This chappie IS longer, as promised. More action, too. Brambleclaw's POV!
Brambleclaw could smell preyscent on the breeze, could see the new buds blossoming on the trees. The bushes around him were sprouting glossy green leaves, and the wind that swirled round him was warm.
Newleaf's here. Finally. He thought as he walked through the heart of ThunderClan territory. He wasn't hunting or patrolling- but there was a reason he was here. He just couldn't remember it yet.
"This place is beautiful, isn't it?" The mew made him stop in his tracks. Brambleclaw swung his head around. He didn't know the speaker, but somehow he wasn't afraid or wary. He scented the air, and all he could smell was ThunderClan.
"Who's there?" he meowed.
"Oh, you don't know me. And I don't know you- not really. But I knew a cat that looked like you, a long time ago."
Brambleclaw froze as a small tom strolled out into the open. Despite his size, he held a grace and wisdom about him that was enviable. His dark fur was a smooth mixture of reds, browns, and gold that sparkled with dew. It wasn't until Brambleclaw saw the ginger tail that waved behind him that he realized who it must be.
The tom fixed Brambleclaw with clear amber eyes, and the tabby fancied he saw starlight in their depths. "Recognized me, have you? That's good."
"You're...Redtail," Brambleclaw rasped. "The cat that-"
"Your father killed." Redtail stared at him. "No point in denying it. Tigerstar murdered me, at Sunningrocks. A long, long time ago."
"I- I'm...sorry," Brambleclaw stuttered, his paws prickling with his own embarrasement, shame, and wonder.
"What for? You didn't do anything." Redtail cocked his head. "It was your father. Tigerstar."
"But he killed you!" Brambleclaw meowed. "And made himself deputy because of it!"
"Still, if he hadn't, and if Ravenpaw hadn't seen it, and if he hadn't told Firestar, Firestar would have never suspected Tigerstar of anything. And it would have all unraveled from there." Redtail flicked his ears. "When you think about it, Brambleclaw, my death wasn't the worst outcome. The worst...well, no one will ever know, I suppose."
With that, he turned and walked away. Brambleclaw followed him without thinking. He was in the middle of a dream, he knew it by now, and StarClan must have something to say to him. But quite apart from that he felt a natural awe of Redtail, this cat that was so smart, so quick, that he was able to appriciate the good of his own death.
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Redtail was as fast as an adder, and Brambleclaw followed him, feeling awkward and lumbering as he forced his way noisely through the undergrowth that Redtail somehow walked through without a sound. Finally they reached an unfamiliar rise that Redtail paused on, turning to look at Brambleclaw.
"Go on," he meowed. "StarClan has plenty to say to you."
Shivering, Brambleclaw made it the rest of the way up the hill. Once he had cleared it, he could look down into the waiting valley. Line upon line of cats sat there, each one like a unique star in the sky. Their eyes sparkled with wisdom, and snowflakes shone on their pelts. At the front, Brambleclaw spotted cats he knew so well that their names rose in his throat.
"Dappletail! Hollykit! Larchkit! Shrewpaw! And..." he paused before voicing her name. "Feathertail."
The silver she-cat broke from the ranks to meet him on the hilltop. "Hello, Brambleclaw," she meowed in her soft, familiar mew. "It's good to see you again. You led Stormfur and the others back home well, and I thank you for that."
"Do you..." Brambleclaw spoke awkwardly, "Do you want to hear about Crowfeather? Did you watch him be made a warrior? He held his vigil for you, every night we spent with the Tribe."
Feathertail looked away, and there was a misty look in her blue eyes. "There are others that watch Crowfeather now," she admitted with a flick of her ears. Brambleclaw was confused, but before he could ask another cat began to make her way up the hill, a tomcat just behind her. Brambleclaw dipped his head in recognition. "Bluestar!"
"Greetings, Brambleclaw," meowed the she-cat, a shimmer of welcome in her sky-colored eyes. She turned her head to look at Feathertail, who nodded and padded back down the rise. Then Bluestar turned her muzzle to the cat beside her, a cat whose thick golden fur gleamed like sunlight. "This is Lionheart. He was once a deputy of ThunderClan."
Lionheart nodded to Brambleclaw, and then looked at Redtail, who had appeared at the dark tabby's side. "You brought him."
"How could I resist a chance to speak to him?" Redtail asked with a twitch of his whiskers. "Though I suppose it'll be a while before all I've told him makes sense."
Bluestar studied him before looking back at Brambleclaw. "There are two reasons why we have come to you now. For one, we wish to thank you. You have led the Clans to their new home. You never wavered in your duty, no matter what horror you faced and what uncertainties lay ahead. You, the leader of the band of six, did what some Clan leaders could not imagine."
Brambleclaw bowed his head at her praise. "It wasn't just me," he mewed. "Squirrelflight and Tawnypelt, and Stormfur and Crowfeather helped too. And Feathertail." He looked over at the silver she-cat, who twitched her tail in acknowledgement.
"Yes, they helped," Bluestar agreed. "You all did brilliantly. StarClan chose the right cats."
Lionheart beside her nodded, and then his eyes darkened. "Brambleclaw, there is another reason why you are here. We speak to you now from the experiance of carrying a Clan on our shoulders."
Redtail lifted his chin. "There is more to being a leader, Brambleclaw, then giving orders. So much more."
"And more to every cat," Bluestar went on, "Then what they say. Be careful where you lay your trust. For there are cats in the forest with shadows in their hearts, and minds confused with what they have heard and what truly was."
Brambleclaw narrowed his eyes. "Hawkfrost?" he meowed. "Do you mean Hawkfrost?"
"Be careful where you lay your trust. And remember Leafpool's warning, Brambleclaw. For that prophecy has yet to come to pass. And too, keep in mind that there are some battles where not everyone can escape alive..."
It was all three cats that had spoken to him then, and Brambleclaw leaped to his paws as their wise gazes faded away. He yowled to them to stay, but, as usual with the cats of StarClan, they left him alone, more confused then he had been to begin with.
Is it just me, or does Redtail's description remind anyone else of Spottedleaf? Was he her father, maybe?
Anyway, reviews are appriciated, thanx!
