Tallstar’s Revenge

Chapter 34

Talltail woke in the wool-lined hollow between the oak roots. He could feel Jake breathing beside him, his pelt warm where their fur touched. He lifted his head, tasting the air. The icy chill had gone, replaced by dampness. The musty aroma of dying leaves flooded the nest.

“Jake.” Talltail nudged the kittypet. Unfrozen, the cat scents they’d found last night would be much stronger. He hopped out of the nest, his paws sliding on the soggy leaves that had crunched underpaw yesterday.

Jake blinked open his eyes. “What is it?” He yawned.

“The weather’s changed,” Talltail told him. “There might be a trail we can follow.”

Jake scrambled out of the nest, his nose twitching. He glanced at the remains of the squirrel Talltail had caught last night and licked his lips. “Should we hunt first?”

Talltail blinked. “We can hunt later.” We have to check those scents! Heart quickening, Talltail headed for the trail Jake had led him along yesterday, mouth open, tasting for scents. He smelled moldy bark and damp leaves. Prey-scent hung heavy on the air, and the stale tang of fox.

Jake trotted after him. “Can you remember where they were?”

How could I forget? Talltail’s fur rippled along his spine. It was his first real evidence that he was on the trail of the rogues. If it is the rogues. He broke into a run. He recognized Sparrow’s scent before he’d even reached the beech where the rogues had sheltered. Loosened by the mild frost, the smell flooded the damp air, stale but clear. Talltail skidded to a halt beside the flattened leaves where the rogues had clearly spent more than one night. In the pale dawn light he noticed the bones of prey scattered nearby and spotted a thin film of fur clinging to the craggy bark at the base of the tree.

Jake stopped beside him, panting. “I thought I’d lost you for a moment,” he puffed.

“I had to know if it was them.” Talltail stood with his legs braced, his old rage surging back as Sparrow’s scent filled his nose. He could taste Reena’s scent too, and Bess’s. A pang tugged his heart as he remembered how welcoming he’d been when the rogues had first arrived. How could he have been so foolish and trusting? He should have known they were trouble the moment they set paw on WindClan territory. Why didn’t his Clanmates understand the threat of letting strangers into the camp? Rabbit-brains! They believed the rogues were their friends, even after Sparrow had caused Sandgorse’s death! Talltail curled his claws into the soft earth, a growl rumbling in his throat. I’ll make you sorry!

“Talltail?” Jake was staring at him. “Are you okay?”

Talltail flicked the tip of his tail. “I’m fine,” he muttered. “I just want to find those cats.”

Jake dipped his head. “We’ll find them,” he promised.

Talltail paced the edge of the abandoned nest until he found a scent trail leading away between the trees. It was old, but still strong enough to track. Pelt pricking, he began to follow it.

“Where are we going?” Jake called.

“Can’t you smell their trail?”

Jake caught up. “I can only smell trees and leaves.” He stuck out his tongue. “There are so many new scents out here. It’s hard to tell them apart.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Talltail glanced at Jake, suddenly realizing that the tom was supposed to be going home. “Aren’t you heading back to Twolegplace?” he asked.

Jake blinked at him. “What? Now that we’ve found the trail? I can’t leave you to face Sparrow alone.”

“But this is my mission. I should…” Talltail’s mew trailed away. He didn’t want Jake to go. He searched the kittypet’s green gaze. “You don’t have to come.”

“I want to!” Jake shifted his paws, adding quietly, “If you don’t mind, that is.”

Talltail glanced at the ground, feeling hot. “I don’t mind,” he murmured. “It’s good to have company.”

“That’s settled, then.” Jake marched away, tail high. “I know it’s your mission, and I won’t put my whiskers where they don’t belong.” He plunged past a clump of shriveled ferns. “But I can help you track Sparrow down. After that, it’s up to you.”

Talltail purred. “Thanks, Jake.” He tasted the air. “Er, you do know that you’re heading the wrong way, don’t you?” The scent trail headed along a ridge in the forest floor. Jake was tramping uphill, veering away through the trees.

Jake stopped and tasted the air. “I am?” His ears flattened. “Maybe you should lead the way,” he mewed.

Amused, Talltail headed along the ridge, his paws slipping on the layer of decaying leaves. He was used to grass and peat, firm turf that sprang beneath his feet. Jake trotted beside him, more at ease with the slippery trail, until brambles started to crowd the path.

