Thunder Rising

Chapter 26

The sun was rising higher as Gray Wing led his cats across the moor. Ahead of them, the forest was a rustling green wall; the breeze carried scents of heavy green growth and prey.

Once he got going, setting the pace at a steady lope, Gray Wing found that his breathing was easy and he didn’t have any pain in his chest. “Maybe I’m really over this at last,” he mewed to Turtle Tail.

His mate twitched her ears. “Let’s hope so. But don’t you dare hide it from me again.”

Gray Wing was leading his patrol toward the edge of the forest nearest to Clear Sky’s camp. As they drew closer, his senses were alert for anything that might explain Pebble Heart’s dream. I trust him, he realized. Pebble Heart is going to be an extraordinary cat.

They passed the first of the outlying trees, and plunged into the undergrowth. As lush ferns brushed against his pelt, Gray Wing was watching for any sign of Clear Sky’s guards. But nothing halted their progress until an eerie shriek rose up in front of them, splitting the peaceful morning air.

“That was a cat!” Turtle Tail gasped.

“This way!” Wind Runner took the lead, racing toward the sound.

The shriek wasn’t repeated, but as he bounded after Wind Runner, Gray Wing could hear the faint noises of a cat in pain. He began to pick up the scent of fox. Is this Pebble Heart’s bad thing? he asked himself. Fear of what he was going to find throbbed within his heart.

Wind Runner led the way between two oak trees and vanished into a clump of ferns. As the patrol burst through after her, Gray Wing found himself in a small clearing. In the middle of a circle of trampled grass, a skinny tortoiseshell cat lay splayed out, blood trickling from wounds all over her body.

“Bumble!” Turtle Tail exclaimed. “Oh, no!”

Outstripping Wind Runner and Gray Wing, Turtle Tail raced across the clearing and flung herself down beside her friend. “Bumble, we’re here now,” she mewed, pressing her nose against Bumble’s shoulder. “We’ll help you.”

Gray Wing and the others padded across to stand beside the injured cat. The reek of fox was overwhelming now, drowning all other scents.

Bumble’s eyes were half closed and her breath came in shallow pants. Her glazed eyes were fixed on Turtle Tail.

Cloud Spots pushed forward and began to examine Bumble’s wounds. Gray Wing could see that there were slits down her belly and sides that were slowly leaking blood. Though he didn’t have Cloud Spots’s skills, Gray Wing guessed that none of the wounds alone would have killed her, but there were so many, and she was losing so much blood, that it was clear she was dying.

Cloud Spots looked up at him and gave a tiny shake of his head, confirming what Gray Wing already knew. “There’s nothing I can do,” he murmured. “This is beyond the power of any healing herbs.”

Turtle Tail shot him a grief-stricken look, and began licking at her friend’s wounds with a soothing murmur as if she were tending to her kits.

Gray Wing bent his head close to Bumble’s. “Who did this to you?” he asked. “Was it a fox?”

Bumble opened her jaws to reply, but she was so weak that only a faint sigh came out.

“I’m picking up another scent here,” Cloud Spots muttered. “Another cat…”

Gray Wing tasted the air carefully, trying to distinguish other scents beyond the stink of fox. At once he realized that Cloud Spots was right. Horror and disbelief broke over him like an avalanche of snow as he recognized the cat scent that clung to Bumble’s fur.

“Clear Sky!” he gasped. Yes! This is Pebble Heart’s bad thing, no question.

Cloud Spots’s eyes widened and he took another sniff. “You’re right,” he mewed. “I know you’re right, and I still can’t believe it.”

“I can,” Wind Runner responded grimly. She began to sniff around the circle of trampled grass. “It looks as if there was a fight here.”

