Returning Home
Nightfrost yawned and stretched in his nest. He took in his surroundings, surprised that he was not under the bush in the warrior's den. He flicked his ears to the waking cats. An elderly tom with small ears yawned and blinked his eyes opened. Soon, other cats start to wake up, except for a few.
The Thunderclan cats turned to look at their ruined home. Some bowed down in sorrow while others glared at Fireheart.
"I told you StarClan would show its anger!" rasped Smallear, shaking. "Our home has gone; the forest is no more."
"Bluestar should have appointed the deputy before moonhigh," fretted Speckletail. "It's the custom!"
Nightfrost glared at them. "How could you be so thankless, Smallear?! My brother saved you from the fire!"
"He nearly drowned me," complained Smallear.
"You'd be dead if he'd left you behind," spat the black warrior with a white paw. "If Fireheart hadn't been there, all of you would have died in the fire!"
"I'm sure Patchpelt, and Halftail are deeply grateful to him," Darkstripe sarcastically mewed.
Nightfrost bristled. "And I wonder Darkstripe, if you'd be making such remarks had your deputy never lead you out here?"
Darkstripe's apprentice stared at the black warrior in terror. Darkstripe snarled and glared at him.
"That makes no difference! If Tigerclaw were still here, he would have done the same thing!"
"Tigerclaw?! TIGERCLAW!? How could you still think about that traitor?!" Nightfrost growled. Darkstripe snarled and got on a battle stance.
The two toms were about to attack one another when Dustpelt stepped in between them.
"Darkstripe! You should show more respect for your lost Clanmates, and"—he glanced sympathetically at the frightened Fernpaw—"be more careful with what you say. Our Clanmates have suffered enough already! And...and I still can't believe you see Tigerclaw as someone we should follow..."
"Dustpelt's right," a quiet meow came from the den, the tom stepping forward. "We shouldn't be arguing."
Nightfrost, along with Darkstripe, Smallear, and the others whipped around to stare at Fireheart, their ears and tails flicking awkwardly as they realized he had heard their conversation.
"Fireheart!" Graystripe's mew interrupted them, and Fireheart's friend crossing the clearing, his fur damp from the river. Nightfrost bowed his head, feeling down that he had not keep his calm.
He went over to where the ThunderClan cats were gathered. "Graystripe says that pile of food is for us," he announced, his tail pointing to a separate pile close to them.
"Thank StarClan," Goldenflower meowed gratefully.
"We don't need other Clans to feed us," sneered Darkstripe.
"I suppose you can go hunting if you want," Fireheart meowed, narrowing his eyes at the tabby warrior. "But you'll need to ask Crookedstar's permission first. After all, this is his territory." Darkstripe snorted impatiently and padded toward the fresh-kill pile. Fireheart looked at Bluestar. She hadn't reacted to the news of food at all. Whitestorm twitched his ears.
"I'll make sure everyone gets a share," he promised, glancing at Bluestar.
"Thanks," Fireheart answered. Graystripe padded up and dropped a mouse on the ground at his paws.
"Here, you can eat this at the nursery," he meowed. "There are some kits I want you to see."
Nightfrost grabbed a water vole and a mouse, and padded to a friend, who is now awake due to all the commotion made. "I heard what happened outside. I'm sorry about your brother, Nightfrost."
"No, it's alright. Just...why is the clan so set on putting all the blame on my brother?" he asked, nibbling his vole.
"It's not that easy. Remember a part of the warrior? After the death or retirement of the deputy, the new deputy must be chosen before moonhigh. Fireheart was chosen after moonhigh. The cats believe that Starclan is angry that the warrior code is broken," Mousefur mewed.
"Even so, Fireheart...nor any other cat, should experience this," Nightfrost mewed, as rain started to fall again. By late afternoon, the rain stopped, leaving the scent of ash in the air. Fireheart and his friends, Graystripe and Ravenwing, padded off to the destroyed forest.
The ThunderClan cats crouched in an isolated huddle at one side. As soon as Fireheart and Graystripe appeared, the Thunderclan cats rose, questions leaving their mouths.
Bluestar rose too from where she lay beside Whitestorm. She brushed past the cats and reached the returning warriors first, her eyes filled with desperate hope. "Did you find Halftail?"
"He's dead," Fireheart told them, his tail drooped and ears down.
The ThunderClan leader's blue eyes showed no pain. Instead they grew hard and cold.
"Spottedleaf told me that fire would save the Clan!" she hissed. "But it has destroyed us."
"No-," Fireheart began.
"ThunderClan will return home tonight," she decided in a voice like ice. Nightfrost widen his eyes. That voice, it was almost like his.
"But the woods are empty. The camp is ruined!" protested Ravenwing.
"It doesn't matter. We are strangers here. We should be back in our own territory," spat Bluestar.
"Then I'll escort you," Graystripe offered. Ravenwing and Fireheart glanced at their friend.
"Why would we need an escort?" demanded Bluestar, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, perhaps I could help you rebuild the camp," Graystripe suggested uncertainly.
"Maybe stay for a while…" He faltered as Bluestar's eyes flashed angrily.
"Are you trying to say that you want to come back to ThunderClan?" she spat. "Well, you can't!"
"You chose to be loyal to your kits rather than your Clan," the leader snarled, making Graystripe flinch. "Now you must live with your decision."
She turned back to her group. "Get ready to leave. We are returning home!"
