Leafstar nodded agreement. “Accidents happen,” she murmured. “StarClan grant you’re better soon, Hawkwing.”
Even though his leader was understanding, Hawkwing felt hot with embarrassment, and furious with himself. That was stupid, and now I’m holding my Clan back. Maybe they’d be better off if I’d stayed in the barn with Cherrytail.
Hawkwing let himself down into a nest of moss and dead leaves among the roots of an oak tree, wincing as pain clawed again at his injured leg.
“Thanks, Curlypaw,” he meowed to his apprentice, who had collected the bedding. “Go and get some rest now.”
Curlypaw ducked her head and scampered off to where Fidgetpaw was making another nest beneath arching fronds of fern. Twilight had fallen and all the SkyClan cats were settling down for the night in the sheltered hollow that had become their temporary camp. Hawkwing still felt guilty about keeping his Clanmates there when they should have been well on their way to finding ThunderClan.
He was shifting in an attempt to find a comfortable position when Pebbleshine’s pale pelt appeared in the gathering darkness and she slid into the nest beside him. Hawkwing drew in a breath, drinking in her scent, and relaxed a little at the warmth of her fur.
“Are you okay?” Pebbleshine asked him.
“Oh, sure,” Hawkwing grunted. “I’ve sprained my leg, I lost my prey, and now the Clan is stuck here because of me. Other than that, I’m fine.”
“Hey, that’s enough of that!” Pebbleshine swept her tail around to flick Hawkwing on the nose. “You’re as grouchy as a fox in a fit!”
Instantly Hawkwing regretted snapping at Pebbleshine. “I’m sorry,” he meowed. “It’s my own stupid fault, and it’s not fair to take it out on you.”
His gaze met Pebbleshine’s, and he saw her eyes soften into warm affection. “I’ve something to tell you,” she murmured. “Just to prove that things aren’t all bad.”
“Well, what is it?” Hawkwing asked when Pebbleshine said no more. “Has Echosong had another vision?”
Pebbleshine shook her head. “No, nothing like that.” She hesitated for another heartbeat, then added, “I’m expecting kits.”
Delight and terror thrilled through Hawkwing from ears to tail-tip. At the same time he realized how selfish he was being, preoccupied with himself even though Pebbleshine had been looking more tired than usual for the last few days.
And I never even asked her why! he scolded himself. Well, that stops now! From now on, I’m going to put my family first.
“So that’s what you were being so secretive about the other day!” he meowed.
Pebbleshine nodded. “I wasn’t certain then, but I am now. Are you pleased?”
“Pleased?” Hawkwing could hardly find words. “I’m . . . Oh, Pebbleshine, this is wonderful!”
Pebbleshine leaned closer to him, rhythmic purrs coming from deep within her chest. Hawkwing rasped his tongue gently over her ears.
This is truly a new start for me, he thought. Back in the gorge, I failed Duskpaw and my father, but I will never again fail my kin.
“I’m going to be the best father I can be to these kits,” he vowed.
“You won’t be raising them all by yourself, you know!” Pebbleshine responded with a small mrrow of laughter.
“I know. And you’re going to be a wonderful mother.”
Hawkwing rested his chin on his mate’s back, resolving that he would protect her to the last drop of his blood. He would take care of her, and their kits, and the whole Clan.
I know now we made the right decision to leave the gorge, he reflected. Our kits won’t be born with the sounds of battle ringing in their ears and the reek of blood in their noses. These kits will live in a new territory, surrounded by other Clans, and supported by them. They will be safe. Maybe, hopefully, they will never know danger.
Oh, StarClan, it will make all our struggles worth it!
CHAPTER 25
Hawkwing limped along at the rear of his Clan. His leg ached terribly, but he forced himself to keep going. Almost a moon had passed since he had injured himself falling from the tree, and his leg was mostly better, but they had been walking since dawn, and now it was past sunhigh.
Leafstar would call for a rest break if I asked her to, Hawkwing thought. But I can keep going for now. If Plumwillow can do it . . . He was ready to suffer through his pain if it would get them to their new home faster. I hope we find it before Plumwillow kits, or failing that, before Pebbleshine does.
