Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail (18 page)

Clear Sky’s eyes gleamed with pride. To Gray Wing, his brother looked more like his old self.
Maybe the cloud of Bright Stream’s death is starting to lift at last.

Tall Shadow dipped her head to the hunting cats as they carried their prey to the bottom of the hollow and set it down. “Congratulations. You’ve done very well.” As the other cats gathered around, she added, “Thank you, Stoneteller, for sending us to this place where we can find prey.”

While the cats were eating, the sun began to sink behind Highstones, flooding the sky with scarlet. Gray Wing relaxed, glad that, for once, the cats were at peace with one another. Gazing at the landscape, which was starting to feel more familiar, he began to let himself believe that they might have reached the place that Stoneteller promised.

Gray Wing paused at the edge of the moor and looked down at the tops of the four great oak trees. Already they were lusher than when he had first seen them. The sun was shining, the air was full of fresh scents, and he could see new plants springing up all around.

I can’t believe how rich the growth is! It was never like this in the mountains
.

Stretching his muscles, Gray Wing ran just for the joy of it, circling the edge of the moor, then heading toward the edge of the gorge. He had avoided the river ever since he had startled Clear Sky into falling, but he remembered the excitement of the thundering water and the rocks that brought the mountains so vividly into his mind.

Gray Wing hadn’t gone far when he heard the squeal of a terrified rabbit and, farther away, the yowl of a hunting cat. He halted as he saw the rabbit come tearing over the crest of the moorland, with the two cats he had met before—Gorse and Wind—close behind. Gray Wing’s instincts told him to join the pursuit, but he wanted to avoid hostility, and dug his claws firmly into the soil.

The rabbit flashed past him, followed by Wind with Gorse a couple of tail-lengths behind. Suddenly the rabbit dived between two stones and vanished into a barely visible hole in the ground. Gray Wing let out a gasp of astonishment as Wind, without breaking stride, dived down the hole after it.

Gorse skidded to a halt. “That’s not fair!” he panted. “You shouldn’t keep going underground just because you’re skinny!”

Gray Wing padded over to the gray tabby tom, who turned to him with a wary look in his eyes. “It’s okay,” Gray Wing meowed. “I’m not looking for a fight. What did you mean, going underground?”

“You saw what she did,” Gorse replied, angling his ears toward the rabbit hole. “She’s so scrawny she can fit down there.”

At that moment Wind reappeared, puffing as she heaved herself out of the hole with the rabbit in her jaws.

Gray Wing watched her, fascinated. “Could I go down there?” he asked.

Wind looked at him, surprised. “If you want,” she replied, dropping the rabbit at Gorse’s paws. “It’s not my home, it’s the rabbit’s.”

Gray Wing padded over to the burrow’s entrance, passing his tongue over his jaws at the strong scent of rabbit. But the hole looked very small, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to try squeezing into it.

Behind him, Wind heaved a huge sigh. “I’ll show you how. You’re skinny enough to get anywhere I can.”

Pushing past Gray Wing, she led the way in. Gray Wing had to follow—otherwise, he would look like a coward in front of these strange cats. He plunged into the hole, his pelt brushing the walls on either side. The burrow was dark and stuffy, and Gray Wing found it harder and harder to put one paw in front of another.

He was wrestling with panic when he felt Wind struggle to turn in front of him and give him a strong shove down a side tunnel. “That way!” she hissed, following him in the new direction.

At once, clearer air stirred Gray Wing’s whiskers and he forced himself forward, with the occasional prod from Wind, until he emerged from another hole among the roots of a gorse bush. He staggered into the open and stood with his chest heaving.

“Mouse-brain!” Wind said, though her voice wasn’t entirely unfriendly. “Don’t do that again. If you panic down there you’ll get lost before you know it.”

Gray Wing was growing calmer now that he was in the fresh air again, with the huge sky above him and the breeze in his whiskers. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,” he mewed.

But he was still fascinated by the knowledge that there was a network of tunnels underneath the moor. A claw-scratch of memory took him back to the elders’ tales of tunnels in their old home by the lake.

They set some sort of challenge to young cats, who had to find their way out.
Gray Wing shivered.
I’m glad we don’t do that anymore. I’m not sure my Tribemates would ever see me again.

Gray Wing dipped his head toward Gorse and Wind. “Thanks for showing me,” he meowed. “Maybe I’ll see you again sometime.”

The two cats bade him a rather wary farewell. Gray Wing was just relieved that this encounter with them hadn’t been hostile.

Changing his mind about visiting the
river, Gray Wing headed back to the hollow. As he approached it, he met Dappled Pelt and Cloud Spots.

“We’re going to look for herbs,” said Dappled Pelt. “Do you want to come with us?”

“I wish you would,” Cloud Spots added. “Tall Shadow says she doesn’t like cats going off the moor in groups smaller than three.”

