Closing his eyes, he fought to breathe, the tom writhing in his claws. I mustn’t let go. The single thought throbbed in his mind.
Then the tom stopped struggling.
Gray Wing opened his eyes and peered at the rogue. The tom was lying on the ground, as still as dead prey.
Slowly, Gray Wing released him and stepped away.
The tom grunted. Then, pelt rippling, he staggered to his paws and glared reproachfully at Gray Wing.
“You’re wasting your time,” Gray Wing puffed. “I won’t let you get her.”
The gray tom growled. His tail dragging, he limped away between the pines.
Gray Wing drew in a shuddering breath. In the distance he heard Lightning Tail screech.
Then another yowl cut through his ear fur.
He stiffened.
The cry was filled with pain. Not the furious pain of battle, but a deep and frightened yowl.
Star Flower!
Something was wrong.
He forced himself to run, his lungs aching with every step. Swerving out of the trees, he broke onto the verge of the Thunderpath. A monster thundered past, and he flattened his ears against the wind as it whipped by his face.
Its roar faded and he heard the desperate yowl again.
Ahead, on the grass, he saw Reed crouching over a fallen body.
Had Star Flower been hit by a monster?
His thoughts reeled as he remembered Turtle Tail. A monster had killed her. He’d never seen her body, but he had imagined her over and over again, lying stricken beside a strange and distant Thunderpath. His heart seemed to burst inside his chest, but he forced himself to keep moving toward the huddled figure of Reed.
“What happened?” His mew was trembling as he neared.
Reed tuned to him, his eyes wide with fear. “The kits!” he breathed. “They’re coming!”
CHAPTER 6
Gray Wing struggled to steady his breathing. “Are you sure?”
“Of course!” Reed snapped his gaze back to Star Flower.
She lay on her side, a low moan rolling in her throat. Her flanks convulsed. “But it’s so early,” she croaked, fear flashing in her green eyes.
A monster growled on the Thunderpath. Gray Wing glanced up, blinded as its eyes drenched them in light. Instinctively, he lunged forward, protecting Star Flower with his body as the monster tore past. The grass streamed around them, and an acrid wave of stench blasted over him. It burned inside his chest, but Gray Wing ignored the pain. Fighting back a cough, he glanced over his shoulder. Had Lightning Tail and Leaf managed to drive the other guards away? Had news of the rescue reached the rogue camp? Was a bigger patrol coming? “We have to get Star Flower away from here.”
“How?” Reed stared at Star Flower. “She can’t walk!”
Star Flower screeched as another convulsion seemed to grip her.
“I’ll get help.” Gray Wing tried to ignore his wheezing. There wasn’t time.
Reed looked at him, his ears twitching. “I’ll go,” he growled. “You need to catch your breath.”
Gray Wing shook his head. “You know more about herbs than me,” he told the silver tabby. “Find her something to help her pain.”
“Here?” Reed stared at the grass verge, then flicked his gaze toward the pines. “I don’t know anything about forest herbs.”
“Then guess!” Gray Wing was already on his paws. He leaped across the verge and pelted between the pines. Tall Shadow’s camp was closest, and he knew the quickest route. Dodging brambles and leaping ditches, he raced through the darkness. He struggled for breath, wondering if he could keep going. He felt as though he were underwater, trying to swim for the shore before he ran out of air.
I can’t let Star Flower die. Or her kits!
He had to get help.
The forest thickened, the branches blocking out the moonlight. Gray Wing dodged past trees, the rough bark scraping his flanks. Running on instinct, he managed to skim the jutting roots, leap ditches, and swerve past trailing brambles. At last, the trees thinned. The camp was near. He strained to see, trying to ignore the desperate pain in his chest. In the weak moonlight that filtered through the branches here, he saw the camp’s shadowy walls. He veered around them and burst through the entrance, his lungs on fire.
“Jagged Peak!” He caught sight of the gray tabby tom limping across the clearing.
Jagged Peak spun, pelt bushing. Shock showed in his eyes. “Gray Wing!”
“Help!” Gray Wing gasped and dropped to his belly. Dragging in air, he felt dizzy, the camp swimming around him.
“Where’s Star Flower?” Jagged Peak was at his side in a moment. He knew about Gray Wing’s plan. “Did you save her? Are you hurt?”
