"If that rook attacked us," Bramblestar mewed thoughtfully, "there must be a new nest somewhere close by." He peered up into the trees and spotted an untidy cl.u.s.ter of twigs lodged in the fork of a branch in a nearby ash tree. "Up there," he murmured.

Stealthily he began to climb the trunk, trying to stay out of sight of the nest until he could look down on it from above. A moment later he realized that Jessy was following him, leaving her catch at the bottom of the tree.

Soon Bramblestar reached a branch from where he could see into the nest. A mother rook was sitting there; at the sight of Bramblestar she half rose, revealing a small clutch of pale blue, brown-speckled eggs. As she settled again, her berry-bright eyes still fixed on him, Bramblestar slid out his claws, intent on more fresh-kill.

"No, leave her!" Jessy protested. "She's about to be a mother. You'd be killing her chicks as well!" Then she paused and gave her chest fur a few embarra.s.sed licks. "Okay, I'm talking like a kittypet," she admitted.

"No, we'll leave her," Bramblestar meowed. As they turned to climb down the tree, he added mischievously, "We'll come back when the chicks have hatched."

Jessy swiped at him, her claws sheathed, before leaping to the ground.

Spiderleg, waiting at the bottom of the tree, looked unimpressed. "Are we going home, or what?" he grumbled.

When the patrol arrived back at the tunnel, Frankie and Minty hurried forward to admire Jessy's rook. Bramblestar looked around for Squirrelflight, to report to her about the badger traces, but before he spotted her b.u.mblestripe sprang up from where he was sitting beside the mudpile and raced over to him.

"I've been waiting for you," the young warrior meowed. "I need to talk to you about Dovewing."

Anxiety sprang up inside Bramblestar. "Is something wrong?"

b.u.mblestripe shifted his paws uncomfortably. "Follow me," he mewed.

At Bramblestar's nod, he led the way along the tunnel and past the nests, into the shadows beyond.

"You haven't been going down here, have you?" Bramblestar asked, astonishment and fear making his heart thud. "You know the tunnels are dangerous!"

"I know," b.u.mblestripe a.s.sured him. "But Dovewing's safe. You just need to see this."

Unpleasant memories of the drain and Benny's body filled Bramblestar's mind as he followed b.u.mblestripe into the narrow, dripping darkness. For all his efforts to concentrate, he kept b.u.mping into the walls. His pads grew numb from the cold, damp floor and every hair on his pelt longed to turn and head back to the light.

Then Bramblestar heard a faint meowing coming from somewhere ahead. "What's that?" he asked sharply, halting.

"Shh!" b.u.mblestripe whispered. "Listen!"

"h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo!" The sound came echoing up the tunnel.

Now Bramblestar recognized the voice. "It's Dovewing! Is she lost?" he gasped.

"No," b.u.mblestripe replied. "Come on."

Bramblestar followed him, creeping forward until they came to a place where three tunnels met. A thin shaft of light pierced the darkness from a crack in the roof. Peering over b.u.mblestripe's shoulder, Bramblestar could see Dovewing standing with her back toward them. Clearly she had no idea they were there.

"h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo!" she called again. Then she waited in silence, her ears p.r.i.c.ked, as her voice echoed away down the tunnels.

"What's she doing?" Bramblestar whispered.

b.u.mblestripe glanced back at him, his eyes filled with pain. "She's testing how long she can hear the echoes," he told Bramblestar. "She-she wants to be able to hear again."

CHAPTER 27.

"h.e.l.lo!" Dovewing called again. "h.e.l.lo!"

"But she's not deaf," Bramblestar murmured in dismay. I thought she had accepted that her powers had gone.

"She thinks she is," b.u.mblestripe responded. "Compared with how she was . . . before."

Bramblestar thought of Lionblaze, furious that he had to wait for his wounds to heal. Was it worth these cats having their special powers, he wondered, when they suffer such agony losing them? Only Jayfeather seemed untroubled, but he was still able to be a medicine cat, just like before. And I've never known what goes through Jayfeather's mind.

Bramblestar padded forward. Dovewing jumped at the sound of his paw steps, and spun around to face him. After one glance into his eyes she hung her head and shuffled her front paws on the stone.

"b.u.mblestripe told me what you're trying to do," Bramblestar began.

"It's none of his business!" Dovewing's tone was indignant.

"Of course it is," Bramblestar meowed. "He's your mate, and he cares for you."

Dovewing let out a long, frustrated sigh. "It's awful, not being able to hear anymore," she told Bramblestar. "I feel as if I've let my Clanmates down."

