ChapterTwo: WindClan
Brambleshadow's POV:
The warm light of sunhigh seeps through gaps in the roof as a large black tom squeezes through the entrance of a gorse den. Seeing the light tabby he's looking for, he purrs quietly.
Two baby-blue eyes open at the sound. "Brambleshadow? Is that you?" comes a she-cat's light voice.
"Yes, Featherfall, it's me. I came to check on you. Are you feeling fine?" he says.
"Yes, I'm okay," she mews, rubbing her muzzle against his. "How've you been doi- !" the question breaks off in a yowl. Her eyes wide with panic, she manages to gasp, "Go get Fireleaf!"
His eyes glaze over with indecision. I can't leave her, but if I don't, she might get hurt. Finally, he dashes off to the medicine cat den, yowling, "Fireleaf! Fireleaf!"
A dark orange tom pads out from a den made of ferns, eyes wide in alarm. "What is it, Brambleshadow? Are you hurt?" Suddenly his eyes dawn with understanding. He slides back into the den, grabbing poppy seeds, raspberry leaves and a stick. "Let's go."
Brambleshadow nods and runs back to the nursery, Fireleaf at his tail. As they grow closer to the den, they start to hear a thin, eerie wailing.
Brambleshadow's eyes cloud with worry as he stares at Featherfall. Fireleaf feeds her the poppy seeds, and then tells her to bite the stick. "You need to push, Featherfall. That's the only way the pain will end."
Featherfall nods, and a small kit falls to the moss. Brambleshadow lunges forward and nips the sac open, licking the light brown tabby she-kit furiously, while Fireleaf helps Featherfall. Two kits fall out in the same sac, and Brambleshadow nips that one open as well, licking them.
Featherfall goes limp, and Brambleshadow mews softly, "Featherfall. Featherfall, the kits are okay. You have two toms and a she-cat." Brambleshadow nudges her flank, and her head lifts. He's not sure if she's even heard him.
"My kits. Where are my kits?" she rasps faintly. Fireleaf sets the kits in Featherfall's nest and nudges them nearer to her belly. They wriggle around, trying to find good places to suckle.
Brambleshadow feels a rush of pride for these kits as their pink mouths gape in silent gasps for air. The two kits that were born in the same sac look a little weak, though, Brambleshadow worries.
"The kits that were born in the same sac will need me watching over them frequently for the next day or two, so Featherfall, you will need to stay in the medicine cat den for a while," Fireleaf meows apologetically.
Featherfall nods, and a gray she-cat pads into the nursery, settling down on a nest. Her fluffy ears strain for a second and she scents the air. She gets out of her nest and cautiously steps towards Featherfall's. Peering down, she purrs, noticing the newest members of the Clan. She pads back to her own nest after a moment.
"Featherfall?" Brambleshadow mews, "What are we going to call the kits?"
Featherfall looks up. Almost immediately she purrs, "The first one, the she-kit, will be Fawnkit. Her pelt is light brown with white speckles, almost like a deer's. And the gray tom should be named Sleetkit. You name the last one, he looks like you."
Brambleshadow starts in surprise. "Well... The black one does look like me..." As Brambleshadow is speaking, the black kit struggles to his paws, only to flop back down onto the ground, mewling pitifully. "What do you think about 'Fallenkit'?" Brambleshadow asks timidly.
Featherfall's eyes light up. "That's a great name. Don't you think, Raintail?" she directs the question towards the gray queen in the nest near the nursery entrance.
Raintail's head flicks up. Obviously, Featherfall has interrupted her train of thought. "What? Oh, yes. Brilliant, in fact," she purrs warmly.
Brambleshadow licks his mate's head, reminding her to go to the medicine cat den, sends an adoring look to his kits, and heads off to organize the sunset patrol.
Brambleshadow opens his jaws, smelling the air. The musty scent of DuskClan floats toward him off of the breeze. He pads forward, Cloudpaw and Ivyleaf following silently. At this end of the border, a few large trees grow.
Waspsting bounds through the heather towards the patrol. "I've renewed the scent markings," he announces breathlessly. "But I detected a trace of badger."
Ivyleaf's ears prick, as if expecting a badger to come crashing through the tall grasses around her.
Maybe there is.
"If there's a badger, we should tell Firestar. But first we should follow its scent and see if it leads to a set," Brambleshadow says. "Maybe it was just passing through the territory. Is the trail fresh?" He looks to Waspsting.
The black-furred tom nods, his tail flicking. "It should be easy to follow." he replies, racing off in the direction he had come from.
Following hard on his paws, the rest of the patrol scent the air as they try to catch a wisp of badger in the air. Waspsting slows to a stop, his nostrils flaring.
The WindClan warrior gestures with his tail to a flattened clump of gorse. All of the grass around it is trampled to the ground.
Ivyleaf wrinkles her nose, eyes narrowed in disgust. "The putrid scent of badger. I'm not hungry anymore." she remarks, stepping with delicate paws to follow the trail.
Even if it were to begin to rain and the scent were to wash away the patrol would still be able to find their way along the trail by following the crushed alfalfa and heather on the moor ground, Brambleshadow thinks.
Soon the patrol arrives at the Oak Log. The huge tree looks as if a starry warrior had reached down with their paw from StarClan and overturned the tree, leaving its roots sticking halfway in the air. The roots form a cave in the soil.
Cloudpaw looks at the Oak Log with huge eyes. "I smell badger. It's burning my nose!" The apprentice squeaks, drawing a paw over his nose as if to wipe away the foul scent.
Brambleshadow motions with his tail for the other cats in the patrol to move closer. He glances at the darkening sky. "This is definitely the set. Can any cat tell how many badgers there are?" he whispers.
Cloudpaw twitches his nose. "I think there's only one." he finally mews. Ivyleaf nods in agreement.
Brambleshadow takes a deep breath. "Let's lure the badger out of its set so that we can attack it and maybe send it fleeing from the territory. We can't go into the set, because there wouldn't be enough room to fight, and we could become trapped. Ivyleaf? Go gather some prey with Cloudpaw. Waspsting and I will work out a strategy on how we should approach the set."
Ivyleaf dips her head, racing off and vanishing into the gorse. Cloudpaw follows, his tail streaming out behind him.
Brambleshadow turns to Waspsting. "So I think that you and I should take up positions on either side of -" he breaks off as the badger scent grows stronger. He whips around just in time to see a huge black paw aiming for him.
Brambleshadow sits up, dazed, to see Waspsting hissing angrily at the badger as he swipes his claws across its muzzle, leaving a trail of blood swelling across its fur.
Brambleshadow yowls, "Cloudpaw, Ivyleaf! Help!" as he throws himself at the badger. He leaps into the air and digs his teeth into the badger's ear, his claws digging into its shoulder for a paw hold.
The badger swings its mighty head, tossing Brambleshadow to the ground. He lets out another battle yowl as the badger glares malevolently at him with beady eyes.
He races forward and digs his claws into the badger's shoulder again, raking down its foreleg. It bats him away with its other paw, snarling angrily as Waspsting digs his teeth into its hindleg.
The badger stumbles backwards and steps on Brambleshadow. Darkness bubbles up behind his eyes and threatens to drown him in its watery depths.
