EOTW: Faded Bounaries: Chapter Seven

Warriors Series 5.5: Echoes of the War
Book 1: Faded Boundaries
Chapter Seven

     The ThunderClan cats walked in subdued silence, picking their way through the destruction left behind by the storm. The Gathering Island wasn't the only place where debris had fallen. Everywhere Silentpaw seemed to step, there was a branch or pile of leaves to trip her. Luckily, Ivypool and Blazepaw stayed at her side, helping her navigate the tricky landscape.

     Since they had left the Gathering Island, the reality of the situation had really sank in for Silentpaw. The rain had affected more than just the island. What had happened to the camp? It wasn't hard to imagine the stone hollow, with its sheer walls and narrow entrance, being flooded with the pounding rain, sweeping her Clanmates away in a fast-flowing current. The thought of it made her quicken her steps, desperate to get home and make sure her Clanmates were alright.

     Ivypool seemed to sense her thoughts. “It's alright, Silentpaw,” she said in a low voice. “We're almost home.” The small she-cat just nodded tiredly in response. She lifted her head and took in a few whiffs of air, trying to scent something familiar. But every scent was dulled and dampened by the thick blanket of rain that was laid all over the forest.

     A few minutes passed before they finally reached the stone hollow. As the patrol passed through the thorn barrier, they were greeted with a barrage of yowls and meows.

     “They're back!”

     “Great StarClan, we didn't know what to think!”

     “Why didn't you come home last night?”

     “We wanted to send patrols looking for you, but the rain was too thick.”

     Silentpaw felt pelts pressing all around her, cats rubbing their muzzles against her face, and the loud rumble of every cat purring. She closed her eyes, a fierce purr building in her throat as she tried to greet all of her Clanmates. All at once, she felt safe again. Her Clan was there for her, everything was well again.

     Over the mewing of her Clanmates, Silentpaw heard Ivypool joking, “Couldn't you see where we were?”

     Dovewing's voice sounded next, heavy with relief. “The rain was too thick for me to see anything at the island. I didn't get a chance to look this morning.”

     Once the clamor began to die down, Leafpool stepped forward. She had been left in charge of camp while the leader and deputy were at the Gathering. “We sheltered in the dens during the rain, but there was some damage. Parts of the nursery were torn away by the wind and rain, and rain started to leak through patches in the elder's den. The queens and elders sheltered in your den, Bramblestar. It was the highest place we could find for them. The fresh-kill pile was all but destroyed.”

     Bramblestar reached out and laid a paw on Leafpool's shoulder. “You did well, Leafpool,” he meowed. “Thanks for looking after the Clan.” There was a thudding of paws as the large tom bounded across camp, clambering his way up onto the High Ledge. There was no need to call for the Clan to gather; they were all already there.

     The tom rumbled, “Cats of ThunderClan, last night, the lake flooded. The tree-bridge was swept away in the storm.” Worried murmurs broke out, but Bramblestar continued. “The rain has gone, but now we must repair the damage left behind. Our first task is to restock the fresh-kill pile. The rain may have scared off what little prey is left now that leaf-fall has started. Toadstep, can you take Blossomfall, Foxleap, and Seedlight out and see what prey you can scrounge up?” The black-and-white warrior gave a sharp nod. “Good. Berrynose, take Amberpaw and Snowpaw as well. Now, while they're doing that, let's get started on repairing the dens. Molefoot, Birchfall, please divide the remaining warriors between the elders den and the nursery.”

     Birchfall nodded. “We'll make sure they're strong enough to hold out through another storm, if they have to.”

     “They might,” Millie said gravely. “A storm like this doesn't just strike once.”

     Bramblestar nodded. “Millie's right. I hope to StarClan that this is the last we see of a rain like this, but we have to be ready in case this happens again.”

     “We can keep the fresh-kill pile in one of the smaller caves,” Molefoot suggested. “That way it won't get ruined if it rains again.”

     Foxleap added, “And we could use branches to strengthen the nursery. Let's see the wind blow that over.”

     There were pleased mews in the crowd, murmurs of appreciation for the warriors' suggestoins. Silentpaw felt a rush of pride; instead of feeling fear in the face of the destruction, ThunderClan was working together to find solutions. This was what being in a Clan was all about. Cats supporting each other, like a family should.

     “Alright. Let's get to work.” With that, Bramblestar flicked his tail, ending the meeting. He climbed down from the High Ledge, padding over to Birchfall and speaking to him in a low voice.

     As the cats dispersed, the small she-cat heard a voice calling her name. “Silentpaw!” She turned towards the sound, catching a familiar scent drifting towards her. Jayfeather reached her, rubbing his muzzle against hers. “I'm glad to see you're alright.”

     “You too,” she purred. She had worried about the medicine cat when she hadn't seen him after the rain ended.

