Sign Of The Moon

Stone Song bowed his head. “Perhaps we should be grateful that we lost only one cat,” he murmured.

“Try telling that to Shy Fawn!” Jagged Lightning snapped. “She’s carrying Dark Whiskers’s kits! How is she supposed to bring them up in this icy excuse for a den?”

Stone Song looked blank, as if he didn’t know what to say. He was saved from the rest of the conversation when Rising Moon hurried up to him and began speaking urgently, waving her tail toward the cats who were lying beside the cave walls.

“Chasing Clouds just came in with some prey,” she meowed. “But Shy Fawn is refusing to eat. Cloudy Sun’s pads are bleeding, and Running Horse says that he’s going back to the lake once the storm lifts.”

“You see?” Jagged Lightning flattened his ears. “Stone Song, you have to admit that this is a disaster.”

Stone Song let out a harassed sigh. “I won’t,” he retorted. “Rising Moon, as soon as the storm is over, can you go out and look for some dock leaves for Cloudy Sun’s pads? I’ll talk to Running Horse; there’s no question of an elder wandering about these mountains on his own, and deep down he knows it. As for Shy Fawn, we have to give her time to grieve.”

Jagged Lightning began to reply, but just then an excited yowl sounded from the other side of the cavern. “Jay’s Wing!”

Jayfeather spotted Fish Leap, the young tabby tom who had befriended him by the lake; he bounded across the cave and butted Jayfeather in the shoulder with his head. “Where have you been?” he demanded. “We thought we’d lost you.”

“I…er…I sort of changed my mind.”

Jayfeather realized that Stone Song had spotted him and was heading in his direction, with Jagged Lightning and Rising Moon at his heels. Whispering Breeze came running up to see what was going on, her silver tabby pelt glimmering in the light from the cave entrance. The other cats fell silent and stared at Jayfeather until his pelt felt as if it were going to crawl off his skin.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Half Moon burst out. “Jay’s Wing came back!”

Stone Song’s gaze traveled over Jayfeather, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How did you get here? The journey was hard enough for all of us together. One cat alone would find it far harder.”

“Does it matter?” Fish Leap mewed. “He’s here now.”

Jayfeather shrugged. “I followed your trail for most of the way, and guessed the rest.”

“And how did you get into the cave?” Jagged Lightning growled. “Some cat should have seen you. I don’t like all this sneaking around.”

“I wasn’t sneaking!” Jayfeather retorted, feeling his neck fur beginning to bristle. “If you were all too tired to notice me, that’s not my fault. I thought I’d explore these smaller caves,” he added, eager to change the subject. “They might be useful for something.”

Jayfeather noticed that Half Moon had moved to stand closer to his side, as if she was ready to defend him; her sweet scent tickled his nose, and he remembered how empty he had felt when he had returned to his own time through the tunnels, and left her behind.

“Well?” Whispering Breeze gave him a nudge with her shoulder. “What did you find in the caves?”

“Er…pointed stones in the one behind me. Lots of them,” Jayfeather replied. “And pools of water. It’s not a good place to sleep, because there’s a hole in the roof.”

Stone Song grunted. “What about the other cave? Could we use that for shelter?”

Jayfeather shot a swift glance at the passage that led to Stoneteller’s den. “Oh…er…that one’s fine,” he reported. If Stoneteller sleeps there, it must at least be watertight.

Whispering Breeze turned her blue gaze on Stone Song. “You’re surely not thinking of staying here?” she asked, shocked. “Not for any longer than we have to?”

Stone Song angled his ears across the cave to where Chasing Clouds was grooming ice out of his gray-and-white pelt. “You can see that the storm isn’t over yet,” he meowed. “We may as well be comfortable while we wait.”

“Comfortable?” Whispering Breeze’s neck fur started to bristle. “You’re crazy if you think any cat could be comfortable here.”

“We should never have left the lake.” A soft voice, ragged with grief and exhaustion, came from the darkness at the edge of the cave, and Broken Shadows limped into view. Jayfeather felt a rush of pity. The mother of Fallen Leaves was even more gaunt than when he last saw her, her orange pelt thin and her amber eyes dull.

“We should never have left,” she repeated. “What if Fallen Leaves finds his way out of the tunnels, and we’re not there?”

Half Moon padded over to her and drew her tail gently down Broken Shadows’s side. “That won’t happen,” she murmured.

“You don’t know that!” Broken Shadows hissed. “He’ll think I abandoned him. He’ll be all alone!” She wrenched herself away from Half Moon and rounded on Jayfeather. “This is all your fault! You cast the final stone! You made me leave my son behind!”

Chapter 14