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.
When he and his Clanmates had retreated several paw steps from the water’s edge, Bramblestar stopped again, looking back. “We ought to make sure that the water isn’t rising,” he mewed.
Cautiously he crept back along the passage and scored his claws down the wall to mark the highest point of the water. Moments dragged by as he crouched there watching. After a while he realized that Lionblaze was peering over his shoulder.
“It’s not getting any worse,” the golden tabby warrior murmured.
Bramblestar nodded. “I think we can go back,” he decided. “This is the lowest part of the caves, so we should be safe where we are.”
He let Lionblaze take the lead back to where their Clanmates were waiting.
“It looks like we’ll be okay here,” Bramblestar announced. “But the big cave is flooded, so no cat is to go farther down.” He turned around to give the apprentices a hard look. “Understood?”
The young cats nodded seriously, and Bramblestar hoped that their adventures so far had taught them how dangerous water could be.
Glancing around his Clan, Bramblestar was pleased to see that they seemed more relaxed than when he had left them to explore the tunnels. They had dried off and groomed themselves. One or two were sleeping, but most of them were watching him with bright, expectant eyes.
“So this is our new camp,” he began. “We have to assume that we’ll be here for several days.”
“Then we’ll need clean, fresh bedding,” Daisy meowed. “I’ll take charge of that, if you want, Bramblestar.”
“That would be great, Daisy,” Bramblestar replied. “Pick a few cats to go with you, and see if you can salvage any dry moss and leaves.”
“We might find some inside hollow trees.” Daisy rose to her paws and glanced around. “Rosepetal, Mousewhisker, will you come with me?”
The three cats slipped out together into the rain-drenched forest. Bramblestar realized with relief that while he had been down in the tunnels the storm had blown itself out again; only a light drizzle was falling. He noticed that Leafpool was leaving the tunnel too, hard on the paws of the other cats, without telling him where she was going. He felt a stab of annoyance, then reminded himself that medicine cats didn’t have to answer to their Clan leader.
“What about prey?” Cloudtail called. “My belly thinks my throat’s clawed out! I’ll lead a hunting patrol if you like.”
“So will I,” Bumblestripe added.
“And me,” Graystripe meowed. “Though what we’ll find out there, I don’t know.”
Several cats joined in, offering to join the patrols. Cloudtail raised his voice above the clamor. “What about the fresh-kill pile, Bramblestar? Where do you want it?”
“It’ll have to be in here,” Bramblestar meowed.
“What?” Berrynose gave a snort of disgust. “Sleeping next to fresh-kill? Yuck!”
Bramblestar suppressed an irritated hiss. “If you have a better idea, share it with the rest of us,” he mewed. “If we leave prey outside, it will get wet, or foxes will steal it.”
As the warriors divided themselves into groups, Bramblestar began padding up the tunnel to join Cloudtail’s patrol. He was stopped by Sandstorm, who blocked his path with her ginger tail.
“I think you should stay here, where your Clan can see you,” she advised him in a quiet voice. “They need to know that you’re safe and in control.”
Bramblestar knew she was right, though his tail-tip twitched in frustration to see the hunting patrols going off without him. He was distracted by Leafpool, who reappeared just as the hunters were leaving.
“Where have you been?” Bramblestar asked her sharply. Medicine cat or not, she shouldn’t be wandering about on her own in the flooded forest.
“Only down to the top of the hollow,” Leafpool mewed. “When I looked down into the camp, I thought I could see some bundles of herbs floating in the water. Can I go fetch them?”
Bramblestar’s first instinct was to refuse. “It’s too risky,” he began.
“No, I’ll be fine, really,” Leafpool assured him.
“Some cat needs to go,” Jayfeather broke in from where he sat nearby. “We’ve lost so many herbs to this flood; we need to salvage as many as we can.”