Bramblestar's ear twitched. He opened his eyes, awoken by some unknown disturbance. Crickets chirped somewhere in the distance.
Fully awake now, he rolled onto his back and tucked his paws to his chest as he stared at the ceiling of his den. The rock was uneven and bumpy, and as he looked, he started to imagine them as mountains, like he was in StarClan gazing down at the land below.
The mountains and ridges all started to look the same. Grey. Bramblestar sighed and stood, careful not to disturb Squirrelflight, who slept deeply next to him, and padded outside.
The entire camp was spread out before him, again like he was in StarClan looking down. Bramblestar shook his head quickly, then bounded down the Rockpile and landed smoothly on the dirt below. He walked toward the bramble entrance, passing Molestep and Cherrystem, whom he'd just made warriors, on his way out. They sat up straighter and just nodded to him, still under vigil and unable to speak. Neither of them gave him a puzzled look; he was the leader. He could go where he pleased, no matter the time.
The night air was chilly; leaf-bare was on its way. The leaves on the trees had already changed colours and were beginning to drop. A few particularly dry ones crunched beneath Bramblestar's paws as he walked.
Bramblestar.
He stopped mid-crunch, ears pricked. Had he imagined that?
Of course he had. Leaves didn't talk!
But there it was again. Bramblestar spun around, straining his eyes in the darkness. Was there some cat out he didn't know about? Or maybe it was ShadowClan, planning an invasion!
"Come out, Blackstar," Bramblestar hissed. "I know you're there."
"Why of course," a deep mew responded. Bramblestar stiffened as a dark shape materialized from the shadows. That was definitely not Blackstar. The other leader's white pelt would've stood out right away. But this cat only had patches of white on its otherwise dark pelt.
"Thistleclaw!" Bramblestar snarled, arching his back and flattening his ears.
The mottled tom stepped into the moonlight, a glint in his eye. "Hello, Bramblestar." He spat the last syllable, unsheathing his long claws. "That name is rightfully mine!"
Bramblestar's growl deepened. "I earned it."
Thistleclaw's fur flattened, with an apparent effort on his part. "Of course you did," he meowed smoothly. "And how many moons did you serve Firestar tirelessly? How long have you been waiting?"
"I would rather still be deputy and he alive any day," Bramblestar retorted.
The dark tom shook his head. "You really should've listened to your father. You could've been great, like Hawkfrost!"
"Yeah, look at where that got him! I killed him."
"But you didn't kill me." Thistleclaw suddenly broke into a purr, which was more terrifying than any growl, hiss, or snarl he could've done.
"That's going to change," Bramblestar yowled, and charged forward. Thistleclaw nimbly leapt over his head, landing behind him.
"You're going to have to do better than that," the grey tom taunted. Bramblestar snarled, whirled around, and pelted after the dark warrior.
Thistleclaw always stayed out of reach, no matter how hard the leader ran. His taunting echoed off trees, making Bramblestar even angrier.
Say goodbye to your Clan.