Pebble Heart was gazing into the distance, his eyes clouded with a look that Gray Wing knew well. The young tom was thinking.
“Frog.” Willow crouched beside the tom. “You’ll be okay. We won’t leave you behind.”
“He needs to lie flat as we move him,” Pebble Heart murmured.
Gray Wing frowned. “That’s not possible.”
Pebble Heart blinked at him, his eyes lighting up in the darkness. “Yes, it is!” He raced to the camp entrance. “We need to find the right sized piece of bark. I’ve seen plenty in the pine forest. It’ll curve around his body but be flat enough to support him. We can use it to drag him to the moor.”
Lightning Tail pricked his ears. “I’ll help find some.”
“I’ll come too!” Moss hurried across the clearing.
“Where’s Moss going?” Pine blinked anxiously at his father as he headed out of camp.
“He’s not going far,” Dawn soothed. “He’ll be back soon.”
Pine lifted his chin. “I’m going with him.” He began to cross the clearing, following Moss’s paw steps.
Violet darted forward and grabbed the tip of the kit’s tail between her teeth. “You’re staying here,” she mewed through gritted teeth as she dragged Pine toward his mother. “Dawn has had enough to worry about today without you wandering off.”
Pine struggled free and glared at the dark gray she-cat, but he didn’t argue. Sticking his tail in the air, he stalked back to Dawn’s side and sat down stiffly.
Gray Wing glanced toward the pine trees, no more than shadows against the cloudy night sky.
No one spoke as they waited for Pebble Heart, Moss, and Lightning Tail to return.
Gray Wing stiffened when, at last, paw steps sounded outside the camp. He hurried to the entrance, then hopped back as Lightning Tail burst, tail-first, into the clearing. He was dragging a piece of bark in his teeth while Moss and Pebble Heart pushed the other end with their paws. Gray Wing sniffed it as Lightning Tail let it drop beside Frog. The scent of sap was still fresh. It clearly had not been lying long on the forest floor. The bark would be strong.
Pebble Heart crouched beside Frog. “We need to move you onto the bark,” he told the tom. “It will hurt, but not for long.”
“I can bear it,” Frog grunted.
Willow paced beside the injured rogue, her worried gaze on Pebble Heart. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course.” Pebble Heart buried his muzzle into Frog’s scruff and bit down. He blinked at Lightning Tail and Moss, and they hurried to help. Nosing Frog’s hindquarters, they heaved him onto the piece of bark, while Pebble Heart guided his head.
Frog grunted, his eyes sparking with pain, then fell limp as they laid him into the curve of his bark nest.
Violet padded around him, looking worried. “Will we be able to drag it?”
Thunder puffed out his chest. “There’s only one way to find out.” Leaning down, he grasped one corner of the bark between his teeth and tugged. The bark slid a little way over the ground. Juniper hurried to help, taking the other corner in her teeth. Between them, the two cats began to heave Frog toward the clearing.
Gray Wing watched them haul him through the entrance. The rogues limped behind them, a straggling trail of battered cats. His pelt prickled nervously. Could they really drag Frog all the way to the moor? And what would he tell Wind Runner when they arrived?
“Frog?” Willow’s anxious mew sounded from the head of the group. Gray Wing hurried past the rogues and stopped beside her. Above, the clouds were thinning. Stars were glittering through the gaps. They had made it onto the moor. The hollow was visible in the weak starlight, no more than a shadow on the hillside.
Willow leaned over the bark nest. The rogue’s body was slumped in its curve.
“He’s not moving.” Willow looked expectantly at Pebble Heart.
The young tom sniffed Frog’s muzzle. “He’s still breathing, but very weakly,” he murmured.
“Do something to help him!” Willow’s tail quivered.
Gray Wing’s heart twisted as he heard horror in her mew.
Pebble Heart met her gaze. “I can clean wounds and stop them from bleeding, but Frog’s injury is inside. There’s nothing I can do.”
Anger flared in Willow’s gaze. “But you got him this far!” She glanced toward the hollow.
“We’re so near. He has to make it.”
Frog grunted softly.
Willow crouched beside him. “Frog. Hang on. We’re nearly there. You’re going to be okay.”
Gray Wing saw Frog’s tail slide limply onto the ground.
Willow hopped over the bark and tucked it in neatly beside him. “We’re going to take care of you, Frog.”
Frog made no sound.
“Frog?” Willow leaned into the nest and lapped at his shoulder urgently. “Say something. Wake up. Stay awake. You can sleep when we get to safety.”
Pebble Heart placed his paw on Frog’s flank.
Gray Wing’s heart lurched as shock darkened the young tom’s gaze. He looked at Frog and saw stillness beneath Pebble Heart’s paw. Frog wasn’t breathing.
“Frog!” Panic edged Willow’s mew.
“I’m sorry.” Pebble Heart’s mew was husky. “He’s dead.”
“No!” Willow backed away, her eyes wide.
Violet hurried to her side, steadying Willow as she began to tremble. “So much death!”
Thunder padded forward. “This will be the last.” He met Gray Wing’s gaze. Was that doubt flickering in his starlit gaze?
Gray Wing dipped his head. “There’s no point dragging Frog to the hollow now,” he meowed softly. “We should bury him here and mark his grave so that he will not be forgotten.”
As he spoke, he heard paws pounding across the hillside. He turned his head and saw, in the moonlight, Wind Runner and Gorse Fur running toward them. He hurried to meet them. He didn’t want
Wind Runner stumbling into the rogues without warning.
“There you are, Gray Wing!” Wind Runner pulled up as she neared, her pelt rippling uneasily as she saw the rogues gathered behind him. Her mew hardened. “What are they doing here?”
Gorse Fur narrowed his eyes as he scanned the bedraggled cats.
Gray Wing shifted his paws. “Their camp was attacked by dogs. Slash deserted them with a few of his allies. Three of their campmates are dead and most of them are injured. I told them that we would give them shelter for the night.” He held his leader’s gaze unflinchingly. “Their camp is no longer safe. They need our help.”
Wind Runner flattened her ears, her gaze flicking toward Juniper, Raven, and Ember. “They didn’t need our help when they attacked our patrol a few days ago.”
Gray Wing stood his ground. “They had no choice. Disobeying Slash would have cost them their lives.” He glanced at Fern, remembering her terror of the cruel tom. “But Slash is gone now. These cats are no different from you and me.” He hoped it was true.
“Really?” Wind Runner padded past Gray Wing and circled Juniper and Raven. She stared at them angrily. “Are we supposed to trust you now?”
“We won’t hurt you,” Raven told her quickly.
Wind Runner curled her lip. “If only you’d felt that way last time we met.”
Gorse Fur padded to his mate’s side. “They don’t look in a fit state to harm anyone.”
Wind Runner glared at him. “So we should take them into our camp?”
“Just until tomorrow,” Gray Wing pleaded. The wind was turning cold and cutting through his damp pelt. He shivered. “They need shelter.”
Dawn padded forward. She nosed Drizzle and Pine ahead of her. “Will you at least take my kits?”
“No!” Drizzle dug her paws into the grass.
“We want to stay with you!” Pine stared desperately at his mother.
Moss padded to his mate’s side. “It’s okay, Dawn. We can keep them safe.”