“So Clear Sky did this to Bumble.” There was a sick look in Gorse Fur’s eyes. “She’s just a poor, pathetic kittypet. What could she have done to deserve this?”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Gray Wing protested, desperate to believe that his brother could be innocent. “There’s all this fox scent—”

“Don’t try to defend him!” Turtle Tail interrupted, springing to her paws. “Which cat has been determined to expand his territory, never mind who gets hurt? Clear Sky! And now he’s attacked poor Bumble.” Her voice choked and she crouched beside her friend again.

Bumble opened her jaws again and this time managed to speak, her voice a faint tendril of sound. “This was my fault. I was so hungry… I couldn’t think straight. It was stupid. I should never have hunted here…” Her voice grew shaky, blood pumping from her wounds. “The cat was only—”

“I was only warning her,” a new incisive voice interrupted.

Gray Wing spun around to see a cat half hidden among the leaves of a tree at the edge of the clearing. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out who it was. Then he stiffened as Clear Sky jumped down and paced forward toward the other cats, his eyes glaring a challenge to attack.

Even with Bumble dying beside him, Gray Wing couldn’t help admiring his brother’s bravery. What other cat would leap into the midst of a hostile group?

Gray Wing was acutely aware of the other cats around him, all of them waiting for him to take control. “Do you know anything about this, Clear Sky?” he demanded, his voice cracking as he forced out the words. “Did you injure Bumble? Or do you know who did?”

“And what about Misty’s kits?” Wind Runner snarled with a lash of her tail. “Did you kill them?”

Clear Sky was prowling around the group, his gaze shifting from cat to cat. His eyes showed mingling guilt and horror as he looked at Bumble. When Gray Wing thought that he would have to let out a screech to break the tense silence, his brother finally spoke.

“Hello to you too.” He paused and gave Gray Wing a long, hard look. Gray Wing felt as though his belly was shrinking under his brother’s gaze—a gaze that seemed to accuse him of betrayal.

“Petal is caring for Misty’s kits,” Clear Sky went on. “They’re fine. As for this cat…” He angled his ears toward the dying Bumble. “What do you think?” He looked around the group, and now it was impossible to read his expression. “Do you believe I’m capable of this?”

Gray Wing’s denmates all eyed one another nervously, as if none of them wanted to be the first to answer.

Taking a deep breath, Gray Wing drew himself up. “No,” he meowed. “I don’t believe it.”

Hisses of outrage came from Wind Runner and Gorse Fur. Gray Wing felt movement beside him and saw that Turtle Tail had stepped up to his shoulder.

“I do,” she growled, all her neck fur fluffed up. “I believe you could do this. Since I returned to the moor, I’ve heard nothing but horrible stories about the way you treat other cats. You’re power-mad, Clear Sky. You don’t care who you hurt to get what you want. And now… you’re not the cat I came down from the mountains with. You’re…” She switched her tail to and fro. “You’re an apology for a cat.”

The group exploded into yowls of agreement, pacing back and forth with their claws extended and their shoulder fur bristling, as if all their anger and hurt had to burst out somehow.

Wind Runner glared at Gray Wing. “Well, leader? What do we do now?”

Every muscle in Gray Wing’s body tensed with anxiety. If I let them know with one twitch of a whisker that I doubt Clear Sky, they’ll attack. He’ll be torn apart. But he’s my brother! And if we do that, we’re no better than he is. The life we’ve tried to build will be over.

He stepped forward between Clear Sky and his own cats, not sure which of them he was trying to protect. “Get out of here, Clear Sky,” he ordered.

Clear Sky’s eyes widened. “Then you believe I’m innocent?”

His words gave Gray Wing a tiny chink of hope. “If you didn’t harm Bumble, who did?” he asked. If only Clear Sky can explain…

“This kittypet was hunting here, in the new part of my territory,” Clear Sky began, speaking more quickly now, as if he was glad of the chance to tell the others what happened.

Gray Wing heard a low growl from Wind Runner, but to his relief she didn’t interrupt. This is no time to start arguing about boundaries!

