Chapter 10

The sound of birds chirping woke Bramblestar, and for a second he thought that he was still dreaming, but sure enough this was real. The storm was over!

He rose from his grassy nest and padded out from underneath the fallen tree shelter. His amber eyes widened at all of the destruction that the storm had caused. Many trees in the forest had been uprooted by the wind and rain, and most leaves had been pulled off their branches, causing the forest look as if it were the middle of leafbare. Bramblestar also noticed many foreign objects littering the ground, and he presumed that they were Twoleg things that had been blown away in the storm. Some of the things looked quite dangerous, so he made a mental note to himself to forbid the kits from leaving the shelter so they wouldn't get hurt.

"It's awful, isn't it? Just imagine how things are at the lake. Imagine our home..." a rough voice spoke.

Bramblestar stood there for a few seconds and then turned to see Berrynose standing there. The cream colored tom had a grim look on his face and his shoulders were hunched.

"Yeah. It's truly a disaster..." Bramblestar muttered. He tried to picture what the camp would look like now, but it was too painful.

"Rosepetal..." Berrynose began, "do you think...do you think she lived?" Berrynose stopped looking down at his paws and he gazed into Bramblestar's eyes. "I'm so scared to even think about her being..." he broke off, "dead. I've already lost Hazeltail and Toadstep to the sickness, and with Molewhisker sick like he is..."

Bramblestar felt a pang of sadness in his chest. His mind wandered to Tawnypelt, Tigerheart and Dawnpelt. If they were dead, he didn't know what he'd do. "Berrynose, we just can't assume that Rosepetal is dead. There are several tunnels that lead out into the open, so I'm sure that some of the missing cats had to have made it out alive. As for Molewhisker, I'm sure he'll be just fine. Leafpool, Jayfeather and Kestrelflight are monitoring all of the cats who got water and mud into their lungs very closely, so I'm sure that they'll be able to save him."

How can I expect these cats to be optimistic when I'm doubting things myself? No matter how painful it was to admit, Bramblestar knew that it wasn't possible for every missing cat to come out alive. Some of them were dead. He pushed the thought away and headed back to the shelter of the fallen tree.

"Squirrelflight, Crowfeather," he called to the two warriors, "have any hunting patrols gone out today?"

Squirrelflight shook her head. "I haven't sent any out yet."

"And none have gone out for WindClan either. Since Onestar and Harespring are both missing, Kestrelflight has been in charge but he doesn't know how to organize any patrols," Crowfeather responded.

Bramblestar nodded, "Okay then. Squirrelflight, I want you to take Poppyfrost, Bumblestripe, Seedpaw, Weaselfur-"

"Hold on a second, Bramblestar. Weaselfur is in WindClan. You can't use our warriors to hunt for yourself. We may be sheltering together, but we're separate Clans and we always will be," Crowfeather hissed. His green eyes were narrowed in annoyance. "And don't even think you're in control of our Clan just because our leader is missing. We will never take orders from a ThunderClan cat!"

He's Jayfeather's father all right, Bramblestar thought irritably. "Okay, okay. I get it. No need to get your fur ruffled for StarClan's sake. You can organize your own patrols if you want. I was just trying to be helpful."

"WindClan doesn't need to rely on ThunderClan for everything," Crowfeather retorted hotly.

"Crowfeather, Bramblestar's not trying to control WindClan. He just wants to help out. We're both helpless at the moment and we need to act together as one, not as enemies. Whatever the future holds, we can't be going at each others throats," Leafpool mewed softly. She gazed into Crowfeather's eyes and the gray WindClan warrior turned away with an embarrassed look on his face.

"I guess you're right, Leafpool. I'm sorry for getting ornery, Bramblestar. You can take Weaselfur on your patrol if you want to, I guess. I'll send out Emberfoot, Larkwing, Featherpaw, and Gorsetail for mine." As Crowfeather padded away to collect the cats for his patrol, he turned and stared at Leafpool for a few moments before walking away.

Leafpool gave him a small smile and waved her tail in good bye, before walking away herself.

They clearly still have feelings for each other, even if they don't want to admit it, Bramblestar realized.

Squirrelflight must have noticed it too, for she mewed, "Did you see that?"

"I did," he began, but quickly changed the subject, "but we don't have time to worry about that right now. We need to get some prey right away, otherwise some of our cats might starve to death."

Squirrelflight dipped her head before scampering off to go find the cats for her patrol.

The two patrols weren't out for very long before they came back. Seedpaw's head was drooping and her tail was dragging along the ground, and Weaselfur managed to carry a small mouse in his mouth. Larkwing from Crowfeather's patrol had managed to get a squirrel, but it was so small and bony that there was barely a mouthful on it.