Plumwillow’s belly was huge now; she was close to the time of her kitting, but she kept up with her Clanmates and never complained. Pebbleshine often walked beside her, encouraging her, and Curlypaw did her best to make sure that both she-cats had prey. Hawkwing was prouder of his apprentice with every day that passed: her energy, her commitment to her Clan, and the way she made sure every cat was fed before she took fresh-kill for herself.
But fresh-kill was hard to come by on their journey. Every cat was tired, sore-pawed, and thinner than they had been when they lived in the gorge. Life had become an endless round of sleeping, traveling, and hunting.
Though Leafstar still took the lead, encouraging her Clan onward, she looked wearier with very day that passed, and Hawkwing sometimes detected doubt in her eyes. Surely our leader can’t be losing her faith that StarClan will guide us?
On the worst days, Hawkwing struggled to keep his own hope alive that soon they would find ThunderClan, and sensed that his Clanmates were struggling too. StarClan hadn’t sent Echosong any more visions, so there was nothing to do but trek onward and trust that they were heading in the right direction. But when each nightfall found SkyClan still wandering in the wilderness, it became harder to hold on to that trust.
Sometimes, at night, Hawkwing had heard Leafstar and Waspwhisker talking together in low, anxious tones. A hollowness opened up inside Hawkwing as he listened. If the Clan leader and the deputy don’t know what to do, what hope is there for the rest of us? And why is StarClan putting us through all this?
Still, Hawkwing reflected, SkyClan had become even closer, more tightly bound together as they traveled, each cat depending on the others. Now he could see Macgyver letting a tired Clovertail lean against his shoulder as they walked, and everywhere cats were meowing quietly and peacefully to each other.
Maybe that’s why StarClan is letting our journey take so long, Hawkwing thought. So that we learn how much we need each other.
Pebbleshine dropped back to pad alongside Hawkwing, brushing her tail along his pelt. Hawkwing blinked at her affectionately.
“I’m so glad our kits will be born in this Clan,” he mewed.
“So am I,” Pebbleshine purred. “There can’t be a better Clan anywhere.”
Coming to the top of a rise, the cats looked out across a wide valley, with the dens of a small Twolegplace near the bottom.
“We’ll take a break here,” Leafstar announced. “We need to be fed and rested before we tackle that Twolegplace down there.”
She led the way a few fox-lengths down the slope to where a stretch of gorse and bramble gave shelter from the wind and some hope of prey. Plumwillow and Clovertail flopped down there with sighs of relief.
“We’ll hunt for you,” Bellaleaf meowed, bounding up to the two she-cats with her brother Rileypool at her shoulder.
“And I’ll catch something for you!” Curlypaw promised Pebbleshine.
The speckled she-cat flicked Curlypaw’s ear with the tip of her tail. “Thank you,” she responded. “But I’m not so big yet that I can’t hunt for myself. Come on, Hawkwing, let’s all go together.”
“And me!” Blossomheart added.
Waspwhisker joined them as well, and Hawkwing’s spirits lifted as he and his friends crept into the undergrowth, jaws parted to taste the air for prey. This is almost like a hunting patrol in the forest above the gorge!
Venturing deeper into the bushes, Hawkwing and the others spread out in their search. Hawkwing picked up the strong scent of
a rabbit and followed it along a narrow path between brambles. Finally he spotted the creature lolloping ahead of him, its white tail bobbing up and down. Hawkwing kept pace with it, two or three fox-lengths behind, until it halted, sniffing at something on the ground.
Glancing back, Hawkwing saw that Blossomheart and Curlypaw were both within sight. He beckoned to them, signing to them for silence. “Circle around,” he whispered, gesturing with his tail. “Come at it from the other side, and I’ll drive it toward you.”
Curlypaw nodded, her eyes gleaming with excitement, and slid through the undergrowth in one direction, while Blossomheart veered off in the other. While Hawkwing waited for them to get into position, he was painfully reminded of his last hunt with his father, when he and Sharpclaw had cooperated just like this. With an effort he pushed the memory away, forcing himself to concentrate on this rabbit, and his Clanmates’ need for fresh-kill.
Finally Hawkwing spotted movement in the undergrowth on the other side of the rabbit, which told him Curlypaw and Blossomheart were ready. Letting out a fearsome yowl, Hawkwing pelted forward, heading for his prey.
