The Sun Trail Read online

  Stoneteller gave him a swift glance, full of meaning.

  What’s that all about? Gray Wing asked himself.

  His thoughts were interrupted by Quiet Rain, who came to sit beside him. “Have you eaten anything?” she asked.

  All we ever talk about is food. Or the lack of it. Trying to curb his impatience, Gray Wing replied, “I’ll have something before I go out again.”

  To his relief, his mother didn’t insist. “You did very well to catch that hawk,” she meowed.

  “It wasn’t only me,” Gray Wing told her. “Clear Sky made this amazing leap to bring it down.”

  “You both did well,” Quiet Rain purred. She turned to look at her young kits, who were scuffling together close by. “I hope that Jagged Peak and Fluttering Bird will be just as skillful when they’re old enough to hunt.”

  At that moment, Jagged Peak swiped his sister’s paws out from underneath her. Fluttering Bird let out a wail as she fell over, hitting her head on a rock. Instead of getting up again, she lay still, whimpering.

  “You’re such a silly kit!” Jagged Peak exclaimed.

  As Quiet Rain padded over to give her daughter a comforting lick, Gray Wing noticed how small and fragile Fluttering Bird looked. Her head seemed too big for her body, and when she scrambled to her paws again her legs wobbled. Jagged Peak, on the other hand, was strong and well muscled, his gray tabby fur thick and healthy.

  While Quiet Rain took care of his sister, Jagged Peak scampered to Gray Wing. “Tell me about the hawk,” he demanded. “How did you catch it? I bet I could catch one if I was allowed out of this stupid cave!”

  Gray Wing purred excitedly. “You should have seen Clear Sky’s leap—”

  A loud yowl cut off Gray Wing’s story. “Let all cats be silent! Stoneteller will speak!”

  The cat who had made the announcement was Shaded Moss, a black-and-white tom who was one of the strongest and most respected cats of the Tribe. He stood on a boulder at the far end of the cavern, with Stoneteller beside him. The old cat looked even more fragile next to his powerful figure.

  As he wriggled his way toward the front of the crowd gathered around the boulder, Gray Wing heard murmurs of curiosity from the others.

  “Maybe Stoneteller is going to appoint Shaded Moss as her replacement,” Silver Frost suggested.

  “It’s time she appointed some cat,” Snow Hare agreed. “It’s what we’ve all been expecting for moons.”

  Gray Wing found himself a place to sit next to Clear Sky and Bright Stream, and looked up at Stoneteller and Shaded Moss. Stoneteller rose to her paws and let her gaze travel over her Tribe until the murmuring died away into silence.

  “I am grateful to all of you for working so hard to survive here,” she began, her voice so faint that it could scarcely be heard above the sound of the waterfall. “I am proud to be your Healer, but I have to accept that there are things even I cannot put right. Lack of space and lack of food are beyond my control.”

  “It’s not your fault!” Silver Frost called out. “Don’t give up!”

  Stoneteller dipped her head in acknowledgment of the elder’s support. “Our home cannot support us all,” she continued. “But there is another place for some of us, full of sunlight and warmth and prey for all seasons. I have seen it . . . in my dreams.”

  Utter silence greeted her announcement. Gray Wing couldn’t make sense of what the Healer had just said. Dreams? What’s the point of that? I dreamed I killed a huge eagle and ate it all myself, but I was still hungry when I woke up!

  He noticed that Lion’s Roar sat bolt upright as Stoneteller spoke, and was staring at her, his eyes wide with astonishment.

  “I believe in my heart that the other place is waiting for those of you who are brave enough to make the journey,” Stoneteller went on. “Shaded Moss will lead you there, with my blessing.”

  The old white cat glanced once more around her Tribe, her gaze full of sadness and pain. Then she slid down from the top of the boulder and vanished into the tunnel at the back of the cave, which led to her own den.

  A flood of shocked speculation passed through the rest of the cats. After a couple of heartbeats, Shaded Moss stepped forward and raised his tail for silence.

  “This has been my home all my life,” he began when he could make himself heard. His voice was solemn. “I always expected to die here. But if Stoneteller believes that some of us must leave to find the place of her dream, then I will go, and do my best to keep you safe.”

  Dappled Pelt sprang to her paws, her golden eyes shining. “I’ll go!”

