Chapter 2
“We should meet him face to face, ready to fight.”
Gray Wing watched Wind Runner pace the clearing. Her brown pelt was rippling nervously.
She lashed her tail as she went on. “The sooner we make a stand, the sooner he’ll understand.”
The wiry rogue had grown plump since joining them. The steady diet of prey must be doing her good. Gray Wing glanced at the rest of the moor cats, gathered in the sandy hollow where they had made their camp. Jagged Peak was crouching beside Turtle Tail, his eyes round with worry. Gorse Fur watched through narrowed eyes. Shattered Ice and Jackdaw’s Cry sat with ears pricked, as though they were listening beyond the gorse for trouble. Hawk Swoop fidgeted between them, her orange pelt catching the early evening light. In the distance, the setting sun touched the moortop, turning the heather golden.
Gray Wing closed his eyes in frustration. “If we start with a fight, who knows where it will end.” His paws felt heavy as stone.
Tall Shadow growled softly, her hackles lifting. “Wind Runner could be right. If we make a stand now, he’ll think twice about attacking us.”
“He won’t attack us!” Gray Wing refused to believe Clear Sky would hurt his own kin. He’s my brother! I grew up with him.
“What is there to fight for anyway?” Rainswept Flower spoke up. “We don’t want Clear Sky’s dumb forest. Surely he doesn’t want the moor? He chose to live in the woods.” She stood beneath the drooping brambles that arched over one end of the hollow, the yellow-flowered tips of its trailing fronds resting on her brown pelt. Behind her, Gray Wing could hear Turtle Tail’s kits playing in the shadows, sheltered from the wind beneath the arching branches.
The petals rustled and Sparrow Fur tumbled out. “I’ll be the mouse this time,” she called to her littermates. She’d hardly finished speaking when Pebble Heart and Owl Eyes burst from the brush and hurled themselves at her.
“That’s not fair.” Sparrow Fur wriggled from under them and stood at the edge of the clearing. She puffed out her tortoiseshell fur. “You have to give me a chance to hide.”
Owl Eyes sat down. “Why can’t we play Jump the Bird?”
Pebble Heart rubbed his nose with his brown tabby paw. “There’s not enough space to play a bird game under the brush.”
“We could play out here,” Owl Eyes suggested, nodding toward the stretch of sandy earth.
Gray Wing glanced at the young gray tom. “Stay out of the way,” he ordered. “Until we’ve finished talking.”
Sparrow Fur’s eyes lit excitedly. “Let’s go back under the bramble and see how far we can climb into the branches.” She disappeared inside. A moment later the bramble trembled as she began to scramble through its spindly stems.
“Be careful!” Turtle Tail began to cross the clearing, her eyes round with worry as her kits disappeared into the tangle of branches.
Gray Wing gently blocked her way. “Their claws are sharp enough to cling on,” he promised. Pebble Heart, Sparrow Fur, and Owl Eyes were still small but they were already as strong as young rabbits. The bramble rocked under their weight, making the flowery stems tremble on Rainswept Flower’s spine.
The she-cat padded clear. “How can we even think of fighting?” she fretted. “We have kits to raise. We should be hunting, not arguing over borders.”
Jagged Peak limped forward. His hind leg, injured in a fall from a tree, scraped the sandy earth behind him. “If Clear Sky wants to waste time creating borders, let him.”
Gorse Fur frowned, the spiky fur on his forehead rippling. “But he’s killing cats to do it.”
Gray Wing turned on his old friend, anger flaring. “We don’t know that.”
Turtle Tail’s ears flattened. “He killed Bumble.”
“And Misty!” Shattered Ice spoke up. His gray-and-white pelt rippled.
Gray Wing shifted paws uneasily. “No one saw him kill Misty.”
“We smelled Clear Sky’s scent on her body when we found her.” Gorse Fur glanced at Wind Runner for confirmation. The two cats had discovered the rogue’s dead body while out hunting.
Wind Runner nodded solemnly. “It’s true.”
“But he took in Misty’s kits,” Gray Wing pointed out hopefully. “A killer wouldn’t show such kindness.”
Turtle Tail hissed. “Guilty conscience!”
Wind Runner narrowed her eyes. “He wouldn’t have to take them in if he hadn’t killed their mother.”
Gray Wing’s thoughts began to whirl. How could Clear Sky be a murderer? He gazed at the moor cats. Anger sparked in their eyes. The rage in Turtle Tail’s worried him most. I can’t let this argument over Clear Sky drive us apart. He blinked at Cloud Spots. The tom seemed relaxed despite the accusations flying across the clearing; his black fur was unruffled, his gaze calm.
“What do you think?” Gray Wing appealed to him. Cloud Spots was smart enough to know how to heal sickness and injury with herbs. Perhaps he knew how to heal this rift opening among the moor cats.
“I think there is no prey on the prey heap.” He nodded toward the empty patch of earth beside the flat rock jutting at the edge of the clearing. The moor cats had begun storing their prey there, where shadow protected it from the putrefying warmth of the midday sun. “The kits will be hungry soon and so will we.” He glanced around at the other cats. “And empty bellies never soothed frayed tempers.”
Gray Wing felt a wave of gratitude for the tom’s common sense. Full bellies would calm them all. “Jackdaw’s Cry.” He nodded to the young black tom. “Will you go with Shattered Ice and Gorse Fur and bring back prey?”
“Prey?” Sparrow Fur was scrambling down the bramble stem. “Is it time to eat?” As she popped her head through the trailing branches, Turtle Tail padded toward her. “Soon, dear. Shattered Ice is going hunting.”
Gray Wing looked hopefully at the green-eyed tom. “Okay?”
Shattered Ice nodded.
“I’ll go with them,” Hawk Swoop announced. Jackdaw’s Cry was already heading for the gap in the heather that led onto the moorside, and she hurried after him. Gorse Fur followed, Shattered Ice falling in behind.
Wind Runner paced around Gray Wing. “We still haven’t decided what to do about Clear Sky.”
Gray Wing felt a flash of irritation. Wind Runner had only joined the group recently. Who was she to insist they make decisions about a cat who had come all the way from the mountains with them?
Turtle Tail shooed Sparrow Fur back beneath the brush and turned toward Gray Wing. “What’s your plan?”
Tall Shadow padded closer, stopping a muzzle-length from Gray Wing. “You agreed that some cat has to stop Clear Sky, before more damage is done.”
Gray Wing blinked. After he’d confronted Clear Sky over Bumble’s deadly injuries, he’d asked Tall Shadow for advice.
He trusted Tall Shadow to know what to do. The strong, black she-cat had led them from the mountains, confident in her ability to guide her tribe mates safely to their new home. Gray Wing had been unnerved when her confidence had ebbed away after their arrival on the moor. He could hardly believe it when she’d asked him to take over as leader. But with the death of her brother, Moon Shadow, her old energy seemed to have returned. Faced with Clear Sky’s hostility, Gray Wing had been so unsure about what to do that he’d offered to pass the leadership back to her, but she had refused. Instead, they’d agreed to work together and, with the help of Wind Runner—a cat more courageous and intelligent than Gray Wing had imagined a rogue could ever be—they’d agreed to face this problem together.