The Blazing Star

Chapter 20

Clear Sky and his companions slowed their pace when they realized that One Eye and his rogues weren’t pursuing them. Their route back to the moorland hollow had never seemed so long. Lightning Tail was bleeding from a scratch on his shoulder, and limping almost as badly as Jagged Peak. Clear Sky’s tail stung as if a rogue had bitten it, and every muscle in his body seemed to ache.

Jagged Peak was trudging along with his head down. He had no obvious injuries, but his tail drooped and he looked as if every step took great effort.

Clear Sky watched him sympathetically, but didn’t say anything. His younger brother’s first mission as leader had ended disastrously, even though it wasn’t his fault. There was no way any cat could fight against One Eye and his rogues, and escape with a whole pelt.

When they reached the camp, the rest of the cats eagerly crowded around and began questioning them.

“What happened?”

“Why are you hurt?”

“Where’s the Blazing Star?”

At first no cat replied. Clear Sky felt exhausted, his chest still heaving from the aftermath of the fight and the desperate race to escape. Lightning Tail and Jagged Peak were struggling for breath too.

The press of bodies around them made Clear Sky feel he was going to suffocate.

Then Pebble Heart wriggled his way to the front of the crowd. “Back off!” he told the other cats.

“Give them some air.”

As the other cats obeyed, Clear Sky gradually felt the tension in his chest ease, and looked around for Gray Wing. His brother was standing to one side, a couple of tail-lengths away, waiting for the excitement to die down.

Jagged Peak was the first to speak. He padded up to Gray Wing and stood in front of him with his head hanging. “I failed,” he choked out. “I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” Gray Wing asked.

“I don’t have the Blazing Star.”

Clear Sky slipped up to his side and rested his tail across his young brother’s shoulders. “One

Eye attacked us on the way back,” he explained to Gray Wing. “We had to fight him and his rogues, and we lost the Blazing Star. Jagged Peak was not to blame.”

To his surprise, though his face was grave, there was a gleam of approval in Gray Wing’s eyes.

“It’s bad news about the Blazing Star,” he meowed, “but good news about One Eye. I’m sorry you were attacked, but in a way I was hoping something like that would happen.”

“What?” Clear Sky’s tail curled up in astonishment. “You wanted One Eye to rip our pelts off?”

“Not that, of course,” Gray Wing replied. “But it’s good that you ran away. Now that he thinks we’re all a bunch of cowardly cats, he won’t be expecting any more trouble from us. And that means we can go on to the next stage of our plan.”

“And what’s that?” Clear Sky asked, his interest stirring. He refused to show his annoyance that his brother had almost accused him of cowardice.

“I’m working out the last details now,” Gray Wing told him. “Let’s all meet at sunset, and I’ll explain it to you then.”

Clear Sky’s pads itched with impatience. He opened his jaws to protest, but Gray Wing forestalled him.

“You all need to let Cloud Spots check you out,” he meowed. “And then you can rest, and eat.

Tall Shadow led a hunting patrol out, so there’s plenty of prey.”

Clear Sky’s shoulders sagged. All he wanted was to find a way of defeating One Eye, but he knew that his brother was talking sense. “Okay,” he muttered.

“And I’ll go and talk to Holly,” Jagged Peak added, still looking dejected. “I promise I won’t get too close, but I need to tell her face-to-face. I just hope she understands why I failed to bring back the Blazing Star.”

“I’m sure she will,” Gray Wing assured him. “And Jagged Peak,” he added as his young brother turned away, “you didn’t fail. You put us exactly where we need to be for my plan against One Eye to have a chance of working. Thanks to you, we have a real chance of winning this battle.”

“Let all cats gather together at the foot of the rock!”

