At the far end of the monster, it was clear they would have to swim across the deep water that covered the Thunderpath. But Bramblestar could just make out another fence leading away on the other side, past a Twoleg den toward the fields beyond RiverClan's territory.

"Aim for that fence over there," he meowed, pointing with his tail. "Swim!"

"Oh, StarClan," Dovewing muttered, but she launched herself into the water and started paddling strongly.

Bramblestar reached the fence first and helped his Clanmates clamber onto it, water streaming from their pelts. The Twoleg dens here were joined together in a long line. The fence where they were clinging ran past the dens at one end, and by following it they could make their way around the back. Bramblestar led the way, finding it easier now to push his legs through the water and keep his footing on the narrow strip of submerged wood.

The cats sploshed their way past the Twoleg dens and stopped at the edge of the enclosed gra.s.s, looking out over a field to the place where RiverClan had once lived-but now it was just a stretch of shining water, with the top of a bush poking up here and there.

"It's gone!" Thornclaw whispered. "Their whole territory is underwater!"

"There's no way they could survive that much flooding," Graystripe meowed.

"Wait!" Dovewing mewed. "You were at the Gathering, weren't you? I wasn't there, but Ivypool told me about it. Didn't Mistystar say they'd already moved their dens away from the edge of the lake? She didn't say where, but is it possible they were far enough away to escape the flood?"

Bramblestar nodded. "You could be right. We have to find out!"

He looked down into the field. Long strands of gra.s.s drifted on top of the water, like weeds in a stream. Bramblestar was pretty sure the cats wouldn't be too far out of their depth now. The land had risen up slightly since the Thunderpath, and continued to rise until he could see a ridge of turf poking above the flood near the center of the field. He took a deep breath and leaped off the fence.

There was a mighty splash as he landed, but to his relief his paws struck a firm bed of gra.s.s, and when he straightened up the water only reached up to his belly fur. Without waiting for an order, the other cats jumped down beside him.

"Great StarClan!" Graystripe exclaimed. "It's good to have my paws on the ground again."

Bramblestar agreed, though it was still uncomfortable to wade through the flood and feel their paws sinking into sodden gra.s.s. He wasn't looking forward to licking himself clean after this was over.

A stream ran along the far side of the field, though it had spilled over its banks, covering everything with a gray sheen. Bramblestar headed for the ridge that was clear of the flood. The water rapidly grew shallower until they were wading out onto the gra.s.s with droplets streaming from their fur.

"At last!" Graystripe exclaimed. "I thought I was turning into a fish."

Thornclaw snorted. "You realize we've got to go through all this again on the way back? You've still got a chance to grow fins and scales."

Farther up the ridge, as it curved toward the far corner of the field, there was a clump of low, leafless bushes. Bramblestar spotted a flash of movement underneath. He tensed, and stopped to taste the air. Beneath the now-familiar tang of the sun-drown-place, he thought he could detect RiverClan scent. Signaling with his tail for his patrol to keep close to him, Bramblestar crept forward. As they approached, two RiverClan cats rushed out of the thicket and halted in front of the ThunderClan patrol with fur bristling and eyes glaring. Bramblestar recognized the Clan deputy, Reedwhisker, and the black she-cat Shimmerpelt.

"Stop!" Reedwhisker growled. "What are-" He broke off, relaxing. "Oh, it's you! We thought you were rogues."

"Thank StarClan, you survived!" Dovewing gasped.

"Only just," Shimmerpelt mewed with a shudder.

Now that he was closer, Bramblestar realized the bushes were heaving with mews and scuffling sounds. The scent of RiverClan was much stronger here.

"I'll tell Mistystar you're here," Reedwhisker meowed, vanishing into the brambles.

A moment later the RiverClan leader emerged, with Mothwing, the RiverClan medicine cat, just behind her. In spite of everything, Mistystar looked calm and sleek, her blue-gray fur neatly groomed.

She dipped her head. "Greetings, Bramblestar. It's good to see you. You must have had a struggle to get here."

"It wasn't easy," Bramblestar agreed. "But we were worried about you. Is RiverClan safe?"

"RiverClan is fine," Mistystar replied with a slight edge to her voice. "We knew the lake was rising, so when it reached our new dens we left and kept going until the water stopped chasing us." Her voice shook a little, and it was clear that she and all her cats had been more terrified than she wanted ThunderClan to know.

"And Petalfur's kits are okay?" Bramblestar pressed.

"Of course. Three warriors carried them. How are things in ThunderClan?" Mistystar asked.

"Not good," Bramblestar told her. "The hollow flooded, but all of us survived, and we've found a safe place to stay for now."

