Thunder Rising by Erin Hunter
In spite of the kits’ shrill protests, Turtle Tail bundled them away across the camp to their den. Bumble blinked unhappily as she watched her friend leave.
Gray Wing stayed where he was. He wanted to see what was going to happen, and intervene if he had to.
Tall Shadow hesitated, seeming to struggle for the right thing to say. “Is there any way of making your peace with Tom?” she asked Bumble eventually. “Can’t you find a way of living happily together?”
Bumble shook her head. “You should be saying that to Tom, not me,” she declared. “I haven’t done anything to him.”
Tall Shadow seemed to be at a loss. “Well, then . . . why not make yourself extra nice to your Twolegs,” she suggested. “Purr at them, or whatever kittypets do.”
“Lick their fur,” Lightning Tail suggested.
“Mouse-brain!” Acorn Fur gave her brother a shove. “Twolegs don’t have fur!”
“There must be something you can do,” Tall Shadow went on, with a severe glance at the kits. “Then maybe the Twolegs will give you extra treats that will make it worth staying.”
Bumble let out a snort of scornful laughter. “You think treats are going to make my life okay? You’ve seen my scratches!”
Gray Wing could see that Tall Shadow was trying to break it gently to Bumble that she couldn’t stay. But “gently” isn’t going to work. Bumble has to be told so she understands what a mouse-brained idea it is.
Before Tall Shadow could speak again, Wind thrust herself between her and Bumble. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad time,” she told the kittypet. “But there’s absolutely no way you can come and live in the hollow with these cats. You’re a kittypet. You don’t know how to hunt, you’re soft and lazy, and you’re used to eating too much food.”
Bumble flinched back at the harsh words, her eyes wide and hurt. Some cat in the group that surrounded them—Gray Wing wasn’t sure who—made a small sound of protest, but Wind ignored it.
“You wouldn’t be able to contribute to the group,” she told Bumble sternly, “and not only that—your presence would put the lives of other cats in danger. There’s simply no place for a weak cat in the wild.” Wind looked over her shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Tall Shadow?”
Gray Wing realized that the gaze of every cat in the hollow was trained on Tall Shadow. If Tall Shadow agrees, it will look as if Wind is in charge. And if she doesn’t agree, it might mean finding an excuse for Bumble to stay.
Tall Shadow began to pad forward, trying to circle around Wind. “I’ll escort you back to your Twolegplace,” she told Bumble.
But before she could reach the kittypet, Wind called out to Gorse, who came racing down into the camp to stand beside her. Together they flanked Bumble. “We’ll take care of this,” Wind meowed.
Before any cat could argue, she and Gorse began to march Bumble away; Bumble looked too taken aback to resist. “You let me down!” she yowled back at Turtle Tail as she and her escorts disappeared over the top of the hollow. “After all I did for you! I’ll never forgive you!”
Why is this Turtle Tail’s fault? Gray Wing wondered. I’ll never understand kittypets. . . .
Tall Shadow perched back on her rock, her face fixed on the horizon. Gray Wing guessed that she didn’t want any cat to see her expression.
He leaped up beside his leader. It was a long moment before she acknowledged him. Then, still without looking at him, she meowed, “I’m sorry I’ve been distant with you, Gray Wing. I suppose it’s hard for me, knowing that some cats would prefer you as leader.”
Gray Wing dipped his head. “I understand. And I want you to know that I would never dream of challenging you. I don’t want to lead.”
Tall Shadow let out a little sigh. “Do you think I should let Gorse and Wind join our group?” she asked. Her voice was shaking. It sounded almost as if she couldn’t trust herself to make the right decision anymore.
“Wind might have overstepped a bit just now,” Gray Wing began carefully. “But I trust her and Gorse. They’ve helped us hunt, and they’ve saved lives.”
Tall Shadow twitched her whiskers thoughtfully, but didn’t respond.
“I know Wind probably wants Bumble out of the way so that there’s room for her and Gorse in the camp,” Gray Wing went on. “But Bumble would never really fit in here.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Tall Shadow snapped. “Isn’t that what I was trying to tell Bumble myself?”