“The kits,” Gray Wing wheezed.
“Kits?” Jagged Peak looked puzzled.
Twigs rustled around Gray Wing as the forest cats scrambled from their nests. Eyes glinted in the entrances of the dens. Sun Shadow poked his head out. Mouse Ear slid into the moonlight. Holly hurried into the clearing.
Pebble Heart raced toward Gray Wing. “Is Tall Shadow okay?” He scrambled to a halt. “Are you okay?”
Gray Wing fought to find enough breath to explain. “Star Flower’s kits,” he rasped.
“Her kits?” Pebble Heart ducked close, his pelt rippling. “Are they coming?”
Gray Wing nodded mutely.
“It’s too soon!” Pebble Heart looked at Jagged Peak, panic flashing in his gaze.
Jagged Peak ignored him and stared at Gray Wing. “Where is she? Did you get her away from the rogues?”
“Yes, but she collapsed. Rogues . . . following.” Gray Wing managed to blurt out the words, hoping Jagged Peak would know what to do.
Jagged Peak lifted his head. “Mouse Ear! Sun Shadow! Holly! Go and find Star Flower. Bring her here.”
“There may not be time if the kits are coming!” Pebble Heart flicked his tail as the three cats started for the camp entrance. “Let me come too! I might be able to help.”
Jagged Peak glanced at him. The young tom looked determined. “Okay.”
Gray Wing pushed himself to his paws, the air slowly returning to his lungs. “I’ll show you the way,” he wheezed.
“You need to rest,” Pebble Heart told him sharply.
“I know where she is,” Gray Wing gasped, Star Flower’s desperate yowl ringing in his mind. “She’s suffering. If you follow the wrong trail, she might die.”
Mouse Ear stopped at the entrance. “He’s right.”
“He can rest when he’s shown us where to go,” Holly agreed.
Pebble Heart looked anxiously at Gray Wing. “Will you be okay?”
“I have to be,” Gray Wing told him grimly. He headed after the others, struggling to hide the shakiness of his paws.
Holly waited for him to catch up and pressed against him. “Lean on me,” she murmured.
“I can manage—”
“Just lean!” she told him firmly.
He relaxed against her, relieved to feel some of the weight leave his paws as she moved beside him, her shoulder supporting his.
Mouse Ear hurried ahead as they left camp. “Which way?” His gaze scanned the shadows.
“Toward the ditches,” Gray Wing puffed. He jerked his nose toward the thickening pines. “She’s beside the Thunderpath.”
Mouse Ear hared away, Pebble Heart at his heels. Their pelts were quickly swallowed by the darkness.
“Hurry!” Gray Wing pushed on harder, relieved to feel Holly keeping up. Sun Shadow pressed against his other flank. Together they took his weight so that his paws seemed to skim the earth.
“Is this the right way?” Pebble Heart’s mew echoed from the blackness ahead.
“Wait,” Gray Wing puffed as Holly and Sun Shadow steered him toward the young tom’s voice. They caught up to him in a pool of moonlight where a fallen tree had left a hole in the canopy. Mouse Ear was circling Pebble Heart, his gaze scanning the forest. Gray Wing stretched his nose f
orward. “Cross the ditches and head straight,” he ordered. “She’s beyond the thickest part of the forest.”
Pebble Heart and Mouse Ear hared away again.
Holly and Sun Shadow pressed harder against Gray Wing. Frustration clawed at his belly. He felt like an ancient, lumbering badger. He shouldn’t need help like this. Why did his breathing have to be so bad? He let them lead him after Mouse Ear and Pebble Heart until they reached the ditches.
Sun Shadow and Holly broke away. “You need to leap these yourself,” Holly warned him.
Gray Wing drew in a shuddering breath, realizing with relief that his breathing had eased. He leaped the first ditch and crossed the short stretch of ground to the next. He leaped again, then again, until he’d crossed the rutted clearing, then veered toward the trail he’d followed from the Thunderpath.
He halted as Holly and Sun Shadow caught up. There was no sign of Pebble Heart or Mouse Ear’s scent. “They’ve gone the wrong way!”
“Pebble Heart!” Holly yowled through the trees. “Over here!