Perhaps it was Bramblestar's admission that ThunderClan had lost their home too, but Mistystar seemed to soften. She padded forward to stand beside Bramblestar, and together the two leaders looked out across the flooded landscape.

"I wonder if things will ever return to how they were," Miststar murmured. "The Great Battle, and now this . . . Doesn't StarClan have the power to protect us anymore?"

"We can protect ourselves," Bramblestar insisted. "The water won't stay like this forever."

"But what if it does?"

Bramblestar turned to face Mistystar. "Then we will all make new homes. We did it before; we can do it again."

He saw warmth in her blue eyes. "Thank you for coming," she purred. "It helps to know that we're not suffering alone."

Bramblestar touched his muzzle to the tip of Mistystar's ear. "None of the Clans are alone," he murmured. "Good luck, and may StarClan light your path."

The RiverClan cats said good-bye with more friendliness than before, and Bramblestar led his patrol back the way they had come. There's no way of going through the marshes to reach WindClan territory. It's just floodwater as far as I can see.

They waded through the flooded field and with an effort, jumped back onto the fence. The water seemed even colder and murkier than before, whipped into splashy little waves by the breeze. None of the cats spoke; they just trudged along the submerged fence in concentrated silence.

Reaching the flooded Thunderpath, Bramblestar was bracing himself to swim for the drowned monster when a shriek split the air.

"Help! Oh, please help me!"

CHAPTER 11.

Bramblestar froze. Behind him, his Clanmates bristled.

"What's that?" Thornclaw spat.

"It's coming from over there," Dovewing mewed, pointing with her tail farther up the flooded Thunderpath. At Bramblestar's startled look she hissed under her breath, "I can hear the same as you! I'm not deaf!"

"It's a she-cat, and she sounds terrified." Graystripe was staring in the direction of the sound. "We have to go help her."

"I don't know. . . ." Bramblestar stalled, anxiety rising inside him like a flood. "With all this water, it could be dangerous." He knew that he had to put his Clanmates' safety above rescuing a strange cat.

"We should at least see if we can spot the cat," Dovewing suggested. Her fur was fluffed up with anxiety and her blue eyes were huge.

The Twoleg fence where they were standing led right up to the wall of the den. Ivy covered the den wall.

"If we climb that," Graystripe meowed, angling his ears toward the densely growing green leaves, "we should get a better view."

Thornclaw heaved a sigh. "You mean, go right up to a Twoleg den that might be full of Twolegs, and risk falling into the flood, all for a cat we haven't even set eyes on?"

Graystripe looked at his Clanmate with a hint of scorn. "You could show a little compa.s.sion," he growled.

The fur on Thornclaw's neck began to rise, and Bramblestar meowed quickly, "We'll climb the ivy and see if we can find the cat, without putting ourselves in unnecessary danger. Come on."

He waded along the top of the fence until he could claw his way up the ivy. His belly churned as Thornclaw's words echoed in his mind. The golden-brown warrior was right. We don't know for sure that all the Twolegs have gone. But Twolegs were noisy creatures, and now their surroundings were so quiet that Bramblestar could hear every lap and gurgle of the water, every wail from the she-cat in trouble.

"Help! Is anyone there?"

Saving his breath for the climb, Bramblestar reached the upper level of the Twoleg den and scrambled along the ivy until he reached the corner. The cat's cries were even louder here. Bramblestar looked down and almost lost his grip in astonishment. Just around a bend in the flooded Thunderpath, a small white cat with black patches on her ears and belly was crouching in a round, hollow object made of wood. The object bobbed in the water, stuck in the branches of a submerged bush.

"Hi! Up here!" Bramblestar called.

The cat spun around, making her little sanctuary rock so wildly that it almost tipped over. "You found me!" she gasped, tipping back her head to look up. "Please help! Did you get left behind, too?"

Bramblestar opened his jaws to reply, but before he could speak, the she-cat continued in a rush. "When the lake flooded, my housefolk took Brandy and Polly, but they couldn't find me." She glanced down for a moment, and her voice grew quieter. "I was asleep under their bed. I didn't hear them calling until it was too late." With a shake, she lifted her head again. "Then the water started coming into the house so fast! I climbed into this tub to keep dry. I didn't realize it would float away!"

"Calm down," Bramblestar meowed when the she-cat paused for breath. "We'll figure out a way to get to you."

Now that he had found the cat, there was no way he could leave her floating helplessly in the flood. But she was a long way out and surrounded by deep water. Can we swim that far? Bramblestar wondered. And if we do reach her, how do we get her to safety?