  “So will I!” Tall Shadow added, her sleek black figure tense with excitement.

  “Are you flea-brained?” Twisted Branch, a scraggy brown tom, stared incredulously at the two she-cats. “Wandering off with no idea where you’re heading?”

  Gray Wing remained silent, but he couldn’t help agreeing with Twisted Branch. The mountains were his home: He knew every rock, every bush, every trickling stream. It would tear my heart in two if I had to leave just because Stoneteller had a dream.

  Turning to Clear Sky, he was amazed to see excitement gleaming in his brother’s eyes. “You’re not seriously considering this?” he asked.

  “Why not?” Clear Sky demanded in return. “This could be the answer to all our problems. What’s the point of struggling to feed every mouth if there’s an alternative?” His whiskers quivered eagerly. “It will be an adventure!” He called out to Shaded Moss: “I’ll go!” Glancing at Bright Stream, he added, “You’ll come too, won’t you?”

  Bright Stream leaned closer to Clear Sky. “I don’t know . . . would you really go without me?”

  Before Clear Sky could reply, little Jagged Peak wormed his way forward between his two older brothers, followed by Fluttering Bird. “I want to go!” he announced loudly.

  Fluttering Bird nodded enthusiastically. “Me too!” she squeaked.

  Quiet Rain followed them, and drew both kits closer to her with a sweep of her tail. “Certainly not!” she meowed. “You two are staying right here.”

  “You could come with us,” Jagged Peak suggested.

  His mother shook her head. “This is my home,” she said. “We’ve survived before. When the warm season returns, we’ll have enough to eat.”

  Gray Wing dipped his head in agreement. How can they forget what Quiet Rain told me when I was a kit? This place was promised to us by a cat who led us here from a faraway lake. How can we think of leaving?

  Shaded Moss’s powerful voice rose up again over the clamor. “No cat needs to decide yet,” he announced. “Give some thought to what you want to do. The half-moon is just past; I will leave at the next full-moon along with any—”

  He broke off, his gaze fixed on the far end of the cave. Turning his head, Gray Wing saw the hunting party making their way inside. Their pelts were clotted with snow and their heads drooped.

  Not one was carrying prey.

  “We’re sorry,” Shattered Ice called out. “The snow is heavier than ever, and there wasn’t a single—”

  “We’re leaving!” some cat yowled from the crowd around Shaded Moss.

  The hunting party stood still for a moment, glancing at one another in confusion and dismay. Then they pelted down the length of the cavern to listen as their Tribemates explained what Stoneteller had told them, and what Shaded Moss intended to do.

  Turtle Tail made her way to where Gray Wing was sitting and plopped down beside him, beginning to clean the melting snow from her pelt. “Isn’t this great?” she asked between licks. “A warm place, where there’s plenty of prey, just waiting for us? Are you going, Gray Wing?”

  “I am,” Clear Sky responded, before Gray Wing could answer. “And so is Bright Stream.” The young she-cat gave him an uncertain look, but Clear Sky didn’t notice. “It’ll be a hard journey, but I think it’ll be worth it.”

  “It’ll be wonderful!” Turtle Tail blinked happily. “Come on, Gray Wing! How about it?”

  Gr
ay Wing couldn’t give her the answer she wanted. As he looked around the cave at the cats he had known all his life, he couldn’t imagine abandoning them for a place that might only exist in Stoneteller’s dreams.

  Growling in his belly woke Gray Wing. The pangs of hunger had seemed even sharper since Stoneteller’s announcement a few sunrises ago. And the cavern hadn’t stopped buzzing with discussions about whether it was a good idea to leave, and what the new place might be like.

  Still curled up in his sleeping hollow, Gray Wing could hear excited chatter from cats nearby.

  “What do you think we’ll get to hunt?” Gray Wing recognized Dappled Pelt’s voice. “Maybe different kinds of birds—or those . . . squirrels that the elders put in their stories.”

  “We’ll have to be careful.” That was Cloud Spots, sounding thoughtful as usual. “If we eat too much we’ll get too fat to hunt, and then where will we be?”

  Gray Wing heard a snort of laughter from Snow Hare. “That’s a problem I’d like to have!”

