The Blazing Star (22 page)

Clear Sky swallowed hard before he replied. “Sure I can.”
But only if everything goes smoothly,
he added silently to himself.

Glancing around, he saw Thunder moving among the other cats, setting guards on the camp, while the cats chosen for the expedition headed for their dens for a brief rest.

It's good that we're pulling together,
Clear Sky thought. Then the doubts crept in, as he wondered if the cats were walking to their deaths.

Will One Eye be lying in wait for us?

C
HAPTER
19

Gray Wing shared his den with
Clear Sky for what remained of the night, but Clear Sky slept uneasily. When Gray Wing prodded him in the side and mewed, “It's time,” he was instantly alert.

A chilly breeze flowed into the den; beyond the entrance the darkness was beginning to lift. When Clear Sky emerged into the open, he could just make out Tall Shadow on the lookout rock, while Thunder stood guard at the top of the slope. Mud Paws, Shattered Ice, and Dappled Pelt were there, too, spaced at intervals around the hollow.

Lightning Tail was already waiting, standing at the foot of the rock. At first Clear Sky couldn't see Jagged Peak; then he spotted his brother as he appeared just outside the den he'd shared with Holly until she fell ill.

The sick she-cat was just behind him, standing unsteadily on her paws. “Take care, Jagged Peak,” she rasped. “You'll be brilliant; I know it.”

“I'm doing it for you,” Jagged Peak replied. “I'll bring back the Blazing Star to make you well again.”

As the two cats looked deeply into each other's eyes, Clear
Sky turned away, embarrassed. He bounded across the hollow toward Lightning Tail. A couple of heartbeats later, Jagged Peak had joined them, meowing briskly, “Right. Let's go.” He led the way to the top of the hollow and the other cats followed, crowding around to see them on their way.

“Good luck!” Dappled Pelt called. “Bring back lots of the herb!”

“And watch out for One Eye!” Shattered Ice added.

Jagged Peak raised his head proudly. “He'd better not mess with us!”

Clear Sky couldn't help thinking that his younger brother had no idea how much danger they would be in if One Eye learned that they were venturing through the forest, but he said nothing.

“Clear Sky, you'll take the lead as soon as we get to the Thunderpath,” Jagged Peak instructed his cats as they trekked across the moor toward the forest. “Then you and Lightning Tail gather as much of the herb as you can carry—huge bunches of it. I'll keep watch while you do that. Then I'll lead on the way back. Lightning Tail, you bring up the rear and warn us if there's trouble.” His gaze flicked across each of the cats in turn. “Is that clear to every cat?”

“That's fine,” Lightning Tail responded, while Clear Sky nodded.

Clear Sky found it hard to hide his amusement. He wasn't sure they needed to be told all this in such detail, but at the same time it was good to see Jagged Peak relishing his role.
Maybe there's a leader in him yet.

Suiting his pace to his brother's limping gait, Clear Sky padded alongside Jagged Peak. “How do you feel about becoming a father?” he asked.

He expected Jagged Peak to be excited, and pathetically grateful to Holly for carrying their kits, but his brother's response was quite different.

“I've been helping Holly prepare our nest,” he mewed. “And I've been hunting extra-hard to bring her more prey. She needs to keep her strength up. And I've had practice, of course . . . helping out with Turtle Tail's litter when they were younger.”

Clear Sky was surprised at how practical he sounded. “But how do you
feel
?” he asked again.

Jagged Peak hesitated, casting a glance over his shoulder to see that Lightning Tail had dropped a couple of fox-lengths behind. “Am I allowed to admit . . . terrified?” he asked. “I mean, I've never done
this
before!”

Clear Sky let out a snort of laughter, and a heartbeat later Jagged Peak joined him.

“You know,” Clear Sky meowed when he had managed to control himself again, “there was a time when you wouldn't have been able to admit to feeling terrified. You'd have gotten angry and picked a fight with me, and then you'd have tried to prove yourself by doing something foolish. You—” He broke off, wondering if he had gone too far.

“That's true,” Jagged Peak responded in a neutral tone. “I had a lot to get my head around after I was injured.”

Clear Sky nodded. “I'm sure I didn't help matters,” he
admitted. “I should never have made you leave my group. You deserved better from me.”

Jagged Peak halted, staring his brother full in the face. “Thank you,” he mewed. “That means a lot to me. There was a time when you would never have been able to apologize.”

Before Clear Sky could say more, Lightning Tail caught up with them, glancing from Clear Sky to Jagged Peak and back again. “It's good to see you getting along so well,” he commented wryly.

“What about you and Thunder?” Jagged Peak asked. “You didn't seem glad to see him when he got back to camp last night.”

“Well, you know what
that's
about, don't you?” Lightning Tail replied.

“Um . . . no,” Jagged Peak replied, with a shake of his head, though Clear Sky felt he had a good idea.

Lightning Tail let out a small yowl of frustration. “That she-cat Star Flower's got Thunder in a trance, and he's too stupid to see what she's doing.”

“What
is
she doing?” Clear Sky asked.

“I don't know exactly,” he meowed slowly, obviously trying to keep calm. “But something about her is not quite right. It's clear to me she's up to
something.
And if Thunder weren't so taken with her, he would see it too!” Lightning Tail declared, the fur on his shoulders rising.

