Warriors AU: Forest of Secrets

Chapter 10

Back in the camp, Sandstorm spotted Oakstar leaving the nursery. Quickly he dropped his catch on the pile of fresh-kill and padded over to her.

"Yes, Sandstorm, what is it?" the leader asked. Her voice was calm, but with a sinking feeling, Sandstorm knew that the lack of warmth meant she had not forgiven him for asking about the missing Thunderclan kits.

He lowered his head respectfully. "Oakstar, I was hunting near Twolegplace, and—"

"Why there?" Oakstar interrupted. "Sometimes I think you spend too much time near Twolegplace, Sandstorm."

"I—I just thought there might be prey there," Sandstorm stammered. "Anyway, while I was there, I smelled some strange cats."

At once Oakstar was alert; her ears flicked up and she fixed her eyes intently on Sandstorm. "How many cats? What Clan were they from?"

"I'm not sure how many," Sandstorm admitted. "Five or six at least. But they didn't have the scent of any Clan." He wrinkled his nose as he remembered. "They smelled of crow-food, which made me sure they weren't kittypets."

Oakstar looked thoughtful, and to Sandstorm's relief her hostility toward him seemed to ebb away. "How recent was the scent?" she asked.

"Quite recent. But I didn't see any cats there." Except Goldenflower, he added silently. But Sandstorm decided not to tell Oakstar that part of the story. The leader was in no mood to listen to any more accusations against her deputy, and he had no evidence anyway that Goldenflower had had anything to do with the unknown cats.

"Rogues from the Twolegplace, perhaps?" Oakstar guessed. "Thank you, Sandstorm. I'll tell the patrols to keep a lookout when they go that way. I don't suppose they're any threat to Thunderclan, but we can't be too careful."

Sandstorm padded toward the camp with a vole clamped firmly in his jaws. The sun shone from a brilliantly blue sky, and already, two days after his meeting with olive, most of the snow was gone. Buds were swelling and a mist of tiny green leaves was beginning to cover the trees. More important, prey was reappearing in the forest. Already it was easier to replenish the pile of fresh-kill, and for the first time in moons the Clan was full-fed.

Sandstorm arrived in the clearing to find the queens raking old bedding out of the nursery. When he had dropped his prey on the pile of fresh-kill, he went across to give them a hand, pleased to see that Brightkit was helping too.

"I'm going to show the other kits the good moss place!" the kit mewed proudly as he staggered past with a load of bedding.

"Good idea," Sandstorm agreed. He'd noticed that even after Goldenflower relieved him of his duties with the elders, Brightkit had gone on helping. Maybe at last the kit was feeling some spark of loyalty toward his adopted Clan. "Watch out for badgers, though!"

Just then he saw Tigerclaw emerge from the nursery, pushing a ball of soiled moss in front of her. Her belly was round with the weight of the kits she was carrying.

"Hello, Sandstorm," she meowed. "Isn't it great to see the sun again?"

Sandstorm gave the queen's shoulder a friendly lick. "Soon it'll be newleaf," he mewed. "Just in time for your kits. If you—" He broke off and spun around as he heard Goldenflower's voice behind him, speaking his name.

"Sandstorm, if you've nothing better to do than stand gossiping with the queens, I have a job for you."

Sandstorm bit back an angry response. He'd been hunting all morning, and paused for only a few moments to talk to Tigerclaw.

"I want you to take a patrol along the border of Riverclan," the deputy went on. "No cat has been that way for a few days, and now the snow has gone we need to renew the scent markings. And make sure no Riverclan cats are hunting in our territory. If they are, you know what to do!"

"Yes, Goldenflower," Sandstorm mewed. Hedgehogs must be growing wings, he thought, if Goldenflower had chosen him to lead a patrol! Then he realized that Goldenflower was too close to behave hostilely toward him in public. The deputy would be careful to treat him just the same as any other Clan warrior, in case Oakstar noticed.

But I still don't trust you! Sandstorm thought. Aloud he meowed, "Whom shall I take with me?"

"Any cat you like. Or do you need me to hold your paw?" Goldenflower added with a sneer.

"No, Goldenflower." By now Sandstorm could barely keep his tongue curbed; he would have loved to swipe a claw over the deputy's scarred muzzle. He mewed a hasty good-bye to Goldenflower, and headed for the warriors' den. Fireheart was there, lying on her side and energetically washing, while Silverstream and Dappletail shared tongues nearby.

"Who's up for a patrol?" Sandstorm called. "Goldenflower wants us to check the Riverclan border."

Silverstream scrambled to his paws right away at the mention of Riverclan, while Dappletail got up more slowly. Fireheart paused in her washing and looked up at Sandstorm. "Just when I was hoping for a bit of peace," she complained. "I've been hunting since dawn." but her tone was good-humored, not remotely as unfriendly as she was when he had first arrived in the Clan, Sandstorm thought, and almost at once she got up and shook herself. "All right," she mewed. "Lead on."

"What about Sorrelpaw?" Sandstorm asked Silverstream. "Do you want to bring him along?"

"Brindleface and Mousefur took the apprentices out," Dappletail explained. "All of the apprentices—more fool them! They're hunting fresh-kill for the elders."

Sandstorm led the way out of the camp, feeling a tingle in his paws as he leaped up the side of the ravine. It felt like moons since he'd had a good run without snow to freeze his paws off, and he wanted to stretch his muscles. "We'll head for the Sunningrocks," he meowed, "and then follow the border up to Fourtrees."

He set a brisk pace through the trees, but not so fast that he failed to notice the brilliant green fronds of new bracken beginning to unfurl, or the first pale buds of primroses pushing out of their green coverings. Birdsong filled the air, and the fresh scent of growing things.

He slowed down to a walk as the patrol approached the edge of the forest. Ahead of him he could hear the sound of the river, free at last from its bonds of ice. "We're almost at the border," he meowed quietly. "From here on we have to keep alert. There may be Riverclan cats about."

Silverstream stopped and opened his jaws to drink in scent from the breeze. "I can't smell any," he reported. Sandstorm wondered if he was disappointed that Graystripe wasn't nearby. "Besides, they'll have plenty of prey now that the river's unfrozen," Silverstream added. "Why should they come and steal ours?"

"I wouldn't put anything past Riverclan," growled Dappletail. "They'd steal the fur off your back if you didn't keep an eye on them."

Sandstorm saw Silverstream beginning to bristle. "Come on, then," he meowed hastily, trying to distract his friend before he said something that gave away his divided loyalties. "Let's go." He raced away through the last of the trees and burst out onto open ground. What he saw there brought him skidding to a halt, and the memory of his dream crashed into his mind like a thunderclap.

In front of the cats, the land sloped gently down to the river—or what had been the river. Swelled by the melting snow, the fast-flowing water had burst the banks and risen until it lapped the grass barely a rabbit-length from Sandstorm's paws. The tips of reeds just showed above it; farther upstream, the Sunningrocks were gray islands in the midst of a shimmering silver lake.

The thaw had certainly come, but now the river was in full flood.