Firestar's Quest (23 page)

“Hi,” he meowed with a friendly flick of his ears to Firestar. “My name's Hutch; what's yours?”

Once again Firestar introduced himself and told the story of SkyClan. “The SkyClan cats could live in the gorge because they had strong back legs for jumping, and hard pads for walking over rock. Just like Cherry and Boris.” He felt a stirring of relief when Hutch raised one of his own paws to examine his pads. “We're holding a meeting to talk about it.”

Hutch looked intrigued. “I've heard about cats living wild in the gorge,” he told Firestar. “My mother used to tell me, but I thought they were just stories for kits.”

“No, it's all true,” Boris mewed, and Cherry added enthusiastically, “We're going to be SkyClan apprentices!”

“So you'll come to the meeting?” Firestar asked. “Tomorrow night, in the gorge where the river flows out.”

“Sure,” Hutch replied.

Firestar dipped his head. “Then we'll see you there.”

Hutch flicked his tail in farewell and turned to go, then glanced back. “Are you hungry?”

Cherry's ears pricked. “Cream?” she mewed hopefully, swiping her tongue around her jaws.

“A whole bowlful.”

“Hang on,” Firestar meowed, before Cherry or Boris could move. “You can be a SkyClan apprentice, or you can go into Twoleg nests and eat cream. Not both.”

“But we're not apprentices yet,” Cherry retorted pertly.

Part of Firestar was amused, but he knew that if he gave his permission now the two young kittypets might never really appreciate what it meant to join a Clan. If they weren't ready to give up Twoleg comforts, they weren't ready to live the life of a warrior.

“SkyClan or cream,” he meowed. “You choose.”

Cherry and Boris exchanged a glance, and Cherry let out a disappointed sigh.

“It's got to be SkyClan,” she replied.

“Fresh-kill tastes better anyway,” Boris mewed. “Come on; we've got lots more cats to see.”

They plunged back into the bushes toward the fence. Firestar waited to say good-bye to Hutch, and saw his own amusement reflected in the dark tabby's eyes. Suddenly he felt encouraged. This was a cat he could work with.

Cherry and Boris led the way back into the alley and around a corner to the edge of a small Thunderpath. Firestar paused by the fence, his neck fur bristling at the reek of monsters. One of them was crouched a few fox-lengths away, but it seemed to be asleep.

“It's okay,” Boris meowed, strolling nonchalantly up to the edge of the Thunderpath. “It's pretty quiet at this time of day.”

Cherry bounced up to join him; Firestar admitted to himself that he was impressed. These two kittypets had a lot to learn about Clan life and the warrior code, but here they were confident and focused, and they seemed to know every pawstep of the Twolegplace.

Trying not to show his uneasiness, he padded across to join them, glancing both ways along the Thunderpath. No monsters were in sight, and he couldn't hear any approaching.

“Come
on
!” Cherry urged.

Firestar signaled with his tail, though he wasn't sure that the two young cats were waiting for his order. “Okay, let's go.”

All three cats darted across; Cherry and Boris swarmed up the nearest fence and balanced on the top, waiting for Firestar.

“We can go along this fence,” Boris explained. “We'll pass two or three gardens where cats live. Watch out for this next one, though. The Twolegs here have a dog.”

“Noisy little brute.” Cherry sniffed. “It'll probably come out, barking its stupid head off.”

She was right. As soon as Boris set paw on the next section of fence, a small white dog shot out of the Twoleg nest, yapping furiously. It sprang up at the fence, and Firestar dug his claws hard into the wood as it shook.

“Get lost, flea-pelt,” Cherry spat. “Go and drool over your Twolegs. Don't worry,” she added kindly to Firestar. “The idiot can't climb.”

Firestar felt as if he were the apprentice and the two kittypets were his mentors. “I'm fine with dogs, thanks,” he meowed.

The dog went on barking as the three cats continued along the fence top. Firestar hid his relief as the noise died away behind them.

Eventually Boris paused and looked down over a bigger
garden than most of them, with a wide expanse of smooth grass bordered by masses of bright flowers. Firestar picked up a strong scent of cat.

Cherry lifted her tail to point. “Over there.”

