The Sun Trail/Chapter 2

The Sun Trail
Chapter number:	2 (of 26)
Page numbers:	18-31
Point of View:	Gray Wing
Chronology

Below contains in-depth information for chapter two of The Sun Trail. If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.

Chapter Number: 2 (of 26)

Page Numbers: 18-31

Chapter description

Gray Wing is woken up by his stomach growling. In the background, he recognizes Dappled Pelt's, Cloud Spots', Snow Hare's voices chattering about the different prey they might find in their new home. He looks up seeing them with Tall Shadow. After stretching, Gray Wing decides to go hunting. As he ponders leaving the mountains, he hears Clear Sky trying to convince a reluctant Bright Stream to go on the journey, but Bright Stream jumps down from the rocks where Clear Sky is standing and asks Gray Wing to hunt with her. Clear Sky calls after them saying he hopes they have bad hunting for once so they will see they must leave the mountains.

They have a discussion about Stoneteller's dream as well as leaving the mountains and Bright Stream tells Gray Wing about how she imagined having Clear Sky's kits in the mountains. Suddenly, Gray Wing spots a snow hare. He and Bright Stream chase after the hare, but Gray Wing is the one who catches it. They sit down and eat some of the hare. While they are eating Bright Stream asks Gray Wing if he is going to stay, he says he will. After eating their fill they start carrying the carcass back to the cave meeting they a small group of cats including Shaded Moss, Clear Sky, Tall Shadow, Dappled Pelt, Rainswept Flower, and Turtle Tail. Clear Sky tells them that they are climbing the ridge to get the best view of the way out of the mountains. Turtle Tail asks Gray Wing to join them, but he declines not wanting to share his decision yet.

When Gray Wing enters the cave, there is no sign of Stoneteller, but the rest of his Tribemates are anxiously waiting around the cave. Hollow Tree comments to her mate, Stone Song, that the cats leaving are flea brained. Then Gray Wing hears Quiet Rain tell Jagged Peak "for the last time" that he can't go on the journey. Snow Hare pads over and distracts Jagged Peak with a game, taking him off Quiet Rain's paws. Gray Wing walks up to his mother and lays the snow hare at her paws, which she accepts and decides to take some of it to Fluttering Bird, who could not get out of the nest that morning. She and Gray Wing make their way to Quiet Rain's sleeping hollow. When she asks if Gray Wing is going on the journey with Clear Sky, Gray Wing tells her that he will stay in the mountains. When Quiet Rain tries to wake up Fluttering Bird, Gray Wing notices that she is barely breathing and Quiet Rain frantically tells him to fetch Stoneteller. He enters the Cavern of the Pointed Stones and slows down in awe before finding her sitting with her eyes closed. She opens her eyes asking what was wrong. After saying its Fluttering Bird Stoneteller rises to her feet taking herbs from a crack in the wall and follows Gray Wing to where Fluttering Bird and Quiet Rain wait. Stoneteller tries to get the kit to eat the herb, but Fluttering Bird's hunger is too great and she remains still. Stoneteller tells Quiet Rain to prepare herself. Quiet Rain begins to blame herself, but Stoneteller tells her to stop, as Fluttering Bird might still be able to hear her and would die knowing she left her mother scared and alone. Quiet Rain curls around her only daughter saying how proud she is. Fluttering Bird takes one last breath before growing still.

Gray Wing offers to bury Fluttering Bird's tiny body but Quiet Rain refuses to bury her while her fur was still warm, telling him to get Jagged Peak. Gray Wing calls Jagged Peak over from playing with some other kits, telling him Quiet Rain wants him. Jagged Peak trots over and Gray Wing watches as Quiet Rain talks to Jagged Peak. The young tom releases a shrill wail of grief over the lose of his only littermate and curls against Quiet Rain and Fluttering Bird. Then, the group that had been searching for a way out of the mountains comes back and are talking all about the path they have found out of the mountains. When Gray Wing tells Clear Sky about Fluttering Bird's death, he rushes to his mother's side and tells her that this would never happen in their new home and that Quiet Rain should come with them. Quiet Rain tells him she would never leave her daughter alone in the mountains. She then allows her two older sons to take Fluttering Bird's body to be carried out of the cave to a plateau above the cave.

They dig a shallow hole, set her body inside, and cover her with a pelt of earth and stones. For a moment the four cats stand silently beside her grave before Jagged Peak turns looking at the mountains. He asks Clear Sky if he had been to all the peaks in the mountains. Clear Sky replies that he had not, and the traveling cats were going through a gap between the mountains, using his tail to point it out. Clear Sky then steers Jagged Peak back inside the cave, much to his displeasure. Gray Wing lags behind and looks out over the mountains and blames himself for his sister's death. Quiet Rain pads up next to him and tells him that the mountains are her home, however cruel they are then turns to Gray Wing and insists that he go with Clear Sky on the journey. Gray Wing protests, but Quiet Rain tells him she loves him too much to let his kits starve as well.

Characters

Major

• Gray Wing
• Bright Stream
• Quiet Rain
• Stoneteller

Minor

• Dappled Pelt
• Cloud Spots
• Snow Hare
• Tall Shadow
• Clear Sky
• Shaded Moss
• Turtle Tail
• Stone Song
• Hollow Tree
• Jagged Peak
• Fluttering Bird

Mentioned

• Rainswept Flower

Important events

Deaths

• Fluttering Bird: Dies of starvation

Errors

• Snow Hare is mistakenly called Stone Hare.