Clear Sky spoke first. “Why has Quiet Rain come? Did something happen in the mountains?”
Gray Wing shook his head. “She came to see us. She’s weak and sick from the journey.” He nodded toward Pebble Heart’s den. “She’s waiting for you.”
Thunder watched his father hurry across the clearing and disappear into the bramble den.
“Thank you, Thunder.” Gray Wing’s breath stirred his ear fur.
Thunder drew away from the gray tom. Gray Wing’s harsh words from earlier still rang in his mind. Stop acting like a kit! Anger pricked beneath his pelt. “You asked me to get him, so I got him,” he snapped. He’d spent all day doing what every cat had asked of him and now he was tired. All he wanted was to return to his own camp and sleep among cats who actually cared about him.
“I’m sorry.” Gray Wing’s mew was soft.
Thunder looked at him in surprise.
“I was too hard on you earlier,” Gray Wing admitted. “But I was worried, and I needed Clear Sky to see Quiet Rain before she . . .” He stopped, his gaze glittering with fear.
Did Gray Wing think his mother was dying?
Paws scuffed the snow behind Gray Wing. Jagged Peak was heading toward them.
“There’s prey, if you want it,” he told Lightning Tail, nodding toward the pile, now covered with snow. “We’ve fed every other stray in the forest. You might as well share our catch too. Help yourself.”
Lightning Tail caught Thunder’s eye. “Will you be okay?”
“Of course.” Thunder flicked his tail. “Go and eat. It’s not often you get offered prey that you haven’t hunted.” He watched Lightning Tail cross the clearing, then looked back at Jagged Peak. “Is Fern okay?”
“She’s sharing our den.”
“And Sun Shadow?”
Jagged Peak nodded toward the camp wall. Thunder could make out a dark shape huddled beside Mud Paws and Mouse Ear in a nest of pine branches. “He ate two mice and fell asleep. He hasn’t moved a whisker since dusk.”
Thunder nodded, satisfied. “Quiet Rain has all her sons around her now. Once Lightning Tail has eaten, we will return to our camp.”
“Don’t you want to wait and see how she is?” Jagged Peak asked. “She’s your kin, too.”
Thunder snorted. “Clear Sky’s hardly my kin. Why should Quiet Rain be any different?”
Jagged Peak’s eyes glittered in the darkness. “It’s easy to be angry, Thunder. But anger achieves nothing except heartache. Have some pity. This must be hard for Clear Sky.”
Only because he’ll have to admit to her how much trouble he’s caused.
Gray Wing moved beside him. “It’s hard for all of us.”
Jagged Peak nodded solemnly. “We came from the mountains in search of a good, safe home. That’s what Quiet Rain expected to find when she got here—but all we have to tell her are stories of battle, sickness, and death. This isn’t what any cat wanted.”
Thunder glanced at Pebble Heart’s den. What was Clear Sky saying to his mother?
Suddenly, the camp wall shivered. Thunder blinked in surprise as Star Flower padded through the bramble entrance.
Seeing her, Gray Wing let out a low growl and Jagged Peak arched his back with a hiss.
Thunder stepped forward. “What are you doing here?”
Star Flower brushed past Gray Wing, ignoring the hostility flashing from the tom, and stopped at the edge of the clearing. “I was worried about Clear Sky.”
“He told you to stay in camp,” Thunder muttered.
She narrowed her eyes. “I do as I please, not as I’m told.” Unease rippled through Thunder’s pelt when he noticed Jagged Peak’s fur bristling along his shoulders. Star Flower had taken a big risk coming here. The last time any of these cats had seen her, she had just betrayed them to One Eye.
He moved closer to her. “You should leave,” he hissed in her ear.
“I’m staying,” she snapped.
Jagged Peak glared at the she-cat. “Why do you care about Clear Sky?”
“I’m his mate,” Star Flower told him. “And I’m expecting his kits. I have a right to be at his side when he needs me.”
Thunder felt the air crackle with tension as she met Jagged Peak’s gaze.
“Gray Wing! Jagged Peak!” Clear Sky thrust his head from Pebble Heart’s den. “Quiet Rain wants—” He stopped as his gaze reached Star Flower.
She returned it, her luminous eyes like stars in the gloom.
