Outside, the storm was still raging. Shiny gray ice held the mountains prisoner and the wind whined around the peaks, flinging ice crystals against the cats’ faces. Shards of it flew into their eyes and clung to their fur. Keeping his head down against the stinging blast, Jayfeather followed Chasing Clouds as he scrambled up a steep slope of loose pebbles opposite the waterfall. There was a terrifying moment as they crossed the ridge when Jayfeather was sure that the wind would carry him off his paws; he scrambled thankfully into the shelter of a rock, and the rest of the patrol huddled around him to catch their breath.

Jayfeather tried to remember what he could about the way the Tribe hunted. “What do they catch?” he muttered to himself. “Do they use regular hunting skills?”

“What?” Half Moon turned toward him, backing up a pace so that she could look into his eyes.

“Oh, I…I was just wondering what to do,” Jayfeather stammered.

Half Moon opened her jaws to reply, but a gust of wind caught her and sent her sliding across the icy rock. She let out a wail of alarm as she slipped over the edge and clung by her forepaws, trying vainly to dig her claws into the hard surface.

“Hold on!” Jayfeather meowed, darting forward to help her. He fastened his teeth into her shoulder and heaved, closing his eyes so that he didn’t have to see the sheer drop below Half Moon’s hindquarters. Terror on her behalf gave strength to his paws as he backed away from the edge, aware of Chasing Clouds pressing up beside him and grabbing Half Moon’s other shoulder.

Half Moon scrabbled frantically with her hind legs; with the others’ help she managed to drag herself back onto the rock, where she lay for a moment, trembling.

“Are you okay?” Chasing Clouds asked anxiously, leaning toward her so that she could use his shoulder to haul herself to her paws again. His blue eyes were sharp with fear; Jayfeather remembered that he was Half Moon’s father.

“Thanks, both of you,” Half Moon panted, blinking gratefully. “I’m fine. But let’s get off this ridge, before we’re all blown off.”

Chasing Clouds nodded and took the lead again, down into a steep valley where jagged rocks poked through the snow. Jayfeather followed, and realized that Stone Song was padding at his side.

“Maybe we’ve made a mistake,” the dark tabby tom confided, gazing at Jayfeather with worry in his blue eyes. “How can cats live somewhere when even the wind is our enemy?”

“We didn’t make a mistake!” Jayfeather insisted. “We are supposed to be here.”

But Stone Song didn’t look convinced.

Jayfeather’s belly felt hollow with anxiety as he struggled down into the valley through the snow and icy wind. Somehow I have to make them stay! I have to show them how the Tribe hunts. Inside his head he seemed to hear a derisive little voice. You’re going to teach these cats how to hunt? Are you completely mouse-brained? Jayfeather let out a growl deep in his throat. Who will do it if I don’t?