When they reached the stream, Bramblestar detected WindClan scent along the bank; it was fairly fresh, as if it might have been left by the patrol he had seen earlier. "They came this way," he meowed. "So they must have crossed farther up. Let's go."

Before they had traveled many more fox-lengths, they crossed their own border scent markers. Bramblestar's paws tingled as he led his patrol out of Clan territory.

"This is the way to the Moonpool," Snowpaw informed Jessy, pattering along beside her. "I wish I could go there. It sounds so cool!"

"What's the Moonpool?" Jessy asked.

"All the medicine cats go there," Snowpaw told her. He seemed delighted to be teaching a cat who knew even less about the forest than he did. "That's where they meet with StarClan."

Jessy opened her jaws to ask another question, but Snowpaw forestalled her. "StarClan are the spirits of our dead ancestors," he informed her. "They tell medicine cats omens and stuff."

Jessy blinked and shot Bramblestar a glance full of confusion. "StarClan? Dead cats?"

"Shh." Bramblestar raised his tail to silence them. "There might be WindClan cats about."

The patrol's pace slowed as the ground became rockier. The stream was still fast flowing and overfull, but narrower here as it cut through a deeper channel. Bramblestar began to think it might be possible to leap over it. Though I wouldn't want to try it, he thought with a shiver as he watched the roiling water.

Ivypool had bounded ahead of the rest of the patrol. Suddenly she turned back, gesturing with her tail. "Come and see this!" she called.

Bramblestar picked up the pace until he reached Ivypool's side and saw a fallen tree wedged across the stream. The flood must have washed it down from the mountains, he realized. The current had thrown debris against the tree on both sides of the stream, and water was breaking over the top, but Bramblestar had no doubt that this was the crossing place. The whole area reeked of WindClan scent.

"Those impudent rabbit-chasers!" Ivypool exclaimed. "Now what are we going to do?"

CHAPTER 17.

"We have to dislodge the tree," Bramblestar mused, examining it carefully. He couldn't imagine how they were going to manage that; the trunk was firmly wedged among the rocks on both sides of the stream.

"I'll take a closer look," Jessy meowed, leaping onto the trunk and running confidently along it.

Bramblestar admired how light-pawed and nimble she was, realizing she must have had practice walking along the fence-tops by the Twoleg dens. His Clanmates looked a bit startled, though they said nothing.

"Dovewing told me how she and the others dislodged the beaver dam," Ivypool told Bramblestar as they waited for Jessy to return. "It sounds as if it must have been similar to this. But they waded into the stream and attacked the dam from the bottom. The water here is too deep and fast flowing for us to do that."

Bramblestar nodded. "We can't risk-"

"Bramblestar!" b.u.mblestripe broke in. "I can smell WindClan cats. They're coming this way."

Turning away from the tree trunk, Bramblestar parted his jaws to taste the air. b.u.mblestripe was right. He drew in fresh WindClan scent, growing stronger with every heartbeat. And it was on their side of the stream. "Hide!" he ordered. "Jessy, get back here!"

While the brown kittypet ran back along the tree trunk, Ivypool and Snowpaw dived into the shelter of the rocks. b.u.mblestripe flattened himself underneath a low-growing thorn bush, and Bramblestar shoved Jessy in beside him. She peered out at him, wide-eyed with excitement at the sudden crisis.

"They'll see my white fur!" Snowpaw gasped from behind a rock.

"No, they won't." Bramblestar threw himself down on top of the apprentice, who wriggled underneath him and stuck his head out, gasping for breath.

Cautiously Bramblestar craned his neck to see around the rock. The WindClan patrol he had seen earlier was heading up the stream, panting and scrambling over the stones. Squirrelflight and her patrol were bounding after them, screeching. Harespring skidded to a stop beside the tree trunk and turned to face the pursuing ThunderClan patrol while the other three WindClan cats ran across the log. All of them looked disheveled, as if the ThunderClan cats had given them a few swipes, but no cat was seriously hurt. Once his Clanmates were across safely, Harespring sprang after them, with a final hiss at Squirrelflight and her warriors.

Bramblestar waited until the WindClan patrol had vanished downstream, heading back toward their own territory, then emerged from hiding. The rest of his patrol followed to meet Squirrelflight and her cats beside the stream. To his relief, all of Squirrelflight's patrol seemed unhurt, except for Thornclaw, who was dabbing at a scratch on his muzzle. Actually, they looked better than they had for days, energized by the skirmish that had driven off the rival Clan.

"They won't come back in a hurry," Squirrelflight mewed, twitching her whiskers in satisfaction.

"Let's hope not," Bramblestar responded. "But to make sure of it, we have to move this tree."

To his surprise, Ivypool and Jessy already had their heads together, thinking of ways to shift the temporary bridge.

"We can't break the tree trunk, or chew through it," Ivypool muttered.

