smoky asked. “You can hunt if you want.”
Daisy didn’t look enthusiastic, but she followed Smoky and Coriander as they headed for the entrance to the barn. Bramblestar trotted just behind her. Inside, the wood-sided den was warm and musty. It was much smaller than the barn where Barley and Ravenpaw used to live near the old forest, but it smelled the same, of dust and dried grass and tempting scents of prey. Golden dust motes danced in shafts of sunlight that slanted in through holes just beneath the roof. Scuffling noises in the piles of hay showed the presence of mice, and Bramblestar’s mouth watered.
“It’s all changed,” Daisy commented. “You used to have your nest over here.”
“I know,” Smoky responded. “But Coriander says it’s less drafty over there.” He indicated a deep hollow in the hay with a flick of his tail.
“Yes,” Coriander agreed. “It’s so comfortable!”
Bramblestar saw Daisy’s claws slide out, and gave her a hasty nudge. “We really should be getting back,” he mewed.
Daisy nodded. “Yes, there’s loads to do back in the camp.”
“Good-bye, then.” Smoky sounded quite cheerful to let Daisy go, and Bramblestar noticed he didn’t invite her to drop in again.
“Do be careful on your way home,” Coriander added with a gleam in her amber eyes. “The horses can be quite scary if you’re not used to them.”
“I’m fine with horses, thanks,” Daisy snapped, whipping around and stalking out of the barn with her tail held high. Resisting a purr of amusement, Bramblestar followed her.
On the journey back through WindClan territory, Daisy was unusually quiet.
Bramblestar thought he should say something. “It’s always hard to go back,” he offered sympathetically.
Daisy halted and stared at him. “I didn’t want to go back!” she protested. “Not forever. I know I belong in ThunderClan now, but I hadn’t expected things to change so much. Why didn’t I know that Floss had died? Has Smoky forgotten about her already because of Coriander? I thought he loved Floss!”
For a moment, an image of Squirrelflight flashed into Bramblestar’s mind. She was standing in the hollow surrounded by three fluffed-up kits, trying to coax them to eat a piece of vole.
“We want milk!” squeaked the she-cat, as black as a yew branch.
“Not that nasty stuff,” put in the golden tabby tom, prodding the vole with one stubby paw.
“It smells like the dirtplace,” chirped the smallest kit, whose pale gray fur blended with the cliffs behind him.
“It does not smell like the dirtplace!” Squirrelflight scolded. She looked up and met Bramblestar’s gaze. She looked ruffled, her pelt ungroomed and her eyes clouded with exhaustion, but he had never loved her more.
“Any cat would think I was trying to poison them!” she hissed to him.
He blinked at her. “You’re a great mother,” he assured her. “They’ll know that one day.”
A stone rolling out from beneath his paw jolted Bramblestar back to the present. Beside him, Daisy looked sad as she mourned the loss of her friends.
“Nothing stays the same,” Bramblestar told her, brushing her ear with his muzzle. However much you want it to.
Chapter 6
On the day after the visit to the horseplace, the weather changed. A fierce wind lashed the trees and sent clouds scudding across the sky. The forest floor was littered with splintered branches, and Bramblestar warned all his cats to look out for signs of falling trees. He continued to keep a close watch on the ShadowClan border, but there were no more traces of trespassing.
“Maybe they’ve learned their lesson,” he remarked as he led a patrol past the pelt-den clearing.
“And maybe they’re just keeping quiet until we relax the watch,” Molewhisker growled with a flick of his tail.
“Let’s enjoy the peace while it lasts,” Sandstorm suggested.
Bramblestar murmured agreement. He headed down the stream until the patrol emerged from the trees on the lakeshore.
Blossomfall ran ahead and sprang onto a rock at the water’s edge. She studied the smooth gray stone beneath her paws. “The lake is still rising!” she announced. “I’ve been scratching marks on this rock, and—” She broke off with a yowl as a wave rose up and engulfed the rock. As the water rolled back, it carried Blossomfall with it and she plunged into the lake. She flailed with her paws, managing to keep her head above water, but the waves buffeted her too much for her to make it back to the shore.
“Blossomfall!” Molewhisker wailed, dashing to the water’s edge.
“Keep back!” Bramblestar warned him. “We don’t want two of you in there.”
“Bramblestar, over here!” Sandstorm’s voice sounded behind him.
Turning, Bramblestar saw that she was trying to tug a tree branch out of the undergrowth at the edge of the forest, but the twigs were snagged among brambles, and she couldn’t move it.
“Help me get this free!” she panted.
Bramblestar raced over and grabbed the branch in his jaws. Together they managed to wrench it free. Bramblestar dragged it across the pebbles until the lake water was lapping around his paws, and shoved it out into the waves. The branch bobbed madly, and Bramblestar braced his feet among the stones to hold it steady.
“Be careful!” Sandstorm called.
Blossomfall’s head was still bobbing above the surface, but the end of the branch was just beyond her reach. Bramblestar could see that her long, thick fur was waterlogged and dragging her down. “Molewhisker, Sandstorm,” he rasped. “Put your weight on this end. Don’t let it move.”
The warriors waded into the lake and gripped the branch with their front paws. Bramblestar pulled himself onto the narrow length of wood and began to work his way forward, balancing on his hind paws and digging his front claws into the branch after each step. Waves slapped against him and with every heartbeat he expected to be torn away into the swirling water. Blossomfall bobbed a tail-length beyond the end of the branch, spluttering and thrashing as she was dragged under by the weight of her fur.
When the branch narrowed too much to hold Bramblestar, he shuffled carefully around and held out his tail toward the drowning cat. “Blossomfall!” he yowled. “Here!”
Blossomfall shook her head to get water out of her eyes, then made a frantic lunge toward Bramblestar. He winced as she sank her teeth into the end of his tail. The she-cat’s eyes bulged as she clamped her jaws shut. Bramblestar took a deep breath against the pain and pulled her toward him until she could grip the branch with her claws and release his tail. Drops of blood scattered into the lake and sank quickly.
“Hold on!” Bramblestar called.
Sandstorm and Molewhisker began to haul the branch in, dragging it up the shore until first Bramblestar and then Blossomfall managed to find a paw hold. They waded out of the lake and flopped down on the pebbles well above the waterline.
“Thank you, Bramblestar!” Blossomfall choked, coughing up several mouthfuls of water. “I thought I was going to drown!”