Read Online Path of Stars by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online

through, emerging into a small clearing.
    Star Flower lay at one edge. Her matted fur clung to her body. Her swollen belly jutted out from a bony frame. Hadn’t they been feeding her? Gray Wing stared at her, shocked, as she lifted her head.
    She gazed at him dully. “Who is it?” She sounded numb.
    â€œIt’s Gray Wing.” He hurried to her quickly and crouched at her side. “We’ve come to take you home.”
    The bracken rustled as Reed slid in behind. “How is she?”
    â€œShe looks weak,” Gray Wing told him.
    Star Flower was staring at him, confused. “Where’s Clear Sky?”
    â€œHe’s keeping Slash busy.” Gray Wing tucked his nose under her shoulder and began to nudge her to her paws. “We have to get you out of here. We haven’t got long.”
    As he spoke, a yowl sounded outside camp. “If you want afight, you’ve got one!” Lightning Tail’s snarl echoed through the air.
    â€œHurry!” Gray Wing urged.
    A second shriek sliced through bracken wall. Leaf!
    Star Flower’s eyes seemed to spark into life as she heard it. Suddenly she was hauling herself to her paws, “There are two guards,” she warned Gray Wing.
    â€œI know,” he told her. “Lighting Tail and Leaf are taking care of them.”
    â€œNo.” Star Flower stared at him. “Two more ! Slash sent extra because of the meeting.”
    Gray Wing’s chest tightened. “Where are they?”
    â€œThey went to hunt rats in the carrion place.” Star Flower glanced fearfully at a gap in the bracken. “They’ll hear the fighting!”
    â€œCome on.” Gray Wing nudged her toward the twisted fronds where he’d broken in.
    As she pushed through, Gray Wing nodded Reed after her.
    Paw steps were pounding over the ground outside.
    He pushed through the bracken as Star Flower and Reed began to run for the pines. Lighting Tail was wrestling with the gray tom. Leaf was pummeling the tabby with churning hind legs.
    The paw steps grew louder. Two burly shapes loomed from the shadow of the carrion place. One veered toward Star Flower and Reed with a yowl of rage. The other leaped for Gray Wing.
    Paws slammed into his side. He lost his footing and fell tothe ground. Claws raked his muzzle. Teeth sank into his hind leg. Pain seared like fire through him as a ginger tom bit down through his fur.
    He strained to see if Star Flower had gotten away.
    Reed was rolling across the ground, writhing with a tortoiseshell she-cat. Beyond him, Star Flower had stopped and turned back to look.
    â€œRun!” Gray Wing wailed. As he spoke, the ginger tom let go and hared away, charging after Star Flower.
    Gray Wing scrambled to his paws and chased after him. He felt a twinge in his chest. It sharpened as he saw the tom reach her first. Star Flower’s eyes lit with fury. She reared and met the attack with outstretched claws, but the tom hit her like a barreling wind. Grunting, Star Flower staggered backward and fell, her swollen belly thumping onto the ground.
    â€œYou thought you could escape.” The ginger tom lunged, his claws flashing in the moonlight. Star Flower tried to find her paws, her eyes wild with fear, but the rogue hooked his claws into her neck.
    Gray Wing’s pelt bristled. “Get off her!” He grabbed the tom’s scruff between his teeth and hauled him away.
    Star Flower shrieked as fur tore from her pelt.
    The tom struggled free and leaped again at Star Flower. “You won’t escape!”
    Moving as fast as a snake, Gray Wing darted between them.
    The ginger tom crashed into him, his gaze flaming. He stretched a paw around Gray Wing, reaching for Star Flower,but Gray Wing thrust him away and sent him reeling backward.
    He threw Star Flower a quick, desperate look and saw her freeze, panic showing in her eyes. Blood dripped from her cheek. Clumps of fur stuck out of her pelt.
    â€œRun!”