Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #2: Thunder Rising (18 page)

Lightning Tail reared back at the insult. He opened his jaws to respond, then clearly thought better of it. Whipping around, he stalked off toward Wind Runner and Gorse Fur, followed by his sister, who still looked bewildered.

Gray Wing stood where he was, watching. As his anger ebbed, he realized that he might be missing an opportunity.
If I’m going to lead, I need to know that these cats are on my side
.

Racing across the camp, barely thinking about Cloud Spots’s advice not to exert himself, he leaped onto the top of the rock beside Tall Shadow. The black she-cat gave him a surprised glance, then edged back to make room for him.

Facing the gathered cats, Gray Wing sought out Wind Runner and Gorse Fur, and dipped his head to them. “Congratulations on your new names,” he began. “We hope that they will bring us closer together in friendship in the seasons to come.”

I’d like to welcome them as full members of the group
, he thought to himself.
But I’m not sure every cat is ready for that yet. And I want to be certain of myself as leader before I let Wind Runner in, because as sure as snow falls in the cold season, she’ll try to take over
.

“Thank you,” Wind Runner responded to his words.

By now all the cats had realized that something unexpected was happening. They turned toward the rock and gazed up at Gray Wing while he waited for silence to fall. It wasn’t a long wait; he could see that every cat was eager to listen to what he had to say. He spotted Turtle Tail at the back of the group, looking surprised.

I never told her I was going to make a speech. I didn’t know it myself until a moment ago
.

Standing as tall as he could on top of the rock, Gray Wing cleared his throat. “When my brother left here with Thunder,” he began, “he said that sentiment didn’t count for anything. I’m not sure that I agree with him.”

Pausing, he let his gaze travel over the assembled cats. His three kits were huddled together with Jagged Peak, while Acorn Fur stood protectively beside Lightning Tail, whose fur was still ruffled from their argument. Gorse Fur and Wind Runner stood side by side.

At last Gray Wing’s gaze settled on Turtle Tail. Strong feelings began to surge through him at the sight of her, powerful as the waterfall that crashed into the pool outside the mountain cave.

“Sentiment counts for
everything
,” he went on, letting his voice ring out clearly across the camp. “Where would we be without each other? I’m so proud of you all for making friends with Wind Runner and Gorse Fur.”

For a moment he could feel Tall Shadow’s stare boring into his back from where she sat behind him at the edge of the rock. He knew she had always been cautious around the two moorland cats, but he also knew she would have to accept them eventually, and he paid no attention to her now.

“But if I’m to truly lead,” he continued, “I need to know that you’re all with me.” He paused before he asked the question that meant everything to him. “Are you?”

When he had finished speaking Gray Wing closed his eyes and waited. His belly began to churn as the silence seemed to stretch out for seasons.
What if I’ve got it all wrong?

Then his eyes flew open again as the air was split with yowls of delight and enthusiastic support.

“Yes, Gray Wing!”

“We’re with you!”

“Gray Wing! Gray Wing!”

Gray Wing blinked down at them, stunned and overwhelmed. He was aware of Tall Shadow padding up behind him, and felt her breath warm in his ear as she murmured, “I think you should get down now.”

For a heartbeat Gray Wing felt as though his paws were frozen to the rock. Then he pulled himself together and leaped down into the crowd of his friends. They all pressed around him, brushing their pelts against his, resting their tails on his shoulders or pushing their noses into his fur. Hawk Swoop, Jackdaw’s Cry, Shattered Ice, Rainswept Flower . . . Confidence thrilled through Gray Wing, filling him from ears to tail-tip, at this proof of their loyalty.

At last he found himself facing Lightning Tail. “This is what it’s about,” Gray Wing told him. “This is true strength.”

Lightning Tail dipped his head in understanding, his hostility gone. “Where you lead, we will all follow,” he meowed.

And that’s all I need to hear
, Gray Wing thought.

C
HAPTER
20

Dawn light woke Gray Wing where
he lay in the den with Turtle Tail and the kits. They were still sleeping, the kits sprawled over their mother’s body. Turtle Tail’s tail was wrapped against her nose, its fur riffling with every breath she took.

Gray Wing watched her, his heart swelling with affection. He remembered how pleased she had been when he caught up to the others on their journey from the mountains. She had observed him silently when he fell in love with Storm. Now Gray Wing understood why she had left the moor to go and live with Bumble and the Twolegs.

I drove her to it
, he realized.
All this time, she’s cared for me as more than a friend, and what did I do? I ignored her. But not any longer
, he resolved.

Turtle Tail’s escape from the Twoleg den, and the comfort she’d given him over the moon they’d been denmates, had made Gray Wing see her with new eyes. Turtle Tail had always been beside him.

We care for each other
. No, it was more than caring. Gray Wing knew that he loved this cat.

“Hey!” A paw prodded him in the side. “Go and catch me some prey, flea-pelt.”

Turtle Tail was awake, her green eyes alight with mischief. Gray Wing let out a snort of laughter.

