Chapter Three

In the den, Dawnpaw and Emberpaw were both asleep but Fawnpaw and Foxpaw were awake and talking quietly to themselves. Brackenpaw didn't want to go to sleep yet as he wanted to hear Stormstar's decision about the meeting with ThunderClan.

"Hey," Brackenpaw said as cheerfully as he could with two cats glaring at him as if they were snakes. The two apprentices fell silent and glared at Brackenpaw as he tried to start some casual conversation. "You don't have to be so…silent. We're all in the same clan and we'll all fight together some day so you'll have to at least be tolerant of us."

"That was an awfully inspirational speech," Foxpaw spat. "I'm sure your father would be proud."

Brackenpaw sighed and thought to himself, those two were hopeless. Maybe not Fawnpaw, but Foxpaw was always especially hostile. There was a rustle of noise as a patrol of cats left, and Brackenpaw thought he picked up Stormstar's scent leaving camp. She had chosen to go to the meeting. Hopefully Crowstar wouldn't double-cross ShadowClan and this would be a friendly meeting. Brackenpaw just didn't feel good about it, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"You know anything about why Stormstar just left?" Foxpaw inquired. He managed to turn even the most simple question into a subtle insult. It was the attitude, Brackenpaw was sure, and he was thankful that none of his littermates was like Foxpaw. Fawnpaw must be overwhelmed by her bossy brother.

"Meeting with Crowstar," Brackenpaw replied quietly, hoping that Foxpaw wouldn't draw out this conversation into an interrogation. Luckily, Foxpaw backed down and turned to gossip with his quieter sister.

Brackenpaw went to his corner of their den, a hollowed out log that had fallen over long before any warrior had step foot near the lake. He relished the familiar smell of his litter mates and then settled down for a quick nap. He hoped to wake and hear the results of Stormstar's excursion.

There was a rustling that tingled in his ears though, and he couldn't seem to fall asleep. The rustling of the dead leaves outside their camp. It was too soon for Stormstar to return, and then Brackenpaw caught wind of the scent. It was ThunderClan. Foxpaw was staring at him as he tore out of their den to the front of camp to be met with dozens of pairs of eyes peeking back at him in the darkness of the night.

"ThunderClan!" Brackenpaw yowled as he backed away from entrance. First it was one step at a time, but soon he was running towards the warriors den to awaken the warriors who had stayed behind.

Rosefur was the first cat he caught sight of and he was jostling her awake within seconds as he hissed at the others of ThunderClan's presence in the heart of their camp. There was a panic as the warriors groggily rose from their slumber and were alerted to the situation. In a matter of seconds the warriors' den was empty and Brackenpaw was sprinting alongside Swiftstep and Ashtail to the nursery.

Ashtail intercepted a ThunderClan cat and soon a flurry of gray and brown fur tumbled before Brackenpaw's eyes as he poked his head inside the nursery. Frostdawn and her swollen belly filled with kits were untouched, just very frightened. Words leapt out of Brackenpaw's mouth as he struggled to explain what was happening.

"I'm going to have the elders and Swampfur move over here, it's easier to protect. You have to hold your own for a few seconds, Brackenpaw," Swiftstep hissed as he darted between the fighting cats. Brackenpaw nodded and turned to watch ShadowClan and ThunderClan warriors fight with tooth and claw. Brackenclaw was unable to identify most of the ThunderClan cats but he did recognize Jumper and Leif's darker pelts. They were fierce fighters, and Brackenpaw felt relieved that he hadn't chosen to attack the two of them on the ShadowClan border for he knew it wouldn't have gone well.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a white-ginger ThunderClan warrior move towards the apprentices' den, probably thinking it was the nursery or Swampfur's den. It was then that he realized that Dawnpaw and Emberpaw were both sleeping, and Foxpaw and Fawnpaw had left them there alone. How could they have been so careless to leave fellow clanmates sleeping during an attack? Surely Foxpaw couldn't despise them that much.

Brackenpaw was torn between making sure no one harmed Frostdawn and going to help his brother and sister but Frostdawn was defenseless and Emberpaw at least could fight some. As soon as Swiftstep returned Brackenpaw would make sure they were ok. Swiftstep was taking an unusually long time and the ThunderClan warrior hadn't emerged from the apprentices' den yet and Brackenpaw was seriously concerned. He looked back and Frostdawn who had curled up in the furthest corner of the nursery with her tail protectively wrapped around her belly, not that it would be much protection against an angry ThunderClan warrior's claws.

"Brackenpaw!" was the blood-curdling cry from the apprentices' den that really made Brackenpaw nervous. Brackenpaw could see Swiftstep followed by the three elders and something was clearly wrong in the apprentices den. Ashtail had the ThunderClan warrior pinned against the ground, so in a split second, Brackenpaw was in the apprentices' den standing in a pool of blood. The white-ginger warrior whipped around with blood dripping from his claws over the body of Emberpaw. Dawnpaw stared speechlessly in fright and was slowly backing away.

"Oh, StarClan no," Brackenclaw cried as he launched himself at the warrior. "Dawnpaw, run to the nursery, quick! Tell Swiftstep…"

He couldn't give her much more instructions because he found himself ploughing over the unsuspecting ThunderClan warrior. The element of surprise was on his side, for the ThunderClan warrior figured another apprentice would be easy. Brackenpaw was filled with vengeance and anguish as he numbly raked his hind claws down the ginger warrior's side. He let out a primal scream as Brackenpaw dug his front claws into the warrior's shoulders.

"Brackenpaw, let him go," Ashtail snarled as he bowled over the dark ginger tom, leaving the ThunderClan warrior to writhe away like the wretched snake he was. "I'm sorry Emberpaw was killed but this is no time for revenge."

"They attacked our camp," Brackenpaw snarled, bristling with a deadly concoction of emotions. Anger, hatred, guilt, confusion even. Why hadn't he spoken up about his hutch? Why had he left Emberpaw sleeping in the den? Why had the ThunderClan warrior killed a sleeping, innocent apprentice?

Ashtail gave him a sympathetic look and then backed out of the den to allow Dawnpaw and Flowertail to slip into the den to see Emberpaw's body. No mother should outlive one of her kits.