Chapter 11

Thorncloud had the whole day to worry about her meeting with Bumblestripe that night. Over and over in her mind she planned out her route to the old willow tree. She made sure to mention to anyone who asked that she was longing to take a walk that night to clear her head after the RainClan fight. Windheart nodded her head, saying that they all needed some time to process it. Stoneclaw warned her to watch out for RainClan patrols, and Berryleaf purred with amusement and said he'd make sure not to put her on the dawn patrol so she could rest up afterwards.

Due to her minimal injuries (which she couldn't help feeling slightly guilty about), Berryleaf ended up asking her to go out hunting twice that day. The clan needed to strengthen, and that meant bellies needed to be full. She went out with the deputy and Owlpaw, his apprentice, in the morning, and in the afternoon she accompanied Foxtail and Springfoot. Both groups brought back an impressive haul of fresh-kill, and the clan began to relax again after the eventful night.

When dusk finally came, Thorncloud sat to eat with Springfoot. Their spirits were high after successful hunting, but Thorncloud sensed a sadness in her foster mother's eyes. It was easy to tell why. The dark brown tabby's eyes kept drifting over to the apprentices' den, and Thorncloud knew that she was thinking of Tigerfang, and her temporary name of Tigerpaw.

They each nibbled on a meal, and Springfoot had a distant look in her eyes. Thorncloud cleared her throat. All day she had been trying to talk to her foster mother, but with Foxtail on the hunting patrol with them, they hadn't gotten a moment alone. Now, sitting by the nettle patch, she finally had her chance.

"Springfoot?" she meowed quietly. "I was wondering… could you tell me about my birth mother?"

As Thorncloud had anticipated, the faraway look left Springfoot's eyes, and she turned to look at Thorncloud with the most attentiveness she had had all day. "Your mother?" she asked, surprised. Thorncloud had never asked about her birth mother, even as a kit. Once she had understood that her mother was dead, she hadn't wanted to know that much about her. Until now.

"Yes. I've been thinking about her lately," Thorncloud said. She hated lying, especially to Springfoot who had cared for her so deeply, so she made sure to choose her words carefully so that every syllable was truth. "What was she like?" she asked.

Springfoot's eyes softened. "Oh, Thorncloud. Your mother was beautiful," she purred. Memories seemed to flow through her. "Starflower was a very popular cat," she said, the words tumbling from her mouth like a river. "She was always noble, even as an apprentice, and never broke a rule. Her own mother must have sensed her potential even at birth. By naming her Starkit, she was destined for greatness. Everyone loved her." Her eyes fell to her paws, her smile fading. "She died too soon."

"How did she die?" Thorncloud asked, her voice a whisper.

Springfoot sighed. "She got very sick, a couple moons after you were born. The birth itself went fine, but…" She shook her head. "Some thought she was really sick, because she was constantly sick and couldn't stomach any fresh-kill. She slept all day, only waking to feed you. But I suspect her poor health partly had to do with grief."

"Grief?" Thorncloud repeated, surprised.

Springfoot paused to take a bite of squirrel. She chewed slowly, thoughtfully, and her eyes were full of sorrow. She finally swallowed and looked at Thorncloud. "Nobody ever told you, did they? About the other kit?"

The bewilderment in Thorncloud's eyes must have been enough of an answer. "Starflower gave birth to two kits, Thorncloud," Springfoot went on. "You were both healthy, you know. But something happened – nobody really knows what. One day your mother woke up and you were there, but the other kit was gone."

Now grief clutched at Thorncloud's chest. She felt as if she was suffocating.

Springfoot went on, "There was a hole in the nursery wall. We suspected it might've been a fox, or maybe the little kit just wandered off on his own when he saw an opening. Or maybe a hawk got him. I don't think we'll ever know what happened." She shook her head. "Starflower was never the same after. She got sick, and just like that, she was gone."

Thorncloud's throat felt tight. She sniffed. "W-What was my brother's name?" she asked.

"He didn't have one," Springfoot said. "Your mother was taking a great deal of time to choose; she wanted you both to have the perfect names." A faint, sad smile traced her lips. "Before she died, she named you Thornkit. She never named her lost kit, but…" Springfoot leaned forward. "Between you and me, I think she would have named him Beekit. He looked just like you, but black with gold instead of black and orange." She frowned. "The other queens always thought it was so funny. You were both tortoiseshells, but Starflower wasn't. She was pure black, like a raven."

Thorncloud frowned, too. Something was bothering her; another question she had never asked. "Who was my father?"

