Thunder pushed between them. “Milkweed and her kits can come with us if they want to,” he growled.
“They’ll make us weak.” Leaf’s tail whisked over the mud.
“I want to come with you so I can help!” Milkweed snapped. “Clear Sky kept promising I could hunt, but he never sent me out with a patrol.”
Thunder gazed at her sympathetically. “Are you strong enough to hunt?”
“Of course I am!” Milkweed snapped. Her ribs still showed through her pelt. “I’ve got kits to feed. Their hunger will drive me even harder than my own.” She flashed a look at Leaf. “He only wants to fill his own belly. He doesn’t belong in a group!”
Leaf bristled. “That’s not true!”
“Your only loyalty is to yourself,” Milkweed hissed.
“Be quiet! Both of you.” Thunder looked from one to the other, and then at the kits. Thistle was watching with narrowed eyes. Clover was growling, teeth bared. “Leaf proved his loyalty when he chose to come with me,” he told Milkweed. He turned to Leaf. “And Milkweed’s right—she has kits to raise, which means she has more to fight for than any of us.”
Leaf shifted his paws. “She’s been coughing since sunup, and she’s skinnier than a leaf-bare rabbit,” he grunted. “I bet she can’t even run.”
Milkweed hopped out of the gully and leaned back to grab Thistle by his scuff.
He mewed indignantly as she hauled him out.
Clover scrambled up by herself. “We’ll be able to hunt soon!” she hissed at Leaf. “One day you’ll be old and stiff and grateful for the food we bring you.”
Thunder felt a flash of pride in the feisty young kit. “Come on.” He jumped up the slope and beckoned to the kits with his tail. “We need to find somewhere to sleep.”
Leaf pulled himself out of the gully and stalked up the slope. “We should have just carried on walking,” he grumbled as he passed Pink Eyes.
The white tom ignored him, his gaze on the kits. “Hurry up, Thistle.” He whisked his tail encouragingly.
Thistle galloped toward him, Clover at his heels.
Thunder fell in beside Milkweed as they followed the kits up the slope. He glanced sideways at her. “I thought you were happy with Clear Sky.”
“I’m grateful he took us in,” she answered. “But I never liked depending on other cats to feed my kits. I want to hunt.”
“You will,” Thunder promised. He fluffed his fur against the chill. Finding enough prey to last through leaf-bare was going to be their biggest challenge—but first they had to find somewhere to make camp.
They caught up with Owl Eyes, Cloud Spots, and Lightning Tail. Leaf was already heading past the sycamore while the kits scampered after Pink Eyes.
Lightning Tail blinked in surprise at Milkweed as she padded past him wordlessly, following her kits.
Thunder caught his friend’s eye. “I thought I was going to be spending the night alone in the forest.”
“Tough,” Lightning Tail purred. “You’re stuck with us.”
Thunder felt a surge of affection for his friend. He’d been relieved when the black tom had stepped forward and offered to go with him. He fell in beside him now, and together they headed up the slope.
As the night deepened, the air grew colder.
“My paws ache,” Owl Eyes muttered as they began to climb yet another slope.
Above, the clouds had cleared to reveal a star-speckled sky, and Thunder could feel frost settling over the woods. He’d lost track of how far they’d come. This part of the forest was unfamiliar: small, bare clearings followed by woodland brambled so thickly that it was hard to find a trail through.
Where could they rest? The clearings were too exposed, the brambles too sharp to burrow beneath.
“Thunder!” Leaf’s call sounded from ahead.
Thunder bounded forward, skidding around Cloud Spots and Milkweed as they nudged the weary kits on.
“Careful!” Leaf cautioned as Thunder neared. “It’s a steep drop.”
Thunder scrambled to a halt, sending a shower of grit spraying ahead of him. He heard it rattle over stone and land far below. Leaf was staring down into shadow, and Thunder followed his gaze.
The land dropped away into a small ravine. Moonlight pooled at the bottom, lighting a clearing ringed by bracken and trees.
Leaf lifted his chin. “Do you think we could get down there?”
Thunder surveyed the cliff. It was rocky, but there were enough ledges and jutting boulders for them all to jump down. “With a little help, even the kits could make it,” he meowed.
Lightning Tail caught them up and gazed into the ravine. “It looks like there’s plenty of shelter.”
Thunder jumped down onto the nearest ledge, relieved to find it solid beneath his paws.
Excitement fizzed in his belly. “Tell the others to hurry,” he called up. They could rest here for the night and explore the area more in the morning. And hunt. His belly rumbled at the thought. The undergrowth was so thick below, there had to be prey.
He led the way down, jumping from ledge to ledge, checking that the others were following each time he stopped. Before long, he landed on soft earth. A wall of prickly gorse blocked his way, and he sniffed along the base as Lightning Tail and Leaf guided Pink Eyes, Cloud Spots, Milkweed, and her kits down the cliff.
Owl Eyes landed clumsily beside him. “This is great!” His round eyes shone in the moonlight.
“It would be if I could find a way past this gorse,” Thunder muttered.
“Here!”
Thunder looked up. Owl Eyes was already squeezing under a gap in the spiny bush. Thunder followed, the thorns scraping his spine. He wriggled out the other side and gazed ahead. Grass circled a bare earth clearing where a large boulder stood, glittering with frost. Brambles and bracken crowded the edge, and trees stood like guards against the forest beyond.
Hope flared in Thunder’s belly. Could this be their new home?
Lightning Tail squeezed from under the gorse. “We can rest for the night over there!” He nodded toward a thick clump of bracken. He crossed the clearing and began to trample the stems until he’d hollowed out a den.
Thistle and Clover burst from beneath the gorse and raced toward the black tom.
“Is this where we’re sleeping?” Clover looked at him with round eyes.
“I want to sleep near the edge so I can listen for foxes,” Thistle announced.
Milkweed nosed her way into the clearing, Cloud Spots and Leaf on her tail.
Pink Eyes followed, tasting the air. “No cat scents here,” he murmured. “Do you think Clear Sky knows about this place?”
“Let’s hope not.” Thunder felt a prickle of worry. In the morning, they would mark new borders and organize hunting patrols. The scent of damp bracken filled his nose. Suddenly he felt tired, his paws like stone.
Leaf was already circling in the den. The black-and-white tom flopped down wearily while
Thistle and Clover huddled on the far side, eyeing him suspiciously.
Milkweed slid in beside them and lay down, curling her tail protectively around them.
Pink Eyes sniffed the edge of the den before settling, while Cloud Spots crouched next to Milkweed, his mouth open to taste the scents of their new home.
“Come on!” Lightning Tail nodded to Thunder from the edge of the den. “You must be exhausted.”
Thunder nodded and followed Pink Eyes across the clearing. He waited for the white tom to pad into the bracken before settling down beside Lightning Tail. His paws were sore from walking, his belly hollow with hunger. His eyes stung with tiredness.
“Should one of us sit guard?” Lightning Tail asked.
“I can do it,” Owl Eyes offered. “I can sit on the cliff top and look out for intruders.”