Starlight

Chapter 18

Brambletuft kept his ears pricked for the sound of prey as he slipped through the undergrowth. He could hear Thornclaw and Dustpelt padding close behind him, their bellies close to the ground as they ducked under the bracken. Brambletuft tried to tell himself that he didn't care about Squirrelflight not being with him or that she left for the meeting without him a few nights ago during his punishment. She could've easily gotten him out, but instead she left without even so much as a glance his way. Besides, feeding the Clan and exploring the new territory was more important right now.

The patrol emerged from the bracken and padded along the edge of a broad Twoleg path. This was the farthest a patrol had been from the camp. Until now, they had been busy organizing the dens and barriers in the hollow, and they had found enough prey close by to feed every cat. Now they were beginning to range farther, cautiously exploring the more distant parts of the territory.

Something about the path made Brambletuft uneasy. "I'm not sure I like this," he muttered. "It's too much like a Thunderpath." His belly clenched as he remembered how the Twoleg monsters had torn through the forest, leaving a swath of devastation wider than this, but just as straight.

Thornclaw carefully tasted the air. "I don't think it can be," he meowed after a moment. "There's no scent of Twolegs or monsters."

Brambletuft drew in a long breath and realized that the golden-brown warrior was right. There was no sign of Twolegs, not even a stale scent. But there was still something very familiar about the path. "It might be an old Thunderpath," he guessed. "Maybe the Twolegs let the grass grow over it."

"Why would they do that?" Thornclaw wondered.

"Because they're mouse-brained," Dustpelt retorted sourly. "All Twolegs are mouse-brained." He spotted a vole beneath the nearest bush and began to creep toward it.

Watching him, Brambletuft went on puzzling about the path. If Twolegs had cut rock from the stone hollow, perhaps they needed a Thunderpath to take it away. He twitched his ears. It wasn't important, as long as there were no Twolegs here now.

When Dustpelt had killed his vole and scraped earth over it, they went on, still keeping to the side of the path. Brambletuft was reluctant to set paw on something made by Twolegs, even so long ago, and he guessed his Clanmates felt the same.

Suddenly Dustpelt let out a hiss. Brambletuft froze, his fur bristling as he followed the brown warrior's gaze through the trees. He could just make out the stone walls of a Twoleg nest.

"There's still no scent," Thornclaw told Dustpelt. "What do you want to do?"

Brambletuft wanted to turn and run back to the hollow as fast as he could. He thought of the nest they had discovered in ShadowClan's territory when they made their first patrol around the lake, and the two ferocious kittypets they had disturbed.

Dustpelt stood taller, though his fur was still bristling. "We'll need to check it out," he decided.

Another, narrower path led to the nest from the path they were traveling along, but Bramble- tuft took a more direct course through the trees, creeping up on the nest with his belly flattened to the ground.

It was very different from the nests in Twolegplace. There was a door made from flat wooden strips, but they were broken and rotten and hung crookedly from one side. The big square holes in the walls were empty, so wind and rain could blow straight in. The nest looked dark and silent, full of shadows and confusing scents.

A shiver went through Brambletuft, raising every hair on his pelt. He wanted to leave without going one pawsteps nearer, but he knew what Squirrelflight would say: You never went inside! Are you a mouse or what?