“Ow!” Jake tripped over a prickly tendril, hopping on three legs and shaking his injured paw.

“Are you okay?” Talltail stopped and sniffed Jake’s leg. No blood scent.

“I’d be better if that hadn’t tripped me up.” Jake glared at the bramble.

Talltail scanned the woods. The scent trail headed through bracken where fallen branches and rotting logs crisscrossed the forest floor, echoing the tangled canopy above. The rogues seemed to tackle every obstacle head-on, moving forward regardless of the territory.

“Come on.” Talltail padded around the bramble, watching for spiky tendrils. He hopped over a fallen branch and pushed his way into the bracken. Broken stems showed the rogues’ trail, tainted with their scent. A decaying tree lay across the path and he scrambled over it, his paws slipping on the slimy moss. On the other side, the ground turned boggy. Talltail slowed as the sucking mud dragged at his paws.

“I thought you said that rogues chose the easiest path,” Jake grunted, shaking mud from his forepaw.

“It was probably frozen when they passed,” Talltail guessed.

“Can you tell how old the scents are?” Jake scrambled onto harder ground and shook crumbs of leaf litter from his whiskers.

“No. The smell’s quite fresh,” Talltail told him. “But the frost might have preserved it.” He glanced at the sky, gray above the treetops. “Come on.” He pulled his paws free of the cloying mud. “If it starts raining, the scents might be washed away.”

The trees here were younger and thicker, their leaf-bare branches jutting low to the ground. Talltail had to keep low, ducking one branch and leaping another like a squirrel. He heard wood crack and split as Jake blundered after him. Talltail stopped and turned, breathless, as they reached a clearing.

“This is tough going—” Jake’s gaze flashed with alarm. “Look out!” He barged past Talltail, his orange pelt bushing out.

Where are you going? Talltail whipped around. A dark russet shape was blazing toward them. Fox!

Jake hurled himself in its path as the fox lunged at Talltail. The kittypet reared up and slashed at the fox’s muzzle. The fox ducked away, showing its sharp, yellow teeth, then sprang at Jake again. Quick as a bird, Talltail shot forward, slicing the fox’s muzzle. The fox yelped, eyes sparking with rage. Talltail felt fur brush his flank. Jake was beside him. Talltail reared up on his hind legs as the fox attacked again. Jake reared up too. Talltail launched a flurry of blows at the fox and Jake joined in.

The fox snapped at them—one side, then the other. Talltail’s claws hooked flesh, and he felt blood spurt against his cheek. The fox yelped, then growled, its eyes narrowing. Talltail’s heart lurched. We’re just making it angry! He glanced sideways at Jake. Eyes narrow, ears flat, Jake was hissing as viciously as any warrior. He slammed a front paw against the fox’s muzzle. Talltail matched his blow. They fell into a steady rhythm, lashing out at the fox with relentless fury. Then Talltail stumbled over a fallen twig. He lost his balance and dropped onto all fours. Jake dropped beside him. Talltail let the momentum take him down to the ground and rolled all the way over. Jake rolled with him, and they leaped to their paws beside the fox’s flank and began swiping again. The fox shrieked.

“He can’t fight us both!” Talltail yowled with a rush of triumph.

“Can you hold him while I go for his tail?” Jake called back.

“Not for long.” Talltail gritted his teeth and lashed out even more fiercely as Jake darted toward the fox’s haunches and clamped his teeth around the base of its tail. Talltail heard a crunch as Jake bit down hard. The fox writhed, yelping, and as Jake let go, it tore past Talltail and fled away through the trees. Talltail dropped onto all fours, panting. His forepaw stung where the fox’s teeth had grazed it.

“Did it hurt you?” Jake was at his side in a moment, sniffing for wounds.

“Just a scratch.” Talltail showed him the scrape along his paw. “Not deep. Barkface would treat it with dock.”

“I’ll find some.” Jake trotted away past the ferns. He was back a few moments later with a wad of dock in his jaws. He dropped it at Talltail’s paws. Lumps of fur were sticking out around Jake’s neck, and his orange pelt was darkened with spots of blood.

Talltail sat down. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve had worse wounds from next door’s tom.” He dipped his head to show Talltail a long-healed nick in his ear.

