Thunder’s throat tightened.
Lightning Tail crouched over the she-cat, desperately lapping her cheek. “Wake up, Turtle Tail. It’s us! We’re here!”
Thunder crept closer. Turtle Tail lay on the hard stone ground, her body strangely twisted. Her claw-tips were frayed and blood stained her mouth. Her eyes stared, dull and unseeing.
“It looks like a monster got her.” River Ripple stopped behind Thunder.
“How do you know?” Thunder stared at the rogue.
“I’ve seen it before. Look at her claws. She’d have unsheathed them when the monster hit her, then shredded them as she skidded across the stone.” River Ripple gazed sadly at Turtle Tail’s body.
“Come on, Turtle Tail!” Lightning Tail shook her with his forepaws. He glanced over his shoulder at Thunder. “We have to warm her up. Quickly!”
Thunder crouched beside him. There was little heat left in Turtle Tail’s body. He could see that there was nothing to do. “She’s dead, Lightning Tail.” He felt distant, numb with shock, his words sounding in his ears like someone else’s.
“No!” Lightning Tail nudged her shoulder with his nose. “She’s hurt, that’s all. Cloud Spots will be able to make her better. If we get her home, she’ll be okay.”
The ground seemed to sway beneath Thunder’s paws as his thoughts swirled back to the camp. He remembered the time when he’d pressed against Turtle Tail and watched Wind Runner’s kits take their first gulps of air. Now she was dead. She’d never see the kits grow. She’d never see her own kits become full-grown cats. Grief swamped him until he could hardly breathe. “Turtle Tail.” The name came as a sob.
As he spoke, a monster hared around a corner toward them. Terror flaring, Thunder leaped back, dragging Lightning Tail by the scruff. The black tom froze in his jaws as the monster swept past. Twoleg faces peered from inside, eyes wide, mouths moving as they pointed their paws at the cats. The monster’s stinking wind tugged Turtle’s Tail’s fur, so that for a moment she seemed to be moving. But as it disappeared into the distance, she lay still once more.
“Let’s get her away from the Thunderpath.” River Ripple’s mew sounded softly in Thunder’s ear. The rogue pushed his muzzle beneath Turtle Tail’s flank. “Haul her onto my shoulders.”
Lightning Tail backed away, eyes wide with disbelief.
Numbly, Thunder nudged Turtle Tail’s body onto River Ripple’s back. As she hung there limply, he pressed his cheek to her flank, holding her clumsily in place while River Ripple staggered toward the bush outside the Twoleg nest.
The rogue dipped his head and let her slip from his shoulders. She slumped onto the earth beside the bright pink flowers.
Lightning Tail stared bleakly at her body. “She’s not going to wake up, is she?”
Thunder pressed his muzzle to Lightning Tail’s cheek. Pain seared his heart so ferociously he could hardly breathe. They had known Turtle Tail since they were tiny kits, just a few moons old. And now she was dead.
“No,” he whispered.
“Help me push her out of sight,” River Ripple murmured.
“No!” Panic lit Lightning Tail’s gaze. “You can’t just hide her. She deserves more than that.”
Thunder met the tom’s gaze, his eyes pricking. “We can’t bury her here and it’s too far to carry her home. And if we bring the kits back this way, they mustn’t see her.” He shoved his nose under Turtle Tail’s shoulder and rolled her. She flopped heavily beneath the bush, her paws brushing the branches. As they quivered, petals showered over Thunder’s pelt. He shook them off, his heart aching. How would he ever explain this to Gray Wing?
River Ripple caught his eye. “She’d want us to find her kits.”
Thunder nodded. “It’s up to us to get them home now.”
“But how?” Lightning Tail jerked his head around, his gaze flashing from one Twoleg nest to another. “We don’t know where they are.”
“We know their scent.” Thunder lifted his muzzle.
River Ripple narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “I know a kittypet who might help us. Follow me.”
Hope flashed in Thunder’s belly as the rogue headed along the row of Twoleg nests, then turned down a narrow passage between the high stone walls. He followed, nudging Lightning Tail forward. The tom was stumbling, not focusing on where he was going. “You have to save your grief for later,” Thunder growled. “The kits need us. They’re not safe with Tom.”
Lightning Tail stared bleakly at Thunder. “I can’t believe she’s dead.”
Thunder glared at him. “I need you to be strong. The kits need you to be strong.”
“Are you coming?” River Ripple’s mew echoed from the shadows.
Lightning Tail nodded. “Yes.” He hurried after the rogue.
Relieved to hear determination edge his friend’s mew, Thunder followed.
“Flower lives here,” River Ripple told them, padding into sunshine at the back of the Twoleg nest where bushes surrounded a wide stretch of grass. “She’s a sweet little tabby and very nosy. Nothing happens without her knowing about it.” He nodded toward a small hole in the back of the Twoleg nest. It looked like a tunnel entrance, screened by a sheet of ice. “I’ll see if she’s in.”
He crept across the patterned stone outside the nest and stopped outside the tunnel. Lifting a paw, he tapped the ice sheet.
It rattled and he backed away.
Thunder blinked at him. “What now?”
“We wait.” River Ripple glanced at him. “Stay out of sight. You’ll scare her.” He nodded toward a large shiny cylinder standing beside the nest wall.
Thunder wrinkled his nose. It smelled of carrion. He ducked behind it.
Lightning Tail slid in beside him. “I never imagined we’d hide from a kittypet.”
A moment later the ice sheet rattled again and he heard a mew.
“River Ripple? Is that you?” A gentle purr sounded outside the Twoleg nest.
River Ripple purred back. “Hi, Flower.”
“What are you doing here?” Flower asked. “I thought you didn’t like coming to Twolegplace.”
“I don’t,” River Ripple told her. “But I’m on an important mission.”
“Really?” Flower sounded impressed. “What?”
“I’m with some friends.”
“Who?” Flower’s mew was guarded.
“They’re from the moor.”
Thunder leaned forward impatiently. Hurry up!
River Ripple went on. “They’ve never been here before, but a kittypet has stolen some of their kits and they’re here to get them back.”
“Stolen their kits?” Flower sounded horrified. “Where are they?”
Thunder glimpsed the plump tabby-and-white kittypet from his hiding place as she padded further into the sunshine. She scanned the bushes, nose twitching. She froze as she caught Thunder’s gaze. “Is that one of them?” she hissed to River Ripple.
Thunder padded out. “We’re sorry to disturb you.” He lifted his tail amiably.
Flower backed away, her hackles lifting as Lightning Tail followed him out. She glanced toward her tunnel.
“Please don’t go,” Lightning Tail begged.
“It’s important we find the kits.” Thunder blinked at her. “They’re in danger.”
Flower tipped her head. “Really?”
Thunder nodded. “A kittypet stole them from their mother.” His throat tightened as he thought of Turtle Tail, alone beneath the bush. “We want to take them home.”
Flower frowned. “Which kittypet?”
“His name’s Tom. He’s a copper-colored cat. Very sleek.”
Flower’s gaze hardened. “I know Tom.” There was contempt in her mew. “He’s a bully.”
Thunder nodded. “That’s why we have to get the kits back.” Hope pricked in his paws. “Can you help?”