“Who are you calling flea-pelt? Okay, okay, I’m going.”

Gray Wing rose to his paws, gave his fur a shake and padded to the mouth of the den. The dawn chill enveloped him as he stepped into fresh air. The pale sky was streaked with clouds, only the faintest rosy flush showing where the sun would rise.

Heading out of the hollow, Gray Wing felt more alive than ever before. His injured paws had healed and even his breathing seemed to feel better, despite his recent collapse.
Leaving the mountains was the best decision I ever made
.

Gray Wing knew that if he hadn’t made that choice, he would never have become the father to Sparrow Fur, Pebble Heart, and Owl Eyes, kits he now loved as his own. And if the next cold season was as easy as the last, the kits would grow up strong and healthy. He wouldn’t have felt the same confidence in the mountains, where the cold could kill.

As Gray Wing reached the top of the hollow and struck out across the moor, he heard paw steps following him, and a high-pitched squeak of excitement. He stopped and turned, knowing exactly what he would see.

The three kits scampered up to him.

“We want to hunt with you,” Owl Eyes announced, his whiskers quivering. “For real this time. No more pretend foxes!”

Gray Wing shook his head. “Sorry. You’re too young.”

“Please!” Sparrow Fur fixed him with beseeching green eyes. “No kit is too young to learn good hunting skills.”

Gray Wing fixed her with a stern look.
Where did she pick that up, I wonder?
“If you think you can get around me . . . ,” he began.

“We’ll be good!” Pebble Heart mewed, jumping up and down.

Gray Wing found he couldn’t resist their pleading. “Okay,” he agreed. “But stay close together, and close to me, and do
exactly
what I tell you. Understood?”

All three kits nodded vigorously.

“Come on, then.”

Gray Wing led the way onto the moor, his ears and nose alert for the signs of prey. The kits followed him, behaving themselves for once, their excitement showing only in the twitching of their whiskers and their wide, shining eyes.

Soon Gray Wing picked up the scent of a hare, and located it in the long grass at the edge of a stream. At first he could only see the black tips of its ears, but gradually he distinguished the outline of its body among the grass stems. It seemed to be a young one, not yet fully grown.

“Be very quiet,” he murmured to the kits, pointing with his tail. “Look over there.”

The kits stared in the direction his tail was indicating. Then Pebble Heart turned to him, blinking a little in distress. “It’s only a kit!” he mewed.

“Yes, won’t its mother and father be upset when it doesn’t come home?” Sparrow Fur added.

Owl Eyes was looking upset, too.

For a moment Gray Wing didn’t know how to answer. Then he sat down and gathered the kits closer with a sweep of his tail. “I understand how you feel,” he meowed. Clearly they weren’t as ready for hunting as they thought they were. “But we can’t take our hearts hunting, not if we want to survive. We have to be tough. I’ve seen a cat die of hunger. . . .” His voice quivered a little as he remembered his sister Fluttering Bird. “I don’t want to see it happen ever again. Do you understand?”

The kits exchanged uncertain glances. “I . . . I guess so,” Owl Eyes replied at last.

“Then I’m going to show you how to hunt this hare,” Gray Wing went on more briskly. “And I want you to remember that hares can be dangerous. Their back legs are very powerful. One kick could break a cat’s spine. Now watch.”

Gray Wing checked the hare again; it was sitting with its back to them, and so far it hadn’t noticed them. “The breeze is blowing toward us,” he murmured. “Do you know why that’s good?”

All three kits thought for a moment.

“Because we can scent the hare,” Sparrow Fur responded brightly. “But it can’t scent us.”

“Right.” As the little kit puffed out her chest proudly, Gray Wing added, “Now stay here and don’t move.”

Gray Wing began stalking cautiously toward the hare. There was no cover between him and the clump of grass where the hare was hiding, and he didn’t want to alert it by a sudden movement.

He had covered about half the distance before the hare suddenly sat erect. Knowing it had sensed him, Gray Wing hurtled toward it, calling on every scrap of speed he could manage. He leaped upon the hare as it bounded out of cover, swerving to avoid its back legs, and to break its neck with one skillful twist of his jaws. The hare fell to the ground and lay still.

Gray Wing turned to beckon the kits with his tail. As they padded toward him, sudden spots began to dance before his eyes and his vision was obscured by glittering darkness. Pain was gnawing at his lungs, and he could hardly breathe.
Not again!

The kits gathered around him, letting out anxious squeaks. Their small, furry bodies pressed up against him.

“You’re not ill again, are you?” one of them asked.

He pushed them away as he filled his lungs with air.
Yes, yes . . . not so bad this time. If I can just gather myself.
But he heard one of the kittens yowl with pain and he realized he hadn’t been as gentle as he’d hoped. Panic must have made his paws strike out harder than he’d meant.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

The kits looked at each other. Finally Owl Eyes muttered, “It’s okay.”

Pebble Heart came scampering up. He dropped something small on the ground and cautiously approached Gray Wing. “May I listen to your chest?” he asked.

