Эрин Хантер - The Raging Storm

“Is he free?” Bramblestar’s mew was taut.

“Yes!” Finleap dragged Puddleshine away from the vines.

Twigbranch wriggled out, her heart racing.

“Let it go!” Bramblestar yowled. The tangle of vines dropped as the warriors released their grip and landed, trembling, on the ground. A vine broke free and unfurled beside Bumblestripe, slapping the earth a whisker away.

“Is everyone okay?” Bramblestar glanced around at the warriors.

Molewhisker nodded. Larksong licked his paw urgently, as though soothing a scratch.

Thornclaw’s ears twitched. “No injuries here.”

Bumblestripe looked at Puddleshine. “He’s the only one hurt.”

Alderheart was already pressing cobweb into a wound on the medicine cat’s flank. He balled up another strip in his paws and pressed it into a cut on Puddleshine’s neck. Twigbranch stiffened as she saw the blood oozing from the tom’s fur. There were too many injuries to count.

Bramblestar gazed anxiously at Puddleshine. “Will he be okay?”

Alderheart swabbed another wound. “None of the cuts are deep, but there are a lot of them and there’s always the chance of infection. We need to get him to a medicine den so I can treat them properly.”

Bramblestar looked across the border. “There’s no point taking him to ShadowClan. He’s the only medicine cat they have. There will be no one to treat him there.”

“We’d better take him to our camp.” Alderheart pressed another wad of cobweb into a wound.

Puddleshine’s eyes were glazed. He lay limply as Alderheart worked on him.

“Is he really okay?” Twigbranch asked anxiously. “He’s hardly moving.”

“That’s the poppy seeds working,” Alderheart told her. “I gave him plenty.”

“Tell me when he’s ready to be carried back to camp,” Bramblestar meowed.

Alderheart nodded, not pausing his work.

“We should tell Tigerstar what’s happened,” Finleap meowed.

“Yes.” Bramblestar nodded. “Take Twigbranch and go to the ShadowClan camp.”

Finleap glanced at the border. “Should we wait for a ShadowClan patrol to escort us?”

“No.” Bramblestar twitched his tail. “Cross the border. Tigerstar will understand why you’re on ShadowClan land once he hears the news. Tell him we’ll take care of Puddleshine until he is well enough to return. He is welcome to send a patrol to check on him.”

Twigbranch glanced at Finleap. What if a ShadowClan patrol attacked them before they had time to explain why they were there?

He blinked at her. “Come on.” Leaping away, he skirted the silverthorn and headed across the border.

Twigbranch followed him. Her heart quickened as she crossed the scent line. “Do you know the way to the ShadowClan camp?”

“No, but you do.” Finleap slowed and let her take the lead.

She hurried past him and led the way up a rise. She knew this trail well. She had traveled to the ShadowClan camp many times—usually in secret—to visit her sister, Violetshine, when they’d been kits. She’d been scared then, but she felt more anxious now. Since Tigerstar had returned, no cat had heard much from ShadowClan. Who knew what sort of leader he’d become? She glanced nervously between the pines. “What if Tigerstar is angry that we’ve taken Puddleshine to our camp?” she asked Finleap in a hushed mew.

Finleap fell in beside her, matching her stride. “How can he be angry when we’re trying to help?”

His confidence soothed her. He seemed so sure of himself. Even when he’d been pulling Puddleshine free, he’d known he could do it. He was sure they’d be mates too and that they’d have kits one day. And the thought didn’t scare him. Anxiety wormed beneath Twigbranch’s pelt. Then why does it scare me?

CHAPTER 2

Violetshine padded into a glade, where newleaf sun dappled white patches of snowdrops. Mintfur walked beside her while, ahead of them, Sandynose sniffed the air, his whiskers twitching as a mild wind carried the scent of the lake through the forest.

“Look here, Fidgetflake!” Frecklewish stopped beside a patch of dark green leaves sprouting between the roots of an alder.

The younger medicine cat hurried toward her, his black-and-white pelt prickling eagerly. “Is that some kind of comfrey?”

“It’s wood sorrel,” Frecklewish told him, plucking out a few leaves with her claws. She held it out for him to sniff.

Fidgetflake wrinkled his nose, backing away. “I know what it smells like. Horrible and sour.”

“It tastes even worse,” Frecklewish murmured. “But it makes a good poultice for boils and abscesses. It draws out infection and dries the wound.”

She stripped a leaf from a nearby bramble stem and began to roll the sorrel leaves into it. “We’ll take this back for the herb store.” She purred happily. Frecklewish had been eager to join the border patrol. The herb store had been depleted by the long, cold leaf-bare, and she wanted to collect fresh supplies. “The newest growth is the strongest,” she’d told Fidgetflake as they’d followed Sandynose, Violetshine, and Mintfur out of camp.

Now Violetshine halted at the bottom of the glade, relishing the feel of sunshine on her fur. As she waited for Frecklewish and Fidgetflake to bundle up the wood sorrel, Sandynose padded around her, scanning the trees.

Mintfur lay down and rolled in the warm dry leaf litter, clearly enjoying the fresh scents of newleaf. “It’s good to have our territory to ourselves again,” she meowed, sitting up and shaking the dust from her gray fur.

“It’s good to have our camp to ourselves,” Sandynose grunted. “I don’t know how Leafstar ever thought ShadowClan could fit in. They’re too different.”

“Not so different.” Frecklewish looked up from her herbs. “They’re still warriors, after all. They follow the warrior code. And they eat and sleep and hunt just like us.”

“They hunt like foxes and snore like badgers,” Sandynose grunted.

Mintfur licked her paw and drew it over her ear. “Well, they’re gone now, and we don’t have to worry about tripping over them anymore.”

“It was good of Leafstar to return their land without a fight,” Sandynose meowed. “After all, ShadowClan gave it to us. And then slept in our dens and ate our prey for a moon.”

“Tigerstar thanked her for our kindness,” Violetshine reminded him.

“They owed us more than thanks,” Sandynose sniffed.

Frecklewish padded to Mintfur’s side. “Everything’s back to how it should be,” she mewed. “Five Clans living beside the lake. It’s best for everyone this way.”

Sandynose narrowed his eyes. “I just hope Tigerstar agrees.”

The warrior’s suspicion made Violetshine uneasy. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“Tigerstar only cares about what’s best for Tigerstar.” Sandynose looked up the slope, his ears pricked. “He abandoned his Clan and his kin when they needed him. Then he came back when it suited him. And his mate is no better. Dovewing broke the warrior code and had kits with a warrior from another Clan, then left her own Clan to be with him and took her kits with her.” The light brown tom blinked at Violetshine. “A leader is supposed to set an example for their Clan. What kind of example has Tigerstar set?”

Frecklewish shook out her fur. “He made mistakes. But StarClan guided his paws back to ShadowClan and made him its leader. He must understand how important it is that there be five Clans beside the lake.”