Brambleberry's Path

Chapter 26:

Brambleberry woke to the sound of cats fighting outside and his amber eyes snapped wide open and he leapt to his paws. He glanced towards Hawkwing's nest at the other side of the den and panicked.

She wasn't there.

He charged out into the fray and looked around wildly. He spotted Blazecloud fighting against Cloudclaw with Icewing at his side, helping him to pry the large white tom off of Swiftbreeze. Blazefang was fighting beside his Lilyfoot as the two mates defended the elders while they climbed up the roots of the tree to get to safety. But he still didn't know where Hawkwing was.

He heard someone screech her name and his head swiveled towards the nursery, where he spotted the brown she-cat sprinting towards. She launched herself at two tussling cats, one was a small sand-colored she-cat, and the other was a silver tabby, who he recognized as Brightface. The queen was pinned and the Sandclan she-cat was about to make the final blow.

Hawkwing got there just in time and ripped the she-cat off of her friend before looking down at Brightface to see if she was ok. Brambleberry saw the she-cat get up and charge at Hawkwing, but he was too late to yowl out a warning to her. As the Sandclan warrior slashed her, the brown she-cat was sent flying into the bushes, where she was entangled. He sprinted across camp to help the brown she-cat get untangled and ignored Brightface's calls for help.

All he cared about at that moment was getting Hawkwing out of the bushes.

The she-cat was out of the bushes and all the Sandclan cats had fled. The clan was gathered around the body of Pebblefoot and Snowyfeather wailed with grief over her dead mate's body. Brambleberry turned around to see Hawkwing hurrying to Brightface's side. The silver tabby queen said something that made Hawkwing jerk back and rush towards the nursery.

When she reappeared her eyes were wide with shock and grief. She padded up to Brightface, and the silver tabby queen turned away and padded off to grieve over her dead brother as his mate, Snowyfeather buried her nose into his fur and cried over him. Brambleberry padded over to Hawkwing as she stood frozen to the spot, staring after her friend.

"What happened?" He asked her. She shook her head and stared at her paws.

"Pebblekit is... Gone. Sandfang took him away while I was stuck in the bush. I... I failed Brightface." She mewed sadly, hanging her head with shame. Brambleberry opened his mouth to say something but shut it. He sat beside her and stared down at the brown she-cat.

"Wait... While I was in the bush... You-" she looked up with her eyes gleaming before she stared at Brambleberry with wide eyes. She sprang to her paws and backed away from him, her fur fluffed up and her eyes glared at him angrily.

"You were there! She needed you, and you instead helped me when I was fine by myself! Why didn't you help Brightface?!" She hissed angrily. Brambleberry blinked and narrowed his eyes.

Because, he thought, but didn't finish it. He shook his head and raised his head high.

"I thought it was the best thing to do at the moment." He mewed. Hawkwing's eyes widened before they narrowed again and her fur lie flat. She looked completely calm as she glared at Brambleberry.

"Then you're an absolute fish-brain." She hissed before stalking off to go watch after Riverkit. Brambleberry's amber eyes widened and he stared after her with shock.

Why couldn't he do anything right?!