The Blazing Star (31 page)

Birch blinked up at him. “Where's Petal?” he asked.

Clear Sky's heart ached. “She's gone back to camp,” he lied, fixing Cloud Spots with a gaze that forbade the other tom to contradict him.
They're too weak to bear the truth now. I'll tell them when they're stronger.
He wondered what had happened to the expedition led by Gray Wing and Tall Shadow.
They can't get back with that plant soon enough.

Birch sighed and snuggled down in the nest again, pressing himself close to his sister.

“Should we move them back to camp?” Clear Sky asked.

Cloud Spots shook his head. “They're better than Petal, but they're still not doing well. They need the Blazing Star. Besides, it's best to keep the kits away from the cats who are still healthy.”

Clear Sky nodded. “When we've buried Petal, Shattered Ice can go find Gray Wing and ask him to let us have some of the flowers.”

Leaving Cloud Spots with the kits, Clear Sky limped across the clearing to where Shattered Ice and Acorn Fur were digging the grave. His injuries made it hard for him to help, but in any case they had almost finished, and he contented himself with tidying up the scattered earth and removing the bigger stones.

“That'll do,” Shattered Ice meowed after a few moments, standing back with a nod of satisfaction.

Clear Sky gently nudged Petal's leaf-wrapped body into the hole and raised his head to the sky, his eyes closed, as the other two cats covered her with earth.

Please take care of Petal, determined and loyal to the last,
he prayed silently to the spirit-cats.
Let her join your ranks and give us guidance. I will miss her.

Opening his eyes again, he wondered if the spirit-cats had heard him. Oddly the prayer had made him feel better.

Shattered Ice and Acorn Fur stood silently beside the grave for a few heartbeats, until Acorn Fur gave her pelt a shake. “Clear Sky, we ought to go back to camp,” she mewed.

Clear Sky nodded. “Right. Shattered Ice,” he added, “will you go to the hollow, and when Gray Wing comes back with the Blazing Star, tell him we need some here?”

“I'm on my way,” Shattered Ice replied briskly, loping toward the edge of the clearing.

“I'll stay with the kits until the herb comes,” Cloud Spots offered. “I need to make sure it will help them.”

“Thank you.” Clear Sky dipped his head. “Will you be okay on your own here?”

“I think One Eye's rogues are long gone,” Cloud Spots responded. “But on your way to camp, will you keep an eye out for Sparrow Fur? She went to collect tansy, and she hasn't come back.”

Uneasiness tingled through Clear Sky from ears to tail-tip. Sparrow Fur was one of the bravest cats he had ever known, but she was still only a half-grown kit.
And we don't
know
there aren't still rogues lurking about.

“I'll do that,” he promised Cloud Spots. “And if she hasn't turned up when I've spoken to my cats, I'll send a patrol out to look for her.” Turning back to Acorn Fur, he flicked his tail in the direction of the camp. “Lead the way.”

All of Clear Sky's senses were alert as he followed Acorn Fur, but he didn't see or scent any sign of Sparrow Fur.
I'll get my cats to follow her scent trail from the clearing,
he decided.
Thorn is good at tracking. We'll find her.

When he and Acorn Fur emerged from the undergrowth and entered the camp, Clear Sky saw the rest of his cats huddled around the pool in the center. They spun around, their shoulder fur rising apprehensively as he padded toward them.

Then Quick Water jumped to her paws. “Clear Sky!” she exclaimed, sounding both surprised and relieved. “You're alive! Are you okay?”

“Apart from having half my pelt ripped off, I'm fine,” Clear Sky replied, his glance raking across the others. “It's good to see you all again.”

Thorn, Leaf, and Nettle looked glad to see him, too, but Snake was glaring at him with clear hostility in his eyes. As
Clear Sky was speaking he leaped up and padded forward to face him.

“Good to see us?” he snarled. “Like I'd believe that! You let this happen! We're all scarred by One Eye's mark now.”

“I know.” Clear Sky bowed his head. “I'm more sorry than I can say. It was my poor judgment that allowed One Eye into our group in the first place. But I intend to spend the rest of my life making up for that mistake.” When Snake didn't respond, he continued, his voice choking with the strength of his emotion. “This forest is my home and you're all my family. I would do anything for you, and I risked my life to get rid of One Eye and come back to you. Can't you see that?” he appealed to Snake.

Snake stared at him for a moment. Then without warning he leaped at Clear Sky, striking at his face with claws extended. Shaky from his injuries and the stress of Petal's death and burial, Clear Sky was knocked to the ground, letting out a yowl. Summoning all the strength he could, he battered at Snake with his hind paws and managed to throw him off.

The two cats crouched on the ground, facing each other. Clear Sky could see the burning hatred in Snake's eyes; he tried to stare him down, but he could see that Snake intended to attack again.

What am I going to do?
Clear Sky flattened his ears. His chest was heaving from their brief tussle, and he knew that in his injured state he couldn't win a fight.
What will the other cats do when they see their leader beaten?

But before either of them could make a move, a wild screech
sounded from the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing. A blur of tortoiseshell fur shot into the open and barreled into Snake.

Sparrow Fur!
Clear Sky stared in astonishment as the little she-cat tackled the tom—who was twice her size—her paws flailing wildly. Snake could have flattened her with a couple of blows, but for a heartbeat he was too confused to defend himself.

