Rainswept Flower followed him out of the tunnel and raised her voice above the babble from the cats gathered around the entrance. “Turtle Tail has three healthy kits!” she announced.
Gray Wing heard the yowls of approval as he padded back to his own mossy nest. He tried not to think of the pain and love in Turtle Tail’s eyes, or of what it meant. I need time to think… Not just about Turtle Tail, but about his own behavior. He’d insisted on forcing his way through to see her. Why? He wasn’t the father; he had no right there. And yet, something had made him want to be one of the first cats to meet Turtle Tail’s new kits.
Gray Wing woke to the sound of rushing water in his ears. He sneezed as a feather tickled his nose, and opened his eyes to find himself in the cave behind the waterfall.
What…? How did I get back here?
He sprang to his paws, gazing around him wildly. Moonlight shone from behind the falling water, turning it into a screen of icy starlight.
In the frosty shimmer Gray Wing saw that the cats were all sleeping. He spotted his mother, Quiet Rain, alone in her nest, and Dewy Leaf curled around two healthy-looking kits. He couldn’t see any of the cats who had made the journey with him from the mountains.
They all look well fed, Gray Wing thought as he padded from one sleeping hollow to the next. It’s as if we did the right thing to leave. I must be dreaming… but oh, I wish it were true!
“Gray Wing!”
The clear meow came from the back of the cave. Gray Wing turned toward the sound and saw Stoneteller standing there, her white pelt turned to glowing silver in the light from the cave opening.
“Gray Wing, come with me,” she invited, beckoning him with her tail.
Without waiting to see if he would follow, Stoneteller led the way down one of the tunnels that led out of the far end of the cavern. Apprehension prickled at Gray Wing’s pads. He knew that the tunnel led to Stoneteller’s den, the Cave of Pointed Stones.
He padded into the darkness, aware of damp rock beneath his paws, and Stoneteller’s scent wafted back to him. Soon gray light filtered into the tunnel from somewhere up ahead, and he saw the outline of Stoneteller’s head before she stepped aside and left the end of the tunnel clear.
Gray Wing emerged and halted, staring, awe trickling through him like icy water. The cave was much smaller than the main cavern where the Tribe lived, lit by moonlight that shone through a jagged crack high above his head. Pointed stones rose up from the floor and others hung down from the roof; some had joined together so that Gray Wing felt as if he was standing on the edge of a forest made of stone.
On the floor of the cave, puddles of water gleamed with reflected moonlight. Stoneteller stood beside one of them, still beckoning him closer with her tail.
“Welcome, Gray Wing,” she mewed as he padded up to join her. “This is the Cave of Pointed Stones, where I read the signs our ancestors send us.”
Gray Wing’s mind spun with confusion. “How… how did I get here?” he stammered. “Did you bring me?”
Stoneteller shook her head. “We both walk in dreams, dear friend,” she replied, her voice deep and soft in spite of her age and frailty. “And my heart tells me that I have a message for you.”
Gray Wing’s ears pricked alertly. “What is it?”
“A new life awaits you, Gray Wing,” the white she-cat told him. “You must turn your paws onto a new path.”
“I… I wondered about that, Stoneteller,” Gray Wing meowed eagerly. “Turtle Tail’s kits need a father…”
Stoneteller dipped her head. “That may be so,” she responded. “And yet I think there is another reason that your dream has led you here, into the place set apart for the leaders of our Tribe.”
“But I’m not—” Gray Wing began to protest, then broke off, staring appalled at Stoneteller. “Tall Shadow is our leader,” he went on after a moment’s silence. “She should be here, not me.”
Stoneteller blinked. “Who can tell what lies ahead in the seasons to come?” she asked. “Be ready, Gray Wing. And may you walk your new path with courage…”
As her voice died away the moonlight faded, leaving Gray Wing standing in darkness. Before he had time to feel afraid, he was waking in his own nest, with his denmates sleeping around him.
The next morning dawned dull and chilly, with a slap of rain in the wind. Gray Wing emerged from his nest, fluffing up his pelt against the damp cold. The camp was quiet; he guessed that most of the cats were still asleep, though Tall Shadow was already perched on her rock, keeping watch in spite of the weather.
Of course she’s our leader, Gray Wing told himself, pushing the disturbing dream to the back of his mind.
As he gave himself a quick grooming, he spotted Thunder emerging from the tunnel he shared with Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur. As soon as he saw Gray Wing, the young cat bounded over to him.
“Can I see Turtle Tail’s kits?” he asked eagerly.
“I’m not sure… ,” Gray Wing began. “She needs peace and quiet, to sleep and get her strength back.”
“Nonsense.” Gray Wing turned to see Cloud Spots appearing from Turtle Tail’s tunnel. “She’d love some visitors. Why don’t you go hunting and bring a mouse for her? She’ll be hungry.”
“Okay, why not?” Gray Wing agreed.
He was afraid that with the sudden change in weather all the prey would be snugly down their holes, but they hadn’t gone far when Thunder spotted a mouse sheltering under a gorse bush.
With a glance at Gray Wing, who nodded encouragingly, he took off after it, leaping on the mouse with a triumphant yowl and padding back to Gray Wing with the limp body dangling from his jaws.
“Great catch,” Gray Wing meowed, relieved that this time Thunder had caught the mouse without any trouble. “See, I said you would get there in the end.”
Thunder’s eyes were shining. “Can we go and see Turtle Tail now?”
“Let’s see if we can find something else first,” Gray Wing replied, wondering if he was deliberately delaying. “Turtle Tail must be starving, and one mouse isn’t all that much.”
Thunder left his mouse in a crack between two rocks, and the two cats headed away from the hollow, stalking quietly around a clump of gorse. This time Gray Wing was the first to spot prey: another mouse that scuttled away from him in a panic, straight into Thunder’s paws. Thunder sank his claws into it and gave it a good shake.
“Two catches!” Gray Wing praised him. “You’re a real hunter now.”
“That one was really yours,” Thunder mewed modestly. “I’d have had to be blind and deaf and clawless to miss it.”
Returning to the rocks, Thunder collected the first mouse and carried both of them swinging from their tails as Gray Wing led the way back to the camp.
Turtle Tail was gazing down at her kits when they entered her den. All three were safe in the curve of her belly, squirming blindly on the moss and letting out tiny mews.
To Gray Wing’s surprise, Jagged Peak was sitting beside Turtle Tail, watching the kits keenly and patting them back toward their mother if they strayed too far away. Rainswept Flower was there, too, tucking fresh bedding around Turtle Tail and her litter.
“What are you doing here?” Gray Wing asked his brother.
“He’s being helpful,” Rainswept Flower replied before Jagged Peak had a chance to speak. There was an edge to her tone. “Aren’t you happy that the kits are being looked after and we’re all pulling together?”
“Uh… sure,” Gray Wing responded. “I didn’t mean to criticize.”
“That’s okay.” Jagged Peak sounded more content than he had since being cast out of Clear Sky’s group.