Sunday, July 28, 2019

the first battle: part six

Wind lives on the moor with Branch. Ever since her mother and sister died, Branch has taken care of her. Wind is hungry, and wishes they had taken up the river cats on their offer of fish. Branch is annoyed with Wind, and tells her that he will hunt for her. Wind smells a dog, but Branch dismisses her, telling her he too scents the dog but it is far away. They spot a rabbit and Branch circles around it. He will startle it so the rabbit runs straight into Wind's paws for the kill. Branch startles the rabbit, and it races towards Wind but the  stops. Branch, too, freezes. Confused, Wind looks behind herself to see the dog. It attacks her, clamping down on her leg. Wind screams out in pain and tells to Branch to help her. He does and they escape to a sheltered area. Wind passes out, worried about her leg. When she wakes up Branch is there with a rabbit. She is not hungry, but he tells her she needs to eat to keep up her strength. Wind is confused by how cold Branch is acting. She assures herself he is just worried. The next few days Wind drifts in and out of consciousness as her body tries to heal. When she finally wakes up the rabbit next to her has rotted and Branch is no where to be seen. Feeling betrayed, Wind resolves to heal and move on.

Time has gone by and Wind is doing well. She lives alone on the moor and her leg has healed. An intense heat has set in and food is scarce. Rain is coming on the horizon, and with it life will return to the moor. Wind catches a rabbit and settles in under a tree to eat it. As she does she hears two kits - Frog and Willow - commenting that they can smell rabbit. Their mother, Tansy, tells them she will hunt for them as soon as she is well enough. Frog resolves to go hunting for his family before they starve. Wind stops him and offers part of her rabbit. The kits are so hungry, though, and she remembers how she almost starved after Branch abandoned her, that she feels bad and gives them all of the rabbit. She tells Tansy that she should move their nest, as the gorse bush thorns is what wounded Tansy to begin with. Tansy offers to share the rabbit, but Wind refuses and leaves. She walks away and another cat speaks to her. He is Gorse, and he tells her that was kind. Gorse tries to be friendly with her and offers to hunt with her but Wind refuses, insisting she hunts alone. Gorse leaves her. She tries to catch a bird but the rainstorm suddenly breaks, scaring the bird away. She realizes the gorse where Tansy and the kits were sheltering is on fire.

Wind races to help Tansy and her kits. Willow is safe but Frog has climbed up a holly tree, which is slowly catching on fire. Frog is too frightened to climb down so Wind goes up to save him. Gorse joins her and between the two of them they safely get the kit out of the tree. Exhausted, Gorse takes her to a place they can rest. When she wakes up Gorse is gone. She is upset but tells herself that there is no reason why he would have stuck around. Gorse returns with prey for them to eat. Wind is shocked to realize this is actually Gorse's den, not just a place for them to take shelter. He invites her to eat with him and she realizes she doesn't have to be alone anymore.

To start with, I really don't like Branch. I wonder if we will ever see him again? From the very beginning he came across as controlling. He wouldn't let Wind eat the fish, he wouldn't let her hunt, when she smelled dog he dismissed her, then when she was attacked by the dog he abandoned her. He wasn't taking care if her - he was using and abusing her. He really is not a nice cat.

I'm glad she found Gorse. I didn't realize she and Gorse were mates until this book. I thought they were just good friends. But, if this is their beginning, I can see why she let herself fall in love with him.

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