His gaze fixed on the cliff, he didn’t see Millie until he felt her tail touch his shoulder, and turned to see her beside him, her whole body tense with worry.
“What about Briarlight?” she whimpered. “She’ll never climb up there!”
Bramblestar felt a heavy weight in his belly. He had imagined that some cat would carry Briarlight up the path, but now that he had watched his Clanmates make the climb, he knew that would be impossible. Glancing past Millie, he saw Briarlight waiting quietly beside Sandstorm and Dustpelt. She trusts me! Great StarClan, what am I going to do?
“We’ll get her out,” he promised. “Let’s send up as many of the others as we can first. Graystripe, Blossomfall, you go next. Sandstorm, as soon as they’re out of the way, can you help Purdy?”
“Sure, Bramblestar,” Sandstorm responded.
Purdy frowned at the narrow, twisty path. “I’m not sure my old legs will get me up there,” he grunted.
“Of course they will,” Sandstorm reassured him. “And think what a great story you’ll have to tell afterward!”
With a muffled curse, the old cat began to climb the cliff. Sandstorm followed, encouraging him every step, but his progress became slower and slower as he climbed higher. Purdy was less than halfway up when part of the cliff face flaked off beneath his paws and he plunged backward in a shower of stones. Sandstorm dived forward to grab him, but she was too late.
“Purdy!” she screeched.
As he fell, Purdy grabbed for a scrawny bush that was growing in a crack in the rock. His front claws sank into it, while his hind paws scrabbled against the cliff face.
“I’m stuck!” he yowled.
Sandstorm leaned over, gripped Purdy’s shoulder fur in her teeth, and heaved, but she couldn’t pull him up.
Bramblestar gave the waiting cats a swift glance. “I’ll be back,” he meowed, then began to climb.
When he reached Purdy, who still clung grimly to the bush, he realized the problem was worse than he thought. Just above them, the cliff face was starting to crumble away, probably eroded by the rain, and the weight of several cats was breaking it up even more.
“Sorry, Bramblestar!” Purdy gasped. “I’m too old and stiff for this. I can’t get up or down, so I’d better live here, okay?”
Bramblestar could see that the elder was trying to be brave, but he was clearly scared and humiliated by his failure. “No, this is no good as a den,” he responded, thinking quickly. “Sandstorm, go to the top and find a good, strong ivy stem, long enough to stretch down here. Get Lionblaze to help you.”
“We’ll never haul Purdy up on an ivy stem,” Sandstorm objected. “He’s too heavy.”
“Too many voles,” Purdy attempted to joke. “Not enough exercise.”
“We might not be able to get him up,” Bramblestar replied to Sandstorm. “But we can lower him down. Once his paws are on firm ground, we can think again.”
“Firm ground?” Purdy scoffed. “It’s a lake down there!”
Sandstorm gave her Clan leader a brisk nod, and headed up the path. Bramblestar thought she was moving too fast for safety, but he didn’t call out to her, just appreciating her care for her Clanmate.
Bramblestar stayed with Purdy until a long tendril of ivy came snaking down from the cliff top. Several stems had been twined together, making it strong.
“We’re ready!” Sandstorm called down.
“Okay, Purdy, grab the stem in your teeth,” Bramblestar instructed, guiding it into the old cat’s reach.
Once Purdy was biting down on the tendril, Bramblestar climbed down to the next curve of the path, so that he was directly underneath the old cat. “Let go of the bush!” he yowled.
Purdy hesitated, then pulled his claws out of the branch and clutched the ivy instead. He lurched down the cliff face, crashing and swinging from the tendril. Bramblestar fixed his hind claws into the gritty path and reached out with his front paws to take Purdy’s weight, guiding him to where he could stand. Purdy was stiff with fear, his eyes staring, but he let out a little snort of satisfaction when he felt his paws touch the rock.
Bramblestar thought it was too risky to expect him to climb down the path on his own. Instead he made Purdy keep hold of the ivy tendril and yowled instructions up to Lionblaze and Sandstorm, who lowered the old cat stage by stage until he reached the bottom of the cliff.