She was pointing at some wooden Twoleg thing standing at the edge of the grass in front of the flowers. Lying on top of it was a shapeless heap of cream-and-brown fur.

Cherry jumped down from the fence, landing in a clump of flowers; Firestar and Boris followed and skirted the edge of the flower border until they reached the wooden Twoleg thing.

Two identical heads rose from the heap of fur. Firestar's ears pricked with curiosity. He had never seen cats like these before. Their slender bodies were cream-colored, but their legs, tails, ears, and muzzles were brown, and they had the most brilliant blue eyes he had ever seen.

One of them let out a weird high-pitched yowl. “Hi, Cherry. Hi, Boris.”

“What do you want?” the other asked, in the same strange voice.

“We've brought Firestar to meet you,” Boris meowed. “This is Rose and this is Lily,” he added to Firestar, flicking his tail at each cat in turn.

“Greetings,” Firestar began. He felt oddly hesitant; these cats couldn't possibly be SkyClan descendants. “I've come to tell you about the cats who used to live in the gorge….”

The two cats listened to him in silence, their vivid eyes fixed disconcertingly on him. When he had finished, they
turned the same intense stare on each other.

“What do you think of that?” Rose asked.

“Amazing!” Lily replied.

“You will come to the meeting, won't you?” Cherry urged them. “It's going to be really great!”

“What, us?” Rose's eyes opened wide. “You're joking, of course.”

“Us live in a
cave
? With no warm blanket?” Lily added. “No creamed chicken?”

“To chase mice and
kill
them?” Rose's tongue rasped delicately over one brown paw. “How vulgar!”

Moving as one, the two cats rested their heads on their paws again and closed their eyes.

Cherry exchanged a glance with Boris, who gave a tiny shrug. “Sorry,” she mewed to Firestar. “It was worth a try.”

“Don't worry,” Firestar told him. He couldn't imagine these cats ever adjusting to the life of a Clan, but in case they were still listening he kept his thoughts to himself.

Leaping back onto the fence, he was startled to see that the sun was starting to go down. They had spent most of the day in the Twolegplace and now he was ravenous. At the same moment he heard a distant yowling from a Twoleg several gardens away.

“That's one of our housefolk,” Boris told him. “We'd better be going.” Sadly, he added, “We'll miss them, you know.”

“That's not wrong, is it?” Cherry asked anxiously.

“No,” Firestar replied, remembering his own pangs of homesickness. “It's not wrong. But you have to choose.”

“We've chosen,” Boris meowed determinedly, while Cherry whisked her tail and added, “Come on, Firestar! We'll show you the best way out of here.”

 

Padding back across the scrubland on his own, Firestar spotted movement underneath a thornbush. Cautiously he drew nearer, and recognized the brown rogue who had frightened off the sparrow when he first arrived in the gorge. The cat was crouched over a piece of fresh-kill, and looked up suspiciously as Firestar approached.

“Hi.” Firestar tried to sound friendly. “Have you heard about the Clan of cats who used to live in the gorge?”

The brown rogue gave a noncommittal grunt and went on eating. Firestar couldn't be sure he was even listening as he told him about SkyClan and the meeting planned for the following night.

“What do you think?” he asked. “Will you come?”

The rogue swallowed the last mouthful of fresh-kill and cleaned his muzzle with one paw. “I'm fine on my own.” His eyes narrowed. “And I don't want
you
ordering me around.”

“It's not like that—” Firestar protested, but the rogue stalked off without letting him explain. Guilt gnawed at Firestar as he headed back to the gorge. Maybe if he hadn't been so hostile when they first met, he could have persuaded the brown rogue to give SkyClan a chance.

Finding the trail leading down the cliff face, he padded wearily along it to the warriors' cave. Faint squeals of excitement rose from the bottom of the gorge; Firestar peered
down to spot Sandstorm and Clover's three kits batting something around at the water's edge. Warmth flooded through him when he saw how happy and relaxed his mate looked as she played with the kits, happier than she had been since they left the forest.

“Hi, Firestar.” Scratch's voice interrupted his thoughts. “Sandstorm says you're organizing a meeting to tell more cats about the new Clan. I could take you to some other rogues, if you like. They'll probably come if I ask them.”

