Tall Shadow ducked in front of him. “You’re not going alone!”
Gray Wing frowned. “I asked Clear Sky to meet me.”
“It’s too dangerous.” Tall Shadow’s mew was firm. “Do you think he will leave his cats behind?”
Words froze on Gray Wing’s tongue. He hadn’t asked Clear Sky to come alone. He’d simply assumed that they would meet as brothers. He shifted his paws, unnerved. There was a time when he could predict exactly what Clear Sky would do—when he could trust his littermate’s honor. Now he wasn’t so sure. Clear Sky might bring every forest cat with him. Gray Wing lifted his chin. “I will face him alone.”
Tall Shadow narrowed her eyes. “No. Thunder and I will come with you. I will not let you risk your life.”
“You think he’d hurt me?” Gray Wing blinked.
Tall Shadow stared at him steadily, her eyes dark. “I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore.” She leaned closer. “Would Turtle Tail let you come to the meeting alone?”
“No.” Gray Wing dipped his head. “All right. You and Thunder can come too.” Hearing Turtle Tail’s name woke his anxiety. “We should get home.” He headed for the slope. “They might be back by now.”
Tall Shadow followed as Gray Wing swished through the ferns. At the top, he relished the rush of wind on his face as he bounded onto the moonlit moor. In the distance, he could see the dark dip in the moorside where the hollow nestled, heather wrapped around it like a protective tail. Was Turtle Tail in the clearing, waiting for him? Were the kits okay? If Tom has harmed them, I’ll find him and make him pay. If Turtle Tail hadn’t already.
He reached the camp first, his lungs burning as he hurtled into the clearing. He skidded to a halt, fur pricking.
It was quiet.
Shapes moved in the shadows. Rainswept Flower paced the heather, her striped tail down. Acorn Fur and Jagged Peak murmured in the long grass, heads together. Shattered Ice sat somberly beside Gorse Fur. No one turned to welcome him home.
Paws thrummed behind him as Tall Shadow caught up. “What’s going on?” She blinked as she looked around the clearing. “Has something happened?”
Gray Wing’s heart twisted with worry. Was there news of Turtle Tail and the kits? Had something happened to them? He tasted the air for their scents, but there was no sign.
Gorse Fur padded slowly forward, his gaze desolate. He met Gray Wing, shoulders drooping. “Wind Runner lost one of the kits.”
“Lost one?” Gray Wing stared past him to the bramble, noticing for the first time Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt huddled outside.
“Emberkit died.” Gorse Fur’s mew sounded more like a gasp of pain.
A chill swept through Gray Wing’s fur. He hadn’t even known Wind Runner had named her litter. Emberkit. His thoughts flashed to the smoldering cinders of the forest fire. “No!” He rushed to the bramble and shouldered his way through the drooping branches.
Hawk Swoop crouched beside Wind Runner, snapping her gaze toward him as he burst in. “Quiet!” she ordered.
Gray Wing crept toward the queen. She lay curled, moss and heather pressed around her, encasing her in a makeshift nest. He peered in. Three kits suckled at her belly. “Where’s Emberkit?” Gray Wing whispered.
Wind Runner gave a low groan and pulled her forepaws closer to her muzzle. A tiny body hung limp in their grip, not moving as Wind Runner pressed her cheek against the kit’s feather-soft fur.
“I’m so sorry.” Grief stabbed Gray Wing’s heart.
Hawk Swoop bent and lapped Wind Runner’s shoulder.
Gray Wing noticed flecks of spittle at the corners of the kit’s mouth, as though he had struggled as he died. “Did he suffer?” he whispered.
Wind Runner swung her head around, eyes blazing in the half-light. “Of course he suffered! Look at him!”
She shook Emberkit, his pelt matted, his eyes clouded.
“It’s not fair,” Gray Wing whispered bleakly. What could he say to comfort her? “Emberkit may have been spared future suffering. We live in the wild. Life is tough. Perhaps it’s best that only the strongest kits survive.”
“I thought we cared for our weak!” Wind Runner snapped. “We’re not like Clear Sky.”
Gray Wing flinched. “We can’t save every cat,” he reasoned.
Wind Runner flashed him a warning look but he pressed on hopefully.
“Perhaps Emberkit is in a better place now. Playing with other kits. It might make your loss easier if you—”
“How would you know?” Wind Runner hissed. “You’re not a mother. You’re not even a father!”
Gray Wing backed away, shock pulsing through him as though she’d raked his muzzle with her claws. At her belly the other kits began to mewl fretfully. But she hadn’t finished.
“Just because you’ve borrowed Turtle Tail’s kits and pretended they’re your own, you think you know what it’s like. I hope you never have to say good-bye to a kit. If you ever do, I’ll remind you that they might be in a better place than at their mother’s belly. I’m sure you’ll find that a great comfort!” Her eyes glazed and she let her head fall back as a mournful yowl wracked her body. “Go away!” she gasped.
A paw touched his flank gently. Hawk Swoop was gazing at him with round, sympathetic eyes. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” she whispered.
Gray Wing looked away. He understood grief. It made a cat hard. And yet he was breathless with the sting of her words. He slid from the den and crossed the camp. Blind to the cats crouched at the edges of the clearing, he crept to the gap in the heather and stared out across the moor. Turtle Tail, where are you? His heart seemed to crack in his chest. Come home and bring the kits with you. I need you.
Chapter 15
“You want to distract Tom?” Thunder stared at Lightning Tail, his heart quivering like a captured bird in his chest. He could hear the faint mews of Tom and the kits in Tom’s den. “How?”
Lightning Tail paced the passageway. “I’m not sure yet. Let me think!”
River Ripple sat and groomed his belly.
The sun was sinking behind the nests.
Lightning Tail’s eyes glittered in the twilight. “We know Tom’s vain, right? And selfish.”
“Yes,” Thunder agreed.
“We can take advantage of that.”
“How?” Thunder swished his tail over the gritty stone. “It’ll just make him hold on to the kits harder.”
“What if they don’t want to stay with him?” Lightning Tail argued.
“But he’s their father.” Guilt tugged at Thunder’s belly. “Their mother’s dead. They might see him as their only choice now.”
River Ripple lifted his head. “Why make it a choice between father and mother? Won’t they really be choosing between being a kittypet and living wild?” He glanced toward Tom’s den. “It can’t be that hard to show the kits that hiding in a stinky Twoleg den with only rotten kittypet food is no way for a real cat to live.”
Lightning Tail nodded. “They’ve only ever known the moor,” he pointed out. “Don’t you think they’ll miss it?” He glanced at the stone nests crowding out the sky. “They must see how trapped they are here.”