Outcast (19 page)

Lionpaw followed Talon as he picked
his way down the trail to the rocks below. The cats who had killed the eagle were waiting for them, their eyes guarded and their tails twitching.

A pale gray tom stepped forward to touch noses with Talon. “It's good to see you again,” he mewed. There was warmth in his voice. “And you, Night,” he added, as the black she-cat padded up to join them.

“Thank you, Gray,” Talon replied.

Lionpaw eyed the Tribe cats doubtfully. They were smaller and skinnier than most Clan cats, and their gray-brown pelts were smeared with mud so that they almost faded into the rocky background. Their eyes glowed strangely, reflecting the red light of the setting sun. As one of them turned to look at him, he took a step toward Squirrelflight. She bent her head and licked his ear, and for a heartbeat he felt ashamed.

I'm not a kit anymore.

Besides, he told himself, they were there to
help
these cats.

The cat Talon had called Gray was staring at the other cats who had descended the trail behind Night. “Stormfur!” he exclaimed, his eyes stretched wide. “Brook! What are you
doing here? You're…you're supposed to be dead.”

The Tribe cats edged closer together, their fur bristling. Lionpaw felt a flash of irritation. Just because Stoneteller had said Stormfur and Brook were dead to the Tribe didn't mean they were actually dead. Did these cats believe everything their leader told them?

Stormfur looked at Brook, and there was weariness in his expression. “No, we're not dead,” he meowed, turning back to the Tribe cats. “We were outcasts for a while, that's all.”

The cats stepped forward, stretching their necks to sniff at Stormfur's pelt. Their questions came slowly at first, then faster, like rain in greenleaf.

“Are you okay?”

“Where did you go?”

“Why have you come back?”

“Talon and Night came to fetch us.” Brook spoke for the first time. “They said you needed us.”

The Tribe cats exchanged uncertain glances. Lionpaw waited for them to say,
Yes, thank you, we hoped you'd come back to help.
But they didn't. Instead, they turned their attention to the Clan cats.

Gray stepped forward to give Brambleclaw a cautious sniff. “Hey, I've met you before. You're one of those cats who traveled through here a few seasons ago.”

“That's right.” Brambleclaw dipped his head. “And I remember you…you're Gray Sky Before Dawn, right?”

“Right!” Gray looked surprised that Brambleclaw had remembered his name. “Did…did you find the home you were looking for?”

“We did, thanks,” Brambleclaw replied. “A good place, by a lake.”

Gray put his head on one side. “Then why are you here now? And what have you done with all the others?”

“We came because—” Tawnypelt began to speak, then fell silent as Brook shot her a warning glance. Her tail tip twitched irritably.

“They're just passing through,” Brook explained.

Lionpaw bristled; Hollypaw leaned closer to him and murmured in his ear, “She doesn't want to offend the Tribe cats by telling them they need help from outsiders. It's enough of a shock that she and Stormfur have come back from the dead, by the look of it.”

But they obviously need our help!
These cats were so skinny he could count their ribs. They were no match for the trespassers. Lionpaw's fur felt hot with anger as he remembered the mocking looks of Stripes and Flick and the insolent way they'd spoken.

They think they can do what they want, and no cat will stop them!

By now the red sunset light was beginning to fade, leaving the mountains wrapped in twilight. Talon waved his tail as a signal for the journeying cats to move off again.

“See you later in the cave, Gray,” he meowed. His tone was decisive, making it clear that he wasn't going to answer any more questions now.

The Tribe cats went back to their prey and began dragging it across the rocks. The eagle's feathers made a soft rustling sound on the stone. Lionpaw skirted the bird at a safe dis
tance as he passed. Even though it was dead, he didn't like the look of the sharp, crooked talons or the bright beady eye that seemed to stare at him.

As he padded across the rocky plateau beside his littermates, Lionpaw heard a noise like thunder. He looked up, but the sky was clear, with stars beginning to shine above the peaks. The roaring noise grew louder and the air grew damp until beads of moisture hung on Lionpaw's fur.

