Legacy: Infinity (Book 3)

Chapter 29: Dark Fates

Chapter 29: Dark Fates

"Are you sure this will work?" Silver's speculative voice annoyed Jay as she swished her tail.

"No, that's why I'm asking for your opinions," she snapped back, narrowing her eyes as she studied carefully the plan she'd etched out onto the sand. Her kits were playing on the other side of the clearing, tussling and wrestling as they rolled around in a careless play-fight.

Jay sat with the three other she-cats of the camp opposite from them, observing her initial plan for rescuing the kits. Her idea was to take out two of the guards that circled around the circumference of the camp and also take out the two in camp, finding and leaving with the kits swiftly.

The plan could, in theory, work. But Jay knew it was too dependent on things going all their way to be practical. She watched Midnight, trying to gauge what the black queen was thinking. This was more of a test for Midnight than a meeting to critique her tossed battle plan.

Would Midnight jump on board with such an obviously flawed plan if its purpose was to rescue her kits? She needed to know how credible the black queen would be after she so carelessly allowed Jay's kits to sneak out of the camp.

She'd already tested Silver similarly and had decided she was still level-headed enough to help in the rescue plan; though things had been even colder between them since she'd allowed Jay's kits to sneak away. "What do you think, Midnight?" Amelia asked, stifling a yawn and sitting back on her haunches, she'd barely spared the plan a glance or an ear. She knew what this was really about.

Midnight looked desperately around at the three cats and lowered her head, "I don't think it'll work. It just doesn't seem very... realistic," Jay could tell the words were killing her and the despair in her voice would make most other cats feel guilty, but Jay was relieved.

"You're right," she mewed approvingly. "It'll need a lot of work before we can propose it to Ash." Jay started rubbing out the strategy plan in the sand, remembering the last time she'd had to go meet him. It had been nearly a moon since she'd gotten her kits back again and had decided to make the whole valley safe for her kits.

Her meetings with Ash since then had been few and brief. He'd talked to the StarReaders about getting the kits, but they'd refused and it seemed their relations were even further strained. However, he continued to insist that he would do it alone and she hadn't dared tell him she had decided to end the StarReaders' reign. She'd tell him after the kits were back and he was breathing his last.

Jay stood up and stretched, rolling her shoulders and arching her back. The sky was gray, covered in clouds that had rolled in that morning. A wind buffed up against the mountain from the west, so that they were mostly sheltered on the opposite slope, but she could hear it whistling high overhead. It was a cold wind, it could bring the first frost overnight.

It was about the middle of the afternoon, she'd meet Ash at about dusk and propose her new idea for rescuing the kits. Time was running short for them, the kits would soon be forgetting about their mother and though their bond could still be rekindled, she knew Midnight would rather it sooner than later. And she'd like to get Ash out of the picture as quickly as possible.

And after that, she could focus on taking away the StarReaders power and force them to return back to their mountain. That would be her goal. And then she could return to the valley and her kits would have no greater troubles than finding their next meal.

"Are you going to meet Ash now?" Amelia asked as she headed over to the stream that ran along the camp, taking a few mouthfuls of drink.

"Yes, watch my kits while I'm gone," she mewed, looking over at the three fur-balls. They were playing so happily and carelessly. She wanted them to keep doing that, as long as they could. It took her by surprise to think they were nearly three moons old already.