Last of all, the dogs only a mouse-length behind him, Rain made an enormous leap and dug his foreclaws into a branch of Darktail’s tree. Hoisting himself up, he crouched there, hissing defiance at the dogs below.
Hawkwing gazed down at the ferocious creatures, his chest heaving as he fought for breath. The dogs were running in wild circles at the base of the trees, barking fiercely as they looked up, their jaws slavering. Their Twolegs stood at a distance, pointing their forepaws and letting out huffs of laughter.
How are we going to get out of this? Hawkwing wondered, trying to stop himself from trembling with fear.
His gaze was still fixed on the dogs when he heard a sudden shriek, and whipped his head around to see Toad falling from his branch in a frantic tangle of paws and tail. His claws scraped on another branch as he plummeted past it, but he couldn’t get a grip; he hit the ground right between the two dogs.
Toad was obviously half stunned by the impact. He struggled to his paws and tried to run, but he was far too slow. Before he had staggered more than a couple of steps, the nearest dog was upon him, grabbing his hind leg in its jaws.
Toad let out a terrified screech. “Help me!”
Hawkwing couldn’t see what he or any of the others could do.
If we jump down and fight, the dogs will kill us… they’re fiercer even than the badgers.
Howls of anguish came from the other SkyClan cats.
Hawkwing opened his jaws and let out his own terror and despair.
This is too horrible! It’s happening right in front of us, but there’s nothing we can do! He couldn’t go on looking any longer, as Toad’s shrieks were abruptly cut off.
“Listen, all of you!” Darktail hissed. “This is our chance. While the dogs are distracted, we can escape.”
“But what about Toad?” Hawkwing asked, even though he knew how useless the question was.
The rogue’s gaze turned dark. “There’s nothing we can do for Toad now.”
Chapter 11
Turning, Darktail began to scramble from branch to branch, heading toward the far side of the copse. Hawkwing followed him, thankful that his Clan had trained him to hunt in trees, so he could be sure-pawed so far above the ground. With every paw step he struggled not to listen to the dreadful snarling and tearing that came from the dogs. His Clanmates clambered after him, and Rain brought up the rear.
When they reached the edge of the trees, Darktail leaped down.
“Run!” he yowled.
The rest of the patrol pelted after him, their belly fur brushing the grass and their tails streaming out behind them. Darktail led them to the hedge, where they thrust their way through again, ignoring the thorns that tore at their fur, until they could halt, panting, on the other side.
Hawkwing’s belly was cramping so hard he thought he would have to vomit. He wanted to shut out the memory of Toad being ripped apart by the dogs, but he thought the sound and the reek of blood would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Crouching down, he peered through a gap in the hedge, ready to warn his Clanmates if the dogs pursued them. But he saw nothing; all he heard was some distant barking and the yowls of Twolegs, which quickly faded away.
“Now what do we do?” Sagenose asked, when all the cats had managed to catch their breath.
Darktail sat with his head bowed; the light had gone out of his eyes, and he looked smaller, hunched in on himself. “I’m sorry,” he mewed. “It looks like there aren’t any cats here—at least, not anymore.”
“I can’t believe that!” Hawkwing protested. “Toad said he saw them! We can’t have traveled so far from camp, only to fail again.
We must try to pick up their scent.”
Darktail made no reply. He wouldn’t look at any cat, and his fur bristled as if he was still in shock. He’s too overcome with grief to think clearly, Hawkwing thought. But Sagenose gave Hawkwing a brisk nod.
“You’re right,” he told Hawkwing. “We’ll search, but we have to stay well away from that barn. Harrybrook, you keep watch, and warn us if you see any sign of those dogs, or the Twolegs, coming back.”
Encouraged by the older warrior, Hawkwing led his friends in a wide circle around the barn, noses to the ground as they desperately searched for some trace of the Clan cats.
If Toad was right, Firestar’s kin must be close, he thought. We can’t give up now!
But eventually even Hawkwing had to admit that they had failed. The sun was much lower in the sky, and they still hadn’t picked up even the faintest trace of cat scent. Apart from themselves, there were no cats here, and no evidence that cats had ever been there: no scraps of fur, no scratched-up ground where they might have buried their dirt, no feathers or other remains of prey.
Finally, tail drooping dispiritedly, Hawkwing led the way back to where Darktail still crouched in the shelter of the hedge with Rain beside him. He looked up as the SkyClan cats approached.
“No luck?” he asked.
Hawkwing shook his head. “Nothing. I can’t understand it.”
“M aybe the Twolegs and their dogs chased the missing Clan cats away,” Rain suggested. “They might even have killed them.”
“All of them?” Hawkwing couldn’t believe that, even though he had just seen those dogs kill a cat. “Even if they did, surely we would have found traces—blood, or fur, or something.”
“And you led us into this mess,” Firefern hissed, her ginger fur bristling as she padded up to Darktail and thrust her muzzle close to his. “Is this a game to you? Watching cats get hurt?”
Darktail looked up at her, his eyes wide and tragic. His ears were flattened to his head and his whiskers quivered. Hawkwing couldn’t remember ever seeing a cat so distressed. Except maybe me, after Duskpaw died.
“Okay! I messed up!” Darktail confessed, flattening himself onto his belly. “I promised to lead you to the Clan cats, and I failed. I failed horribly! Again. And I’ll never, ever forgive myself for the death of Toad. He was my friend. There’s nothing I can do to make up for my stupidity. I deserve to be fed to the dogs—not poor Toad!”
Firefern backed off, looking ashamed of her outburst. “Sorry,” she muttered. “You just lost your friend. I know you must be feeling bad.”
“I’ll go and search the barn!” Darktail staggered to his paws. “I don’t care if the dogs are still there. I’ll find out if the Clan cats stayed there, or die trying!”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Sagenose growled, while Rain pressed Darktail down again with a paw on his shoulder. “It’s not worth another life.”
Sympathy for Darktail flooded over Hawkwing, swamping his frustration and sense of failure. The rogue looked not just grief-stricken, but confused—as if he’d just woken up from a dark, terrifying dream… that was actually real. He clearly couldn’t believe what had happened.
Hawkwing settled down beside the rogue cat, so close that their pelts brushed.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he meowed. “Toad just fell off the branch. There was nothing you could’ve done.”
Darktail nodded. “Yes. I… I tried to grab him, but he was too heavy for me to hold.”
“M y brother Duskpaw died in a fire,” Hawkwing went on, pressing his muzzle briefly into Darktail’s shoulder. “And I keep telling myself I should have saved him. So I know what it’s like to feel responsible for a cat’s death. It’s like a vicious claw underneath your fur, snagging and tearing at you. I don’t want you to go through that, too.”