Эрин Хантер - River of Fire

With a swish of her tail Sparkpelt beckoned the two apprentices a few paces farther into the camp, then signaled for them to halt. “Wait here,” she ordered.

Twigpaw watched her as she bounded across the hollow and scrambled up the tumbled rocks to the Highledge, where she disappeared into Bramblestar’s den.

“I hope everything’s going to be okay,” Twigpaw murmured.

“Of course it will.” Finpaw nuzzled her shoulder briefly. “Bramblestar would have to have bees in his brain not to want you in his Clan.”

Before Twigpaw could reply, Sorrelstripe slid out of the warriors’ den and headed toward the thorn tunnel, only to come to an abrupt stop as she spotted Twigpaw and Finpaw.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Twigpaw’s here!”

Her surprised yowl alerted every cat in the camp. Cats in the open sprang to their paws, while more pushed their way out of the warriors’ den. All of them crowded around Twigpaw and Finpaw, until Twigpaw felt that she could hardly breathe in the midst of so many bright, questioning eyes and twitching whiskers.

“I thought I caught a familiar scent.” Brackenfur gave Twigpaw a friendly nod. “It’s good to see you, Twigpaw.”

“Why are you here?” Fernsong asked.

“Is there trouble in SkyClan?” Lionblaze slid out his claws. “Do you need our help?”

Twigpaw swallowed hard, her pelt prickling with nervousness. Every cat was looking at her expectantly. “No, SkyClan is fine,” Twigpaw replied. “But I’ve left them. I’ve come home to live in ThunderClan.”

Utter silence greeted her announcement for a couple of heartbeats, followed by an outbreak of astonished yowling.

“Coming home ? Your home is in SkyClan now.”

“What about your kin?”

“Who is this SkyClan cat with you?”

Berrynose, at the front of the crowd, looked down at Twigpaw with a disdainful twitch of his whiskers. “You chose to leave, and now you want back in?” he demanded. “Can we ever trust you again?”

Murmurs of agreement came from several other cats.

Twigpaw wished that the ground would open up and swallow her, until she spotted movement from the medicine cats’ den. With a gasp of relief she recognized Alderheart pushing his way through the cluster of cats to stand at her side.

Thank StarClan! Alderheart practically raised me. He’ll understand.

“Of course we can trust her,” Alderheart meowed, his dark ginger pelt beginning to bristle as he faced Berrynose. “Of course we want her back! She was raised in ThunderClan, so she’s one of us.” His amber eyes were warm and supportive as he gazed at her.

Twigpaw felt as if the sun had just come out from behind a cloud when she heard Alderheart call her “one of us.” Aware that some of her former Clanmates were still hostile, she tried to hide her sudden happiness by bowing her head and studying her paws. But Alderheart’s praise made her feel warm from her ears to her tail-tip.

I’ve missed Alderheart so much since I left ThunderClan!

“Twigpaw!”

A commanding yowl rang out across the camp. Twigpaw looked up to see Bramblestar standing on the Highledge with Sparkpelt by his side. He beckoned Twigpaw with his tail. “Come up here,” he ordered. “You and I must talk.”

Twigpaw exchanged an uncertain glance with Finpaw. Will he be okay if I leave him here by himself?

Then Alderheart gave her a gentle push. “Go on,” he meowed. “I’ll look after Finpaw. Let’s find you some prey,” he added to the young tom. “You must be hungry.”

“Starving!” Finpaw agreed fervently.

Reassured, Twigpaw hurried across the camp and began to climb the tumbled rocks. Sparkpelt passed her heading downward; she said nothing, but gave Twigpaw an unfriendly stare.

“Come into my den,” Bramblestar invited Twigpaw when she reached the Highledge.

Following him inside, Twigpaw felt uncomfortable, almost unworthy, to be having a private conversation with the ThunderClan leader. To her relief, Bramblestar didn’t seem angry, but there was concern in his eyes as he stood looking down at her.

“Sparkpelt reported to me that you say you want to rejoin ThunderClan,” he said. “You must realize, Twigpaw, that it’s not usual for a cat to be so confused about where they belong.”

Something in his words woke a spark of defiance inside Twigpaw. “How many cats have grown up the way I did?” she challenged Bramblestar. “Has any other cat lost her parents and her entire Clan, been separated from her sister, and then found a father she thought was dead? I admit I was confused, but I know where I belong now. Haven’t I proved my loyalty to ThunderClan by coming back? I’m ready to become a ThunderClan warrior.”

Bramblestar’s voice was quiet as he responded. “I don’t doubt that loyalty to ThunderClan is in your heart today,” he mewed. “But it’s not always that simple. The warrior code requires us to be loyal to one Clan. If you’re moving back and forth between Clans, where does your heart really lie?”

Pausing, he settled himself in his nest and motioned with one paw for Twigpaw to sit opposite him.

“I remember when I was an apprentice, back in the old forest,” he began. “Something similar happened: Graystripe left ThunderClan for RiverClan because he had kits with a RiverClan cat named Silverstream. She died, and when RiverClan claimed the kits, Graystripe thought it was his duty to go with them and raise them.”

“Graystripe . . . ,” Twigpaw breathed out, hardly able to imagine that the sturdy, loyal elder would ever have mated with a cat from another Clan.

Bramblestar nodded. “Then, when RiverClan invaded and tried to take Sunningrocks from ThunderClan, Graystripe couldn’t fight for them against us. RiverClan drove him into exile. Bluestar, who was leader then, took him back, but it was a tense and confusing time, and no cat knew who could be trusted.”

“But it worked out in the end, right?” Twigpaw pointed out. “Every cat trusts Graystripe now. Besides,” she added, her neck fur beginning to bristle in spite of her efforts to stay calm, “SkyClan isn’t going to attack us! That’s mouse-brained!”

The words were hardly out before Twigpaw realized that a mere apprentice shouldn’t call her Clan leader mouse-brained. I’ve probably ruined my chances of getting back in!

But Bramblestar’s only response was to twitch his ears. “I know they won’t—but when you get so indignant at the very idea, it shows that you still hold some loyalty to your kin’s Clan. SkyClan is in your blood.”

“But I’ve already tried SkyClan!” Twigpaw protested. “Now I know I don’t belong there.”

Bramblestar hesitated, letting out a thoughtful sigh. “I can see you really mean it,” he mewed at last. “And I would be happy to welcome you back into ThunderClan, but . . .” His voice trailed off.

Twigpaw’s sudden flash of optimism at the Clan leader’s first words faded into uncertainty. “But?”

“This is where your story is different from Graystripe’s,” Bramblestar told her. “He was a grown warrior when he switched Clans, not an apprentice. You chose to leave ThunderClan right before your warrior ceremony rather than become a ThunderClan warrior. Twigpaw, I want to believe that you will be loyal to ThunderClan, but I think it will be the right thing for you to complete a short apprenticeship here . . . a kind of probation, to make sure you really want to be a ThunderClan warrior.”

At first Twigpaw felt hot anger gathering in her belly. She had already completed a ThunderClan apprenticeship, and then another after she left to join SkyClan. She had assumed that Bramblestar would make her a warrior right away.