Springfoot's whiskered twitched. "We don't know. Some queens don't choose to share who fathers their kits. Starflower never once mentioned who he might be. We never asked, of course. It was her decision to keep it a secret. But it might have been him who gave you your colours." She gave Thorncloud a reassuring smile. "Try not to think too hard about it. I mourned your mother for many moons, but don't forget that she's with StarClan now with her lost kit."

Thorncloud nodded. "I know." Her curiosity was still not satisfied. Something itched at the back of her mind, but she couldn't put a paw to it. She shook the thoughts away, and stood up. "Thank you for answering my questions, Springfoot." She nuzzled her foster mother's cheek. "I'm going to go for a walk and think for a while."

Springfoot waved her tail in goodbye, and Thorncloud made her way to the gorse tunnel. So many thoughts swirled in her mind, but she had to focus on getting out of camp unseen. If any cat saw her speaking to an enemy warrior now, she might end up in the apprentices' den with Tigerfang.

Climbing up to the top of the ravine, her paws ached from all of the activity from the day. Hunting had taken all of her energy, and she longed to curl up in her nest and sleep through the night. She breathed in the fresh night air. The moon was low on the horizon, but now that the sun was gone, it would be moonhigh before she knew it.

A figure stood at the top of the ravine, and as Thorncloud pulled herself onto level ground, she saw that it was Copperfur. His back was straight, and he was alert; he must have been on guard duty. His ears pricked at the sound of pawsteps, and he turned his head.

Seeing Thorncloud standing there, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Where are you sneaking off to?" he said, as if she was doing something extremely suspicious.

"I'm not sneaking anywhere," Thorncloud said, keeping her voice level. "I'm going for a walk."

"Going to Fourtrees again?" His tone was accusatory.

Thorncloud just blinked at him. "No," she said, which thankfully, was the truth. She made a mental note to break her trail somehow so that, in case Copperfur decided to follow her, he wouldn't be able to track her to her meeting place with Bumblestripe.

Copperfur just stared at her. He clearly didn't believe that she was just taking a walk, but Thorncloud hardly cared anymore what he thought of her. "You know, I thought you were a decent cat," she said. "I looked up to you when I was an apprentice. And the whole time you were just… waiting for me. You should be ashamed of yourself."

Copperfur snorted. "At least I'm not getting cozy with a medicine cat," he shot back. "It's like you really don't have any self respect."

Thorncloud unsheathed her claws and clicked them against the stone on which she stood. "It's almost like a she-cat can have male friends and not want to bear their kits," she said. "Goodnight, Copperfur." Turning away, she bounded off into the trees, not bothering to look back.

Thorncloud finessed her pathway to the willow tree by taking various steps to disguise her scent. First she found a patch of sweet-smelling flowers, and rolled around in those; then she tracked her scent through different ponds she knew were in the area, zig-zagging to try and confuse the trail. Along the way, she found an abandoned fox hole, and resolved to stop there on the way back to cover the scent of RainClan.

By the time she finally made it to the willow tree, the moon was high in the sky. She ducked under the sweeping branches that hung low to the forest floor, and sat on a large root at the base of the trunk.

Before long, RainClan scent reached her, and she recognized Bumblestripe's scent. She was about to call out a greeting when she also caught scent of another cat that she didn't recognize. She unsheathed her claws for the second time that night, and braced herself.

The willow branches parted and Bumblestripe pushed through. He came forward to touch noses with Thorncloud, who returned the gesture happily. Her smile faded when she saw that behind Bumblestripe was a she-cat, likely an apprentice judging by her size. She was a grey tabby, and Thorncloud vaguely recognized her as one of the cats that was with Brookpelt the day that she and Tigerfang saw the patrol near Sunningrocks. She couldn't recall the cat's name at first, but seeing how her tabby markings looks vaguely like scales, she soon remembered.

"Why did you bring Scalepaw with you?" Thorncloud said, narrowing her eyes at the she-cat. "Do you want all of RainClan to know?"

Bumblestripe ducked his head, embarrassed. "Sorry. I tried to come alone, but she insisted on coming with me, and, well – I thought it was better to just bring her than have her track me."

"I'm a good tracker," Scalepaw piped up.

"She won't tell anyone," Bumblestripe promised. "She's a good friend of mine; we trained together before I became a warrior."

"Soon I'll be a warrior, too."

"That's just fine," Thorncloud said, "but this really should stay between us, Bumble…" Her voice trailed off as a thought struck her. She found herself staring at Bumblestripe's fur as he settled onto the grass a tail-length away from her. He was a tortoiseshell, and his fur was black and gold, almost... like a bee.

"Thorncloud?" Bumblestripe said, interrupting her train of thought. "Did you hear what I said?"