Firestar was glad Scratch was becoming more committed to SkyClan, but not sure he liked the tabby tom's cool assumption of authority over the other rogues. Still, if they respected him, that would make Firestar's task easier overall.

“Okay, thanks,” he meowed.

“Let's go then.” Scratch emerged from the warriors' den and set off down the trail.

What, now?
Firestar wailed inwardly.
I haven't eaten all day!

Sighing, he followed Scratch down the cliff face and caught up with him as he was speaking to Sandstorm. “I'm going to introduce Firestar to a few rogues,” he was telling her.

“Great.” Sandstorm ducked her head as Rock sprang onto her back. “Get
off
!” she mewed, rolling over and padding gently at him with one paw, her claws sheathed. Rock just squeaked happily, and Sandstorm disappeared under a mound of fur as Bounce and Tiny jumped on her too.

“You're obviously busy,” Firestar murmured, amused. “I'll see you later.”

Scratch and Firestar padded side by side across the rocky spur to the trees and undergrowth downstream. Firestar hadn't visited this part of the territory since his meeting with Cherry and Boris, and his pelt prickled at the memory of being watched. Then he drew to a halt, his heart beginning to thump. This wasn't just memory! The same sensations poured over him, and icy fear trickled through him from ears to tail tip.

“What's the matter?” Scratch, some way ahead, glanced over his shoulder.

“Nothing.” Firestar's voice shook, and he forced it to be steady. “I just thought we might stop and hunt. I haven't had so much as the sniff of a mouse since this morning.”

“Okay.” Scratch retraced his steps and stood tasting the air.

“Do you smell anything…odd?” Firestar asked. He had picked up the same prey scent as before, masked by the sharp aroma of crushed leaves.

Scratch paused, drew in more air, then shrugged. “Prey. Grass and leaves. Why?”

“Nothing.” Firestar wanted Scratch to respect him, not think he was a coward looking for danger under every bush. “Let's hunt.”

Scratch stalked away into the bushes, and Firestar padded off in another direction. While he tried to find prey, his senses stayed alert for whatever hostile creature was watching him.

Is it something to do with why SkyClan left the gorge?
he wondered. Sky had been reluctant to answer any questions, but Firestar
was certain that the old cat knew more than he was telling.
I'll have to question him again,
he decided. The future of the new Clan might be at risk if Sky insisted on keeping secrets about possible danger.

Firestar stood in the shadows under a thornbush, looking out across a clear space in the midst of the undergrowth. Nothing stirred among the ferns and grasses.

“Who are you?” he whispered. “What do you want?”

There was no reply, only vicious hatred hurled at him with such force that it almost carried him off his paws. In the twilight he thought he could make out dark, glinting eyes. His pelt crawled.

A rustling in a nearby bush made him jump, but it was only a vole, dashing out into the open space. Firestar leaped after it and snapped its neck. As he picked it up the scent masked everything else, and the sense of a hostile presence around him faded a little. Still, he pushed his way to the edge of the thicket and out into the open by the river before he crouched to eat his fresh-kill.

Scratch was sitting a few tail-lengths farther downstream, cleaning his face and whiskers. “Are you ready?” he asked, drawing his paw over one ear. “It'll be dark soon.”

Firestar gulped down the rest of the vole. “Okay, lead on.”

The tabby rogue bounded alongside the river until he reached the fallen tree that Sky had used to cross a few days before. Leading Firestar over to the far bank, Scratch started to climb another trail that led up the cliff face on the opposite side. Firestar panted after him, wishing he had the rogue's
powerful haunches. Scratch was a true SkyClan cat!

Firestar had never climbed the cliff on this side of the river before. At the top there was a wide stretch of grass that gave way to undergrowth and then trees. His spirits lifted as he padded with Scratch underneath the branches. This was more like his territory in the forest.

“When we set the borders, we'll have to make this part of SkyClan territory.” Firestar sniffed appreciatively. “There's plenty of prey. Moss, too,” he added, flicking his ears toward thick cushions of it growing on the gnarled roots of an oak tree.

Scratch gave him a sidelong glance. “Then you'd better convince the rogues who live here already.”