Path of Stars (12 page)

He steadied himself, blinking. “That's smart.”

Star Flower whisked her tail. “If a rogue tries to start an attack by aiming for your shoulder, that's how you counter it.”

River Ripple padded forward. “I know a fishing move that might work too.”

Tall Shadow pricked her ears. “Try it on me.”

River Ripple faced the black she-cat. “Use Star Flower's move,” he told her.

Tall Shadow lifted a forepaw. Before she could touch the river cat, he'd dived beneath her belly. Arching his back, he thumped his spine against her chest. She reeled away, her eyes widening with surprise.

“You moved so fast!” she puffed. “You winded me!”

“It's a good way to stun a fish. It makes them easier to grab,” River Ripple explained.

Jagged Peak's eyes shone with excitement. “I have an idea.” He padded between the others, limping on his weak hind leg.

Thunder narrowed his eyes. Jagged Peak was a good fighter considering his lameness. But what could he teach cats with four good paws?

Jagged Peak caught his eye. “I know what you're thinking.”

Thunder shifted self-consciously. “I was only—”

Jagged Peak cut him off. “What you don't realize is that I can use my lameness to my advantage. When a cat faces me in battle, the first thing they see is my limp. I can see their expression change as they realize I am fighting with three paws, not four. They suddenly look as though they've already won the fight. They don't realize that I've been fighting on three paws for as long as I can remember, and I'm good at it.”

Clear Sky frowned. “How does that help
us
?” he asked. “We're not lame.”

“No,” Jagged Peak agreed. “Not now. But what if you're injured in battle?”

Shattered Ice chipped in. “Never let another cat see you're injured. They'll know you're vulnerable.”

Jagged Peak shook his head. “Make
sure
they see you're injured. They'll underestimate you.” His gaze flashed to Star Flower. “We've already seen how easy it is to beat a cat when they underestimate you.”

Thunder felt his pelt grow hot. Was Jagged Peak referring
to how easily Star Flower had unbalanced him?

Jagged Peak went on. “You must all practice fighting on three paws so that you are as strong on three as you are on four. If you're wounded in battle, your enemy won't expect strength. You can take them by surprise.”

Thunder lifted a hind paw, trying to imagine what it was like fighting without the steadiness of all four legs. He was looking forward to practicing. Jagged Peak was right. It would be a useful skill.

Clear Sky stepped into the middle. “We've taught one another a lot today.” His thick pelt was smooth. He looked less worried than he had at the beginning of the meeting. “Let's go home and share what we've learned with our campmates. Trainers should share all these moves with the younger cats. The rogues may think they're winning, but they haven't seen us fight yet.” He lifted his chin. “When they do, they will realize that we're not the easy prey they think we are.”

“Come on!” Thunder veered onto the track that headed for Clear Sky's forest.

“Where are we going?” Lightning Tail raced behind him.

“To find the rogue camp.”

“Why?” Lightning Tail sounded surprised. “I thought we were heading home to teach the others our new moves.”

“We can do that later.” Thunder leaped a fallen branch, his paws skimming the mossy bark. “I want to see this rogue camp for myself. I have to know what we're up against.”

“But we don't know where the camp is,” Lightning Tail
cleared the branch and thumped onto the track behind him.

“Gray Wing said it was in the marshland beyond Tall Shadow's pines,” Thunder told him. “Near some willows. It can't be hard to find.”

“What if we run into the rogues?”

Thunder slowed and stopped. His friend had a point. The marsh might be swarming with rogues. His ears twitched self-consciously. He should have thought of it first. “Let's find prey and take it with us,” he suggested hastily. “If we're caught, we can say we came to give it to Slash.”

Lightning Tail frowned. “What if they don't believe us? We've never offered them prey before. They've always had to steal it from us.”

“We'll
make
them believe us,” Thunder insisted. He was determined for this plan to work. “If we grovel to Slash, he'll enjoy our humiliation so much he won't bother wondering whether we're telling the truth.”

Lightning Tail grunted. “You must really want to see the rogue camp if you're willing to grovel to Slash.”

