So I know it hasn't been a full week, but I might as well post now and get into a good schedule.

Thanks to reviewer: Mikaceous , my long time reviewer and excellent artist. Go check out some of their stories. "Moth Rising" is pretty good! And FunClan is the best Clan!


Chapter 2: Collapse

Bravepaw and Halfshine raced across the WindClan heather at Purplethistle's heels. Behind them, the sun melted against the horizon, its whiskers brushing the orange sky around it in farewell. Bravepaw's heart pounded and her mind churned as quickly as her paws.

Hedgepaw, please be alright!

Bravepaw and Halfshine had just returned from his garden to the WindClan camp. When Purplethistle saw their approach, the calico she-cat rushed toward the medicine cats with her dire news: A section of the tunnels had collapsed, trapping Hedgepaw and her mentor Newfang. While a collapsed tunnel was no small matter, the event wasn't uncommon. What made this one worse was that both ends around the she-cats had collapsed, blocking them in. They'd been trapped for a while now. No one knew the state of the cats or if they were alive. Halfshine was needed at the closest entrance.

Harestar had sent a few cats to search for Bravepaw and Halfshine. While while most of WindClan thought the medicine cats were still with the hunting patrol made up of the new apprentices, Harestar had told his mate to wait in full view of camp in case they returned sooner. He sent another cat to the patrol while he headed directly to the accident.

"We have Goldenhawk and Ryewhisker digging from either end, but the dirt is loose and crumbling," Purplethistle explained as they hurried to the Sand Hill. She bounded, her words trailing behind her like an extra tail. "Newfang should have known better than to dash recklessly into that without checking her path."

As a fellow tunneler, Purplethistle would know what was safe and wasn't below ground and sounded as though she chided the trapped warrior, but Bravepaw couldn't help but feel the calico she-cat was blaming Hedgepaw for the mistake. A new apprentice without experience, making hare-brained mistakes.

Before Bravepaw could leapt to defend her sister, Halfshine spoke up.

"No, it's because you foolishly decide to go into the tunnels during newleaf," Halfshine grumbled over his panting. "Thawing dirt is too loose for building more warrens!"

"We only try to shore up what collapses!" Purplethistle hissed, ears flattened momentarily. "If we didn't tend the tunnels now, the task would be impossible come greenleaf! Then in leafbare where would our food come from? How would we surprise other Clans that trespass?"

"I don't have time for your debates on the idiocy of risking cats' lives for a slim advantage against other clans," Halfshine growled back. "Every newleaf. Every newleaf!" he repeated in exasperation. "At least give the earth a chance to settle before tearing into it!"

"You aren't a tunneler. Don't tell us our business. I don't tell you your herbs."

"You just use them and hope I am giving you something that works miracles when you go and smother yourselves."

The Sand Hill loomed into view. Bravepaw ignored the arguing cats and dashed to meet Harestar. Cedarberry was already by the leader's side, pacing in front of the hole that was bored into the hill side. The narrow entrance disguised by a leaning boulder that covered the opening. If another Clan came this far into the territory, they would never know this led into WindClan's second territory. They might mistake it for a badger den.

"Bravepaw," Cedarberry gasped. She reached her daughter, pulling her close. From her mother's chest Bravepaw looked at the Clan leader.

"Where is Hedgepaw?" she demanded.

Harestar's yellow eyes darted in the direction of the dark hole, peering below the rock.

"I can go in," Purplethistle panted. She and Halfshine came to a stop beside Harestar. "Let Goldenhawk rest. My claws are sharp."

"Go," Harestar nodded.

Purplethistle's slim body wiggling through the crevice and into the dark.

"Any news?" Halfshine meowed as he caught his breath.

"I haven't heard anything since Purplethistle got me," Harestar meowed. "I don't know what is happening. I wish I had been a tunneler. I would have gone inside instead."

"It would be foolish to let you," Halfshine meowed sharply. "The Clan needs you."

