A Warrior's Spirit Read online

  “When we lived in the gorge,” Pebbleshine meowed, “some of our Clan members were daylight warriors. They lived in the gorge in the daytime, and hunted and trained with the rest of us, but at night they went back to their Twolegs.”

  Milo gave an enthusiastic swish of his tail. “That would be perfect!”

  “Where is SkyClan going now?” Olive asked. “I mean, if you can’t go back to the gorge.”

  “Well, we’re headed to a lake,” Pebbleshine explained, struggling to think of a way to explain Echosong’s vision in a way these kittypets would understand. “We have cats in the Clan who are very wise, who communicate with our ancestors. One of those cats had a vision that told her we should live by a lake.”

  She had been expecting more questions, but Olive and Milo looked satisfied. Olive gave her an earnest look. “I hope you find it,” she said softly.

  “Thank you.” Pebbleshine nodded. “I do too.” More than you know.

  While they’d been talking, the cats had continued to travel, and Pebbleshine realized that the sun had sunk below the horizon, casting long shadows over their route. “Is it much farther?” she asked.

  At the same moment, Milo exclaimed. “We’re almost there!”

  A narrow path led upward between two Twoleg dens. Milo bounded along it, while Pebbleshine and Olive followed. “It’s just over this hill,” Olive panted.

  Leaving the Twoleg nests behind them, the cats burst out onto an open, grassy slope, leading to a ridge outlined against the sky. Pebbleshine’s heart was pounding so hard she thought it would break out of her chest. Maybe my Clan will still be waiting for me! Maybe I’ll see Hawkwing again, right now!

  Pebbleshine raced up the slope, outstripping the two kittypets. Cresting the hill, she halted as if she had slammed into a wall of rock.

  She was looking down at the monster camp—but it wasn’t the right one. It was bigger than the one where she had lost her Clan, the walls that surrounded it were red, not gray, and where the line of bushes should have been was a tangle of brambles and a few stunted trees. She felt farther from her Clan than ever.

  “Are they here?” Olive gasped as she climbed the hill to stand beside Pebbleshine. “Are your friends here?”

  Pebbleshine shook her head. She wanted to wail her desolation, but she made her voice remain steady as she replied, “No. This isn’t the right place after all.”

  “Are you serious?” Milo exclaimed, reaching the top in time to hear Pebbleshine’s words. “But it sounded so much like what you described! Take a good look. Are you sure?”

  Pebbleshine looked downhill again, then looked him in the eye. “I’m sure, Milo. It is what I described to you. It’s just not the one where I left my friends.”

  Milo looked at the ground, but Olive bounded up to Pebbleshine, leaning in to nuzzle her cheek sympathetically.

  “I’m so sorry, Pebbleshine!

  “I can’t blame you,” Pebbleshine responded. “I asked you to show me a monster camp, and that’s what you’ve done. It’s not your fault that it isn’t the right one.”

  Milo stepped forward, and the two young cats pressed themselves against Pebbleshine, one on each side, trying to comfort her. Pebbleshine just felt empty. She had no idea what she should do next.

  “Maybe we should sleep,” Olive suggested after a few heartbeats. “It’s going to be dark soon. Probably things will look brighter in the morning.”

  Pebbleshine murmured agreement. I could sleep for moons and nothing would look brighter, but I don’t want to upset Olive.

  “I wish my housefolk were here to give us some food right now,” Milo meowed. “My belly’s growling so hard!”

  “I’ll hunt for you,” Pebbleshine offered immediately.

  “Oh, no, you don’t have to,” Olive objected. “You’ve had an awful shock, and you need to rest.”

  “Hunting will take my mind off my worries,” Pebbleshine insisted. She wasn’t sure that was true, but she knew that she had to get away by herself for a while, to come to terms with how all this effort had been for nothing. She was in danger of breaking down completely in front of two kittypets.

  And that’s the last thing I want, when they’ve gone to all this trouble to help me. They can’t possibly understand how hopeless I feel right now.

  The slope leading down to the monster camp was shallower than the one they had already climbed, dotted with bushes and the occasional outcrop of rock. Pebbleshine left the kittypets in a sheltered spot beside a gorse thicket and prowled off to look for prey.