Clear Sky tugged his gaze away. “Quiet Rain wants to talk to us.” He nodded to Jagged Peak and Gray Wing and ducked back inside.
As the two toms hurried toward the den, Tall Shadow sat up in her nest. “Is Quiet Rain okay?”
Star Flower crossed the clearing toward her. “She wants to speak with her sons.”
Tall Shadow stared at Star Flower in amazement.
Before she could speak, Star Flower swished her tail. “I’m here to help Clear Sky. I’m his mate now.”
“And you’re carrying his kits.” Pebble Heart padded out into the snow and stared at the golden she-cat.
She blinked at him. “How did you know?”
“I know the scent of a queen,” Pebble Heart told her. He nodded to Gray Wing and Jagged Peak as they passed. “Try not to wear Quiet Rain out,” he told them softly.
Thunder’s belly tightened as he watched them slip into the den. What would they tell her about their new home? He backed closer to the shelter of the camp wall as the thickening snow obscured the far end of the camp. Had Quiet Rain expected to find her sons united in a peaceful land rich with prey? Thunder felt a wave of pity for the old she-cat. How would she feel once she knew the truth?
CHAPTER 18
“Tell me!” Quiet Rain glared from the shadows at the back of the den. “What happened to my friends?”
Dread opened like a chasm in Clear Sky’s belly. How can we tell her? He swallowed, his mouth dry. Beside him, Gray Wing and Jagged Peak shifted uneasily on their paws.
“Why is every cat acting like I’ve interrupted the burial of a Tribemate?” Her eyes blazed. “You are my kin. We should hide nothing from each other! Where are the other cats who traveled with you from the mountains?”
Jagged Peak dipped his head. “Dappled Pelt and Shattered Ice live beside the river now.”
“I know that!” Quiet Rain trembled as she raised herself on her forepaws.
“Quick Water lives in the forest with me,” Clear Sky offered. “Acorn Fur too.”
Quiet Rain eased herself back onto her belly, her breath fast from the effort of moving. “Who is Acorn Fur?”
“One of Hawk Swoop’s kits.” Clear Sky throat tightened as he realized what her next question would be.
“Hawk Swoop?” Hope already flashed in Quiet Rain’s eyes. “Where is she?”
Clear Sky dropped his gaze. “She died.”
Quiet Rain recoiled. “H-how?”
Gray Wing and Jagged Peak exchanged looks.
Quiet Rain growled. “This is like plucking feathers from a pigeon! How did she die?”
Clear Sky glanced at his brothers. They stared at their paws. “There was a battle.” Clear Sky’s mew thickened.
“With whom?” Quiet Rain demanded.
Jagged Peak lifted his chin. “With Clear Sky.”
Confusion clouded Quiet Rain’s gaze. “Who fought Clear Sky?”
Gray Wing flattened his ears. “I did.”
“We all fought,” Jagged Peak put in.
“I don’t understand.” Quiet Rain’s eyes glistened with distress. “You fought each other?”
Jagged Peak blinked slowly. “When we first arrived from the mountains, we lived in one group. But some of us wanted to live on the moor and some in the forest. So Clear Sky took some cats to the forest with him, and we stayed on the moor. And we lived in peace until—”
Clear Sky’s heart quickened. Was Jagged Peak planning to blame him for the battle? He interrupted. “I decided it was best to divide our new lan
d up so each group hunted different parts.”
“You made borders!” Jagged Peak flashed him an accusing look.
Gray Wing lifted his head. “It seemed sensible at first.”
Quiet Rain narrowed her eyes. “At first?”
“Clear Sky kept moving his borders,” Jagged Peak told her.
Gray Wing’s ears twitched. “We had to defend what we had.”
“So you fought?” Quiet Rain blinked in disbelief. “Were words not enough?”
“We tried to talk,” Gray Wing explained.
Jagged Peak snorted. “When we met to discuss territory, Clear Sky’s group attacked ours.”
Quiet Rain’s gaze flashed to Clear Sky. It seared him like flames and he flinched away. “Is this true?”
“It . . . it was a mistake,” Clear Sky mumbled. “I wanted to make sure that my group had enough land to hunt in.”
Quiet Rain’s gaze didn’t waver. “You tried to take your brothers’ land; and when they wouldn’t give it up, you attacked them?”
