The Blazing Star (32 page)

“You didn't answer my question,” Thunder retorted.

Before Tall Shadow could respond, a high-pitched wailing came from Holly, a sound that made every hair on Thunder's pelt prickle with anticipation.

Tall Shadow leaped to her paws. “The kits are coming!”

All Thunder's instincts told him to race across to Holly's nest and see what was happening. But he knew that too many cats crowding around would be bad for Holly and her kits. Tall Shadow seemed to feel the same, and she paced impatiently in tight circles.

The next moments were the longest of Thunder's life, but at last Cloud Spots broke away from the cluster of cats in the mouth of the den, and bounded over to them.

“Holly's kits are here!” he announced triumphantly. “Three of them—all well, and Holly is fine too! This is as good as we could possibly have hoped for.”

Thunder felt a loud purr rising in his throat, but Tall Shadow twitched her tail anxiously. “But how is Holly really?”
she asked. “I've seen illness before, and it doesn't just vanish in a couple of heartbeats. Will she make it through the night?”

“We've given her another dose of the Blazing Star,” Cloud Spots replied, his elation fading. “Now all we can do is watch and wait.”

By now the last of the sunlight had vanished and twilight covered the moor. Thunder stifled another massive yawn and said good night to Tall Shadow and Cloud Spots before withdrawing to his den.

Sleep? I've almost forgotten what it's like to rest my bones!

Some cat had renewed the moss and bracken in his nest, and Thunder sank into the soft bedding with a weary sigh. He began grooming his pelt, running his tongue over the scratches he had received in the battle with One Eye. But his tongue moved more and more slowly, and his eyelids were growing heavy.

I'll just sleep for a bit. . . .

Thunder felt a paw on his shoulder, gently shaking him. He opened his eyes and made out the figure of Gray Wing, his gray pelt turned to silver by the moonlight that shone through the entrance to the den.

“It's time,” Gray Wing mewed.

Thunder stifled a yawn, feeling utterly confused. “Time for what?” he mumbled.

“To go to the four trees,” Gray Wing replied. “Can't you feel it?”

Struggling back to full wakefulness, Thunder turned his
attention inward. Waves of energy were surging through his body, growing stronger with every heartbeat. He could hear faint voices calling in the distance, and he realized that he recognized them.

Rainswept Flower . . . and Turtle Tail!

Thunder locked his gaze with Gray Wing's and spotted a flutter of grief in his kin's face at the sound of his dead mate's voice. He rose to his paws. “You're right. Let's go.”

Taking the lead out of the camp, Thunder almost tripped over Mouse Ear, who was sleeping in the open, curled up in the shadow of a rock. But the tabby tom didn't stir. Thunder drew a breath of relief.
We don't want any cat asking us where we're going.

Thunder and Gray Wing were silent as they headed for the clearing with the four great oaks. The air was mild, not at all like a night on the edge of leaf-bare. Thunder could hardly feel the long grasses brushing against his pelt, and the speed of his own movement surprised him. It was almost as though they were floating, not walking at all.

When they arrived in the clearing Thunder saw that more cats were already assembled there, sitting in a ragged half circle in front of the rock: Tall Shadow, River Ripple, Wind Runner, and Clear Sky. They acknowledged the newcomers by dipping their heads, but no cat spoke.

Thunder looked around for Turtle Tail and Rainswept Flower, and spotted them on top of the rock. Their pelts glimmered with starlight and frosty sparkles shone from their eyes. They too dipped their heads in greeting.

“You heard us call to you,” Rainswept Flower meowed. “You came.”

At the sight of the two beautiful she-cats, Thunder felt himself choking with emotion, his throat so tight that he could scarcely breathe.
Why were they taken from us? Why did we have to be parted in the first place?

“Because now we can see everything you see, and more.” Turtle Tail responded as if she was reading his thoughts. “Because we can help you. Are we really parted, when we can send you messages in your dreams?”

Thunder's eyes stretched wide in shock.
This is a dream! Now I understand! That's why I never disturbed Mouse Ear, and why we seemed to float over here, and why I don't feel the night cold.

