Path Of Stars

Chapter 21

At Slash’s words, Gray Wing’s heart lurched. He blinked at Clear Sky. Where was Star Flower?

And the kits? Was Slash planning to kidnap her again?

Fear sparked in Clear Sky’s eyes. “Star Flower!” He raced for the slope. Acorn Fur, Nettle, and Birch tore after him, pelts bristling.

Breath tightening, Gray Wing looked up at Slash, who was watching the shocked cats, his whiskers twitching with delight. “If you’ve hurt Star Flower or her kits—”

Slash cut Gray Wing off. “Why should I bother with them? I’ve had enough of making Clear Sky suffer. It was you who led my cats away.” Hatred gleamed in the rogue’s slitted gaze.

Fear slipped icy claws beneath Gray Wing’s pelt. “What do you mean?”

Slash didn’t answer. Instead he signaled to his rogues with a flick of his tail and leaped from the great rock. Slinking into the shadows, they disappeared.

Gray Wing began to tremble. Slash was blaming him.

“Slate and the kits!” Wind Runner’s panicked mew shook Gray Wing from his thoughts.

He stared at her across the snowy clearing. “Spotted Fur’s with her.” Even as he spoke, he knew that Spotted Fur couldn’t fight a band of rogues single-pawed. “We have to get home!” He turned for the slope. Invisible jaws clamped his chest. He could hardly breathe.

Wind Runner raced to his side. She glanced at River Ripple. “Get back to your camp. Take shelter in your strongest den and protect Drizzle and Pine Needle until we know what Slash has planned next.” As River Ripple nodded, she turned to Thunder. “Take your cats home too. We’ll all be safest in our camps.”

Clear Sky’s cats had already disappeared into the forest. Only Sparrow Fur lingered, her pelt pricking along her spine.

Thunder lifted his chin. “If Slate and the kits are in danger, I’m staying with Gray Wing.” He nodded to Lightning Tail. “Take our campmates home. You’re in charge until I get back.”

Leaf’s eyes widened. “You can’t leave us now, Thunder! Slash is back and wants revenge.”

“Lightning Tail is in charge for now,” Thunder told the black-and-white tom. “He’s the strongest cat in the group, and I trust him completely. Do whatever he tells you.” Thunder leaned closer to Lightning Tail, lowering his voice until Gray Wing had to prick his ears to hear. “If I don’t return, you must be leader. I trust you to take care of our campmates. Keep the group together. The future lies in your paws.”

Lightning Tail blinked in surprise at his friend. “You’re coming back, aren’t you?”

Before he could answer, Violet Dawn pushed past Lightning Tail and pressed her nose to Thunder’s cheek. “You must come back!”

Thunder let her cheek rest against his for a moment, then pulled away. He whisked his tail. “I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he promised.

Gray Wing stared desperately up the slope. “We have to go!” Slash could be in the camp right now. Struggling for breath, he stumbled toward the bracken.

“Let me come.” Pebble Heart crossed the clearing and pushed his shoulder beneath Gray Wing’s.

He looked back to Tall Shadow. “I’ll be back in camp as soon as I can.”

Tall Shadow dipped her head to the young tom. “Take Sun Shadow with you,” she ordered. “He can help.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Sun Shadow nodded quickly and rushed to join the moor cats.

“I’ll help too!” Owl Eyes hurried forward and pressed against Gray Wing’s other side.

Gray Wing was surprised at the young tom’s strength. He remembered him as a kit, clambering over his flank while Turtle Tail looked on fondly. Now he felt Owl Eyes’s powerful muscles press against his own bony frame.

Wind Runner had already crashed through the bracken, her campmates at her side. Dust Muzzle and Moth Flight kicked snow up as they followed.

“Let me come!” Sparrow Fur’s mew startled Gray Wing. Gratitude swamped him as the tortoiseshell she-cat streaked after the others. All of Turtle Tail’s kits wanted to help.

Willow Tail lashed her tail. “If Slash has harmed a hair on their pelts, I’ll hunt him down and kill him!”

Fern Leaf showed her teeth. “I’ll help you,” she hissed.

As they disappeared between the orange fronds, Owl Eyes and Pebble Heart guided Gray Wing up the slope. At the top, he blinked into the icy wind that flayed the snow-covered moor. Flecks of snow stung his eyes.

The camp hollow showed in the distance, a shadow on the moonlit hillside. Wind Runner and the others raced toward it.

Gray Wing stumbled, desperate to keep up. Pebble Heart and Owl Eyes pressed closer against him, supporting him as he struggled through the deep snow. His chest burned. Darkness pressed at the edge of his vision as he struggled for breath. His thoughts focused on the camp. Please let Slate be okay! And the kits! Perhaps Slash had been bluffing, just to scare him.

His campmates streaked ahead, their dark shapes showing against the snow as they pelted uphill.

They disappeared into heather, then broke from the far side.

Frustration pulsed through Gray Wing. “Faster!” he gasped.

Pebble Heart’s shoulder pressed harder against his. Owl Eyes leaned closer on his other side.

Lifting him between them, they carried him over the snow. Gray Wing’s paws churned helplessly beneath him as they whisked him toward the camp.

By the time they reached the gorse entrance, the others had disappeared inside.

Gray Wing smelled blood. Heart quickening, he pricked his ears and listened for the sound of fighting. But he heard no battle cries. Only the eerie moaning of the wind over the moonlit moor.

