Together the two cats collected fallen leaves from the thorn trees and wrapped them around the mouse, careful not to let their paws come into contact with its corpse. Then, still with the greatest care, they rolled it toward a pile of rocks.
Thunder wrinkled his nose at the faint stench that rose from the dead animal. “What is that?” he muttered. “It’s worse than the smell of death.”
At last Thunder and Gray Wing managed to shove the mouse’s body into a crack between two rocks, and piled more and more pebbles on top of it until the stench was gone.
“Done!” Gray Wing exclaimed, settling back on his haunches. “And now we’d better find a stream to wash our paws… just in case.” He let out a long sigh. “This is not a good sign.”
Chapter 8
When they returned to the hollow, Gray Wing found the other cats anxiously watching for them. He leaped up onto the rock beside Tall Shadow, and told his denmates about the mouse they’d found and how he and Thunder had disposed of it.
“What are we going to do?” Wind Runner asked, encircling her kits with her tail and drawing them protectively toward her. “What if there are more sick mice?”
Even in the midst of his worry, Gray Wing couldn’t help thinking about how much Wind Runner had changed. Ever since one of her litter, Emberkit, had died soon after being born, she had been extra careful with the others. And who can blame her?
But that wasn’t the only change. Since the battle she had been more reserved, and Gray Wing wondered whether her ambitions for leadership had waned, or whether they had simply changed direction. She’s more focused on Gorse Fur and the kits now, he thought, instead of trying to tell other cats what to do.
“We have to be on our guard when we’re hunting,” Tall Shadow replied. “If there’s any chance that the prey is ill, you mustn’t attack. And certainly don’t bring anything doubtful back into the camp.”
“Why do we have to be so cautious?” Mud Paws asked.
Tall Shadow leaned closer to Gray Wing, murmuring into his ear: “Should we tell the three newcomers about the spirit-cats? Will they even believe us?”
Gray Wing wasn’t sure. “They say they saw the battle. I don’t know what else they saw. I know that we don’t want to frighten them with stories about ghost cats and messages from the sky,” he responded. “But I trust them and, sooner or later, some cat will tell them anyway. I think we should share what we know with them.”
Tall Shadow hesitated briefly, then gave a nod.
“We recently received a warning,” Gray Wing began, clearing his throat.
Instantly Holly leaped to her paws. “What kind of warning?” she demanded. “If it was from that nasty cat One Eye, we’ll—”
“No,” Gray Wing interrupted. “It was from some… distant friends.”
“Do you mean traveling cats?” Mouse Ear asked, sounding puzzled.
“Not exactly,” Gray Wing mewed. These cats are going to think I have bees in my brain! “It’s complicated,” he went on, eager to get to the end of the explanation as quickly as possible. “Just after the battle—before we met you—the… spirits of the cats who died appeared to us.”
A squeak of amazement came from Sparrow Fur. She and her two littermates hadn’t been in the battle or the later meeting, and now they were drinking in every word Gray Wing spoke, their eyes wide and excited.
“Spirit-cats?” Mud Paws gaped with astonishment, exchanging glances with his two friends. “Are you sure you weren’t… well… a bit confused after all that fighting?”
Gray Wing shook his head. “Every cat who was there saw them and heard them. The spirit-cats told us to unite or die. They also told us to meet them again by the four trees at the next full moon.”
“So that’s where you all went the other night,” Holly meowed. “I thought you’d just gone out on patrol.”
“Yes,” Gray Wing continued. “Perhaps we should have told you, but… We saw the spirit-cats again, and that’s when they gave us the warning. They told us that a claw still blights the forest. To survive, we must grow and spread like the Blazing Star.”
Holly let out a snort of disgust. “Your spirit friends certainly like being vague, don’t they?” she mewed tartly. “What in the world is that message supposed to mean?”
“The claw might be the sickness that killed the mouse,” Cloud Spots murmured thoughtfully.
“And the Blazing Star,” Mouse Ear repeated. “Isn’t that some kind of five-petaled plant?”
“What plant?” Gray Wing asked. “Where—?”
His voice was drowned out as excitement flared up among the listening cats at Mouse Ear’s suggestion, and they crowded around, eagerly offering their own ideas.
“I think it means we should go back to the mountains,” Tall Shadow meowed. “A plant like that grows there.”
Gray Wing stared at the black she-cat, hardly able to believe he had heard those words from her.
After all we’ve been through! But he had no chance to object, because all his denmates were calling out their own explanations.
“I think it means we should follow a shooting star to a new territory!” Owl Eyes squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.
His sister, Sparrow Fur, gave him a shove. “When was the last time we saw a shooting star, mouse-brain?”
“A blaze…” Wind Runner murmured anxiously. “I’m afraid that might mean another fire somewhere. We could end up racing away from it, splitting up forever.” Bending over her kits, she drew them closer, covering their ears with licks. “I won’t let that happen,” she promised.
Gorse Fur pressed himself to her side. “Whatever comes, we’ll stay together.”
“Wait!” Jagged Peak added his voice to the rising clamor. “Maybe it has to do with the plant
Mouse Ear just mentioned. He said it has five petals, right? I think I remember seeing it in the mountains, too. Maybe we need to divide into—”
“That’s enough,” Gray Wing interrupted, becoming flustered by all the different ideas. “Have you all been quietly hatching your own explanations? You haven’t been discussing this with any other cat at all? No wonder you’re coming to such ridiculous conclusions!”
The other cats were silent, looking up at him with disconcerted expressions, as if they didn’t know what was making him so irritable. Jagged Peak in particular looked hurt.
Well, I’m sorry, Gray Wing thought. But they have to learn that panic and wild speculation will get us nowhere.
“We all need to calm down,” he meowed. “Now, Mouse Ear, where exactly is this plant—the
‘Blazing Star’—growing? If we can find it and bring it back to camp, maybe it will give us a clue about what the spirit-cats were telling us. One thing at a time, okay?”
The cats muttered their agreement, though Gray Wing could see that they still weren’t happy with him. But that’s fine, as long as we can work this out.
“We found the Blazing Star growing on the other side of the Thunderpath,” Mouse Ear told the others.
“You mean we’ve got to cross it?” Shattered Ice asked doubtfully. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
Gray Wing didn’t like it, either, remembering the problems they had experienced on their journey, including the death of Shaded Moss under the paws of a monster.
“We used to go across all the time,” Mud Paws mewed reassuringly. “It’s not dangerous if you know how.”