Cometcloud hunched his shoulders forwards and let out a hiss. "They can't be!"
The ThornClan camp was practically empty. Briartail felt much emptier without Spiderpaw being around to talk to her all of the time. She knew she still had Aspenclaw, but her and her brother were both so busy patrolling and hunting that the only time they usually had to spend together was in the evenings sharing a piece of prey before they went into their nests for the night.
"I-I don't know," stammered Briartail, slightly blown away by the rage in her deputy's voice. The feline's grey fur had fluffed up, and mixed with his powerful deep voice he looked like a storm cloud. "Dustkit's asleep in his nest, and I know that for sure. But Heronkit - she's just not there."
Cometcloud nodded swiftly, picking himself up and pacing outside the den and into the sunset hidden behind the far clouds. "Ryepelt!"
Briartail chased after Cometcloud quickly, relived to see the sleek white tom pacing up to Cometcloud with his jaw pulled down in shock. She recalled the stories Ryepelt used to tell her about his adventures with the four cats who made up ThornClan, especially about how his friendship with Cometcloud developed. Briartail knew that if Cometcloud had siblings, they would be far from here, and Ryepelt was the closest he had to a brother.
"Heronkit is missing again," he growled. "Come with me and help me search for her. Aspenclaw and Briartail -"
Reluctantly, Briartail cut him off. "I think I know where they are."
Briartail lead both of the huge tomcats through the leafy tunnel, kicking dust behind her paws as she swiftly kept ahead of the senior warriors. She heard their bulky paws hitting the ground hard behind her, and she sped up when she heard the panic in Cometcloud's rasping gasps. 'I feel so bad for him,' Briartail thought to herself as she paced through the ferns. 'Having your kits run away without you knowing where they've gone must be horrible.'
Suddenly, her speed was disrupted by a call of pain from one of the tomcats behind. Briartail hurled herself to a stop and turned herself around frantically to see the huge grey tom on the ground.
"Cometcloud!" she exclaimed, racing to his side and bending her muzzle to help him up. "What's the matter?"
"I'm fine," Cometcloud grunted, followed by a moan of exhaustion as he slammed his eyes shut. "I must have just bruised myself and got a few scratches - let's keep on going."
"No," Ryepelt ordered. He signalled with his tail for Cometcloud to stay, and he dropped his head, narrowing his eyes to the ground. "Half of your pelt's come off!"
"What?" Briartail exclaimed, pulling her line of sight to the ground. Laying on the grass were many lines of grey fur which seemed to be covering a sharp silver two-leg thing.
"They must have dropped this," Ryepelt meowed.
"That doesn't matter," Briartail hissed, feeling guilty after for talking back to the senior warrior. He was right after all, a two-leg had to have dropped this.
"We need to get this out," Ryepelt continued. "This object is clearly a hazard."
"I've told you I'm fine," Cometcloud repeated. "I just feel really light on one side."
Briartail struggled to pull her sight to Cometcloud's side. She was surprised that so little of his pelt had come off him - but yet so much was revealed. She tried to inhale her gasp as she saw three thick pink scars splayed across his back. She knew the wounds hadn't been caused by this two-leg object. The scars looked as if they had been there for moons. But why had Cometcloud never mentioned them?
"Cometcloud, you're going to have to get back to Honeyflower to tend to your bruises," Ryepelt meowed. "And more importantly, make sure those scars don't open back up!"
Briartail felt herself bugging to ask the question of where the scars had come from - but she managed to shut herself up. After all, Cometcloud had been a rogue before he joined with Echostar moons ago to form the Clan - and some things that happened before she was born were perhaps none of her business.
"Anything Honeyflower has to check me for can be dealt with later," Cometcloud grunted. "For now, Briartail, I need you to take this object away from here."
"But don't hold that by the sharp end!" Ryepelt interrupted.
Briartail blinked anxiously. "But I'm the only one who knows where Heronkit could be!"
Cometcloud and Ryepelt exchanged glances. "Ryepelt?"
"I'll take this away if that's your order," Ryepelt meowed briskly. "But if this were my choice I'd have you go back to have your wounds seen to straight away."
"Fine," Cometcloud grunted. "I'll let her check them over and then I'll come and remove this mouse-dung whateverthisis. But whatever you do, for StarClan's sake, if you have Heronkit before I'm back, don't let her trip on this!"
"We won't," Ryepelt assured. He dipped his head to Cometcloud and saw him off as he escaped through the trees, trying to cover his limp as well as he could.
Briartail knew the grey deputy was gone now, and the question she felt she needed to ask was on the tip of her tongue. "Where did Cometcloud get those scars?"
She felt regretful for a second, worried that Ryepelt was about to scold her for being so nosy. But instead the tom shrugged his shoulders. "I know what they could be from, but I couldn't be sure without his word, so I wouldn't want to give you the wrong information. Nor do I have the right to tell you anyway."
Briartail nodded, stepping ahead and curling her tail to signal to Ryepelt to follow her lead. She continued padding swiftly through the ferns and over the logs, checking back for Ryepelt every minute or so - even though he always managed to keep up by her side.
When the two cats had been running through the forest until Briartail recognised the place that Heronkit had ran off to last time, Dustkit with her, she slowly pulled herself to a quiet stop and signalled to Ryepelt to make the smallest amount of noise he could as he padded up to the pile of rocks she had recognised. "Last time she went missing, we found her between the spaces of the rocks," Briartail explained in a whisper. "I'll slide in. She might not be in here nevertheless, so would you scout the area to see if she shows up?"
Ryepelt dipped his head and put his nose into the ground and began whiffing in the dirt as Briartail turned around and approached the rocks with caution. She and the Clan deserved an explanation as to why the kit had been running off like this.