Gray Wing stepped forward. “We all fought with each other,” he insisted.
“We had no choice,” Jagged Peak growled.
Quiet Rain’s ragged fur lifted along her spine. “Who else died in this battle?”
“Jackdaw’s Cry,” Gray Wing mewed softly. “And Falling Feather.”
Clear Sky stiffened. Would Gray Wing tell Quiet Rain that the brother and sister had killed each other? His breath caught in his throat as Gray Wing went on. “The rogues fighting with us were more vicious than we expected. They were willing to fight to the death.”
Relief washed Clear Sky’s pelt. Thank you, Gray Wing.
“Did one of these rogues also kill Turtle Tail?” Quiet Rain demanded.
Gray Wing’s eyes clouded. “She was killed by a monster before the battle.” His shoulders slumped. “It was an accident.”
“And Shaded Moss?” Quiet Rain’s mew weakened.
“Another monster,” Jagged Peak told her.
“Rainswept Flower?”
Clear Sky froze as his mother spoke.
Rainswept Flower! Guilt hollowed his belly as he remembered his killing blow. He glanced desperately at Gray Wing and Jagged Peak. Don’t tell Quiet Rain the truth. . . .
Jagged Peak’s eyes glittered in the shadows. Fear flooded Clear Sky’s pelt as the gray tom lifted his muzzle.
“She was killed in the battle.” Gray Wing flashed a warning look at Jagged Peak.
Quiet Rain’s gaze sharpened. “Why are you looking at each other like that?” She narrowed her eyes. “What are you hiding from me now?”
Clear Sky stepped forward, trembling, and raised his chin. It would be better for Quiet Rain to hear it from him. “I killed her,” he confessed.
“You?” Quiet Rain stared at him.
Clear Sky forced himself to go on. “I was mad with rage. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You killed your Tribemate?” Quiet Rain’s gaze fixed on him like a hawk’s.
“It was a battle,” Gray Wing meowed softly. “None of us were thinking straight.”
Quiet Rain jerked her head around. “Get out, Gray Wing!”
Gray Wing flinched.
“Jagged Peak, too.” Quiet Rain dragged her gaze back to Clear Sky.
As Gray Wing and Jagged Peak slunk from the den, Clear Sky backed away from his mother, his heart twisting. Disgust burned in the blue depths of Quiet Rain’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Outside, he could hear Star Flower’s anxious mew. “Where’s Clear Sky?”
“He’s still talking to Quiet Rain,” Gray Wing told her gently.
“What about?” Worry sharpened Star Flower’s voice.
“What’s it got to do with you?” Jagged Peak huffed.
Star Flower hissed. “He’s the father of my kits!”
Clear Sky longed to flee the den and press his nose deep into Star Flower’s fur. Instead, he dragged his gaze back to meet his mother’s.
Her scrawny body was trembling. Fever glistened on her muzzle. Froth showed at the corners of her mouth. Should he call Pebble Heart? But fury was burning in her eyes, stronger than any sickness.
“I did not think I could raise a kit to kill his Tribemate,” she hissed.
“You don’t understand what it was like!” Clear Sky felt the words rise from his throat like the pitiful wail of a kit. “We were in a strange land where the rules of living were very different from what they’d been in the mountains. We had no Stoneteller to advise us. I thought I was doing the right thing!”
“To turn on your kin and your Tribemates?” Quiet Rain snarled. “To slay them?”
Clear Sky leaned close to his mother. “I made a mistake,” he groaned desperately. “You have to forgive me. You’re my mother.”
Pain sliced his nose as Quiet Rain lashed his muzzle with her paw. He ducked away, staring in disbelief at her. This was the cat who had suckled him at her belly; she had watched him bring back his first prey to the cave with eyes shining with pride. Now she stared at him with cold eyes.
“I’m sorry.” The words choked in his throat.
“You are no kit of mine.” Quiet Rain curled her lip. “Get out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”
Clear Sky blinked at her, hoping for a heartbeat that she would hear her own words and realize how cruel she was being. “Forgive me,” he breathed.
“Never.” Her eyes were round with rage.
Clear Sky turned and fled from the den, shocked as snowflakes whipped his muzzle. He squinted through the whiteness, his gaze blurring with grief.
