Thunderstar scrambled up another tree and onto a branch. It was a lower branch than he would have preferred, but it didn’t matter—dogs might be fast and strong, but they were terrible climbers. Regaining their feet, the two dogs leaped, barking frantically, but they couldn’t reach him.
Panting, Thunderstar looked to see if he had distracted the dogs long enough for Violet Dawn and the others to get to safety.
Clover was halfway up a tree. But Violet Dawn, Snail Shell, and Owl Eyes were still on the ground, positioned protectively between the injured cat and the approaching third dog.
All three cats were backing away, their fur bristling and their tails puffed out, hissing and yowling to try to scare the dog off. But it kept stalking closer, its body low to the ground, its lips drawn back in a snarl. It’s hunting them like we hunt prey, Thunderstar thought with a shock of fear.
“Violet Dawn!” Thunderstar yowled. He scrambled to the end of his branch and flung himself to the next tree, catching hold of the end of one of its branches and clawing his way to the next. A surge of renewed barking came from below.
Racing to the end of the next branch, he leaped to another tree. Its trunk swayed dizzyingly below him and he almost lost his balance. Steadying himself, Thunderstar looked up in time to see Violet Dawn slash her claws across the angry dog’s face, aiming for its eyes. With a yelp, it fell back for a moment, and Violet Dawn shoved Snail Shell into the nearest tree and clawed her way up behind him, moving as fast as Thunderstar had ever seen her despite the clumsy weight of her rounded belly. Owl Eyes leaped after them, barely dodging the dog’s snapping jaws. A furious howl came from below.
Thunderstar scanned the clearing: There was no cat on the ground now. He could only hope that the whole Clan had escaped injury.
A few drops spattered onto the leaves around him, and then a heavy downpour picked up again. Thunderstar inched closer to the tree’s trunk as cold water streamed down his ears and dribbled off the ends of his whiskers. At least the dogs were getting just as wet as ThunderClan.
The rain kept falling, harder and harder, as the dogs paced the clearing below. Thunderstar shifted miserably on his branch and tried to peer across to the other trees to check on Violet Dawn, and on the rest of his Clanmates, but he could see very little through the sheets of driving rain. Gradually, shadows began to spread through the clearing.
After a long time, as darkness fell and the rain continued, the dogs finally wandered off, after a few last barks up at the unreachable cats. They looked as wet and muddy as he was, and Thunderstar hoped they were even more uncomfortable.
As soon as he could no longer hear them crashing through the undergrowth of the forest, Thunderstar leaped down into the clearing.
“I think it’s safe now,” he called, and his Clan gradually joined him, some dropping daringly from the branches above, the rest scrambling down tree trunks with varying amounts of caution. Thunderstar looked carefully around: Yes, they were all here, from tiny Patch Pelt and Beech Tail to Pink Eyes, the oldest cat in the Clan.
“Thank StarClan no cat was killed,” Milkweed said, her eyes wide.
“They scattered our prey everywhere, though,” Yew Tail said, poking disdainfully at a bedraggled shrew. “I don’t think we can eat this.”
Clover gingerly tested her paw against the ground, sheathing and unsheathing her claws. “Well, if I didn’t have a sprained paw before, I definitely have one now.”
Thunderstar pressed himself close to Violet Dawn’s side, and she leaned against him, nuzzling his shoulder. “We’re all okay,” she said soothingly. “We made it.”
For how long? Thunderstar wondered. Now those dogs know where we live.
The rain had cleared overnight, and the sun was shining. Normally, the ThunderClan cats would have stretched out in the sunshine and let it warm their pelts after a quarter moon of rain. But this morning every cat was on edge, scanning the treeline and listening with their ears pricked, wondering if the dogs were coming back.
“I’ve never seen dogs like that before.” The fur on Leaf’s shoulders bristled at the memory. “They were so vicious.”
“Their muzzles looked big enough to swallow us whole!” Blue Whisker mewed, her green eyes wide.
“I was brave, though, wasn’t I?” Snail Shell asked. “As brave as Lightning Tail and Thunderstar were when they saved Owl Eyes from the Twolegplace! I helped Violet Dawn and Owl Eyes protect Clover.”
“And I’m very grateful for it,” Clover replied warmly. She looked at the long scrapes the dogs’ claws had left in the ground beneath the trees and shuddered.
Thunderstar gestured with his tail for Violet Dawn and Lightning Tail to join him by his den.
“We might not be safe here anymore,” he announced quietly, and Violet Dawn dipped her head in agreement.
“Now that they know where we live, they could come back at any time,” she mewed.
“We can send out extra patrols to watch for them,” Lightning Tail suggested. “But dogs sometimes travel far with their Twolegs. They might not even live near here.”
“We should send out extra patrols,” Thunderstar agreed. “Since there’s been peace with the other Clans, we’ve gotten too complacent.” He looked around at his Clanmates, who were already beginning to relax as the warmth of the sunshine and the normal sounds of the forest soothed them. “It’s not even just those dogs. There are dangers out there we’re not watching for.” He looked from the beautiful amber gaze of his mate to the sympathetic green eyes of his deputy. There were so many dangers in the forest. How could he protect his Clan from all of them? Or his kits?
His own littermates, who he barely even remembered, had been killed by Twoleg monsters, along with his mother, when they were much smaller than Beech Tail and Patch Pelt. If something like that—if anything—happened to his own kits, or to Violet Dawn, Thunderstar didn’t think he could survive it.
“There have always been dangers in the forest,” Violet Dawn said gently. “We are much safer here than I ever was with Slash, or than you were when the Clans were at war and rogues roamed the forest. All we can do is be careful and alert.”
“We should go find them,” Thunderstar declared, and Lightning Tail cocked his ears questioningly.
“Go find the dogs?” he asked. “Have you gone mouse-brained?”
Thunderstar flicked his tail in irritation. “Maybe you’re right and they live with Twolegs far from here and we’ll never see them again,” he meowed. “But if that’s not true, we need to find their camp. If they’re too close, we’ll have to move ThunderClan.”
Lightning Tail’s eyes went round. “Move out of the ravine?”
“If we have to. If the dogs hunt near here, the ravine’s not safe anymore.”
“Is SkyClan safe?” Violet Dawn wondered. “They’re not far from us. We should warn them.”
Lightning Tail stood up. “We should warn all the Clans. They need to know if they might be in danger. I’ll send patrols to tell them to keep a sharp lookout.”
“Good idea,” Thunderstar agreed. “Send messengers to WindClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan. But I’ll go to SkyClan myself.” He squared his shoulders, feeling resigned. He and Skystar tried to get along, but there was always tension between them. They had too long a history of hurts and betrayals. “I need to pay a visit to my father.”