Tallstar’s Revenge полностью

“Do you know where you’re going?” Talltail wondered if Jake was just wandering aimlessly.

Jake jumped up onto a fence. “Of course.”

Talltail scrambled after him. “How?” He tasted the air. Now that the Thunderpath was behind them, there was a chance of scenting whether the rogues had passed this way. He dropped down the other side of the fence and began sniffing at the bushes crowding the edge of the grass.

Jake stared down at him. “What are you doing?”

“Searching for the rogues.” Kittypets were so dumb. Didn’t they know that a nose was the best tracker a cat had?

Jake landed beside him. “Don’t waste your time sniffing,” he mewed. “I’m taking you to a cat who knows everything that goes on around here. If the rogues have passed by here, she’ll know.”

Talltail blinked at him. “Who is she?”

“Just a stray.” Jake flicked his tail and raced across the grass to the next fence.

Stars specked a black sky by the time they’d reached the far end of the row of dens. Jake jumped down from the last fence and turned along a wide alleyway. There were low dens here like the ones where Jake had been cornered by the dog.

“What are these dens for?” Talltail asked. “Are they for Twoleg kits?”

“Housefolk keep monsters in them,” Jake explained, using a wall to jump up onto one of the roofs. Talltail sprang up after him. Ahead of them, rough stone stretched like a raised Thunderpath. He fell in beside Jake as they padded along it.

“This is the perfect place to walk.” Jake sniffed the air. “No dogs or housefolk or monsters, and a clear view in every direction.”

Talltail gazed around, amazed to see red stone and the lights of Twolegplace stretching as far as he could see. “Where does Twolegplace end?” he breathed.

“We’re getting close,” Jake answered. “But first we have to find that cat.”

“The one who knows everything?”

“She lives near the end of these dens.” Jake spoke with respect, and Talltail wondered if kittypets had leaders, too.

As they reached the end of the roof, Talltail peered over the edge. “Down there?” An open space—half-lit by Thunderpath lights, half-lit by the moon—stretched ahead of them. It was crisscrossed by high, mesh fences. To one side, yellow flames burned. Talltail bristled. “Fire!”

“It’s just some Twolegs keeping themselves warm,” Jake explained. “There’ll be cats too, hoping for food, but we’ll steer clear.” He fluffed out his fur. “They’re not that friendly.”

“Who? The Twolegs or the cats?”

“Neither,” Jake told him grimly.

Talltail shivered. This felt like walking into ShadowClan territory all over again. He followed Jake from the roof, jumping down onto a hard, square ledge, then to the ground. The soil underpaw was stony. Grass poked in clumps here and there. Smashed glass was strewn everywhere and Talltail watched where he put his paws, relieved that the glinting shards were easy to spot in the half-light. He halted while Jake scrabbled through a tight gap beneath one of the high, mesh fences, then squeezed under, grit scraping his belly. Tall, gray dens loomed ahead, jagged and unlit, their windows broken, their walls cracked.

Talltail unsheathed his claws as Jake led him into the shadows and began to follow a narrow alleyway that cut between two dens. Light glowed at the end and Talltail quickened his pace, eager to be out of the pressing gloom. It felt too much like a tunnel. As he broke into a trot, Jake hissed behind him. “Slow down!”

Talltail spotted movement at the end of the alley. Shapes slid from the shadow and stood silhouetted against the light beyond. Cats. A tom and a she-cat, from the scent that drifted down to him. Talltail could make out the ragged ends of their ears and their clumped fur. These were fighters. He stopped. “What now?” he whispered.

Before Jake could answer, the tom growled. “We have trespassers.”

“That’s not good,” sneered his companion.

“You’re wrong, Pixie.” There was malice in the tom’s snarl. Talltail’s belly tightened. “That’s very good. We might have some fun with them. Let’s take them to Jay and see what she suggests.”

Talltail glanced at Jake, his pelt lifting along his spine. You stupid kittypet! You’ve led us into a trap!

“Why are you bothering me with trespassers?” A mangy, old black-and-white she-cat looked up from a dead pigeon.

This must be Jay. Talltail shifted his paws nervously. The cats had ushered him and Jake into a clearing surrounded by unlit dens and dotted with piles that stank of crow-food.

Feathers stuck to Jay’s graying muzzle. She shook them away. “I’m trying to eat.” As she curled her lip, Talltail saw she had no teeth. If she were in a Clan, she’d be an elder by now.

Pixie nudged him forward. “We found these two nosing around the alley,” he explained.

Talltail flashed her a look. Unease was creeping beneath his pelt, but he wasn’t going to show these ragged strays that he was scared. He flexed his claws. “You don’t have to push.”