Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail Read Online Free Page B

Fluttering Bird lay. Quiet Rain stood beside her, flexing her claws impatiently. Looking into her eyes, Gray Wing saw how desperate she was, already sick with grief for her daughter.
    Stoneteller bent over the tiny kit and rested one paw on her chest to feel her breathing and her heartbeat. Chewing up one of the leaves, Stoneteller pried open the kit’s jaws and pushed the pulp onto her tongue. “Come along, little one,” she murmured. “Swallow this. It will make you feel better.”
    But Fluttering Bird stayed still. She didn’t even open her eyes.
    Looking up at Quiet Rain, Stoneteller whispered, “She is far, far away from us. The hunger inside her is too great. You must prepare yourself, Quiet Rain.”
    Gray Wing’s mother crouched down, her claws scraping on the stone floor of the cave. “This is my fault,” she mewed. “I should have given her all my food. What was I thinking, having kits in the cold season?”
    His heart swelling with grief, Gray Wing padded over to Quiet Rain and pressed himself close to her. “It isn’t your fault,” he mewed.
    “I should have—”
    Stoneteller interrupted Quiet Rain with a raised paw. “Hush, Quiet Rain. Fluttering Bird might be able to hear you. Don’t let her go into the dark knowing that you’re scared and angry.”
    Gray Wing could see the massive effort his mother made to calm herself. She slid into the sleeping hollow and curled herself around Fluttering Bird, giving her comforting licks. “I’m so proud of you, my only daughter,” she murmured. “You mean so much to all of us. We will never forget you.”
    Misery swept over Gray Wing as he watched. His sister’s flank rose once more, and then was still. “Good-bye, Fluttering Bird,” he whispered.
    Stoneteller dipped her head to Quiet Rain and padded away toward her tunnel.
    Gray Wing turned back to his mother. “Do you want me to help you take Fluttering Bird outside and bury her?” he asked.
    Quiet Rain curled herself more closely around her daughter’s body. “Not while her fur is still warm,” she replied. “Please, go and fetch Jagged Peak for me.”
    Gray Wing glanced around and spotted Jagged Peak at the far side of the cave, playing with some of the other kits. He raced over and beckoned his brother with a flick of his tail.
    “What is it?” Jagged Peak asked, looking up from where he was wrestling with a tabby she-cat.
    “Our mother wants you,” Gray Wing replied.
    Jagged Peak scrambled to his paws and trotted across the cavern to the sleeping hollow. Quiet Rain spoke quietly to Jagged Peak; he stared at her, then opened his jaws in a shrill wail.
    Quiet Rain stretched out her tail and pulled Jagged Peak to her. Pain stabbed through Gray Wing like a spike of icy rock as he watched her holding both her kits close, one dead and one alive, her nose buried in their fur.
    He wondered if she would ever let Jagged Peak go again.
    Gray Wing turned toward the cave entrance at the sound of voices, and saw Shaded Moss returning with Clear Sky and the others who had gone to look for a route away from the mountains.
    “It was great!” Clear Sky shook himself, scattering melting snow everywhere. “We’ve found the path we should take.”
    “It runs along the side of the valley,” Shaded Moss meowed, sounding more cautious. “It leads to a gap that should take us clear of the mountains. There’s a frozen stream at one point that we’ll have to cross, and we’ll need to be careful.”
    “But it’s still the quickest route!” Turtle Tail interrupted with an enthusiastic wave of her tail.
    “It looks like it,” Shaded Moss agreed, “and with any luck we’ll avoid the drifts farther down.”
    While the other cats crowded around to question Shaded Moss, Gray Wing padded up and touched Clear Sky on his shoulder with his tail-tip. Clear Sky glanced around, spotting Quiet Rain in her sleeping hollow with the two kits. His eyes widened.
    “What happened?” he asked.
    “Fluttering Bird is