  He lifted his head to see the three cats sitting close together, along with Tall Shadow, who extended her black-furred limbs gracefully as she rose to her paws. “I wonder what new hunting techniques we’ll need to learn. It’s bound to be different in the new place.”

  “Well, you’ve always been good at creeping around,” Snow Hare mewed teasingly. “You’ll be able to sneak up on your prey while it’s asleep.”

  Tall Shadow gave her chest fur a complacent lick. “I just might do that.”

  Scrambling out of the sleeping hollow, Gray Wing shook scraps of moss and feather from his pelt and arched his back in a good long stretch. He decided to go and hunt. There’s no point in wondering about prey somewhere else when we need to eat now.

  Sunlight came slanting into the cave, turning the screen of water into a dazzling sparkle. As Gray Wing emerged from the path behind the fall, he saw that the sky was clear blue. Gray Wing’s pads tingled at the beauty of the peaks outlined against it. He took great gulps of the cold, crisp air, relishing the way it felt like water against his fur.

  How could I leave all this?

  Continuing along the snow-packed ledge, hardened by the paw steps of many cats, Gray Wing heard voices coming from somewhere above.

  “Bright Stream, you have to come with me.”

  Looking up, he spotted Clear Sky and Bright Stream at the top of the cliff where the water poured over the lip of the rocks.

  “It’ll be great,” Clear Sky went on, “exploring new places together.”

  Bright Stream turned her head away. “I don’t know. . . . This is my home, and we’ve survived so far.”

  “Don’t you want more than just surviving?” Clear Sky asked, curling his tail persuasively around Bright Stream’s shoulders. “I want to go, but it wouldn’t be the same without you.”

  Bright Stream’s eyes shone, but she shook her head. “I’ve still got a few days to decide,” she mewed.

  Leaving Clear Sky gazing after her, she bounded lightly down the rocks. Despite himself, Gray Wing’s heart quickened as he saw her approaching. She’s lovely . . . but she’ll be Clear Sky’s mate one day. He’s a lucky tom, that’s for sure.

  “Can I hunt with you?” Bright Stream asked as she leaped off the last rock to stand at Gray Wing’s side. “Just don’t be like Clear Sky and pester me about leaving the mountains with Shaded Moss!”

  “I won’t,” Gray Wing promised. “I haven’t made up my own mind yet.”

  “For once I wish you poor hunting!” Clear Sky called down from the top of the rocks. “Then you’ll realize that we have to leave.”

  Gray Wing gave him a good-humored wave of his tail, and headed for the ridge. Bright Stream scrambled after him. As they drew closer to the summit, icy wind blasted their fur and scoured the snow from the rocks, leaving them bare and gray. Dark, yellowish clouds massed on the horizon, promising more snow to come.

  With his back to the gale, Gray Wing gazed around and spotted three more cats farther down the valley—tiny black shapes, too far away for him to distinguish who they were, pursuing a hawk that flew low over the slopes and gradually drew out of sight.

  Bright Stream’s voice broke the vast silence of the mountains. “Gray Wing—what do you think about Stoneteller’s dream?”

  Gray Wing hesitated before replying. “I don’t know,” he confessed at last. “Can Stoneteller really have discovered a new place for us to live, without knowing exactly where it is? Why haven’t any other cats had the same dream?”

  “Maybe it’s something only Stoneteller can do,” Bright Stream suggested. She paused, blinking thoughtfully; Gray Wing could see anxiety in her beautiful green eyes. “I love living in the mountains,” she went on. “In spite of the cold and hunger. I always imagined I’d raise my kits here . . . but then, I always imagined their father would be Clear Sky.”

  As she finished speaking she turned her head away, giving her shoulder a couple of embarrassed licks. Gray Wing was surprised that she had confessed so much to him; she was always perfectly confident and self-contained. He felt a stab of envy that she had the courage to put aside her own hopes and dreams to travel into the unknown with Clear Sky—and that her bond with his brother was so strong.

  Before he could decide what to say, Bright Stream gave her pelt a shake. “You should probably forget I said all that!” she meowed. “And don’t you dare tell Clear Sky! I don’t want him to think I’ve made a decision yet.”

  “I won’t say a word,” Gray Wing promised.

  I’m being torn in two, he thought. Clear Sky and I have always done everything together. Now I have to choose between going with him or staying here with the rest of my kin, in this place I’ve always called home.