Glancing at Gray Wing, he saw that the older cat shared his astonishment. “We're sharing the same dream!” he whispered. His breathing sounded easy, without the problems that had plagued him ever since the forest fire.

“And so are we,” River Ripple added. His eyes were full of wonder, so different from his usual amused detachment. “All the leaders.”

“Don't get too excited,” Turtle Tail warned them. “Now—think. Can you remember what we told you when we last spoke with you?”

Thunder nodded. “You said we had to unite or die, and you were right. We united against One Eye and defeated him. And we shared the Blazing Star to fight off the sickness.” He paused, and when neither of the spirit-cats spoke, he continued. “What now?” For the first time he realized that he didn't
know what the future held. “Why did you summon us in our sleep?”

Rainswept Flower's blue eyes shone with star-fire as she gazed down at him. “What else did we tell you?” she asked.

Almost overwhelmed by the strangeness of what was happening to him, Thunder struggled to remember. It was Gray Wing who spoke up. “That to survive we must grow and spread like the Blazing Star.”

Rainswept Flower gave him a nod of approval. “That's right. You cannot forget those words. They will help you in the coming seasons.”

Thunder exchanged a bewildered glance with Gray Wing, then shrugged.
Why can't these star cats ever tell us something so we can understand it?

“Can you give us any more of a clue as to what that means?” Tall Shadow asked.

“Yes.” Wind Runner flicked her tail, sounding irritated. “Why bring us here and then speak to us in riddles?”

Turtle Tail held up her paw, the pads facing the living cats, and extended her claws. “The Blazing Star has five petals, just as a cat's paw has five claws.”

It's like she's teaching kits,
Thunder thought, frustrated. “Yes, but so what?”

“Grow and spread . . . grow and spread . . .” Turtle Tail and Rainswept Flower spoke in chorus, repeating the same phrase over and over.

As Thunder gazed up at them, still bewildered, the starry forms of the spirit-cats began to fade. Their voices grew
fainter, too, as if they were calling out from an immense distance.

“No!” Thunder yowled. “Don't leave us! Stay and explain!”

But it was too late. Turtle Tail and Rainswept Flower seemed to dissolve until they were no more than wisps of mist above the rock; then they were gone.

Thunder threw back his head and let out another long caterwaul to the stars that blazed down from an empty sky. Then before his eyes the stars seemed to shift, blotted out as darkness swirled in front of his eyes. He lashed out with one paw and felt the soft touch of moss against his pads. His eyes flew open and he realized that he was back in his own den.

Thunder's heart was racing, and shivers ran through him as if he had just struggled out of icy water. He lay still in his nest for several heartbeats, going over in his mind what the spirit-cats had said.

After a few moments the moonlight that washed into his den was suddenly cut off as another cat slipped through the entrance. Gray Wing's scent wreathed around him.

“Well done,” Gray Wing muttered, sounding unusually irritable. “You called the dream to a halt.”

“They were leaving anyway,” Thunder retorted, sitting up and shaking scraps of moss from his pelt.

Gray Wing padded farther into the den, letting the light flow back, and sat down beside Thunder. “We have to work out what the message means,” he meowed.

Thunder rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that.” He was still frustrated by the spirit-cats' riddling talk, and by the way
they had vanished instead of explaining themselves.

“I have an idea,” Gray Wing continued, sounding more like his calm self. “But we need to discuss it with the others.”

Thankful to have something he could do, Thunder leaped to his paws. “Do you want me to fetch Clear Sky, River Ripple, and Wind Runner?”

“Wait.” Gray Wing stretched out a paw to stop Thunder from leaving the den. “Let's talk to Tall Shadow first just to see whether she had the dream too.”

Thunder nodded. “Good plan!”

Gray Wing rose to his paws and padded out of the den. When Thunder followed him into the open he saw that the moon had already set. The stars were fading and pink streaks stretched across the sky where the sun would rise. The air was damp and misty, with dew clinging to every rock and blade of grass.

The rest of the cats were beginning to stir. Tiny squeaks came from the den where Holly and Jagged Peak were caring for their kits, and as Thunder watched, Pebble Heart emerged from his own den and slipped in to join them. The sound of their cheerful greetings told Thunder that Holly was doing well.

