Wow, it's been longer than two weeks. I don't usually take so long to update but I was away on vacation for a week, and then my job wanted me to work long hours for the week leading up to Mother's Day... I was so tired and drained that I didn't feel like updating last week. Now I gotta update super early cause I have to go to work soon. ;-;
Rereading Bramblestar's Storm is making me realize how much there actually is to the book... I know I keep saying stuff like "only 5 chapters to go!" but honestly, y'all are just going to have to buckle up and enjoy the ride. I don't even have an estimate of when Ignite will end at this point.
But seriously, after Bramblestar's Storm? It's over. I want to attempt to write more for An Angel Lost in Time.
Reviews are appreciated!
The prey the hunting patrols had brought back were wet and soggy, and incredibly unappetizing. But more importantly the hunting patrols hadn't actually brought back much to eat in the first place, so they couldn't be picky about it.
Bramblestar noticed that Minty had emerged from the tunnel with Millie and the younger apprentices. She was staring in dismay at the sparrow Amberpaw put in front of her. "I'm so hungry!" she moaned. "But eating that... it's yucky!"
Amberpaw rolled her eyes.
"Just try it," Millie coaxed the kittypet, her tone sympathetic. "You might find you like it." As Minty gave her a disbelieving glance, she continued, "I remember the first time I ate wild prey. It was a bit of a shock, after Twoleg food! But I wouldn't want to go back to eating that dry stuff now."
Minty gave the sparrow a wary sniff. "It's covered in feathers. I can't eat those."
"Bite down hard, like this." Amberpaw demonstrated with her own blackbird. "You can spit the feathers out after." Minty shuddered, but sank her teeth into the sparrow as Amberpaw had demonstrated. Bramblestar saw her gulp down the mouthful with a stunned expression and a feather stuck to her nose.
'At least she's eating,' he thought. He glanced over at Firestar, gazing at the clouds in boredom. 'And finally coming out of the tunnels without fainting in fear.'
That was an over exaggeration of course; Minty never fainted in fear. But she had always stiffened up in fright every time she had gotten close to the tunnel entrance, darting back inside whenever Firestar so much as looked in her general direction. Hiding inside the tunnel wouldn't do much for her considering that Firestar could hear everything she did clearly, but Minty didn't need to know that.
Some of his clanmates were beginning to get irritated over her fear of Firestar, but more cats understood what she was going through and were sympathetic of her plight. She had lost her home, almost drowned, and now had been taken in by wildcats that were being guarded over by a dragon.
A dragon that they themselves had previously feared. Her fear was understandable to say the least.
"The hunting was poor today," he commented to Squirrelflight, who was sharing a vole with him. "Seedpaw suggested sending a patrol outside the territory."
Squirrelflight blinked in surprise, then nodded. "It might be worth a try."
"I'll go," Thornclaw meowed instantly, looking up from the scrawny rabbit he was sharing with Brackenfur, Cherryfall, and Blossomfall. "Anything to stop my belly rumbling."
"Count me in too," Brackenfur added.
"And me," Blossomfall mewed. "It sounds like a great idea."
"Thanks." Bramblestar felt proud of his clanmates for volunteering so quickly to go into unknown and possibly dangerous territory. "I'll come with you."
"Bramblestar . . ." Squirrelflight gave him a nudge, and motioned with her ears for him to move out of earshot of the others. "You need to rest," she went on when she was sure that they couldn't be overheard. "You can't do every patrol. I'll go instead."
"But you've already hunted today," Bramblestar objected.
"And you did the Shadowclan border patrol." Squirrelflight's tail-tip was twitching, though she kept her voice low. "And yesterday you trekked all the way over to Riverclan and risked your life rescuing that kittypet."
"So?" Bramblestar began to feel frustrated. "I'm fine. It's not a problem."
"It'll be a problem for the rest of us if our clan leader collapses from exhaustion."
He mentally rolled his eyes. He was perfectly fine! "What are you, my mother?" he muttered.