  A flicker of movement distracted him from his problems. Snow hare! Spinning around, he raced across the slope after his prey. Its thick white pelt hid it against the snow, but it stood out clearly when scampering over the rocks of the windblown ridge.

  Bright Stream joined the chase, but Gray Wing outpaced her, relishing the feeling of the wind in his whiskers as he sped over the rocks.

  With a final mighty leap he flung himself onto his prey; the hare’s squeal of panic was cut off as Gray Wing’s jaws met in its throat.

  “Great catch!” Bright Stream panted. “You’re so fast!”

  “It’s not bad,” Gray Wing mewed, prodding his prey with one paw. For once there seemed to be some flesh on its bones. “We can eat and still take some back to the cave.”

  He and Bright Stream settled down side by side to enjoy the catch. As they feasted, he took in the magnificent peaks and valleys that stretched in front of them.

  “You’re going to stay, aren’t you?” Bright Stream asked, fixing him with her clear green gaze.

  Gray Wing took a deep breath. “Yes, I am.”

  When they had eaten their fill, the two cats picked up the remains of the hare and headed back toward the cave. Triumph flooded through Gray Wing at the thought of feeding his Tribemates.

  When the waterfall came in sight, he spotted a group of cats toiling up the slope toward them. Shaded Moss was in the lead, with Clear Sky padding along at his shoulder. Tall Shadow, Dappled Pelt, and Rainswept Flower followed close behind. Turtle Tail brought up the rear.

  “Hi,” Clear Sky meowed as the group came up. “Hey, you caught a hare!”

  Gray Wing gave a nod of satisfaction. “Yes, we’re just taking it back.”

  “We’re climbing up to the ridge,” Clear Sky explained, sweeping his tail around to include his companions. “We want to look for the best way to get out of the mountains toward the sunrise.”

  “Aren’t you joining us?” Turtle Tail asked, bounding up to Gray Wing’s side.

  Gray Wing hesitated. He was sure now about his decision to stay, but he didn’t want to share it with the other cats just yet. “We’re tired from hunting,” he replied. “Maybe later.”

  Entering the cave, Gray Wing could feel how restless his Trib
emates were. Some were gathered in little groups around the edges of the cavern, talking together in hushed voices. Others paced to and fro as if they were too anxious to settle. There was no sign of Stoneteller.

  “Do you think they’re really going to leave?” Stone Song muttered as he and his mate Hollow Tree padded past.

  “I guess so,” Hollow Tree responded. “Are they flea-brained? They have no idea what’s out there, or whether the place they’re looking for even exists.”

  Gray Wing knew that they spoke for many of the Tribe. He wished that Stoneteller had never had her vision, or that she had never spoken of it. Doesn’t she know how it’s tearing the Tribe apart?

  “But why can’t I go?” Jagged Peak was heading for the cave entrance, only to be intercepted by Quiet Rain.

  “For the last time,” his mother meowed, her tail-tip twitching impatiently, “you are too little to be out of the cave.”

  “It’s not fair!” Jagged Peak’s shoulder fur bristled as he glared at his mother.

  “Come on, Jagged Peak.” Snow Hare padded up, dipping her head to Quiet Rain as she approached. “I’ll show you a new game. Let’s see if you can catch this stone.” She swiped her paw and sent a flat pebble skimming across the floor of the cave.

  Jagged Peak pelted after it with an excited squeal.

  “Thanks, Stone Hare,” Quiet Rain murmured. “I can’t let him go out while there’s deep snow on the ground.”

  “You’re welcome,” the elder responded.

  Gray Wing carried the remains of the hare over to his mother and dropped it at her paws. “Here, do you want some?” he asked.

  Quiet Rain purred her gratitude. “That’s a fine catch,” she told him. “I’ll take some of it to Fluttering Bird.” Her voice quivered as she added, “She couldn’t get out of the nest this morning. But she’ll be much better after she’s had something to eat.”

  Gray Wing followed his mother as she carried the hare across the cave to the sleeping hollow where Fluttering Bird was curled up.

  “Are you going with Shaded Moss?” Quiet Rain asked him as she set the prey down at the edge of the hollow. “I know Clear Sky will go. . . .” She was clearly trying to speak lightly, but her words ended with a sorrowful sigh.