“Who are you?” An angry snarl sounded from the bracken patch as Lightning Tail disappeared behind it.
“Just a loner looking for prey,” Lightning Tail answered breezily.
“Go hunt somewhere else!” A second snarl cut through the night air.
Lightning Tail sniffed. “Where’s the best place to hunt around here?”
A threatening growl sounded from behind the bracken.
Gray Wing stiffened as he saw Lightning Tail back away, his ears twitching uneasily. Two cats stalked toward him, hackles high. One was an orange tabby she-cat with amber eyes, the other a gray tabby tom with broad shoulders. Their tails twitched aggressively.
“I’m sorry I bothered you.” Lighting Tail was leading them farther away from the bracken. “I’ll leave you in peace.”
As he spoke, Leaf let out an anguished wail.
The rogues jerked around, pelts bristling.
“What’s going on?” The gray tom flattened his ears.
“I don’t know.” Worry flashed in the tabby’s eyes.
“Go find out what that noise was and I’ll get rid of this loner.” The gray tom turned toward Lightning Tail, his teeth glinting as he drew back his lips.
The tabby stalked cautiously toward the bush where Leaf was hiding.
Leaf let out another anguished wail.
“Who is it?” the tabby asked nervously. “What’s wrong?”
“Quick!” Gray Wing hissed in Reed’s ear. With both guards distracted, this was their chance. He slunk forward, keeping low, and crept toward the bracken. Reed’s breath warmed his tail-tip. He reached the wall of stiff fronds and pushed through, emerging into a small clearing.
Star Flower lay at one edge. Her matted fur clung to her body. Her swollen belly jutted out from a bony frame. Hadn’t they been feeding her? Gray Wing stared at her, shocked, as she lifted her head.
She gazed at him dully. “Who is it?” She sounded numb.
“It’s Gray Wing.” He hurried to her quickly and crouched at her side. “We’ve come to take you home.”
The bracken rustled as Reed slid in behind. “How is she?”
“She looks weak,” Gray Wing told him.
Star Flower was staring at him, confused. “Where’s Clear Sky?”
“He’s keeping Slash busy.” Gray Wing tucked his nose under her shoulder and began to nudge her to her paws. “We have to get you out of here. We haven’t got long.”
As he spoke, a yowl sounded outside camp. “If you want a fight, you’ve got one!” Lightning Tail’s snarl echoed through the air.
“Hurry!” Gray Wing urged.
A second shriek sliced through bracken wall. Leaf!
Star Flower’s eyes seemed to spark into life as she heard it. Suddenly she was hauling herself to her paws, “There are two guards,” she warned Gray Wing.
“I know,” he told her. “Lighting Tail and Leaf are taking care of them.”
“No.” Star Flower stared at him. “Two more! Slash sent extra because of the meeting.”
Gray Wing’s chest tightened. “Where are they?”
“They went to hunt rats in the carrion place.” Star Flower glanced fearfully at a gap in the bracken. “They’ll hear the fighting!”
“Come on.” Gray Wing nudged her toward the twisted fronds where he’d broken in.
As she pushed through, Gray Wing nodded Reed after her.
Paw steps were pounding over the ground outside.
He pushed through the bracken as Star Flower and Reed began to run for the pines. Lighting Tail was wrestling with the gray tom. Leaf was pummeling the tabby with churning hind legs.
The paw steps grew louder. Two burly shapes loomed from the shadow of the carrion place. One veered toward Star Flower and Reed with a yowl of rage. The other leaped for Gray Wing.
Paws slammed into his side. He lost his footing and fell to the ground. Claws raked his muzzle.
Teeth sank into his hind leg. Pain seared like fire through him as a ginger tom bit down through his fur.
He strained to see if Star Flower had gotten away.
Reed was rolling across the ground, writhing with a tortoiseshell she-cat. Beyond him, Star
Flower had stopped and turned back to look.
“Run!” Gray Wing wailed. As he spoke, the ginger tom let go and hared away, charging after Star
Flower.
Gray Wing scrambled to his paws and chased after him. He felt a twinge in his chest. It sharpened as he saw the tom reach her first. Star Flower’s eyes lit with fury. She reared and met the attack with outstretched claws, but the tom hit her like a barreling wind. Grunting, Star Flower staggered backward and fell, her swollen belly thumping onto the ground.
“You thought you could escape.” The ginger tom lunged, his claws flashing in the moonlight. Star
Flower tried to find her paws, her eyes wild with fear, but the rogue hooked his claws into her neck.
Gray Wing’s pelt bristled. “Get off her!” He grabbed the tom’s scruff between his teeth and hauled him away.
Star Flower shrieked as fur tore from her pelt.
The tom struggled free and leaped again at Star Flower. “You won’t escape!”
Moving as fast as a snake, Gray Wing darted between them.
The ginger tom crashed into him, his gaze flaming. He stretched a paw around Gray Wing, reaching for Star Flower, but Gray Wing thrust him away and sent him reeling backward.
He threw Star Flower a quick, desperate look and saw her freeze, panic showing in her eyes.
Blood dripped from her cheek. Clumps of fur stuck out of her pelt.
“Run!” Gray Wing yowled. “We can hold them off!”
She stared at him for a moment, then turned and fled for the pines.
Reed struggled from beneath the tortoiseshell. “Is Star Flower hurt?”
“Go with her!” Gray Wing ordered. He reached out a paw and swiped at the tortoiseshell’s tail.
The tortoiseshell turned on him as Reed raced away, but Gray Wing hardly saw her. The ginger tom had found his paws. He dived for Gray Wing, knocking him down. As the rogue spun to chase after Star Flower, Gray Wing hooked a paw around his leg. Sinking in his claws, he held on tight, the claws of his other paw holding fast to the tortoiseshell’s tail. “Lightning Tail!” Panic flared through Gray Wing. The rogues were struggling from his grip.
Lightning Tail was driving the gray tom back with a flurry of blows. He turned just as the ginger tom broke free and chased after Star Flower and Reed.
Lightning Tail pelted after the rogue.
Gray Wing twisted around and slammed a paw into the tortoiseshell’s flank. He dug in his claws and scrambled up. Pinning her with one paw, he slashed her nose with the other. Terror shone in her eyes. She fell limp beneath his grip.
“If I let you go, will you leave Star Flower alone?” he hissed.
The tortoiseshell blinked at him desperately. “Yes!”
Backing off, he let her go. She scrambled to her paws, her pelt bushed. Her gaze flitted from him to the others. Lightning Tail writhed on the ground, the ginger tom in his grasp. Leaf battered the tabby’s muzzle as he cowered against the earth. The tortoiseshell blinked at Gray Wing in disbelief.
“Go home,” he snarled.
Her gaze lingered on him for a moment; then she turned and fled toward the carrion place.
Gray fur flashed at the edge of Gray Wing’s vision. The gray tom was zigzagging between the bushes, heading for the pines.
Gray Wing plunged after him, his lungs screaming as his chest tightened. The world seemed to close around him, but he pushed onward, his vision narrowed to a tunnel, fixed only on the gray tom.
The tom slowed as he reached the pines, stumbling on the brambles that snaked between the trees.
Gray Wing began to catch up. He raced into the shadow of the trees, leaping easily between the brambles. He’d spent too much time in forest to let them trip him. The tom raced on, but Gray Wing was gaining. As the trees opened into a clearing, Gray Wing flung himself forward. Stretching his claws, he dug them deep and dragged the tom to a screeching halt. Blood roared in his ears, but he kept his claws curled deep into the gray tom’s pelt. The tom shrieked and tried to struggle free, but Gray Wing held him hard.