"Hatchlings," Firestar's voice rumbled behind them. The dragon had turned his head over to gaze at their arguing, exasperation flashing in his eyes. It oddly made Bramblestar feel disappointed in himself. His gaze hovered on Bramblestar. "You've done more than enough today hatchling. You need to rest," he said, practically ordering Bramblestar.
"I'll just go as far as the border and make sure that things seem okay over there. Then I'll come back," he tried negotiating with him. Firestar huffed in disapproval, giving him a look of annoyance and concern. He knew Firestar and Squirrelflight were just concerned with his well-being, but he was still clan leader. It was his job to make sure his clan was being fed and was being kept safe.
"Fine," Firestar conceded. "But no more patrols after this one."
"But-"
"And none tomorrow either. You've exhausted yourself enough already. Let Rosepetal handle everything tomorrow, she's your deputy after all."
Bramblestar lowered his head, tail lashing as if he were a scolded kit. He wanted to argue, but knowing Firestar, the dragon would just curl his tail around the clan leader and hold him close all day to prevent him from doing anything other than resting.
Firestar tried to be gentle, but he really didn't want to be coiled again. His limbs were always so stiff when Firestar finally released him.
They were suddenly distracted by the sound of coughing. Bramblestar turned his head to see Sandstorm leaning against the tunnel entrance, coughing into her paw.
"Sandstorm?" Firestar murmured in concern.
Bramblestar knew that Briarlight had whitecough at the moment, but with everything going on, he didn't expect the sickness to spread.
"It's just a cough, I'll be fine," she reassured them. Predictively, Firestar didn't look convinced. He took the opportunity to sneak away as Firestar fussed over his mate, but in that moment Bramblestar had caught Firestar's breath hitch, his eyes widened in terror, a small dot of fiery red lighting up his chest for a heartbeat.
He didn't want to think what would happen if Sandstorm were to catch greencough.
.
.
After he returned to the temporary camp from his border patrol, the clan had experienced a minor landslide that collapsed a part of the tunnel entrance. The soil from above had been loosened from the sheer amount of rain, which made it all too easy for dirt and mud to rain down on them like water. He had breathed a sigh in relief when Firestar proved to be more perceptive and faster than them. The dragon had Sandstorm trapped in between his forelegs but had weirdly stared at the top of the tunnel instead of his mate. It unnerved everyone until he explained that he could hear the soil moving.
No one was hurt thankfully. Everyone had moved away just as the mudfall started.
He told Rosepetal to pick out cats to help Dustpelt turn the mudpile into a windbreaker, so that they didn't have to keep freezing their tails off while they were trying to sleep.
He was suddenly grateful for Firestar's warm scales.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Firestar scowled, gazing at Bramblestar in disapproval as he put himself to work, helping Dustpelt gather materials for the windbreaker.
"I have a clan to lead! You'd be doing the same if you were still leader!" Bramblestar squawked indignantly. The dragon flinched and grumbled to himself but couldn't rebuke his words. Still, he eyed Bramblestar in disapproval, probably wishing for the tabby tom to relax and rest.
As Bramblestar helped Dustpelt to shove the branch into position, he heard Lilypaw's voice coming from behind him. "We're supposed to be having hunting practice. But I can't find Poppyfrost and Hollyleaf anywhere."
"Nor can I," Seedpaw added.
Bramblestar glanced over his shoulder. "They've gone to the Windclan stream," he told the apprentices. "They'll be back soon."
Lilypaw and Seedpaw looked disappointed.
"Can we help you instead?" Seedpaw asked. "What are you doing? What do you need?"
The two apprentices crowded up, sniffing curiously at the branch that Dustpelt was still pushing into place.
"We'll get more!" Lilypaw announced, but as she turned she skidded in the mud and Seedpaw tripped over her.
"For Starclan's sake!" Dustpelt snapped. "A cat can't move around here for nuisancy apprentices!"
"But we want to do something useful!" Seedpaw protested, scrambling to her paws.