The sun was going down, streaking the sky with scarlet, when Tall Shadow’s yowl echoed around the camp. Clear Sky watched from the tunnel he was sharing with Gray Wing as Cloud Spots and Jagged Peak emerged from Holly’s den. Lightning Tail, Mud Paws, and Dappled Pelt, who were sharing prey beneath a gorse bush, hastily swallowed the last mouthfuls and found places to sit near the rock. Mouse Ear broke off the game he was playing with Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes, and led the way to join their denmates. Shattered Ice and Thunder padded down the slope from where they had been keeping watch at the top of the hollow.

When the rest of the cats were assembled, Gray Wing and Clear Sky padded over from the den they were sharing, and thrust their way into the center of the crowd. Tall Shadow remained on her rock, her ears angled to listen while her eyes scanned the moor for intruders.

“So what is this plan, then?” Clear Sky demanded. He felt better after resting and eating, and from the burdock root Cloud Spots had put on his bitten tail, but his impatience was like ants crawling through his pelt.

Gray Wing signaled with his tail for the other cats to draw back, leaving him alone in the center of a ragged circle. Then he began to draw lines in the earth with his claws.

“Look,” he explained as Clear Sky peered closer. “Here’s the forest, and here’s the hollow where we are. There’s the Thunderpath, and there’s the river. This is the rocky outcrop where Wind Runner is living, and this is the clearing with the four oak trees. And here…” Gray Wing smacked a paw down in the middle of his drawing, then looked around inquiringly to see if any cat had gotten his point.

Clear Sky frowned in confusion. “But there… there’s nothing.”

“Exactly!” Gray Wing gave his brother a satisfied nod. “An empty space a good way away from anywhere cats live. Free, open space where a single cat on his own would be terribly vulnerable.”

Owl Eyes had crept forward and was studying the markings. His eyes stretched wide until they were as big as the eyes of the bird he was named for. “You mean… attack One Eye there?” he breathed out.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Gray Wing confirmed.

Clear Sky was aware of the cats sharing worried glances, until Thunder spoke up. “I’m not sure,” he meowed.

Gasps of astonishment came from the cats around him, and Clear Sky himself was shocked. “Is that my son talking?” he asked. “The brave warrior Thunder, with his great leaps and huge paws?

He’s really backing away from action?”

Thunder took a pace forward, glancing around the assembled cats. “We’ve seen so much death and destruction,” he explained. “The spirit-cats told us to unite or die. Maybe One Eye will be happy now that he has the forest, so we should give it to him.”

Clear Sky stared at his son, feeling that he scarcely recognized him. “You’d be happy with that, would you? Think how well you hunt in among the trees. You’d be happy never to go back there?”

Doubt clouded Thunder’s face. “I don’t know,” he confessed, scraping at the ground with one massive paw. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

“We all are,” Clear Sky retorted. “But the right thing isn’t nothing.”

“And what about Acorn Fur?” Lightning Tail asked. “I’m not going to abandon my sister to stay in the forest with One Eye.”

“Okay,” Thunder conceded, though he still didn’t look happy. “But we drive One Eye out. We don’t kill him. That would make us just as bad as he is.”

Good luck with that, Clear Sky thought, knowing how vicious the rogue was. Aloud, he said, “That’s fine with me… provided we can make him leave.”

As Thunder and Clear Sky faced each other, a she-cat’s voice rang out from the top of the hollow.

“Can I help at all?”

Lightning Tail turned around, his pelt bristling with irritation. But he said nothing.

“Who is this?” Clear Sky asked his son as the she-cat began padding gracefully down the slope.

She’s certainly a beautiful cat, he thought, admiring her golden tabby fur and her green eyes that shone brilliantly in the fading daylight.

No cat replied until the newcomer reached the bottom of the hollow. “My name is Star Flower,” she purred, giving Clear Sky a polite nod. “I’m a rogue cat looking for a home. And if there’s any fighting to be done, I’m a great cat to have on your side. Just ask Thunder…”

Every cat turned to look at Thunder. Clear Sky saw his son shifting about on his paws, looking utterly embarrassed. So that’s Star Flower! Clear Sky was unable to stifle his amusement in spite of the serious problems they were facing. Who would have thought it? Thunder is padding after this pretty she-cat!

