Incoming Storm

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Hey, guys! Wait up!"

Brownpaw felt tremors of fear run down her spine as she heard the voice. The pine forest was dark with nighttime, and the excruciating scent of ThunderClan wreathed around her like forewarning spirits. She banged into Moonshade in her panic, and he growled quietly.

"Ivy? Is that you?" Moonshade's voice was quiet, even yet it seemed to ring around the forest exceptionally loudly.

Brownpaw felt sick to her stomach, even though she hadn't eaten all day. Every single paw step brought more and more anxiety into her body, as she padded closer, and closer to ThunderClan territory. Now the nightmare was even more real, because she and Moonshade were on the territory that reeked of fresh ThunderClan markers.

"It's the whole lot of us!" a cheerful mew came from somewhere behind Brownpaw. She instantly recognized it as Littlepatch.

"Quiet!" Brushwing growled as she emerged from a patch of bracken, carrying some sort of leafy wrap in her jaws.

Moonshade nodded curtly to all three of them as they stepped out of the bushes. Brownpaw merely stared at them all, and backed away slightly when Ivytalon gave her a rueful half-smile. She saw the hollow looks in the three cats' expressions, and instantly felt sick to her stomach. They still had pitying eyes.

Ivytalon padded up to Moonshade, and the older warrior gently shoved off a bramble that had been clinging to Moonshade's pelt.

"You two are still going along with this, huh?" He mumbled as he picked brambles out of Moonshade's pelt. Brownpaw wondered if he had gotten them as far back as there travelling through the passageway to the Secret Tunnels.

"Of course, mousebrain!" Moonshade snapped at Ivytalon causing the ginger warrior to back away.

"Sorry," Ivytalon offered, not sounding in any way apologetic or offended. "But if you want to be a mousebrain, then we'll be mousebrains with you."

Moonshade glowered at them, and bared his teeth in a savage snarl. He raised his chin defiantly. "I can handle this myself," he said firmly.

Brownpaw felt herself sinking lower and lower to the ground. Moonshade seemed to be ignoring her, and she felt unease run down her spine as Ivytalon backed away slightly. His ginger fur was fluffed up in consternation as he glanced at Littlepatch and Brushwing.

Brushwing, the dark grey she-cat with a missing ear glanced between Ivytalon and Moonshade. "We can't make him do anything," she grunted through the leaf wrap in her jaws. "'Sides, it's in the warrior code that we have to be independent and self-sufficient."

There was a rueful pause from all the cats. Brownpaw's tail drooped. She knew that warriors had to be honourable and fierce, but it seemed foolish to deny help to Moonshade. She watched the other cats talk as though she was a shadow. Sometimes, she felt as though she wasn't even real, as though she were simply watching the world, unable to do anything.

A tail flicked across her face, knocking Brownpaw briefly off balance. Moonshade whirled around, and stood over her intimidatingly. He let out a huff of irritation as she cowered beneath him, and grumbled, "I guess I have to think about her."

Brownpaw stared at him nervously. "I-I was thrown out of camp too," she began.

"We know," Brushwing's voice was crisp.

Brownpaw stared at the ground, but Littlepatch padded over to her and gave her a gentle nudge. "Hey, it'll be okay," he murmured kindly.

Brownpaw suppressed a wince as Littlepatch turned away and began talking in a fearful voice to Moonshade, who barely moved. Sometimes, it felt as though her clanmates treated her like she was a newborn kit with their gentle voices and sometimes avoiding her entirely. She wondered if it was because she had been a kittypet, or because she barely said anything to any cat in the clan.