Path of Stars by Erin Hunter

“every one of your campmates is beside you right now.”
    â€œAre you willing to take that chance?” Slash eyed her menacingly.
    She didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
    â€œYes.” Thunder stepped forward.
    â€œYes.” Tall Shadow lashed her tail.
    â€œNo!” Clear Sky looked desperately at River Ripple. Surely he wouldn’t let this happen. “Don’t you understand? He’sgoing to kill Star Flower!”
    River Ripple’s eyes rounded with sympathy. “We can’t give in to this bully,” he meowed softly. “He will only return with more demands until we all starve.”
    â€œSo you’re going to sacrifice my mate?” Clear Sky could hardly believe his ears. “The mother of my kits?”
    â€œVery well.” Slash’s mew was hard with rage. “If that is your decision.”
    â€œNo!” Clear Sky looked up at him pleadingly. “ I’ll hunt for you! You can have all my prey. Just give me Star Flower!”
    Slash’s gaze flashed with contempt. Then he turned and disappeared down the back of the great rock. His rogues filed after him. Clear Sky stood, motionless as rock, as he listened to them swish away through the bracken. Star Flower!
    Grief tore at his heart. Paws trembling, he stumbled and slumped onto his side. A sob choked his mew. Horror closed in around him so that he hardly heard the paw steps moving around him.
    â€œClear Sky.” River Ripple’s soft mew sounded in his ear.
    â€œYou’ve killed her. And my kits.” He buried his nose beneath his paw. “Leave me alone!” Everyone has betrayed me. Even my own son! “I never want to see any of you ever again.”
    Sharp claws raked his ears. “Clear Sky!” Wind Runner’s breath billowed over his face. “Sit up and stop acting like a kit.”
    Shocked, Clear Sky jerked up his head. Wind Runner, River Ripple, Thunder, and Tall Shadow were gathered around him, their eyes bright. “Don’t you understand?” hepleaded. “Star Flower’s going to die!”
    â€œYou fool,” Wind Runner hissed. “Do you think we have no hearts?”
    Thunder leaned down and nudged Clear Sky’s shoulder with his muzzle. “Get up.”
    â€œWhy?” Bewildered, Clear Sky let Thunder help him to his paws.
    Tall Shadow lifted her tail. “Come with us,” she told him. “We have something to show you.”

C HAPTER 5

    Gray Wing peered through the shadowy pines. Scrubland stretched ahead of him, bathed in moonlight. In the distance, he could hear the rumbling of the Thunderpath. Beyond the scrub, the carrion place rose against the star-specked sky. Gray Wing shuddered as the stench of the mountain of Twoleg trash touched his nose. Was Slash really keeping Star Flower so close to such a filthy place?
    Lightning Tail shifted beside him. The forest cat’s musky scent seemed strange to Gray Wing now. Leaf and Reed fidgeted in the shadows behind them.
    Leaf and Lightning Tail had volunteered to join the patrol when Gray Wing had traveled to Thunder’s camp to discuss his plan. Reed had insisted on coming right from the start, and Gray Wing had been grateful to his campmate. The silver tom’s knowledge of healing might be useful. Who knew what state they’d find Star Flower in?
    Lightning Tail wrinkled his nose. “Are you sure this is the place?”
    Gray Wing kept his gaze fixed ahead. “Fern said it was.”
    Leaf glanced over his shoulder uneasily. “Where is Fern?You said she’d meet us here.”
    â€œShe has to slip away from her campmates without being seen,” Gray Wing reminded him.
    â€œLet’s hope she hurries,” Reed muttered. “We need to get Star Flower away before the meeting is finished and Slash leaves the four trees. If he’s willing to kidnap a queen, what in the stars will he do to us if he finds us trying to help her