The First Battle

Chapter 21

A voice buzzed in Clear Sky’s mind, blocking everything else out. You’re weak. You don’t deserve to lead other cats. You can’t even kill.

“Clear Sky?” Petal was staring at him.

Clear Sky returned her gaze numbly. “Just go,” he growled.

Snake cocked his head, eyes clouding with confusion. “It’s over?”

“Who won?” Nettle padded toward his leader.

Clear Sky hissed at him. “No cat won!”

Nettle glanced at Petal uncertainly. “Now what?”

She shrugged. “I guess we go back to camp.” She turned and headed for the slope.

Clear Sky hardly heard her. He was watching Thunder pick his way between the bodies.

“What would Stoneteller say?” The young tom stared hollow-eyed at the fallen cats, stiffening as his gaze fell on an orange pelt, sticky with blood. “Hawk Swoop?” He stopped, nudging her with his muzzle. “You can’t be dead… How can you be dead?”

Lightning Tail raced to Thunder’s side, while Acorn Fur hung back, her eyes brimming with grief.

“Hawk Swoop?” Lightning Tail crouched beside his mother, his flanks trembling.

Clear Sky looked away. “They’re acting like kits,” he muttered.

“They are kits.” Gray Wing’s mew sounded beside him. His brother had staggered to his side and was staring at Thunder and Lightning Tail. “They’re her kits.”

“Thunder is Storm’s kit,” Clear Sky snapped.

“But Hawk Swoop was the cat who raised him,” Gray Wing murmured.

Clear Sky’s heart twisted. I did this to my son. He pushed the thought away and glared at Snake. The rogue was lingering beside Fircone’s body. “Why are you still standing there? I said leave,” he growled sharply. “All of you—get back to camp!”

Snake heaved Fircone over with a paw. “What about the dead?”

“They’re not going anywhere,” Clear Sky muttered.

Snake padded across the clearing and nosed Dappled Pelt away from Leaf. “We can look after our own.”

As Dappled Pelt backed off, Snake helped Leaf to his paws. Taking Leaf’s weight against his shoulder, he helped him limp toward the slope.

Dappled Pelt called after them. “Put some spider’s web on the wound to stop the bleeding.”

Quick Water eyed her warily and followed Snake. Nettle, Dew, and Thorn padded after her, the other rogues at their heels. Their tails dragged over the dry earth, leaving blood in their wake.

“Gray Wing? Are you okay?”

Clear Sky stiffened, his heart quickening, as Shattered Ice padded toward them. He suddenly realized he was alone with the moor cats.

Gray Wing lifted his head, his chest trembling as he struggled for breath, which rattled like dry grass. “I’ll be okay,” he growled. “I just need to rest.”

“I’ll get you some coltsfoot.” Dappled Pelt hurried across the clearing and began to climb the slope.

“Go with her,” Gray Wing told Shattered Ice. His gaze flicked to Lightning Tail. Clear Sky saw that tufts of fur hung from the young tom’s pelt, which was matted with blood. “Go back to the hollow and get Cloud Spots to treat your wounds.”

Lightning Tail nodded and pulled himself away from Hawk Swoop. Acorn Fur watched him, quivering. He padded slowly past the bodies and touched his nose to her cheek. “Come on.” Gently, he began to guide her up the slope.

Tall Shadow crossed the clearing and stopped in front of Gray Wing. “I’m not leaving you with him.” She shot a look at Clear Sky.

He flinched at the hate in her gaze.

Thunder looked up from Hawk Swoop’s body, his eyes glistening in the darkness. “I’m not leaving until she’s buried,” he growled.

Gray Wing dipped his head.

Wind Runner stepped forward. “Nor me.” She glanced around the bodies.

Gorse Fur stood beside her. “Then I’m staying too.”

Clear Sky stared at him bleakly. “What for?”

Wind Runner answered. “We will sit with our camp mates while there is warmth in their bodies,” she growled. “We owe them that much.”

