Chapter 5

Squirrelflight's P.O.V.

Squirrelflight padded to the fresh-kill pile and picked out a squirrel. Then she padded of to the bramble bush near the warriors den. She at the squirrel in a few famished bites. She washed her pelt and took a long time to wash her fluffy tail.

After she was done, she padded to the apprentices den and called out "Icepaw! Time for training! Meet me by the lake before the hunting patrol at Sunhigh goes out!"

She heard Icepaw meow, "Okay, Squirrelflight! See you there!"

Squirrelflight padded over to her father, Firestar. "Daddy, I'm taking Icepaw out. Tell Brambleclaw, will you?"

Firestar looked at his daughter and mewed, "Yeah, sure. I know you teach her well. She's the best hunter and fighter. Dustpelt taught you well and I knew you would teach Icepaw well. When your done, come see me in my den and we'll talk."

Squirrelflight nodded and padded toward the lake. She looked around her at her surroundings and immediately felt peaceful. She sighed.

If only my life was as peaceful. At least Brambleclaw has forgiven me. Now we can be mates and have our actual kits together. I mean, I love my adopted kits, but I want my own kits.

She arrived at the lake and stared down at her reflection until she scented Icepaw. She looked up as Icepaw came into view.

"So, what are we doing today?" Icepaw asked.

"We're practicing our battle moves. Cloudtail and Foxpaw already have the training hollow, so I thought we could practice over here. Now, I'm going to teach you a move my father taught me when he was assessing my battle moves. He said he came up with it when he was fighting Graystripe, I think. Attack me and I'll demonstrate."

Icepaw leaped and landed on Squirrelflight, who made herself go limp and, when Icepaw was about to swipe her paw across Squirrelflight's muzzle with her claws sheathed, Squirrelflight pushed her back paws as hard she could, without using her full force, and made Icepaw fly across land in sand. Squirrelflight got up and padded over to Icepaw to see if she was all right.

Icepaw got up and shook her white pelt. "Wow! That was cool! I thought I had you!"

"That's the whole point. You make yourself go limp so your enemy thinks they won, then you push your back paws against your enemy's belly as hard as you can. Care to try?"

"Yeah! You know it!"

"Okay, here I come." Squirrelflight leaped on top of Icepaw, making sure she kept her weight light and off of Icepaw. Icepaw went limp, then without warning, she pushed as hard as she could and sent Squirrelflight flying across to a tree, which knocked her out, and then, the tree flung her half way across the lake. Squirrelflight skidded to a stop and she started sinking into the water.

"SQUIRRELFLIGHT!" Squirrelflight heard Icepaw shout at the top of her lungs as she got up and saw her mentor start to sink. "SQUIRRELFLIGHT, HOLD ON! I'M GONNA GET HELP!" Then everything went black.

Brambleclaw's P.O.V.

Brambleclaw woke up, and padded out of the warriors den and to the middle of the clearing. As he sat down in front of his Clanmates, he saw Squirrelflight head out into the forest.

Where does she think she's going? I put her on the Sunhigh hunting patrol. Didn't I tell her?

"Brambleclaw."

Brambleclaw turned and saw Firestar padding up to him. "Yes, Firestar?"

"Squirrelflight told me to tell you she went out to train her apprentice, Icepaw. She'll be back soon. Cloudtail's out with Foxpaw as well." He padded away.

Brambleclaw rolled his eyes. Of course Squirrelflight would train her apprentice the day she's set to do a patrol. But did I tell her she's on a patrol? I must not have. I know Squirrelflight better than that! She's a cat of her word. So, she must not have known. I should find her and tell her. But after I send out the Dawn patrol and pick out the rest of the patrols for today.

"Dustpelt will lead the Dawn patrol, Honeycloud, Poppycloud and Ashfur go with him" -the chosen cats left- "Sandstorm will lead the hunting patrol. Take whoever you like. Graystripe, you'll lead the Sunhigh patrol. Whitewing, Lionblaze, and Berrynose will go with you. Brackenfur, you'll lead the Dusk patrol. You can chose who you want to go with you. Finally, when Squirrelflight and Cloudtail get back from training their apprentices, they'll go on a hunting patrol," Brambleclaw ordered.

Brambleclaw got up and saw Icepaw head after Squirrelflight. He went over to the fresh-kill pile and chose a vole for himself. He went over to the bramble bush by the warriors den. He dropped the vole and scented that Squirrelflight had been here earlier. He sat down and ate his vole.

Once he finished, he washed his pelt, taking his time. The sun rays came out to where he was sitting and Brambleclaw dozed off.

