Warriors AU: Moonrise

Chapter 17

Brookleap's legs ache and the weight of his rain-sodden fur made his paws stumble painfully over the stones. He felt as if he had been fleeing through the stormy darkness for moons. The whole world seemed to have shrunk to nothing more than rock, wind, and rain.

As he scrambled up a broken rock face he realized that the rain was easing off. Soon it was no more than a spatter driven by the wind. The sky began to clear, the moon struggling to show its light between the clouds.

Squirrelflight halted, and the rest of the cats gathered around him. They were standing on a wide ledge; above them was a slope covered with scree, while below the rock fell away into darkness.

"I have no idea where we are," Squirrelflight admitted. "I'm sorry, I meant to bring you back the same way we came with the cave-guards, but I've never seen this place before."

"It's not your fault," Bramblepaw meowed, with a glare at Leafpaw as if she expected the Windclan apprentice to say something rude. "The rain has washed all the scent away, and it's too dark to see anything."

"That's all very well," Rowanclaw pointed out, "but what are we going to do now? If we're not careful, the Tribe cats will catch us."

"Or Sharptooth," Feathertail added with a shudder.

Brookleap cleared his throat. He was feeling guilty and betrayed that he had ever thought of the Tribe cats as his friends, and he wanted to forget them and everything to do with them as soon as he possibly could. But they had taught him skills that could be useful now, and it would be mouse-brained not to use them.

"I think I can find the way," he meowed. "I hunted with the Tribe, remember, more than the rest of you."

"You lead, then," Squirrelflight responded immediately. "Just get us out of these mountains."

Brookleap warmed a little at the Thunderclan warrior's trust in him. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had lost all Squirrelflight's respect, after the way he had settled in among the Tribe cats. He knew now how much Squirrelflight's friendship meant to him.

"It'll take a few days to cross the mountains," he warned the dark ginger warrior, remembering the day Storm had taken him to the top of a high peak and showed him the towering folds of rock stretching endlessly ahead. At least they would have the rising sun to guide them when daylight came. "But I think I can get you out of the Tribe's territory."

"The sooner the better," muttered Leafpaw. He was standing so close to Feathertail that their fur touched. There seemed to be an unspoken connection between them, and Brookleap wondered what had happened while he'd been held prisoner in the cave.

Brookleap took the lead along the ledge and then diagonally up the scree, his paws slipping on the loose stones. Reaching the ridge, he paused to figure out the direction from the way the moss grew on the rocks and the trunk of a gnarled tree. Guilt swept over him again as he realized how easy it seemed to use Tribe ways, as if he had allowed himself to become a Tribe cat instead of a warrior loyal to Riverclan.

"What's the matter?" Feathertail asked quietly, coming up to him and brushing his side against his. He should have known he would be able to sense how bad he felt.

"I trusted them." Brookleap choked over the words. "Storm and Crag and the rest. I never thought... And then they took me prisoner, and the rest of you risked your lives to get me out of there."

"We couldn't leave you." Feathertail let out a comforting purr.

"They never told me anything about the prophecy, you know, not all the time we were hunting together. It was just as much of a shock to me when Stoneteller told us about it in the Cave of Pointed Stones."