They were close to the edge of the plateau. Hollypaw ran forward to peer over the edge. “Come and look at this!” she called.

Lionpaw bounded over to join her. He stopped with a jerk and looked back to check that Jaypaw wasn't too close to the edge. Just in front of his paws, the rocks fell away into a narrow, winding valley, leading steeply downward. A stream foamed along the bottom, throwing up spray where it dashed against rocks and swirling around the roots of straggling bushes that clung to the banks. The thundering noise came from farther down the valley, where the stream vanished over a lip of rock.

“That's the waterfall.” Squirrelflight raised her voice and pointed with her tail. “We're almost there.”

Still in the lead, Talon picked his way down the rocks to the stream. There was a tiny path, narrow as a bramble, clinging to the edge of the water. “Watch where you're putting your paws,” he called.

“Do you remember when we first came here?” Squirrelflight asked Brambleclaw.

The tabby tom's whiskers twitched. “Will I ever forget it?”

“It was on the way back from the sun-drown-place,” Squirrelflight explained to the apprentices. “It had been raining hard and a surge of floodwater swept us into the stream. We went right over the waterfall and ended up in the pool below.”

“I thought I'd joined StarClan for sure,” Stormfur added, pausing to gaze down at the stream before setting his paws cautiously on the rocky slope.

Squirrelflight began to follow Stormfur, then glanced back to add, “Let's see if we can all do it dry-pawed this time. Come, Jaypaw, hold my tail and follow exactly where I walk.”

In single file and silence, the cats crept along the edge of the stream as far as the top of the waterfall. Even Breezepaw paid attention to the directions from the experienced Tribe cats at the front of the line.

When he reached the end of the valley, Lionpaw paused, looking down to where the pounding water hurtled into the pool. The air was misty with spray; the rocks were slick with it.

“How's Jaypaw going to get down?” he murmured to Hollypaw.

His sister shook her head worriedly. “He'll never make it.”

Then Lionpaw heard a yowl of protest. Brambleclaw had picked up Jaypaw by the scruff and was edging downward with the young cat dangling from his jaws like a kit.

“I can do it by myself!” Jaypaw hissed, furious.

Squirrelflight, already safely down, watched with her tail tip twitching. “Keep still, or I'll throw you in the pool,” she warned him.

Lionpaw leaned close to whisper into Hollypaw's ear. “Don't say a word about this to Jaypaw. He'd turn us into crow-food.”

His sister gave him a quick nod before beginning to pick her own way down. Lionpaw followed her, last of all the cats except for Tawnypelt. His heart beat uncomfortably fast as he tried to find a firm paw hold on the wet stones. Once he slipped, his hind paws dangling helplessly over the thundering water, while he struggled to pull himself up. Tawnypelt fastened her teeth in his shoulder and dragged him back to safety.

“Thanks,” he gasped.

Tawnypelt flicked her ears but said nothing.

Lionpaw had never been so thankful as when he leaped down the last tail-length and stood on level ground beside the pool. His legs were trembling and his pelt was sodden with spray, but inside he felt proud and strong. Nothing could stop the Clan cats, not even having to climb down a waterfall. They would soon sort out those wretched, crow-food-eating trespassers and show them who deserved to hunt in the mountains. No wonder the Tribe cats hadn't been able to cope; from what he'd seen they were too small and skinny to have real fighting strength. Talon and Night had done the right thing by asking the Clans for help. They were the Tribe of Rushing Water's only chance.

Several Tribe cats were lurking behind the rocks around the pool and peeping out nervously to watch the newcomers. Lionpaw tried to pretend he hadn't noticed them. He didn't
like being studied as if he were an unusual bug, with suspicion as well as curiosity. These cats should be acting a lot more grateful that the Clan cats had come all this way to help!

Crowfeather had wandered away from the rest of the group and was sitting with his head bowed beside a heap of stones on the other side of the pool, underneath a twisted tree.

“What's Crowfeather doing?” Lionpaw asked.

“That's where Feathertail is buried,” Tawnypelt explained.