“I wanted to give her a warning,” Clear Sky went on. “Nothing too painful, just a little cuff around her kittypet ear. How was I to know she was so weak from hunger that she would faint? But I could see her paws twitching, and I knew she would come around soon. So I left her and headed back to camp.” He paused, wincing. “Then I heard a fox bark, and I ran back. But I was too late. I was going to get help when I heard you all arrive.”

“Liar!” Turtle Tail spat out the word, shouldering Gray Wing out of the way to confront Clear Sky. Her back was arched and her pelt bristling with fury.

Clear Sky faced her, his lips drawn back in a snarl. “I won’t be spoken to like that!” For a moment he locked his gaze with Gray Wing’s, silently challenging him to speak in his defense.

What can I say? Gray Wing asked himself, staring at the furious cats. I’ll only make things worse.

When Gray Wing didn’t speak, Clear Sky gave a final flick of his tail and stalked off. “I see where I stand now,” he meowed as he went.

Gray Wing watched his brother leave. He wanted to call after Clear Sky, but he could feel the hostility from the other cats in his group. If I don’t let him leave now, there will be a fight.

Turtle Tail turned away, her tail drooping, as Clear Sky vanished into the ferns. She crouched beside Bumble, avoiding the spreading pool of blood, and began licking her head gently. “I’m here,” she murmured between licks. “I won’t leave you.”

Bumble fixed her eyes on Turtle Tail’s face. “I’m sorry if I ever hurt you,” she whispered.

“I wish you could have found happiness,” Turtle Tail replied, her voice quivering. “I know you could never have lived wild with us in the hollow, but I was so unhappy to learn how much you were suffering in the Twolegplace.”

Bumble’s eyes closed while Turtle Tail was speaking. Her breath wheezed and her face twisted with pain. Her body jerked once or twice as her breathing grew shallower still, fading with each heartbeat until her chest stopped moving.

“She’s dead,” Cloud Spots mewed.

Even though Gray Wing had never especially liked Bumble, he felt as though his heart would crack with sorrow. This isn’t just the death of a kittypet. It changes the way my cats think of Clear Sky, and that changes everything.

As he gazed, stunned, at his denmates, the most mournful sound Gray Wing had ever heard rose up into the air. It was the wail of Turtle Tail, grieving for her dead friend.

“Clear Sky told us that a fox must have killed Bumble. There was certainly fox scent all over the clearing.”

Gray Wing stood on the tall rock at the end of the hollow, with his cats gathered around him. He was coming to the end of the story of what the patrol had found when they went to the forest.

“And do you believe him?” Rainswept Flower asked.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Gray Wing confessed. “But I do know that starting a fight with Clear Sky wouldn’t help any cat.”

“So what did you do then?” Jackdaw’s Cry asked.

“We buried Bumble and came home.”

Jackdaw’s Cry let out a hiss of anger, his claws raking the grass. “You mean you let him get away with it? That’s flea-brained!”

“That’s what I told him.” Wind Runner looked just as furious, her tail lashing. “Clear Sky will just think we’re weak! Is that what we want?”

“No!” Jagged Peak yowled; Shattered Ice and Jackdaw’s Cry echoed him.

“Now, wait a moment.” Tall Shadow rose to her paws and padded into the middle of the group. “What would be really flea-brained would be to attack Clear Sky when we’re all worked up about Bumble’s death. After all, she was only a kittypet.”

“She was my friend!” Turtle Tail flashed.

“I know.” Tall Shadow’s voice was calm. “All I’m saying is, we need time to think.”

“And suppose Clear Sky won’t give us time?” Wind Runner challenged her.

Gray Wing realized he would have to intervene. He was relieved that Tall Shadow was recovering some of her old leadership skills, and she deserved his support.

“Tall Shadow is right,” he meowed. “We’ll wait, and starting tomorrow we will send out extra patrols toward the forest, so that we can keep an eye on Clear Sky.” He locked glances with Wind Runner, half expecting her to argue, but after a moment’s pause she gave him a reluctant nod.

