Outcast

“Try to dodge around them,” Lionpaw mewed quietly. “If we can get out, we can outrun them.”

The first dog leaped forward. Hollypaw spun around and fled, imagining she could feel its breath hot on her hind paws.

Her muscles flexed as she tried to make her legs move faster, but she was tired from journeying, and her paws slipped on the dusty stone floor. Ahead of her, at the far end of the nest, was an enormous pile of dried grass. Despairingly Hollypaw wondered if they could hide in it, but she knew the dogs would be able to plunge into it and drag them out. Beyond it was the bare wall.

Why did we let ourselves get trapped? I can’t believe we were so stupid!

“StarClan, help us!” she panted, but at the same time she hoped the starry warriors weren’t watching and didn’t know how disobedient they’d been.

“Up here!”

The yowl came from above her. Glancing up, she spotted a cat’s head and shoulders in one of the narrow slits high in the wall. Her jaws gaped in astonishment. It was Purdy!

“Climb the hay!” the old cat urged. “D’you want to stay and be eaten?”

Lionpaw flung himself at the pile of dried grass and began to claw his way up it. Hollypaw plunged after him, just as she heard the snap of teeth a mouse-length from her hind paws.

Behind her she heard a shriek. Glancing back she saw Breezepaw trying to climb, only to be dragged back by a dog with its teeth fastened in his tail.

Hollypaw tensed. She would have to go back and help. She didn’t like Breezepaw, but he was a Clan cat, and she couldn’t abandon him to be torn apart. But before she could scramble down Breezepaw gave a panic-stricken heave, tore his tail free, and struggled upward, away from the gaping jaws.

The dogs tried to follow him, but they were too heavy for the piled grass to bear their weight. They floundered around in it, snuffling and slavering over the trail of Breezepaw’s blood.

Hollypaw fought her way up again, half buried in the grass.

It caught in her pelt; seeds got into her nose and made her sneeze. Just ahead of her, Lionpaw reached the slit where Purdy waited. The old tabby grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him through, then dropped him somewhere out of Hollypaw’s sight.

He reached for Hollypaw, grabbed her, and swung her off all four of her paws into the air. In a blur of fear she thought she would fall all the way to the ground. She tensed herself for the impact, only to drop, juddering, onto a sloping red roof a couple of tail-lengths below the slit in the wall. Caught off-balance, she felt herself slipping to the edge, until Lionpaw thrust himself in front of her and brought her to a halt.

“Thanks!” she gasped.

Looking back, she saw Purdy hauling Breezepaw through the gap.

“What about my tail?” the WindClan cat complained as Purdy dropped him to join the others. “It’s bleeding!”

“Shut up and follow me,” Purdy meowed, leaping down beside them with a thump. “Or you’ll have more to worry about than your tail. This way,” he added, creeping to the edge of the roof.

He jumped down onto the edge of a container filled with water, and from there to the ground, gesturing urgently for them to follow. Lionpaw went first, leaping down easily.

Hollypaw followed him with more caution, imagining the cold shock of a plunge into the water. Breezepaw landed beside her and immediately flicked his tail forward to examine the ragged and bleeding end.

“Stop that,” Purdy hissed. “We’ve got to run!”

A flurry of yelping sounded from inside the nest, followed by the thunder of paws breaking out into the open. Purdy took off, running as fast as any warrior, back the way the apprentices had come. The apprentices raced after him.

Hollypaw’s heart pounded even harder as they approached the fence; would they be able to squeeze through before the dogs caught them?

But Purdy led them to a different part of the fence and shoved Lionpaw roughly through a hole. Hollypaw scrambled through after him; it was easier and faster than squeezing underneath. Breezepaw followed, and last of all Purdy, who turned to face the dogs as they came bounding up, barking fit to wake StarClan.

“Get back to your Upwalkers,” he taunted them. “Ask them to feed you. You won’t get no cat today.”

Hollypaw didn’t think the dogs understood him. They flung themselves at the fence, but it didn’t give way, and the hole was too small for them to get through. A moment later a Twoleg appeared around the corner of the nearest nest and yowled at them. The dogs’ barking changed to whines and they slunk away, casting furious glances back at the cats.

“Right, let’s go,” Purdy meowed.

He led them back to the shelter of the hedge, where all three of them collapsed in the long grass. Hollypaw closed her eyes. When she opened them again Purdy had gone.

Instead, Brambleclaw and Crowfeather were standing over her.

“Are the three of you completely mouse-brained?”