Paws pounded across the ground, and a moment later Mouse Ear crashed from the darkness. Pebble Heart pulled up beside him.
“It’s this way,” Gray Wing told them, ducking onto the bramble-strewn trail he’d followed earlier. He led them as the trees thickened around him. The foul stench of the Thunderpath touched his nose. He pricked his ears, hearing nothing but the distant rumble of a monster. Hope pricked in his heart for a moment. No battle cries. The rogues hadn’t reached Star Flower yet. But why wasn’t she yowling with pain? What if she . . . ? He pushed fear away as it threatened to swamp him and hurried faster between the trees.
Holly was at his tail as the trail narrowed between the brambles. He could hear her campmates pounding behind her. Ahead the monster’s roar grew. He broke from the trees as it passed, blinding him with its blazing eyes.
He blinked, startled for a moment, and then, as the monster pounded away, scanned the verge.
Reed was still crouching where he’d left him. Star Flower lay on the grass beside him.
“Is she okay?” Gray Wing hurried to his side. The queen was panting hard. He stiffened as he saw Reed’s paws glistening darkly. “Is that blood?”
“Yes.” Panic showed in the silver tom’s eyes. “I found some thyme to help with the shock, and she’s focusing on her breathing to help with the pain, but I can’t stop the bleeding.”
Pebble Heart nosed past him. “Any sign of the kits?”
Reed met the young tom’s gaze. “Not yet, but I hope it won’t be long. There’s too much blood.”
Holly pushed past Gray Wing. “We must get her back to the camp.” She nodded to Sun Shadow.
The black tom leaned down and shoved his nose beneath Star Flower’s shoulders. She grunted as he heaved her up onto his back.
Mouse Ear quickly ducked beneath her. Reed pressed against her flank. Pebble Heart darted to her other side. Supporting the queen between them, the four cats began to head into the forest.
Star Flower groaned. She dipped and rose like a leaf being carried downstream as they moved.
“Stay close to each other,” Holly ordered. “You mustn’t let her fall.”
“We won’t,” Sun Shadow grunted.
Gray Wing followed, recovering his breath as they moved slowly between the trees.
They swerved to avoid the ditches, taking the long trail around. As they neared the bramble wall of the camp, Gray Wing heard paws pounding the earth behind them. His heart lurched as he stopped and scanned the shadows. Were the rogues following their trail?
Eyes glinted between the trees.
“Gray Wing!” Lightning Tail’s mew rang out. He hurried closer, his black pelt dappled by moonlight. Leaf was at his heels.
“Where are the rogues?” Gray Wing glanced past the two cats anxiously.
“We chased them off,” Leaf told him.
Lighting Tail blinked at Star Flower as the others carried her into camp. “Is she hurt?”
“The kits are coming,” Gray Wing told him, “and they’re very early.”
Leaf frowned. “Does Clear Sky know?”
Gray Wing stiffened. Clear Sky! He’d been so panicked about Star Flower that he hadn’t thought about his brother. Had the other leaders told him of the plan to rescue Star Flower yet? He dashed away, calling over his shoulder. “Tell Jagged Peak I’ll bring Clear Sky as soon as I find him!” His mind whirled. Where was he? At the four trees hollow? On his way to get Star Flower?
I have to cut him off. Gray Wing quickened his pace. Slash might have learned about Star Flower’s escape by now. What if he’d sent out a patrol? Clear Sky mustn’t run into a band of angry rogues. He imagined Clear Sky backed against a tree, hackles up, teeth bared, rogues closing in on him.
Fear spiraling, Gray Wing cut through the woods, trying to guess the fastest route from the four trees hollow to the carrion place. He must be heading through the pines. Wheezing, Gray Wing zigzagged, covering as much ground as he could, ears pricked for the sound of paw steps. The tightness in his chest hardened, but he pressed on. As he reached the bottom of the slope that led to the border between Clear Sky’s land and Tall Shadow’s, he heard voices.
“We should have rescued her as soon as we knew where she was!”
It was Clear Sky.
Gray Wing stopped. Clear Sky stood at the top of the rise. Wind Runner was beside him, while River Ripple, Tall Shadow, and Thunder crowded behind.
