Tallstar’s Revenge

“Are you planning on pushing back?” Pixie challenged with a hiss.

“Not yet.” In the moonlit clearing he could see her scarred muzzle and thin, yellowing tail. He guessed she’d been white once.

Jake padded past Talltail. “We haven’t come to start a fight,” he mewed to Jay.

Talltail saw movement at the edge of his vision. He jerked his head around, scanning the shadows. Cats were creeping forward, their eyes glinting in the moonlight. Some wore collars, but they couldn’t be kittypets; their pelts were ragged and flea-bitten, their ears nicked, their noses scratched. Talltail eyed them warily, wondering if Jake understood how much danger they were in.

A russet-furred she-cat padded to Jay’s side. “What are they doing here?” she asked, her narrow gaze fixing on Talltail.

Talltail stiffened. Were they going to have to fight their way out of here?

Jay shrugged. “Don’t ask me, Red. It was Marmalade and Pixie who brought them.” She bent down stiffly and tried to wrestle a piece of flesh from the pigeon with her gums.

The ginger tom who’d helped Pixie escort them here pushed past Talltail. “We caught them.”

“Well done, Marmalade.” Red met his gaze with a withering look. “Did you think they were mice?” Marmalade’s pelt rose along his spine but he said nothing. Red padded closer to Talltail and sniffed him. “You smell strange. And you’re small for a kittypet.”

“He’s not a kittypet; he’s a Clan cat,” meowed Jake.

Red narrowed her eyes. “Then what’s he doing here?”

“He’s with me.” Jake shook out his fur. “We’re on a mission. We came to ask Jay a question.”

Talltail hissed in his ear. “Don’t tell them everything!”

Jake blinked at him. “They’re not interested.”

Talltail nodded toward the cats milling in the shadows. “And we don’t want them to be interested. They might try to stop us.”

Jake frowned. “But they might be able to help us.”

Talltail lashed his tail. These cats looked as helpful as a ShadowClan patrol. “Let me do the talking,” he insisted.

Jay lifted her head. “That’s just what I need. A talker.”

Talltail straightened. Just imagine she’s Whiteberry. He was used to coaxing grumpy elders into a better mood when damp weather made their bones ache. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he began softly. “But Jake said you’re the only cat who knows everything that happens around here.”

“That’s true enough,” Jay conceded, narrowing her eyes.

“We’re tracking some rogues who may have passed this way two moons ago,” Talltail explained as briefly as he could. “We were hoping you’d seen them.”

“Why?” Jay rasped. “Are they worth seeing?”

Talltail shrugged, trying not to seem too eager. “They’re just rogues.”

Marmalade pricked his ears. “What does a Clan cat want with rogues?”

Red padded around Talltail. “Perhaps he wants to join them.” Her gaze flicked over his pelt. “Perhaps he’s bored of the Clans.”

Talltail ignored her. “One of them’s called Sparrow.”

Jay rubbed a feather from her nose with her paw. “Why is a Clan cat traveling with a kittypet?” Her gaze rested on Jake.

Jake glanced at Talltail, as though asking permission to speak. Talltail kept his attention on Jay. “He likes Clan cats, that’s all,” he mewed.

“Clan cats.” Jay’s eyes clouded, as though she was remembering something from long ago. “I knew a cat once who liked Clan cats.” She bent down and tugged unsuccessfully at the pigeon’s flesh.

Jake trotted forward. “Let me help.”

Talltail’s heart lurched as Jake hooked the pigeon away from Jay. He flexed his claws, ready to fight, as Red and Marmalade showed their teeth. Growls rumbled from the shadows. At the edge of the clearing, the flea-bitten cats padded closer.

“I can rip off a chunk so you can get to the soft flesh,” Jake mewed cheerfully. He went on as Jay stared at him, wide-eyed. “It’s okay. I won’t eat any. I’ll just find you a juicy bit.” He nuzzled through the feathers and, holding the pigeon still with a paw, peeled off a strip. He dropped it at Jay’s paws and tore off another. Then he pushed the pigeon back toward her. “It’ll be easy to get into now.”

Talltail blinked. Was Jake really as rabbit-brained as he seemed? He’d nearly had a swarm of spitting cats on their tails.

Jay leaned down and sniffed the hunks of flesh, dabbing a piece with her tongue. She sat up and glanced at her companions. “Why couldn’t one of you think of that?”

Pixie bristled. Marmalade glared at Jake.

“I’m sure they did,” Jake told her. “But they were too polite to offer.”

Jay snorted. “Any more politeness and I’d starve to death.”

As she bent and took a bite, Jake leaned closer. “Can Talltail ask you those questions now?”

“About the rogues?” Chewing, Jay tipped her head. “Go on.”

Talltail pricked his ears. Perhaps Jake had just found a way to get them the answers he wanted. Not so rabbit-brained after all, kittypet! “I heard they might have come this way. Have you seen them?”

Jay swallowed. “Do they have names?”