Jessy nodded. "Suppose we dislodge all this rubbish that's piled up against it," she suggested. "Then the extra force of the current might wash the log away."

"That might work. . . ." Ivypool sounded doubtful. "But where would we stand to do it? Besides, that would mean at least one cat being stuck over the other side."

"Then we have to dislodge just one end," Bramblestar meowed, padding over to join the discussion. "That way, the whole thing might fall into the stream."

"Okay, let's give it a try," Cloudtail mewed impatiently.

All the cats cl.u.s.tered together and tried to push the end of the log. But there wasn't enough room on the bank for all of them to reach and add their strength. The log didn't move.

Jessy leaped down onto the collection of twigs and debris washed up by the stream, to try pushing from there, but it rocked alarmingly under her paws. Panic rushed through Bramblestar as he saw her stagger, about to lose her balance and fall into the torrent. Leaning over precariously, he grabbed her by the scruff and hauled her back to the bank.

"Thanks!" Jessy gasped.

"I won't lose another cat to the floods," Bramblestar meowed grimly.

Jessy looked up at him. "But you've already seen me swim," she reminded him, "and I managed just fine."

"Actually, that was a good idea," Squirrelflight told Jessy, turning away from the tree trunk. "If we could strengthen that twiggy stuff so we could stand on it, then we could give the log a bigger shove than we can from the bank."

"Then let's look for something to do that," Bramblestar mewed. As the group of cats scattered in different directions, he added to Jessy, "Stay close to me, just in case."

"In case of what?" Jessy asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Anything," Bramblestar muttered.

The bleak moorland didn't seem to offer much that would be useful. A few rocks jutted out here and there from the rough gra.s.s, but they were far too big to move into the stream. Bramblestar was beginning to think that they would have to trek back into the forest to fetch bracken when he heard Cloudtail's voice calling him.

"Bramblestar! We found something!"

Bramblestar bounded back to the stream to find Cloudtail and Poppyfrost waiting for him. "What is it?" he asked, glancing around; he couldn't see anything.

"There's a huge bush upstream," Poppyfrost reported as the other cats came racing to join them. "It must have been uprooted and washed up on the bank."

"If we could drag it down here, it could be enough for all of us to stand on," Cloudtail added.

"Let's take a look," Bramblestar meowed. He led the way upstream until they came to a hawthorn bush with dense, p.r.i.c.kly branches, caught between two rocks at the edge of the stream.

"Oh, great!" Thornclaw sighed. "I'm really looking forward to putting my paws on that!"

Working together, the ThunderClan cats managed to haul the bush out of the water and began dragging it down the slope toward the log. Before they had gone many paw steps, Jessy leaped back with a yelp.

"What's the matter?" Bramblestar puffed.

"A branch poked me in the eye," Jessy explained, blinking rapidly. "But I'm fine. Let's just get on with it."

As the slope grew steeper, the bush began to slither down under its own weight. b.u.mblestripe had to dart quickly out of the way to avoid being crushed by it.

"Stop it!" Cloudtail yowled. "If it slides past the tree, we'll never drag it up again!"

Bramblestar leaped at the bush from the side, letting all his weight fall onto the outermost branches and wincing as the p.r.i.c.kles drove into his pads. Ivypool thrust herself in next to him, trying to help, while Squirrelflight and Thornclaw did the same at the other side. Their efforts slowed the bush down, but it still didn't stop. Poppyfrost, b.u.mblestripe, and Jessy vainly tugged at it from the back, and even Snowpaw dug in his small claws. Bramblestar looked up to see that the tree trunk was very close.

We'll slip past it for sure. Fox dung!

With heartbeats to spare, Cloudtail raced around to the front of the bush and stood bracing himself on the bank beside the fallen tree. The full weight of the bush settled over him as it finally slid to a halt. Bramblestar heard a ma.s.sive oof! from the middle of the branches. A moment later Cloudtail crawled out, his long white fur snagging on the twigs.

"Good job," Bramblestar mewed, padding up to him. "Are you okay?"

Cloudtail let out a disgusted snort. "I've got every thorn in the bush stuck in my pelt," he hissed. "But apart from that I'm fine."

With Thornclaw and Squirrelflight helping, Bramblestar managed to push the hawthorn bush into the stream above the log so that the current shoved it firmly against the tree trunk.

"It worked!" Poppyfrost exclaimed.

"Let's hope so," Bramblestar muttered. "There's still a long way to go."

Balancing carefully, Squirrelflight ventured out onto the bush. The branches sagged under her weight, but she stayed on her paws. "I think it'll be okay," she reported. "But we'd better have the lightest cats out here, and the rest should stay on the bank."

Poppyfrost leaped forward, but she was a bit too eager. The bush shifted under her weight and she almost slid backward into the stream until she dug in her claws and hauled herself into position beside Squirrelflight.