Dappled Pelt let out an irritable snort. “She’s just making a fuss.”

“Maybe,” Cloud Spots responded, “but it’ll be useful to have an extra mouth to carry whatever we can forage.”

Gray Wing was happy to turn back and join them as they headed down the slope toward the river. “I met those two cats again—Gorse and Wind,” he mewed. “Wind actually hunts rabbits underground!”

Dappled Pelt blinked in surprise. “I’d like to see that!”

Cloud Spots led the way to where the river emerged from the gorge. Sunlight shimmered on its surface. After several dry days, the water was calmer. Gray Wing waited, enjoying the warmth, while Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt foraged among the lush vegetation at the water’s edge.

“Look!” Cloud Spots exclaimed. “There are huge clumps of comfrey here.”

“And yarrow!” Dappled Pelt’s waving tail was all that was visible of her above the thickly growing plants. A moment later she emerged with a bunch of herbs in her jaws and set them down beside Gray Wing. “It’s good to know that what we need is close by, and so early in the warm season,” she meowed.

“Back in the mountains, we could spend a whole day searching in the bottom of the valley,” Cloud Spots agreed. “And even then, we’d never find as much as this.”

Together he and Dappled Pelt began to make a pile of useful leaves and roots at the edge of the river. Gray Wing kept watch in case any of the forest cats appeared, but everything was quiet.

When they had almost as much as they could carry, Dappled Pelt halted, tasting the air and gazing across the river to the far bank. “I can smell tansy over there,” she announced. “Jackdaw’s Cry wrenched his leg practicing his leaps, and tansy is really good for that.”

“There are stepping-stones farther downstream,” Gray Wing told her.

Dappled Pelt studied the river for a moment. “It doesn’t look too deep,” she mewed. Before Gray Wing realized what she meant to do, she began to wade out into the water. “If Falling Feather can do it, so can I!”

Gray Wing and Cloud Spots exchanged alarmed glances, then watched Dappled Pelt as she splashed forward, gasping as the cold water reached her belly fur. A heartbeat later she vanished without warning, the river swirling over her head.

“Haredung!” Cloud Spots exclaimed, bounding to the water’s edge. “I’d better go in and save her.”

But before he could plunge into the current, Dappled Pelt’s head broke the surface. She was splashing frantically, somehow managing to propel herself toward the far bank.

“Hey, I’m swimming!” she called, surprise and triumph in her tone.

“It’s not natural,” Cloud Spots grunted. “You look like a furry fish.”

Dappled Pelt scrambled out of the water, shook herself, and plunged into the undergrowth. Moments later she reappeared with a bunch of leaves in her jaws. Wading into the river she swam back, her head held awkwardly high to keep the leaves out of the water.

“See!” she gasped as she clambered up the bank. “It was easy—but oh, that water is cold!”

“I think you’re mousebrained,” Cloud Spots muttered, shaking his head. “Let’s get back to the hollow.”

“Why not stay and catch fish?” Dappled Pelt suggested.

Cloud Spots rolled his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. You’re going straight back to the hollow to dry out, before you get sick.”

Dappled Pelt gave in with an exasperated snort, and the three cats headed back toward the moor. Gray Wing, a pace or two behind the others, heard voices from the other side of a clump of ferns. His fur bristled with suspicion.

Have Wind and Gorse doubled back to spy on us?

But when he crept through the ferns he found Turtle Tail and Bumble crouching side by side, sharing a plump vole.

Bumble was the first to spot him. “Hello, Gray Wing,” she greeted him, sounding pleased to see him.

Turtle Tail sprang to her paws. “Oh . . . hi,” she meowed. “Bumble saw me catch this vole, and she wanted to know what it tasted like.”

Gray Wing wondered why Turtle Tail sounded so defensive. He was wary of strange cats, but he couldn’t see anything threatening about this kittypet.

“She obviously likes it,” he responded, setting down his bundle of herbs as Bumble tucked in again. “Bumble, why don’t you come live in the forest all the time?”

Bumble looked up, choking on a mouthful of vole. “No way! My housefolk are kind and I never go hungry. The den is nice, too,” she added. “You should come see it!”

“No, thanks,” Gray Wing told her. “We don’t belong with Twolegs.”

“What about you, Turtle Tail?” Bumble asked.

Turtle Tail’s whiskers twitched with curiosity. “It might be interesting to see it . . . but not right now.”

Swallowing the last mouthful of prey, Bumble meowed, “Thanks, Turtle Tail. Let’s meet up again soon.”

“Okay,” Turtle Tail agreed. “I’ll keep a lookout for you in the hollow with the oak trees.”

Bumble padded off through the ferns, her tail held high, casting a final glance over her shoulder before she disappeared.

