A Warrior's Spirit Page 2

  The chickens were clucking quietly in their shiny nests. Pebbleshine tore a few last bites from the one she had killed. Then she got up and rested her paws on the side of the platform while she looked around.

  The monster had come to a halt on a narrow Thunderpath that cut through wide stretches of tall, rustling grass. Not far away, a big Twoleg den rose up among a cluster of smaller dens. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows; Pebbleshine could see that she must have been traveling on the monster’s back for most of the day.

  With a last cautious glance around, Pebbleshine leaped down from the monster. She almost expected it to rumble to life and pursue her, but it didn’t move. She let out a sigh of relief and began to head away from it, stealthily at first but then at a fast lope.

  The Thunderpath was made of earth, and the monster’s huge black paws had churned the surface up into deep tracks. Hope fluttered in Pebbleshine’s chest; maybe all she had to do was follow the tracks backward until she found Hawkwing and her Clan again.

  For a while she padded along beside the monster tracks, trying to spot some of the landmarks she had noticed on her outward journey. Then she realized that for the last part she had been asleep; anything she might recognize would be farther away. She began to grow discouraged when she hadn’t seen anything familiar by the time the Thunderpath came to an end, melting into a wider one. Glittering monsters whizzed back and forth along the hard, black surface. Where the earth met the edge of this Thunderpath, the chicken-hunting monster’s tracks vanished.

  Half choking on the acrid stink of the passing monsters, Pebbleshine eased back from the edge of the Thunderpath and sat down to think. There was no hope of following the monster’s trail anymore. She could tell the general direction she should travel, from the position of the sun, but she knew that wasn’t enough to reunite her with her Clan. The monster had carried her too far away. There weren’t even any familiar scents for her to follow.

  And once it gets dark, I won’t even have the sun to help me.

  When she looked around for some kind of guidance, Pebbleshine spotted a Twoleg den in the distance, surrounded by a straggling copse of trees; it reminded her of Barley’s barn, where her Clan had stopped about a moon before to rest and feast on the mice that lived among the straw there.

  “Maybe there’ll be friendly cats in this barn,” she murmured hopefully to herself.

  As she set out toward the distant den, Pebbleshine let herself hope that the cats might be able to point the way to the monster camp where she had lost her Clanmates, or maybe even to the lake where the other Clans lived, the cats SkyClan was looking for.

  The thought quickened her paw steps. How much fun would that be—I’d be there to greet Hawkwing when he and the others arrived!

  Then Pebbleshine realized it wouldn’t be fun at all. She shook her head as she thought of how worried Hawkwing would be, through every paw step of the long, weary journey.

  No. I have to find SkyClan first.

  The sun had disappeared, leaving only a few last streaks of red in the sky, by the time Pebbleshine reached the barn. She hurried through the twilight, her jaws watering as she anticipated sinking her teeth into a juicy mouse, just like the ones in Barley’s barn.

  Pebbleshine was skirting the trees, bounding across the last stretch of open ground, when a sudden spate of barking burst out behind her. Whirling around, she spotted a huge brown dog charging at her, its tongue lolling and its plumy tail waving.

  For a heartbeat, Pebbleshine froze. The dog was between her and the trees. Should she try to dodge around it and hope to scramble to safety in the branches, or should she head for the barn? In the end she did neither, crouching down instead, her fur bristling as she let out a defiant hiss.

  “Hey, knock it off, idiot!”

  A loud meow sounded from the direction of the barn. To Pebbleshine’s surprise, the dog skidded to a halt and sat back on its haunches, panting and twitching its ears in what looked like embarrassment. A small black cat strolled out from behind Pebbleshine, glancing from her to the dog and back again with amused green eyes.

  “Hi. My name’s Bug,” the newcomer announced. “Don’t worry about Bunny. He’s harmless.”

  For a moment all Pebbleshine could do was stare in astonishment. Dogs have names? And this one is called Bunny?

  “I’m Pebbleshine,” she choked out at last.

  “That’s a bit of a mouthful,” Bug commented. “Don’t your housefolk call you anything for short?”

  It’s a warrior name! Pebbleshine thought, her fur beginning to bristle. I’m proud of it! But then she had a horrible realization. Had she traveled so far from Clan territory that these cats hadn’t ever heard a Clan name? I’d better not act offended, she thought. Not when I need her help.

