The cats trekked on over tough moorland grass until they reached a copse of pine trees.
“This might be a good place to hunt,” Moon Shadow suggested without much enthusiasm.
Dappled Pelt shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
The others murmured agreement, and flopped down to rest in the shelter of the trees.
“Is there any point in continuing without Shaded Moss?” Turtle Tail asked Gray Wing as she settled beside him. “Should we just give up and go home?”
Gray Wing was startled by the strength of feeling that rushed through him. “No!” he protested. “We’ve come too far! How would it be fair to Bright Stream and Shaded Moss if this journey was all for nothing?”
Hawk Swoop, crouching nearby, turned her head and mewed sharply, “You didn’t want to come in the first place, remember?”
Gray Wing forced himself to respond calmly. “Maybe not. But I’ve come this far, just like the rest of you. This will be my new home too.”
The setting sun covered the ground in scarlet light and cast long shadows from the pine trees. The cats settled in the copse for the night, curling up among the soft pine needles at the base of the trunks.
Gray Wing dreamed that he was snug in his old sleeping hollow in the cave, but gradually a wail of grief pierced through the thunder of the waterfall.
“Shaded Moss! Shaded Moss!”
Gray Wing jerked awake. A couple of tail-lengths away, Rainswept Flower was thrashing around, calling out for her father in her sleep.
Compassion surged through Gray Wing. Rising to his paws, he padded over to Rainswept Flower and sat beside her, stroking his tail gently over her flank. Her cries sank to a quiet whimper, and then to silence. He stayed at her side, his heart as heavy as a cloud weighed down with rain. Through the branches of the pine trees, he could see the moon, already swelling to full again.
We’ve been traveling for nearly an entire turn of the moon. Will our journey ever end?
During the night the wind picked up, rattling the brittle branches overhead. The noise and chill roused one cat after another. “The moon and stars give us enough light to see,” Tall Shadow mewed, stifling a yawn. “Why don’t we get going?”
With every cat in agreement, they padded through the pine trees and out onto rough, bristly grass, flattened by the strong wind. The ground sloped more steeply upward to where Highstones was a faint dark outline against the night sky.
Gray Wing paused and took in deep breaths of the cold air. Hope crept into his heart. This feels like home. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked across the landscape that unfolded behind them in the first faint light of dawn. A dark, uneven smudge lay against the horizon.
That’s the mountains! Wow, we’ve come so far!
“I can’t believe this!” Beside him, Jackdaw’s Cry echoed his thoughts. “I never imagined the world was this big!”
The ground grew steeper still, with boulders poking through the tough grass, but the cats leaped confidently from rock to rock.
“This is harder than it used to be!” Cloud Spots puffed. “All the good eating has made me heavier.”
The cats spread out as the grass gradually thinned and they found themselves padding along on stone. A sense of achievement tingled through Gray Wing as he scrambled up the last few tail-lengths and stood at the top of the pointed stones.
“We made it!” Turtle Tail announced as she joined him.
The peaks were lower and narrower than their mountain home, but Gray Wing rejoiced in their familiarity. He could see that the others, even Rainswept Flower, were regaining a little of their optimism.
As they stood looking out across the land beyond, the sun broke above the far horizon, flooding the landscape below them with golden light and stretching its warm rays right up to their paws.
We have reached the end of the sun trail!
He looked down into the pool of sunlight and saw empty expanses of grass, broken by patches of dense woodland that would offer shelter. A winding river reflected the sunlight.
“Is that where the other ‘rogues’ live?” he wondered aloud. “Those all look like places where cats could settle.”
“I think this could be our new home,” Dappled Pelt murmured.
“Yes!” Falling Feather gave her a nudge. “There’s a river for you to catch fish, and for me to fall into!”
“And trees,” Clear Sky added. “There’ll be plenty of prey.”
Gray Wing hoped his brother didn’t expect to be living under the trees. I’d much rather stay in the open spaces, where I can breathe.
But in spite of the cats’ optimism, a mist of sadness still hung above them. I wish Bright Stream and Shaded Moss had made it this far, Gray Wing thought.
Tall Shadow meowed, “Come on, let’s go explore,” hopping down from the topmost crag, still limping on her injured paw.
“When we get there, I’m going to find some herbs that will heal that paw,” Dappled Pelt declared.
Tall Shadow took the lead as they headed down the slope. “Jagged Peak!” she snapped as the kit scurried ahead of her. “Get your tail back here! You don’t know what danger might be waiting for us.”
Jagged Peak waited for the rest to catch up, and padded alongside Gray Wing, his ears flat and a chastened look on his face.
Their path wound between huge boulders that cut off the view of the land below. As they emerged again onto a more open slope, Jackdaw’s Cry let out a startled mrrow. “Look over there!” he exclaimed.
Turning, Gray Wing saw a massive hole in the mountainside, gaping open like a mouth rimmed with jagged teeth.
Jackdaw’s Cry ran lightly up to it and peered inside, meowing loudly and listening to the echo. “Wow, it’s really deep!”
Tall Shadow padded after him to the entrance and took a brief look inside. “We’re not rabbits,” she sniffed. “We don’t live underground. Come on.”
Dappled Pelt caught up to pad beside Tall Shadow as they moved off again. “You really shouldn’t walk much farther on that injured paw,” she murmured.
Tall Shadow nodded. “Okay. But let’s get to that stretch of moorland at the edge of the forest.”
The stony surface gave way to rough grass and then to softer enclosed stretches dotted with sheep. They were so familiar now that the cats ignored them, though they still kept to the bushes that edged the spaces, all their senses alert for dogs or monsters.
“Another Twolegplace,” Cloud Spots pointed out, as a cluster of red stone dens came into sight.
“I can smell dog,” Moon Shadow announced, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
“Then we won’t go near it,” Tall Shadow responded, leading them around in a wide circle.
Gray Wing looked at the moorland sloping up ahead of them. His legs suddenly felt heavy and his paws ached as he thought of taking a long rest. I’m tired of traveling. Even if this isn’t our new home, we should be able to stay here for a few sunrises, long enough to heal our wounds and fill our bellies.
The moorland seemed just beyond their whiskers when a familiar roar assailed Gray Wing’s ears.
“Oh, no!” Quick Water exclaimed. “Another Thunderpath!”
Moving cautiously, the cats picked their way through a thin line of bushes and, at a command from Tall Shadow, halted beside the Thunderpath. Gray Wing stared at it in horror. Monsters raced up and down in both directions, growling and letting out long hooting sounds like owls, but louder than any owl he had ever heard. This is the biggest one yet! How are we supposed to get across?
Glancing at his friends, he saw that many of them were trembling, the memory of Shaded Moss’s death fresh in their minds.