Free The Blazing Star by Erin Hunter Page B

neck, and touched the dead bird with his nose. “Yuck!” he exclaimed, his curiosity changing to disgust as he backed away. “It smells foul!”
    Thunder let out a sigh and glanced at Clear Sky, who beckoned the kits with a jerk of his head. “Get back here now !” he mewed commandingly. There was concern in his eyes, which surprised Thunder—it was a look he hadn’t seen from his father when he was a kit who needed him. He tried not to feel envious that Clear Sky cared for kits who weren’t even his own.
    The two kits bounced back to Petal, who gathered them close with her tail, and licked their ears affectionately.
    Clear Sky padded forward and gave the bird a careful inspection, looking just as disgusted as the other cats.
    â€œYou’ve been in the forest a long time,” he said to One Eye. “Have you seen this illness before?”
    One Eye twitched his ears. “It’s just sickness,” he replied. “Sickness is part of life in the wild.”
    Thunder could see that Clear Sky wasn’t satisfied withOne Eye’s answer. His eyes looked apprehensive as he glanced back at the kits. Then he turned back toward the moorland cats. “What brings you here?” he asked.
    Tall Shadow stepped forward. “We found out something about the Blazing Star,” she explained. “It’s a plant that grows on the other side of the Thunderpath, and we’re going to get some, to see if it will help us to understand what the spirit-cats meant.”
    Clear Sky’s whiskers quivered in annoyance. “You got a clue as to what the message meant, and you weren’t going to tell me? Aren’t we all in this together? Unite or die , remember?”
    Shame swept over Thunder as his father spoke. He could see that Tall Shadow felt the same. How could it not have occurred to any cat to tell Clear Sky what they had discovered?
    â€œWe never meant to keep it from you,” she assured Clear Sky. “We were just working quickly. But you’re right. We should find the Blazing Star together.”
    Clear Sky gave a grim nod, obviously not appeased by the black she-cat’s words. “Petal, take the kits back to camp,” he ordered. “One Eye, you go too.”
    Petal turned away, leading her kits back into the undergrowth, but One Eye stood still, bristling. “I should come with you,” he insisted. “You can’t shoo me back to camp like some mewling kit!”
    â€œYou’re not needed here,” Clear Sky meowed firmly. “And part of living in a group is knowing your place. Do you understand, One Eye?”
    Thunder was suddenly aware that the air was thickeningwith tension as the two toms faced each other. The mangy rogue’s single eye burned with hatred, and Thunder could tell from Clear Sky’s tight voice and rigid stance that he wasn’t confident, in spite of his show of authority.
    But Clear Sky’s gaze never wavered, and at last One Eye took a few paces back toward the camp. Thunder hoped that the confrontation was over, but as he and the others were turning to leave, One Eye halted and looked back over his shoulder.
    â€œThere’s not much you could do to keep me from following,” he hissed. “I may have only one eye, but it sees everything.”
    Before Clear Sky could respond, One Eye turned away again and vanished into the undergrowth.
    For a moment Clear Sky seemed lost for words. Then Tall Shadow padded up to him and brushed her pelt against his. “We’d better get going,” she mewed. “Daylight is short.”
    She took the lead again as they headed toward the Thunderpath. Mouse Ear walked beside Clear Sky, while Thunder brought up the rear with Pebble Heart, who still looked uneasy.
    â€œAre you okay?” Thunder murmured.
    The kit nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just worried about what is happening in the forest.”
    So are we all . . . .