Then he spotted Acorn Fur rolling around in a hollow of dead leaves, batting at them with all four paws. He rolled his eyes. Well, she’s hardly more than a kit…
“Acorn Fur—” he began.
“Stop messing about,” Tom interrupted with a snarl. “I’m starving, and I haven’t eaten since morning.”
Acorn Fur clambered out of the hollow, a hurt look in her eyes as she shook scraps of leaf off her fur. “Sorry,” she muttered.
Clear Sky glanced across at Tom, seeing that his belly had shrunk in the few days since he joined the group. And a good thing too!
“In the forest we only eat when there’s food available,” he meowed gently. “It’s something we must all get used to. I remember when—”
“Don’t tell me again about how you were all starving in the mountains,” Tom interrupted again.
“I’ve heard that story too many times!”
“I never asked you to join the group,” Clear Sky retorted, his voice rough with the beginnings of a snarl. “You can leave anytime you like.”
Tom looked like he was about to start arguing, but clearly had the sense to keep his jaws shut.
Clear Sky relaxed, glad that the confrontation was over.
Her paws pattering on the dead leaves, Acorn Fur bounded up and brushed her pelt against his.
She seemed ready to do the same to Tom, then halted, her nose wrinkling slightly.
“I’m sorry if I messed up,” she mewed. “I don’t want to start a fight. The last moon has been so great.”
“True,” Clear Sky murmured. Now that normal life had replaced the constant skirmishing, it had been a relief to sleep through the night and wake up refreshed. He suppressed a shiver at the thought of the nightmares that had plagued his rest for so long. He’d been so worried about protecting his cats and their territory, ensuring that every cat had enough to eat. It hadn’t been easy. It would be good now to share prey and territories, to pull together.
As the patrol set out again, a rustling sounded from the edge of the forest. Instantly One Eye whirled in the direction of the noise. “Get off our territory!” he snarled. “Whoever you are.”
“Hey, wait!” Clear Sky meowed. “We don’t have trespassers now!”
But he was too late. While he was still speaking, Tom charged off toward the sound, his fur bristling up like a hedgehog’s spines. Clear Sky raced after him, with Acorn Fur dashing alongside, eager to help. One Eye trailed after them as if he had lost interest.
“Stay out of the way!” Clear Sky ordered Acorn Fur as he threw himself in front of Tom.
The kittypet was facing a dangerous-looking tabby tom, muscular, with small ears, like a mouse’s.
Tom was snarling and flourishing his claws, but it was obvious to Clear Sky that he had no idea how to fight.
“Back off, unless you want your ears shredded!” Clear Sky snapped at Tom, pushing him away.
He was vaguely aware of other voices calling at a distance, and a few heartbeats later Gray Wing and Thunder emerged from the undergrowth, their eyes wide as they padded up to the group of cats.
“Okay, Mouse Ear, keep calm,” Gray Wing meowed, brushing the tabby tom’s shoulder with his tail. “It was all a misunderstanding. There’s no need to fight.”
Meanwhile Thunder was gazing curiously at One Eye. “Who is this?” he asked.
“A new friend,” Clear Sky replied, dipping his head to his son. “His name is One Eye. He joined my group a few sunrises ago. And this—” he began, stretching a paw out toward Tom.
“You don’t need to tell us.” Clear Sky was startled to hear the growl in Gray Wing’s voice—his brother was usually the calmest of cats. “We know all about Tom.”
“How?” Clear Sky asked, surprised.
“Clear Sky, you’ve taken in the kittypet who stole Turtle Tail’s kits,” Gray Wing told him. “You do remember Turtle Tail, don’t you?”
Guilt stabbed into Clear Sky. “Those were Turtle Tail’s kits? I didn’t know!” I should have tried to stop him from taking them, he thought.
As quickly as it came, the guilt disappeared, replaced by fury. How dare Gray Wing humiliate me like this in front of Tom and One Eye! I’ve worked so hard to keep the new rules we agreed with the spirit-cats.
“I thought all the old grudges had been put behind us after the battle,” he meowed stiffly. “Isn’t that what every cat agreed? Gray Wing, I would have thought that you of all cats would be fair and open-minded about these things. After all,” he continued, letting anger guide his words, “you’ve relied on Thunder to lead your group now that you’re no longer up to the task. Thunder would have been within his rights to drive you out and leave you to fend for yourself—a broken cat. You should count yourself lucky!”
“That’s not how we do things!” Thunder protested.
Gray Wing stayed silent. Clear Sky knew that he had touched a nerve, and he could see the hurt in his brother’s eyes. Instantly he regretted losing his temper. Pacing forward, he touched noses with his brother. “Not that it would ever come to that,” he purred. “I would always give you a home.”
“Yes!” Acorn Fur gave an excited little bounce. “Come and live with us, Gray Wing!”
Clear Sky spotted Thunder cringing at the young she-cat’s eager words. That wasn’t what we needed to hear right now, he thought. “That’s enough,” he told Acorn Fur sternly. “Gray Wing has a perfectly good home of his own.”
As silence fell, Clear Sky realized that Tom and the big tabby were still facing each other, glaring aggressively, their neck fur standing on end.
“Calm yourself, Mouse Ear,” Thunder hissed at the tabby as he stepped between the two of them.
The tabby obediently backed off, and Thunder turned to Tom. “I think we’ve met before,” he mewed.
Clear Sky spotted a flash of anger in Tom’s eyes, before it turned to amusement. “I believe we have,” he agreed. “In fact, I believe you stole my kits from me. How are they? I hope they don’t wake up in the night crying for their dead mother?”
“That’s enough,” Clear Sky snapped at Tom, shocked by the kittypet’s cruel words. He turned to the other cats and added with a glance at Mouse Ear, “We’re all bringing new cats into our groups.
Let’s just accept this is the way things have to be for now. Thunder, Tom may have been a kittypet, but you should trust that your father knows a good fighter when he meets one.”
“Fighter?” Thunder’s tone was sharp. “What do you need a fighter for?”
“It would be a foolish cat who wasn’t prepared to defend himself,” Clear Sky replied. “Dogs, badgers, rogue cats, Twolegs… Who knows where the next danger will come from? And there is always a next danger,” he continued, pleased to see that Thunder couldn’t hold his gaze. “Isn’t that why the spirit-cats came back, to advise us on how to survive? You train your cats in fighting techniques, right?”
Thunder’s gaze was fixed on his paws. “We train cats in hunting techniques. We don’t need anything else.”
Gray Wing padded closer to his young kin, standing beside him. “Any cat has the instincts to use claws in a fight,” he told his brother. “But hunting… Now, that takes patience and learning. Thunder is doing the right thing.”
He turned, and with Thunder at his side headed toward the moors. After one last glare in Tom’s direction, Mouse Ear followed.
“Good-bye!” Clear Sky called out uncertainly.
Mouse Ear was the only cat to look back. “You’re a fool,” he meowed to Clear Sky. “I’ve known
One Eye for a long time—and he’s not to be trusted. You’ll live to regret taking him in.”