“Okay.”
Clear Sky blinked as Thunder nodded and headed out of camp after Star Flower. They’re working together!
Tall Shadow lifted her muzzle. “I’ll check the Thunderpath,” she growled darkly.
Clear Sky’s belly tightened. She wanted to search for small bodies in the snow. “Where should I look?” he asked.
Tall Shadow stared at him. “You?” She sounded as though she hadn’t expected him to join the search.
“Of course!” he growled. “Do you think I’d sit on my tail while three kits were lost in the snow?”
“Search the pines,” Gray Wing told him. “I’ll come with you.”
Clear Sky glanced at his brother’s injured paw. “You can’t travel fast,” he pointed out. “And someone should stay with Quiet Rain.”
“She has Pebble Heart,” Gray Wing argued.
Tall Shadow pointed her muzzle toward the nest of pine branches. Pebble Heart was curled deep in the middle, sound asleep. “He’s exhausted, Gray Wing. I think you should stay.”
Gray Wing gave a frustrated sigh, but then nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Besides,” Clear Sky chimed in, “someone should be here if the kits find their own way home.”
The entrance to Holly’s den rustled. Clear Sky saw a black she-cat pad out, blinking sleep from her eyes.
“What’s going on?” she yawned.
Clear Sky narrowed his eyes. Was Tall Shadow taking in rogues too? This one seemed scrawny.
Scars marked her flanks.
“Fern, you’re awake.” Gray Wing padded toward the black she-cat. “How are you?”
Fern glanced anxiously around the clearing. “Where is everyone?”
“Holly’s kits are missing,” Gray Wing told her. “They’re looking for them.”
Fern’s eyes widened. “Dew Nose and Eagle Feather?”
“And Storm Pelt,” Tall Shadow added. “Jagged Peak and Holly are heading for the moor. I was about to check the Thunderpath.”
“Let me come,” Fern begged. “I know their scent better than any cat. I’ve been sleeping next to their nest all night.”
“Are you ready now?”
“Yes.” Fern raced for the camp entrance, kicking up snow. Tall Shadow bounded after her.
Clear Sky met Gray Wing’s anxious gaze. “We’ll find them,” he promised.
Gray Wing glanced up at the canopy. Blue sky showed beyond. “Once the sun sets, the forest will freeze.”
“They’ll be back in their nests by then.” Worry jabbed beneath Clear Sky’s pelt. I hope I’m right.
There was so much territory to search. But surely the kits couldn’t have gone far? “I’d better go.” He padded toward the entrance and nosed his way out of camp.
The forest floor was white. Snow piled at the roots of the tall pines. Clear Sky tasted the air. He could smell Tall Shadow’s scent leading toward the Thunderpath. Jagged Peak’s and Holly’s were already stale, but he could see the churned snow where they’d headed for the moor. He made his way away from their tracks, breaking fresh snow as he trekked deeper into the pine forest.
Scanning the ground, he narrowed his eyes. Small tracks broke the whiteness between the trees ahead. Had the kits passed this way? He broke into a run, reaching the trail in a moment. His heart sank as he breathed in the scent of a squirrel. He could see its tiny paw prints at the foot of a pine, and the clumps of snow it had dislodged as it scooted up the trunk.
He moved on, keeping his nose low. Perhaps the kits’ paw steps were too light to break the surface. The cold air had crusted the snow. They could have traveled over it, leaving no mark so long as they kept moving and the warmth of their paws didn’t have time to melt the snow.
His own paws already ached from the cold. His heart quickened with fear. A small kit with nothing but fluff to keep out the chill would surely freeze fast in this weather.
“Dew Nose!” His call echoed between the trees. “Eagle Feather! Storm Pelt!”
The only answer was from a crow, which cawed as though amused by his fear. Its wings beat above his head, and he glanced up instinctively as it fluttered among the branches of a pine.
A small squeak sounded above him.
Clear Sky frowned, puzzled for a moment. It sounded like a kit, but why would it be all the way up in the tree?
Another mew rang from the pine branches.
He craned his neck. Could the kits have climbed to safety?
“It’s coming closer!” Dew Nose’s mew rang clear through the cold air.
Clear Sky froze as he glimpsed her splotchy brown pelt. The kits were clinging to a branch high above his head. Storm Pelt and Eagle Feather cowered behind her. On the branch above them, black feathers glinted in a shaft of sunshine.
The crow! Clear Sky’s chest tightened. It was bigger than the kits. With a shudder he remembered watching crows on the Thunderpath, picking at fresh-kill on the stone, their long talons pinning the prey to the ground as they tore strips of flesh away with their strong, sharp beaks.
“Dew Nose! I’m coming!” Fear scorching beneath his pelt, Clear Sky circled the tree. His neck ached from looking up. The crow hopped down a branch and began to sidle toward the kits.
Eagle Feather let out a squeal of terror, shuffling backward.
“Stay away from us!” Dew Nose lifted a paw and lashed out with a hiss.
Storm Pelt cowered behind her, his belly pressed hard against the bark.
The crow only had to knock one of the kits from the branch to turn it into fresh-kill.
Clear Sky reached up and sank his claws into the pine trunk, relieved as he felt the softness of the wood. Hooking his hind claws in behind him, he pushed himself up. Groaning with the effort, he began to haul himself higher. His muscles burned. He paused to catch his breath. The lowest branch was still far above. His legs trembled, and heat washed beneath his pelt. Closing his eyes, he pushed himself higher. The bark scraped his cheek. Don’t let me fall!
Suddenly, a rotten patch of bark crumbled beneath his forepaw. His claws lost their grip and he slipped. With a thump, his belly knocked against the trunk. Winded, he hung by three paws, fear spiraling in his mind. He pictured the earth far below and swung his free paw hard against the bark, sinking his claws in as deep as he could. Struggling to find his breath, he hauled himself up again, pushing with his hind paws and praying that no more bark would crumble.
Caw! Triumph sounded in the crow’s cry.
Clear Sky gritted his teeth and pushed on. Looking up, he saw a branch within reach. Growling with effort, he dug his hind claws in deep and lunged upward. He swung his forepaws toward the branch and grasped it. Pausing for breath, he hung between branch and trunk. Then, with a final grunt, he dragged himself up.
“Clear Sky?” Dew Nose’s frightened mew sounded overhead.
He looked up. The kits were only a few branches above him. But the crow was just a tail-length from them, its beady black eyes glinting with excitement.
The next branch was within reach. He reared and flung his paws around it and hauled himself up.
It was easy to scrabble onto the branch beyond. Another leap took him to the kits’ branch. It trembled beneath his paws as he landed.
The crow snapped its head around, fear flashing in its gaze.
Clear Sky hissed. “Fly away unless you want to be my next meal.”
The crow glanced back at the kits. With an angry shout, it unfolded its wings and soared from the branch. Clear Sky watched it swoop away between the trunks, its dark feathers black against the white forest floor.
“Clear Sky!” Dew Nose’s mew was limp with relief. She stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.
Pity flooded beneath Clear Sky’s pelt. He thought for a heartbeat of the kits Star Flower was carrying. What if this had been them? He pushed the thought away. It was too much to bear. A fierce, protective fire surged through every muscle as he stared at the helpless kits. I’ve never felt like this before.