Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #2: Thunder Rising Read Online Free PDF

matter—she wasn’t going anywhere. There would be plenty of time to talk. And Rainswept Flower is such a great cat; we’re lucky to have her in the hollow .
    As Rainswept Flower raced to join them, Gray Wing spotted a flicker of movement and saw Jagged Peak emerging from his nest. “Can I come too?” the young cat asked.
    Gray Wing shook his head. “No,” he responded gently. “Stay in the hollow and build up your strength.”
    Jagged Peak looked stricken at his refusal, his tail trailing on the ground as he turned away.
    “Jagged Peak, wait!” Rainswept Flower turned back and went to touch noses with the little gray tom. “When we come back, I promise I’ll help you with your exercises.”
    “I’m sick of exercising,” Jagged Peak meowed, his voice shaking. “It’s so boring!”
    Rainswept Flower glanced at Gray Wing, who was waiting with Turtle Tail near the top of the hollow. “I’ll be back soon,” she assured Jagged Peak. “We all will. Really, you’re not missing out on anything special.” Touching the young cat’s nose again, she headed back toward Gray Wing.
    As they turned to leave, Gray Wing could feel Jagged Peak’s gaze boring into his back. “That was kind,” he commented to Rainswept Flower.
    Rainswept Flower blinked at him. “I think we all should do more to help Jagged Peak,” she suggested. “It’s no good constantly telling him that he can’t do things.”
    “You may be right,” Gray Wing admitted, with a twinge of guilt. “Thanks for being so sensitive.”
    The tabby she-cat twitched her whiskers. “It was nothing.”
    The three cats left the hollow side by side, and headed across the moor in the direction of the river. Gray Wing reveled in the warm breeze that ruffled his fur, and the scent of fresh growing things that wafted along with it. They passed a moorland pool where reeds waved gently and sunlight glittered on the surface of the water.
    As they were picking their way up a slope covered with gorse bushes, a rabbit suddenly darted across their path, its eyes wide with terror, then vanished into the gorse before any cat could try to intercept it.
    “Hmm . . . ,” Gray Wing commented. “Where there’s a fleeing rabbit, there’s bound to be—there she is!”
    As he spoke, the rogue she-cat Wind emerged from one of the bushes, her brown pelt untidy and a disgusted expression on her face. “Stupid creature!” she spat. “I nearly had it!”
    Gray Wing let out a mrrow of laughter. “You must be getting slow in your old age!”
    Wind slid her claws out threateningly, which amused Gray Wing even more. He knew very well that Wind wouldn’t attack him; they had come a long way since their first hostile meeting when Gray Wing had killed the rabbit Wind and her friend Gorse were chasing.
    As if Gray Wing’s thought had called him up, Gorse appeared now, a skinny tabby shape slipping out from the shelter of the bushes. Turtle Tail glanced at Gray Wing, looking cautious and worried, as the cat stepped forward. Of course! She never knew the two rogues well when she lived on the moor.
    “It’s okay,” Rainswept Flower reassured her, brushing Turtle Tail’s shoulder with her tail-tip. “Gorse and Wind are our friends.”
    Gray Wing remembered talking to Tall Shadow a few moons ago, discussing whether it would be a good idea to invite the rogues to join them in the hollow. In the end, Tall Shadow had decided against admitting them. But who knows what the future holds ? Gray Wing asked himself. I won’t say anything to Gorse and Wind now, but maybe in a while  . . .
    “How has the hunting been?” Gray Wing asked Wind. He admired the way she would dive down into the tunnels to hunt the rabbits in their own burrows. She knew the whole network of tunnels that lay beneath the moor.
    And that might be useful one day .
    Wind gave a snort of disgust. “There’s plenty of prey,” she replied, “but hunting is becoming . . . complicated.”
    “Why don’t