"Of course you haven't!" Bramblestar a.s.sured her. "It's not your fault."

Dovewing's eyes were pools of sadness in the dim light. "In spite of the powers the three of us had, the Clans were still devastated by the Great Battle," she mewed.

"But without you, we would have suffered much more." Bramblestar wasn't sure what he could say to comfort Dovewing, and he paused for a moment, hoping that StarClan would give him the right words. But no words came.

Maybe StarClan can't see me under all this rock, he thought. I'll have to figure this out on my own.

"StarClan gave you those powers for a good reason," he went on at last. "You knew where the Dark Forest warriors were attacking. Lionblaze fought like a whole Clan of warriors without shedding a drop of blood, and Jayfeather united StarClan."

Dovewing shook her head. "So why have we lost our powers, if we needed them so badly?"

"Perhaps because StarClan knows you don't need them now," Bramblestar suggested. "We will still face challenges, like the flood, but we can survive them using our Clanborn knowledge. You and Lionblaze can still hunt and fight as well as any cat. Jayfeather still heals us."

"Maybe you're right. . . ."

b.u.mblestripe stepped forward out of the shadows. "Dovewing, you're not angry with me, are you, that I told Bramblestar?"

"No." But Dovewing brushed past him quickly and headed toward the camp without looking back.

When Bramblestar emerged from the tunnel he spotted Jessy at the other side of the clearing, spreading moss out in the sun with Brightheart and Whitewing. As soon as she saw Bramblestar she rose and bounded over to him.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "Those tunnels look pretty scary!"

"Oh, they're not that bad," Bramblestar replied. "We've fought battles in them before."

"Really?" Jessy sounded impressed.

Bramblestar was about to embark on the story of the trouble with Sol and WindClan when he saw Squirrelflight returning at the head of a hunting patrol. She was carrying a blackbird; Graystripe and Brackenfur both had mice, while Rosepetal was dragging along a squirrel.

"I'll tell you about it later," Bramblestar mewed to Jessy. "I need to have a word with Squirrelflight now." He padded over to the fresh-kill pile, where Squirrelflight and the others were depositing their catch, and beckoned her aside with a flick of his tail.

"Is there a problem?" his deputy mewed.

"I've just heard Dovewing calling in the tunnels," Bramblestar explained. "She was trying to get her old hearing back. And Cinderheart is afraid that Lionblaze will take too many risks in battle because he can't accept that he can be hurt now."

Squirrelflight riffled her whiskers thoughtfully, her concern clear in her green eyes. "It's tough on them," she meowed after a moment, "but I'm sure they'll find a new balance in the end. After all, they see every day how their Clanmates have to live, and they both care deeply about the Clan."

Bramblestar blinked gratefully. "Thanks, you're probably right. Look, I'm going to give the kittypets a battle-training session," he went on. "Do you want to join us?"

Squirrelflight gazed at him, her eyes narrowed with faint amus.e.m.e.nt. "Oh, no, I think I'll leave that to you," she mewed. "I don't want to get in the way."

Bramblestar's pelt suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable. "Okay," he mumbled.

To his relief, the sound of cats brushing through the undergrowth distracted him and his deputy. He turned to see Millie emerging into the open at the head of her patrol, followed by Thornclaw, Ivypool, and Snowpaw. All four cats were bristling with agitation. Bramblestar padded across the clearing to meet them, with Squirrelflight at his shoulder. Brightheart and Whitewing looked up from their task with the bedding, and the rest of Squirrelflight's hunting patrol gathered around to listen.

"Bramblestar!" Millie burst out. "We found fresh badger scent!"

Bramblestar's ears p.r.i.c.ked and he felt an unpleasant hollowness in his belly. "Where?"

"Across our top border," Millie replied. "Just at the edge of ShadowClan's forest. There were at least two of them."

"I'd better go take a look," Bramblestar meowed. Glancing around, he beckoned to the two most senior warriors. "Brackenfur, Graystripe, you can come with me."

Jessy pushed herself to the front of the group. "And me!"

"No," Bramblestar responded. "Remember that you and Frankie and Minty are due for a battle-training session. Brightheart," he added, turning to the ginger-and-white she-cat, "will you take that over for me, please?"

Brightheart dipped her head. "Sure."

Jessy looked disappointed. "I'll learn a new move, so you'd better watch out when you come back!"

As she turned away, Bramblestar touched her shoulder with his tail-tip. "We'll take a walk together later on," he mewed. "Maybe up to the ridge at sunset?"

