Tallstar’s Revenge

Chapter 36

“Aren’t you used to forest hunting yet?” Reena called over her shoulder as she streaked ahead, zigzagging between the trees. She was chasing a squirrel.

Talltail stumbled on a stone that rocked beneath his paw. He blinked with surprise as Jake overtook him, leaping a frosty log and gaining on Reena. “How’d you get so good at this?” Talltail puffed, dodging a branch a moment before it hit his muzzle.

“It’s a bit like alley running.” Jake disappeared through a wall of bracken.

Talltail pelted after him, the stems crunching as he dived through them. Milky sunshine seeped through gray cloud. An icy wind whipped flecks of snow through the trees. He had lost sight of Reena through the bracken. As he plunged after her, he heard her angry mew ahead.

“Dog dirt!”

He broke from the stems to see her staring up the trunk of an ash tree. Above, a fluffy tail flicked away between the branches.

Jake circled beside her. “Can you climb up after it?”

“Not that high,” Reena mewed sulkily.

Talltail stopped beside them, his flanks heaving. “Why don’t we try the field?”

Jake stared at him. “The one with the monsters?”

Reena dragged her gaze away from the disappearing squirrel. “They won’t be there today,” she meowed. “They only come sometimes.”

“Great.” Talltail tasted the air, picking up the scent of grass, and headed past the tree. He was sick of struggling through woodland. A run across the field would help stretch his muscles. Sleeping so close to Sparrow had knotted them until it ached to stand still. The wind might blow my thoughts clear, too. He’d spent most of the night wondering how to take his revenge on Sparrow. One plan replaced another until his head hurt. None of them seemed right. The only thing he was sure of was that he had to gain Sparrow’s trust enough to get him alone.

Does he trust me already? It was hard to tell what the brown rogue was thinking. His pale stare gave nothing away. I don’t even know if he realizes he caused Sandgorse’s death.

Anger flared in Talltail’s belly and he broke into a run. “I see the field!” he called to Reena and Jake.

The pale dawn brightened the trees ahead. Talltail scrambled around a clump of ferns, paws skidding on the icy leaves. Digging in with his claws, he raced for the light, excitement surging through him as he broke onto frost-whitened grass. The slope stretched ahead. Looking up the hillside, he could see the scars the monsters had left behind. Thunderpath stench pricked his nose as he headed across the slope.

“Wait for us!” Reena caught up first, Jake reaching them a moment later.

“Are you really going to catch a rabbit?” Jake panted.

“If I can find one.” Talltail opened his mouth and let the snow-flecked wind spray his tongue. He tasted the familiar musk of rabbit. “Come on.” He led the way across the grass.

Reena purred. “It’s great having young cats to hunt with.” Her eye caught Talltail’s. “And I’m glad you’ve stopped being such a grumpy old badger.”

Jake fell in beside her. “Talltail’s not grumpy.”

Talltail glanced at his friend. Should he remind Jake how bad-tempered he’d been when the Twoleg had locked him in Jake’s den?

“When I was staying with WindClan,” Reena recalled, “I hardly dared talk to him. I was scared of getting my head bitten off!”

“We’re here to chase rabbit, remember?” Talltail muttered, memories of his grief flooding back.

“See?” Reena flicked her ears at Jake. “Grumpy old badger.”

“He’s not grumpy with me.” Jake wound past Talltail, lifting his tail.

Reena shrugged and sat down. “Any sign of rabbit?” she asked Talltail.

“They must still be asleep.” The sun was lifting above the horizon. The wind whisked the frosty grass, scattering tiny dots of snow.

“I wish they’d wake up.” Jake sighed. “I’m hungry.”

“You’re probably missing kittypet food.” Reena licked her paw.

“Maybe,” Jake conceded. “Catching your food is hard work.”

It’s even harder when you’ve elders and kits to hunt for, too. Talltail’s pelt pricked as he wondered how WindClan was surviving leaf-bare. Had they stocked enough prey? Colder weather was on the way and without the tunnels to hunt in, prey might be scarcer than Heatherstar had predicted.

It’s their problem now. I just have to look after myself. And Jake. He looked at his friend, wondering how long they had together before the kittypet returned to his Twoleg. A sharp pain stabbed his heart.

“Aren’t you embarrassed?” Reena asked Jake suddenly.

Jake blinked at her. “Embarrassed?”

“About being a kittypet.”

“Why?” He sounded confused.

“Taking food from a Twoleg.” Reena’s wide gaze was curious. “It’s undignified for a cat.”

“Is it?” Jake tipped his head on one side.

“A cat should rely on itself, not the kindness of Twolegs,” Reena argued.

“I was born a kittypet,” Jake pointed out. “I’m not doing any harm.” He stared across the field. “And if I’m eating kittypet food, it means there’s more prey for rogues like you.” He nodded toward a distant tussock. “Did something move over there?”