  “I don’t have any Twolegs—I mean housefolk,” she responded mildly.

  Bug blinked in surprise but said nothing more. Instead she padded up to Bunny and gave him a friendly shove with one paw. His tail thumped on the ground, but he stayed sitting.

  It looks like Bug and this dog are friends. I can’t imagine any cat wanting that. What’s going on here?

  Pebbleshine still didn’t trust him, and she kept her gaze fixed on him.

  “Do you want to come into the barn?” Bug mewed to Pebbleshine with a welcoming swish of her tail.

  Pebbleshine looked away from the dog and dipped her head gratefully. “Thanks.”

  “Is it okay if I let Bunny get up?” Bug asked. “I promise he won’t hurt you.”

  For a few heartbeats Pebbleshine hesitated. The dog was big enough to swallow her and Bug in one gulp, and she only had the word of a strange cat that he wasn’t dangerous. He doesn’t look like he’s going to attack . . . , she thought warily. She remembered the crazy eyes, drooling jaws, and vicious snarling of dogs she had encountered before. In contrast, Bunny just looked goofy. Even so, all of Pebbleshine’s muscles were tense and she was ready to flee at the first sign of a threat.

  At last she gave a small, reluctant nod. Bug turned and looked up into Bunny’s liquid brown eyes. “Okay, you can get up,” she meowed. “But stay out of the barn for a while, all right?”

  Bunny let out a short bark, then heaved himself to his paws and lolloped off toward the trees. Pebbleshine stared after him in amazement. “How does he know what you’re saying?” she asked Bug.

  The small black cat gave a tiny shrug. “Oh, we’ve both lived on this farm since we were born,” she replied. “We just understand each other. Come on.” She turned and headed toward the barn.

  Pebbleshine followed, still bemused. I was right. They are friends. . . . Wait until I tell Hawkwing! Then a hollow place opened up inside her as she remembered that she couldn’t tell Hawkwing, maybe not for a long time.

  Her bewilderment faded as she slipped into the barn through the half-open door and breathed in the succulent scent of mouse that surged out from piles of sweet-smelling grass. Pebbleshine almost leaped forward to hunt before she remembered that she didn’t have permission. She halted, giving her chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks.

  “Help yourself,” Bug invited her. “There are plenty of mice here—and they’re really fat.”

  There was little light in the barn as darkness fell outside, but Pebbleshine could make out piles of hay just like the ones in Barley’s barn. High-pitched squeaking filled the air. Pebbleshine crept forward until she spotted blades of grass twitching at the edge of the pile and heard the scuffle of tiny claws. She launched herself forward and slammed her paw down on a plump mouse. It was the easiest catch she had ever made.

  Bug settled down to keep Pebbleshine company as she ate. “I haven’t seen you around here,” she remarked.

  Pebbleshine shook her head, hastily swallowing a mouthful of prey. “No, I come from a long way away,” she told the black she-cat. “I’m looking for my Clan—the cats I live with. I last saw them in a big monster camp in the middle of some Twoleg dens. Do you know anywhere like that?”<
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  Bug was looking at Pebbleshine as if she had no idea what she was meowing about. “A monster camp?” she asked. “What’s that?”

  Pebbleshine’s heart sank. Not only have you not heard of the Clans . . . you don’t even know about monsters? “You know monsters, right?” she asked hopefully. “Big noisy smelly things with round black paws?”

  “Oh, them!” Bug nodded. “I know what you mean. But a camp . . . ?”

  “A whole lot of them sleeping together,” Pebbleshine explained, trying not to let her tail-tip quiver with impatience.

  Slowly Bug shook her head. “I’ve never seen more than one or two monsters together. I don’t think this ‘camp’ of yours can be near here,” she added with a doubtful twitch of her whiskers.

  Cold dread crept through Pebbleshine. How far had she come since she’d lost Hawkwing and the others? I felt like I’d traveled a long way in the monster, but it must be even farther than I thought if this cat has hardly ever seen monsters. “Then do you know of any other Clans—I mean groups of cats?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice steady. “They live beside a big stretch of water.”

