Mistystar’s Omen

“Too scared to come any closer?” jeered Graymist, standing on her toes. “We’ll give you a proper fight!”

The dogs sprang forward, crossing the short, muddy grass in a few strides. Mistystar gripped the stone tightly to keep herself from fleeing. At the far end of the wooden fence, Reedwhisker jumped down and raced along the side of the Twoleg den to where the apprentices were hiding.

“Come on!” Mistystar heard him call. “This way, quick!”

Hollowpaw and Rushpaw started to creep out from underneath the ledge. Faster, faster, Mistystar willed them.

In the brief silence, the dogs’ attention had turned away from the cats on the wall. One of them swung its massive head back toward the Twoleg den. When it saw the three cats outlined sharply against the pale gray stone, it let out a growl. With a mad scrabble of gigantic paws, the dogs whirled around and started to hurtle back toward Reedwhisker and the apprentices.

“No!” screeched Mistystar. Without thinking, she leaped down behind the dogs. “Come back here! Take me instead!”

“Get back to the wall!” yowled Reedwhisker, who had reached the apprentices and was standing in front of them, shielding them with his tail.

“Run!” Mistystar hollered. She was almost at the dogs’ heels now; mud was splashing into her face from their racing paws, and she was almost knocked off her feet by one of their thick-furred tails. She sprang up and grabbed the end of the tail in her teeth. At once the dog skidded to a halt, jerking Mistystar forward. She braced herself and sank her teeth deeper into the fleshy tail. The dog circled, and Mistystar found herself being dragged sideways.

“Let go, Mistystar!” she heard Mallownose shout from the wall. Mistystar gritted her teeth and clung on. She could feel the dog’s breath hot on her neck and the stench was enough to make her gag, but she knew she couldn’t let go.

There was a rapid pounding of paws, and suddenly Graymist and Robinwing were beside her, rearing up on their hind legs to slash at the dog. With a yelp, it jumped backward. Mistystar lost her grip and stumbled onto her knees. Graymist shoved her up to her feet, and the three cats raced back to the wall.

“Where’s Mallownose?” Mistystar yowled, realizing that the top of the stones was empty.

“Helping Reedwhisker,” Graymist panted.

Mistystar whirled around and saw the light brown warrior clinging to the back of the other dog, distracting it while Reedwhisker pushed Hollowpaw and Rushpaw up to the top of the fence. As soon as the apprentices were clear, Mallownose sprang from the dog’s shoulders onto the fence beside them. The narrow strip of wood shuddered and buckled as the three cats clung on.

“Reedwhisker! Watch out!” Mistystar shrieked. The deputy was crouching down, waiting for the fence to stop shaking before he jumped up. Both of the dogs leaped at him, jaws bared, drool flying from their cheeks. They landed with a thud and a dreadful tearing sound. Reedwhisker let out a shriek of pain that tore Mistystar’s heart in two.

“Reedwhisker! No!”

Chapter 9

Mistystar bunched her hindquarters beneath her, ready to spring down, but Robinwing held her back.

“Wait! Mallownose has him!”

The brown warrior had dug his claws into the top of the fence and lowered himself down until he could sink his teeth into Reedwhisker’s scruff. He hauled the barely moving cat out of the dogs’ reach and carried him along the wood, with Hollowpaw and Rushpaw stumbling in front of him. The dogs sprang and snapped at them from below, but Mallownose kept going, his eyes bulging from the effort of holding his Clanmate.

Mistystar pushed the apprentices out of the way as they stood trembling on the wall, and stretched out to take her son from Mallownose. The black tom was moaning softly, and a huge gash stretched across his flank. The wound was so deep that Mistystar could see the white gleam of bone at the top of his hind leg.

“Oh, StarClan,” she whispered.

“We’re so sorry,” Hollowpaw whimpered. “We were just looking for food.”

“Kittypet food,” Rushpaw added. He hung his head. “We found some here before, and it didn’t taste too bad. We thought if we got enough to eat here, we wouldn’t have to take anything from the fresh-kill pile.”

Mistystar stared at the apprentices, resisting the urge to claw their ears off until they screamed as loudly as Reedwhisker had. They never meant for any cat to get hurt. They thought they were helping.