“You know,” Gray Wing mewed thoughtfully, “it’s not a good idea to get too friendly with kittypets.”

Turtle Tail’s neck fur fluffed up. “Why not?”

Gray Wing couldn’t give her a clear answer. “It bothers me, that’s all,” he replied.

It’s like I said. We don’t belong with Twolegs
.

Gray Wing lay in his nest under a gorse bush at the bottom of the hollow. The half-moon shed enough light for him to see the top of the slope and beyond it a clear sky glittering with stars. He was warm and full-fed.

This is a good place
, he thought.
We can live here
.

Suddenly a dark shape came between him and the stars. Gray Wing narrowed his eyes and made out a sharp snout outlined against the sky. A rank scent drifted to his nose, and he remembered the thin, red-furred creature he had seen soon after they left the Twolegplace. He had smelled the scent in the forest, too, though he’d never seen the animal that left it.

The dark shape moved, slipping down into the hollow. It was followed by another, and then a third. A terrible awareness of danger swept over Gray Wing. He sprang to his paws.

“Attack!” he screeched.

The dreadful squeal of a cat in pain drowned out his warning. In the next heartbeat the hollow erupted into yowling and thrashing. Gray Wing stared around in panic, his paws frozen to the ground. He caught a glimpse of one of the creatures with his fangs sunk deep in Shattered Ice’s shoulder, shaking the silver-furred tom as if he was a piece of prey.

We
are
prey
, Gray Wing realized with a thrill of horror.
We’ll all be killed!

Gray Wing’s first instinct was to
throw himself into the battle. But he knew how that would end; he would be torn to pieces.
I can’t just leave the others! There must be some way I can help
.

Turtle Tail appeared at his side. “Foxes!” she gasped.

“What?”

“Foxes—that’s what these things are. Bumble warned me about them. What are we going to do?”

At that moment Clear Sky tore past, claws out and teeth bared. Swiftly Gray Wing moved to block him.

“Let me get at them!” Clear Sky snarled.

“Wait!” Gray Wing meowed urgently. “We need a plan!”

As the sounds of wailing and growling rose up around him, louder with every heartbeat, Gray Wing knew that he had to think fast. A picture rose in his mind of how they had hunted eagles in the mountains, when one cat would pull the bird down and the others pile in to make the kill.

“The three of us together.” He glanced from Clear Sky to Turtle Tail and back again, willing them to cooperate. “We attack one fox, and kill it if we can. Then go for the next.”

Turtle Tail nodded eagerly. “That makes sense.”

“But what about the others?” Clear Sky asked. “They could be dying while we attack one fox.”

“If we split up, we can’t do anything,” Turtle Tail responded.

“We’ll just have to be quick,” Gray Wing continued. “Clear Sky, when we find a fox, you attack it from one side. Turtle Tail, from the other. Confuse it.”

“What about you?” Clear Sky asked.

“I’ll be there, don’t worry,” Gray Wing replied grimly.

He took the lead as the three cats prowled around the edge of the hollow, trying to make sense of the chaos below. At last Gray Wing spotted a fox at the edge of the fighting, standing over Hawk Swoop, who was twitching feebly.

“Now!” Gray Wing screeched.

Clear Sky leaped and began clawing at the fox’s flank. As it turned on him with a snarl, Turtle Tail attacked from the other side. The fox turned its head this way and that, snapping its jaws but unable to reach Clear Sky or Turtle Tail, as they darted in to claw it and leaped back out of range.

It’s working!
Gray Wing launched himself into the air and landed on the fox’s back. Digging his hind claws into its shoulders, he leaned over its face and tore at its eyes and muzzle. The fox let out a shriek. It reared up, trying to shake Gray Wing off, but he clung tight.

Still harried from both sides by Clear Sky and Turtle Tail, the fox headed for the edge of the hollow. Once it was out on the moorland, Gray Wing leaped clear of it, and watched it flee yelping into the darkness.

“Another!” Clear Sky yowled triumphantly. “And this time I get to leap onto it.”

Spinning around, he led the way back to the bottom of the hollow. Tall Shadow and Jackdaw’s Cry were battling a second fox, but Jackdaw’s Cry was staggering with exhaustion, and blood dripped into Tall Shadow’s eyes from a scratch on her forehead.

Turtle Tail and Gray Wing hurled themselves into the battle, attacking the fox from both sides. With a fearsome screech, Clear Sky leaped onto its back, slashing at its ears as it weaved from side to side in an attempt to escape.

Within heartbeats it too gave up and fled. The third fox turned from worrying at Cloud Spots, who was feebly swiping at it with his hind paws, and realized that it was alone. With a yelp of fear it scrambled up the slope after the others and was gone.

Clear Sky bounded after it and halted at the rim of the hollow. “Good riddance!” he yowled. “Don’t come back!”

