“You got something!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, and it’s all for you,” Gray Wing meowed, ignoring his own grumbling belly as he dropped the prey in front of his brother. “You need to keep your strength up.”
Jagged Peak didn’t need to be told twice. “Thanks!” he mumbled, gulping the prey down in famished bites. His blue eyes sparkled as he swallowed the last mouthful and swiped his tongue around his jaws. “Today’s going to be great!” he exclaimed. “The others will be so surprised when we catch them!”
Gray Wing murmured agreement as he studied their surroundings, looking for the best route up to the rocky shelf. The clouds seemed thicker than ever, and the air smelled of snow. We need to get up as high as we can, and quickly, he thought. It’s going to snow again, and we might get stuck in drifts.
There was no obvious track. Gray Wing decided it was best to make straight for the ledge. “This way,” he meowed, waving his tail for Jagged Peak to follow him.
Once they set out, he found the ground wasn’t as clear as he had hoped. They had to climb over boulders, and once they came to a wide stream chattering over stones. The edges were frozen, but there was a clear channel in the middle. Gray Wing leaped over it, and turned to face Jagged Peak.
“Jump as far as you can,” he advised. “I’m here, ready to grab you.”
With a determined expression on his face, Jagged Peak backed away several paw steps, then bounded up to the bank of the stream and launched himself, letting out a squeal as he soared upward with his paws splayed out. He landed on the ice at the far side; Gray Wing heard it start to crack, and grabbed Jagged Peak by the scruff just before he fell into the swiftly running water.
“Thanks!” Jagged Peak gasped as he straightened up. “Hey,” he added, “that was a good leap, wasn’t it?”
“It was fantastic,” Gray Wing assured him.
A little farther on, the ground began to rise steeply. Eventually they came to a halt in front of a sheer wall of rock that stretched as far as they could see in both directions.
Jagged Peak gazed upward in dismay. “Now what do we do?”
Gray Wing studied the rock face carefully, realizing that it wasn’t as sheer as he had first thought. There were ledges, even if they were only as wide as a claw-scratch, and crevices where clumps of grass had rooted themselves.
“I think we can climb it,” he mewed.
Jagged Peak’s eyes widened. “Are you fuzz-brained? I’m not climbing that!”
Gray Wing shrugged. “Okay, we go home.”
Jagged Peak hesitated for a moment; then, without another word, leaped onto the rock face, and started clawing his way upward. Gray Wing watched, ready to break his fall. Grit and scraps of grass showered down on Gray Wing’s head, but at last Jagged Peak reached the top.
Gray Wing began to climb, digging his claws into the cracks and scrabbling strongly with his hind paws. He winced as sharp pain stabbed up his leg from his injured paw. There was one heart-stopping moment when he slipped, but he forced himself upward with all the strength in his legs until he stood beside Jagged Peak on the slope above the cliff.
From here, Gray Wing could see a clear track zigzagging in the direction of the ledge they were making for. “Come on,” he meowed as he headed off, setting a brisk pace.
He assumed that Jagged Peak was following him until he heard a plaintive, “Hey, Gray Wing!” from some way behind. He looked back to see his brother plodding to catch up.
“We haven’t got all day for you to dawdle,” he commented.
“I’m not dawdling!” Jagged Peak protested indignantly. “My legs are shorter than yours.”
Gray Wing realized that his brother was right: Not only did Jagged Peak have shorter legs, but his muscles were soft from living in the cave all his life. “Okay, I’ll slow down,” he sighed, picturing the other cats drawing farther and farther ahead.
Trying to match his brother’s pace, Gray Wing felt impatience rising inside him. When they reached a large rock blocking the track, he grabbed Jagged Peak unceremoniously by the scruff and hauled him over the obstacle.
Jagged Peak twitched his whiskers as Gray Wing set him down. “I could have gotten over that by myself!”
We wouldn’t have to do this at all if it wasn’t for you! Gray Wing bit back the words he wanted to say.
Jagged Peak stalked up the track, his tail high in the air. As he followed, Gray Wing noticed that the first flakes of snow were beginning to fall. He quickened his pace until he was padding beside Jagged Peak again.
“We must find shelter,” he meowed. “Let’s try that boulder up there.”
The place he pointed out was only a few tail-lengths away, but by the time he and Jagged Peak reached it the snow was already falling heavily, and the wind was blustering around the rocks, making Gray Wing afraid that his lighter brother would be blown off his paws.
He shoved Jagged Peak into the narrow gap between the boulder and the mountainside, and scrambled in after him tail-first. Gazing out of the cleft, he saw that everything had been blotted out by a screen of driving snow.
“We’re never going to find the others,” Jagged Peak muttered fearfully, peering out over his brother’s shoulder. “We might even freeze to death!”
“We won’t,” Gray Wing assured him, his irritation vanishing. “And the others won’t get too far ahead in this weather.”
He hoped he was right.
Jagged Peak curled up and closed his eyes; shortly afterward, his light snores told Gray Wing that he was asleep. Gray Wing finally dozed off, dreaming he was pursuing the other cats over endless mountain peaks, sometimes picking up a scent-trace but never managing to catch them. He jerked awake when Jagged Peak prodded him in the side.
“Look!” his brother exclaimed. “The snow has stopped!”
Gray Wing blinked in the dazzling light. The sky had cleared and the sun shone down on the fresh, untouched expanse of white. His eyes widened in dismay as he realized that the blizzard had completely transformed the landscape. The track they had been following was covered, and so was the ledge they had been headed for.
While he was still trying to work out their route, Jagged Peak pushed past him and bounded enthusiastically into the snow. The surface gave way beneath him and he was floundering in a drift, letting out squeaks of alarm.
Gray Wing approached him cautiously, managing to find firm ground under the white covering, and stretched out his neck to grab Jagged Peak by the scruff.
“Next time, don’t go dashing off,” he warned, as he set his brother down beside him. The kit shook himself vigorously so that melting snow spattered over Gray Wing, who shivered. “Listen, Jagged Peak, you need to watch where you’re putting your paws. If you look carefully, you can see the shapes of rocks under the snow—that’s how you’ll know it’s safe to walk there. And if you can’t see any rocks, then test the snow as deep as you can with one paw before you put your weight on it.”
“I understand,” Jagged Peak meowed.
The next stage of their climb was slow and exhausting. Gray Wing thought he could remember where the ledge should be, and led the way toward it, testing each paw step and struggling to find a safe route around boulders that lay in their way.
Eventually the boulders thinned out and a flat stretch of snow lay in front of the two cats. He tested the first few paw steps and discovered hard earth a little way down. At last, Gray Wing thought, somewhere easy to run across!
He launched himself onto the white expanse, relishing the chance to stretch his muscles and the feeling of the wind rushing through his pelt. “Come on, keep up!” he called behind to Jagged Peak.