Legacy: Infinity (Book 3)

Chapter 24: Gifts

Chapter 24: Gifts

Jay left Midnight fast asleep in the den and stepped out into the cold rain that soaked into her fur until it ran in drivels over her pelt. Narrowing her eyes against the weather, she headed back to her den. Through the haze, she could see Silver sitting with her tail in front of her kits to protect them from the rain.

Silver removed her tail as Jay stepped beneath the den's shelter, standing near the opening as the dripping water pooled beneath her. She could see a pool of water beneath Silver as well. "Well," she began, eyes closed as she started licking her fur dry, "I think you are going to be the one to tell me what in StarClan's name is going on."

Silver looked confused for a moment, "StarClan?"

Jay snorted, "Forget about it. Tell me what happened with Midnight, and why she came here of all places."

Silver looked away, "She could tell you better than I."

"Not while she's so anxious that she can't create one coherent thought," Jay growled, glaring at the she-cat. "We can talk about the StarReaders later, just tell me about Midnight."

That seemed to relieve Silver's tenseness and she dropped her shoulders, starting to reiterate the story. "I don't know much more than you. But, as she already said, while she was out hunting she returned to an empty den where there were many strange scents."

"Anxious, but hoping it was just the elders catching up with some friends she didn't know, she followed the scent until the scent of blood got mixed in," Silver paused, eyes dark, "She could tell it was from one of her kits."

Jay flinched inwardly and subconsciously glanced at her own kits, she could imagine the fury she would be on if some cat harmed a hair on their pelt. "When the scent trail reached StarReader territory she knew what had happened."

"She tried to find their camp without being seen but couldn't find it and was spotted once and chased out. She was too scared to try again but too worried to leave, so she hung around their border and that's when I met her. Since I knew where the camp was, I told her I'd show her, but then Amelia came out of nowhere- did you have her follow me?- and told us that there were too many cats in the area."

"Midnight swore she didn't care what Amelia said, but the black she-cat managed to convince her it would do her kits no good if she was killed. I felt bad for her so I offered to look for them alone, but that made Amelia more angry and she said we should all return to you and tell you what had happened. Midnight wouldn't leave for anything, so Amelia at last compromised that she would go take a look if we went straight to you. So we broke up and I led Midnight back to the mountain."

"I was sorry for her, she looked so thin and tired and worried. I told her to cheer up but then she started sobbing, saying she was sure her kits were already dead, used in some ceremony. Since I didn't understand what would give her that thought, I asked her and she told me."

Silver was silent after that, and her pale blue eyes took on that same lifeless expression both cats had first approached her with. "She told me that she'd known some cat who had lost a whole litter to the StarReaders before. It was a similar set-up, the mother had left her kits while she was out hunting and returned to an empty den. All her searches for her kits turned up nothing until she finally caught a fresh trail and followed it to the north-eastern mountain where she found it."

The tabby looked away, a simmering anger vibrating throughout her tense muscles and twitching tail. "She found the four bodies of her kits, dead and left to picked on by scavengers, though the smell of herbs clung heavy to their fur."

Jay stiffened, "But how do you know for sure it was for a ceremony?"

Silver flattened her ears to her head, "Why else would they be killed and discarded like prey? And their wasn't a mark on their body, they had been poisoned, or choked to death by herbs. Is there an odder way to kill a cat?"