     As always, he read her thoughts. “I would have gone to find you sooner, but Berrynose fell out of his tree and injured his head. He was dizzy and disoriented and I had to look after him.”

     “I understand,” Silentpaw assured him. His duties as a medicine cat came before his duties as an uncle. “Did your supplies survive the storm?”

     Jayfeather shrugged. “I haven't gotten the chance to look yet. I doubt it. My den is pretty sheltered. But I'll make sure my stocks are well and full, in case it rains like this again.”

     Silentpaw's eyes narrowed. “Do you really think that'll happen?” She'd assumed Bramblestar had just been being overcautious.

     There was a few moments of silence. “Maybe,” the medicine cat said in a quiet voice, quite unlike his usual gruff tone. “Storms like this never bring anything good with them.”

     Silentpaw blinked at the medicine cat in surprise. She was about to ask what he meant when she heard a cat calling her name. “Silentpaw!” The small she-cat turned, padding up to the warrior who had spoken. Molefoot was standing in front of the nursery, a group of warriors and apprentices surrounding him. He turned to the small she-cat and told her, “I need you and Dewpaw to collect branches and brambles to reinforce the nursery. Bring it back, and the other warriors will weave it into the dens.”

     She nodded. “Right away, Molefoot.” Dewpaw's tail flicked against her flank, letting her know he was ready to leave, and she followed him out past the bramble barrier of the camp and out into the forest beyond.

     As the apprentices picked their way through the undergrowth, searching for branches and brambles, Dewpaw spoke. “So, what was the Gathering like? Is the tree-bridge really gone?” There was a low note of fear in his voice, as though he was afraid of the answer.

     “Yes,” Silentpaw told him. “It get swept away by the lake.”

     “So how did you get back?” the young tom asked curiously.

     “We swam.” The she-cat's muzzle brushed against a stick. She tested it with a paw, making sure it was pliable enough to be woven into the nursery wall. Satisfied, she grasped it in her jaws, the bark on it sleek and wet from the rain, and covered in dirt and mud.

     Dewpaw let out a mew of surprise. “You swam? Ugh, that sounds awful.” There were a few moments of silence. Silentpaw heard the shifting of brambles, and the sound of something being dropped to the ground. She padded over and left her stick in the same pile. In a low voice, Dewpaw asked, “Do you really think it's going to rain again?”

     The small she-cat shrugged. “Maybe. Jayfeather and Millie seem to think so.”

     “Has StarClan told him anything?” Dewpaw asked. He spoke as though it were perfectly natural to expect Jayfeather to have all the answers, as if StarClan would know how to fix this. Silentpaw supposed a lot of cats felt that way, since Jayfeather was both an exceptionally powerful medicine cat and one of the Three. But she knew the small tom better than that. He did everything he could to help the Clans, but a lot of it was the answers he came up with himself, not just what StarClan told him.

     In response, she just mewed, “Not that he's told me.”

     Dewpaw sighed. “I hope they same something soon,” he mewed fretfully. “How are we supposed to know what to do if the rain comes again?”

     Silentpaw let out a snort. Dewpaw always had been a bit too reliant on StarClan. She supposed it made sense for a cat that had witnessed StarClan cats living and fighting in front of them as a young kit. “I guess we'll just have to think of something ourselves,” she responded dryly.

     Suddenly, she paused. There was a whiff of something, a scent under all the damp leaves and grass. She crouched, putting one silent paw in front of the other, until she could just hear it rustling in the leaves, could smell it digging for food. Then she pounced. The vole's spine snapped under the weight of her paws, the warm body growing still.

     As she scooped up the vole in her jaws, Dewpaw let out a purr of approval. “Nice catch. I'd never have smelled that with all this rain-scent.”

     Silentpaw purred around the body in her mouth. She trotted over and dropped it onto the pile with the den reinforcements. “There's some good meat on its bones,” she pointed out. “At least there'll be something for the Clan to eat tonight.” She chuckled. “Looks like two moons of hunting has done me some good, at least.”

     Dewpaw mewed softly in agreement. “Not likely we'll find anything else in the woods today,” he pointed out ruefully. “Everything's hiding from the rain.”

     “True,” Silentpaw agreed reluctantly. “But at least we can do something about the dens. Come on, let's keep looking.”

     The apprentices dug around for as many brambles as they could for the next several minutes. By the time they returned to camp, they had collected so much that they needed to take two trips to bring it all back to camp.

     Molefoot greeted them as they entered the camp again. “I'd wondered where you'd gotten to,” he meowed warmly. “That looks like plenty, good job.”

     “And there's more coming,” Silentpaw assured him. “And I caught this.” She gestured to the vole, which was sitting in front of her paws.

