Turtle Tail is right, he thought. This is home now.
Chapter 7
The moon, almost full, was riding high, casting a silver light over the hollow. Gray Wing looked down affectionately at Thunder, who had settled at his side; the young cat’s head was drooping drowsily, but he was struggling against sleep. Hawk Swoop had bundled Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur off to bed; Gray Wing guessed that Thunder didn’t want to go with them, preferring to listen to the older cats talking instead.
Jagged Peak had crept closer, too, and lay stretched out, his eyes closed. Gray Wing was glad to see that his expression had cleared; he looked almost happy as he sank into sleep. Cloud Spots was giving himself a long stretch, while Dappled Pelt had curled up and was drowsing with her tail over her nose.
“I want to tell you more about the tunnels,” Wind began. “They’re full of rabbits, if you know where to look. There was one time, I followed a rabbit almost as far as the Twolegplace—”
“That’s enough.” Tall Shadow rose to her paws, cutting off the brown she-cat. Gray Wing guessed that she didn’t want Wind to encourage any of her cats to go near the Twolegplace, or to risk themselves down unfamiliar tunnels. “Wind, Gorse,” she began, “we thank you for your help today. But now we must say good-bye. It’s time for you to leave the hollow.”
Shattered Ice and Jackdaw’s Cry, who had been listening with intense interest, looked up indignantly.
“Surely Wind and Gorse aren’t leaving?” Shattered Ice asked. “Everyone wants them to stay. Why don’t they just spend the night here?”
The rogue cats’ eyes widened hopefully, but Tall Shadow shook her head.
“No, they have to leave,” she insisted politely. “This hollow is just for the cats from the mountains. We found it and we dug out the dens.”
Wind and Gorse seemed disappointed, but they merely dipped their heads to Tall Shadow and glanced around at the others.
“Good-bye,” Wind meowed. “Thanks for letting us stay, and for sharing your rabbit.”
“Yeah, it was great,” Gorse agreed. “We’ll see you around.”
Side by side, the two rogue cats bounded up the slope. The mountain cats watched in silence as they melted fluidly into the dark moorland. In a heartbeat they were gone.
“I don’t see why they had to leave,” Jackdaw’s Cry grumbled after a while.
“Yes, they saved Jagged Peak,” Hawk Swoop added as the cats returned to their nests. “They’d be really great cats to have with us.”
Shattered Ice sprang to his paws and confronted Tall Shadow. “I think you should explain to us why they have to leave,” he demanded, flicking his tail in the direction of the departed cats, “but Turtle Tail—who was a kittypet—gets to stay.”
Turtle Tail let out a shocked gasp. Her neck fur fluffed out indignantly. “What do you mean by that?” she demanded.
“Loyalty is important,” Shattered Ice replied coldly. “You shouldn’t get to leave and then stroll back in again as if nothing happened.”
“Fine!” Turtle Tail glared at the gray-and-white tom. “I’m not going to stay where I’m not welcome!” she hissed.
Appalled, Gray Wing rose to her side and curled his tail around her shoulders. “You can’t go back to the Twolegplace now, not when that would mean losing your kits!” he protested. “And you can’t survive on your own, not when they’ll be born any day now.”
He could tell from the look on Turtle Tail’s face that she didn’t really want to leave the hollow. “I don’t care,” she muttered. “I don’t have to take that from any cat.”
“Of course you care,” Gray Wing told her, realizing how deeply upset she was by Shattered Ice’s words. “You must stay,” he went on gently. “Think of your kits.”
Turtle Tail hesitated, then nodded, leaning in for a moment toward Gray Wing.
“Good,” Tall Shadow meowed. “No cat here would turn you out at a time like this. Shattered Ice, apologize.”
Shattered Ice glared at Tall Shadow, then turned to Turtle Tail. “Okay—sorry,” he muttered grumpily.
Gray Wing drew a breath of relief, hoping that the near quarrel was over, but Shattered Ice spun around again to face his leader.
“But you still haven’t answered my question. Why did you make Wind and Gorse go?” he asked. “They saved Jagged Peak’s life and probably others! You call yourself our leader, but you don’t care what we think. What makes you so special?”
Tall Shadow stiffened at the white tom’s accusing tone. “I—” she began, but Shattered Ice ignored her attempt to speak.
“All this time, while this was going on,” he continued. “You were guarding the hollow! Some bravery! Some leadership! Gray Wing was out there, saving cats. You should follow his example. In fact, we all should. Gray Wing should be our leader!”
A babble of comment and protest rose up from the other cats at Shattered Ice’s challenging words. The drowsy peace that had fallen over the camp was swept away.
“You can’t change a leader just like that,” Rainswept Flower protested. Tall Shadow looked on, her face blank with shock. Don’t rely on Rainswept Flower to stand up for you, Gray Wing silently willed her. Show your authority!
“Yes!” Hawk Swoop yowled. “Gray Wing!”
“Now just a moment…” Cloud Spots shouldered his way forward, but anything else he might have said was lost in the rising clamor.
Tall Shadow drew herself to her full height. Her shoulder fur was bristling and her tail bushed out to twice its size. Fury snapped in her green eyes, but she still looked too stunned to say anything.
Shock pierced through Gray Wing like a bolt of lightning. The idea of taking over as leader made his fur rankle, particularly when that would mean displacing Tall Shadow. Do they expect her to purr sweetly and start taking orders from me?
Sudden words exploded out of Gray Wing. “Be quiet!” he ordered Shattered Ice. “Is this what we want—arguments among ourselves when there are serious dangers out there?”
“That’s exactly what we want,” Shattered Ice retorted. “Because there are dangers, we need a leader who’s capable of dealing with them. Only today, Thunder and I were stopped by some of Clear Sky’s cats in the forest. We could have ended up fighting if it wasn’t for the dogs.”
Gray Wing cast an angry glance at Thunder, who was struggling back to wakefulness as the argument erupted in the hollow. You never told me about that! But speaking to his young kin would have to wait. “Tall Shadow is the leader we need,” he meowed sharply to Shattered Ice.
Shattered Ice lashed his tail. “I say she is not!”
Several gasps of astonishment followed, and Tall Shadow took a pace forward, a low growl coming from her throat. Gray Wing realized that she was within a heartbeat of attacking Shattered Ice.
Before Gray Wing could move or speak, Cloud Spots pushed his way between the two hostile cats. “Do you really want a leader who led dogs into our camp?” he asked Shattered Ice.
Fury pierced through Gray Wing. “What would you have done, flea-brain?” he demanded.
“Gray Wing was brave!” Thunder’s voice was raised in protest. “He saved Jagged Peak.”
Gray Wing realized that he should have kept his temper. Thunder was fully awake now, on his paws with his shoulder fur fluffed out as he glared at Cloud Spots. Guilt stabbed through Gray Wing and he tried to calm himself. I shouldn’t behave like this in front of younger cats.