Lionpaw stared at the small gray-black cat crouched beside the pile of stones. “Why is Crowfeather so upset? They weren't even in the same Clan…”

“Crowfeather loved her.” Tawnypelt's tone was gentle. “She died saving him from Sharptooth, and she saved the Tribe as well.”

Understanding stirred in Lionpaw's mind like a mouse in a drift of leaves. Maybe losing Feathertail was what had made the WindClan cat so bad-tempered all the time. He noticed Breezepaw watching his father with a jealous glint in his narrowed eyes. For once Lionpaw felt a pang of sympathy for him. He wasn't sure how he'd feel if Brambleclaw got so upset over a cat that died ages ago, not when he had Squirrelflight now.

“Come on.” Talon's voice interrupted his thoughts. “It's time to walk the Path of Rushing Water.” He padded around the edge of the pool and leaped up the first few rocks.

Lionpaw's eyes stretched wide with astonishment when Talon vanished behind the sheet of tumbling water. “Where did he go?”

Tawnypelt touched her tail to his shoulder. “You'll see.”

Lionpaw scrambled up the slippery rocks to join Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Squirrelflight at the point where Talon had disappeared. They were standing on a narrow ledge of rock that led behind the waterfall. A dark hole gaped menacingly at the far end. Lionpaw's fur prickled.

“Follow me,” Squirrelflight mewed to Jaypaw. “And keep your pelt pressed up against the rock.”

Jaypaw, still sulking about being carried down the waterfall, muttered something Lionpaw couldn't catch.

Squirrelflight went first, placing her paws precisely in a straight line, her fur brushing the rock wall. Jaypaw followed, and Lionpaw fell in behind him, ready to grab his brother if he slipped.

The water pounded past, filling his ears with thunder and loading his pelt with icy drops. Lionpaw was sure that it would snatch him up and toss him into the pool below. In the faint light of evening he could scarcely make out Jaypaw's black fur against the wet rock. The moist air damped down the scents of his companions; he could have been alone, pacing into the darkness beneath the earth, never to return.

“This is it,” he heard Jaypaw murmur. “This is where we're supposed to be.”

Lionpaw wasn't sure what he meant—he'd never been more convinced that he belonged under trees with grass beneath his paws. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the gaping hole and found himself at the entrance to a cave. Faint watery light filtered through the waterfall behind him, revealing steep rock walls that soared up on either side, vanishing into shadows.

Blinking, Lionpaw padded forward. As he left the narrow entrance behind, the thunder of the waterfall faded. Hollypaw and Jaypaw paced beside him, Hollypaw gazing around in astonishment, while Jaypaw quivered with tension.

Brambleclaw, Talon, and Squirrelflight were already standing farther into the cave. Around them were groups of the Tribe cats, wiry gray-brown shapes that crouched, staring, as if they hardly dared come forward to greet the newcomers. All of them looked thin and anxious.

Don't worry
, Lionpaw thought.
Everything will be okay, now that we're here
.

Then a brown tabby tom appeared from the shadows at the back of the cave. He was stick-thin, as if his pelt were stretched over his bare bones, and his muzzle was grizzled with age. His amber eyes glowed in the faint light.

Brambleclaw dipped his head respectfully. “Greetings, Stoneteller.”

Lionpaw's paws worked impatiently against the hard floor of the cave as he waited for the old cat to welcome them. They needed to start planning right away to get rid of the intruders.

Stoneteller halted, his amber gaze raking across the newcomers. The thin fur on his neck and shoulders began to bristle.

“How dare you come here?” he snarled.

Lionpaw stared in disbelief. Stoneteller didn't
want them here? Was he completely mouse-brained?

The Tribe's leader whipped around to face Talon and Night. “What have you done?” he spat.

Lionpaw saw Talon swallow. “We…we went to find the Clans,” he stammered, one paw raking nervously at the cave floor. “We've brought help….”

“We thought it was best,” Night added.

“You thought wrong!” Stoneteller's voice was soft, vibrating with fury. “You abandoned your Tribemates when we needed you to hunt for food. You told the Clans of our weakness. And you have brought all these extra mouths to feed. How dare you set paw in our cave? None of you is welcome here.”