  The sun had set and twilight was gathering. At first all Pebbleshine could scent was the acrid tang of monsters, but as she worked her way around toward the brambles and trees that edged the camp, she began to pick up definite traces of mouse and squirrel.

  She realized too that the discipline of hunting was helping to dispel the fog of misery that surrounded her. She felt the familiar tingle in her paws as she spotted a plump squirrel scuffling around in the debris at the edge of a bramble thicket and dropped into the hunter’s crouch, focusing on her prey as she crept up on it.

  A breeze sprang up as Pebbleshine was almost within pouncing distance, carrying her scent toward the squirrel. It sat up, then leaped away; Pebbleshine hurled herself toward it, but her outstretched forepaws slammed down on empty ground.

  The squirrel raced away toward the nearest of the stunted trees. Pebbleshine pelted after it, but she couldn’t catch it before it swarmed up the trunk and crouched on a low branch, chittering angrily at her as if challenging her to a fight.

  Good luck with that! Pebbleshine thought. I’m a SkyClan cat!

  Launching herself upward in a tremendous leap, she snagged her claws into the squirrel’s tail and dragged it down off the branch. The squirrel struggled briefly, until Pebbleshine killed it with a swift bite to the neck.

  Breathing hard, she stood over the limp body. “Thank you, StarClan, for this prey,” she mewed. But then the thought struck her: Can they even hear me? She was so far from home, so far from SkyClan; she didn’t even know where she was. Does StarClan?

  She shuddered. For a few heartbeats she had forgotten her troubles, but now they returned in full force. Back in the gorge she would have carried the squirrel to the fresh-kill pile, but there was no more camp in the gorge now, and she would eat her prey alone, not even knowing how far she was from her Clanmates.

  I wish Hawkwing had seen that catch, and I could share it with him.

  Forcing her grief to the back of her mind, Pebbleshine headed back to where she had left the kittypets. Their eyes gleamed in the gathering darkness as they spotted the prey she was carrying.

  “Wow, that’s huge!” Milo exclaimed. “You really just caught that?”

  “You must be a brilliant hunter,” Olive added.

  Not bad, Pebbleshine thought, a bit ashamed of herself for enjoying the kittypets’ praise. “Let’s share it,” she meowed, dropping her prey at her friends’ paws.

  Both Olive and Milo sniffed dubiously at the squirrel; Pebbleshine had to encourage them by tearing off a mouthful of the flesh. “Try it; it’s really good,” she mumbled as she gulped the prey down. Imagine, not wanting to eat fresh-kill!

  First Milo, then Olive, tasted the squirrel and took a few tiny bites. “It’s . . . er . . . very nice,” Olive murmured politely.

  “I don’t think you like it,” Pebbleshine responded, hiding her surprise. I’ve never met a cat who didn’t like a nice, juicy squirrel! She suddenly felt very alone again . . . just as she’d felt while hunting. She was the only Clan cat here. Possibly she was the only Clan cat anywhere around here. “I’m sorry.”

  “We’re sorry, too,” Milo told her. “Especially after you went to all the trouble of catching it. But we really prefer the food pellets our housefolk give us. They’re not quite so . . . furry.”

  When they had eaten what they could, the two kittypets curled up together in the shelter of the bushes and went to sleep. Pebbleshine stayed awake for a lo
ng time, staring up at the warriors of StarClan glittering above her. If I can see them, they can see me, she decided. They were the same stars that she had always known, ever since she was a kit in the gorge.

  As long as they’re there, I’m not alone. Surely StarClan will help me and my kits find SkyClan again.

  Pebbleshine slept at last, and woke at sunrise to find Olive and Milo grooming themselves beside her.

  “We have to head home now,” Milo meowed. “You can come with us if you like.”

  “I’m sure our housefolk would welcome you,” Olive added.

  Pebbleshine shook her head. “Thank you, but no. I have to go on looking for my Clan.”

  “Then just come for a little while,” Olive urged her, reaching out to touch the tip of her tail to Pebbleshine’s shoulder. “So that your kits will be born somewhere safe.”

