The First Battle

by Erin Hunter

  “Who says I don’t love them?” Tom puffed out his chest. “I rescued them from the moor. They were wandering around by themselves. Anything could have happened to them.”

  “We were practicing tracking rabbits,” Pebble Heart mewed.

  Tom glared at the tabby kit. “How do you know a fox wasn’t practicing tracking kits at the same time?”

  Pebble Heart’s eyes widened.

  Tom stopped Thunder’s pacing by turning to face him. “They’re safe here,” he growled. “They have me to protect them.”

  By filling their heads full of horror stories about the moor? Thunder bit back a growl. We have to get them away from him. He glanced desperately around the den. They couldn’t fight Tom. Not now the kits knew he was their father. He moved closer to Lightning Tail. “What do we do?”

  “We’ll have to leave them,” Lightning Tail meowed calmly.

  Thunder stared at him. “But—”

  Lightning Tail nudged him toward the den entrance.

  “We can’t!” Thunder stopped as they reached River Ripple. “Those are Turtle Tail’s kits! They belong on the moor.” He stared desperately at Lightning Tail, pausing as he saw the black tom’s eyes narrow. He dropped his mew to a whisper. “You’ve got a plan, haven’t you?”

  Lightning Tail winked at him and marched away from the den.

  Hope fizzing in his paws, Thunder hurried after.

  CHAPTER 14

  Help me!

  Gray Wing jolted awake as his ears rang with Turtle Tail’s desperate cry. He blinked open his eyes, heart lurching, and jerked his head around. “Turtle Tail?” The camp was quiet, the sunny clearing empty. There was no sign of his tortoiseshell mate. Relief swamped him. It had been a dream.

  Where is she? He sat up, his muscles weary. Warmth drenched his pelt as the sun slid toward the horizon. It would be dusk soon and he was still in his nest. He drew in a breath. The tightness in his chest was gone at last. He could breathe easily again.

  Rainswept Flower nodded to him as she crossed the clearing. Water-soaked moss dripped from between her jaws. She was heading toward the bramble den, where Gorse Fur’s tail stuck out among the flowery stems. Wind Runner had kitted! He remembered Turtle Tail telling him through the haze of his sickness.

  And then she’d left to search for the kits. Surely she’d found them by now? He tasted the air. Her scent bathed his tongue and his heart quickened for a moment. Then he realized it was just lingering traces of fur in their nest. He climbed out, his paws trembling. His belly rumbled.

  “You’re awake!” Jagged Peak trotted toward him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better.” Gray Wing noticed Acorn Fur, crouching beside the heather wall. The chestnut brown she-cat was gazing anxiously through the gap. Was she watching for Turtle Tail and the kits?

  Cloud Spots padded past her. He was carrying herbs between his jaws, heading for the bramble. Gray Wing frowned. Why was his gaze so dark? “Is Wind Runner okay?” he asked Jagged Peak.

  “She’s fine,” Jagged Peak reported. “She had four kits—three toms and a she-kit.”

  Gray Wing purred. “Sparrow Fur will be excited,” he meowed. “She’ll have new friends. They all will. Kits need playmates.” He paused as he saw Jagged Peak’s gaze cloud. “What’s wrong?” He leaned forward, alarm pulsing through him. “Has there been any news?”

  “Not yet.” Jagged Peak glanced toward Tall Shadow. The black she-cat was on the flat rock, looking out over the moor. Had she moved at all while Gray Wing had slept?

  “Why aren’t they back yet?” Gray Wing couldn’t believe the kits would have wandered so far from the camp.

  “We found kittypet scent near their trail,” Jagged Peak told him softly. “Tall Shadow didn’t want you to know until you’d recovered.”

  “Kittypet scent?” Gray Wing searched Jagged Peak’s gaze. Why did he look so worried? He stiffened, suspicion pricking in his mind. “Did Turtle Tail recognize it?” he demanded.

  Jagged Peak nodded.

  “It was Tom, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Jagged Peak’s ear twitched. “We can’t be sure they went with him. But Turtle Tail went after him, with Thunder and Lightning Tail. He won’t get far.”

  “He took the kits?” Gray Wing could hardly believe it. What kind of sick cat would steal kits from their mother? He strode toward the gap in the heather. “I’ll get them back.” Strength surged through him as he left Jagged Peak, blinking, behind.

