Jake’s words flashed in Talltail’s mind. I know you, Talltail. You’re not a killer. Sandgorse’s voice joined Jake’s. Another cat’s life is as precious as your own. Talltail’s thoughts whirled. What if he’s telling the truth? Alarm ripped though his chest. I can’t kill him, Sandgorse. I’m sorry!
As he backed away from Sparrow, the ground trembled. Talltail glanced along the Thunderpath. The monster was coming, shaking the earth. “Let’s get away from here.”
Sparrow’s eyes widened. “Help!” He jerked clumsily backward as the cliff started to give way beneath his paws. “I’m falling!”
Talltail flung out a paw, reaching for the rogue’s pelt. He felt fur brush his claw-tips as they curled around thin air.
Then Sparrow disappeared.
Chapter 38
Talltail flung himself onto the grass and wriggled forward to peer over the edge. Sparrow was slithering down the cliff face, showering grit as he fought to get a grip. “Talltail!” he wailed, a moment before he landed with a thump on the Thunderpath.
There was a heartbeat of ominous silence; then the gorge echoed with the roar of a monster as it howled closer. Sparrow scrambled to his paws and darted back and forth, pressing close to the cliff. Talltail stared down at him in horror. The smooth, black stone reached right to the edge of the Thunderpath. There was nowhere for Sparrow to hide.
The eyes of the monster lit up the curve.
“Help me!” Sparrow reached up with his front paws, trying to get a clawhold. “Help me up!” His mew was sharp with terror. He jumped, clinging to the sandy stone, but it crumbled in his claws and he tumbled back onto the hard, gray Thunderpath. “Talltail! Help!”
I have to save him! Talltail stared around desperately. How? A thought struck him. There must be ditches somewhere along the Thunderpath, like the ones near WindClan land. Without them, the gorge would become a river when it rained. If there was a ditch close by, they could hide inside while the monster went past. If they reached the ditch ahead of the monster. And if the ditch was big enough for two cats. If, if, if…
Talltail scrambled over the edge. He half skidded, half fell down the steep, sandy cliff, landing heavily beside Sparrow.
Sparrow blinked. “What are you doing?”
“Follow me!” Talltail hared along the Thunderpath. He glanced behind him. Sparrow was on his heels, his eyes huge with fear. Behind him, the vast head of a gleaming black monster loomed around the curve. “Run!” Paws burning, Talltail raced over the hard black stone. The gorge thrummed with the monster’s roar. Talltail flattened his ears, pushing harder, stretching further with every paw step.
He scanned the edges of the Thunderpath, straining to see a hiding place carved somewhere in the rock. Ahead, a shadow darkened the stone where the Thunderpath touched the rugged rock of the gorge. Talltail’s heart leaped. As he raced nearer, he could a see channel dug into the ground, just wide enough for a cat. Talltail sprang into it and looked back at Sparrow.
The terrified rogue was several tail-lengths behind. The monster thundered after him, so huge it blocked the sky.
“Hurry!” Talltail shrieked.
As Sparrow neared, Talltail reached up and grabbed the rogue’s pelt. Sinking his claws into the dense fur, Talltail hauled him into the narrow ditch. Stones battered his flanks and the earth shook beneath him. Foul wind tugged his fur. He shuddered with terror, his flesh shrinking beneath his pelt as the monster hurtled past.
“Sparrow?” Talltail scrambled backward and looked at the cat squashed beneath him.
Sparrow lifted his head. “We’re alive!”
Talltail tried to stop himself from trembling. Dawn was lighting the sky. More monsters would be coming soon. “We have to get out of here.” Could they make it to the end of the gorge without meeting another?
Sparrow seemed to guess what he was thinking. The rogue’s gaze flicked past Talltail. “What about that way?” he suggested.
Talltail wriggled around in the narrow space. Sparrow had spotted a small tunnel that opened into the ditch. That must have been where the rainwater flowed out. Talltail padded toward it and sniffed the darkness. Fresh air washed over his muzzle. “Good idea.” He beckoned Sparrow with a nod and started to duck inside.
He paused when there was no sound of paw steps following. Looking back, he saw Sparrow staring wide-eyed at the mouth of the tunnel, fur bristling and claws unsheathed. Talltail looked at the tunnel, then at Sparrow again. A pang of sharp emotion—pity, sorrow, even guilt—stabbed his belly. The last time Sparrow had entered a tunnel, he had barely escaped—and the other cat had died.
“Come on,” Talltail mewed. “It’s perfectly safe, I promise.”
Sparrow took a step forward. His fur still stood on end.
“Stay close to me,” Talltail told him. “You’ll be fine.” He ducked his head and walked into the tunnel. The sides were round and smooth, made of hard, gray stone rather than hewn from wet earth. Talltail’s claws skittered on the surface. Sheathing them, he padded cautiously on. He could hear Sparrow’s pelt brushing the walls behind him. Darkness swallowed them and Talltail quickened his pace. He told himself that this tunnel would not collapse, that they would be out soon because he could feel air being funneled toward them, rich with the scent of grass. For a moment, he imagined how terrifying it must have been for Sparrow when the gorge tunnel collapsed around him. Talltail knew what it was like to feel mud and earth raining down on him, but when he had been in a tunnel accident, every other cat had made it out alive.
“You’re doing great,” he called over his shoulder.
“Thank you.” Sparrow’s mew echoed close behind, his breath warm on Talltail’s hindquarters.
Talltail felt numb. Because of him, Sparrow had nearly died falling off the cliff. And now, because of him, Sparrow was alive. This wasn’t what he had planned. He felt like he was walking in another cat’s body.
Sparrow’s muzzle touched his tail-tip. “I’m sorry your father died.” The rogue’s words were hardly more than a breath, but they rang around Talltail like spiraling wind. “It was an accident. Sandgorse saved my life. And I’ll never forget him.”
Of course Sandgorse saved him. Talltail’s throat tightened.
“When we don’t know the truth, we invent stories to fill the gaps,” Sparrow went on quietly. “Sometimes it’s the only way we have to make sense of our lives.”
“Why didn’t you tell me what really happened?” Talltail asked. “At the time?”
“I didn’t think you’d believe me,” Sparrow confessed. “You were so angry—so determined that someone must be to blame.”
Talltail didn’t argue. It was true.
The end of the tunnel glowed ahead, small at first but growing with each paw step until they emerged into dazzling, cold daylight. Talltail blinked as his eyes adjusted after the gloom. They were close to the Thunderpath, but the gorge was gone and meadows stretched away on either side. Sparrow stood still, taking deep breaths of the sparkling air.
“Where are we?” Talltail mewed.
Sparrow flicked his tail. In the distance, woodland nestled between two gently rolling hills. “The camp’s up there.” He jumped a swathe of long grass and pushed through a hedge. Talltail bounded after him.
They walked in silence across frosty fields until they reached the trees. Sparrow seemed to know his way and Talltail was happy to let him lead, scrambling over logs and sliding into dips as he tried to keep up. He scented the camp as they neared a patch of silvery bracken. Orange fur flashed in front of it.