“We’re down!” Bramblestar called out to the cats at the top. But what do we do now?
“I’ll be fine,” Purdy meowed, shaking himself free from the ivy. “The hollow won’t fill right up. I’ll wait out the storm on the Highledge.”
“I’ll wait with him,” Briarlight meowed.
Millie moved closer to her daughter. “In that case, I’m staying too.”
Bramblestar looked at the water flowing into the camp through the thorn barrier. Already it was high enough to reach his flanks, and Briarlight was having to strain to keep her head above the surface. “No cat will be left behind,” he growled.
“Then what are we going to do?” Millie hissed, her eyes wild with fear.
Bramblestar spotted a branch bobbing past in the floodwater, and a plan began to form in his mind. “To start with,” he told Millie, “I want you and Leafpool to climb the cliff. Then I’ll know you’re safe.”
Millie stared at him in disbelief. “Have you got bees in your brain? I’m not leaving Briarlight!”
Bramblestar clenched his teeth on a sharp reply. He understood Millie’s anxiety for her daughter, but she wasn’t helping. To his relief, Leafpool stepped forward and curled her tail around Millie’s shoulder. “Come on,” she urged kindly. “Briarlight will be fine. You can trust Bramblestar.”
I hope she’s right, Bramblestar thought.
“It’s okay,” Briarlight mewed. “Go with Leafpool. I’ll see you at the top of the cliff.”
Millie narrowed her eyes at Bramblestar. “If she dies, I’ll never forgive you.”
Bramblestar dipped his head to her. “Millie, I promise you that I’ll get Briarlight out, or die trying.”
Millie held his gaze for a moment longer, then turned away with Leafpool. The two she-cats vanished up the path.
“I can climb the cliff too,” Jayfeather announced.
“No, I need you to help with Briarlight,” Bramblestar replied. “No cat knows as much about her condition as you.” And I don’t want a blind cat dangling off the cliff face. “Dustpelt, I’ll need your help too,” he continued. “And it would be good to have Brackenfur.”
He yowled the order to the top of the cliff, and a few moments later the golden-brown warrior appeared, treading sure-footedly along the path.
Squirrelflight scrambled down after him. “What’s going on?” she called.
“We need to find a different way out of the hollow,” Bramblestar explained. “I thought we might use some kind of branch to float Briarlight and Purdy and Jayfeather out on the floodwater.”
“Great StarClan, that’s risky!” Brackenfur exclaimed. “Do you want us to find a branch?”
“I have one in mind,” Bramblestar told him. “The memorial branch with the claw marks for the cats who fell in the Great Battle.”
Jayfeather let out an outraged yelp. “Can’t you use a different one?”
“It’s by far the longest and strongest piece of wood in the camp,” Bramblestar pointed out. “Besides, if we use it, perhaps our fallen Clanmates will be able to help us. If ever we needed StarClan, it’s now.”
Dustpelt and Brackenfur exchanged a glance, as if they were wondering whether their mates were watching over them.
“We’ll get it,” Dustpelt meowed.
The memorial branch had fallen on its side, but it was still visible, poking up out of the water below the Highledge. Brackenfur and Dustpelt waded over to it and dragged it back to the bushes where the other cats waited.
“It’s not floating very well,” Brackenfur remarked dubiously.
“That’s because the water’s too shallow he
re,” Bramblestar meowed. “We need to push it farther out.”
Dustpelt and Brackenfur maneuvered the branch away from the cliff face, until they stood in water that lapped against their shoulders. “It’s fine here!” Brackenfur called.
“Come on, then, this way,” Squirrelflight urged the other cats.
“You don’t have to do this,” Bramblestar murmured to her as they guided Purdy, Jayfeather, and Briarlight toward the branch. “You should go back up the cliff to the others.”
Squirrelflight turned a green glare on him. “You annoying furball, if you think you can send me—”
Bramblestar interrupted her by resting his tail on her shoulder. A spark of warmth woke inside him at his deputy’s courage and bold spirit. “That’s no way to talk to your Clan leader,” he purred. “Come on, I won’t argue.”