“Of course, of course.” Gray Wing soothed his leader with his tail-tip resting on her shoulder. Except you never actually said so. . . .
Tall Shadow looked down at the other cats. Acorn Fur and Lightning Tail were tossing a ball of moss to each other, while Hawk Swoop and Turtle Tail looked on. Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt were having an earnest consultation over a heap of herbs; Thunder was sharing some prey with Rainswept Flower. None of them seemed interested in Tall Shadow or Gray Wing, up on the rock.
“They asked you to be leader,” Tall Shadow mewed after a moment. “And just now I let Wind take over. Maybe it is time to let some other cat take charge.”
“Never!” Gray Wing protested.
Tall Shadow fixed her gaze on the horizon again. “Have you never, ever questioned the leadership here?” she asked. “Have you never thought about how things could be different? I wouldn’t blame you.”
Gray Wing remembered the dream when he had returned to the mountains and met with Stoneteller in the Cave of Pointed Stones. She implied I would become leader, he thought, shame throbbing through him. But I can’t tell Tall Shadow that. “Never,” he protested weakly.
Tall Shadow turned to look at him, her gaze deep and searching. For a moment she said nothing, only sighed deeply, then turned away again to scan the rolling moorland. “Leave me to my thoughts—please,” she murmured.
Gray Wing wanted to find words to reassure his leader, but he knew that nothing he could say would do any good. Reluctantly he jumped down from the rock. He felt that something had changed in the hollow. Something big. If only he could see into the future, to what would happen in a few moons.
And I’ve learned something new about Wind, he thought. She took control so smoothly and bundled Bumble out of the hollow. She’s clever. . . .
CHAPTER 10
Gray Wing found himself in a vast open space with lush grass beneath his paws. A rabbit ran past him and instinctively he gave chase. It was odd, but however hard he pushed himself, he couldn’t seem to go any faster. Then the rabbit vanished and the open space gave way to a wide forest ride, with trees arching overhead to form a green tunnel. Gray Wing knew that something hugely important was waiting for him at the end.
But wait! What’s that scent? As he raced along, the scent of prey and growing plants was suddenly blotted out by the smell of smoke. He halted; his nose twitched and he rubbed it with one paw. There was movement to one side of his vision—a darting, flickering orange. The crackle of flames. Fire!
Startled, Gray Wing jerked awake. He found himself in his mossy nest under the gorse bush. I was dreaming. But in the next moment he realized that the smell of smoke and the orange glow in the sky were still terrifyingly real. He leaped to his paws.
“Fire!” he yowled. “Fire in the forest!”
Some of the cats were already awake and in a panic. Hawk Swoop dashed past him, hard on the paws of Acorn Fur and Lightning Tail, then herded them back toward their den. Jackdaw’s Cry bounded up to the top of the hollow, took one appalled look, then raced back down, his fur bristling and his tail bushed out. Rainswept Flower was crouching in her nest, her eyes wide and scared as she gazed up at the sky.
Struggling to control his own terror, Gray Wing stuck his head into Turtle Tail’s sleeping tunnel. Her kits were still asleep in a furry heap beside their mother, but Turtle Tail was awake, her head raised as she gazed out fearfully.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Fire in the forest,” Gray Wing repeated. “Stay here with the k
Relieved at the she-cat’s nod of acknowledgement, Gray Wing raced to the top of the hollow and looked across the moor. Fire was sprouting from the edge of the forest. Even at that distance he could hear the crackling. The blaze stretched up like a flaming foreleg swiping at the trees.
Clear Sky! Gray Wing felt his heart begin to pound so hard he could hardly breathe. He and his cats are in there somewhere. They might be trapped!
“Come on!” he yowled. “We have to help.”
As the cats began to emerge from their dens, Gray Wing spotted Jagged Peak hobbling toward him. “I know I can’t come with you,” the young cat meowed. “But is there anything I can do?”
Gray Wing turned back to meet his brother. “Yes—can you protect the kits in the hollow while we’re away?”
Jagged Peak’s eyes shone and he puffed his chest out importantly. “Of course I can!”