Thorncloud shook her head. She was staring at Bumblestripe as if seeing him for the first time.

"I said that we can trust Scalepaw. She might be helpful, anyway, being an apprentice. She can ask questions that it would be strange for a warrior to ask. About StarClan, and clan history, and things like that. Plus, her mentor is Mottledfur, our new deputy – who's also my father."

Bumblestripe beamed when he mentioned his father. This piqued Thorncloud's interest, but she would have to save those questions for later. "Do you really think we'll need to ask all of that stuff?" she asked.

"How much do you know about StarClan prophecies?" Bumblestripe asked. "The oaks at Fourtrees? The rocklands around Highstones? The–"

"Alright, I get it," Thorncloud said, flicking her tail over his mouth to silence him. "Fine. Scalepaw can stay. And what about Cloudstorm?"

"What about her?"

"Is she going to tell anyone? She wasn't exactly friendly the first time we met."

Bumblestripe shrugged. "She's my closest friend. I can't imagine her telling anybody about this."

Thorncloud nodded. The circle was widening far too much for her liking. Tallfeather, Copperfur, Cloudstorm, and now Scalepaw all knew about the prophecy. How long was it before it reached others?

She turned on Scalepaw. "Okay, you. Listen – you're allowed to ask your mentor questions, but you still have to be subtle. Don't let the questions come out of nowhere."

"Don't worry," Scalepaw scoffed. "I got this."

Thorncloud bit her tongue so that she didn't berate the apprentice for her disrespect. She just shook her head and turned back to Bumblestripe. "So you mentioned you had the dream again."

He nodded. "Exactly the same as the first time," he told her. "But I did notice a few more things this time. Like the StarClan cat's scent – she definitely smelled faintly of SnowClan. I also got a better sense of the location. It was definitely near Highstones, but lower down. I was somewhere in the area that surrounds Mothermouth, closer to the Thunderpath that cuts the rocklands off from Shadowland territory."

"Why there?" Thorncloud mused aloud. "It's such a strange place. The prophecy mentioned Fourtrees, so you'd think the dream would take place there."

"It must be significant to the prophecy," Bumblestripe said. "Maybe we ought to travel to Highstones to check it out."

Scalepaw snorted. "Right, that wouldn't be suspicious. Two cats from different clans travelling to Highstones for no reason? Even I know that only medicine cats and clan leaders go to Highstones regularly."

A smile spread across Thorncloud's face. "That's it, then," she said. "We'll just need the help of a medicine cat."

Bumblestripe looked at her skeptically. "How do you expect us to do that?" he asked.

"Well…" Thorncloud chose her words carefully. "I'm good friends with our medicine cat, Tallfeather. I'm sure he would help me if I asked."

"And get more cats involved?"

"He wouldn't ask questions," Thorncloud said. "I've had strange dreams before, and he's always helped me work them out. If I said I wanted to go to Highstones because of this dream, he'd probably say yes."

Scalepaw rolled her eyes. Bumblestripe hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. Wouldn't other cats question why he was taking you there?" he meowed. "Maybe you could wait until Tallfeather needs to travel to Highstones next with the other medicine cats, and ask to accompany him."

Thorncloud considered the idea. "That could work. He usually says it's only a medicine cat's journey, but… seeing as we're so close, he might say yes."

Bumblestripe nodded. "Then that's settled. Hopefully that should give us some answers," he said. "Other than that, I can't think of anything else we can do right now except get Scalepaw to ask Mottledfur some questions."

"Sounds like a plan," Thorncloud said. She got to her paws and yawned, feeling the weight of exhaustion on every inch of her fur. "I should head back. I'll see you at the next Gathering?"

"Of course." Both RainClan cats stood. "It would be too much of a risk to meet before then, anyway."

"Travel safely," Thorncloud mewed, and flicked her tail in goodbye. She made her way toward the curtain of branches and eased out into the open air, blinking up at the moon. It was beginning its descent; she would have to get back to camp soon if she wanted any sleep.

As she left the shelter of the willow, she retraced her steps to find the fox hole she discovered earlier. She rolled around in the stench, and wrinkled her nose against the foul scent. Nobody would notice the RainClan scent on her now.

Copperfur's sentry position was now taken by Foxtail, she noted as she passed the ginger-furred tom on the way down the ravine. She hadn't stopped to check if she was being followed away from camp, she realized, as she crossed the clearing towards the warriors' den.

She was glad to see that Copperfur was curled up, asleep, when she entered. Her broken trail had worked, then, since he was already back. The anxiety in her chest eased slightly, and finally, she let her tiredness overtake her racing mind, and fell asleep.