Star Flower’s scent bathed his bleeding nose. Her amber eyes shone through the storm, their irises glittering like stars.
He blinked at her, numb with shock.
“Come with me,” she murmured gently.
Clear Sky was vaguely aware of Gray Wing and Jagged Peak watching him from the clearing. Tall Shadow was no more than a shape in the swirling snow.
“There’s a hollow in the brambles over here,” Star Flower soothed. “We can rest there until the morning.”
“I want to go home,” he mumbled.
“We must stay.”
Clear Sky felt her warm flank against his and let her guide him across the snow.
As they neared the brambles, she nudged him softly. “Wait here.”
He stared blankly as she hollowed snow from beside the prickly camp wall, digging a den in the shelter of its stems. When she’d finished, she hopped from the shallow dip and nosed him forward. “We’ll be warm in here.”
His paws scuffed over the snow and slid into the earthen hollow.
Star Flower slipped in beside him. “Lie down.”
He dropped to his belly, his paws buckling, and she curled around him, wrapping her tail over him as though he were a kit. Her gentle purr throbbed against his trembling flank; her warmth slowly seeped through his pelt. Like snow melting, his thoughts cleared. “Am I a monster?” he whispered hoarsely.
“No.” Star Flower’s whisper was firm. “You’re a hero and a leader. You make the tough decisions that other cats fear. There is no shame in that.”
His heart ached, and he pressed hard against Star Flower. He felt her tongue lapping his cheek. Closing his eyes, he let the warmth of her lull him into sleep.
I hope that she is right. . . .
CHAPTER 19
Thunder blinked open his eyes, surprised to find himself waking in Tall Shadow’s camp. Early rays of sunshine sliced through the canopy. Hushed mews sounded around the clearing. I sent Lightning Tail home. The memory flooded back. Last night, he’d watched Gray Wing and Jagged Peak emerge, shaken and wide-eyed, from their mother’s den and had changed his mind about leaving. Clear Sky and Quiet Rain did not feel like his kin, but Gray Wing and Jagged Peak did. If Quiet Rain was to die, he could not let them mourn alone.
She can’t die. Not after such a long journey to see her sons. It wouldn’t be fair.
He had sent Lig
htning Tail back to their camp, worried about leaving Leaf and the others alone too long in a territory they hadn’t yet fully explored. Who knew what might be lurking between the trees there?
He heaved himself to his paws, stiff from sleeping beneath a frosty bramble, and shook out his fur. The snow had stopped, but thick drifts banked one side of the camp, and the clearing glittered white.
He recognized Clear Sky’s fur half-hidden in a nest dug beneath the camp wall. Star Flower’s golden pelt glowed beside his father’s. The pair was still sleeping. A pang of jealousy pricked his belly, but he pushed it away. Star Flower had made her choice.
“Thunder!” Eagle Feather’s excited mew rang from Holly’s den. His small face peeked out. “We’re going to make snow tunnels. Do you want to help?”
Dew Nose pushed past her brother and plunged into the snow. Then she bobbed up again and struggled toward him.
“I’m too big for snow tunnels!” Thunder called out.
Storm Pelt scrambled from the den and followed Eagle Feather as he chased his sister. “You could pretend to be a fox and try to dig us out!”
Thunder purred, then glanced guiltily toward Pebble Heart’s den. There was a sick cat in the camp—perhaps he should tell the kits to be quiet.
Eagle Feather reached him and shook snow from his whiskers. “I’ll start tunneling. You try to find me.” He dived into a deep drift and disappeared.
“Give us time to hide!” Dew Nose called, scooting deep into the snow after her brother.
“Wait for me!” Storm Pelt scrambled after them.
The camp entrance rattled, and snow showered from the brambles around it. Thunder turned to see Jagged Peak pad into camp, a wren in his jaws. He crossed the clearing and dropped it outside Pebble Heart’s den, then headed for his own. Wasn’t he going to go inside and check on his mother?
Thunder was momentarily distracted by muffled purrs from beneath the snow. He thought he should pull the kits out before they froze. Stepping toward the sound, he pricked his ears. He could hear Dew Nose whispering.
“Stay still or he’ll guess where we are.”
His whiskers twitched with amusement. Plunging his muzzle into the snow, he grabbed the first scruff he felt and plucked Storm Pelt out.