"Not you," Bramblestar meowed to Snowpaw as the apprentice got ready to follow the two she-cats. I'm not going to risk losing another apprentice. The young cat looked disappointed, so Bramblestar added, "I need a cat to keep watch. Let us know if you see any warriors coming up from WindClan."

Snowpaw brightened up immediately. "Right, Bramblestar!" He puffed out his chest and stood on the bank just downstream of the tree trunk, his ears p.r.i.c.ked and his gaze fixed on the WindClan side of the torrent.

Meanwhile b.u.mblestripe, Ivypool, and Jessy scrambled out onto the hawthorn bush, the branches dipping dangerously under the weight of so many cats. Ivypool's hind paws slipped and water slopped over her hindquarters. She let out a hiss of annoyance as b.u.mblestripe steadied her.

"I can't even shake my pelt when I'm perched out here!" she grumbled.

Bramblestar, Thornclaw, and Cloudtail remained on the bank. "Okay, is every cat ready?" Bramblestar called.

"Just get on with it, before this bush gives way," Squirrelflight grunted.

Bramblestar braced himself. "When I say push . . . push!"

Digging in with his hind paws to hold himself steady, Bramblestar heaved at the end of the tree trunk. Cloudtail and Thornclaw strained beside him. At first he thought nothing was happening, but then he felt the log shift slightly under his paws.

"It's moving!" he gasped.

The cats on the bush threw all their weight against the tree. It shifted again, then with a grating sound slipped free of the rocks that held it and crashed into the stream with a ma.s.sive splash that soaked the cats' pelts.

"Back to the bank!" Bramblestar yowled.

With the tree trunk gone, the hawthorn bush was already tossing on the current. The cats who were balancing there pushed off in ma.s.sive leaps for the bank. Jessy landed neatly, then whirled around to help Squirrelflight, who had been farthest away. The ThunderClan deputy was scrambling frantically among the branches as the bush started to roll over in the clutch of the rushing stream.

"I can manage!" she panted, clawing her way through the dense thorns.

Bramblestar leaned out and fastened his teeth in her scruff to haul her the last tail-length onto the bank. Squirrelflight's paws had scarcely touched solid ground when the current finally swept the bush away and rolled it over and over downstream. Bramblestar looked around to make sure that all his Clanmates were safe. Every cat was spattered with mud, their pelts soaked through and torn by the p.r.i.c.kly bush, and yet the light of triumph shone in their eyes.

"We did it!" Ivypool yowled. "WindClan can't get across here anymore."

"They might find another place higher upstream," Bramblestar pointed out, "but ThunderClan should be safe for a while. Great job, all of you."

Squirrelflight nodded. "Let's get back to camp."

Bramblestar felt worn out and battered as he led the way down the hill, back onto ThunderClan territory. But success had set his paws buzzing with new energy, and for the first time since the storm had broken he began to feel hopeful that they might get through this.

"You two can set scent markers along the bank of the stream," he told Ivypool and Poppyfrost. "We'll make it clear to WindClan that we're taking back our territory."

"I'll help too!" Snowpaw chirped.

Bramblestar watched with satisfaction as his Clanmates left enough ThunderClan scent to swamp the remaining traces of WindClan. Let's hope they've learned their lesson. After all, it's not like they can't drink from the stream on their own side.

"You know," Cloudtail meowed as he padded along beside Bramblestar, "it feels weird to be completely cut off from WindClan like this. Back in the old forest, Firestar and Tallstar were such good friends. It's a pity that's all changed, now that Onestar is leader."

"I know." Bramblestar sighed. "Especially since Onestar got on well with Firestar when he was Onewhisker."

"I appreciate that we're separate Clans," Cloudtail went on, "but these days the WindClan cats look at us as if they want to rip our fur off. It bothered Firestar, too."

"Tell me more about Firestar," Jessy begged, bounding up to join them. "You all seem to respect him so much."

"There was never a cat like Firestar," Cloudtail told her. "I'm proud to be his kin."

Jessy's eyes stretched wide. "You're his kin? Does that mean you were a kittypet too?"

Cloudtail nodded, looking faintly embarra.s.sed, and from somewhere behind him Bramblestar heard a snort of amus.e.m.e.nt from Thornclaw.

Cloudtail ignored it. "My mother was Firestar's sister, a kittypet called Princess," he explained to Jessy. "She never wanted to leave her Twolegs, but she was proud of Firestar for making his home in the forest, so she gave one of her kits to him to bring up."

"And that was you?" Jessy prompted. "Wasn't it awfully hard, leaving your mother and learning to live in the forest when you were only a kit?"

"It was tough," Cloudtail admitted. "There was a lot to learn, and I missed my Twolegs and their den."

And their food, Bramblestar thought, remembering the stories he had heard.