The Blazing Star (34 page)

I hope they're right,
Sun Shadow thought.
But meanwhile, cleaning up after her will be pretty yucky.

“Well?” Sharp Hail's voice broke into Sun Shadow's thoughts. “Are you going to stand there all night? Get on with it!”

His belly still churning with resentment, Sun Shadow padded toward the back of the cave and the tunnel that led to Stoneteller's den. He had never been allowed there before, and at the end of the passage he halted, his eyes wide with wonder.

The tunnel opened into a smaller cave, lit by starlight from a jagged hole in the roof. Reflections glinted from pools on the cave floor. Most astonishing of all, stone pinnacles rose from the cave floor, rising to meet spikes of stone that hung from the roof. Some of them were joined in the middle, so that Sun Shadow felt that he was gazing into a forest made of stone.

Hardly daring to breathe, Sun Shadow padded forward. “Stoneteller?” he called softly.

There was no reply. But a moment later Sun Shadow spotted the old white she-cat curled up beside one of the pools, her tail wrapped over her nose. Her body rose and fell gently with the rhythm of her breathing. She looked perfectly fine; there was no scent of vomit around her.

Sun Shadow retreated quietly and returned to the main cave. He crouched at the end of Stoneteller's tunnel, trying to ignore the rumbling of his belly.

All the prey had been shared by the time I got back. And I'm not going to
ask Sharp Hail if there's any left!

A few tail-lengths away, Sun Shadow spotted Quiet Rain sitting beside her sleeping hollow and nibbling daintily on a mouse. As he watched her, his jaws watering, Quiet Rain glanced his way, then picked up her prey and padded over to him.

“You look like you could use some kindness,” she murmured, blinking sympathetically at his injured face. “Here.” She tore the mouse in two and pushed half of it toward him.

“Thank you!” Sun Shadow meowed, tearing hungrily into the prey.

“You look so much like your father,” Quiet Rain went on. “The same slender build and black pelt. It's a pity he never saw you.”

Sun Shadow looked up, gulping down the last mouthful. “My father is a hero,” he declared. “He left the mountains and risked the dangerous journey down the Sun Trail to find new hunting grounds and save all the cats who stayed in the mountains.”

To his surprise, Quiet Rain seemed not to share his admiration. “That's true, but to do that, he left your mother on her own, even though she was expecting kits,” she pointed out.

A pulse of anger shot through Sun Shadow. “It was a sacrifice he had to make!” But his anger died as he met Quiet Rain's steady gaze, and he remembered that she too had been left behind. “Your kits—Clear Sky, Gray Wing, and Jagged Peak—were heroes too,” he went on. “Do you ever wonder about them?”

Quiet Rain did not reply, though her eyes misted over, as if she was gazing into the far distance. Sun Shadow found himself questioning whether the she-cat was lonely.
She never took another mate, or had another litter. All her kits are gone.

“Do you ever think about what life is like at the end of the Sun Trail?” Sun Shadow asked her. “Beyond this mountain?”

Quiet Rain remained silent for a few heartbeats, and Sun Shadow hoped he hadn't upset her. But when she met his gaze again, her expression was resolute.

“I often wonder how my kits are faring,” she replied. “I would like to see them once more before I die. But my place is here, on this mountain, with these cats.” She paused, running the tip of her tail along Sun Shadow's back. “Perhaps every cat wonders about life beyond the mountain,” she mewed. “But you must find your place in the group
here
, where you belong.”

Without waiting for a reply, she padded back to her sleeping hollow and curled up inside it.

Sun Shadow watched her, impressed by her wisdom. But before he could think more about what she had said, he heard the sound of Stoneteller's voice coming from her den at the end of the tunnel. It was too far away for him to make out the words, but there was an urgency in her tone that made him spring to his paws and race down the tunnel toward her.

Maybe she's ill! I have to help her!

But when Sun Shadow erupted into Stoneteller's cave, he saw her standing erect on her paws, her head raised and her gaze fixed on the jagged gap in the roof. Her green eyes shone brilliantly, as if what she saw there filled her with mingled
joy and sorrow. Sun Shadow didn't dare speak; he could only watch and listen in wonder.

“Fluttering Bird . . . Shaded Moss . . . Bright Stream . . . Turtle Tail . . .” She breathed out. “Oh, my dear friends! I thought I would never see you again. How is it that you're here now, with me?”

Stoneteller paused, as if she was listening to an answer, though Sun Shadow couldn't hear or see anything.

Then Stoneteller bowed her head. “Now I understand,” she murmured. “I am not ready yet, but if that is what you wish . . .”

Fear gripped Sun Shadow, piercing his body like claws of ice as he realized what the old she-cat meant.
Fluttering Bird was Quiet Rain's kit who died of hunger. If Stoneteller's talking about joining her, she must be talking about dying. . . . But she can't!
His heart thumped and his chest felt tight with panic.
What will we do without our leader?

C
HAPTER
T
WO

Stoneteller's vision seemed to fade, and
at last she turned with slow paw steps toward her nest at the far end of the cave. Sun Shadow followed her, ready to offer help if she seemed to need it, but she curled up among the moss and fell asleep almost at once.

Sun Shadow crouched in the shelter of one of the stone trees, reluctant to leave his leader yet knowing there was nothing he could do for her. Though his body ached with exhaustion, his horror at what he had overheard kept him awake.

We
need
Stoneteller! Every cat said she had many seasons left. What are we going to do when she's gone?