“Great!” Gray Wing rested his tail on his brother’s shoulders for a heartbeat. Jagged Peak is finding a new role for himself, he thought as he dashed back up the slope. And just in time . . .
Reaching the top again, Gray Wing clambered over the edge of the hollow and hurtled across the moor. All his instincts were shrieking at him to flee the other way, but he forced his fear down and kept going.
Casting a rapid glance over his shoulder, he realized that Thunder, Tall Shadow, Jackdaw’s Cry, Rainswept Flower, Cloud Spots, and Dappled Pelt were following him. Thunder was the most determined of them all, picking up the pace until he was running along at Gray Wing’s shoulder. “Do you think any cats are hurt?” he panted.
Gray Wing didn’t reply. I don’t even want to think about that.
As they approached the forest Gray Wing and his companions slowed, moving more cautiously. The fire on the edge of the forest was dying down, but farther into the trees it still raged on, sending hot red sparks swirling into the sky.
“Now what do we do?” Rainswept Flower asked.
“We have to find Clear Sky,” Gray Wing responded, appalled at the sight of the blaze and finding it hard to get his breath as the surge of hot air hit him in the throat.
“But we need to stay together,” Tall Shadow meowed, raising her voice so that all the cats could hear her. “Follow me, and keep your eyes and ears open.”
Tall Shadow took the lead as the cats picked their way cautiously among smoldering, glowing branches. “What’s this?” she muttered.
Gray Wing padded through the swirling smoke and drifting, charred leaves to see a circle of stones in the middle of a black patch of earth, with a heap of ash and burnt branches inside it. There were huge dents in the earth around the circle of stones. “Some sort of Twoleg thing,” he responded. “Look, you can see the marks of their paws. This could be where the fire started.”
Tall Shadow sniffed at the dents. “I guess the Twolegs tried to stomp out the fire,” she murmured.
Gray Wing nodded. “Maybe they didn’t get it all,” he suggested. “If there were embers, they could have set the bracken on fire and then the flames could have spread to the trees.”
Jackdaw’s Cry snorted. “Trust Twolegs to do something flea-brained. That’s one thing we never had to deal with in the mountains.”
The branches around them were glowing with bits of fire. The cats crouched down as one of them exploded in a shower of sparks and Rainswept Flower let out a sharp screech as a spark singed her fur.
Gray Wing stiffened as he looked up and saw that the sparks had rekindled several small fires. Fresh orange patches sprang up all around them, including one back the way they had come. Retreating was going to be hard.
But I’m not retreating yet. . . .
Bracing himself, Gray Wing turned toward the heart of the forest, where flames still roared greedily around the trees. My brother is in there somewhere. . . . I’ll do everything I can to find him. Only then would he be ready to find a way out.
All the tensions there had been between Gray Wing and Clear Sky vanished in that moment. He remembered how they had played together as kits and how they had supported each other on their journey. I didn’t come with him out of the mountains to see him die in a forest fire!
Gray Wing raced toward the flames that blocked the way into the deeper forest, running back and forth as he tried to find a way to pass the fiery barrier. But every time he spotted a gap in the flames that he might fit through, it closed up in front of him.
“Gray Wing!” Rainswept Flower called out. “You must get away!”
“You’ll set your fur on fire!” Jackdaw’s Cry added.
“Yes, come back.” Tall Shadow spoke in a voice of authority.
“No!” Gray Wing meowed. “Clear Sky and his denmates are in there! We have to help get them out.” He could picture his brother and the other cats, crouching, terrified, in the middle of the fire as the blaze drew closer.
But the other cats were drawing back, clearly terrified by the crackling flames. Only Thunder stayed near Gray Wing, uncomfortably close to the blaze.
“Get back!” Gray Wing snapped. “The heat is worse for you, being so small.”
Thunder shook his head determinedly. “I’m staying with you.”
Gray Wing had no time to argue further. He’s flea-brained, but so brave! Just like his father . . .
Thunder remained beside Gray Wing as they darted toward a gap between the fire-damaged trees.
“Through there!” Gray Wing gasped, struggling to breathe in the smothering heat. “Clear Sky’s camp is down this way. If we can reach it, we can lead them out.” If the fire doesn’t spread farther, he thought, then pushed the idea away.