  “Wait!” Tall Shadow’s call surprised him.

  He stopped at the flat rock and looked up at her. “I have to help Turtle Tail get the kits back.”

  Tall Shadow leaped down and landed lightly beside him. “Thunder and Lightning Tail are already following her. They’ve probably found them by now and are on their way home.” She stared gravely at Gray Wing. “You need to save your strength for your meeting with Clear Sky. The safety of all of us may depend on it.”

  Gray Wing dipped his head. She was speaking sense. His whiskers twitched wryly. Not long ago, he’d led the moor cats. Now Tall Shadow was back in charge, making decisions.

  “Get something to eat.” Tall Shadow nodded toward the prey heap beside the rock. “You must be hungry.”

  “I guess.” He’d rather search the moor for Turtle Tail than eat. But Tall Shadow was right. His belly was growling like a bad-tempered badger. He padded toward the pile. A fat blackbird was balanced on top of a mound of mice and shrews. Clearly the other cats had been busy hunting while he’d been recovering in his nest.

  Shattered Ice lay a tail-length away, chewing hungrily on a thrush. “There’s a vole near the bottom if you dig for it.”

  Gray Wing nodded gratefully, touched that the tom remembered how much he enjoyed sweeter flesh. He pawed through the prey until he found the vole, then carried it to Shattered Ice and settled beside him. “Do you mind if I eat here?”

  “Of course not.” Shattered Ice tore a mouthful of flesh from the thrush and chewed it noisily.

  Gray Wing gnawed at his vole.

  “We followed their trail to the river,” Shattered Ice mumbled through his mouthful. “Me and Hawk Swoop.” He swallowed. “It smells like Tom crossed with the kits, and then Turtle Tail, Thunder and Lightning Tail followed.”

  “They crossed the river?” Fear sparked through Gray Wing’s fur. What if they’d drowned?

  “They seem to have made it over safely,” Shattered Ice told him, as though reading his thoughts. “We found crossing stones running from one shore to the other and we could smell cat scent all over them. Just you wait. They’ll be back before sunset, full of stories about their exciting adventure.”

  Gray Wing blinked at the gray-and-white tom, relieved to see his green eyes shining happily. He imagined Owl Eyes strutting around the clearing, telling everyone how he crossed a river. “They’ll be boasting about it for days.”

  Tall Shadow padded to join them. “Have you thought about your meeting with Clear Sky?” She gazed at the round, pale moon. It was just starting to show as the sun began to set, transparent against the purple sky.

  Shattered Ice grunted. “Just tell him if he moves his borders again, we’ll shred him.”

  Tall Shadow shot him a piercing look. “I understand your frustration, Shattered Ice. But talk like that will provoke war. We want peace.”

  “We don’t want to be pushed around season after season,” Shattered Ice growled.

  Gray Wing’s pelt rippled along his spine. “Perhaps if I can get him to explain why he needs so much territory, we can come to an understanding.”

  “He’s just greedy,” Shattered Ice muttered.

  Gray Wing gazed at the ground. “He was never greedy.” Memories of playing with him in the snowy peaks sent pangs of sadness through him. “It must be something else that’s driving him.”

  Tall Shadow met his gaze. “Two things drive all creatures,” she murmured. “Fear and greed. If it’s not greed, it must be fear.”

  Shattere
d Ice snorted. “What’s he scared of?”

  “Us?” Hope twitched in Gray Wing’s paws. “If I can persuade him he has nothing to fear from us—that we just want to live in peace on the moor—then he might back down.”

  Tall Shadow nodded slowly. “But what if it’s something else he’s scared of?”

  “He’s a coward,” Shattered Ice commented.

  “Clear Sky’s no coward,” Gray Wing snapped.

  “Then why’s he scared?” Shattered Ice hooked a feather from his mouth with a claw.

  Gray Wing remembered all the losses his brother had suffered. Fluttering Bird, Bright Stream, and Storm. Even Thunder. Perhaps the thought of losing anyone else was more than Clear Sky could bear. He just needs reassurance. Gray Wing jumped to his paws, a plan flashing in his mind.

  “Aren’t you going to eat that?” Tall Shadow gazed in surprise at the half-chewed vole.

  “When we get back.”

  “Back from where?” She blinked at him.