He shook free of Pebble Heart and Owl Eyes and staggered through the entrance. Stumbling over the tussocks, he saw blood staining the snow.

Wind Runner and the others were circling around two shapes on the ground.

Hardly breathing, Gray Wing barged past his campmates and stopped.

Spotted Fur and Slate were lying like abandoned prey in the snow, their pelts glistening with blood.

Are they dead? Gray Wing’s heart seemed to stop as he stared.

Then Spotted Fur groaned and pushed himself heavily to his paws. “I tried to save them,” he croaked. With a gasp, he began to collapse as his hind legs buckled beneath him.

Pebble Heart dashed to the golden tom’s side and began sniffing his pelt anxiously.

Gray Wing hardly noticed. His gaze was fixed on Slate.

She lay unmoving while her campmates stared in horror.

Reed Tail crouched beside her and was lapping her bloody neck with urgent strokes.

Gray Wing stumbled closer. “Slate—” Her name seemed to stick in his throat. Above, the silent stars glittered. Don’t take her, he silently begged his ancestors. Were they watching? The ground swayed beneath him. Grief spread barbed claws around his heart. Not again. Wasn’t it enough he’d lost Turtle Tail?

Slate stirred. “Gray Wing?” Her mew was barely a whisper.

Gray Wing dropped to his belly beside her. As he struggled for breath, Slate opened her eyes. She stared at him blankly for a moment; then terror shot through her amber gaze. “The kits!” Fighting to stand up, she yowled across the clearing. “Silver Stripe! Black Ear! White Tail!”

Gray Wing jerked his muzzle around. Where were they?

Slate’s gaze was frantic. “We fought for them!” she gasped. “Slash came with his cats after you’d all left. We tried to drive them out of the camp. But there were too many of them.” She darted forward, scrambling this way and that across the clearing, her pelt bristling. “White Tail! Black Ear!”

“Slate?” A frightened mew sounded from the gorse wall of the camp. The branches trembled and snow showered down as a tiny dark gray tom-kit slid out. A pale gray tabby she-kit followed him, sprigs of gorse sticking out of her fur.

“Silver Stripe!” Slate ran toward them, her bloody paws staining the snow. “White Tail!”

Relief washed Gray Wing’s pelt. Two of his kits were safe.

Silver Stripe blinked at her mother as Slate stopped beside them. “We hid like you told us.”

“We hardly breathed,” White Tail whispered. Trembling, he dived beneath Slate’s belly and crouched there.

“We thought they’d killed you,” Silver Stripe wailed.

White Tail shrank deeper under his mother’s fur as Slate scooped Silver Stripe close. “You were very brave to hide when we told you to.”

“Black Ear wasn’t quick enough,” White Tail sobbed. “They saw him and grabbed him.”

Slate swung her gaze toward Gray Wing. Horror froze her face. “Black Ear!”

“I’ll find him.” Gray Wing tried to straighten, but his breath was so shallow, darkness threatened to overwhelm him.

Thunder padded to his side. “Stay here, Gray Wing. I’ll find him for you.” Determination hardened his mew.

Gray Wing gazed at him helplessly, frustration throbbing in his paws. “But they’re my kits!” he wheezed.

Thunder gazed at him solemnly. “You have done so much for me, Gray Wing. Let me do this for you.”

Gray Wing held his gaze for a moment, touched by Thunder’s warmth. “Thank you.”

Wind Runner lashed her tail. “We don’t know which way they’re headed. Thunder, Sparrow Fur, and Owl Eyes! Head toward the pines. Slash might be taking Black Ear to his old camp. Swift Minnow, you take Reed Tail and Dust Muzzle toward the river. Check the gorge and the reed beds.

I’ll take Sun Shadow, Gorse Fur, and Moth Flight to the oak forest. We’ll search the woods.”

Willow Tail lifted her chin. “I’m coming with you,” she told Wind Runner.

“And me.” Fern Leaf stood next to her friend.

Wind Runner eyed them doubtfully.

Gray Wing tensed. Surely she couldn’t reject their help?

Wind Runner flicked her tail. “You’re still recovering from your wounds, Fern Leaf,” she meowed briskly. “Stay here in camp and help Pebble Heart. Willow Tail.” She dipped her head to the pale tabby. “You can join my patrol. You know the routes the rogues use. And you’re smart and strong. We’ll need you.”

Willow Tail puffed out her chest. “I won’t let you down.”

Gray Wing tried to stand again, but his paws buckled. Rage flared through him. I can’t even save my own kit!

Pebble Heart pressed against him and nodded to Fern Leaf. “Do you know what coltsfoot looks like?” he asked the young she-cat.

Fern Leaf nodded.

“It’ll be wilted by the cold,” Pebble Heart warned her. “But you should be able to find stems.

Frost-burned ones will do. Bring them here. They’ll help Gray Wing’s breathing.” He turned to Slate.

“Get the kits into your den and keep them warm. I’ll check on your wounds when I’ve seen to Spotted Fur.”

The world swam around Gray Wing. Paws thrummed on every side. His campmates were heading for the entrance.

Thunder’s mew sounded fiercely in his ear. “I’m going to find Black Ear,” he promised. “And I’ll bring him home safe.”

Darkness closed in as Gray Wing felt the last of his strength seep into the snowy earth.