Gray Wing eyed him doubtfully.
I’m not in the mood for games
. But Pebble Heart’s expression was deeply serious, and some instinct told Gray Wing to agree. “Okay,” he mewed, lying down again and rolling onto his back. He allowed Pebble Heart to place his ear against his chest and listen to his breathing.

After a moment Pebble Heart pulled away. “It’s not too bad,” he mewed. “But I brought you a juniper berry to help.” He picked up the small object and dropped it beside Gray Wing.

Gray Wing stared at it for a moment, blinking.
Well, I don’t suppose it can do any harm. . . .
He licked the berry up, chewed, and swallowed it.

Almost at once Gray Wing felt the last of his tight breathing subside. Astonishment spread through him as his pain ebbed. “How did you know to do that?” he asked, sitting up again.

Pebble Heart studied his paws, looking a bit embarrassed. “I just sort of worked it out for myself,” he admitted.

Gray Wing felt a pang of anxiety. “I hope you don’t start eating random stuff to see what it does,” he meowed.

“Oh, no!” Pebble Heart relaxed a little. “I listen to Dappled Pelt and Cloud Spots, so I know which herbs are good and which are dangerous.”

Gray Wing nodded thoughtfully. There was something special about Pebble Heart. Which other kit of his age would want to learn about herbs and know just the right one to bring back in a moment like this? He remembered Stoneteller, back in the mountains, who had so recently visited his dreams.
I know she had visions sometimes
, he thought.
I wonder if this young kit is born to be like the Stoneteller?

“Do you ever have dreams?” he asked the kit gently.

Pebble Heart looked away quickly. “No.”

Gray Wing knew very well that Pebble Heart wasn’t telling the truth, but he decided to say no more for now.
There’ll be a better opportunity to discuss this, when the other kits aren’t listening
.

“Well, thank you,” he meowed. “I feel much better. Let’s head back to camp now.”

He grabbed up the hare and the kits helped him to carry it as he led the way back to the hollow. When they arrived, Turtle Tail was sitting outside her den, grooming herself. The kits dropped the hare and pelted over to her as soon as they saw her, huddling close to her as she gave each of them an affectionate lick behind their ears.

“You’re trembling!” she exclaimed. Looking past them to Gray Wing as he approached more slowly, she asked, “What happened out there?”

Gray Wing set the hare down in front of her. “Are you proud of your kits?” he asked. “They did well on their first hunt.”

Turtle Tail fixed him with a long stare. “Answer my question,” she meowed. “What happened out there?”

Before Gray Wing could think how to reply, Sparrow Fur exploded into speech. “Gray Wing killed a hare, but then his breathing went funny again. He pushed us away.”

“Pebble Heart brought him a berry,” Owl Eyes added.

Gray Wing saw fury flash into Turtle Tail’s eyes, but her voice was quiet as she mewed, “Kits, take the hare down into the center of the camp so that we can all share. Now,” she snapped as the kits hesitated.

“I’ll help them,” Jagged Peak offered, padding up. “Come on, kits.”

“Thanks, Jagged Peak,” Turtle Tail meowed.

Gray Wing couldn’t suppress an irritated twitch of his tail.
Jagged Peak is always nearby when the kits need anything.

With Jagged Peak supervising, Sparrow Fur, Pebble Heart, and Owl Eyes began dragging the hare away, while Turtle Tail and Gray Wing gazed at each other. Once the kits were out of earshot, Turtle Tail rose to her paws.

“Let’s go for a walk.” She led the way up the slope without waiting to see if Gray Wing was following.

Turtle Tail didn’t speak again until she and Gray Wing had reached the shelter of the gorse bushes near the top of the hollow. Then she turned and faced him. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

Gray Wing understood very well what she was getting at, but he had no idea how to reply. “Uh . . . what do you mean?” he asked, playing for time.

Turtle Tail gave her tail a single lash. “Too much time has already been wasted by the two of us not talking to each other,” she began. “Not anymore. I’m not stupid, you know! I’ve seen you struggling with your breathing, ever since the forest fire. You can’t even teach your own kits—or as good as your own kits—to hunt without there being a problem. And then to push them aside like that? What were you thinking?”

Gray Wing felt as though everything was piling up on him, like an avalanche in the mountains.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like?” he demanded when Turtle Tail stopped at last for breath. “Trying to keep a camp of cats happy? Asking myself if Tall Shadow made the right choice when she wanted me to take over as leader? I didn’t ask to be any cat’s leader, and now I can’t sleep for worrying about the others! Do you really think the other cats need to know that I’m struggling with my health?” He let out a long sigh. “I don’t
feel
like a leader,” he continued. “I couldn’t get the cats out of the forest when the fire spread. If it hadn’t been for Thunder taking the lead and River Ripple guiding us . . .” His head drooped in shame, listening to the rattle of his breathing.

When he looked up again, he saw that the anger had died from Turtle Tail’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s only because I care. I don’t want to see you become more ill. And I definitely don’t want to hear about you pushing the kits away.”