“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 forward.
“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.”