Jessy's eyes sparkled. "I'd like that!"

Bramblestar headed out of the clearing, with Brackenfur and Graystripe flanking him.

"You know," Graystripe murmured as they headed for the ridge, "not all kittypets are bad news. After all, Millie was a kittypet. She settled down well in the Clan, and we've been very happy together."

"Yes, of course . . ." Bramblestar wondered where Graystripe was going with this subject. Besides, it seems harsh to be discussing mates when Brackenfur is still grieving for Sorreltail. "I'm worried about these badgers," he meowed. "I wonder if they're the same ones who attacked us before in the hollow."

"I thought we taught that lot a lesson," Graystripe growled.

The patrol crossed their own top border and headed for the woods beyond ShadowClan territory. As they drew closer, Bramblestar began to pick up the strongest badger scent he had smelled yet, mingled with the scent of terrified cats. He exchanged a glance with Brackenfur and Graystripe. "Something's seriously wrong here," he muttered.

The scent grew stronger. Determined to find out more, Bramblestar risked venturing into the trees above ShadowClan's border, his Clanmates treading warily behind him. Thrusting through a dense patch of ferns, he halted on the edge of a clearing and stared in horror at the scene of destruction.

Gra.s.s and bracken were trampled down over a wide area. The reek of blood hit Bramblestar in the throat, and he spotted streaks and splotches of it on the gra.s.s. Tufts of fur lay scattered, most of it from cats.

"Oh, StarClan!" he whispered. "Did any cats die here?"

Brackenfur gave him a hard prod in the side. "ShadowClan's coming!" he hissed.

Bramblestar hadn't heard the approaching patrol. Rapidly he backed into the ferns and crouched down with Graystripe and Brackenfur beside him, hoping that the stench of battle in the clearing would hide their ThunderClan scent. Peering through the arching fern fronds, Bramblestar watched the ShadowClan patrol cross the clearing, heading deeper into the woods. Rowanstar was in the lead, with Tigerheart, Ferretclaw, and Tawnypelt. All of them looked battered and scarred.

That must be from fighting with the badgers, Bramblestar thought.

As the patrol disappeared into the undergrowth, Tawnypelt, who was bringing up the rear, suddenly halted. She looked around, her jaws parted to taste the air. Then she ran across the clearing toward the ferns. Bramblestar rose to his paws and stepped out into the open to meet her.

"We're not trying to cause trouble," he meowed before she could speak. "We never meant for you to know we'd been here."

"You're my brother," Tawnypelt responded. "I'd recognize your scent anywhere."

Bramblestar winced when he saw fresh cuts across his sister's muzzle and a clump of fur missing from her shoulder. "We were tracking the badgers," he explained. "Have they moved into your territory?"

"Not our usual territory," Tawnypelt mewed. "But there are some old sandy sets in these woods. It looks like several badgers have moved in since the flood. The water must have driven them out of their original homes."

"Well, the floods are going down now," Bramblestar mewed, trying to sound hopeful. "Maybe they'll go back where they came from."

"And maybe hedgehogs will fly," Tawnypelt growled. "Bramblestar, my Clan is suffering so much. . . . The kittypets have stopped bothering us since you fought them, but now the badgers are making it impossible for us to hunt here. And most of our old territory is still underwater." She lowered her head, and her voice was full of shame as she continued. "I was too harsh with you before," she confessed. "Rowanstar and I-and all of ShadowClan-should have been more grateful for your help with the kittypets."

"That doesn't matter," Bramblestar murmured, touching his nose to her ear. "I know we should never have interfered. It won't happen again."

Tawnypelt raised her head again, her green gaze locking with her brother's. "Do you really mean that? Because I don't think we can fight these badgers alone. We're too weak, too hungry."

Bramblestar gazed at her. "Are you asking for ThunderClan's help?"

Tawnypelt took a deep breath. "Yes," she meowed. "I am."

CHAPTER 28.

Bramblestar's mind was whirling as he went back to Brackenfur and Graystripe. He said nothing to his warriors, and they accepted his silence and didn't question him.

Rowanstar made it clear that he didn't want any more interference from ThunderClan, Bramblestar thought as he led the way back to camp. I respect that. But it's clear that ShadowClan is in great trouble. Can I stand aside and let them fall? That night, as he curled up in his nest, Bramblestar raised his head and prayed silently to StarClan. Send me a dream, he begged. Speak to me and tell me what I should do.