A fresh pang of grief and guilt clawed at Gray Wing’s heart at his brother’s courage.
“Bright Stream gave her life so that we could escape from the eagles,” Shaded Moss meowed. “Honor her by carrying her in your heart, always.”
Clear Sky bowed his head, but did not respond.
“Right,” Shaded Moss continued, clearly finding it hard to sound as brisk and efficient as usual. “We’ll carry on toward the clump of pine trees. We should get there by sunhigh.”
Sadness clung around the cats like fog as they set off again. Gray Wing noticed that all the cats seemed uneasy around Clear Sky. He braced himself to go over and walk at his side. I’d deserve it if he clawed my ears off, but I can’t ignore him.
But at that moment Moon Shadow stepped forward. “Come,” he murmured to Clear Sky. “I’ll walk with you today.”
As they headed for the pines, Cloud Spots fell in beside Gray Wing. He didn’t offer words of sympathy. They just padded along in comfortable silence.
As Shaded Moss had predicted, it was almost sunhigh when they reached the wind-blasted copse of pines. Tall Shadow sprang up the trunk of the tallest and balanced precariously on a thin, prickly branch that swayed under her weight.
“I can see the way out of the mountains!” she called.
“Wow! We’re almost there!” Turtle Tail exclaimed.
“What’s it like?” Quick Water asked.
But the excited comments died quickly to silence. Gray Wing knew that every cat was remembering Bright Stream, grief-stricken that she didn’t make it this far.
“Which way now?” Shaded Moss asked, looking up at Tall Shadow in the tree.
“Down this slope,” Tall Shadow replied, gesturing with her tail. She dug her claws into the bark, beginning to edge her way down. “Around the shoulder of this peak there’s a narrow valley that leads to the end of the ridge. It’s flat down there!” she finished triumphantly as she leaped down the last couple of tail-lengths.
As the cats continued, the sun shone into their eyes and wind buffeted their fur. Gray Wing felt uneasy as they crossed an open expanse of stone—a pair of eagles circled high above. But they came no closer.
“They’ve learned their lesson about messing with cats,” Jackdaw’s Cry declared.
Gray Wing wondered silently if he was right. Or does it just mean that the birds fed well yesterday?
He wished that he could go to Clear Sky, admit his guilt and tell him how sorry he was that he had let Bright Stream die. But he knew that he could never find the words. Instead, he padded along a few paw steps behind his brother, biting pain in his heart.
Soon, the ground became less stony; expanses of short, wiry turf appeared through a much thinner covering of snow. The mountains had changed, too; the rocky pinnacles giving way to softer, rounded shapes.
Continuing around the flank of the mountain, the cats began a steep descent into a narrow valley. Lower down were taller trees. Used to the wind-blasted pines around the waterfall, Gray Wing gazed in wonder at their wide-spreading branches.
As they climbed farther down, Gray Wing spotted movement against the trunk of one of the trees. A small russet creature was swarming upward. A squirrel! he thought. Just like in the elders’ tales!
He launched himself toward it, but Quick Water was faster, flashing past him in a blur of gray and white. She clawed her way up the tree after the squirrel as it tried to escape along a branch. She grabbed it and killed it with a quick bite to the neck.
“This is great!” she exclaimed as she dropped her prey to the ground and jumped down triumphantly after it. “We haven’t left the mountains yet, and already there’s prey!”
All the cats crowded around and took a bite from the squirrel, except for Clear Sky, who turned away. “I’m not hungry,” he muttered.
Gray Wing forced himself to eat his share, but it tasted like dust in his mouth. He glanced after Clear Sky, wishing that he knew what words would ease his brother’s grief.
At the bottom of the valley a shallow river gurgled over stones. On its far side, a grassy path led to a wide stretch of flat land.
“We’ve really done it!” Rainswept Flower exclaimed. “We’re leaving the mountains!”
“Almost.” Shaded Moss touched his daughter’s shoulder with his nose. “First, we have to find a way to cross this river.”
The cats spread out, padding up and down the bank in search of a place where they could safely cross. Though the river was shallow near the banks, there was a deeper channel in the middle, and the current looked strong enough to carry a cat off its paws.
“Over here!” Hawk Swoop called out from farther upstream. “Look,” she continued as the rest of the group crowded together to see what she had found. “We might be able to cross by these rocks.”
Gray Wing saw that here the current was broken by rocks poking out of the water, though some of them were spaced very far apart, and one or two had water lapping over them.
“I’m not sure I like the look of that,” Jackdaw’s Cry muttered; Gray Wing could see that some of the others agreed with him.
“Well, I doubt we’ll find anything better,” Shaded Moss declared. “Well spotted, Hawk Swoop. I’ll go first.”
Gray Wing watched as their leader’s sturdy figure leaped from rock to rock, making the crossing seem easy. Clear Sky followed, so quickly and carelessly that Gray Wing wondered whether his brother was even thinking about staying safe.
At first Gray Wing hung back as some of the others crossed, but when Jagged Peak launched himself onto the first rock, he followed close behind, ready to help if the kit got into trouble. But Jagged Peak leaped across strongly, squealing in excitement. He reached the far bank with hardly a splash, and padded about importantly with his tail in the air.
Gray Wing turned to watch the final cats crossing. Quick Water was taking a long time, bracing herself for each leap and flinching if the least drop of water splashed up onto her fur. Halfway across, she halted on a flat rock. “I don’t like water lapping over my paws,” she complained.
“Then don’t stand there!” Moon Shadow yowled back unsympathetically.
Quick Water hissed back angrily, jumping for the next rock without sizing up the leap. Gray Wing winced as she landed badly, her paws scrabbling against the slick, wet stone. A heartbeat later she let out a terrified screech and fell into the water, thrashing frantically.
Remembering his previous struggle, Gray Wing looked around for a branch to help her out, but there was nothing in sight.
Before any other cat could react, Falling Feather leaped from the bank and paddled over to Quick Water. Gray Wing found it hard to breathe as he watched. There was no grace in her swimming, but she was confident and fast, catching up with Quick Water as she began sinking.
Holding her head high out of the water, Falling Feather grabbed Quick Water by the scruff of the neck. Even though Quick Water was much bigger than she was, Falling Feather managed to flounder toward the opposite bank, pushing the gray-and-white she-cat in front of her.
Gray Wing and Shaded Moss crouched on the bank as they approached, reaching down to haul Quick Water to safety. Falling Feather clambered out behind her, and shook water droplets from her fur.
“That was great!” Jagged Peak exclaimed, staring at Falling Feather with admiring blue eyes. “You were so brave.”
“I only did what any cat would have done,” Falling Feather mewed.
“Most cats don’t jump into rivers,” Hawk Swoop pointed out.
Quick Water was lying on the bank, shivering and coughing up water. “I’m so sorry!” she gasped. “I was stupid, and I put Falling Feather in danger.”