  This time Bug’s denial was more certain. “I haven’t seen any ‘Clans’ around here,” she asserted. “I don’t see many other cats, and the ones I have seen have been other farm cats or housecats. And there aren’t any big stretches of water nearby.”

  Pebbleshine dug her claws hard into the earth floor of the barn. “I must find my Clan!” she meowed desperately.

  Bug brushed her tail-tip down Pebbleshine’s side, a comforting gesture. “Finish your prey,” she suggested, “and then have a good sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning, and you can start fresh.”

  Pebbleshine let out a long sigh. “Thanks. That’s kind of you, Bug.”

  When she had eaten and groomed herself, Pebbleshine made a nest in the fragrant hay and curled up in it. Bug settled down at her side. Pebbleshine had believed that her anxieties would keep her awake, but she was so exhausted that her eyes closed at once.

  I never used to get this tired, before I was expecting kits, she thought muzzily, drifting into a dream where she was searching for Hawkwing in a forest, but finding nothing except a faint trace of his scent, or a glimpse of a whisking tail among the undergrowth.

  The next thing she knew, light was slanting into the barn from the open door and from gaps set high in the walls. Eager yapping from outside had woken her. Pebbleshine sprang to her paws, shaking clinging hayseeds from her pelt as she looked around. There was no sign of Bug. After padding to the door and poking her head outside, Pebbleshine saw the black she-cat wrestling with Bunny. The huge dog had her pinned down beneath one massive paw, while Bug’s legs waved helplessly.

  Pebbleshine let out a hiss, tensing her muscles to come to her new friend’s rescue. I was right not to trust that dog! she told herself. Dogs and cats can’t be friends!

  But before Pebbleshine could move, Bug wriggled out from under Bunny’s paw. Bunny bent his head, and the two of them nuzzled each other like kits before Bug hurled herself onto the dog’s back. Bunny let himself go limp, rolling over, and Bug sprang away before she was squashed.

  They’re . . . play-fighting? Weird . . . , Pebbleshine thought, shaking her head. Maybe some dogs and cats could be friends, but all the same, she had no intention of getting closer to Bunny.

  Spotting Pebbleshine, Bug left the dog and raced over to her. “Hi,” she mewed. “Are you okay? Do you want to hunt again? We could do it together.”

  “Thanks. That’s a great idea.”

  With Bug at her side, Pebbleshine plunged back into the hay. At a signal from the black she-cat, Pebbleshine began circling around, moving gradually toward the edge of the pile. Bug circled in the opposite direction. Working together, they steadily drove their prey out of shelter; it wasn’t long before frightened squeaks and scurrying told Pebbleshine that their strategy was working. Finally, almost in the same heartbeat, two mice popped out into the open. Pebbleshine pounced on the nearest one, while Bug dispatched the other with one swipe of her paw.

  “Great catch!” Bug exclaimed.

  A pang of loss pierced Pebbleshine as she crouched down to eat beside the black she-cat; for a moment she had almost felt as if she were hunting with her Clan again.

  “I’m really grateful to you for letting me spend the night here,” she sighed when she had gulped down the last mouthful of prey. “But I have to go.”

  “Maybe you should stay,” Bug suggested, concern in her green eyes. “You’re welcome for as long as you want. I can see you’re expecting kits, and it worries me to think of you traveling by yourself.”

  Pebbleshine felt a jolt of surprise that another cat could tell she was carrying kits just by looking at her. When she had insisted on climbing onto the monster with the chickens, she had thought she wasn’t far enough along for it to be obvious. A pang of guilt shook her.

  Maybe I did take a risk that I shouldn’t have.

  For a heartbeat she was tempted to stay here, in shelter, with food and Bug’s friendship, a place where her kits could be born safely. But she knew how impossible that was. I can’t give birth to our kits without Hawkwing there. Not when I still have enough time and energy to find him, and my Clan! That was more important than anything.

  “No, I have to go,” she repeated. “Thanks, Bug, but my kits are the reason I can’t delay any longer. I’m determined that my kits will be Clan cats, and come into the world surrounded by their kin. I have a plan,” she added. “I have to find my way back to my mate. I’m sure he’ll be looking for me.”

