A heartbeat later he realized he had allowed himself to relax too soon. The biggest, most ferocious badger hadn’t given up. Bramblestar gaped with amazement at its speed as it lumbered across the clearing away from the main throng of battle. He realized that its target was two small ShadowClan cats—apprentices by the look of them—who were crouching together in the shelter of a clump of ferns, licking each other’s wounds. They looked up with horror in their eyes as the badger bore down on them.
Bramblestar launched himself forward, but he was too late to stop the creature. He raced after it, then spotted Jessy hurling herself at the badger from the opposite side.
She waved her tail when she saw Bramblestar. “With me!” she screeched.
Jessy shot straight in front of the badger, distracting it from snapping at the two young cats, who plunged deeper into the undergrowth with squeals of terror. Jumping up and down in front of the badger, backing away so that she was always just out of reach, Jessy lured it toward the edge of the trees.
“Come back!” Bramblestar yowled.
“No,” Jessy responded. “I know what I’m doing!”
Terrified for her, Bramblestar streaked across to her side and kept pace with her as they pelted ahead of the badger. Tree roots tripped them and bramble tendrils reached out to snag their fur. Exhausted from the battle, Bramblestar knew he was too slow. He imagined he could already feel the badger’s hot, stinking breath on his fur and braced himself for the sting of snapping teeth.
Suddenly the leaf-strewn ground vanished, and the two cats lurched to a halt at the edge of the stream on the far side of ShadowClan territory. The water had gone down, but it was still far too wide to jump across. And there was no hope of swimming across the swift-flowing current, which snatched debris and branches downriver in front of them.
“Great StarClan, we’re trapped!” Bramblestar gasped. “We’ll have to fight our way out.”
Jessy ignored him; she was frantically scanning the water. “It’s here somewhere,” she muttered.
“What?” Bramblestar panted, aware of the badger crashing through the undergrowth, getting nearer with every heartbeat.
Jessy began running downstream, her gaze flicking back and forth. Suddenly she halted and turned to Bramblestar, balancing right on the edge of the surging black water. “Follow me,” she meowed.
“We can’t swim across that!” Bramblestar protested.
Jessy fixed her amber gaze on him. “Trust me.”
Bramblestar hesitated, then touched his nose to hers. He nodded. “Lead on.”
The badger broke out of the undergrowth and covered the open ground between them with massive strides. Bramblestar flexed his claws as it loomed over him and Jessy and he looked up into its tiny, malignant eyes.
Jessy gave one more glance around, took a deep breath, and jumped into the stream. Bramblestar flinched, waiting for her to be swept underwater, then realized that she was still standing, fighting the current, but with water only reaching up to her belly.
For a moment Bramblestar stood still, gaping in astonishment.
“Quick!” Jessy screeched.
Knowing that he was trusting her with his life, Bramblestar leaped into the water beside Jessy. His paws struck something hard just beneath the surface, but before he could get his balance he started to slip. Jessy grabbed his scruff in her teeth and hauled him back before he could fall into the stream.
“There’s a tree trunk crossing the stream just here,” she panted. “It’s underwater now, but I remembered where it was.”
I can’t believe this! Bramblestar thought, stunned. Every hair on his pelt rose in alarm as he stood on top of the turbulent current. There was no way of seeing the tree beneath the surface, but it was definitely there, solid and steady against the flow of water. Bramblestar sank his claws into the perilously narrow trunk and braced himself. With Jessy beside him he stood firm as the badger let out a roar and lunged toward them.
But the badger didn’t know where the tree trunk was. There was a huge splash, soaking both cats, as it plunged into the stream and vanished beneath the surface. Moments later it reappeared as the current washed it down toward the lake, sputtering and bellowing as it thrashed its paws.
Jessy’s eyes gleamed as she watched it out of sight. Then both cats jumped back to the bank and shook water from their pelts. Bramblestar wanted to let out a yowl of pure joy and admiration for Jessy’s courage and quick thinking.
Instead he gave her a nod. “Not bad—for a kittypet,” he meowed.
Jessy let out a small mrrow of amusement. “Not bad—for a wild cat,” she retorted.
Together Bramblestar and Jessy raced back to the clearing, to find that the rest of the badgers had gone. Warriors from ShadowClan and ThunderClan stood side by side, their chests heaving, blood trickling from their wounds, as they assessed the damage.
“How’s Crowfrost?” Bramblestar demanded. He couldn’t see the ShadowClan deputy, and knew how badly hurt he had been.
“He’ll be okay,” Pouncetail replied. “Pinenose and Stoatfur are helping him back to see Littlecloud.”
Looking around at the rest of the cats, Bramblestar saw that none of them was unmarked. Spiderleg was one of the worst injured, with almost all his fur missing from one side, while Scorchfur had both ears slashed, and Ivypool was standing on three legs with one paw raised and bleeding. But all the wounds looked as if they would heal in time.
We won! Bramblestar thought, exhilaration flooding through him. We defeated the badgers and survived!
Then he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned to see Brightheart, her single eye full of sorrow. “It’s Dustpelt,” she whispered.
With a lurch of horror in his belly, Bramblestar followed Brightheart across the clearing. Dustpelt was lying on his side in the midst of the trampled debris from the battle. Blood was trickling from his mouth and his brown tabby body was lacerated with countless claw marks. His eyes were closed and his breath came in short, shallow puffs.
Bramblestar crouched beside him. “Hold on, Dustpelt,” he begged. “We’ll get help.”
The tabby tom’s eyes flickered open. “It’s okay,” he rasped. “It’s my time.”
“No!” cried Bramblestar. He leaned forward so that his forehead rested against Dustpelt’s. “Not yet. Not here. You have served your Clan so well and for so long. Now it is our turn to serve you. The elders’ den is waiting for you, Dustpelt.”
The tip of Dustpelt’s tail twitched. “That is not where I want to be,” he murmured. “Thank you, Bramblestar, for everything. May StarClan light your path, always.”
The ShadowClan cats stood back and allowed Dustpelt’s Clanmates to gather around him as his breathing grew feebler and his eyes closed again. As Dustpelt sighed out his last breath, a pale gray shape appeared beside him, a cat with a pale gray pelt that glimmered in the moonlight, and the frosty glitter of stars around her paws. Her blue eyes shone with love as she gazed at the fallen warrior.
“Ferncloud!” Bramblestar breathed.
Other, fainter shapes appeared behind her: Bramblestar recognized Foxleap, who had died from his wounds after the Great Battle; Icecloud, who had succumbed to the recent bout of greencough; and others with them, all the lost kits of Dustpelt and Ferncloud, warriors of StarClan who had come to honor their father. Bramblestar stared in amazement as the spirit of Dustpelt rose from his mutilated body and padded up to Ferncloud, bending his head to touch noses with her. The two cats twined their tails together and for a moment the clearing shone even more brightly with silver light. Then the starry shapes began to fade, until all that was left was a few wisps of shimmering mist, and then nothing.