Talltail followed his gaze. “Yes!” His paws pricked as he saw rabbit ears twitch in the grass downslope. He flicked his tail at Reena. “See?” he challenged. “Even a kittypet has the same instincts as we do.”

Reena’s eyes sparkled. “I bet he can’t catch it, though.” She padded past Talltail, her tail brushing his flank. “Not like you.”

Talltail’s fur rippled. He glanced self-consciously at Jake, but Jake was staring across the field at the twitching ears.

“What now?” Jake asked.

Talltail waved his tail upslope. “You two head up there and circle around it.”

“Like we caught the thrush!” Jake’s eyes glowed.

Talltail nodded. “I’ll stalk it from here. Then we’ll see which way it runs.”

As Reena and Jake headed uphill, Talltail dropped into a crouch and ran low, as fast as a swooping hawk. The wind streamed past his ears and filled them with snow till he could only hear his own heartbeat. As he neared the rabbit he stopped and watched. It was munching the tips of the grass, lifting its head from time to time to peer nervously around. Talltail glanced upslope. Reena was nudging Jake into a crouch until they were both stalking low, circling wide around their prey and halting a little way past it.

Talltail lifted his head just high enough to catch Jake’s eye. Jake stared at him, questioning. Talltail nodded. Jake and Reena stalked forward. Talltail closed in. The rabbit was halfway between them, head down, ears flattened now against its spine. The warm smell of it bathed Talltail’s tongue. His belly rumbled. He padded closer, gaze fixed on its brown pelt. He glimpsed the ginger and orange pelts of Reena and Jake beyond. Another few paces and he’d be within pouncing distance. He quickened his step, eager to reach it before Reena. He wanted to carry this catch home to the rogues. It would help earn Sparrow’s trust.

If only the brown rogue would choke on it.

Rage stirred as Talltail realized he was hunting for the cat who’d killed his father. A growl rumbled in his throat. The rabbit lifted its head, eyes sparking with panic. It heard me! Furious, Talltail leaped for it. The rabbit shot away, eyes widening in terror as it spotted Jake and Reena lunging from the other side. It headed downhill, pelting through the thickening snowfall.

Talltail hared after it, his paws thrumming, wind howling in his ears. The field sloped steeper. He narrowed his eyes against the snow, his gaze focused on the brown pelt of the rabbit.

“Talltail!” A panicked yowl sounded from behind.

Reena? He could hardly hear for the wind and the roaring of the blood in his ears. It felt great to be tearing over the grass again, the scent of prey in his nose, no branches to trip on, no trees to swerve around. He was gaining on the rabbit easily. Just so long as it didn’t have a burrow to dive down. And even if it did, he could chase it inside. I’m a tunneler’s son. With a rush of triumph Talltail sprang and landed squarely on the rabbit.

“Talltail!” Reena’s terrified shriek sounded through the wind as he skidded down the slope, snow spraying from beneath his paws. He grabbed the rabbit in his jaws and, swinging it up, crunched through its spine. It stopped struggling and hung limply in Talltail’s mouth.

Reena was racing toward him. Jake’s orange pelt flashed behind. “Don’t move!” Reena screeched.

“Why?” Talltail dropped the rabbit and stared as Reena scrambled to a halt a tail-length ahead of him.

“Just walk toward me,” Reena ordered.

Bewildered by the terror in her eyes, Talltail picked up the rabbit and padded toward her. She weaved around him, herding him farther up the slope, her pelt bristling.

“What’s wrong?” Talltail asked.

“You nearly went over the edge,” Reena croaked.

“What edge?” Talltail glanced back through the blizzarding snow.

“That’s a cliff.”

“Like the gorge?” Talltail stiffened, remembering his first day as an apprentice, when he nearly fell into the river.

“Worse.” Swallowing, Reena padded warily forward.

Talltail followed her, stopping when she stopped and peering over the edge of a steep, sandy cliff. Through the snow, he saw monsters hurtling below them along a huge Thunderpath. It cut through the gorge like a wide, angry river. He flinched as wind from the monsters’ backs ruffled his whiskers.

“You stopped just in time.” Jake halted beside him and stared down. His ears flattened when he saw the monsters streaming along the gorge, teeming like fish in a river. “You would have been killed if you’d fallen down there.”

Talltail swallowed. He’d nearly died! The snow had hidden the Thunderpath’s sound and scent. He was lucky he’d caught up with the rabbit when he did. Another tail-length… He pictured plunging down, down, down, a monster hurtling toward him. He closed his eyes. I could have been killed.

An idea flared inside his mind. He trembled, not with fear but excitement. That’s how I’ll do it! All he had to do was lure Sparrow here. One push and the murdering rogue would plunge down beneath the paws of a monster.

Talltail’s heart pounded in his chest. Sandgorse! I promised you I’d avenge your death. Sparrow will never harm another cat again.