     Pawsteps approached, and a familiar voice purred, “Nice catch, Silentpaw.” Ivypool stood beside Molefoot, tail fur brushing against the ground. “Put it on the fresh-kill pile, then go fetch the rest of the brambles.”

     Silentpaw nodded. “Thanks.” She brushed muzzles with her mentor, then picked up the vole again and trotted it over to the fresh-kill pile, or at least what had used to be the pile. There was nothing there now but wet bundles of left-over fur. She dropped the vole onto the empty space.

     As she padded past the nursery, she heard tiny paws skittering towards her. "Silentpaw!" Petalkit called out, her brother Finchkit right at her side. "Is it true that the tree-bridge is gone? Did you really get to see the other Clans?"

     Silentpaw started to answer her, but the sound of voices in the nursery made her pause. She waved her tail, motioning for Finchkit and Petalkit to keep quiet for a moment.

     Bramblestar was speaking to someone in a low voice. "How are the other Clans faring?"

     Dovewing's voice responded quietly, "I already checked. Their Gathering patrols returned about when you did. They're faring as well as we are. Fresh-kill piles destroyed, prey frightened away. RiverClan got the worst of it. The streams flooded and drove them out of their camp." Silentpaw stiffened in surprise.

     "What is it?" Finchkit asked curiously, but Silentpaw silenced him with a hiss.

      "Are they alright?" Bramblestar asked.

     "Well enough. They were driven further inland. But they won't fare well if it rains again, and it's going to be hard fishing when the lake's flooding like this. The fish are hiding too." Dovewing paused. "Do you think we should help them?"

     The leader sighed. "I wish we could. But it's going to be hard enough feeding ourselves the next few days. And there's no guarantee they'd accept help even if we offered it." There was a shuffling sound as the large tom got to his paws. "Let's focus on getting ThunderClan back on its paws for now. Then we can worry about helping other Clans."

     Pawsteps began approaching. Silentpaw began scraping some nearby brambles towards her and hurriedly started working them into the wall of the den, trying to look busy. Bramblestar padded out of the den, not even glancing at Silentpaw or the kits as he walked towards the elders den.

     When the leader was out of earshot, Finchkit squeaked, "Why do we have to be quiet? Are we playing a game?" Clearly, Silentpaw had been the only one with sharp enough ears to hear the conversation.

     She shook her head. "Er, nothing. Could you two do me a favor and tell Dewpaw I'll just be a minute getting that second load?" The kits nodded fervently, scampering off to find Dewpaw.

     Once the kits were gone, Silentpaw poked her head inside the nursery. Dovewing was in the center of the den, paws working anxiously on the sandy floor. Hazeltail and Daisy were asleep, and Roseptal and her kits were nowhere to be seen. Lightkit and Sparkkit were almost old enough to be apprentices, so they were probably helping with rebuilding dens. Squirrelflight's nest smelled like she hadn't slept there for a few days, which made sense since she'd been at the Gathering.

     Dovewing looked up as the apprentice entered the den. "Oh, hello Silentpaw. Can I help you?"

     The little she-cat wasn't one for beating around the bush. "Is RiverClan really going to starve?" she asked bluntly.

     The far-seeing queen stiffened in surprise. Then she sighed. "Silentpaw, you really need to stop listening to conversations that don't concern you."

     Silentpaw snorted. "That's rich, coming from you," she said pointedly. She wasn't going to apologize for eavesdropping, especially to a cat famous for it.

     Dovewing paused. "True," she admitted. "Alright, fine. I don't know. There isn't much fish in the lake right now. RiverClan's going to have a time of it trying to feed itself, especially now that they've been chased out of their camp."

     "But they have territory other than the lake," Silentpaw argued. "Can't they just catch land prey if there isn't any fish?"

     The young queen shook her head. "They're not as skilled at hunting it as we are," she explained.

     Silentpaw flicked her tail uncertainly. Little flickers of worry itched under her pelt. RiverClan couldn't really starve, could they? She wasn't naive enough to think StarClan would keep it from happening. They had their limits, like any cat. But RiverClan had been there for moons and moons before any cat she knew had even been born. Her whole life, she had only ever known peace and prosperity between the Clans. It was hard to imagine one of them starving and driven out of their home.

     Dovewing hesitated. "Listen," she said quietly, "I'm sure RiverClan will be fine. I'll keep you updated."

     There were more questions Silentpaw wanted to ask, but she recognized that the conversation was over. She dipped her head respectfully. "Thank you, Dovewing." With that, she turned and padded out of the den.

     When she reached the outer camp, she heard Dewpaw calling out to her. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

     Silentpaw nodded. "Yeah, I'm coming." She followed him across the camp, towards the thorny entrance. As they passed through into the forest, the apprentice made a promise to herself. If Dovewing told her something about RiverClan that made her more worried, she would talk to Bramblestar. He'd be able to tell her what it meant.