Shattered Ice slid out of the tunnel where he slept and sat down to scratch one ear vigorously with his hind paw, while Dappled Pelt sat at the mouth of her den, giving herself a thorough grooming.

His glance sweeping across the camp, Thunder spotted the small, dark shape of Tall Shadow sitting at the foot of the
lookout rock. As soon as she saw Gray Wing and Thunder she leaped up and bounded across the hollow toward them.

“Did you have a dream?” she demanded when she reached them.

Gray Wing dipped his head. “So you had it too?”

“Yes,” Tall Shadow confirmed. “What are we going to do about it?”

“We need to discuss it with the other leaders,” Thunder meowed. “I'll go fetch them.”

“Wait.” Once again Gray Wing stretched out a paw. “I can feel a kind of tingling in my pads. It reminds me of what the spirit-cats said. . . . I think we should go back to the four trees.”

Tall Shadow twitched her ears in surprise. “If that's what you want.”

With Gray Wing in the lead, the three cats left the hollow and set out across the moor. Mist still wreathed around them, but above their heads the sky was clear. Thunder enjoyed the cool touch of the dewy grass on his paws, reviving him from his interrupted sleep and sending new energy through his limbs.

By the time they crossed into the forest the sun was peering over the horizon; every drop of moisture glittered in its rays, though ragged scraps of mist still remained under the shadow of the trees.

When they reached the top of the slope that led down into the clearing, Thunder spotted Clear Sky, Wind Runner, and River Ripple perched among the bare branches of one of the great oaks.

“There you are!” River Ripple called out to them, leaping down to join them as they bounded rapidly down the slope. “I wondered how long it would take the three of you to turn up.”

“You were expecting us?” Gray Wing asked, as Clear Sky and Wind Runner also jumped down and padded up to them.

For answer, River Ripple simply dipped his head.

“Did you see the same thing, then?” Clear Sky asked, tearing at the ground in agitation. “The meeting with the spirit-cats? What did you make of their message?”

“We all saw it,” Wind Runner responded. “And my encounters with death have colored everything for me. ‘Unite or die,' they told us. All I can take from that is that we have to face more death and grief.”

“But I think their message tonight was more hopeful than that,” River Ripple told her quietly, brushing his plumy tail sympathetically against Wind Runner's shoulder. “Besides, shouldn't we all feel grateful? How lucky we are, to be . . .” He paused, struggling to find the right word.

“The chosen ones?” Thunder asked.

River Ripple tilted his head, looking both surprised and impressed. “Yes, maybe that's what we are. We're lucky that the spirit-cats want to speak with all of us and allow us to meet with them in our dreams.” His habitual amusement glimmered in his eyes. “Think how terrifying it would be if you received these messages and you were the only one.”

“We've been told to grow and spread. But are we still being told to unite or die?” Thunder asked, remembering what he had said in the dream. “I think we would all have died if we
hadn't united against One Eye. So is that part of the message over and done with now?”

“You want to go back to fighting among ourselves?” Tall Shadow asked. “Having another battle, maybe?”

“No, of course not—” Thunder began to protest.

“Then I think both messages are important. We just have to figure out what the second message means. Grow and spread . . .”

“I hope the spirits aren't blaming me for leaving the hollow,” Wind Runner interrupted waspishly.

“Well, it can't mean that we all have to live together,” Gray Wing meowed. “That never worked, right from the beginning.”

“Only because some cats argued about where to live,” Tall Shadow pointed out.

Clear Sky's neck fur began to bristle. “Are you saying we have no right to make that decision?”

Thunder could see that the meeting was going to break down in squabbling if he didn't do something. Bunching his muscles, he leaped up onto the top of the Great Rock.

“Stop!” he yowled. When silence fell, with all the others gazing up at him, he went on, “We mustn't fight among ourselves. We need to work together to find the exact meaning of their most recent message.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the other cats, except for Clear Sky, who barely seemed to be listening. Instead he seemed to be carefully scanning the area.