The Blazing Star (25 page)

“Come on,” she meowed to Gray Wing, beckoning him with a flick of her ears.

As Gray Wing waded out to join her, he was surprised to feel that the water was almost warm, even though it was the middle of the night.

“Why—” he began.

“The water is very shallow here,” Slate explained, guessing what he was about to say. “It sits on top of black rocks that soak up the sun's heat. Even at night the pool keeps some of the warmth. It feels good, doesn't it?”

“It feels wonderful!” Gray Wing agreed, relaxing into the gentle lapping.
Who would have thought wet paws could be so pleasant?

“The rocks around here are called slate,” the she-cat told him. “I was named after them. We can use the water to clean your pelt from that fox attack.”

Gray Wing stood still and allowed Slate to scoop water over his hind leg until the pain had almost faded away. “That feels much better,” he mewed.

“You're very lucky,” Slate told him, giving the wound a sniff. “The teethmarks haven't gone too deep.” Looking up into Gray Wing's face, she continued, “How do you like my secret hideaway? You should feel very lucky I've shared it with you. Only
special
cats are invited here.”

Gray Wing felt his pelt prickle with embarrassment. “I'm not used to any cat making such a fuss over me,” he muttered.

Slate's amber eyes stretched wide with surprise. “You don't know how respected you are?” she asked.

Now it was Gray Wing's turn to be surprised. “How do
you
know what any other cats think of me?” he asked curiously.
“You live with Wind Runner, far away from any other cats on the moor.”

“But I believe everything Wind Runner has to say,” Slate responded. “And she has a lot to say about you—all of it good.”

Gray Wing was so stunned by the she-cat's words that he didn't know what to say. Wading out of the shallow pond, he gave each paw in turn a shake. “I . . . uh . . . must get back to the hollow,” he mumbled. “They need me there.”

“Really?” Slate jumped gracefully out of the water and stood on the bank by his side. “When we met the other day, you gave me the impression that you had mixed feelings about your home in the hollow.”

Gray Wing looked at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“You just didn't seem very settled,” Slate replied with a shrug. “I mean, what were you doing wandering around on the moor by yourself at night, anyway?”

Her questions disconcerted Gray Wing. “If you must know,” he meowed defensively, “I was surveying the land.”

Slate let out a surprised
mrrow
of laughter. “You were what?”

“To find a good spot for a battle,” Gray Wing explained. A moment later, not knowing quite how it happened, he found the whole story pouring out: how One Eye had driven Clear Sky out of the forest, and how Gray Wing and his friends had planned to lure him out onto the moor and confront him. “It was my plan, and I had to make sure it was going to work,” he finished. “I just hadn't counted on meeting angry foxes in pain. . . .”

As she listened, Slate dried her fur on some of the long
grasses that grew beside the pool. “It sounds like a great plan,” she mewed as she weaved in and out among the stems. “I'd like to help.”

“No!” Gray Wing protested immediately. “This isn't your problem. We can't involve you in the fighting.”

“Who said anything about fighting?” Slate asked. “But you'll need help from Wind Runner and Gorse Fur, and they surely won't want to leave their kits alone. If they're willing to fight One Eye, then I'll look after the kits. You
had
thought about their kits' safety, hadn't you?”

“Yes, I had!” Gray Wing spluttered, realizing that he had not. “I'd be so grateful if you'd take care of them while we fight,” he went on, his head hanging in shame. “Will I ever have any reason to stop thanking you for your help? I don't seem very capable without you. . . .”

“Of course you are!” Slate reassured him. She made her way over to him and touched his shoulder with her tail-tip. “Which cat came up with the whole plan to defeat One Eye? You! Come on,” she continued. “I'll walk with you back to your hollow—you know, that place you love so much.”

Gray Wing felt curiously peaceful as he and Slate padded side by side back toward the camp. Their paw steps matched so well, and he felt as though he'd known her for seasons.

I may as well tell her everything,
he thought.

“If all goes well in the battle,” he began, “I may have the chance to explore other ideas. To try living somewhere else, even if it does mean being on my own for a while.”

Slate did not pause in her steady pacing across the moor,
but she drew closer to him so that their pelts brushed. “You don't have to be alone,” she murmured, her eyes glimmering in the moonlight.

Gray Wing felt his belly lurch.
Does she mean what I think she means?
But he couldn't reply, because no words seemed big enough to express what he was feeling.

How did I come to rely so heavily on a cat I've only just met?

C
HAPTER
22

Thunder woke to the first faint
light of dawn creeping through the entrance of his den. He stumbled to his paws and ventured into the hollow, pausing to arch his back in a good, long stretch. The air was clear and cold; every leaf and blade of grass was edged with frost.

Leaf-bare is almost here,
he thought.

When he had given his pelt a quick grooming, Thunder was ready to head out to visit Wind Runner and River Ripple, to ask for their help in the fight against One Eye.
I don't have much hope that Wind Runner will join us,
he thought doubtfully.
She made it clear that she wants to be left alone. And I'll leave the forest cats for now,
he decided, remembering how any cat who crossed the border had been attacked when Clear Sky first took over. One Eye was likely to be even more aggressive in guarding his territory.
Maybe I can work out how to speak to some of them when our plans are in place.