  For a heartbeat Pebbleshine was tempted. Olive and Milo would make good daylight warriors someday. Perhaps she could stay with them, only until her kits were born, like they said, and then she could seek out SkyClan. . . . They could even come with me. But then she realized how impossible that would be. She was so far from the Clans—Milo and Olive would never leave their housefolk to travel that far. And her kits, if they were born as kittypets, might not want to leave. If she was even allowed to stay with her kits. She remembered tales the daylight warriors had told, of Twolegs taking kits away from their mothers, who never saw them again. No. My kits will be Clan cats, she vowed.

  “I can’t,” she mewed firmly. “It’s kind of you, but I need my kits to be born in a Clan. I’m more grateful than I can say for everything you’ve done.”

  The two young cats were clearly reluctant to leave her, but finally they said good-bye, inviting her to visit them if she ever returned this way. Pebbleshine stood at the crest of the hill, watching them race down the slope. At the edge of the Twolegplace they turned back, waving their tails in a last farewell, then vanished among the Twoleg dens. Pebbleshine let out a little sigh as she saw them go.

  When they were gone, Pebbleshine finished up the remains of the squirrel and sat for a while as the sun rose above the Twolegplace. She knew she would have to move on, but first she had to decide where to go. While she sat there, she felt a strange stirring in her belly, and drew in a wondering breath as she realized her kits were moving for the first time.

  From out of nowhere, a strong feeling swept over her: the certainty that her kits would be all right. They are the future of SkyClan. They have a destiny, and StarClan will make sure they will find their way to their Clan.

  But Pebbleshine realized that her chances of finding SkyClan now were next to none. Even if she could somehow find her way back to the place where she had lost them, they wouldn’t still be there. Leafstar would have made the decision to move on, for the good of the entire Clan.

  Pebbleshine knew that she had only one choice. She didn’t know where SkyClan was now, but she knew where they were going to be.

  I have to find the water—the place where the other Clans live.

  Exhaustion overwhelmed her at the thought. But as she drew to her feet, she glanced up at the sky, knowing that her ancestors were still there, watching her from behind the brightness of daylight.

  I’ve made it this far on my own, she thought. I’m stronger than I ever knew. And I will find them!

  Chapter 5

  Pebbleshine halted and opened her jaws to taste the air. She stood in a copse of thin trees, on the edge of another Twolegplace, and though her senses were almost swamped by the scents of Twolegs and monsters, she could just make out the smell of nearby birds.

  Almost a moon had passed since Pebbleshine had said good-bye to Olive and Milo, and her belly was heavy with her kits. Their weight made hunting harder, but at the same time she had gotten more practiced at hunting alone.

  Determined now, she dropped into the hunter’s crouch and began to slink in the direction of the scent. Soon she spotted a plump pigeon sitting at the end of a branch, seemingly unaware that Pebbleshine was creeping up on it. Pebbleshine paused to test the breeze and realized it was blowing in the right direction, keeping her downwind of the pigeon.

  If I time this just right, and keep quiet, my kits and I should have a good meal.

  The squirrel she had caught near the second monster camp had been the last time Pebbleshine had felt full-fed. Since then she had kept going on mice and shrews, but she desperately needed something more substantial.

  If I were still with SkyClan, Hawkwing and the other warriors would make sure I had enough to eat. But they aren’t here, so I have to depend on myself. I can do this!

  Pebbleshine reached the foot of the tree without alerting the pigeon. She knew that her days of amazing leaps were over until after her kits were born. Instead she began to climb up the trunk of the tree, careful to stay on the opposite side from the pigeon. When she reached the level of the branch where the pigeon was sitting, she realized that it might be too thin. If she landed on it, weighed down as she was by her kits, the branch could easily break before she had the chance to pounce.

  Glancing upward, Pebbleshine spotted a branch above that was sturdier. She clambered up and ventured out onto it, planning to leap down to strike at her prey. But just as she reached the spot above her quarry, the branch dipped under her weight, and the shadows of the leaves swept across the pigeon.