Eventually Sun Shadow rose to his paws, stretched cramped limbs, and slipped back through the tunnel into the main cave. The sky beyond the screen of falling water at the entrance was dim gray, telling Sun Shadow that a new day was dawning.

Wearily Sun Shadow headed toward his family's sleeping hollows at the side of the cave. His half brothers and sister, Falling Dusk, Morning Star, and Melting Ice, were already awake, wrestling together and trying to see who could jump
the highest. Dewy Leaf sat beside her hollow, grooming herself and watching the kits play.

“Are you okay?” she asked as Sun Shadow approached. “Does your face still hurt?”

“No, it's fine,” Sun Shadow replied, settling down beside her.

Dewy Leaf gave him a sideways glance. “You don't have to tell me how you got injured,” she meowed after a few moments. “I just want you to be safe—do you understand?”

I
don't
want to be safe. But she'll only get angry if I tell her that.
Sun Shadow didn't know how to reply, so he said nothing.

Dewy Leaf shifted uncomfortably, pausing as she drew her paw over one ear. “I'm sorry Sharp Hail is so hard on you sometimes,” she went on. “It's just . . . oh, you really worry me, Sun Shadow! You're so much like your father! Sometimes I don't know what to do with you.”

Sun Shadow pricked up his ears at the mention of Moon Shadow. “How am I like my father?” he asked, his voice cracking with his need for an answer.

Dewy Leaf gazed at him affectionately. “You're curious and brave,” she replied. “And sometimes reckless and selfish. And smart and cunning . . . Maybe I'm afraid that you'll leave, like Moon Shadow did,” she finished quietly. “Maybe that's why I hold you so close.”

Sun Shadow felt an ache in his heart at his mother's words. He wanted to reassure her, but he couldn't.
Maybe she's right. Maybe someday I
will
leave.

Suddenly he didn't want to go on talking about his father.
And there was something more urgent pressing on his mind. “Dewy Leaf,” he began, “what would happen to us if Stoneteller died?”

Fear flashed into Dewy Leaf's eyes. “Why are you asking?” she meowed. “Is Stoneteller . . . ?”

“She's fine,” Sun Shadow replied abruptly, staring at his paws, as if Dewy Leaf could read in his face his weird experience in Stoneteller's den. “But what if . . . ?”

Daring to look up, he saw confusion in his mother's face. “We'd go on as we always have,” she told him. “Some other cat would step up to lead us.”

She glanced toward the other side of the sleeping hollows. Sharp Hail had appeared and was teaching the young kits how to pounce.

Sun Shadow felt something shrivel inside him.
Sharp Hail could never be our leader. He just couldn't!

“But none of the other cats have visions like Stoneteller,” he objected.

“Not all leaders have visions,” Dewy Leaf told him. “In fact, Stoneteller was the first. There are other ways to lead.”

Sun Shadow nodded, aware that he knew exactly how Sharp Hail would lead.
Even the bit of freedom I've got would be taken away from me.

“I should get back to Stoneteller,” he meowed, rising to his paws and heading for the back of the cavern.

“Don't you want something to eat?” Dewy Leaf called after him, but Sun Shadow didn't reply, increasing his pace until he could plunge out of sight down the tunnel.

When Sun Shadow emerged into the old cat's den, he found Stoneteller awake, sitting beside one of the pools and watching the reflections of the clouds scudding across the sky. He padded up to her and dipped his head respectfully.

“Sharp Hail sent me to look after you,” he meowed.

Stoneteller looked up to meet his gaze. In spite of her age, her green eyes were sharp and full of wisdom. “That was kind,” she responded.

Kind? Sharp Hail?
Sun Shadow bit back the words. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked.

Stoneteller thought for a moment. “You might freshen up the bedding in my sleeping hollow,” she mewed.

“Of course.” Sun Shadow padded over to the leader's nest and began to stir up the moss and feathers that lined the hollow, wondering whether he would need to go out and find more. He noticed that one of the hunters had brought prey for Stoneteller: a small bird whose limp body lay beside the nest. There was no sign that Stoneteller had even touched it.

A sharp cry from behind him made Sun Shadow whirl around, to see Stoneteller had moved a few paw steps away from the pool. She had collapsed on her side with a look of agony in her eyes.

Swiftly Sun Shadow ran to her. “What is it?” he asked, fear and anxiety swelling inside him. “How can I help?”

Stoneteller let out a long, shaken breath. “Please . . . bring me some water.”

Sun Shadow grabbed a mouthful of moss from the nest and
went to soak it in the pool. It seemed so little that he could do for the old she-cat.
I'll do anything I can to protect her . . . but what can any cat do?
He wished he didn't have so much faith in Stoneteller's predictions.
If her visions tell her that she's going to die, then she'll die.

“Thank you,” Stoneteller murmured as Sun Shadow laid the soaking moss down beside her. She sighed as she stretched out her tongue to lap. “That tastes so good.”

Sun Shadow watched her for a moment, then went back to the nest and fetched the bird. “Look, some cat has left this for you,” he meowed.

Stoneteller shook her head. “I'm not hungry,” she responded. “I haven't been able to keep food down for days.”

Even more worried, Sun Shadow pushed the bird a little closer to her. “You should at least try,” he coaxed her.

Once more Stoneteller raised her head and fixed him with her brilliant green gaze. “You cannot save me,” she declared.

Sun Shadow felt his lower jaw beginning to tremble. “You—you
are
going to die, then,” he stammered.