  “I know what I’m going to say to Clear Sky,” Gray Wing told her. “But he won’t listen unless he feels at ease.”

  “So?” Tall Shadow frowned.

  “Come with me to the four trees.” Gray Wing flicked his tail. “Let’s check out the valley. I want to know every tail-length. I want to feel comfortable when I meet him and I want to find somewhere Clear Sky will feel safe. Somewhere he will listen. Somewhere he’ll feel at home.”

  Shattered Ice stood and stretched. “I think you’re wasting your time,” he muttered. “Sitting under the right tree isn’t going to change Clear Sky.”

  Gray Wing met the tom’s gaze. “We don’t have to change him, don’t you see? We just have to help him remember who he was.” He headed for the gap in the heather, pausing as he passed Acorn Fur. “Will you send someone to find me when Turtle Tail gets back with the kits?”

  She nodded, eyes round. “I hope they’re okay.”

  Lightning Tail’s with them. “Your brother will be fine,” he promised, heading out of the hollow.

  “Where will you be?” Acorn Fur called after him.

  “At the four trees.” Gray Wing broke into a run.

  Tall Shadow caught up and fell in beside him. “Is your breathing okay?”

  “Fine.” His chest felt clear and strong and a prickle of frustration jabbed his belly. Why had the sickness struck when Turtle Tail had needed him most?

  He pushed the thought away. He had to concentrate on the four trees. Every cat in the hollow needed the meeting to be a success.

  He ran across the moor, veering past heather, ducking gorse, following the slope up to where it met the rim of the hollow where the four trees stood.

  The sun dipped from sight as he reached the top of the valley. Moonlight silvered the four great oaks standing at the bottom. Ferns rustled along its slopes as a light wind washed down from the moor.

  Tall Shadow stopped beside him and shivered as she gazed at the branches below. “I’ll never get used to trees,” she murmured. “They hide the sky and stop the wind. They’re unnatural.”

  Gray Wing glanced at her. “Perhaps I should tell that to Clear Sky. He might stop worrying about us trying to steal his forest.”

  She purred. “If only it were that simple.”

  Springing forward, she plunged down the slope. Gray Wing bounded after her. The grass here was long and brambles trailed between swaths of ferns. Trees sprouted so that Gray Wing had to swerve one way, then another, as he raced after Tall Shadow.

  He slowed as he neared the bottom. A clearing opened before him, one oak at each corner and a great rock towering at one end. Tall Shadow padded toward it, craning to see its top. “It looks like it grew here,” she commented as Gray Wing caught up.

  “I wonder if we could climb it?” Gray Wing padded around it, scanning its smooth sides until he caught sight of a ledge halfway up. He leaped, reaching it easily, then bounded onto the gently rounded summit.

  The clearing spread ahead of him. “It’s like being back in the mountains up here!” As he called down to Tall Shadow, his thoughts whirled. He could suggest Clear Sky climb the rock with him. They could talk as they’d done on the mountain crags when they were younger. Perhaps then, Clear Sky would remember the cat he’d once been.

  Claws scraped rock as Tall Shadow landed beside him. She circled him, staring out at the clearing. Overhead, leaves rustled and branches creaked.

  Gray Wing stiffened, a thought sparking in his mind. “He’ll smell our scent and know we’ve been here!” It would make him suspicious.

  “The meeting’s not until tomorrow night,” Tall Shadow soothed. “The wind and dew will have washed our scent clear.” She stared up through the leaves. Thin clouds scudded across the sky. “It might even have rained.”

  Still, Gray Wing felt uncomfortably aware of his paws leaking scent into the rock. He scrambled down to the ledge and leaped to the ground. As Tall Shadow joined him, he turned, studying the slopes. “Every side’s covered with bushes except that one.” He padded toward one side of the hollow, clear of trees and brambles. Grass coated the slope from top to bottom, rippling like water in the moonlight. “That’s the approach I will use. Clear Sky won’t be alarmed if he can see me arrive.”

  Tall Shadow ducked in front of him. “You’re not going alone!”

  Gray Wing frowned. “I asked Clear Sky to meet me.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” Tall Shadow’s mew was firm. “Do you think he will leave his cats behind?”