"Then go and do it someplace else," Dustpelt muttered. "I'm sure you can think of something."
"Find a warrior to take you hunting," Bramblestar suggested, but the two apprentices were already scampering away. 'I hope they don't get into trouble,' he thought. He was about to follow them when Foxleap came limping by him, wincing at every paw step.
"What's up with you? You wrench your paw in the mudpile?" Bramblestar meowed.
"No, it's that wretched piece of wood again, the one that caught Jayfeather earlier," he complained. "I was sure we'd moved it out of the way, but it must have rolled back."
"You're not badly hurt?"
"No, just annoyed," Foxleap replied. "That stick is more trouble than the mudfall!"
'A stick?' Bramblestar thought suddenly. A stick causing trouble? 'Where have I heard of a stick recently?' Then he remembered. Jayfeather's Stick of the Fallen! The apprentices spotted it this morning, wedged in the branches of that oak tree. 'What if they've gone back to fetch it?'
He was torn out of his thoughts as Firestar abruptly snapped his head to the side, listening in on something that no normal cat could hear. He briskly but gently lay a sleeping Sandstorm onto the ground, being careful as to not disturb her. Then he spread his wings and kicked off the ground, blowing wind towards Bramblestar and Foxleap, who had to keep their claws dug into the ground so that they didn't go hurtling off into the trees.
Sandstorm was still sleeping soundly even after Firestar's takeoff. He had aimed his wings away from his mate after all.
"What was his problem?" Foxleap muttered in indignation, bending down to lick his mussed up fur.
'Indeed,' he privately agreed, narrowing his eyes. He told Foxleap to carry the branch back to Dustpelt, and then briskly set off in Firestar's direction. As he was heading off after Firestar, he realized that he had picked up on Lilypaw's and Seedpaw's scents as well.
He almost collided with Firestar's tail as he burst through a thicket beside the edge of the flooding. One of Firestar's paws was sunken into the water, but the other held two sodden lumps of fur, both struggling to breath. With a jolt, he realized that the lumps of fur were Lilypaw and Seedpaw.
"What happened?!" Bramblestar exclaimed.
Without a word, Firestar turned around and lowered his claws to Bramblestar's level. He could see ivy tangled around Lilypaw's body, the same ivy that was wound around a half-submerged oak tree a couple tail-lengths away. He could only deduce that Lilypaw had gotten trapped within the ivy as she tried to retrieve the stick, still wedged in the tree's branches.
He hopped onto Firestar's claws, doing his best to warm the apprentices up and to get them to cough up any water that they may have swallowed. Lilypaw rolled over and spat out several mouthfuls of water.
"Seedpaw…where's Seedpaw?" she rasped.
Firestar's claws suddenly moved, pressing gently on Seedpaw's body. She jerked, coughing up water before collapsing back onto Firestar's claw with a moan.
Bramblestar let out a breath he didn't know was being held in. He had no idea if he would have been able to rescue the two she-cats by himself if no one else had been around. Firestar's size allowed him to scope up cats easily. If the dragon hadn't been there to save them… hadn't been there to hear their cries…
He sat down heavily, wondering if his role as clan leader meant watching his cats die while being unable to do anything about it. They weren't dead thankfully, but all these close calls were beginning to scare him. Without Firestar, more cats would be dead or injured.
"I… I think we all need to go back and rest for the rest of the day," Bramblestar finally conceded. He dug his claws into Firestar's claw, keeping the apprentices close to him as Firestar took off from the ground, a chuff of sympathy and relief meeting his words.
Seedpaw lives! And Hollyleaf is her mentor cause she's alive and Bumblestripe is dead. So I needed someone to fill that spot.
Bramblestar is overworking himself. Squirrel and Fire just want him to take a break.
Firestar gets reminded of mortality... especially that of Sandstorm's.
And Minty? Still afraid to interact with Firestar.
In the next chapter, in which nothing is planned out: Stormcloud and the cat who the fandom believes is a discount Squirrelflight(aka Jessy).
Tell me how I did.