The rabbit sat erect, terror in its bulging eyes. Then it took off, but instead of making for Blossomheart and Curlypaw, it doubled back until Hawkwing thought it was going to run right onto his own claws.
As Hawkwing reached for it, the rabbit veered aside, and Hawkwing spotted the entrance to a burrow among the roots of a nearby gorse bush.
“No!” he screeched.
He made a frantic pounce, landing awkwardly and jarring his injured leg so the pain jolted right up into his ribs. But he was too late. With a last flash of its white tail, the rabbit plunged into the hole and vanished.
“Fox dung!” Hawkwing snarled, lashing his tail in frustration.
This is what happens when we hunt in strange territory, he thought, clawing furiously at the ground. The prey knows the terrain, but we don’t.
Blossomheart and Curlypaw reappeared, both of them looking disappointed.
“Never mind.” Blossomheart was clearly trying to sound cheerful. “We’ll find something else.”
But no more prey showed itself as they made their way through the undergrowth, until they emerged onto the hillside again, where they came upon Waspwhisker and Pebbleshine.
“I caught this shrew,” Pebbleshine mewed, giving her prey a disdainful prod. “But it’s a scrawny little thing. It’s hardly a mouthful.”
“Better than nothing,” Hawkwing responded, brushing his pelt against hers. “Bury it, and we’ll pick it up on the way back.”
While Pebbleshine scraped earth over the shrew, Hawkwing glanced around, realizing that they had come out of the thicket much closer to the Twolegplace. Farther down the hill a line of bushes separated them from the first of the dens.
“We might try down there,” Waspwhisker suggested.
Hawkwing wasn’t too keen on going so close to the Twolegplace, but he realized that there was a lot of sense in the Clan deputy’s suggestion. I probably scared off all the prey up here, screeching at that rabbit!
Waspwhisker led the way down the slope to the bushes, but when they reached them there were too many competing scents: the acrid tang of monsters and a Thunderpath, traces of dogs and Twolegs, and more that Hawkwing couldn’t even identify.
“This is hopeless,” Blossomheart mewed. “Let’s go back.”
Pebbleshine had slipped farther into the bushes, and now she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming. “Come look at this!”
Hawkwing slid through the branches to her side, and saw a wide stretch of ground in front of him, covered with the same hard black surface as a Thunderpath. Several monsters crouched there, and at one side a Thunderpath led away. Beyond the monsters loomed the gray walls of a Twoleg den.
“It’s a kind of monster camp!” Pebbleshine whispered.
Waspwhisker poked his head through the branches just behind them. “What are you playing at?” he demanded. “Get away from there.”
“It’s okay,” Pebbleshine responded. “All the monsters are asleep. And there’s a really interesting smell coming from that one.”
She angled her ears toward a monster at the edge of the camp. It had a big platform jutting out of its back, with low sides, and something shiny resting inside it.
Hawkwing drew air over his scent glands and realized what Pebbleshine meant. The smell coming from the monster was rich and appetizing. It smells like prey . . . but how can it be, on the back of a monster?
Waspwhisker had scented it, too. “Okay, let’s take a look,” he meowed. “But keep watch for Twolegs. And if the monsters start to wake up, get out of here, fast.”
He took the lead as the three cats ventured into the open. Blossomheart and Curlypaw followed a few paces behind them. Curlypaw’s eyes stretched wide, half excited and half afraid; Hawkwing realized that she had never been so close to monsters before.
As he drew nearer, Hawkwing could hear clucking noises coming from the back of the monster. The shiny things he had seen from the bushes were some kind of weird nests.
“There are birds in there!” he gasped.
“And they’re trapped,” Pebbleshine added. “They must be some kind of Twoleg prey.”
“That’s just what they are,” Waspwhisker told the younger cats. “They’re called chickens. Some Twolegs near the gorge used to keep them.”
“Are they good to eat?” Curlypaw asked.
Waspwhisker swiped his tongue around his jaws. “Oh, yes,” he mewed.
For a few heartbeats the cats stood still, staring at the clucking, feathery mass of chickens. Hawkwing felt even hungrier as the succulent smell flowed over him.