Gray Wing was glad to see that the other cats were calming down too. He leaped from the rock and padded over to Tall Shadow. “Thank you for that,” he mewed. “You said exactly the right thing.”

Tall Shadow dipped her head. “Should we talk about this?” she suggested.

With a murmur of agreement Gray Wing led the way to the shelter of a gorse bush. The sun had set over the moor, but the sky was still streaked with scarlet. Some cats had obviously been out hunting while Gray Wing’s patrol had been away, and a pile of prey lay at the bottom of the hollow. Most of the others gathered around to start eating, while Wind Runner leaped up onto the rock to keep watch, and Turtle Tail headed to her den to see her kits.

“Tall Shadow, what do you think we should do now?” Gray Wing asked.

The black she-cat thought for a moment. Gray Wing noticed that she was looking more energized, more like the leader she had once been. She doesn’t have to worry about Moon Shadow any longer, and she knows as well as any cat that we have to deal with Clear Sky.

“Do you want to take over as leader again?” he asked.

Tall Shadow shook her head. “I’m happy to share responsibility with you, Gray Wing,” she replied. Her mouth twisting wryly, she added, “I don’t even mind much that Wind Runner has started organizing us all. She’s a valuable cat, and once all this is over I think we should welcome her and Gorse Fur formally into our group.”

“Good idea,” Gray Wing meowed, pleased that Tall Shadow was losing some of her caution around other cats. Working together is the best way forward. “We need every cat on our side.”

“As to what we do now,” Tall Shadow went on, “some cat has to stop Clear Sky, before more damage is done.”

Gray Wing nodded. “You’re right, but it won’t be easy.”

Tall Shadow gave one forepaw a thoughtful lick and drew it over her ear. “Let me think about it,” she meowed.

Fighting off a sense of foreboding, Gray Wing padded down to the prey, chose part of a hare, and carried it up to Turtle Tail’s den to share with her and the kits.

Turtle Tail was sitting at the entrance to the tunnel, her paws tucked neatly underneath her. The kits were sleeping behind her in a heap of fur.

“Are they okay?” Gray Wing asked as he set the prey down in front of her.

Turtle Tail sighed. “I think they are now. But they were upset when I had to tell them that Bumble is dead. Pebble Heart in particular took a long time to drift off.”

Gray Wing glanced at his mate, faintly surprised at the note of accusation in her voice.

“I didn’t make any of this happen,” he mewed. “We could never have accepted Bumble into our group. She wouldn’t have been able to cope.”

Turtle Tail’s shoulders sagged. “I know,” she murmured, her voice so full of grief that she could hardly get the words out. “I believe in you, Gray Wing. I know this isn’t your fault. It just broke my heart to see her lying there, bleeding. I wish things could have been different.”

Gray Wing pressed himself close to her side and covered her ears with comforting licks. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, Turtle Tail,” he murmured. “You and the kits are the most important things in my life. I never dared hope for such happiness… ,” he mewed. “After the fire, I wondered if I could carry on as leader, but you made me rest, and now I’m ready to lead again—with Tall Shadow, if that’s what she wants.”

“But how will you lead?” Turtle Tail asked, looking up and gazing into his eyes. “Innocent cats are being slaughtered—and for what? So Clear Sky and his cats can have enough to eat?”

“No,” Gray Wing replied. “I’m not sure that Clear Sky killed Bumble. I think it was the fox, and besides, I don’t believe this is about hunting anymore. Clear Sky already has more territory than any cat could possibly want. I think he has some kind of plan. I have no idea what it is, but in part of his mind, Clear Sky honestly thinks he’s doing this for a good reason.” He let out a long sigh. “Some cat has to get to the bottom of it all somehow.”

“And that cat has to be you?” Turtle Tail asked.

Gray Wing blinked at her. “What other cat is there?”