But the other cats clearly didn’t share his amusement.

“Your help isn’t needed,” Lightning Tail meowed, still stiff and bristling. Quickly he drew a paw through the markings Gray Wing had made in the earth, though Clear Sky noticed that Star Flower had already managed to take a quick glance at them.

Star Flower met Lightning Tail’s glare. “That’s fine,” she mewed smoothly. “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted.” She began to move off.

Clear Sky opened his jaws to say something, but Thunder got there first. “Star Flower, come back!” he exclaimed.

The other cats didn’t bother to hide their murmurs of surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Thunder demanded, rounding on them. “Don’t you think we need help right now? Didn’t you hear her name? Star Flower! She is the one who told me that the Blazing Star can save us from the sickness. She might know where more is growing, and you want to turn her away?”

Star Flower halted, dipping her head modestly. “I do know a lot about the plants around here,” she purred. “But I think I should leave now. I sense that I’m not entirely welcome.”

“No, don’t go!” Thunder begged.

Clear Sky watched as Thunder and Star Flower gazed into each other’s eyes. “I’ll come back tomorrow,” the rogue she-cat promised. “Maybe by then, things will have had a chance to calm down.” She turned and padded away.

As he faced the group of cats again, Thunder’s eyes blazed with fury, and he flexed his claws angrily. “Thank you for your ‘support,’” he choked out, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“Thunder,” Clear Sky began diplomatically, “these are confusing times. It’s hard to know which cat to trust.”

“You trusted One Eye, didn’t you?” Thunder spat at him.

“Yes, and look where that got me!” Clear Sky retorted.

Thunder shook his head in disgust, and Clear Sky expected him to race off in pursuit of Star

Flower. He was surprised when the young cat showed enough maturity to stay with the group.

“So, what is our plan?” Thunder asked in a grudging tone. “We lure One Eye into the empty space on the moors and… what then?”

Gray Wing retraced his markings in the earth and then continued. “I think we should attack from all sides,” he meowed, pointing with his paw as he named each place. “From here, from Wind Runner’s home… maybe we should see if any of the forest cats will help us.”

“I’ll never believe Acorn Fur would willingly support One Eye,” Lightning Tail put in.

“Or Quick Water, either,” Tall Shadow meowed from her place on top of the rock.

“And I’m sure Petal will be on my side,” Clear Sky added.

Gray Wing nodded agreement. “I’ll ask River Ripple for his help, too.”

“That could work,” Tall Shadow pronounced from where she still sat on the rock. “But how do we get One Eye onto the moor in the first place?”

“And without his rogues,” Jagged Peak pointed out. “We can’t attack One Eye if he hides behind that mangy lot.”

Clear Sky felt a heavy weight in his belly, as if he had swallowed a rock. He knew that this was his moment to make it up to his friends for all the mistakes he had made. “Which cat does One Eye despise more than any other cat?” he asked. They all stared at him, but no cat dared utter a word, so he answered for them. “Me. One Eye taunted me when we met by the Thunderpath, saying I could never beat him. If he thinks I’ve challenged him to a one-on-one fight, he’s sure to come.

“I’ll go out there on my own,” he continued, “but you all need to make it count. If you don’t spring out in time, I’m a dead cat.”

“Clear Sky, you can’t,” Gray Wing protested. “It’s too dangerous.”

But Clear Sky had made up his mind. “I brought One Eye here, and I’ll be the one to see him thrown out again. I don’t want to die, but I won’t stand back and see other cats die, either. Let’s drive out One Eye, and then we can tackle this sickness.”

Seeing his friends’ nods of assent, and hearing a few murmurs of admiration, Clear Sky allowed a flicker of hope to awaken in his chest. We’re uniting against the rogue, he thought. Maybe this is what the spirit-cats meant.