Free Path of Stars by Erin Hunter

enough breath to explain. “Star Flower’s kits,” he rasped.
    â€œHer kits ?” Pebble Heart ducked close, his pelt rippling. “Are they coming?”
    Gray Wing nodded mutely.
    â€œIt’s too soon!” Pebble Heart looked at Jagged Peak, panic flashing in his gaze.
    Jagged Peak ignored him and stared at Gray Wing. “Where is she? Did you get her away from the rogues?”
    â€œYes, but she collapsed. Rogues . . . following.” Gray Wing managed to blurt out the words, hoping Jagged Peak would know what to do.
    Jagged Peak lifted his head. “Mouse Ear! Sun Shadow!Holly! Go and find Star Flower. Bring her here.”
    â€œThere may not be time if the kits are coming!” Pebble Heart flicked his tail as the three cats started for the camp entrance. “Let me come too! I might be able to help.”
    Jagged Peak glanced at him. The young tom looked determined. “Okay.”
    Gray Wing pushed himself to his paws, the air slowly returning to his lungs. “I’ll show you the way,” he wheezed.
    â€œYou need to rest,” Pebble Heart told him sharply.
    â€œ I know where she is,” Gray Wing gasped, Star Flower’s desperate yowl ringing in his mind. “She’s suffering. If you follow the wrong trail, she might die.”
    Mouse Ear stopped at the entrance. “He’s right.”
    â€œHe can rest when he’s shown us where to go,” Holly agreed.
    Pebble Heart looked anxiously at Gray Wing. “Will you be okay?”
    â€œI have to be,” Gray Wing told him grimly. He headed after the others, struggling to hide the shakiness of his paws.
    Holly waited for him to catch up and pressed against him. “Lean on me,” she murmured.
    â€œI can manage—”
    â€œJust lean!” she told him firmly.
    He relaxed against her, relieved to feel some of the weight leave his paws as she moved beside him, her shoulder supporting his.
    Mouse Ear hurried ahead as they left camp. “Which way?” His gaze scanned the shadows.
    â€œToward the ditches,” Gray Wing puffed. He jerked hisnose toward the thickening pines. “She’s beside the Thunderpath.”
    Mouse Ear hared away, Pebble Heart at his heels. Their pelts were quickly swallowed by the darkness.
    â€œHurry!” Gray Wing pushed on harder, relieved to feel Holly keeping up. Sun Shadow pressed against his other flank. Together they took his weight so that his paws seemed to skim the earth.
    â€œIs this the right way?” Pebble Heart’s mew echoed from the blackness ahead.
    â€œWait,” Gray Wing puffed as Holly and Sun Shadow steered him toward the young tom’s voice. They caught up to him in a pool of moonlight where a fallen tree had left a hole in the canopy. Mouse Ear was circling Pebble Heart, his gaze scanning the forest. Gray Wing stretched his nose forward. “Cross the ditches and head straight,” he ordered. “She’s beyond the thickest part of the forest.”
    Pebble Heart and Mouse Ear hared away again.
    Holly and Sun Shadow pressed harder against Gray Wing. Frustration clawed at his belly. He felt like an ancient, lumbering badger. He shouldn’t need help like this. Why did his breathing have to be so bad? He let them lead him after Mouse Ear and Pebble Heart until they reached the ditches.
    Sun Shadow and Holly broke away. “You need to leap these yourself,” Holly warned him.
    Gray Wing drew in a shuddering breath, realizing with relief that his breathing had eased. He leaped the first ditch and crossed the short stretch of ground to the next. He leapedagain, then again, until he’d crossed the rutted clearing, then veered toward the trail he’d followed from the Thunderpath.
    He halted as Holly and Sun Shadow caught up. There was no sign of Pebble Heart or Mouse Ear’s scent. “They’ve gone the wrong way!”
    â€œPebble Heart!” Holly yowled through the