  Words froze on Gray Wing’s tongue. He hadn’t asked Clear Sky to come alone. He’d simply assumed that they would meet as brothers. He shifted his paws, unnerved. There was a time when he could predict exactly what Clear Sky would do—when he could trust his littermate’s honor. Now he wasn’t so sure. Clear Sky might bring every forest cat with him. Gray Wing lifted his chin. “I will face him alone.”

  Tall Shadow narrowed her eyes. “No. Thunder and I will come with you. I will not let you risk your life.”

  “You think he’d hurt me?” Gray Wing blinked.

  Tall Shadow stared at him steadily, her eyes dark. “I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore.” She leaned closer. “Would Turtle Tail let you come to the meeting alone?”

  “No.” Gray Wing dipped his head. “All right. You and Thunder can come too.” Hearing Turtle Tail’s name woke his anxiety. “We should get home.” He headed for the slope. “They might be back by now.”

  Tall Shadow followed as Gray Wing swished through the ferns. At the top, he relished the rush of wind on his face as he bounded onto the moonlit moor. In the distance, he could see the dark dip in the moorside where the hollow nestled, heather wrapped around it like a protective tail. Was Turtle Tail in the clearing, waiting for him? Were the kits okay? If Tom has harmed them, I’ll find him and make him pay. If Turtle Tail hadn’t already.

  He reached the camp first, his lungs burning as he hurtled into the clearing. He skidded to a halt, fur pricking.

  It was quiet.

  Shapes moved in the shadows. Rainswept Flower paced the heather, her striped tail down. Acorn Fur and Jagged Peak murmured in the long grass, heads together. Shattered Ice sat somberly beside Gorse Fur. No one turned to welcome him home.

  Paws thrummed behind him as Tall Shadow caught up. “What’s going on?” She blinked as she looked around the clearing. “Has something happened?”

  Gray Wing’s heart twisted with worry. Was there news of Turtle Tail and the kits? Had something happened to them? He tasted the air for their scents, but there was no sign.

  Gorse Fur padded slowly forward, his gaze desolate. He met Gray Wing, shoulders drooping. “Wind Runner lost one of the kits.”

  “Lost one?” Gray Wing stared past him to the bramble, noticing for the first time Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt huddled outside.

  “Emberkit died.” Gorse Fur’s mew sounded more like a gasp of pain.

  A chill swept through Gray Wing’s fur. He hadn’t even known Wind Runner had
named her litter. Emberkit. His thoughts flashed to the smoldering cinders of the forest fire. “No!” He rushed to the bramble and shouldered his way through the drooping branches.

  Hawk Swoop crouched beside Wind Runner, snapping her gaze toward him as he burst in. “Quiet!” she ordered.

  Gray Wing crept toward the queen. She lay curled, moss and heather pressed around her, encasing her in a makeshift nest. He peered in. Three kits suckled at her belly. “Where’s Emberkit?” Gray Wing whispered.

  Wind Runner gave a low groan and pulled her forepaws closer to her muzzle. A tiny body hung limp in their grip, not moving as Wind Runner pressed her cheek against the kit’s feather-soft fur.

  “I’m so sorry.” Grief stabbed Gray Wing’s heart.

  Hawk Swoop bent and lapped Wind Runner’s shoulder.

  Gray Wing noticed flecks of spittle at the corners of the kit’s mouth, as though he had struggled as he died. “Did he suffer?” he whispered.

  Wind Runner swung her head around, eyes blazing in the half-light. “Of course he suffered! Look at him!”

  She shook Emberkit, his pelt matted, his eyes clouded.

  “It’s not fair,” Gray Wing whispered bleakly. What could he say to comfort her? “Emberkit may have been spared future suffering. We live in the wild. Life is tough. Perhaps it’s best that only the strongest kits survive.”

  “I thought we cared for our weak!” Wind Runner snapped. “We’re not like Clear Sky.”

  Gray Wing flinched. “We can’t save every cat,” he reasoned.

  Wind Runner flashed him a warning look but he pressed on hopefully.

  “Perhaps Emberkit is in a better place now. Playing with other kits. It might make your loss easier if you—”

  “How would you know?” Wind Runner hissed. “You’re not a mother. You’re not even a father!”

  Gray Wing backed away, shock pulsing through him as though she’d raked his muzzle with her claws. At her belly the other kits began to mewl fretfully. But she hadn’t finished.