  Bug padded alongside Pebbleshine as they headed back toward the Thunderpath, with Bunny trotting behind them at a distance.

  “Good-bye, then,” Bug mewed when they stood close to the edge of the black, reeking surface. She touched her nose briefly to Pebbleshine’s shoulder. “I hope you find your Clan.”

  “Good-bye,” Pebbleshine responded. “Thanks for everything, Bug. And may StarClan light your path.”

  Bug looked confused by Pebbleshine’s last words, but Pebbleshine didn’t wait to explain. That would take far too long!

  Checking the position of the sun to make sure she would be traveling in the right direction, Pebbleshine set out. She looked back once, waving her tail in farewell, to see Bug’s neat black shape sitting beside the Thunderpath, with Bunny’s huge figure looming beside her.

  A monster zoomed by in the opposite direction, the wind of its passing buffeting Pebbleshine’s fur. Flattening her ears, Pebbleshine swallowed in apprehension.

  They move so fast, she thought. And I was on that monster for so long—long enough to sleep and wake up. How far have I come?

  Pebbleshine was beginning to realize what a huge task lay before her. It could take her moons to walk back to the place where she had left her Clan, even if she was moving in the right direction.

  That meant there was only one way for her to get back to SkyClan in time for her kits to be born with them.

  I’ll have to get onto another monster.

  Chapter 3

  Pebbleshine padded alongside the Thunderpath, her shoulders hunched and her fur fluffed up against a thin, drizzling rain. She was thankful for her SkyClan paws, toughened from leaping up and down the rocks of the gorge. Her muscles were stronger now, she thought happily; in fact, the whole of the Clan had grown stronger. They had lost so much when they were driven out of the gorge, but they had gained, too.

  And I’ve gained more than strength, she told herself, thinking of the kits she carried. So has Plumwillow. She must be close to kitting by now. Pebbleshine was sure that their kits were StarClan’s promise that SkyClan would survive.

  The realization made Pebbleshine more determined than ever to return to her Clan before her kits were born. I have to climb onto another monster. But how can I?

  Monsters raced past her on the Thunderpath, some of them going in the right direction, but they were all moving too fast for her to jump onto. All ar
ound her was open territory, with no more monster camps or dens where they might go to sleep.

  Pebbleshine was beginning to despair when she made out a cluster of Twoleg dens in the distance. New energy flowed into her paws, and she picked up her pace until she reached the outskirts of the Twolegplace.

  Padding alongside the dens, Pebbleshine passed several monsters, but they were all asleep, some tucked away in little nests beside their Twolegs’ dens. Every one of them was closed up, with no way that she could see of climbing inside.

  “Mouse dung,” she muttered. “These monsters are a lazy bunch. They do nothing but sleep!”

  Finally, Pebbleshine spotted a monster sitting beside the Thunderpath, pointing in the direction she wanted to go. It looked nothing like the one she had traveled on, with the chickens, but its back was open to the air.

  When Pebbleshine glanced around, she couldn’t see any Twolegs inside the monster or near the den. Warily, she stalked toward it. Hoping the monster was asleep, Pebbleshine sneaked closer and, with a last cautious glance around, leaped lightly into its belly.

  Inside, the monster was full of weird shapes and scents: huge, odd-shaped rocks and brightly colored scraps of Twoleg debris. Pebbleshine squeezed into a space under one of the rocks and curled up, grooming her wet pelt with rapid strokes of her tongue. She hoped that when the monster’s Twolegs came, they wouldn’t notice her.

  Her whole body tingled with apprehension, but at the same time she felt a trace of the same thrill she had felt when she’d leaped onto the other monster to hunt chickens.

  We’re on our way, kits! she thought, then added, I really hope this works.

  Pebbleshine’s muscles tensed as she heard the thump of Twoleg paw steps outside the monster. Suddenly a shadow loomed up at its back and the opening slammed shut. She almost gave herself away with a screech of alarm, but managed to choke down the sound.

  I’m trapped inside a monster!

  Her fear spiked into panic as two adult Twolegs and a Twoleg kit clambered into the monster, meowing to one another. The kit sat on top of the rock where Pebbleshine was hiding, so close that if Pebbleshine had stretched out a paw, she could have touched it.