"They are the Clan," Harestar snapped, bristling.

Halfshine lowered his head. "I am sorry, you are right."

"No, I am sorry. I shouldn't be angry with you," Harestar shook his head. "I'm just. . ."

"Worried? I know." Halfshine rested his paw beside the leader's larger one. "So am I. I tried to tell Purplethistle her business and she's right, it's not my place."

"I learned that a long time ago," Harestar gave a wry smile at the black and white tom. Then his gaze resumed its concerned scrunch as he turned to the tunnel.

"Is Hedgepaw going to be alright?" Bravepaw mewed. She looked at the toms. She felt her mother tense and for a moment the queen's chest failed to rise. Cedarberry was holding her breath.

"She will be," Harestar meowed. He turned his head in her direction, lifting his ears. Bravepaw could tell he was straining to keep cheerful. "Once Purplethistle gets them out, Halfshine will fix them both up."

"We hope," Halfshine muttered. It wasn't so much a remark as much as a bitter wish, Bravepaw heard. And that sent a shiver up her spine.

"Do you have the herbs you need?" Harestar meowed. "Anything we can do to help?"

"I don't know until I see them," Halfshine meowed. "At best they'll be woozy from lack of air, at worst. . . well, let's not dwell on it. Herbs aren't what we need right now."

"We need StarClan," Harestar nodded. "Ancestors, guide my warriors' paws."

Halfshine grunted, but Bravepaw's mother repeat the prayer. Bravepaw felt her own muzzle move, asking StarClan to spare her sister. She'd heard stories. There always were. The one she remembered most was the one Downyclaw used to tell them in the elder's den. The story of Snakebelly lost below in the dark forever to haunt the tunnels until he found the way out again. Lost even from StarClan, the story went. It had been a frightening tale, but funny when he related it. Now Bravepaw could only swallow and wish it wasn't true at all. That her sister would not be trapped in the darkness forever, unable to ask other cats for help because the moment they saw her spirit, they fled in terror.

There was a rustling below the leaning stone. Bravepaw's and Cedarberry's ears tilted forward as a sandy-ginger tom pulled himself from below. Mud caked his forelegs and streaked his head.

"Are they alive?" Cedarberry demanded, rushing forward to meet him. Bravepaw hurried behind her mother.

Goldenhawk nodded his head. "We heard them. They are alive. Hedgepaw is in pain. Newfang says her apprentice's tail is broken. A rock crushed it. They were half buried, but the rock is leaning and providing an air pocket for them."

"Can you get them out?" Harestar meowed. He joined Cedarberry beside the tunneler.

"It's slow going. The ground is moist from the thaw. The ceiling doesn't hold easily. We need to clear the dirt and then move the rock without making the collapse worse, while freeing Hedgepaw's tail."

Cedarberry's breath snagged.

"It's not even a bad rain season," Goldenhawk meowed, "the thaw is just been too quick. The roots haven't grown to hold the dirt back."

Bravepaw could hardly swallow. Hedgepaw wasn't going to make it out, was she? How could this happen? Just this morning they were both kits in the nursery and now she might never see her sister again? She was a medicine cat; she was supposed to save her Clan, not wait on the side while they died!

A sudden cry echoed from the tunnel. Bravepaw watched as Purplethistle lunged through the opening. There was terror in her eyes, "The rock is tilting, closing down on them. I don't know how to stop it!"

Bravepaw could not hold back any longer. She dashed around the tunnelers, heading for the mouth of the underground. The fading sunlight caught on mist rising from the moist earth. It seemed to take on the shape of a red cat that blocked her path, but Bravepaw pushed through. The only thought on her mind was to save her sister as her small body eased under the stone lip before anyone could stop her.

"Bravepaw!" she heard her mother wail.

The apprentice dove into the dark, fear for her sister pushing out her mother's call.