“You know,” Pebbleshine meowed, glancing warily around, “the monster is asleep, and there aren’t any Twolegs around. Why don’t we—”
“You’re not suggesting we climb onto a monster’s back?” Blossomheart interrupted, half intrigued and half scared.
“Why not?” Hawkwing asked, with an admiring glance at Pebbleshine. She’s so brave! “We could get enough fresh-kill to feed the whole Clan.”
Curlypaw gave an excited little bounce. “Just think of their faces when we get back!”
“We could do it.” Hawkwing turned to the Clan deputy. “What do you think, Waspwhisker?”
For a moment Waspwhisker still gazed thoughtfully at the monster. Then he nodded slowly. “Let’s go for it. Hawkwing, you and Curlypaw keep watch. The rest of you, follow me.”
“I can climb up, too,” Hawkwing mewed before any cat could move.
“No, I can tell your leg is hurting,” Waspwhisker responded. “You’re more use here on the ground.”
“Then Pebbleshine should stay here, too,” Hawkwing meowed.
“Yes, Pebbleshine, you have to be careful,” Blossomheart agreed, while Waspwhisker nodded.
Pebbleshine twitched the tip of her tail. “I’m not big enough yet for it to make any difference,” she protested. “I can still run just as fast as the rest of you. And it was my idea.”
“Okay,” Waspwhisker sighed. “Let’s just get on with it before we all die of starvation.”
Hawkwing and Curlypaw watched anxiously as their three Clanmates clambered onto the back of the monster. The harsh sound of their claws scraping against the monster’s pelt made Hawkwing’s neck fur rise with the strangeness of it. The gentle clucking of the chickens rose to an alarmed squawking, but to Hawkwing’s relief the monster didn’t wake up.
“It’s amazing up here!” Pebbleshine yowled. “There are so many of these fat birds, and they’re all just trapped here. If we can work out how to open the nests, we can feed the whole Clan!”
Hawkwing crouched on the ground beside his apprentice, his heart pounding as the moments slid past. What’s taking so long? he wondered, expecting at any moment to see his Clanmates’ heads pop back up. He tried to make sense of the sounds that were coming from the monster; the chickens’ squawks had risen to a terrified clamor, but he couldn’
t hear the cats at all.
Then Hawkwing heard another noise, coming from the Twoleg den beyond the monster camp. A moment later a Twoleg came into view, heading toward the monsters.
“Don’t move!” Hawkwing called out. “A Twoleg!”
“Maybe the Twoleg will go to one of the other monsters, and he won’t notice us,” Curlypaw whispered.
“Let’s hope so.”
But Hawkwing realized his hope was in vain as the Twoleg strode purposefully toward the monster with the chickens. “He’s coming right toward us!” he yowled. “Get out of there now!”
At first there was no response from the cats inside the monster. The Twoleg will wake it up, Hawkwing thought, agonized. Then they’ll know we were trying to steal their prey! “Hurry!” he urged.
Waspwhisker’s head popped up from behind the low barrier at the back of the monster, and Blossomheart appeared a heartbeat later. “Fox dung!” Waspwhisker exclaimed, looking furiously disappointed as he and Blossomheart scrambled over the barrier and leaped down to join Hawkwing and Curlypaw.
“Where’s Pebbleshine?” Hawkwing asked as they landed beside him.
“I’m still here!” Pebbleshine replied from inside the monster, her words almost drowned out by louder squawking. “I’ve managed to open one of the nests. I’ve got a chicken!”
“Then get down here, fast!” Hawkwing responded.
His gaze was fixed on the Twoleg, who tramped across the hard surface of the monster camp, opened up the monster, and climbed into its belly. He didn’t seem to have noticed the cats crouching a few tail-lengths away from the monster’s round black paws.
“Pebbleshine, now!” Waspwhisker screeched.
“I’m coming!” Pebbleshine sounded frustrated. “But this stupid bird is fighting!”
“Then let it go!” Hawkwing yowled.
“But the Clan needs it!” Pebbleshine protested.
More loud squawking followed, then Pebbleshine’s forepaws appeared on the side of the monster. Hawkwing could see her face. At the same moment the monster woke up with a deep-throated growl.