Thunder lifted his muzzle, sniffing for prey. “With any luck, we won't be seen, and we won't have to grovel to any cat.” He stiffened as he smelled mouse. Perhaps the stars were on their side after all. In this long, hungry quarter moon, he had almost begun to think their ancestors had stopped watching over them. He pricked his ears as Lightning Tail followed his gaze. “It smells like there's a mouse nest under that bramble.”

Lightning Tail dropped into a crouch and stalked toward the tangled bush.

Thunder dropped low and, belly brushing the leafy forest floor, began to make a wide circle around the bush. “You flush them out, and I'll catch what you miss.” He stopped behind the bush and waited for Lightning Tail to make his move.

The brambles rustled. Squinting in the afternoon sunlight, Thunder could see Lightning Tail's black pelt squirming beneath the branches. The mouse scent was warm and strong. Thunder licked his lips. Leaves swished as Lightning Tail darted deeper into the bush.

Frightened squeaks pierced Thunder's ear fur. He scanned the ground for movement. Brown fur flashed to one side. Thunder leaped, thorns snagging his pelt, and slammed his paws down onto the soft body of a fleeing mouse. He hooked his claws around it and drew it close for a killing bite.

The musky scent made his mouth water. Should they take their catch home? Thistle and Clover were starting to look thin.
No. I have to see the rogues' camp. We'll take our catch home when we've seen it.
Thunder sat up as Lightning Tail padded toward him. A dead mouse dangled from his jaws.

Thunder purred. “Come on. Let's head for the pines.” He scooped his mouse up and headed away.

Crossing the Thunderpath was easy. There was no sign of monsters. The pine forest beyond felt gloomy after the oaks. The trees here still had their thick needle pelts, and little sunlight filtered through the canopy. How could Tall Shadow and her cats bear to live in such gloom? The smell of pinesap filled his nose, drowning the warm scent of mouse. He was relieved as the trees thinned and he saw marshland ahead. He stopped
at the edge of the forest. Behind him, the sun was sinking fast, throwing long shadows across the tussocks of grass.

Lightning Tail stopped behind him and dropped his mouse. He nodded toward a stretch of trees crowding a slope at one edge of the marshland. “Is that the willow copse?”

The bare branches looked like willow, and there were no other trees beyond the pines. It must be the right place. Nodding, he carried his mouse from the cover of the pines. He followed the trail as it grew muddy underpaw. Lightning Tail's paw steps squelched behind him. Scanning the marshland, Thunder saw a patch of thick grass and reeds.

He dropped his mouse. “That's it,” he whispered. Gray Wing had described the camp.
A ring of grass near willows.

“How are we going to spy on the rogues without being seen?” Lightning Tail stopped beside him and blinked over the tussocks.

Thunder nodded toward the camp. “There are plenty of reeds to hide in.” He grabbed his mouse and slunk forward, ears pricked.

Lightning Tail crept behind him.

Thunder held his breath as they neared. Rogue smells mingled with the damp evening air. Relief prickled through his pelt as the sun dipped behind the pines and shadow swallowed the marsh. He ducked lower, moving like a snake over the earth until he reached a clump of reeds. He slipped past them and slid between two tussocks.

He stiffened as he heard voices from the marsh grass beyond. They were right outside the camp wall!

He laid his mouse on the ground and signaled to Lightning Tail with his muzzle to do the same.

Lightning Tail dropped his mouse on top of Thunder's and blinked at his friend. “What now?” he whispered.

“We wait.” Thunder pressed his belly to the earth and flattened his ears. Stiff marsh grass surrounded them. Lightning Tail's flank felt warm against his as the black tom wriggled down beside him.

“Look!” Lightning Tail's mew was barely more than a whisper. He was staring at the grass wall of the camp. Narrow gaps showed near the roots, and as the sun disappeared and moonlight bathed the marshland, Thunder saw the rogues' clearing glowing beyond the stems. Heart pounding, he squirmed closer until he could see a wide stretch of earth in the middle of the camp. Cats moved at the edges, murmuring in soft voices. Paw steps scuffed the earth nearby, and sleek, dark gray fur blocked his view. He smelled the fragrant scent of a she-cat and peered closer.

“Here!” A tom's mew rang across the camp, and something thudded on the earth beside the she-cat. She hopped out of the way. Thunder could see a scrawny starling on the ground. The she-cat sniffed at it, and Thunder saw the delicate outline of her muzzle. Her amber gaze rested, dismayed, on the starling. Then she jerked her head toward a tom at the center of the clearing.