Stormfur and Brook, who had followed Lionpaw and the other apprentices into the cave, padded forward until they stood in front of Stoneteller. The old cat's eyes narrowed.
“You
are
dead!”

Stormfur didn't flinch. “No, we are not. And we are still loyal to the Tribe of Rushing Water, whatever you might think.”

“We
have
to help you,” Brook pleaded.

But Stoneteller's eyes were cold as the stone around him. “I banished you from the mountains with good reason. Do you think I did it lightly? No. But our ancestors willed it so.”

“Then our ancestors were
wrong
.” Brook's amber eyes glowed. “The Tribe is suffering even more than when we left. The trespassers are even more arrogant. We met a group of them on our way here. They behaved as if the mountains were their territory and they could drive us off if they wanted.”

“We have come to help,” Stormfur insisted. “You need us.”

“Need you!” Stoneteller echoed scornfully. “What do you think you can do? Too many lives have been lost already, too much blood spilled—and that was your doing. You told us we needed a show of strength to defend our territory, but it didn't work.”

“But there was no territory,” Brambleclaw pointed out, taking a pace forward to stand beside Stormfur. “You need to mark your borders.”

“We have never done that!” Stoneteller snapped. “That is not the way of the Tribe, and Stormfur knows it.”

Stormfur bowed his head. Lionpaw exchanged a glance with Hollypaw, seeing his own anger reflected in his sister's eyes. How stupid could this old cat be, not only to banish Stormfur from the Tribe but then to refuse the help he offered when he came back?

“Stormfur did what he thought was best,” Squirrelflight broke in, her green gaze sparkling with annoyance. “So did
Talon and Night. There's nothing to be ashamed of in asking for help. Or would you rather let the Tribe die because you were too proud?”

Stoneteller took a pace toward the ginger she-cat, his neck fur bristling. Lionpaw tensed his muscles to spring if the Tribe's leader tried to attack his mother.

Then the old cat's tail drooped and the fur on his shoulders began to lie flat again. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting has sent me no signs about accepting help from the Clans.” Turning to Brambleclaw, he added, “I mean no disrespect to you or your Clanmates. I know how much we owed you in the past, and I believe you mean well now.”

Brambleclaw opened his jaws to speak, but Stoneteller raised his tail for silence. “You should not have come,” he continued. “This is not your battle. You may stay here for tonight, but in the morning you will be escorted to the edge of the mountains, and you must not return.”

“And how do you mean to stop us?” Breezepaw growled from just behind Lionpaw.

For once, Lionpaw agreed with the WindClan apprentice. The Tribe didn't have the strength to back up Stoneteller's orders. But he guessed that Brambleclaw wouldn't stay where the Clans weren't wanted.

“And what about us?” Brook demanded.

Stoneteller turned his amber gaze on her. “We cannot feed two more hungry bellies.”

Is that it?
Shock froze Lionpaw's paws in place and shivered through every hair on his pelt.
Do we just turn around and go home
without lifting a claw to help?
He opened his jaws to protest, only to close them again when he caught Brambleclaw's warning glance.

“We're guests of the Tribe.” Brambleclaw padded over and fixed all four apprentices with a stern gaze. “We mustn't cause trouble.”

“Not even when that stupid—”

“No.”
Brambleclaw sighed. “I'm as disappointed as you are, but we mustn't make things worse. Do you all understand that?”

“If you say so…” Lionpaw mewed reluctantly. Hollypaw and Jaypaw nodded agreement, and even Breezepaw growled, “Suppose so.”

A gray-brown Tribe she-cat trotted across the cave toward them. “Hi, Brambleclaw,” she greeted him. “Remember me?”

Brambleclaw put his head on one side. “Bird That Rides the Wind. You were with Talon when we first met.”

“That's right,” Bird purred. “It's good to see you again. Stoneteller asked me to find you somewhere to sleep for the night. You and your warriors can come with me to the cave-guards' place”—she flicked her tail toward one side of the cave—“and your apprentices can sleep with our to-bes.”