"I'm really sorry, Bramblestar. We really tried to bring back as much prey as we could, but we could barely even find any," Seedpaw whimpered. The young she-cat looked so disappointed in herself that it hurt Bramblestar.

"Seedpaw, I know you did your best. These are tough circumstances that we're under right now, so don't beat yourself up over this. You did your best and that is all that matters, okay?" he mewed, wrapping his tail around her shoulders.

Seedpaw just shook her head slowly and muttered, "Okay."

Bramblestar gave her a smile and nosed her to her paws. He nudged her in the direction of her sister, Lilypaw, and hoped that she would help make Seedpaw feel better.

Seeing that the prey was being taken to the elders and queens first, he turned and padded into the forest to see if he could hunt. Due to the unfamiliar landscape as well as all the debris, hunting was a challenge. And to be honest, the ThunderClan leader had many things on his mind that he couldn't concentrate. He wondered how RiverClan and ShadowClan were, and he wondered about the missing cats. He wondered about how long it would take for the flood water to recede all the way back down to the lake, and he wondered how long it would take to rebuild the camp...if they could even return to their camp at all.

Suddenly Bramblestar walked right into a bunch of flood water, immediately taking him out of his thoughts. He jumped back and gasped at the sight. Due to his day dreams, he hadn't even realized that he had wandered all the way back to ThunderClan territory. I've barely crossed the border, he realized with a shock, and the water has reached all the way up here! Maybe I can get close enough to the camp to see if it's been completely destroyed or not.

Bramblestar tried to wade through the water, but it eventually got to deep for him and he had to turn around to avoid drowning. Along the way back to their makeshift camp, he managed to catch a frog. ThunderClan cats didn't usually prey upon frogs, but in this situation, the idea of eating his catch was the most appetizing thing ever.

"Bramblestar, where have you been? We've been looking for you everywhere!" Squirrelflight yelled, running up to him as he approached the shelter.

"I went out hunting. Oh, Squirrelflight. You wouldn't believe it. The water has risen nearly all the way to the border. I tried to head towards the hollow, but the water was so deep I couldn't even get close."

Squirrelflight's green eyes widened and she gasped, "You mean our entire territory is underwater?"

He shook his head slowly. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"What? You've got to be kidding me! Bramblestar, what will we do?" Mousewhisker shrieked, padding up.

"Yeah, our territory will be completely ruined," Amberpaw piped in sadly.

A chorus of mews broke out and soon every one in both Clans had heard the news.

"For now, there's nothing we can do. ThunderClan and WindClan will just have to stay here until the water levels have gone down. It's way too dangerous for us to return to our homes, so living here for a while is our only option," he replied sadly. "Have any of the missing been found?"

Several cats let out 'no's causing Bramblestar's heart to sink in his chest.

"We'll keep looking for them," he promised quietly.

It had been four sunrises since the storm had stopped, and ThunderClan and WindClan were barely scraping by. Prey was so scarce that there were days that most of them didn't even get to eat a mouthful. And sadly, like Berrynose had predicted, his son, Molewhisker, had died. During the tunnel flood, the young tom had gotten trapped in a mud slide, causing his lungs to fill up with mud and debris. He had been pulled out alive, but his condition was so bad that there was really no hope for him. No matter how much the medicine cats did for him, it wasn't enough to save his life. Briarlight also wasn't doing so well. The brown she-cat's lungs had started to fill up with fluid, and she would sit there coughing for long periods of time. Jayfeather tried to get her to do her exercises, but her body just couldn't handle it.

The only good thing that had happened recently was that the water had gone down just a little bit, and Rosepetal had been found, but even then the news wasn't entirely happy. Rosepetal had a serious, infected, belly wound presumed to be caused by debris, and her lungs were filled with water. She was in critical condition and Leafpool had told Daisy that she didn't think Rosepetal would live for much longer.

Bramblestar was sitting on top of the fallen tree and was staring out at the tiny clearing that surrounded their shelter. Hollykit and Sorrelkit were wrestling with one another, while Fernkit just sort of sat there still and slumped down. While all three she-kits were tiny and had their ribs showing, Fernkit's small size was quite worrisome, and Bramblestar wondered if the little gray tabby would be okay.

Her mother, Cinderheart, was trying to get Fernkit to play with her siblings, but the little bundle of fur just sat there quietly. "Please, Fernkit," Cinderheart begged, "get up and go play with your sisters."

Fernkit didn't reply though, and she slowly laid down in the grass and curled up into a tight ball. Her tiny stomach started rumbling, causing Cinderheart to yowl out in grief.