Gray Wing glanced around. Jackdaw’s Cry had sunk to the ground, panting, but he didn’t seem to be badly injured. Moon Shadow was limping, and Rainswept Flower had had clumps of fur torn from her pelt. Jagged Peak was bleeding from scratches on his side. The others bore their own signs of the foxes’ savagery, but at least they were all moving. Gray Wing had been afraid that Hawk Swoop had been killed, but even she had managed to stagger to her paws.

Cloud Spots turned to examine Tall Shadow’s scratch. Dappled Pelt twitched her whiskers approvingly, then padded over. Working together, they began to move from one cat to another, examining their wounds.

Turtle Tail and Clear Sky trotted up to Gray Wing.

“We won!” Turtle Tail exclaimed. “Gray Wing, you were awesome!”

Clear Sky gave his brother an approving nod. “Fighting together worked well,” he meowed. “Maybe we should practice, in case there’s more trouble.”

Gray Wing gave him a somber glance. “You’re right,” he agreed. “Because there
will
be more trouble.”
And it won’t be long in coming.

A cold dawn light showed Gray Wing the devastation in the hollow. All the nests had been scattered and trampled in the fight, the turf scored by claws, and branches broken from the gorse bushes. The injured cats huddled in whatever shelter they could find.

We’re lucky to be alive
, Gray Wing thought.
But what’s going to happen to us now?

He sat licking the wound on his shoulder as the dawn light gradually strengthened. After a while he saw Clear Sky get up and speak briefly to Moon Shadow; then both cats padded across the hollow until they reached Tall Shadow. Curious, Gray Wing rose to his paws and followed.

“There’s something we want to say,” Clear Sky began.

Tall Shadow looked up; she and Rainswept Flower were helping each other pick thorns out of their pads. “Go on, then,” she meowed.

It was Moon Shadow who continued. “We think we should go and live among the trees. The hunting is easier there, and we’d be better hidden.”

“We’re too exposed here,” Clear Sky added, waving his tail to indicate the wreckage around them. “There’s no defense against foxes, or anything else that feels like attacking us.”

Tall Shadow glanced sharply from Clear Sky to Moon Shadow and then back again. “But we’ve always lived in high places,” she objected.

“And my father wouldn’t have wanted us to split up,” Rainswept Flower added.

“Your father isn’t here anymore.” Rainswept Flower winced at Clear Sky’s blunt words.

By now more of the cats had realized something important was going on, and gathered around, listening with wide, troubled eyes. Gray Wing’s belly churned with tension at the thought of leaving the open spaces he loved.

“I can’t imagine wanting to live among trees,” Jackdaw’s Cry put in. “And what about the other cats who are already there?”

“We’ll deal with them,” Moon Shadow replied with a confident flick of his ears. “We don’t want to fight for every mouthful of prey, but there’s enough for all of us.”

“It’s not that easy,” Hawk Swoop protested. “I think it could be good to live in the forest, but I don’t think we should split up.”

Tall Shadow thought for a moment. “Okay,” she mewed eventually. “We’ll do what we did in the cave—cast stones to decide whether we move to the forest or not.”

A murmur of agreement rose from the listening cats. Jackdaw’s Cry and Falling Feather got up immediately and went to forage for pebbles among the torn-up grass. All the others gathered around as they carried the stones back and piled them up beside Tall Shadow.

“All right,” the black she-cat meowed. “If you want to stay here on the moor, put your stone on that bare patch of grass over there.” She pointed with her tail. “If you want to leave, put your stone beside that gorse bush.”

She was the first to vote, putting her stone on the bare patch. Rainswept Flower did the same. Tension settled over the cats as they all moved forward in turn to pick up a stone. Gray Wing placed his on the bare patch, and as the voting continued he was relieved to see that most of the others also wanted to stay. Only Moon Shadow, Clear Sky, Quick Water, and Falling Feather chose to move to the trees.

Jagged Peak was the last to pick up his pebble. Shooting an apologetic glance at Gray Wing, he placed it under the gorse bush.

Tall Shadow looked at both piles of stones. There was no need to count them; the result was clear. “It’s settled, then,” she announced. “We’re staying here.”

“Wait!” Clear Sky sprang to his paws. “That’s not fair. Those of us who want to live in the trees should be allowed to.”

“Yeah,” Moon Shadow added. “When we voted in the cave, the cats who wanted to stay, stayed. And the ones who wanted to leave, left. Why should it be different now?”

There was a gasp from all the cats. Gray Wing felt as though he had been struck by a falling rock.
Can we really separate, after coming so far together
?

Tall Shadow took a deep breath. “Then leave.” There was no anger in her tone, only sadness. “And go with our blessing. Come back whenever you want.”

The cats who had voted to leave rose and gathered together. Shock tingled through Gray Wing.
Is this truly what’s right for us?