Squirrelflight snorted. As they headed into deeper water, Briarlight was hardly able to keep her head above the surface. With her hind legs dragging behind her, she could only raise herself on her forelegs, and the floodwater washed around her muzzle.
Bramblestar pushed through the swirling water until he was alongside her. “Here, hang on to me.” He tried to hide his wince of pain as Briarlight dug her claws into his shoulder. She managed to raise her head a mouse-length, but with her added weight Bramblestar could hardly make any headway through the water. His paws sank into mud, and the young she-cat’s body dragged at him.
“Wait,” Squirrelflight mewed. “I’ve got an idea.”
She splashed over to the side of the hollow where Brackenfur and Dustpelt kept their den-building supplies, and came back with a bundle of twigs clamped in her jaws. “Here, Briarlight, shove these under your belly. They should hold you up a bit.”
Briarlight let go of Bramblestar while Squirrelflight thrust the twigs into place. To Bramblestar’s relief they boosted her a little way out of the water, enough for her to keep her muzzle clear and drag herself forward.
The other cats were waiting for them beside the memorial branch. Pushing it ahead of them, they waded toward the camp entrance. Water was gushing in from the flooded lake, the strong current threatening to sweep them off their paws. For a moment Bramblestar wondered if they had enough strength to push their way against it, and he kept an especially close eye on Briarlight.
There was a squawk from Jayfeather as he lost his balance, the cry cut off abruptly as his head went under. Bramblestar plunged toward him and dived below the surface, wondering if he would be able to find him in this chaos of water. Then a thrashing tail hit him in the ear. Bramblestar lashed out a paw and sank his claws into sodden fur. He dragged Jayfeather upward; the medicine cat’s head broke the surface and he began coughing up mouthfuls of water.
“Thanks,” he spluttered, managing to stand again. “I really hate water!”
The current swirled and bubbled around them as they forced their way through the gap. Outside the camp the flood stretched in all directions. All Bramblestar could see was tossing water with debris floating in it and trees looming out of it, their roots, trunks, and even some of the lower branches swallowed up by the rising lake.
“Okay,” he meowed. “This is where you climb onto the branch.”
“I don’t think this is goin’ to work,” Purdy muttered, eyeing the branch.
“Come on,” Squirrelflight encouraged him. “Twolegs do this all the time. We’ve seen them floating on the lake in those flat things with pelts sticking up to catch the wind. If they can do it, so can you! You’re not telling me you’re more stupid than a Twoleg, are you?”
Purdy grunted and began hauling himself onto the branch while Brackenfur and Dustpelt steadied it. To Bramblestar’s surprise, once Purdy was crouching on top of the stick, he balanced quite easily, and turned his head to give Squirrelflight a smug look.
“Reckon I could teach Upwalkers a thing or two,” he purred.
Jayfeather climbed quickly onto the branch once Bramblestar showed him where to put his paws, his light weight making it easier for him. But it was a struggle for Briarlight to haul herself up. She couldn’t move her hind legs; when Bramblestar shoved them onto the branch they fell off again. The water tugged at them, threatening to sweep Briarlight away.
“What should I do?” she wailed.
For a horrible moment Bramblestar didn’t have an answer.
Then Squirrelflight exclaimed, “Wait!”
To Bramblestar’s alarm she turned around and headed back into the camp, half wading and half swimming as the current swept her along.
“You can’t go back in there!” Bramblestar yowled after her.
Squirrelflight’s voice came faintly back through the wind and the rain. “I’ll be fine!”
Bramblestar’s heart thumped painfully as he waited for her return. He sagged with relief when he saw her battling her way back through the water. She was dragging something with her; as she drew closer he saw that it was the ivy tendril they had used to lower Purdy down the cliff.
“We can use this to tie Briarlight to the branch,” Squirrelflight panted as she came up to the others. “Quick, lift up her hind legs.”
Once Bramblestar was holding Briarlight’s legs in position, Squirrelflight took the twisted ivy stems in her jaws and dived underneath the branch, coming up on the other side. Brackenfur grabbed the tendril and wrapped it around Briarlight, ready for Squirrelflight to carry it under the branch again.