It smelled damp here, yet dusty too. The air was like Halfshine's den, but it lacked the sweet smell of herbs that drifted from his store. The walls closed in around her, but she hurried on, her whiskers, brushing the dark enclosure on either side of her.

"Hedgepaw!" she wailed. The ground sloped under her, gradual at first, then it felt slick. She ran too fast for the uneven ground. She lost her footing. She tripped and slid, skittering on the muck and loose dirt. Her body came to a stop. Bravepaw's ears were pounding. She panted in a shaky breath of dust, staring at the nothing in front of her gaze.

"Bravepaw!" The yell was an echo, that grew into a roar. Suddenly, something warm and heavy was tripping over her. The familiar scent of Halfshine, of herbs and mousebile, landed on top of her. Bravepaw felt her breath driven out of her chest.

"You little hare-brain!" Halfshine yelled as he untangled himself. "Don't go rushing off into falling tunnels!"

"My sister—"

"Is going to be alright, if you'd let the tunnelers do their job."

She sniffed the wetness in her nose. "I can't just let her die."

Bravepaw rushed in the opposite direction of his warmth, following her whiskers to the end of the tunnel. She knew it was the end because there was a wall of dirt before her and no open space but behind. In her paws the surface felt crumbled and loose like what she'd find in the dirtplace. Her nose picked up scents of her sister, faint, and overpowered by the dirt. She buried her claws into the soil, raking it behind her.

"Hey!" The pebbles and earth hit Halfshine, but she paid him no mind. She would reach Hedgepaw!

"Bravepaw! Halfshine!" The call drifted from the dark, a thin wail of a cat far behind. The warriors hadn't rushed into the tunnel immediately after them. As if they'd chosen to enter more cautiously. Bravepaw didn't have time for caution. She shifted the fallen dirt and pebbles into the tunnel behind them.

Something dropped on her head. For a moment she wondered if Halfshine were flinging dirt back at her in retaliation, but then the drops became a torrent. A weight enclosed her head, shoving her nose into the dirt. She felt it smother her back, pressing into her shoulders and for a moment it felt as though the earth itself were trying to drag her deeper into the darkness—but something pulled back.

There was a sharp pain on her leg. A quick tug. The weight on her back was pulled off in chunks. She felt the scraping of claws catch her fur. She struggled against the mass that covered her head, her paws wiggling in what space they could find to shovel the dirt away from her face and eyes. One moment. Two. And then out she flopped into the tunnel.

Bravepaw gasped for breath, coughing out the grit that filled her mouth and tickled her nose and ears. She hacked and puked. She blinked tears at the coarseness in her eyes, but still no sight came to her.

"Halfshine?" she croaked out.

"I'm still with you," he meowed. He pressed against her, ear on her chest. She knew he was listening to her breathe. She tried to sound strong and stop coughing, but she couldn't stop a squeak or two.

"Little hare-brain," she heard him whisper. "Acting before you think. Eventually your luck is going to run out, then what will you do?"

"Thanks," she meowed.

"For?"

"Following me." She lowered her head. As the heat of her impatience and fear passed, Bravepaw realized just how foolishly she'd acted. Now there was even more dirt between Hedgepaw and the surface. The distance between her and her sister had only grown bigger because of what she'd done. "You rushed down here too without thinking. You shouldn't have."

She heard him snort. Then chuckle. "No, I shouldn't. I guess we're both hare-brains."

"We should leave," Bravepaw whispered. She wasn't doing any good here. She wasn't trained in how to dig tunnels, what dirt to tear at or how to keep the walls up. This was all a mistake. She shouldn't have been here. She should have let Purplethistle and Goldenhawk do their jobs, like Halfshine said.

She heard her mentor sigh, "That would be a very good idea, Bravepaw. If the tunnel wasn't sealed behind us."

"What?"


You all think she'll make it to her naming ceremony with how she behaves? Our brash little apprentice as a lot to learn if she make it out alive.