Treacherous Skies

Chapter 14

Echoheart followed Cosmo's gaze down the dark pathway he'd called the alley. She narrowed her eyes, and felt an icy claw rake along her spine as she saw dozens of yellow and green eyes, reflecting the light of the sun. They were cats' eyes.

Suddenly something hard hit the ground with a hoarse gasp of pain. Echoheart whipped her head around in shock to see a dirty, ragged white tom pinning down Cosmo, his claws on the kittypet's throat. "Why have you brought them here?" he hissed. "Were you trying to recruit support? Were you planning to drive us out?" The claws dug deeper, tearing at the black and white fur around Cosmo's neck.

Echoheart stood rigid with horror, legs trembling. Her heart beat so loud against her chest she was sure that all of Twolegplace could hear it.

Then the white tom glanced up, claws still on Cosmo's throat. He glared at Echoheart, Whispersong, Bumblefrost, Hazel, Pansy, and River with anger. Then he turned to the alley, as if in a signal.

To Echoheart's horror, the other rogues had crept from the shadows, surrounding the traveling cats. River, Pansy, and Hazel lashed their tails and arched their backs, eyes widened in fear. Whispersong hissed loudly, her claws extended, while Bumblefrost bared his teeth, ready to pounce on the white tom holding down Cosmo.

"Take another pawstep and I'll have your belly torn inside out," snarled a dark brown and black tom, glaring at Bumblefrost. The DayClan warrior's eyes flashed with defiance and fear, but to Echoheart's relief, he didn't move.

Echoheart watched on helplessly as more and more cats emerged from the alley: toms, she-cats, and even smaller cats, some barely old enough to be apprentices. Their eyes burned with evil as they walked closer and closer, each taking their place around the six foreign cats.

"Now look what you've done," spat the white rogue, lip curled back to reveal sharp fangs.

"No..." begged Cosmo, his voice hardly understandable.

"I told you to never trespass on my territory! And you were going to, just now!"

"No, I wasn't!" Cosmo struggled under the tom's weight.

"You were leading them, those foreign cats, through my territory! I hate foreign cats, and you know that; cats that I don't know; cats that could be a threat to my cats, a threat to me!"

"I was going to lead them through the alley, like you... like you said to," Cosmo choked.

"Yes, but didn't you ever hear?" the rogue snarled. "The alleyway belongs to me  now!"

There was shocked pause from Cosmo, then he spat, "No, it doesn't; it never has!"

"It does now! It's been mine for the past half-moon ! Didn't you ever wonder where Jay, Owen, and Robin have been? They tried  to stop me; they gathered up some housecats against me, a weak attempt if anything. But it was too late. The alleyway was never theirs, and they died a foolish death when they could have just surrendered—"

"The alley was never anyone's ! It was for the use of all the cats in the neighborhood, you even agreed!" Cosmo cried out.

Echoheart wanted to jump forward and claw the eyes out of that cat, and she could tell that the others did too, but they were aware of the many eyes glaring at them from all around them. They were surrounded; they couldn't do anything. Echoheart gulped. They would be shredded to mousedust if they attacked the white tom.

"The alley was at one time everyone's. But I got bored with the little territory I had, and," he shrugged maliciously, "it's mine now."

"You! You're a—"