Stick raced back down the alley to where Cora and Shorty were huddled behind a garbage can, their eyes wide with terror.
“Out!” he snapped, shoving them both into the open. “Run!”
Closer to the Twolegs, Coal and Snowy were trying to urge Percy along, but the dark gray tabby could hardly stagger between them, his legs stiff and his gaze fixed as if he had seen his worst nightmares come true.
There was no sign of Red or the other cat Stick had spotted in the shadows. For a moment he was torn between staying to help his friends, or going after his daughter. With a quick glance up and down the alley he realized that his companions could look after themselves and help one another.
Red is all alone, with that strange cat after her!
He turned tail on the Twolegs and bolted around the corner after Red and the other cat. Almost at once he picked up his daughter’s scent and the scent of the cat he had glimpsed in the shadows. Red was definitely being followed. The banging and crashing carried on behind him, but he was too worried about Red to turn back. He opened his mouth to distinguish the cat scents among all the other smells that thronged the air and kept his ears pricked to pick up the tiniest sound beneath the din from the attacking Twolegs.
The trail led him down the alley and through a series of backyards until it reached a crumbling wooden Twoleg nest. The door hung off its fastenings, and there were gaping holes in the walls and roof. Brambles had wound their tendrils around the walls as if they were trying to pull it into the earth.
Stick’s belly churned. That cat has Red trapped in there!
There was no sound when he paused to listen, so he followed the scent trail through a gap in the brambles that led to a jagged hole in the shed wall. In the darkness he could just make out two shadows close together, the larger figure bending over the smaller one.
Has that cat killed her?
Stick leaped into the shed with a screech and thrust the other cat away from his daughter. They rolled together on the hard earth floor in a tangle of legs and tail.
“What are you doing?” Red hissed.
Stick scrambled to his paws and let his opponent roll away from him. It was a powerful gray-and-brown tabby tom. Green fire blazed in his eyes, and he bared his teeth in a snarl as he slid out his claws and crouched, ready to spring on Stick again.
“Harley, don’t!” Red cried.
Stick whirled to face his daughter.
“I knew you didn’t trust me,” Red spat, glaring at her father. “You followed me to spy on me!”
“I didn’t!” Stick growled. “I thought you were in danger.”
“She’s not.” The gray-brown tom, Harley, padded over to Red and stood so close to her that their pelts brushed. “I’d never let anything happen to her.”
“I don’t believe you!” Stick was still braced for an attack, even though the tom had sheathed his claws. “You’re leading her into a trap.”
“Are you completely mouse-brained?” Red thrust her face close to her father’s, her whiskers quivering in fury. “Harley came to take me away from the alley today because he knew the Twolegs were going to attack.”
Stick stared at her. If the wooden nest had fallen around his ears at the moment, he wouldn’t have been able to move. “You knew? And you never thought to warn the rest of us? You just went off and left us?”
“What else could I do?” Red stood her ground, unrepentant. “None of you would have believed a warning from one of Dodge’s friends, would you?”
Stick wasn’t going to admit she was right. “If you left us to die, you’re no daughter of mine,” he snarled.
“Fine!” Red flashed back at him.
A red haze swept across Stick’s eyes. He slid out his claws and raised a paw to lash his claws across his daughter’s face. Harley leaped in front of her, knocking Stick’s paw to the side. As Stick struggled to stay on his feet, the haze of anger died away, and he saw the fear in Red’s eyes. Every muscle in his body turned to ice as he realized what he had almost done.
Stick wanted to tell her how sorry he was. But the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t meet her eyes or talk to her at all. “She’s all yours,” he growled to Harley, and turned away.
Thrusting his way through the gap in the shed wall, Stick crawled out through the bramble tunnel and across the yards into the alley. He picked up the pace until he was racing along, as if he could leave his horror and disgust behind with Red and the gray-brown tom.
The Twoleg noise had died away as Stick approached the corner of the alley. The air was filled with a silence that made his ears ring. As he turned the corner, Snowy and Cora came to meet him; their eyes were wide and their fur fluffed up.
“Stick, where were you?” Cora wailed. “The Twolegs took Percy!”
Chapter 20
“With so many new warriors in the Clan,” Sharpclaw meowed, “maybe we ought to think about expanding the territory.”
The sun was up, pouring golden light into the gorge, but Leafstar’s den still lay in shadow when her deputy arrived, dipping his head politely as he padded in.
“That’s a good point,” Leafstar mused, waving her tail to invite Sharpclaw to sit beside her.
“I suggest sending out two patrols, one on either side of the gorge,” the ginger tom went on. “They can investigate the area just outside our borders, and see if there are any good hunting grounds or moss places that we should include.”
“That could work,” she agreed. “And they ought to look for possible dangers as well. We don’t want to enclose territory that we can’t defend.”
Sharpclaw gave her a brisk nod. “I’ll go and set up the patrols, then. I’ll get Stick and Shorty to lead them.”
“Just a moment.” Leafstar stopped her deputy as he was rising to his paws. “There were problems the other day when you assigned Stick and Shorty to lead hunting patrols. The other cats aren’t used to them yet.”
“Then they’ll have to get used to them,” Sharpclaw snapped. “Stick and the others are full warriors of SkyClan now.”
Leafstar sighed. “True, but it’s not as easy as that. You can’t control how cats feel. Besides, is it a good idea to let newcomers lead these patrols, instead of cats who are more familiar with the territory?”
“They’ve all taken part in border patrols often enough,” Sharpclaw pointed out with a flick of his tail.
“All the same,” Leafstar mewed firmly, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to single out the newcomers for special duties instead of cats who have grown up in the Clan. Not all the time. It’s going to cause problems.”
Sharpclaw flexed his claws in annoyance, while Leafstar tried to ignore the rising tension between herself and her deputy. What’s happening to us? Why is Sharpclaw always trying to challenge me?
“The way I see it is—” Sharpclaw began, his voice rising irritably.
He broke off as a shadow fell across the mouth of the den and Ebonyclaw poked her head inside. “Leafstar, may I have a word with you?”
“We’re busy,” Sharpclaw meowed. “Come back later.”
Already ruffled by their argument, Leafstar was furious that her deputy was answering for her. “No, Ebonyclaw, it’s fine,” she replied, keeping her voice steady. “Sharpclaw and I were just finishing. Stick and Patchfoot will lead the patrols,” she added to her deputy, with a wave of her tail to dismiss him.
“Fine.” Sharpclaw gave his leader an icy glare and stalked out of the den.
Ebonyclaw watched him go. “I’m sorry if I interrupted something…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Leafstar mewed. And now I suppose Ebonyclaw is going to complain about Frecklepaw helping Echosong again. If it’s not one thing it’s another. “I’ll have another word with Echosong—”