Hopping down from the fallen tree, Bramblestar headed over to Cinderheart. "If you'd like, I could go see if Sedgewhisker has some milk she can spare. I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing some with Fernkit," he offered.

"Oh no," Cinderheart refused, shaking her head vigorously, "I couldn't possibly ask Sedgewhisker to give up her milk for my kit." Cinderheart glanced down at Fernkit and curled her fluffy tail around her daughter. Her blue eyes were filled with so much pain and sadness.

"It won't hurt to ask though," Bramblestar insisted. "Here, let me go ask her right now." And with that he turned and padded under the fallen tree.

Sedgewhisker and her two surviving kits were curled towards the end of the tree that was closest to the ground. He had to duck down to get close enough to the WindClan queen. Holding out a paw, he gently shook her awake.

"Wha-? Oh, it's you. What do you want?" she yawned, and then began to lick her paw and draw it over her ear.

"I'm really sorry to bother you like this, but I'd like to ask you a very important favor. Cinderheart's milk has dried up, and her daughter, Fernkit, is on the brink of starvation. Do you think you could-"

"Of course she can have some of my milk," Sedgewhisker interrupted happily, giving him a warm smile. "It won't be long before Mudkit and Doekit are eating fresh kill, so I have plenty to spare."

Bramblestar started to purr so much that his body shook. "Oh thank you so much, Sedgewhisker!" His body was filled with so much happiness that he moved too quickly and hit his head on the tree trunk.

"Careful now!" Sedgewhisker laughed.

Bramblestar flicked his tail to signal that he had heard, and he dashed out into the clearing and ran to Cinderheart. "She said she'd take Fernkit in," he purred.

Cinderheart began covering him in happy licks and she purred, "Oh, Bramblestar. I don't know how I'll ever pay you back! H-Hurry and take her."

Bramblestar bent his head and carefully grabbed Fernkit by the scruff of her neck. He carried her to Sedgewhisker and placed her down right next to the WindClan queen's belly. Fernkit let out a happy squeak and plowed her face into Sedgewhisker's soft, brown belly. Doekit and Mudkit stared at the unfamiliar kit with big eyes. "Who is that?" Doekit asked.

Sedgewhisker explained to them what was going on and the two kits just sat there looking excited. Turning back to Bramblestar she mewed, "I promise I'll take good care of her."

Bramblestar dipped his head in thanks and padded out. "I promise I'll bring you the juiciest prey I can find!" And with that he headed out into the forest to hunt.

Tawnypelt ran through the forest at full speed. Brown water crashed after her, sending pine trees crashing to the ground. Up ahead she could see her Clan mates running through the forest, trying to escape the flood.

No matter how fast the tortoiseshell warrior ran, she just couldn't escape the water that was right behind her. Suddenly a big wave rose over her head and crashed down on top of her.

Tawnypelt flailed her legs, trying to get to the surface, but she was hopelessly lost. Her lungs screamed for air and they felt like they would explode any minute now. Suddenly something big and heavy crashed into her side, pinning her up against a tree.

Tawnypelt tried to free herself, but it was useless. Her lungs were on fire now, and she could feel herself getting dizzier and dizzier. Suddenly her world started to go black, and everything was still...

Bramblestar jumped up from his nest, panting wildly. It was the second time he had had that dream about Tawnypelt, and he was starting to worry that it meant something was wrong with his sister.

"Are you okay?" Hootpaw asked, dropping his bundle of wet moss down. The WindClan apprentice's eyes were wide in shock and he awkwardly mewed, "I...er...brought you a drink."

"Thanks," Bramblestar panted. He padded over to the moss and began licking the moisture from it. He closed his amber eyes and then looked up at the young tom. His dream replayed over and over again in his mind. I think it's a sign from StarClan. Something isn't right with the other two Clans. "Can you get Whitetail for me, please?"

Hootpaw looked a little confused, but he turned and ran off to go search for Whitetail. A few moments later he returned with her.

"What is it?" Whitetail wondered, sitting down a few steps from him.

"Whitetail, I have a bad feeling about ShadowClan and RiverClan. I-I really think we need to go see what's going on with them immediately. If we wait any longer, I fear that they'll be completely wiped out."

So much has happened this chapter, both good and bad. Do you think Briarlight, Rosepetal and Fernkit will make it? Or do you think something awful will happen to them? And do you think Tawnypelt is really dead like in Bramblestar's dream, or do you think she's made it out alive? What cats from RiverClan and ShadowClan do you think have died from the flood? I will say right now that a very important ShadowClan had has died, but who that cat is is a secret. You'll just have to wait and see what happens for the next few chapters!