Slash!

Thunder recognized the white slash across the forelegs of the mangy brown rogue.

The she-cat curled her lip. “We've got better prey than this,” she hissed.

Slash eyed her coldly. “You're lucky you're getting anything, Violet,” he snarled. “You're the weakest hunter in the group.”

“That's not true!” Violet snapped back. “And at least I
hunt
. You
steal
.”

Slash's ears twitched. “I'm just taking what's mine.”

“You wouldn't be like this if Rain were still alive!”

Thunder heard grief thicken the she-cat's mew.

Slash snorted. “What difference would Rain have made? He was so dumb he got killed on a Thunderpath.”

Violet flinched. “He was never dumb!”

“Taking you as a mate was the only smart decision he ever made.” Slash's mew grew suspiciously soft. Thunder narrowed his eyes. The rogue leader was gazing hungrily at the she-cat. “Why don't
you
get smart, Violet, and let me take his place? You would not go hungry if you were a leader's mate.”

“Never!” Violet picked up the starling and stalked away.

Thunder's claws itched. How dare Slash try to bully this beautiful she-cat into becoming his mate? He felt Lightning Tail move beside him. “Why do they stay loyal to such a fox-heart?”

Thunder didn't answer. He was watching Violet. Her fur had the rich darkness of storm clouds. Her long tail was thick and sleek. Her ears were wide and soft, framing her pretty face perfectly. The fur prickled along his spine as she padded toward a group of cats who were crouching in the shadows at the far side of the clearing.

Movement caught Thunder's eye. Slash was heading toward
a large prey pile. Thunder's belly felt hollow with hunger as he saw pigeons stacked on top of rabbits. Mice and shrews were strewn around the edge. Slash plucked a skinny frog from the bottom of the pile and flung it toward one of the cats beside Violet. Then he tossed a dried shrew to another. One piece at a time, he flung the scrawniest prey to his campmates. Then he flicked his tail toward two toms, who had been silently watching the camp from the head of the clearing.

“Splinter! Come and choose your meal.”

A black-and-white tom hurried toward the prey pile, licking his lips. “Go ahead, Splinter.” Slash's mew was indulgent. “You've done well today. You deserve something good to eat.”

As Splinter dragged a plump pigeon from the pile, Slash nodded toward the second tom. “Hurry up, Beetle. This one's still warm.” He pawed a heavy rabbit from the pile, and the black-and-brown tom hurried to take it.

Thunder's gaze flitted around the camp once more. The other cats, hunched over their meager pieces of prey, were watching Slash through slitted eyes. “Why don't they object?” Thunder breathed to Lightning Tail. “He's giving all the best prey to his friends.”

Lightning Tail's ears twitched. “I'm not sure. I'd claw his pelt off.”

“Frog!” Slash called across the clearing.

A mottled gray tom jumped to his paws. “Yes?” Fear and hope flashed in his gaze.

Slash hauled a fat thrush from the prey pile and pushed it toward him.

Frog bounded eagerly across the clearing, slowing as
he neared Slash. Thunder could see his pelt clinging to his skinny frame. He suddenly realized that most of the rogues were thin. Only Slash, Beetle, and Splinter looked well fed.
But he's stolen enough prey from us to feed them all!
Frog stopped in front of Slash and glanced at the thrush.

Slash's eyes gleamed. “Are you hungry?”

Frog nodded.

Slash hooked up the thrush with a claw. “Hungry enough to eat this?”

Frog nodded again.

“What a shame.” Slash tossed the thrush back onto the prey pile. “If you'd brought back more prey from the moor today, I'd have let you have it. But I can't reward laziness.”

“It
wasn't
laziness!” Frog bristled.

Slash tipped his head. “What was it then? Stupidity?” His mew turned to a growl. “Because I don't tolerate stupidity. A kit could have brought back what you found.”

“That's not true—”

Slash lashed out with his paw, slicing Frog's nose.

Frog backed away, pelt bristling. Blood welled on his muzzle.

Slash hooked a squashed wren from the bottom of the pile. It was no bigger than a shrew. He flung it at Frog's paws. “Be glad I'm letting you have that.”