As soon as his paws touched the grass on the far side of the Thunderpath, Hawkwing collapsed, panting. His Clanmates gathered around and stared down at him, concerned looks on their faces.
“They got me!” Hawkwing gasped. “The Twoleg kits got me!
I’m bleeding!”
Even as he spoke, he felt that something wasn’t right. Blood was supposed to be warm, but he realized for the first time that the stuff dripping down his back was cold.
Billystorm bent closer and gave him a long sniff. “That’s not blood,” he mewed. His eyes were sparkling with amusement, though he was clearly trying to keep it out of his voice. “It’s water.”
“What?” Hawkwing twisted around, trying to crane his neck so that he could see.
“Water,” Billystorm repeated. “The Twoleg kits were shooting it out of weird shiny things they held in their paws.”
Relief flooding through him, Hawkwing staggered to his paws.
He could see that every cat, like Billystorm, was struggling to keep a serious expression, as if they were all trying to hide how funny they found his misadventure.
I suppose it is pretty funny, he thought. Duskpaw would be rolling on the ground with laughter if he were here now…
But then Hawkwing noticed that Pebblepaw had turned away to hide her face, and in spite of her efforts her tail was curling up with amusement. Anger spurted up inside him, stifling his relief.
Duskpaw isn’t here to laugh because of her. How dare she laugh at me!
“It’s not funny!” he yowled at Pebblepaw. “I could have been killed!”
Pebblepaw spun around to face him again. “With water?”
“Well, I could have drowned!”
Blossomheart let out a snort of laughter, and Hawkwing spun around to glare at her.
“Honestly…” Pebblepaw rolled her eyes. “Are you a mouse?
Even a mouse couldn’t have drowned in that much water.”
Hawkwing slid out his claws, a breath away from leaping on Pebblepaw and scratching her ears. “Well, I know you don’t take death very seriously,” he snarled.
His gaze met Pebblepaw’s, and for a few heartbeats she stared back at him. Hawkwing could see that she understood he was referring to Duskpaw’s death. And I can see that I’ve hurt her. Well, she deserves it!
Billystorm’s eyes narrowed. He looked ready to step in, then clearly decided to let his apprentice fight her own battles.
“That’s totally unfair!” Pebblepaw protested to Hawkwing with a lash of her tail. “We were only having a bit of fun. I do take death seriously,” she added, clearly trying to calm down. “Never mind—I can see there’s no point trying to make you understand.”
She shrugged, turning away.
Hawkwing didn’t want to listen anymore. With a furious hiss he whirled around and stalked off away from the Thunderpath, not waiting to see if any of his Clanmates followed.
The others soon caught up to him. “Take it easy,” Billystorm meowed. “Blaming another cat won’t lessen our grief. We still have a long way to go before we stop for the night, and we’ll only make it more difficult if we start quarreling among ourselves.”
Hawkwing simply grunted an acknowledgment of the senior warrior’s words. He felt as if no cat would ever understand what he was going through.
Padding forward, ignoring the rest of his Clanmates, Hawkwing decided that the only way to survive this quest was to keep to himself and not talk to any cat. I don’t even know if I’m being fair anymore—and I don’t care. All he could feel was the pain of missing Duskpaw.
He was glad when the sun went down and they could start looking for a place to make camp.
Chapter 6
Hawkwing stood staring up into the branches of a massive oak tree, wondering if it might be “the tree that splits into three” that Darktail had told them about. This was the third day since they had left camp, and already the sun was beginning to slide down the sky. Every cat was beginning to wonder whether somehow they had gone wrong and missed Darktail’s landmark.
“This must be it,” Billystorm meowed. “Look, the trunk splits into three about five fox-lengths up.”
The leaves had still not reached their greenleaf fullness, so it was easy to see how the huge thick trunk divided. And Hawkwing could see that this was clearly the wrong tree. If we take this as our landmark, then the whole quest is doomed, he thought. I have to say something…
Hawkwing took a breath. This was the first time he had really spoken to his Clanmates since his outburst after the Twolegs’ attack.
“See how that branch splits again a tail-length away from the first fork?” He gestured at it with his tail. “So if you’re looking closely, the tree splits into four, not three.”
“Well, three of the branches are very thick,” Waspwhisker pointed out, “and the fourth one is much thinner. So maybe it shouldn’t be counted.”
Hawkwing felt his neck fur begin to bristle. “Of course it should! Any cat can see it divides into four, not three.”
“How great it must be, to be a young cat.” Waspwhisker’s tail-tip twitched irritably. “They know everything! Hawkwing, if you—”
“That’s enough.” Billystorm stepped forward. “I suggest we put it to a vote. Is this Darktail’s tree, or isn’t it?”
“I don’t think it is,” Hawkwing responded instantly, hurt by Waspwhisker’s snarky comment. We have to follow Echosong’s vision and find the other Clans. If we get this wrong, who knows what will happen? “I vote we carry on until we find a tree that really does split into three and not four.”
“You know what I think,” Waspwhisker huffed. “This is it, no question.”
“I agree,” Pebblepaw mewed with a glance at Hawkwing. He couldn’t read her expression, to know if she was voting against him just to be spiteful. Could she really be that petty? To risk the whole quest just to get at me?
“So do I,” Blossomheart added.
Hawkwing felt his shoulder fur beginning to bristle. Even my own sister won’t back me up!
Billystorm nodded. “I have to say, I do too,” he responded to Blossomheart. “Hawkwing, maybe Darktail didn’t look as closely as you did. At first glance, the tree splits into three.”
Hawkwing shrugged. He knew there was no point in arguing anymore, when he was outvoted four to one. I just hope Billystorm is right, otherwise we’ll never find the other Clans.
Following Darktail’s directions, Billystorm led the way toward the setting sun. It was already low on the horizon, staining the sky red and casting the cats’ shadows behind them.
Hawkwing realized that every cat except him was in good spirits, drawing new energy from finding the sign, and believing they were now only a short journey from the cats they had set out to find.
“I wonder what they’ll be like,” Blossomheart meowed. “The other Clan cats. Won’t they be surprised to see us!”
“I wonder… ,” Pebblepaw murmured awkwardly, concern clouding her gaze. “What will we do if the other Clans don’t want us to join them? After all, didn’t the same Clans drive us out, all those seasons ago? Isn’t that why SkyClan lives alone?”