The Blazing Star (29 page)

“We can use the sun to help us,” he murmured, thinking aloud. “We need to get high up—maybe in the thorn tree where Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes were hiding.” More confidently as his plan took shape, he went on, “We'll climb into the tree and call out to One Eye. He'll come to investigate, peering up with the sun in his eyes. He won't be able to see that the tree is full of cats. And then we pounce!”

“Great plan!” Shattered Ice meowed warmly.

One by one the cats slid out of the gorse thicket and crept toward the tree, their bellies pressed to the ground as if they were stalking prey. When they reached it they climbed into the branches on the opposite side from One Eye and the rogues. As he clambered up, Gray Wing felt terribly exposed, and wished there were more leaves remaining to conceal the cats. But One Eye and his rogues were having too much fun tormenting Clear Sky to pay much attention to what was going on around them.

From his vantage point in the tree Gray Wing had a good view of Star Flower standing just outside the circle, watching as her father and the rogues attacked Clear Sky. He hoped that Thunder, crouching on the next branch, hadn't spotted her, but when he glanced at him, the shocked look on his young kin's face told him that he had seen everything.

“I'm sorry,” Gray Wing murmured.

“It's fine.” Thunder's voice was cold. “This just makes me more determined to defeat One Eye.”

“Who's going to call out?” Wind Runner whispered, when all the cats had made it into the tree. “It needs to be a cat who One Eye hates almost as much as Clear Sky.”

“That would be me,” Sparrow Fur meowed.

“But you're only a kit,” Dappled Pelt objected. “It's too dangerous.”

“One Eye killed my father!” Sparrow Fur bared her teeth. “I'm doing this for Tom.
I'll
lure One Eye over here.”

No cat argued any more. Gray Wing watched admiringly as Sparrow Fur bravely scrambled around the trunk of the tree and walked carefully out onto a branch. It trembled under her weight and she had trouble keeping her balance, but she never paused until she was in full view at the outer edge of the tree.

“Hey, One Eye!” she yowled. “Aren't you going to come and finish what you started? You were so stupid, letting me escape with Clear Sky! You'd like another fight with me, wouldn't you?” Gray Wing saw One Eye stiffen and slowly turn away from Clear Sky, who by now had slumped to the ground, his body writhing in agony. Yet he still kept trying to get to his paws and face his attackers. Gray Wing felt like his heart would crack in two at the sight of his brother in such pain.

He's so badly hurt. Even if we win the fight, will he survive?

“You and you!” One Eye snapped, pointing with his tail at a couple of the rogues. “Guard this piece of mangefur. The rest of you, follow me, and surround that tree!”

The rogues obeyed him, racing fluidly over the moor toward the thorn tree. When they were in position, One Eye followed more slowly. “Is that you, Sparrow Fur?” he snarled. “If you
want a fight, I'll give you one you won't forget—because you'll be dead.”

“Flea-pelt!” Sparrow Fur spat. Nimbly she leaped up to a higher branch, then one higher still, always moving into the sun.

His hunger for the fight blazing from his baleful eye, One Eye padded closer and closer to the tree, craning his neck upward to spot where Sparrow Fur had gone. He narrowed his eye against the bright rays of the sun.

“Now!” Gray Wing whispered.

On his word of command, the cats in the tree leaped down, pouncing on One Eye and the rogues nearest him. Yowls of shock and alarm rose into the air. Gray Wing saw most of the rogues streaking off across the moor, leaving only one or two to grapple with his cats.

“Cowards!” he snarled, though he was relieved to see so many of their enemies fleeing.

One of the rogues who had stayed was Star Flower. Confronting Thunder, she flashed out an angry paw, though as Thunder jerked backward her claws only riffled through his fur. Thunder raised his paw, claws extended, then froze for a heartbeat before dealing a raking blow down her side. Both cats snarled furiously and leaped at each other to tussle on the ground in a writhing bundle of fur.

Gray Wing couldn't go on watching; he had other things to worry about. With Lightning Tail and Cloud Spots on either side of him, he launched himself at One Eye. The rogue went limp and fell to the ground, but as soon as Gray Wing landed
on top of him he exploded into movement, battering Gray Wing's belly with his hind paws.

Cloud Spots tried to get a grip on One Eye's throat, but the rogue twisted his head aside and fastened his teeth in Cloud Spots's shoulder. When Lightning Tail tried to grab the rogue from the other side, One Eye raked his claws over the young cat's ear.

It's like fighting three different cats!
Gray Wing thought. He could feel his chest tightening with the effort as he struggled to get a grip on One Eye's wildly flailing body. He had never known a cat so hard to defeat.

At last Cloud Spots and Lightning Tail darted in from either side and managed to pin One Eye down. Gray Wing stood over him, panting, while One Eye glared up at him with his malevolent yellow eye.

Gray Wing raised a paw to slash One Eye's throat open and finish the fight. But before he could strike, he heard Thunder's voice raised in a furious yowl.

“He's mine!”

Thunder rushed over to One Eye, motioning Cloud Spots and Lightning Tail aside with a fierce gesture of his paw. He even waited for the rogue to regain his paws before launching himself at him. Screeching and snarling, the two cats rolled together on the ground in a flurry of teeth and claws.

A flash of movement alerted Gray Wing and he turned in time to block Star Flower as she threw herself toward the fight. “Get back!” he spat, following up the words with a hard kick to Star Flower's chest. She cringed back, whimpering.

