Эрин Хантер - The Raging Storm

Leafstar slid past Violetshine and jumped nimbly onto Plumwillow’s branch. She padded past the gray she-cat and picked her way to the end.

Violetshine held her breath. Had Plumwillow found an escape route?

Leafstar stopped as the branch began to dip under her weight. She peered through the leaves. “It’s not long enough.”

Plumwillow hurried to her side. “It’s only a short jump.”

“A fox-length,” Leafstar countered. “That may be too far for some cats. And we’d need a firmer jumping-off place to be sure of covering a gap that wide.” The branch quivered as she moved.

Plumwillow looked into the maple, which stretched tantalizingly close. “If only its branches reached a little lower. They’d bridge the gap.”

Hawkwing padded to her side. As Violetshine followed, her paws pricked with agonizing hope. The far bank suddenly seemed closer, and yet it was still too far away. “The maple branches are young,” Hawkwing commented as he peered among the leaves. “They would be easy to bend.”

Plumwillow swished her tail impatiently. “How can we bend them? We can’t even reach them.”

Leafstar narrowed her eyes. “If one cat could make it across,” she mewed softly, “they could bend a branch.”

“Two would be better.” Hawkwing didn’t take his eyes from the maple.

“Or three,” Plumwillow chimed in.

“I’ll go,” Sagenose meowed.

“I’ll go too,” Macgyver called from above.

“I should go first.” Hawkwing squared his shoulders.

“No!” Violetshine’s fur spiked. Hawkwing mustn’t leave her! “What if you drown?” She felt sick as she stared down at the muddy water.

Leafstar lifted her muzzle. “I’ll go.” She eyed her Clan. “I brought you here. I’ll lead you out.”

“You’re our leader.” Hawkwing blinked at her. “You mustn’t risk your life.”

“I have nine lives to risk,” she countered. “You only have one.”

“Let’s wait and see if the rain stops!” Nectarpaw’s frightened wail sounded above.

“If you drown, it won’t help any cat,” Harrybrook called.

“I won’t drown.” Leafstar fluffed out her wet fur. “We have to find a way out. We can’t live in this tree forever.” She picked her way closer to the end. The tip dipped precariously beneath her weight.

The Clan watched in silence as Leafstar fixed her gaze on the maple branches. She crouched and bunched the muscles in her hind legs. Then, trembling, she leaped.

Violetshine felt the branch shake. Time seemed to slow as Leafstar flew through the air. Violetshine willed her on. Please make it! Her pelt spiked as Leafstar fell. Thrashing the air, the SkyClan leader snatched at the maple, but it was out of reach. She hit the water with a splash and disappeared below the surface.

Shock pulsed through Violetshine. She stared at the swirling water, blood roaring in her ears.

Dewspring leaned over the edge. “I’ll save her!”

“No!” Hawkwing ordered. “She has more lives to lose than you. You’d be dead in four breaths.”

Violetshine’s throat tightened. “Where is she?” The SkyClan leader had still not surfaced.

“Wait.” Hawkwing stared down, every muscle taut.

A shape appeared in the muddy water. Leafstar’s head bobbed up. Terror flared in the SkyClan leader’s eyes as she blinked up at the Clan. With a gasp, she disappeared. The water frothed as she fought her way back to the surface. She opened her mouth and then slid under once more.

“We have to save her!” Wild with panic, Violetshine lunged forward. Teeth pierced her scruff as Hawkwing jerked her backward. Violetshine turned to glare at him. “What? We can’t just watch her die!”

Brown fur flashed on the far bank, a blur behind the driving rain. She gasped as a shape plunged into the water. A cat! What was it doing? It could drown! She watched the cat dive beneath the surface, bob up, and then dive again. She glimpsed broad shoulders and a wide forehead before they disappeared again. It was a tom. Would he be strong enough to survive the flood? He broke the surface once more. This time he dragged Leafstar with him. Flailing against the current, he tugged Leafstar toward the bank.

With a gasp, Violetshine recognized his pelt. She struggled free of Hawkwing’s grip. Finleap? What was he doing here? She stared in amazement as more cats streamed to the edge of the water and began to haul Finleap and Leafstar from the flood. Tree was with them! And Twigbranch. Even through the pouring rain, she recognized them. Her heart soared.

Excited yowls rang from above.

“ThunderClan sent a patrol!”

“Lizardtail’s with them.”

“And Gorsetail.”

“Have all the Clans come?”

Harrybrook and Macgyver leaped down and crowded close to Violetshine. Nectarpaw and Quailpaw strained to see from the branch above them.

Violetshine’s gaze was fixed on Leafstar. Was she moving? Had Finleap dragged her from the water in time? She recognized Willowshine’s pale tabby pelt. The RiverClan medicine cat was pumping Leafstar’s chest with her paws.

The SkyClan leader lay lifeless on the shore as Willowshine worked on her. Violetshine held her breath. Let her live! Then Leafstar twitched. With a violent jerk, the SkyClan leader’s head rose, and she vomited muddy water.

“She’s alive!” Sagenose yowled triumphantly overhead as Leafstar stared groggily around.

Jubilant cries rang from the tree, and the group of cats on the shore turned to look.

Finleap’s face fell in dismay as he saw his former Clanmates trapped, but Tree padded to the edge of the water and called across. “Don’t worry!” he called. “We’ll find a way to rescue you.”

Violetshine pushed past her father, desperate to speak to Tree. “You came!” Joy pulsed beneath her pelt. She thought she’d never see him again.

His eyes widened as he saw her. “You’re safe!”

“Not yet.” Violetshine lifted her muzzle. “We need you to bend the branches of that maple so we can climb across.”

He nodded at once and turned to his patrol. In a moment, Tree, Twigbranch, Hootwhisker, and Lionblaze were climbing the maple. They moved among the branches to one that was already dipping toward the water. Clustering around it, they stretched up and pushed with their forepaws. As it began to bend deeper, Tree signaled to Lionblaze and Hootwhisker with his tail. They clambered over the others and balanced on the branch. Under their weight, it dipped further. Gingerly, they crept along it until it was bobbing over the surface of the water.

Violetshine blinked. It was going to work. She could see where the tip of Plumwillow’s branch and the maple overlapped.

Plumwillow was the first to cross. Macgyver and Harrybrook followed, the branches trembling beneath them. One by one, the SkyClan cats scrambled to safety.

Hawkwing nudged Violetshine forward. “Go on,” he murmured.

“You go first.” She didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

“I’ll be okay,” he told her. “Trust me.”

She padded along the branch, her heart quickening as she neared the end. Water swirled beneath, but she fixed her gaze on the maple and slithered onto the branch. She felt it quiver as she landed and scurried toward the trunk. Heart pounding, she leaped to the ground and looked back in time to see Hawkwing dart to safety.

Relief washed over her like warm sunshine. She almost didn’t notice the rain.

A moment later, Tree was nuzzling her while Twigbranch wove happily around Hawkwing.

“It’s great to see you.” Purring, Tree rubbed his muzzle over every part of her face. She pressed against him, joy flooding her pelt. “I never want to be a loner again,” he told her. “From now on, I go wherever you go.”