Tallstar’s Revenge

“No!” Flykit squealed.

“Don’t be silly,” Wrenkit chided. “Of course they won’t eat us.”

“But what if they did?”

Talltail felt Flykit scrabble along his spine. “It’s okay, Flykit.” He stopped beside Lilywhisker. “We’re just pulling your tail.”

Lilywhisker reached forward and swung Flykit off Talltail’s back by his snowy scruff. Talltail hunkered down and let the others scramble off. He watched as the kits swarmed over Flailfoot, his heart aching at the sight of the kits and elders. There was so much he would miss. And yet his destiny lay elsewhere—with revenge for his father’s death. And then what?

Talltail pictured the mountains beyond Highstones. There was so much to discover out there, enough to fill countless lifetimes.

“Lilywhisker.” He dipped his head solemnly to the elder. “Thank you for your kindness these past moons.”

The old cat blinked in surprise. “Er, okay.” She looked as if she was about to question him, so Talltail backed away.

“I have to speak with Heatherstar,” he meowed. He turned and trotted over to the Meeting Hollow. “Heatherstar? Can we talk?”

She looked up, her eyes darkening, and nodded to Reedfeather. “We can continue this later,” she murmured to her deputy, and leaped out of the hollow. “Follow me, Talltail.”

He followed her to her den, sliding into its shadow for the second time that day. “I have to leave WindClan.” He blurted out the words before Heatherstar had even sat down.

“Leave WindClan?” She repeated his words almost absently, her gaze wandering as though she was remembering something from a long time ago. “Okay,” she murmured at last.

Wasn’t she going to ask him why? “Sparrow was never punished for killing Sandgorse,” he told her bluntly. “I have to find him and make him pay for what he did.”

“And that’s why you’re leaving.” Heatherstar curled her tail over her paws. “Couldn’t you wait for him to return next greenleaf and punish him then?”

Talltail shifted his paws. Why was she being so calm? He was going to leave WindClan! “There’s more to it than that,” he admitted. “I… I want to see what lies beyond the Clans. Don’t you?”

Heatherstar shook her head. “The Clan has always been as much as I need.”

“But my Clanmates don’t understand me. Some of them don’t even like me.”

“You could change that,” she meowed softly. “They respect you. But they can sense your anger and unhappiness. It makes their pelts prick.”

“That’s why I need to go,” Talltail confessed. “I feel trapped here.” Thoughts of tunnels—roaring water and pressing earth—swamped him. He struggled to catch his breath. “I need fresh wind in my pelt.”

“You feel trapped by your home?” Heatherstar tipped her head questioningly. “Are we trapped by the sky, or the earth?” she asked. “Are we trapped because we need prey to live? Or water to drink? Or air to breathe? We depend on all these things, but they don’t make us feel trapped.” Her eyes burned in the darkness. “Can you imagine what your life will be like without the protection of your Clan? You will have to hunt for yourself, heal yourself if you get hurt. There will be no one to share your victories. Or your defeats.”

Talltail’s ears twitched. “But I will be free.”

“You will be free to discover where your heart truly lies.” Heatherstar’s mew was barely a whisper. She seemed to be talking to herself.

Talltail leaned closer. “Barkface had a sign from StarClan.”

“Barkface is a talented young medicine cat.” Heatherstar’s eyes sparked. “But it is Hawkheart who reads signs from StarClan.”

“The sign said I should leave.”

“A cat decides his own path.”

“Don’t we have to do what StarClan tells us?”

Heatherstar purred. “Our ancestors were all cats like us once. They know we shape our own destinies.”

Talltail’s fur tingled. “I’m leaving,” he meowed. “Now.”

“I understand.” Heatherstar sighed and stood up. “I know there is nothing I can say to change your mind. But say farewell to your Clan first.”

“Do I have to?” Talltail swallowed. He didn’t need to explain himself. He only needed to tell them what he planned to do. He followed Heatherstar out of the den, around the rim of the hollow, and stopped beside her at the head of the grassy clearing.

“WindClan!” Heatherstar beckoned her Clanmates forward with a flick of her tail. “Talltail has something to say.”

Aspenfall padded from the prey-heap pile. Cloudrunner got to his paws and crossed the tussocks. Hareflight and Shrewclaw fell in beside him. Mistmouse and Hickorynose climbed from their nests in the bracken patch. Woollytail nearly tripped over Hopkit, Sorrelkit, and Pigeonkit as they dashed ahead of Meadowslip and barged past their Clanmates.

Redclaw halted as the kits bounced past him. “Watch out!”

Wrenkit scrambled over the bumpy clearing with Bristlekit and Flykit at her heels. They crowded around Palebird as she padded out of the nursery.

“What does Talltail want?” Flykit asked his mother anxiously.

Palebird stooped to smooth the white fur between his ears with her tongue. “I don’t know.”