Clear Sky swallowed. This battle was supposed to prove that he could decide his own borders, and take as much territory as his cats needed to survive. But it hadn’t proven a thing, except that the moor cats were as willing to fight to the death as the forest cats. He watched Thunder rest his chin on Hawk Swoop’s flank. Then he spotted Falling Feather’s body; Jackdaw’s Cry was slumped across it. He’d known these cats since kithood. He’d traveled from the mountains with them. Had they really come here only to die?

A leaf drifted down and landed on Rainswept Flower’s body. Did I kill you? Clear Sky’s thoughts blurred as he tried to remember the battle. Rage had pulsed through him so fiercely, it felt like another cat had been fighting, not him. Then he had come face to face with Gray Wing. He was at my mercy. And I couldn’t kill him.

Clear Sky swayed on his paws, dizzy with confusion.

Ferns swished near the top of the hollow. He jerked up his gaze. Was Dappled Pelt back already? The fronds rippled as a pelt moved through them. Clear Sky narrowed his eyes, glancing at Gray Wing. “Who’s coming?”

Gray Wing lifted his head numbly. His nosed twitched. “River Ripple.”

Clouds still covered the moon and shadow gripped the hollow but, as the long-furred tom stepped into the clearing, Clear Sky recognized his silver pelt. “What are you doing here?” he asked gruffly. This was none of the rogue’s business.

River Ripple glanced around the bodies. “I watched the battle.”

Thunder stared at the rogue. “And you didn’t try to help?”

“Who would I have helped?” Sadness glistened in River Ripple’s eyes as he leaned down to sniff Fircone’s body. “This battle was not mine.” He turned to Clear Sky, his gaze sharpening. “Why did you leave the mountains? Did you need something to fight over so badly? Before you came, we hunted and slept and lay in the sun. We fought over prey, but no cat ever killed another.” He blinked. “You brought death here.”

Clear Sky met his gaze stubbornly, trying to ignore the shame that burned beneath his pelt. “This wasn’t my fault,” he insisted. “I just wanted to make sure there was enough prey for every cat.”

River Ripple glanced down at Fircone’s body. “There’ll be plenty now,” he muttered dryly.

Fur brushed the ground beside Clear Sky. Gray Wing had dropped into a crouch. His breath was hoarse, thickening his mew as he spoke. “We let it go too far.”

Tall Shadow growled. “There never would have been a battle if Clear Sky hadn’t started setting borders.”

River Ripple dipped his head. “It’s done now.”

“What next?” Wind Runner lifted her chin. “I’ll fight again if that’s what it takes to make the moor safe for my kits.”

Gorse Fur looked at her, his ear twitching. “You fought well, but the moor isn’t worth it. We can take the kits somewhere else.”

“Never.” Wind Runner glared at her mate. “The moor is our home now.”

Clear Sky narrowed his eyes. “And the forest is mine,” he snapped. “I was just fighting to defend it.”

Wind Runner jerked around to stare at him. “You were fighting to take our land too. You’re greedy.”

“No.” Gray Wing blinked. “Clear Sky was never greedy. In the mountains he gave his food up for Fluttering Bird. No cat changes that much.”

Clear Sky stared at Gray Wing, surprised.

Gray Wing returned his gaze. “Why can’t we live side by side, in peace?”

As he spoke the wind lifted. The clouds cleared from the moon and starlight drenched the clearing, sparkling on the pelts of the fallen cats, turning them silver.

Clear Sky stiffened as he saw something else move on the slope. Who is it now? He strained to see over the ferns and caught sight of a pair of eyes.

His breath caught in his throat.

A cat was heading into the hollow. She stared at him, her gentle gaze so familiar that it broke his heart to return it.

It can’t be!

She padded into the clearing, her silver pelt sleek in the moonlight.

She’s dead.

Clear Sky’s fur prickled along his spine. “Storm? Is that you?”