Talltail sniffed it, a rush of gratitude sweeping through him as Jake’s warm scent touched his nose. “Thank you, Jake,” he murmured.

“What for?” Jake straightened up.

“You saved my life.” Talltail paused. “Again.”

Jake purred. “No problem.” He sniffed the dock. “Do you wrap this around your paw or what?”

“You chew it and lick it into the wound,” Talltail told him. Jake wrinkled his nose. Talltail’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “It’s okay. I can do it myself.” He grabbed a leaf in his jaws and began chewing.

Jake watched as he pulped it and worked it into the scratch with his tongue. “Will that really make it better?”

“It’ll stop the wound from going bad,” Talltail meowed.

Jake waited until Talltail had used up all of the leaf. “Can you walk?” he asked.

Talltail’s wound stung and his hind leg ached where he’d strained it, rearing up. But he wanted to keep following the rogues’ scent. A heavy shower might wash it away. “I’m fine,” he insisted. He limped across the clearing, sniffing the ground, his tail twitching as he picked up Reena’s scent. Algernon’s and Sparrow’s mingled with it, and he could smell Bess and Mole, too. He followed the trail through a hawthorn bush and past a gorse thicket, stumbling as leaves slid beneath his paws. Jake darted to his side, pressing against him.

“Lean on me,” he ordered.

“I’m okay,” Talltail meowed, but he let some of his weight rest against Jake’s soft shoulder. They padded on through the forest, Talltail sniffing for scent, Jake watching the ground for twigs and ruts. Talltail slowed as he saw the forest lighten ahead. They must be near the edge.

Jake stiffened beside him. “Can you hear that?”

Talltail pricked his ears. A buzzing, like swarming bees, hummed in the distance. “What is it?” A Thunderpath stench touched his nose, but the noise was too whiny to be monsters.

“It sounds like a grass-cutter,” Jake told him.

Talltail blinked at him. “A what?”

“The Twolegs use them to shave the grass.”

Twolegs are rabbit-brains. Talltail strained to see past the trees. “Why would they be using one here?”

Jake sniffed. “Perhaps there’s a den beyond the trees.”

“Let’s find out.”

They crept through the trunks, slowing as they neared the edge of the woods. Talltail flattened his ears as the buzzing pierced his pelt, much louder now. The ground trembled beneath his paws. As they broke from the trees, Talltail halted. A hillside sloped past them. The grass had been churned into wide circles of mud as though huge claws had reached down and raked it. The Thunderpath stench was so strong, Jake coughed. “That’s not a grass-cutter,” he choked. “What is it?”

The buzzing had grown to a roar—to countless roars, which were rolling toward them over the crest of the slope.

“We should stick to the side of the woods,” Jake suggested hoarsely. “It might be quieter at the bottom of the valley.”

Talltail could feel him trembling. The ground trembled even more. “Perhaps we should head back into the forest,” he growled over the noise. “We can pick up the trail farther down—” He stopped as a deafening roar exploded around them, so loud that it blasted them to the spot.

Three huge shapes were speeding over the rise, bouncing over the churned grass toward them. Each ran on two black spinning paws that threw up mud in a wave behind them. Twolegs sat astride, hunkered down over the monsters’ dirt-spattered bodies. Talltail froze, choking as Thunderpath stench rolled over him. Heat pulsed toward him.

StarClan, help us! Talltail closed his eyes as a heavy lump of mud hit his flank. More sprayed his cheek. He flinched away, pressing himself against Jake, and braced for searing pain and darkness to swamp him.

The roaring eased. Talltail peered through slitted eyes as mud rained down around them. The monsters were lurching away, heading downslope until they disappeared around the corner of the trees. Talltail struggled to get his breath, his flank throbbing where earth had battered it. “Jake?” He lifted his head. “Jake, are you hurt?” He could feel the kittypet pressing stiffly against him.

“You crow-brains!”

That’s not Jake. Talltail looked up. On the slope above, a tom glared down at them. With a gasp, Talltail recognized the creamy, brown pelt of Algernon.

Reena stood beside him, her eyes round with shock. “Why didn’t you run? You could have been killed!”

Algernon swished his tail. “You just stood there like lumps of wood!” He paused, his eyes widening. “Tallpaw?”

Reena pushed past him. “Tallpaw!” She pricked her ears. “Is that you?”