Chapter Twenty
"Darkflame." Duskmist called when Darkflame left the elder's den into the dawn light. "You're on clean-up with Yellowtail and Falconswipe. Crimsonclaw will bring a patrol to take over at sunhigh."
"Alright. Should I collect them first or meet them there?"
"Eat something and then meet them there."
Darkflame flicked his tail in acknowledgement and wandered over to Thunderclan's fresh-kill pile to pick out a squirrel. As soon as he finished his meal and buried the remains, Darkflame followed Yellowtail out of Thunderclan's camp and over to Fireclan's.
It was just over a moon when Darkflame finally saw Pouncepool finish spreading the last mouthful of moss into a nest in the nursery section of the log.
'We can finally move back home and resume Fireclan training methods.' Darkflame thought with satisfaction. "Come on, let's bring our clanmates back home." He added aloud. Pouncepool and Jayfeather ran with him back to Thunderclan's camp for the last time.
"Gather our clanmates." Darkflame instructed as they reached camp. While the other two toms split off to find the rest of their warriors, Darkflame went straight to the nursery where Wildstar and the other three queens were watching all the kits play together.
"We can go home." Darkflame exclaimed.
"The camp is done?" Shadowlion asked, her ears pricking up.
"Yep, we just finished laying out the moss.
"Kits, come here." Wildstar called to her litter as she stood.
"They can't leave yet." Silverkit argued. Silverkit was a young speckled silver tomkit that Icecloud had agreed to nurse with her two kits; Brownkit and Silverkit. She had named her own sons before the speckled Silverkit was brought to her. Her Silverkit looked very much like her adopted Silverkit but his spots were smaller and formed rough stripes. "Windclan are about to invade and we need every warrior to help fight. Besides, Sorrelfox is our medicine cat."
"Silverkit, Wildstar needs to take her clan back home." Icecloud stated. "So she, Shadowlion, and all their kits are going to leave."
"Say goodbye to each other now." Brightheart suggested to the crowd of kittens before turning to speak to Wildstar and Shadowlion. "It was nice to meet you both and I enjoyed sharing a den with you this past moon. Although I am sorry for the circumstances that led to your being here."
"Thank you. And thank you especially for welcoming us in after the fire." Shadowlion responded.
"Does everyone else know that the camp's done?" Wildstar asked Darkflame.
"I told Jayfeather and Pouncepool to collect them."
"'Kay." Wildstar acknowledged before leading everyone out of the nursery. Duskmist, Onestone, and Pouncepool were standing at the front of the clowder near the camp exit when Darkflame's group joined them.
"Have any of you spoken to Thornstar yet?" Wildstar asked those three quietly.
"Beechseed has gone to get him." Onestone answered in kind.
"We're going to wait and speak with Thornstar and Beechseed before we leave." Wildstar informed the rest of Fireclan.
"Can we keep playing?" Flightkit asked, looking up at Shadowlion.
"For a little longer. We'll still be leaving soon." The kits immediately ran clumsily to rejoin their Thunderclan playmates.
"They're cute." Darkflame commented to Shadowlion with a purr.
"Yeah." She agreed, watching them continue their game.
It wasn't long before Thornstar entered the camp and Wildstar stood to address him.
"Thank you for letting us stay here while we worked on our camp. It's finished now so we'll be returning to our own territory."
"Thunderclan hopes that your territory will keep you safe and sufficiently well-fed. I know that it can sometimes take a while for prey to return to a scorched landscape so do keep a close watch on your warriors. We offered you food for a while but we stop supporting you today."
Wildstar's ears twisted back slowly in irritation as the golden-furred tom spoke. "Fireclan no longer has need nor desire for your prey. We are more than able to keep ourselves fed without resorting to theft." With a lash of her tail, Wildstar picked Amaranthkit up and led her clan away.
Before following her, Onestone went to each of the living Fireclan warriors as well as Nightshade and told each of them to pick up a kit. Onestone grabbed Calamintkit by the scruff afterward and caught up with Wildstar. Duskmist, holding Bryonykit, was already on her other side.
Despite Thornstar's attempt to ruffle their fur, Darkflame felt warm and happy as his friends, family, and bitter enemies settled into the camp that had become their home.
"Dad?" Rainkit mewed, putting her front paws on one of his front legs. "Will we ever get to play with Snowkit and Brownkit and their siblings again?"
"I'm afraid not, love. Clans don't usually mingle like that. The fire created an unusual circumstance."
"Okay. I thought not." Rainkit said as her tail flopped down in disappointment. She turned and rejoined her littermates at the back of the log.
"You up for some hunting?" Rabbitstride asked, walking up from behind. "We could use some freshkill here. And maybe we can do a little training after."
"Sounds good." Darkflame followed the younger tom back out into the bare forest and they spent a couple hours searching fruitlessly for prey before slipping down into the tunnels.
"Hey, it's been a while." Brighttalon greeted them as they reached the cave.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. We spent pretty much every day for the past month cleaning up after the fire with one or two Dark Forest cats per patrol."
"How's the hunting? We haven't seen much around Fireclan territory lately, and even less in Shadowclan."
"Poor." Rabbitstride complained. "We've been out for a long time now and didn't catch anything."
"I saw a bird but it was just resting on one of the branches for a short while before leaving again."
"Well, we've got some extra if you wanted some to bring home." Brighttalon offered, leading them over to the river where someone had woven a loose mat of twigs and leaves into a net to hold several pieces of freshkill in the stream. "Reedwhisker had his warriors bring in freshkill from their successful hunts and other clan warriors began copying them so Rosethorn and I figured out a way to keep them colder so that they'd last longer. They won't taste as good but they're edible."
"Thanks. We'll bring in food also as soon as our territory can support us." Darkflame promised, pawing a water-logged rat off the top of the pile.
"How's Dustshade doing?" Rabbitstride asked as he picked out a thrush.
"Really well. He's been training every chance he got. Right now he and Mousewhisker are out searching for allies. Snaketail suggested that we seek out cats from other places to help us. Maybe we'll even find some more clans like ours."
"That would be nice." Darkflame commented, thinking about Mapleclan. "Speaking of, we probably have some time to train before we have to return to camp."
"Where's Rosethorn?" Rabbitstride asked, looking around at the mostly empty cavern.
"We decided that the kits should not be so close to the river now that their old enough to wander off."
"Good idea. Rainkit tried climbing the rocks to Thornstar's den a couple days ago." Darkflame commented.
"This also leaves a wider area for training without worrying about stepping on kittens." Brighttalon added. "Shall we?"
Darkflame and Brighttalon sparred for a while before Rabbitstride joined in and dawn was just beginning to seep in through the hole overhead when they finally stopped for the night. Exhausted but satisfied, Darkflame and Rabbitstride reclaimed their rat and thrush from the river before going back home.
"You've been gone a while." Iceheart stated, standing up as they came into view. "Where were you?"
"Well, we were on our way back but a bananaphant crossed our path and we had to take the long way." Darkflame answered innocently, setting the rodent down for a moment.
Iceheart stared at him for a while. "You really are as insane as you seem, aren't you?"
"Only when the wind is southerly."
"What- I'm not even going to ask." He grumbled, shaking his head as he walked away.
Rabbitstride couldn't hold back a snort of laughter as he followed his former leader into camp.