“That feels secure,” Briarlight meowed when they had repeated the move a few times. She looked tiny and fragile, her pelt slicked flat with water and her blue eyes huge as moons. Her front paws were wrapped around the branch, claws dug into the pale wood.
Squirrelflight resurfaced for the last time, water streaming from her dark ginger pelt, and tucked the end of the tendril underneath Briarlight’s chest. “Tell me if you think it’s coming loose.”
With all three cats balanced on the branch, Squirrelflight and Dustpelt began to guide it through the water from the front while Bramblestar and Brackenfur pushed from behind. As soon as they began to move the branch wobbled violently. Jayfeather let out an apprehensive hiss, but all three dug their claws in hard and managed to cling on.
As soon as they were outside the hollow, the water grew deeper, so that Bramblestar and his Clanmates had to swim. Bramblestar fought his way through churning water, hissing when his legs kept getting caught on branches and foliage below the surface. Once his paw was trapped in what felt like brambles; he had to wrench it hard to free himself and keep swimming. Wind ruffled the water and dashed rain into his face, but all he could do was go on battling his way forward toward higher ground.
StarClan, save us! he prayed silently as his drenched pelt dragged at him. We can’t do this alone!
The only way he could keep going was to grip the branch in his teeth while paddling furiously with all four legs. Water gushed into his mouth; he had to keep swallowing, making it almost impossible to breathe. I won’t let go! Beside him, Brackenfur was having the same difficulties, and his breath rasped noisily over the sound of the wind. Bramblestar only caught glimpses of Squirrelflight and Dustpelt at the front of the branch, just enough to know that they were still afloat, still swimming.
Slowly the four cats maneuvered the branch around the side of the hollow toward the closest spot where the sloping ground emerged from the floodwater. Bramblestar gasped with relief when his paws thrashed against solid earth and he could walk under the water, pushing the branch forward with his chest and paws until it grounded. Purdy heaved himself up and stepped off, splashing through the last tail-length of floodwater until he was standing on the rain-soaked grass of the slope that led up to the cliff top. Jayfeather scrambled after him.
Squirrelflight waded to Briarlight’s side and began tearing at the ivy tendril, but before she could free her Clanmate a huge brown wave swelled up and crashed against the branch. It knocked Squirrelflight off her paws and she vanished into the water. The branch flipped over, trapping Briarlight beneath the su
rface. Bramblestar plunged down, finding Squirrelflight almost at once and shoving her up into the air. Then he groped toward the branch and tore the ivy away with his teeth and claws. He knew Briarlight was free, but he could feel her body sinking helplessly down into the flood.
The water swirled again and Bramblestar spotted Dustpelt diving down beside him. Together they grabbed Briarlight’s body and hauled her upward, thrusting her toward the slope where Brackenfur dragged her clear of the water. Gasping for breath, Bramblestar looked down at the she-cat. Briarlight lay unmoving, a trickle of water escaping from her mouth.
“She can’t be dead!” Squirrelflight wailed.
I promised Millie, Bramblestar thought. I said I would save her or die trying.
“Get out of the way!” Jayfeather thrust Bramblestar aside and pounced on Briarlight, working feverishly as he pressed her chest down again and again. “I won’t let her drown!”
There was agony in the medicine cat’s voice. Bramblestar remembered how Jayfeather had struggled in the lake to rescue Flametail, how he had nearly drowned trying to bring the ShadowClan medicine cat back to the surface. He failed then; StarClan, please don’t let him fail now!
Suddenly Briarlight’s body jerked and she coughed up a mouthful of dirty water. Bramblestar saw her chest rise and fall as she took a breath. A moment later she raised her head. “Did we make it?” she asked feebly.
“We did,” Bramblestar meowed. He felt dizzy with relief.
Squirrelflight gave Briarlight’s ear a lick. “Come on, let’s get you to the top of the cliff. Millie and Graystripe will be worried about you.”
Bramblestar could see that Briarlight was too weak to walk. “I’ll carry you,” he told her, and added to the others, “Lift her onto my back.”
He was about to begin the weary trudge up the hill when he noticed Jayfeather pacing beside the water. “What’s the matter?” he asked.