Эрин Хантер - Squirrelflight's Hope

Leafstar was sharing a rabbit with Harrybrook and Sandynose at the far end of the clearing. She looked up as Squirrelflight crossed the camp. “Welcome.” She got to her paws.

“Hi.” Squirrelflight dipped her head politely as Leafstar reached her. “Hawkwing told me about Moonlight.”

“I was sorry that she died.” Leafstar glanced toward the nursery. Violetshine was tugging old bedding outside while Rootkit and Needlekit chased after the trailing bracken. Snow was outside, curled around two gray, fluffy kits while Tempest washed a third gray kit, who mewled in complaint.

“I’m not dirty!” the kit wailed indignantly.

“You’ve got moss stains behind your ears,” Tempest told him between laps.

“Can I speak to Snow and Tempest?” Squirrelflight’s heart quickened.

“Of course.” Leafstar nodded and turned back toward her meal. “Take as long as you like.”

Snow looked up as Squirrelflight neared, her eyes shining. The gray, fluffy kits clambered over her flank and charged away. They flung themselves onto the bedding Violetshine was dragging.

“Don’t make a nuisance of yourselves!” Snow called after them.

“It’s okay!” Rootkit began to help Violetshine haul the bracken to the edge of the clearing, while Needlekit bounced around it, making faces at the two younger kits.

“I want to play too!” The third kit ducked away from Tempest and raced toward the others.

Tempest watched him go, her eyes shining. “He’s going to be trouble,” she mewed affectionately.

“He’s a tom,” Snow joked as she got to her paws. She nodded to Squirrelflight. “I’m glad to see you looking so well.”

“You too.” Squirrelflight felt a surge of fondness for the white she-cat. “Moonlight’s kits look happy here.”

“They are,” Snow told her. “It’s good of Violetshine to feed them.”

“But we want to leave as soon as we can, to make sure they don’t become warriors,” Tempest mewed.

Squirrelflight understood. Warriors had killed their leader. “I’m sorry to hear about Moonlight.”

Snow’s gaze glistened with sadness. “She died defending her kits,” she mewed. “It was an honorable way to die. Besides, we still see her.”

Of course. Squirrelflight’s pelt prickled. The Sisters could see the dead. “Do you talk to her?”

“Yes.” Snow brightened. “She wanted me to thank you for saving her kits from the landslide. And for trying to save us from your Clanmates. It was a courageous thing to do.”

“I’m sorry it turned into a battle.” Squirrelflight blinked at her earnestly. “I wish I could have persuaded the Clans to wait.”

“You did what you could.” Tempest shrugged. “They have our land now, which is what they wanted. I just hope it brings them the peace that they’re looking for.” She looked doubtful.

Snow shook her head. “Toms never want peace,” she sniffed. “We’re better off without them.”

“Some toms like to fight,” Squirrelflight mewed quickly. “But Bramblestar never wanted it to go so far. He was outnumbered by the other Clans.”

“At least you stood up for us,” Tempest mewed.

“Even though you were outnumbered too.” There was an edge to Snow’s mew. “We know what it cost you.” Her gaze darkened. “Tree told us about Leafpool. We’re sorry she died. Our kits owe her their lives. Sunrise does too.” She glanced toward the kits, who were chasing Rootkit and Needlekit across the clearing. “Moonlight will always be grateful.”

“Where will you go?” Squirrelflight asked.

“Moonlight says we should head across the lake,” Snow told her. “Beyond the moors. We haven’t been there before.”

“Will she travel with you?” Squirrelflight wondered if dead cats could wander wherever they pleased.

“For a while,” Snow murmured. “Until the kits are grown. She’ll move on then.”

“Where will she go?” Did the Sisters have their own version of StarClan?

Snow shrugged. “Who knows?” Her gaze flitted past Squirrelflight.

Tree was approaching. “Hi, Squirrelflight.” He pricked his ears happily. “It’s good to see you looking well.”

“Will you escort me to the border?” Squirrelflight nodded to the camp entrance. It was time she got back to her Clan. Sparkpelt was going to give Finchkit and Flamekit their first taste of mouse, and she wanted to be there to see if they enjoyed it.

“Sure.” Tree whisked his tail.

“Travel safely.” Squirrelflight dipped her head to Snow and Tempest.

“Thanks for everything you did.” Snow blinked.

Tempest shifted her paws. “You didn’t ask what we’d named the kits.”

Squirrelflight pricked her ears. “What?”

Snow purred. “Leaf, Squirrel, and Moon.”

Squirrelflight’s pelt pricked self-consciously. “I’m honored.” She wondered if Leafpool was watching. Did she know that the Sisters had named a kit after her? “Thank you.” She padded away, Tree at her side.

As they ducked out of camp, he looked at her eagerly. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to deliver your message.” His pelt prickled as though remembering made him nervous. “I didn’t think you’d make it. I’ve never spoken to a ghost that wasn’t dead before.”

“Do you see Moonlight now?”

Tree fluffed out his fur. “I don’t want to,” he grunted. “She abandoned me in life. Why should I have to put up with her in death?”

Squirrelflight heard bitterness in his mew. “But you’re sorry she’s dead, right?”

“Of course.” Tree followed the track around a swath of bracken. “Her kits deserve to have a mother, even if only for a short while.”

“They’ll have the Sisters.”

“I guess.” Tree stared along the trail. “But Rootkit and Needlekit will have a father and a mother for as long as they need them, and if they’re in trouble, they’ll always have a Clan to turn to.”

Squirrelflight purred. She was glad that Tree seemed to have finally learned to appreciate Clan life. “You’re starting to sound like a warrior.”

CHAPTER 30

Squirrelflight gazed at the moon through the fluttering leaves of the Great Oak. In front of her, the Clans murmured softly to one another as their leaders took their places on the lowest branch. She remembered the last Gathering, where tempers had flared and the Clans had bayed like foxes for war against the Sisters. Now Moonlight was dead, and so was Leafpool; SkyClan had new territory, and the borders had been redrawn once again. Had those borders been worth two deaths? Of course not. She shook out her pelt.

“How are Moonlight’s kits getting on?” she whispered to Hawkwing, who sat beside her with the other Clan deputies at the foot of the oak.

“They’re thriving.” Hawkwing’s eyes sparkled fondly. “They’ll be ready to travel in a half-moon.”

“I expect Violetshine will miss them.”

“She will.” Hawkwing shifted his paws. “But she’ll be glad to lose the Sisters. A new mother gets enough advice from her Clanmates. She doesn’t need extra help from outsiders.”

Squirrelflight pressed back a purr. She could imagine that the Sisters had strong opinions about raising kits, and they wouldn’t be shy about offering them. “Have they helped you settle into their old territory?”

“They showed us where we can find the best hunting and the freshest streams,” Hawkwing told her.

“That was kind of them after what happened.”

“SkyClan didn’t attack their camp.” Hawkwing’s gaze flashed reproachfully toward the ShadowClan and WindClan warriors moving in the moonlight in front of him. “I think the Sisters respect us for it.”

Squirrelflight followed his gaze, searching for a glimmer of shame in the eyes of the warriors. They had killed a queen who’d been protecting the kits she’d just given birth to. Her pelt prickled with fresh anger. They’d behaved more like rogues than warriors. “Do you think the Clans will ever admit they were wrong to do what they did?”