That was for Thunder,
Gray Wing thought with satisfaction.

Certain that Star Flower was no longer a threat, he turned back to the battle. Everything was suddenly quiet. Thunder, Lightning Tail, and Cloud Spots were standing over One Eye's unmoving body. His head lay at an awkward angle, his neck clearly broken.

“He's dead,” Thunder meowed.

Star Flower let out a moan of grief and dragged herself across the ground to touch her nose to her father's. Watching her, Gray Wing's heart was almost touched.
Almost.

“Get her away from there,” Thunder ordered, his voice cold. “She doesn't deserve to grieve. Drive her out!”

C
HAPTER
26

Thunder watched in silence as Star
Flower padded over to him, her brilliant green gaze pleading. “Thunder, he's my father,” she mewed. “Please let me say good-bye.”

Thunder felt as if everything in him was frozen, like the icy peaks Gray Wing had told him about. “How interesting that you never mentioned that when we were together.” He let out a snort of disgusted laughter. “But then, we were never ‘together,' were we? It was all a lie.”

Hurt flashed into Star Flower's eyes.
But it's for her father, not for me,
Thunder told himself.
I feel so stupid,
he thought, embarrassment flooding through him at the memory. And worst of all, he still felt something when he looked at her. It was a struggle to pretend that he no longer cared, though knowing how she had used him made it easier.

“Please listen to me, Thunder,” Star Flower went on, taking another pace toward him, so that her sweet scent wreathed around him. “I
did
like you, truly. Meeting you by the four trees, and calling out to you on the moor. Taking you to the secret garden . . . that was all my idea.”

“Like I'd believe that!” Thunder scoffed.

“It
was
. It was only after my father found out that I'd been spending time with you that he suggested I should use our closeness to find out what the other cats were doing.” She looked down and studied her paws. “When I left you at the secret garden, One Eye was waiting for me. He'd been listening to us, and he sent me to follow you. I hid outside your camp and listened to what you were planning.”

Thunder winced.
I even heard paw steps; I thought some cat was following me!
“So that's how One Eye came to be waiting for us beside the Thunderpath,” he meowed. “And then you showed me a plant that was nothing like the Blazing Star. It was a trick to pump me for information.”

Star Flower hung her head. “That's true. But I told you the truth when I said that the Blazing Star is a healing herb. You have to believe that.”

“I believed every word you said,” Thunder told her. “I was . . . I was . . .”

“What?” Star Flower asked encouragingly, looking up at him again.

“Tricked,” Thunder replied, letting all the bitterness he felt seep into the one word. “And I won't let it happen again.”

He turned his back on Star Flower, ignoring her as he saw Tall Shadow stepping forward with a commanding whisk of her tail. “Why are we standing here doing nothing?” she asked. “Now that One Eye has been defeated, we need to get the Blazing Star.”

“You're right,” Thunder agreed.
I
do
believe Star Flower when she says the Blazing Star heals. She has nothing to gain by lying now.

“I'll lead an expedition to go across the Thunderpath to
fetch it,” Tall Shadow announced briskly.

By now River Ripple and Wind Runner had padded over to where Clear Sky still lay bleeding on the grass. Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt were bending over him, while Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes dashed up with pawfuls of cobwebs and bunches of herbs in their jaws.

Gray Wing nodded at them, and then turned back to Tall Shadow. “And I'll come with you,” Gray Wing added, padding up to her side.

“What about One Eye's rogues?” Shattered Ice asked. “They could still be lurking in the forest.”

Tall Shadow swiveled her head, her gaze raking the moorland. None of the strangers One Eye had brought with him were in sight. “I doubt it,” she meowed in reply to Shattered Ice. “They ran away pretty quickly when we ambushed their leader. It's my guess that we won't see so much as a tail-tip. And if I'm wrong . . .” She slid out her claws. “We'll deal with them.”

“We'll come with you,” Mouse Ear meowed, beckoning with his tail to Mud Paws. “Just in case. It'll feel good to do something for Holly.”

Tall Shadow dipped her head to the big tabby tom. “Thank you,” she responded, before setting off across the moor at the head of the patrol.

As she and Gray Wing headed toward the forest, Thunder felt a sudden panic at being left in charge.
What am I supposed to do now?
Desperately he ran after them. “Gray Wing, I need to know—” he began.

Gray Wing halted and turned toward him. “Do as your
heart tells you, Thunder,” he mewed calmly. He stretched out his neck to touch noses with Thunder, his eyes warm and affectionate. “I trust you,” he added, before hurrying after Tall Shadow.

Thunder watched the older cat—almost his father—walk away. He felt a twinge of sadness at the realization that Gray Wing didn't want to advise him anymore. But at the same time Gray Wing's faith in him had sent new energy flowing through his body.

Thunder turned back toward Clear Sky as Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes ran over to him with even more cobwebs. Reassured that his injured father was receiving the best care possible, Thunder took a deep breath and turned back to where Star Flower was crouching over One Eye's body. A soft keening sound came from her.
How did something so beautiful come from something so ugly?
he asked himself, looking at the grotesquely sprawled limbs of the dead rogue.
One Eye was ugly inside and out. But Star Flower . . .

Thunder paced slowly up to the golden tabby she-cat and stood beside her. “It's time for you to leave,” he meowed quietly. “You're not welcome among any of our groups, and if you won't leave by yourself we'll have to make you.”