He heard a rustle from the entrance to the camp and he opened his eyes to see Icepaw crash into the camp, her pale blue eyes wide and full of fear and terror.

"Help! Squirrelflight's in trouble! She needs help!"

Everyone in the camp came rushing out into the middle of the clearing. Brambleclaw shot up and dashed to Icepaw's side. Leafpool came out of her den and ran straight to Firestar's den. Brambleclaw wondered what could be so terrifying to Leafpool that would make her amber eyes bug out of their sockets full of fear. Brambleclaw heard Firestar wail in fear and grief.

Firestar slowly padded out, his head down. Sandstorm and her patrol came rushing back into camp with a soaked dark ginger figure. Brambleclaw looked closer and saw a thick ginger tail. Squirrelflight!

The whole Clan gasped in shock. Sandstorm put her daughter's drenched form in the clearing. She wailed in grief. Brambleclaw bowed his head.

"Hey! Squirrelflight's not dead, She's just knocked out. Push her chest."

Brambleclaw's head snapped up and he whipped around to see Leafpool. He growled and snapped, "How do you know?"

Leafpool rolled her eyes. "Did you not listen to Squirrelflight yesterday? Me and her have a mind-link; we can tell what the other feels, where they are, and if they're dead or not. We call it telekinesis. She's not dead. Just push her chest."

Brambleclaw padded up to Squirrelflight's drenched form, pushed her chest with his paw and Squirrelflight coughed up water. She opened her eyes slowly and she got up slowly.

Firestar and Sandstorm rushed to their daughter's side, purring, and licked her pelt like crazy. Squirrelflight yelped in surprise as her parents crashed into her and toppled her over. Brambleclaw purred in amusement.

"What's going on?" Squirrelflight rasped.

"We thought we lost you, Squirrelflight. Don't ever do that to us again!" Sandstorm barked.

Leafpool padded up to her. "I told them you weren't dead; that you were just knocked out." She padded away.

Squirrelflight got up. "Leafpool."

Leafpool turned around. "What?"

Squirrelflight padded up to her sister and purred. "Thank you."

"Your welcome. Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

Silence came around the Clan and all heads turned toward Squirrelflight.

"I'll think about it. Killing my kits isn't something that can be forgiven easily, Leafpool. But in time, maybe."

Brambleclaw padded up to the drenched she-cat, rubbed his face in her shoulder, and purred. "Don't do that to me ever again, Squirrelflight. I thought I'd lost you forever."

"You won't ever lose me, Brambleclaw."

Brambleclaw looked up at her and asked, "How did you get soaked?"

"Well, I was teaching Icepaw the move my dad made up and she pushed so hard that I went into a tree, which knocked me out, and the tree flung me halfway across the lake, where I skidded to a stop and as I began sinking and blacking out, I heard Icepaw shout, 'SQUIRRELFLIGHT! SQUIRRELFLIGHT, HOLD ON! I'M GONNA GET HELP!'. Then I blacked out, and woke up being drenched and my parents crashing into me, purring. You'll need to get the rest from Icepaw. I'm going to sleep." She padded to the warriors den and vanished.

Brambleclaw turned around and headed for Icepaw. "Icepaw, tell me what happened after you shouted."

"I ran as fast as I could. I ran into Sandstorm and told her, "Help! It's Squirrelflight! She's halfway into the lake! A tree flung her into the middle of it. You have to help her! She's drowning as we speak!' Sandstorm told me to go and alert the Clan, so I did."

"Okay, go and rest. You deserve it."

Icepaw nodded and went to the apprentices' den.

Brambleclaw went up to Sandstorm. "How did you get Squirrelflight out of the water?"

"Well, actually, Mistyfoot saw her and saved her. Apparently, Squirrelflight looks so much like Firestar that Mistyfoot thought she was Firestar, only to realize when Mistyfoot was on shore and put her down that she saw a thick tail, thicker than Firestar's. We got there as she was dragging Squirrelflight out of the water and saw her confusion on her face until I told her it's his daughter, Squirrelflight. We then picked her up, thanked Mistyfoot, and ran as quickly as we could without dropping her."

Brambleclaw nodded. "Thanks, Sandstorm."

"Your welcome. I know how much she means to you and how much you mean to her." She left without another word.

Brambleclaw padded into the warriors den and laid next to Squirrelflight. He licked her head. "I love you, Squirrelflight."

"I love you too, Brambleclaw," she murmured. "I love you too." She snuggled up to Brambleclaw and fell asleep.

Brambleclaw licked her head once more, curled up beside her and fell asleep.