Lionpaw stiffened, wondering if Stoneteller wanted to split up the Clan cats so they could be attacked more easily. But Brambleclaw agreed calmly, and common sense told Lionpaw that the Clans would have done exactly the same if a large group of cats had arrived to stay in their camps.

As Bird led the apprentices farther into the cave, Lionpaw
craned his neck to look around. By now night had fallen and the moon had risen, turning the waterfall to a sheet of tumbling silver and shedding a soft, wavering light throughout the cave. He could see scattered rocks around the edges of the cave, and here and there cracks in the walls that led up to narrow ledges. From the roof, high above his head, talons of stone pointed down to the cave floor.

His belly rumbled as the scent of fresh-kill tickled his nostrils. At one side of the cave, Gray and his hunting party had brought in their eagle and were tearing it apart.
I hope they give us some
, Lionpaw thought. His last meal had been in the forest, which seemed like seasons ago now. There wasn't much else on the fresh-kill pile: a couple of mice and a rabbit.
No wonder they're all so skinny!

Bird took them to the back of the cave, where a pair of tunnels led off into darkness. A few tail-lengths away two young cats were wrestling while three or four others looked on.

“These are our to-bes,” Bird announced.

The wrestling cats broke apart and sat up to stare at the newcomers. “Who are they?” a pale gray she-cat asked. “Are they prisoners?”

“No, Pebble, they're guests,” Bird replied. “They'll be staying with us tonight. Look after them and find them somewhere to sleep.”

“What, all four of them?” a black tom exclaimed. “There isn't room.”

The gray she-cat gave him a hefty shove. “Don't be so rude!” To the Clan apprentices she added, “Don't pay any
attention to Screech. He's beetle-brained.”

“Beetle-brained yourself!” Screech muttered.

“You'll be fine for one night,” Bird mewed briskly. With a friendly nod to the Clan cats she bounded back across the cave to where Brambleclaw and the others were waiting for her.

Lionpaw felt embarrassed as the to-bes crowded around him and the others, sniffing at them curiously. “I'm Lionpaw,” he meowed, trying to sound confident. “This is my sister, Hollypaw, and my brother, Jaypaw, and that's Breezepaw.”

The gray she-cat dipped her head and stretched out one paw. The gesture surprised Lionpaw, though he had to admit it looked polite. “I am Pebble That Rolls Down Mountain,” she told them, “and this annoying furball is my brother, Screech of Angry Owl.”

Screech curled his lip at his sister, before extending his paw in the same polite gesture. Lionpaw dipped his head in return, hoping the Tribe to-bes wouldn't think he and the others hadn't been mentored properly.

“I'm Splash When Fish Leaps,” a small tabby she-cat added, bouncing up with her stubby tail sticking straight up. The other to-bes hung back, giving the newcomers doubtful looks.

“You've come a long way,” Pebble commented. “I've never scented cats like you before.”

Hollypaw began to tell the story of how Talon and Night had come to fetch them, but before she had reached the start of their journey she was interrupted by the prey-hunters,
who padded over carrying pieces of the eagle in their jaws.

“There.” Gray dropped his prey in front of the to-bes. “Plenty for all of you.”

“Thanks.” Screech swiped his tongue around his lips. “This'll be the first decent meal we've had in ages,” he added quietly to the visitors.

“The intruders take all our prey,” Pebble explained sadly. “They watched us to see how we hunt, and now they've learned to do it themselves. There aren't enough eagles to go around.”

“Wait till I'm a prey-hunter,” Screech boasted. “I'll soon find enough prey to feed all the Tribe.”

“Yes, when eagles learn to talk!” his sister snapped.

Lionpaw was afraid they would all have to wait to eat until the brother and sister had finished arguing. “It seems really strange to us,” he began, hoping to distract them. “We don't split up the duties like that. We all hunt
and
fight.”

“It can't come naturally to you,” Splash mewed. “Learning all that must be really tough.”

“It is,” Hollypaw agreed, to Lionpaw's surprise. “But it's fun, too.”

