When the rest of the cats were assembled, Gray Wing and Clear Sky padded over from the den they were sharing, and thrust their way into the center of the crowd. Tall Shadow remained on her rock, her ears angled to listen while her eyes scanned the moor for intruders.
“So what is this plan, then?” Clear Sky demanded. He felt better after resting and eating, and from the burdock root Cloud Spots had put on his bitten tail, but his impatience was like ants crawling through his pelt.
Gray Wing signaled with his tail for the other cats to draw back, leaving him alone in the center of a ragged circle. Then he began to draw lines in the earth with his claws.
“Look,” he explained as Clear Sky peered closer. “Here’s the forest, and here’s the hollow where we are. There’s the Thunderpath, and there’s the river. This is the rocky outcrop where Wind Runner is living, and this is the clearing with the four oak trees. And here…” Gray Wing smacked a paw down in the middle of his drawing, then looked around inquiringly to see if any cat had gotten his point.
Clear Sky frowned in confusion. “But there… there’s nothing.”
“Exactly!” Gray Wing gave his brother a satisfied nod. “An empty space a good way away from anywhere cats live. Free, open space where a single cat on his own would be terribly vulnerable.”
Owl Eyes had crept forward and was studying the markings. His eyes stretched wide until they were as big as the eyes of the bird he was named for. “You mean… attack One Eye there?” he breathed out.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Gray Wing confirmed.
Clear Sky was aware of the cats sharing worried glances, until Thunder spoke up. “I’m not sure,” he meowed.
Gasps of astonishment came from the cats around him, and Clear Sky himself was shocked. “Is that my son talking?” he asked. “The brave warrior Thunder, with his great leaps and huge paws?
He’s really backing away from action?”
Thunder took a pace forward, glancing around the assembled cats. “We’ve seen so much death and destruction,” he explained. “The spirit-cats told us to unite or die. Maybe One Eye will be happy now that he has the forest, so we should give it to him.”
Clear Sky stared at his son, feeling that he scarcely recognized him. “You’d be happy with that, would you? Think how well you hunt in among the trees. You’d be happy never to go back there?”
Doubt clouded Thunder’s face. “I don’t know,” he confessed, scraping at the ground with one massive paw. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
“We all are,” Clear Sky retorted. “But the right thing isn’t nothing.”
“And what about Acorn Fur?” Lightning Tail asked. “I’m not going to abandon my sister to stay in the forest with One Eye.”
“Okay,” Thunder conceded, though he still didn’t look happy. “But we drive One Eye out. We don’t kill him. That would make us just as bad as he is.”
Good luck with that, Clear Sky thought, knowing how vicious the rogue was. Aloud, he said, “That’s fine with me… provided we can make him leave.”
As Thunder and Clear Sky faced each other, a she-cat’s voice rang out from the top of the hollow.
“Can I help at all?”
Lightning Tail turned around, his pelt bristling with irritation. But he said nothing.
“Who is this?” Clear Sky asked his son as the she-cat began padding gracefully down the slope.
She’s certainly a beautiful cat, he thought, admiring her golden tabby fur and her green eyes that shone brilliantly in the fading daylight.
No cat replied until the newcomer reached the bottom of the hollow. “My name is Star Flower,” she purred, giving Clear Sky a polite nod. “I’m a rogue cat looking for a home. And if there’s any fighting to be done, I’m a great cat to have on your side. Just ask Thunder…”
Every cat turned to look at Thunder. Clear Sky saw his son shifting about on his paws, looking utterly embarrassed. So that’s Star Flower! Clear Sky was unable to stifle his amusement in spite of the serious problems they were facing. Who would have thought it? Thunder is padding after this pretty she-cat!
But the other cats clearly didn’t share his amusement.
“Your help isn’t needed,” Lightning Tail meowed, still stiff and bristling. Quickly he drew a paw through the markings Gray Wing had made in the earth, though Clear Sky noticed that Star Flower had already managed to take a quick glance at them.
Star Flower met Lightning Tail’s glare. “That’s fine,” she mewed smoothly. “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted.” She began to move off.
Clear Sky opened his jaws to say something, but Thunder got there first. “Star Flower, come back!” he exclaimed.
The other cats didn’t bother to hide their murmurs of surprise.
“What’s wrong?” Thunder demanded, rounding on them. “Don’t you think we need help right now? Didn’t you hear her name? Star Flower! She is the one who told me that the Blazing Star can save us from the sickness. She might know where more is growing, and you want to turn her away?”
Star Flower halted, dipping her head modestly. “I do know a lot about the plants around here,” she purred. “But I think I should leave now. I sense that I’m not entirely welcome.”
“No, don’t go!” Thunder begged.
Clear Sky watched as Thunder and Star Flower gazed into each other’s eyes. “I’ll come back tomorrow,” the rogue she-cat promised. “Maybe by then, things will have had a chance to calm down.” She turned and padded away.
As he faced the group of cats again, Thunder’s eyes blazed with fury, and he flexed his claws angrily. “Thank you for your ‘support,’” he choked out, his voice thick with sarcasm.
“Thunder,” Clear Sky began diplomatically, “these are confusing times. It’s hard to know which cat to trust.”
“You trusted One Eye, didn’t you?” Thunder spat at him.
“Yes, and look where that got me!” Clear Sky retorted.
Thunder shook his head in disgust, and Clear Sky expected him to race off in pursuit of Star
Flower. He was surprised when the young cat showed enough maturity to stay with the group.
“So, what is our plan?” Thunder asked in a grudging tone. “We lure One Eye into the empty space on the moors and… what then?”
Gray Wing retraced his markings in the earth and then continued. “I think we should attack from all sides,” he meowed, pointing with his paw as he named each place. “From here, from Wind Runner’s home… maybe we should see if any of the forest cats will help us.”
“I’ll never believe Acorn Fur would willingly support One Eye,” Lightning Tail put in.
“Or Quick Water, either,” Tall Shadow meowed from her place on top of the rock.
“And I’m sure Petal will be on my side,” Clear Sky added.
Gray Wing nodded agreement. “I’ll ask River Ripple for his help, too.”
“That could work,” Tall Shadow pronounced from where she still sat on the rock. “But how do we get One Eye onto the moor in the first place?”
“And without his rogues,” Jagged Peak pointed out. “We can’t attack One Eye if he hides behind that mangy lot.”
Clear Sky felt a heavy weight in his belly, as if he had swallowed a rock. He knew that this was his moment to make it up to his friends for all the mistakes he had made. “Which cat does One Eye despise more than any other cat?” he asked. They all stared at him, but no cat dared utter a word, so he answered for them. “Me. One Eye taunted me when we met by the Thunderpath, saying I could never beat him. If he thinks I’ve challenged him to a one-on-one fight, he’s sure to come.