Smallear hesitated again at the edge of the river. It was swollen from the rain, but Darkstripe and Whitestorm had already crossed and were waiting in the shallows at the other side. Nightfrost stood with them, watching his clan mates cross the river. Dustpelt swam beside Fernpaw as the apprentice struggled to keep her little gray head above water. Ravenwing swam with Nightpaw as they crossed, with a bit of help from the apprentice.
Bluestar leaped into the river and swam easily to the other side, all frailty gone from her body as if fire had purged the weakness from her and burned her strong again. Fireheart slipped into the water after her. The clouds above the trees were beginning to thin as the rest of the Clan paused on the shore and stared in silent horror at the forest. Even in the faint moonlight, the devastation was obvious, the trees stripped bare, the musty fragrances of the leaves and ferns replaced by the bitter stench of burned wood and scorched earth.
Bluestar seemed blind to it all. She strode past the other cats without pausing and headed up the slope toward Sunningrocks and the trail home. Her Clan could do nothing but follow. Nightfrost licked Nightpaw's head while Ravenwing curled his tail around her, eyes wide at the remains of their home.
The ravine lay like an open wound in the landscape. Cats looked around as they did before, though trembling. The Clan filed slowly down the steep slope and followed Bluestar into the camp. Inside the clearing the cats gazed silently around the stripped, blackened space that had once been their home.
"Take me to Halftail's body!" Bluestar meowed sharply at Fireheart, cracking the silence. The deputy simply nodded, bristling, and lead her to the middle of the camp clearing, where a charred body lay.
A chilling wail echoed from the clearing. Bluestar staggered out, twisting her head wildly and glaring around at the blackened trees. "How could StarClan do this? Have they no pity?" she spat. "I will never go to the Moonstone again! From now on, my dreams are my own. StarClan has declared war on my Clan, and I shall never forgive them."
Yellowfang creep quietly to her den and reappeared a moment later holding something in her jaws, which she dropped beside Bluestar.
"Eat these, Bluestar," she urged. "They will ease your pain."
Bluestar bent her head and obediently licked up the small black seeds. "Come," Yellowfang meowed gently, and led the ThunderClan leader away.
Nightfrost yawned and stood up from his spot on the dry ground. His blue eyes felt tired from the small amount of sleep. Yellowfang padded to his brother.
"Don't grieve too much for the forest," murmured the gray cat beside Fireheart. "It will grow back quickly, stronger because of the injuries it has suffered, like a broken bone that heals twice as well." Fireheart dipped his head to the medicine cat.
Mousefur was sitting on guard outside Bluestar's den.
"Yellowfang ordered it," Whitestorm explained, padding out of the shadows. The warrior's pelt was still stained with smoke and his eyes were red-rimmed from the fire and exhaustion. "She said Bluestar was sick, and needed to be watched over."
"Good," Fireheart meowed. "How are the rest of the Clan?"
"Most of them slept a little, once they'd found places dry enough to lie down."
"We should send out a dawn patrol," Fireheart thought out loud. "Tigerclaw might take advantage of what has happened."
"Who will you send?" asked Whitestorm. "Darkstripe seems the fittest of the warriors, but we'll need his strength to start rebuilding the camp." Even as he spoke, Fireheart knew he wasn't telling the whole truth. He wanted to keep the dark tabby warrior where he could see him. "I'd like you to stay here as well, if that's okay." Whitestorm dipped his head in agreement as Fireheart continued, "We need to tell the other cats what's happening."
"Bluestar is sleeping. Do you think we should disturb her?" A worried frown crossed Whitestorm's face as he spoke.
Fireheart shook his head. "No. We'll let her rest. I'll speak to the Clan."
The orange tom bounded onto the Highrock in a single leap and called the familiar summons. Below him, the Clan cats padded drowsily from the wreckage of their dens, their tails and ears flicking in surprise when they saw Fireheart waiting where their leader usually stood to address them.
"We must rebuild the camp," he began once they had settled in front of him. "I know it looks a mess now, but it is the height of greenleaf. The forest will grow back quickly, stronger because of the injuries it has suffered."
"Why isn't Bluestar telling us this?" Fireheart stiffened as Darkstripe challenged him from the back of the group.
"Bluestar is exhausted," Fireheart told him. "Yellowfang has given her poppy seeds so that she can rest and recover." Anxious murmurs rippled through the cats below. "The more she rests, the quicker she'll recover," Fireheart reassured them. "Just like the forest."
"The forest is empty," fretted Brindleface. "The prey has run away or died in the fire. What will we eat?" She glanced anxiously at Ashpaw and Fernpaw, her face shadowed with a mother's concern even though her kits had left the nursery.
"The prey will come back," Fireheart assured her. "We must hunt as usual, and if we need to go a little farther to find fresh-kill, then we will." Murmurs of agreement rose from the clearing.
"Longtail, Mousefur, Thornpaw, and Dustpelt—you'll take the dawn patrol." The four cats looked up at Fireheart and nodded, unquestioning. "Swiftpaw, you can replace Mousefur on guard duty and make sure Bluestar is not disturbed. The rest of us will start work on the camp. Whitestorm will organize parties to gather materials. Darkstripe, you can supervise the rebuilding of the camp wall."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" demanded Darkstripe. "The ferns are all burned away."
"Use whatever you can," answered Fireheart. "But make sure it is strong. We mustn't forget Tigerclaw's threat. We need to stay alert. All kits shall remain in camp. Apprentices will travel only with warriors." Fireheart gazed down on the silent Clan. "Are we agreed?"
Loud mews rose from the crowd. "We are!" they called.
"Right," Fireheart meowed. "Let's start work!"