Outcast

“Shut up, stupid furball,” Hollypaw whispered. “Kittypets get looked after by their Twolegs. They don’t have to catch their own food.”

Purdy said nothing, but he flicked up one ragged ear, and Hollypaw knew he had heard Breezepaw’s comment.

“I bet this old mangepelt couldn’t catch a mouse if he tried from now to leaf-bare,” Breezepaw scoffed.

Purdy looked at him. “You’re right, I don’t catch prey no more. I get my food from Upwalkers. But I reckon just this once I might try eatin’ ill-mannered kits.”

“I’m not a—” Breezepaw began indignantly, only to clamp his jaws shut as his father lashed out a paw at his ear—a hard blow, though with his claws sheathed.

“Don’t listen to Breezepaw,” Jaypaw mewed to the old tom. “Every cat knows he’s mouse-brained.”

A purr rumbled in Purdy’s chest. “Don’t worry, young ’un.

I’ve met more nuisancy young cats than you’ve had rabbits.”

He lowered his head to inspect the three littermates.

Close up, he looked as if he hadn’t groomed his pelt in seasons. Hollypaw spotted a tick on the side of his neck and a few fleas hopping among the matted fur and tangled burrs.

Yuck, fleas! I don’t want any of them hopping onto me, thanks.

In a Clan, apprentices would groom the elders’ fur and get rid of ticks and fleas. Maybe Purdy wasn’t as well looked after as Clan cats after all.

“So what are you doin’ here?” Purdy asked, when he had given Hollypaw and her littermates a good sniff. “Not off to the sun-drown-place again?”

“Not this time,” Brambleclaw replied. “We’re going to the mountains. The Tribe cats need our help.”

Purdy’s eyes stretched wide with alarm. “That’s no place for cats!” he protested. “Are you tellin’ me you haven’t found a better place than that to live?”

“We’ve found a great place,” Squirrelflight assured him.

“It’s beside a lake,” Tawnypelt added. “There’s enough territory for all four Clans and not much trouble from Twolegs.”

“Then why don’t you stay there?” Purdy asked.

“We’ll be going back, but right now the Tribe cats need us,” Brambleclaw meowed.

Hollypaw missed Purdy’s reply as Lionpaw hissed into her ear, “Why don’t we get going? This kittypet is holding us all up.”

“I guess he’s an old friend,” Hollypaw meowed, though privately she agreed with Lionpaw. Cats in the mountains could be dying while the rescue party stood here meowing about old times.

To her relief, Brambleclaw dipped his head to the old cat.

“We’d better be going. It’s been great seeing you again, Purdy.”

“No need to say good-bye just yet,” Purdy meowed. “I reckon I’ll come with you.”

Hollypaw saw her own dismay reflected in the faces of the Tribe cats. Night muttered something urgently into Talon’s ear.

“Brambleclaw—” Talon began.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brambleclaw told Purdy; Hollypaw couldn’t understand the regret in her father’s amber eyes. “It’s a tough journey, and there’ll be fighting at the end of it.”

Purdy fluffed out his pelt. “You sayin’ I can’t fight? Too old and fat, is that it?” Before any of the other cats could reply, he broke into a rusty mrrow of laughter. “Mebbe you’re right, but I can come with you as far as the woods.” He waved his tail at the trees on the opposite side of the valley. “I know a thing or two that might help you.”

“Mouse dung!” Breezepaw muttered, loud enough for Purdy to hear him. “Now we’re stuck with the stupid mangepelt.”

Purdy just flicked his tail and turned his back on the WindClan apprentice, padding beside Brambleclaw to the edge of the trees and down the hillside. Squirrelflight bounded forward to join them on Purdy’s other side.

Hollypaw didn’t like Breezepaw’s rudeness, but she found herself agreeing with him. This old cat was bound to slow them down, when every moment counted.

“Brambleclaw and the others have been here before,” she murmured to Lionpaw. “What can Purdy tell them that they don’t already know?”

Lionpaw shrugged. “Like Breezepaw says, we’re stuck with him.”

As they headed into the valley, Hollypaw could hear Purdy rambling on about the Twolegplace that she could see in the distance.

“Remember those rats?” he asked.

“Will I ever forget?” Tawnypelt growled. “I thought I’d die of that bite.” She swiped her tongue around her jaws and added with satisfaction, “The rat that gave it to me didn’t have long to regret it.”

A purr rumbled deep inside Purdy’s chest. “Well, they’re not there no more. Upwalkers came and put up a nest there and cleared out all the rats.”

“Good!” Tawnypelt’s tail lashed.

“And that open space where the monsters were sleepin’…”

Hollypaw stopped listening. They weren’t going anywhere near the Twolegplace, so why did Purdy need to tell them about it? Her paws itched to race down into the valley, but she was forced to match her pace with Purdy’s slow amble.

“Why is Brambleclaw doing this?” she muttered. “The Tribe of Rushing Water could be wiped out while we’re hanging around here.”

“The Tribe cats feel the same,” Jaypaw mewed. “Talon’s boiling under his fur.”