  With a cry of alarm, the pigeon unfolded its wings. Pebbleshine instinctively leaped after it as it took off, sailing over the roof of a small Twoleg den nearby. Her claws brushed the pigeon’s wing feathers, but before she could get a grip she and the bird thumped down together onto the roof. The impact drove the breath out of Pebbleshine. She rolled over, grasping for her prey, only to feel the roof give way under her weight. She let out a yowl of dismay, paws flailing, as she crashed through the flimsy covering and fell.

  For a few heartbeats, Pebbleshine was too stunned to be sure of what had happened or where she had ended up. She crouched where she had fallen, her eyes tight shut and her breath coming in shallow gasps.

  Eventually, still trembling with shock, she opened her eyes to see that she had fallen onto a pile of straw and some kind of soft Twoleg pelts. Her heart pounded with fear for her kits, and she curled herself around her swollen belly until she felt them shifting inside her. Letting out a long sigh of relief, she whispered, “Thank you, StarClan.”

  Determined to pull herself together, Pebbleshine scrambled to her paws and looked around. The pigeon was long gone. Light pouring through the hole in the roof showed her walls made of rough strips of wood with one small window. Unfamiliar shapes were stacked around the walls—some kind of Twoleg stuff stored there, Pebbleshine supposed.

  Right . . . How do I get out of here?

  Pebbleshine padded over to the door and reared up to press on it with her forepaws, but it didn’t give way. The hole in the roof was too high for her to leap up and escape that way. She tried two or three times to jump up at the window, but her heavy belly made her clumsy, and there was less power behind her leaps than she was used to. She couldn’t break the clearstone even though there was a crack in it. And there was no other way out, not even a mouse hole.

  The little den was full of dust and cobwebs, telling Pebbleshine that the Twolegs didn’t visit it very often. By the time anyone came to let her out, it would be too late. A shudder passed through Pebbleshine from ears to tail-tip at the thought that she might give birth to her kits while she was trapped here, and all of them would starve together.

  She was alone. She couldn’t even see StarClan from here, or feel their guidance. Suddenly she felt more hopeless than she ever had.

  If Hawkwing or any of my Clanmates were here, they would know I was missing and come to look for me, Pebbleshine thought, utterly miserable. I wouldn’t be in this mess. But as long as I’m alone, there’s no chance for me, or for my kits.

  Tired and discouraged, Pebbleshine curled up in the straw and fell asleep. It didn’t seem long befor
e she felt a warm sensation rousing her: some cat was licking her ears. Startled, she opened her eyes to see Hawkwing standing over her.

  But he can’t . . . he can’t be real, can he?

  “You have to get up,” he mewed, nudging her to help her stand.

  If I can feel him, he must be . . . Pebbleshine pressed herself against her mate, twining her tail with his and purring so hard she thought she would never stop. For a few heartbeats Hawkwing leaned closer and his scent wreathed around her, so that she felt it was soaking into her pelt, carrying a flood of strength with it. Is he dead, and communicating with me from StarClan? The terrible thought squeezed her chest. But he’s not sparkling with starlight . . . he looks just like when I left him! What’s happening?

  Hawkwing stood back. “Pebbleshine, there are things you must do,” he told her. Pebbleshine looked around and was relieved to see that others of her Clan were there, too: the deputy, Waspwhisker; Echosong the medicine cat; Tinycloud and Macgyver; and more behind them, vanishing into a blur. At their head stood the Clan leader, Leafstar, gazing at Pebbleshine with joy and affection in her amber eyes. A weird light surrounded them, flowing from the cats until it filled every cranny of the den.

  “I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” Pebbleshine asked, her voice cracking with disappointment. Even Hawkwing’s touch and scent—they must have been part of the dream! For a few moments she had believed that Hawkwing and her Clan had really come to rescue her.

  Hawkwing nodded, curling his tail around her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he meowed. “I wish I could really be with you.”

  “I’ve been trying to get back to you, ever since I was carried off on the back of that monster!” The words burst out of Pebbleshine, filled with all her fears and bitter regret for her useless striving. “But I can’t do it alone—I can’t!”

  “You can.” Hawkwing’s voice was strong and encouraging. “Pebbleshine, you must. Our kits have important destinies, and right now they’re in your paws. You can do what needs to be done.”