Chapter 5

Brambleclaw of WindClan

Gingerstar14: I know Crowfeather wasn't exactly friendly toward ThunderClan, but this is Brambleclaw, his friend, and it was Leafpool he acted strange around. So yeah.

"Brambleclaw!" the yowl ripped through the air, filled with terror. Brambleclaw leaped forward, his fur bristling, to see Firestar gripping the egde of the gorge in their old home, the river swirling below him. "Help!"

But the tabby just stared, his eyes dark, until he slipped and Firestar plummeted to his dead, with a last yowl. "No!" Squirrelflight's pained screech sounded behind him

"Brambleclaw! Wake up!" Crowfeather was nudging him awake. Brambleclaw sleepily raised his head. It was weird sleeping in a bed of moss out in the open, but he had been so tired after the meeting that he fell alseep almost instantly. But after shaking the sleep from his head, he felt strangely full of energy. He longed to stalk through the undergrowth in search of food.

"Is it time for my ceremony?" Brambleclaw asked, sitting up and scratching his side with his back paw, trying to shake away his awful dream. Whitetail was sitting nearby, tearing at a rabbit.

Crowfeather backed up and sat down. "Almost. It's nearly sunhigh, but not quite. So," he meowed, beginning to lick his paw. "I wonder if Onestar will let me be your mentor."

"Mentor?" Brambleclaw exclaimed, getting to his paws. He winced, but found that he could put a bit more weight on his paw.

"Well, um, I mean teach you the best ways to catch a rabbit, especially in the open. ThunderClan isn't used to that," the gray tom explained. "But we can save that for later." Brambleclaw nodded absently. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine." he muttered, not looking at Crowfeather. Fine? I'm dying.

Whitetail padded over, her blue eyes friendly. "Welcome to WindClan. I hope you like it here, Brambleclaw. I know I'd never like it in ThunderClan."

Brambleclaw winced and muttered, "Yeah, well, neither do I. Don't mention that Clan again, please."

The white she-cat looked at her paws guiltily. "Sorry. So, why don't I show you around the camp?" Her offer was friendly, so Brambleclaw obliged. She showed him the different places where the warriors and apprentices slept, and Onestar and Barkface's dens, even though they usually slept in the open too. "And this is the nursery and elder's den. They both sleep down here." She motioned down an older badger hole.

"It's nice that you let them sleep in a den away from the weather." Brambleclaw meowed. "What do you do when its raining?"

"There are dens all along the bramble wall just in case, though they're usually only used for sick cats." Whitetail meowed. "It's more efficient than stuffing them all in Barkface's den."

Onestar's call interrupted them: "All cats of WindClan join beneath Tallrock for a Clan meeting!" Whitetail headed across the camp to where Onestar sat on the rock, and Brambleclaw followed him anxiously. He hoped the Clan would accept him.

Emberpaw shot him a hostile glance, but Mistheart nodded encouragingly as he sat down with Whitetail. Webfoot muttered something to Lithepaw who snorted. Brambleclaw tried to concentrate on Onestar as he watched his Clan gather.

"I've called you here again to ask Brambleclaw to join our Clan. I, Onestar, leader of WindClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this cat. He has chosen to join our Clan, and I commend him a WindClan cat. Brambleclaw, do you promise to give up what you have sworn and protect his Clan even at the cost of your life?"

Brambleclaw stared up at Onestar, his soon-to-be new leader. "I do,"

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I accept you into our Clan as a WindClan cat!" Onestar finished.

"Brambleclaw!" Whitetail called. Crowfeather joined in, and so did Leaftail and a few others. Webfoot and the apprentices did not. Brambleclaw dipped his head.

"You're one of us now." Owlwhisker meowed encouragingly. Now Brambleclaw had another home, a new Clan. But his dream lingered in his mind as he celebrated with WindClan.