Tigerheart’s Shadow

He didn’t speak as Fierce led them on a tour of her favorite scrapcans. He waited while the others rummaged through the trash, and he gathered up the scraps they tossed down and hid them. As they headed down another wet alley, he glimpsed movement at the end. Something small was scuttling there. He opened his mouth, letting damp air bathe his tongue. Prey. Narrowing his eyes, he made out the slick pelts of several black rats. They were swarming at the end of the alley where a tall mesh fence blocked the end.

“Look!” Tigerheart nudged Dovewing and jerked his muzzle toward the rats.

Fierce, in a scrapcan above them, stopped delving. Ant and Spire paused. They followed Tigerheart’s gaze.

“Let’s catch them,” Tigerheart flexed his claws eagerly.

“But this can is full.” Fierce dropped a soggy scrap onto the ground.

“Fresh prey will be better for the sick cats,” Tigerheart pointed out. “Littlecloud used to say that warm fresh-kill was the best medicine.”

Spire nodded. “That scrawny tom we took in last quarter moon could do with some fresh meat.”

Dovewing shifted her paws. “I guess the kits have to get used to fresh-kill eventually.”

You guess? Tigerheart’s belly tightened. “Come on.” Without waiting, he hurried along the alley.

Dovewing and the guardian cats followed.

The rats were bunched against the mesh at the end. This would be an easy kill. Tigerheart swiped his tongue around his lips and dropped into a stalking crouch as he neared them. The others fanned out beside him.

The rats saw them. Fear sparked in their small, black eyes. They scrabbled against the fence, squabbling as they fought to escape. One squeezed through a gap where the mesh was torn. It escaped into the alley beyond. A moment later, the other rats broke through and streamed after it.

“Quick!” Tigerheart leaped to the fence and, seeing where the mesh was torn, tugged a curled edge with his paws. Triumph sparked in his chest as it gave easily and opened into a gap big enough to push through. The swarm of rats was already at the end of the alley. They disappeared around the corner as he scraped through the gap and raced after them.

He heard the guardian cats splashing through the puddles behind him as he rounded the corner and spotted the rats fleeing downhill. They were following the edge of a Thunderpath as it disappeared into a tunnel.

Dovewing caught up to him. “Where are they?”

“In there.” He nodded toward the tunnel and ran harder. Dovewing was at his tail as darkness swallowed him. Monsters roared through the tunnel, their blazing eyes illuminating the stone walls. Tigerheart glimpsed the rats in their eye beams. They were running for the light at the far end.

Tigerheart glanced over his shoulder. Fierce, Spire, and Ant were catching up, and as he neared the end, they spread out beside him. He charged out into the rain with them at his side. “There they go!”

The rats were streaming away from the Thunderpath, toward a vast field of trash piled high beside water. “We have to catch them before they reach the trash.” There was no way they’d be able to follow them into the chaotic mess of discarded Twoleg litter. He pushed harder, leading the patrol close to the trash. If they could steer the rats away from it, they could catch them. He was close now, herding the rats toward a muddy ditch at the bottom of a slope. The ditch would crowd them together and slow their flight. Stragglers would fall behind, and it would be easy to pick them off.

Suddenly the rats veered sideways. Tigerheart blinked in surprise as the terrified prey cut across his path. He lunged for them, but he’d been caught off guard. They streamed around him, slipping around his paws. He stretched his claws, trying to get a grip on the wet stone as the rats fled out of reach. What had made them change course? He glanced up the slope. Fog and Tuna were pounding toward him, a white tom at their heels. Their eyes were fixed on the rats, which swarmed into the trash field, where they scattered. Fog, Tuna, and the white tom pulled up as the rats disappeared among the heaps of stinking litter.

“You scared them away!” Tigerheart faced the strays angrily.

“Why didn’t you stop them?” Fog blinked at him. “They were right under your paws.”

“Have you ever tried catching rats before? They’re fast and they’re slippery.” Tigerheart jerked his nose toward the ditch. “I had a plan and you ruined it! You drove them straight into the trash field.” These cats hunted like mouse-brains. As Fierce slewed to a halt beside him, Tigerheart glared at her. “This is why you need borders!” he snapped. “If you knew where your land was, you could hunt there without other cats interfering with your catch.”

Ant, Spire, and Dovewing reached them and stared at the strays.

Tuna stared back. He nodded to the white tom. “These are the cats we mentioned, Streak.”

Streak looked at them through narrowed eyes. “Are they the ones who live inside that big, warm, dry den?”

Tigerheart glared at Fog. “You promised to keep out of our way.”