Gray Wing believed they could make it through the blaze, but then one of the trees began to groan and tilt alarmingly, so that they had to scramble back before it collapsed.
“What can we do?” Thunder asked. “Do you think we could jump over the flames?”
Gray Wing looked up at the edge of the fiery wall, trying to work out if he could make it to the other side. A branch fell from the tilting tree, closing up the last of the gap, flames leaping many tail-lengths into the sky.
Then Gray Wing saw movement beyond the blaze; a heartbeat later a cat came hurtling across the barrier from the other side. He gasped with shock as he recognized Moon Shadow.
The black tom’s paws didn’t quite clear the flames. He let out a yowl of pain and instinctively tried to curl up in midair, abandoning his strong leaping posture. He landed with a hard thump on the ground, in a chaos of waving paws and tail. Fire crept through his pelt and along his tail.
“Help me!” he screeched.
Gray Wing, Thunder, and Tall Shadow raced toward him, battering at him with their paws to put out the flames. But panic held Moon Shadow in its grip. He rolled over, and tried to scramble up and flee before the flames were out.
Thunder leaped after him, throwing his whole weight across Moon Shadow’s lower back. “Keep still!” he yowled.
Gray Wing and Tall Shadow went on crushing out the fire. Gray Wing hissed with the pain of his scorched paws, but he had to ignore it to help Moon Shadow, who was moaning in agony.
As the flames died, Gray Wing’s nose twitched, picking up the smell of charred flesh. He spotted a patch on Moon Shadow’s side where the fur had been burned away, revealing an area of angry red skin. Spots of dark blood welled up and spread, running into one another.
The cats stood around Moon Shadow, briefly frozen with fear as they watched his life leaking away. Then Cloud Spots gave his pelt a shake. “Come on, Dappled Pelt,” he meowed. “We’ll find some healing herbs.” To Moon Shadow he added, “Don’t worry. This doesn’t have to end badly.” Moon Shadow groaned and turned his head away.
Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt vanished into the darkness, weaving their way between smoldering branches. The rest of the cats pulled the limp form of Moon Shadow away from the fire and the heat.
Gray Wing stared at him, thinking of Clear Sky. Was he lying somewhere,
Straightening up, he began to race toward the barrier of flame. A chorus of desperate meows followed him.
“No, Gray Wing!”
“You mustn’t!”
“Come back—you’ll die!”
Gray Wing ignored the voices. He was readying himself to jump when a weight crashed into him from one side and he was bowled off his paws. He looked up to see Thunder, who was holding him down with both forepaws on his chest.
“Get off!” he gasped, trying to wrestle himself free.
Thunder didn’t move. A moment later he was joined by Jackdaw’s Cry. “There’s nothing you can do,” the black tom insisted.
Gray Wing stopped struggling, letting out a long sigh. I know they’re right . . . but oh, Clear Sky, where are you? Thunder let him get up, and Gray Wing padded back through a fog of misery toward the other cats.
They had formed a protective guard around Moon Shadow, who was still moaning with pain. Tall Shadow stood beside her brother, her green eyes wide with fear and grief. Seeing her made Gray Wing’s anxiety grow even sharper, and he crouched beside Moon Shadow.
“Was Clear Sky with you?” he asked urgently. “Do you know if he’s safe?”
But Moon Shadow only stared at him with glazed eyes and let out another drawn-out groan. Gray Wing realized that he was too badly hurt even to understand the question.
Tall Shadow bent her head to nuzzle Moon Shadow’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she mewed. “Cloud Spots will be back soon with something to make you better. Every cat knows he’s the best at finding healing herbs.” Her voice shook, as if she wasn’t quite certain of what she was saying, but she steadied it again. “You know that, Moon Shadow. Everything will be all right.”
Seasons seemed to pass in flickering scarlet and the crackling of flame before Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt returned, darting between the patches of fire. Hope kindled in Gray Wing as he saw the bunches of leaves in their jaws, but sank again as they dropped their bundles beside Moon Shadow. These weren’t healing herbs, just random collections of grass and weeds.