As he padded toward the edge of the hollow, Thunder was surprised to see Gray Wing perched on Tall Shadow's rock. He veered over to talk to him.

“Can you see anything?” Thunder called from the foot of the rock.

Gray Wing shook his head. “Everything's quiet.”

For a moment the two cats fell silent, but Thunder felt too disturbed not to say what was in his heart. “Why did you leave, Gray Wing?” he blurted out. “I need you!”

Gray Wing narrowed his eyes as he gazed down at Thunder. “You don't need me,” he responded. “If you keep believing that you do, it will hold you back.”

I wonder if that's true,
Thunder thought uncomfortably, not wanting to accept his kin's words. “But you'll stay now, won't you?” he asked.

Gray Wing twitched one ear, gazing far out across the moor. There was something in his eyes that Thunder couldn't read. Before he could respond, Lightning Tail popped out of his den and bounded over to Thunder's side. “I'm coming with you,” he announced roughly.

Thunder suppressed a hiss of irritation.
Why does Lightning Tail think I'll want him with me, after the way he treated Star Flower?
But then Thunder reminded himself how often Lightning Tail had been there for him.
Our bond is too important for us to fight now. Lightning Tail will come around. When he gets to know Star Flower better, he'll realize his suspicions are unfounded.
“Okay,” he mewed.

Gray Wing looked down again from his perch. “You'd better get going. The sooner we know who will help us with this, the better.”

Thunder's thoughts were still with Gray Wing as he headed across the moor with Lightning Tail by his side. He didn't feel like talking, and it was Lightning Tail who broke the silence in a disbelieving tone. “You're not even going to apologize?”

Surprised, Thunder halted and stared at him. “Apologize? For what?”

“You know very well,” Lightning Tail retorted with a lash of his tail. “You left the group vulnerable when you went off . . . cavorting with that
rogue
.”

Anger began to swell up inside Thunder. “Don't call her that!” he hissed.

“Why? That's what she is,” Lightning Tail asserted. “And you'd better remember that. She's not one of us.”

Now Thunder had to make a massive effort to hold on to his anger and not lash out at his denmate. “What do you mean by ‘one of us'?” he asked. “Being one of the original cats from the mountains, or being born in the hollow?”

Lightning Tail sputtered for a moment, as if he hadn't expected that question. “Well . . . yes, that's a pretty good definition,” he managed to say at last.

“Then I'm not ‘one of us,' either,” Thunder spat. “I was born in the Twolegplace! My mother was a rogue, and I would have been one, too, if Gray Wing hadn't taken me in.”

“But that's different—” Lightning Tail protested.

“Maybe that's why Star Flower and I have such a deep connection,” Thunder went on, dismissing his friend's words with a flick of his tail. “In our hearts, we both know that we're outsiders.”

“That's ridiculous!” Lightning Tail exclaimed. “You only just met her. And you're not an outsider.”

“I don't want to talk about this anymore,” Thunder meowed, sinking his claws into the ground to stop himself
from catching Lightning Tail with a blow over the ear. “I'm leader of the group, and I'm certainly capable of deciding who to spend my time with.”

There was a hurt expression in Lightning Tail's eyes. “So that's how it is, then? Other cats' opinions don't count for anything?”

Thunder didn't respond, but merely turned his back and stalked on across the moor. He realized that Lightning Tail hadn't followed him, and for a moment he was afraid that his denmate would go home. Then he heard a patter of paw steps as Lightning Tail ran to catch up and padded along just behind him.

Gray Wing had told Thunder where to find the rocky outcrop in which Wind Runner had made her den. But before he reached it, he spotted Wind Runner herself beside a small pool, slinking out from a patch of reeds with a mouse in her jaws. She stopped and waited for Thunder and Lightning Tail to approach her, but there was no welcome in her eyes.

“What do you want?” she asked, setting down her prey.

“We're sorry to bother you,” Thunder meowed, dipping his head politely. “How are your kits doing?”

“Better,” Wind Runner replied tersely. “But we're seeing more and more sick prey.”

“That's partly why I'm here,” Thunder told her. “You remember the Blazing Star plant the spirit-cats told us about? We think it might be a cure for the sickness.”

Wind Runner's eyes stretched wide. “You think you've found a cure? Well, who's gone to look for the flower?”

“Some of our cats tried yesterday, but One Eye attacked them,” Thunder began. “And we haven't tried again yet.”

“Why not?” Wind Runner snapped.

“Because we have another problem,” Thunder told her. “We've come to ask for your help.”

Wind Runner was instantly suspicious. “What for?”

“That evil rogue cat, One Eye, has driven Clear Sky out of his group,” Thunder explained. “We have a plan to defeat him, but we'll need all the help we can get.”

Wind Runner's eyes seemed to glaze over. “You want my help in battle to aid . . . Clear Sky? Are you mouse-brained?” Thunder opened his jaws to start giving her reasons, but the brown she-cat cut him off with a snarl. “No.”

“But remember what the spirit-cats said,” Thunder urged her. “Unite or die! We need to help each other.”

“No,” Wind Runner repeated, her tone implacable. “I left your group to protect my family, and that's what I'm doing. We have a perfectly nice life here.”