“Let's not leap to judge other cats,” Jagged Peak meowed. “It was Star Flower who told us that the Blazing Star can heal, remember.”

“Right, and I
still
don't believe it.” With that, Lightning Tail gave a shrug and stalked into the lead.

By this time they had reached the outskirts of the forest. The leafless trees stood in front of them in a dark and threatening line, barely visible in the first faint light of dawn.

“Quiet from now on,” Jagged Peak ordered. “We have to get through here without alerting One Eye. Clear Sky, can you take us the quickest route to the Thunderpath?”

Clear Sky nodded. “We need to come out near the dead ash tree. It's not too far from there to where the Blazing Star grows.”

He took the lead as the three cats slipped silently between the trees. Clear Sky kept his ears pricked, his jaws parting to taste the air. The reek of One Eye and his rogues had soaked into the forest like a shower of thundery rain, yet all the scents were stale; no cat had been this way since the day before. Even so, Clear Sky was relieved when they finally emerged from the forest at the edge of the Thunderpath near the place where the ash tree stretched bleached boughs across the strip of grass.

“Mouse Ear says he can tell if a monster is coming through vibrations in the ground,” Jagged Peak meowed.

“That's right.” Clear Sky stretched out a paw and laid it on the hard black surface of the Thunderpath. His pads couldn't pick up the faintest hint of movement. “I think it's fine now,” he reported.

Jagged Peak waved his tail to beckon the other cats, and limped across the first half of the Thunderpath to the stretch of grass that ran down the middle. Clear Sky checked for
vibrations again; then they completed the crossing. Not a single monster had appeared from either direction.

“It's very early,” Clear Sky murmured. “Maybe the monsters are all still asleep.”

“Whatever the reason,” Jagged Peak agreed, “I'm glad it was so easy.”

Clear Sky's pelt prickled at his brother's words.
I don't trust
easy.
It makes me feel like something is bound to go wrong soon.

He took the lead again, heading into the marshes along the same route they had taken before. The stench of One Eye and his rogues faded behind them. Clear Sky began to pick up scents of mud and stagnant water and rotting vegetation.

“Tall Shadow loves it here,” he remarked to Lightning Tail, wrinkling his nose against the smells. “I can't imagine why.”

By now dawn light was strengthening in the sky. Clear Sky could make out pools of water reflecting the pale light, surrounded by reeds and long grasses. Somewhere unseen a single bird sent up a thin, piping call. The ground underpaw was damp, with moisture welling through his pads every time he took a step.

“If I lived here, I'd turn into a frog,” he muttered.

At last Clear Sky drew to a halt. He became aware of a sharp, clean scent all around him. The outlines of spiky branches were visible against the sky, bearing yellow, five-petaled flowers. “This is the place,” he mewed.

He and Lightning Tail set to work biting off stems, while Jagged Peak climbed to the top of a hillock and kept watch. By the time they had amassed a huge mound of the herb, the
sun was up, shedding cold, clear light over the marshes. Birdsong was all around them, and a breeze rattled the tops of the rushes.

All right. Now I can almost understand what Tall Shadow sees in this place,
Clear Sky thought.

“I just wish I could believe Star Flower was telling the truth,” Lightning Tail meowed, contemplating the heap of flowers. “It would be so wonderful if this stuff really could help Holly.”

“Let's hope it will,” Clear Sky responded.

He thought of Petal and the kits and other cats, cut off from him now in One Eye's camp. One Eye had said other cats would get sick and were as good as dead. Had any of them gotten the sickness?

I wish I could take them some of the Blazing Star just in case,
he thought anxiously.
But what if One Eye takes advantage of the situation?
Then he gave his pelt a shake.
You stupid furball! Of
course
One Eye will take advantage!

“Come on!” he called to the others. “It's time we were getting back.”

He and Lightning Tail divided the herbs between them, gripping them tightly in their jaws, while Jagged Peak took the lead, glancing warily around as they headed back to the Thunderpath.

While they were in the marshes, it seemed, the monsters had woken up and were roaring angrily. Their acrid tang rolled over the cats as they approached the Thunderpath and watched the glittering creatures speed past in front of their
noses. The wind of their passing buffeted the cats' fur and they choked in the reek they left behind.

“We could be here all day,” Jagged Peak grumbled as moments slid by without any break in the lines of monsters.

At last the noise died away and the air cleared slightly. The first section of the Thunderpath was clear as far as the strip of grass down the center. Clear Sky checked for vibrations and nodded.

“Now!” Jagged Peak yowled.

Tightly bunched together, the three cats darted across the black surface of the Thunderpath. Clear Sky hated the way it felt under his paws. Still keeping close to one another, they waited on the central grassy stretch until it was safe to cross the second half.

Jagged Peak watched Clear Sky as he set his paw on the surface again to feel the vibrations of oncoming monsters. Clear Sky thought at first that there was hardly any point, since he could see the monsters sweeping past a tail-length from his nose. But eventually a gap opened up, and he could only feel the faintest quivering beneath his pads.

“Okay,” he mumbled around his mouthful of stems.

Jagged Peak waved his tail, and the three cats set out across the Thunderpath. When they were barely halfway across, a monster appeared as if from nowhere. It let out an earsplitting shriek as it bore down on them with blazing eyes.

“Faster!” Clear Sky screeched, dropping most of his bundle of herbs.