“Hawk!” he said. “Sorry, I was …” He found it hard to meet the stern gaze of the tall brown she-cat, so he stared at the ground instead. “I got distracted.”
Hawk sighed. “Earth, you haven’t been paying attention when I try to teach you, or when Furze does, or Snow, or any of us. We’re trying to show you skills you need to know.”
Earth felt his shoulders slump even further. He knew he wasn’t doing well. Nothing the Sisters had taught him since the storm had stuck. Stream was better at all of this. “Sorry,” he repeated, his pelt prickling with misery and embarrassment.
Hawk’s golden eyes seemed to soften. “I know you are, Earth,” she meowed. “But you need to learn to stay alert. In just a few days, you’ll begin your wander. You’ll have to take care of yourself.”
Panic stirred in Earth’s chest. “But I’m not ready,” he protested. “One of Furze’s kits is a tom, too. Maybe I should wait until he’s old enough to wander, and then we could go together. We’ll take care of each other.”
Hawk’s tail twitched dismissively. “Don’t be silly,” she told him. “Furze’s kit won’t be ready to wander for moons. His eyes only opened yesterday.” Nudging him with her shoulder, she added, “You’re six moons old now and you’re a smart cat, Earth. You’ll be fine.”
“I guess.” Earth shifted his paws uneasily. Maybe Hawk was right, but he doubted it.
“Come on,” Hawk meowed, looking around. “Let’s go out to the long grass. We can hunt together.”
A little way beyond the pine forest was a long stretch of open land where grass rippled in the breeze. Earth scented the air, his heart lightening a little.
Hawk tasted the air, too, her mouth open. “This clearing is full of voles and mice. I’ll go that way,” she decided, gesturing with her tail, “and you pick a scent trail to follow. If you spot a vole, try to drive it toward me.”
As she disappeared through the grass, Earth crouched low, his belly to the ground. Dutifully, he sniffed around. I probably won’t catch anything. There was a strong smell of vole and he tracked it, listening to see if he could hear a tiny heartbeat. There was a tangle of dry, dead grass near the roots of the growing plants, the perfect place for prey to hide. He crept forward, one slow paw step after another.
His nose twitched. There was another scent, getting stronger.
Cats, he realized. Strangers.
Earth jerked his head up. Rogues!
A thin gray tom was prowling toward him. Earth tensed, then caught another scent. A brown tabby she-cat was crouched on Earth’s other side, her tail slashing furiously.
“This is our territory,” the tom snarled. “Get out.”
Earth froze. What was he supposed to do now? Moonlight always said that cats who claimed territory were foolish—the land belonged to every cat. But Moonlight wasn’t here.
“We’re just passing through,” he mumbled, tucking his tail tightly around his legs.
The tom prowled forward, growling. “We don’t want strangers on our territory.”
“We’ll teach you to stay away,” the she-cat added, drawing close to his other side.
Earth turned his head to look at her and a sharp hot pain slashed across his ears. The tom had clawed him. Earth’s legs trembled. He couldn’t run; he couldn’t fight. The she-cat hissed and swiped at his shoulder, a stinging blow. Earth wailed in terror.
“Hey!” Hawk ran through the grass and leaped at the she-cat, knocking her away. “Leave him alone!”
Earth gave a gasp of relief. Hawk would save him. Hawk and the tabby she-cat grappled on the ground, rolling over and over. With a howl of fury, the gray tom threw himself into the fight. Horrified, Earth watched him dig his claws into Hawk’s side as the brown tabby kicked and slashed at her from below. Hawk was bigger than either of them, and she was a good fighter, but so were both these cats, and she was outnumbered.
Earth tried to remember what he’d learned about fighting. Since Stream and Haze had died, the Sisters had been so busy, but Tempest and Snow had both trained him on techniques for battling another cat. Do I leap? Or is it better to go low? He couldn’t remember anything. He couldn’t move.
With a heave, the brown she-cat rolled out from beneath Hawk, and Hawk fell heavily onto her side, yowling in pain.
Earth made a huge effort and broke free from his stillness. Squeezing his eyes shut, he barreled forward. He had to help her.
His head bashed into the gray rogue’s side, and he heard a grunt and the other cat falling backward. Earth opened his eyes as Hawk leaped to her paws.
“Run!” she shouted, and Earth ran. He could hear Hawk behind him, and then she was beside him, slowing her long stride so that they ran together. The rogues were snarling threats and warnings behind them.
“Don’t come back here!” the tom yowled, and the tabby added, “There’s more of us! Stay off our territory!”
As they came in sight of the Sisters’ current camp, Earth was gasping for breath. Hawk slowed to a walk. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine.” Earth noticed a stream of blood running down Hawk’s hind leg. “Are you hurt?”
Hawk grimaced and bent to give the leg a quick lick. “That tabby had sharp claws,” she meowed.
Earth cringed. “I’m sorry, I should have helped sooner. I just … froze.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hawk told him. Leading the way into camp, she headed straight for the hollow where they had stored some healing herbs. Earth’s belly felt hot with guilt as he noticed she was limping.
He trailed after her. “Can I help?”
“No, I think I can get it myself.” Hawk sat and began to chew some chervil to put on her wound. Earth watched, feeling useless.
Moonlight came over, her gaze worried. “What happened?” she asked. Hawk, her mouth full of chervil, shrugged, and Moonlight turned to Earth.
Earth stared at his paws, his whole body burning with guilt now. “We were hunting, and two rogues attacked us,” he mewed softly. “I froze, I couldn’t fight, and Hawk had to fight them alone. She protected me.”
Bristling, Moonlight looked stern. “You’re six moons old; you should be able to protect yourself. A good Sister could have died looking after you.”
“I’m sorry,” Earth whispered.
When he met Moonlight’s eyes, he felt like she was looking straight into his thoughts. “You’ll be going on your wander in just a few days,” she told him. “You will have to take care of yourself. You will take care of yourself.”
Do you really think I’m ready? Earth dug his claws into the ground. How could the Sisters believe he was prepared to wander?
He wanted to hiss at her, to make her see how not prepared he was. But his mouth was too dry to speak. Instead he watched her walk away.
“She’s working to protect every cat,” Hawk mewed gently, looking up from licking the chervil onto her leg wound. “She doesn’t mean to be cruel.”
Moonlight wants to protect every cat, Earth thought. I couldn’t even protect myself. At least he wouldn’t be a danger to the Sisters anymore, once he was gone.
As the sun rose on the morning of the day when Earth would set out on his wander, Ice was whimpering in the sick den. From outside the den, Earth listened to his sister’s pained little whine, his heart clenching.
“Is she going to be okay?” he asked Moonlight as she stepped out of the den.
“I hope so,” Moonlight told him, her face tight with worry. “I think she’s just eaten some bad prey. But if she doesn’t feel better soon, I might take her to a Twopaw den to see if we can have them help her.”
Earth shifted his paws nervously. “Twopaws? Really?”
“Some of them are softhearted, and they have their uses,” Moonlight mewed crisply. “Never forget that the Sisters’ ancestors once lived with Twopaws.” She shook her pelt slightly, as if shaking away the idea. “But I hope it won’t be necessary. Fetch some fresh moss for Ice’s nest? What she really needs is sleep.”