In that moment, Nettle threw himself into the battle, raking his claws across Snake's ears. “Come on!” he yowled to the other cats. “We can't let some kit fight for our leader!”

“Yes!” From the other side, Quick Water hurled herself at Snake. “Come on!”

At her words, Acorn Fur, Thorn, and Leaf leaped into the fray. Snake went down underneath a mound of spitting, clawing cats.

“Stop!” Clear Sky exclaimed, stepping forward to haul Acorn Fur off. “That's enough. I don't want him dead.”

He had to grab Leaf, too, and shove him away. Finally, his order sank in and the enraged cats backed off. They stood in a circle around Snake, who struggled to his paws, spitting out dirt and debris. Blood was trickling from a scratch on his forehead and he had lost several clumps of fur.

Clear Sky paced forward to face him. “You can accept me as leader,” he meowed, “or leave the forest.”

“Then I'll leave,” Snake snapped.

With a grim nod, Clear Sky motioned for the other cats to move back, to leave Snake an open passage out of the clearing.
Snake turned and stalked off into the undergrowth.

As the sound of his departure died away, the rest of the cats encircled Clear Sky, each touching noses with him in turn. Gratitude shone in their eyes.

“It's good to have you back,” Acorn Fur murmured.

“Thank you.” Clear Sky blinked happily at his cats, and gave Sparrow Fur a swift lick around the ears. “You are without doubt the most flea-brained kit I've ever come across,” he meowed. “And the bravest. Thank you, too.”

Before Sparrow Fur could reply, Clear Sky heard the sound of a cat pushing its way through the bracken toward the clearing. He whirled around, half expecting to see Snake returning for another attack. Instead it was Tall Shadow who emerged into the open. Relief flooded through Clear Sky as he saw the bundle of yellow flowers and spiky leaves that she carried in her mouth.

“You brought the Blazing Star!” he exclaimed. “Where's Gray Wing?”

“Back in the hollow,” Tall Shadow replied, dropping the herbs at Clear Sky's paws. “Shattered Ice said you needed this.”

Clear Sky nodded. “Petal died of the sickness,” he told her, “and the kits are very ill. Cloud Spots is with them.”

“Where?” Tall Shadow asked, glancing around the camp. “I must see him.”

“I'll show you.” Clear Sky picked up the stems of Blazing Star and limped off in the direction of the small clearing where the kits were lying.

“You'll need to go faster than that,” Tall Shadow meowed.

“Sorry, but I'm doing the best I can,” Clear Sky mumbled around his mouthful of herbs. “The kits are that way,” he added, pointing with his tail. “A few extra seconds won't make a difference, will they?”

“We just left the hollow,” Tall Shadow replied, “and Holly is responding well to the Blazing Star. But that's not all—her kits are coming early!”

C
HAPTER
28

The sun was going down, casting
long shadows across the hollow. A raw, damp breeze ruffled the tough moorland grass and stirred the branches of the gorse bushes. Thunder yawned and arched his back in a long stretch, trying to ease the aches in his muscles. The demands of the day had exhausted him.
And it's not over yet.

He settled down again on the grass at the foot of the lookout rock and cast a glance at Tall Shadow, who was sitting beside him. She had finished grooming her black pelt; now she looked neat and composed, her tail wrapped over her forepaws. Her gaze was fixed intently on the nest where Holly was giving birth to her kits.

This was the first time Thunder had been able to draw breath since he had led the attack on One Eye and his rogues. At least the malignant cat wouldn't trouble them any further, and nor would his deceitful, treacherous daughter, Star Flower.

Best not to think about her. . . .

Once River Ripple had set off back to the river with his cats, and Wind Runner and Gorse Fur returned to their kits,
Thunder had raced across the moor after Gray Wing and the other cats who had set out to gather the Blazing Star, and caught up with them at the edge of the Thunderpath.

“What are you doing here?” Tall Shadow asked, adding anxiously, “Is there trouble back at camp?”

Thunder shook his head. “No, everything's fine. I just felt restless,” he confessed. “And I wanted to make sure you were okay, and that One Eye's rogues weren't around.”

“Huh!” Mouse Ear kneaded the grass with his claws. “We've smelled plenty of their reek, but we haven't seen a hair of their miserable pelts.”

They had crossed the Thunderpath without any trouble, but as they searched the marshes for the Blazing Star Thunder had noticed how Tall Shadow gazed across the reed-filled pools with longing in her eyes, and turned back with reluctant paw steps once they had collected as much of the plant as they could carry.

Now as he examined her calm profile, Thunder had to ask himself how far the black she-cat's fascination with the marshes would carry her.

“Would you have come back?” he asked her, with a flutter of anxiety in his belly as he dared to put words to his uncertainty. “If we hadn't needed you to help carry the Blazing Star, would you have stayed over there in the marshes?”

Tall Shadow didn't shift her gaze from Holly's den, where they could just make out the group of cats a tail-length back from the entrance. Pebble Heart was tending to Holly, smoothing her fur with one paw and licking her ears. Cloud
Spots stood beside him, supervising; he had only just returned from treating Petal's kits in the forest. Jagged Peak was crouching beside Holly, too, murmuring words of encouragement into her ear. Though she was responding to the Blazing Star, Thunder knew it was still very dangerous for her to be giving birth so soon.

For several heartbeats Tall Shadow did not speak, and when she did, it was not in reply to Thunder. “Who would have thought Jagged Peak would have ended up being such a wonderful mate and father?” she mewed.