“Stoneteller chooses what we'll be,” Pebble told her. “Kits who look big and strong get to be cave-guards, and ones that look like they'll run fast and leap high become prey-hunters. I'm going to be a cave-guard.”

Yes, fine, but when do we get to eat?
Lionpaw's belly was yowling in protest. He knew all this stuff anyway, from what Brook had told them back in ThunderClan territory.

To his relief, Pebble and the other to-bes began dividing up the fresh-kill. The Tribe to-bes split into pairs; each cat took a bite out of its own piece of prey, then exchanged the food with its partner.

“Maybe we'd better do that,” Hollypaw whispered. “Or they'll think we're really rude.”

“Okay,” Lionpaw mewed. “You share with Jaypaw, I'll have Breezepaw's piece.”

“Do what?” Jaypaw asked irritably. “Prey's prey. Let's eat.”

Hollypaw crouched close to Jaypaw's ear to explain to him what was happening, while Lionpaw tried not to make a face at the thought of eating prey that Breezepaw had bitten into.

“Why's she telling your brother what to do?” Pebble asked, raising her head from the fresh-kill she was devouring. “Why can't he just copy us?”

Lionpaw glanced uneasily at his brother, knowing how much Jaypaw hated it when cats talked about him as if he weren't there. “Well, because he's blind.”

Pebble's eyes stretched wide. “Wow, that's really weird.”

“How does he manage?” Screech asked curiously. “Do you have to lead him around by the tail?”

Lionpaw saw his brother's ears flatten. His jaws opened for a stinging retort, but Hollypaw slapped her tail across his muzzle. Jaypaw furiously spat out a mouthful of fur.

“He may be blind, but he's not deaf,” Lionpaw meowed, feeling annoyed for his brother but not wanting to start a quarrel. “And he manages just fine. Haven't you ever seen a blind cat before?”

“No,” Pebble replied, as if Lionpaw was foolish even to ask. “How can your Clan ever let him out on his own?”

Lionpaw saw what she meant and shuddered. A blind cat wouldn't last long in this rocky place. Even if it managed to avoid an eagle's talons, it would probably fall over a precipice.

“Jaypaw's training to be a medicine cat,” Hollypaw put in, a touch of defensiveness in her tone.

Pebble looked even more astonished at that, and most of the other to-bes pricked up their ears to listen.

“That's impossible!” Splash exclaimed. “How could a blind cat lead your Clan?”

What?
Lionpaw exchanged a glance with Hollypaw. “He won't be leader.”

“But you…oh, I see!” The puzzled look in Pebble's eyes cleared. “In the Tribe Stoneteller is our Healer. And he picks out the cat who will be Healer after him. But I suppose you do things differently.”

“We have a leader
and
a medicine cat,” Breezepaw explained, in a superior tone.

“Weird…” murmured Screech.

Privately Lionpaw thought the Tribe's way was even more weird. How could Stoneteller make good decisions when he didn't have a medicine cat to advise him? It didn't look as if he even had a deputy. Maybe the Tribe could have come up with a solution to the problem of the intruders if every cat wasn't so convinced that they had to do exactly what Stoneteller told them.

“Hi. How are you getting on?”

Lionpaw jumped when he heard Squirrelflight's voice; she had padded up unseen behind him. “Fine, thanks.” He tried to sound convincing.

“Great. But I think it's time you settled down to get a good night's sleep. It looks like we'll have a long journey tomorrow.”

Lionpaw gulped his last bite of eagle and glanced up at his mother. She didn't look like her normal cheerful self; her tail trailed on the ground and her eyes were anxious. He guessed she felt they had made a huge mistake by coming so far, only to be turned away. Reaching up to brush his muzzle against hers, he wished he could comfort her and tell her that these stupid Tribe cats should be glad of their help, but it was impossible in front of all the to-bes.

“Okay,” he meowed. “We'll see you in the morning.”

Squirrelflight brushed his shoulder with her tail, bent over to give Hollypaw and Jaypaw a swift lick around the ear, and padded softly away. Lionpaw's gaze followed her as she headed across the cave to the other warriors, wishing he could be with them instead of a bunch of strange to-bes.