“Clear Sky!” Gray Wing puffed.
Clear Sky’s eyes widened. He bounded down the slope. “Did you rescue her? Is she safe?”
“We got her away from the rogues,” Gray Wing told him. “But the kits are coming.”
Clear Sky’s pelt bushed. “Already?”
“It’s too soon!” Tall Shadow raced to join them.
“Where is she?” Clear Sky demanded.
“We took her to Tall Shadow’s camp,” Gray Wing told him. “Pebble Heart and Reed are with her.”
Tall Shadow frowned. “Have they had kits? Have they even seen a kitting?”
“Holly’s with her too,” Gray Wing reassured her. “She’s had kits.”
“So have I.” Wind Runner scrambled down the slope. “I know what to do.”
She darted past Gray Wing and headed for the camp, Tall Shadow close on her heels. Clear Sky blinked at Gray Wing, then followed the two she-cats.
River Ripple hesitated at the top of the slope. “Too many paws at a kitting will just get in the way. Please send word that Star Flower and the kits are all right.”
Thunder padded closer. “Are Lighting Tail and Leaf okay?”
Gray Wing nodded. “They helped carry Star Flower to Tall Shadow’s camp. They’re there now.”
Thunder flicked his tail, looking relieved. “Send them home when they’re ready. I must go. Their campmates will be worried.” His gaze fixed on Gray Wing, earnest in the moonlight. “I hope Star Flower’s okay.”
Gray Wing blinked at the tom. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with Slash tonight,” he meowed. “It gave us the time we needed to rescue Star Flower.”
“It was a good plan, Gray Wing,” Thunder answered. “I’m glad I got the chance to help.”
River Ripple dipped his head. “Let’s hope the stars are on our side,” he meowed solemnly. “Early kits rarely survive.”
Gray Wing’s belly tightened. He glanced meaningfully toward Thunder. “Clear Sky’s kits are strong,” he murmured. “This litter will be fine.”
He headed after his brother, quickening his pace as he neared the camp. Nosing through the bramble entrance, he scanned the clearing. Mouse Ear and Mud Paws paced the far end nervously. Jagged Peak sat and watched, his pelt prickling along his spine.
Shapes were huddled at the edge of the camp, beneath a dome of woven brambles. He hurried toward them, tensing as he scented blood.
Blinking through the darkness, he saw Pebble Heart hanging back beside Reed and Tall Shadow. Lightning Tail shifted fro
m one paw to another, watching as Wind Runner and Holly moved around Star Flower. He could hear the desperate panting of the queen.
Clear Sky crouched by her head. “It’s okay, my love,” he murmured. “Everything will be okay.”
Gray Wing slowed to a stop beside Pebble Heart. “Isn’t there anything you can do?” Pebble Heart had always had a natural skill for healing.
The young tom shook his head. “They know far more than me about kitting. But I’ll learn all I can.” He didn’t take his eyes from the she-cats as Wind Runner ran her paw over Star Flower’s belly, while Holly lapped at the queen’s cheek.
“Just one more push,” Wind Runner murmured.
“You’re doing really well,” Holly crooned.
Star Flower’s body convulsed as though a fox had grabbed her. She yowled a long, deep yowl, her eyes rolling with pain.
Clear Sky winced and pressed his muzzle to her head.
“It’s a she-kit!” Wind Runner’s mew of triumph rang through the air.
Gray Wing leaned forward and saw a glistening scrap of fur, slick and wet and half covered in a pale membrane. The kit squirmed on the ground, tiny paws churning.
Tall Shadow purred. “Is . . .” She hesitated. “Is she okay?”
“She looks like any newborn kit,” Wind Runner proclaimed happily. “Only smaller.” Quickly she scooped up the kit and placed her beside Star Flower’s muzzle. “Give her a wash and keep her warm,” she ordered.
But Star Flower had already stretched out her nose and was lapping her newborn kit, her eyes shining with joy. Then she stiffened as another convulsion gripped her. As she writhed, growling with pain, Holly snatched the she-kit from beside her muzzle and tucked her safely beneath her own belly.
“Push!” Wind Runner ordered.
Star Flower shuddered and moaned. Wind Runner leaned back, her eyes lighting up. “Another she-kit!”