"I've got an idea," Thornclaw mewed, with a light touch of his tail on his leader's shoulder.

"Okay, spit it out," Bramblestar told him, tensing as he felt the ivy stem where he was clinging start to tear away from the wall of the den. "We can't stay here."

"See those little ledges on the den walls?" Thornclaw nodded toward them. "We might be able to use them to cross from den to den."

"Those are windowsills," Graystripe meowed unexpectedly.

Every cat stared at him. "Huh?" Thornclaw grunted.

"Don't forget that I once lived in a Twoleg den," Graystripe told them. "After I was captured when the Twolegs were cutting down the old forest. Twolegs sleep in nests on this upper level," he went on. "These gaps in the wall are called windows. The Twolegs look through them, but they don't go in and out of them."

"So what are they for?" Dovewing asked.

"Well, they let light into the den."

"And I expect the Twolegs use them to watch for predators," Thornclaw added. "That's a pretty neat idea, for Twolegs."

Bramblestar cleared his throat. "If you've all finished discussing Twoleg dens," he mewed, "we have a cat to rescue. Thornclaw," he continued, "I think your idea could work, but it's going to be tricky. Maybe you and I should try it alone."

"No way!" Dovewing exclaimed.

Graystripe lashed his tail. "Forget it, Bramblestar. We're coming with you."

Bramblestar was warmed by the loyalty of his Clanmates. "Okay," he purred. "But for StarClan's sake, be careful."

Taking the lead, he clambered through the ivy until he reached the first windowsill. He pulled himself onto it, gritting his teeth; even though the windowsill was wider than a tree branch, it was angled slightly downward, so he was afraid he was going to slip. He dug his claws hard into the wood and crept forward with his heart thudding.

At the end of the windowsill he had to leap across a gap of bare red stone to reach the next one. It's just like chasing a squirrel in the trees, he told himself, bunching his muscles and launching himself into the air. He landed awkwardly, one hind paw waving in the air, and took a moment to steady himself.

A glance over his shoulder told himself that the others were following safely. Confidence began to seep back into his paws, only to drain away again when he saw that the gap between this windowsill and the next was much wider.

That's because the next one belongs to the next den, Bramblestar realized. But how else can we reach it? It looks like it's too far to leap, but we have to try.

He pushed off with all his strength, reaching out with his forepaws. His belly hit the windowsill, and he had to scrabble frantically with his hind paws to pull himself up. And we have to keep on doing this, he thought with a tremor of fear in his belly. Surely one of us will fall? But his Clanmates followed him without any mishaps, even managing to speed up as they got used to the hazards.

When Bramblestar reached the fourth windowsill he was able to look down and get a clearer view of the cat in the tub. Her blue eyes stared up at him, filled with terror.

"Please hurry!" she begged. "There's water coming into the tub. I'm getting wetter!"

"We're coming!" Bramblestar called as he readied himself for the next jump.

"Bramblestar, stop!" Graystripe yowled.

Bramblestar froze. "What's the matter?"

"Look at the next windowsill. Can't you see that the wood is rotten? It won't bear our weight."

Following the gray warrior's gaze, Bramblestar saw that the end of the windowsill was jagged and loose as if it was crumbling away. "Just like a rotten branch . . ." he murmured. "So what do we do now?" he asked, not expecting an answer.

"We'll have to go into the den and find a way out on the lower level," Graystripe meowed.

Thornclaw flattened his ears. "I'm not setting paw in there!" he exclaimed. "Have you got bees in your brain?"

Dovewing's whiskers flickered. "Isn't there another way?"

Graystripe shook his head. "We don't have a choice if we want to help the she-cat," he insisted, keeping his voice low.

The she-cat was already beginning to panic. "What's happening?" she demanded. "Why have you stopped?"

Bramblestar glanced down at her. "It's okay!" he called.

But he wasn't sure that was true. The window where he and his Clanmates were crouching was blocked by hard, transparent stuff, and he couldn't see any way of getting past it. He pressed it with one paw, then b.u.t.ted his head against it, but it held fast.

"Are you trying to get in?" the she-cat asked. "It's easy! My friend Parsnip lives there, and the windows open if you press them at the top."

Bramblestar glanced at Graystripe. "Worth a try, I suppose."

Stretching his forepaws as high as they would go, he thrust at the slippery, transparent window. The bottom swung out toward him, catching him in the belly, and he let out a startled yowl as he felt his hind paws slipping. Dovewing sank her teeth into his scruff, steadying him until he could recover his balance.

"Thanks!" he gasped. Peering through the gap that had opened up at the bottom of the window, he added, "Graystripe, you'd better lead the way."