Эрин Хантер - Path Of A Warrior

“But as they left, Stagleap said he’d be back.” Tigerclaw lowered his tail, looking worried. “Sunstar, WindClan is ignoring our border and disrespecting our leader. We need to prove to them that we can defend ourselves.” Tigerclaw turned to Redtail. “Right?”

Redtail’s head was spinning. Was Tigerclaw trying to start a battle with WindClan? Why was the big tom always so eager to fight? He’d done the same thing with RiverClan when the hawk had attacked. But then Redtail had an upsetting thought. He didn’t tell things the way they happened with WindClan. But why would he lie? Did he do the same thing with RiverClan?

Tigerclaw nudged Redtail, waiting for his agreement. I owe Tigerclaw my life, Redtail remembered . He owed Tigerclaw everything. He couldn’t call him a liar. But Redtail couldn’t bring himself to back up Tigerclaw’s story, either.

The silence seemed to stretch on for moons.

Finally Sunstar sighed. “There’s a Gathering tonight,” he mewed. “I’ll talk to WindClan then and see what Heatherstar has to say. She’s a reasonable cat. Maybe we can work this out without bloodshed.”

“Yes, Sunstar.” Tigerclaw nodded, dipping his head respectfully. But there was a strange, sullen light in his eyes.

Redtail was beginning to think that a peaceful solution was the last thing Tigerclaw wanted.

The cold light of the full moon shone down onto Fourtrees, throwing shadows from the four tall oaks across the cats gathered below. Redtail ruffled his pelt, his gaze sweeping over the other Clans, searching for Sorrelpaw. She wasn’t there, he realized. Had he hurt her too badly for her to come? Or had she simply been left behind to help guard the WindClan camp?

“Our first Gathering as warriors,” Willowpelt breathed beside him, looking awestruck.

“Yeah,” Redtail muttered. If he hadn’t hurt Sorrelpaw, he would have been just as thrilled as Willowpelt. Looking at the WindClan cats, he saw Stagleap deep in conversation with Talltail, WindClan’s black-and-white deputy, and crouched a little, unwilling to catch the WindClan warrior’s eye.

A loud yowl from the Great Rock in the center of the clearing called the gathered cats together. From the top of the rock, Sunstar looked down on the warriors below. On either side of him stood Cedarstar, the ShadowClan leader, and Crookedstar, who had recently become RiverClan’s leader after Hailstar lost his ninth life. Heatherstar, the leader of WindClan, stood on the other side of Crookedstar. Redtail looked at the sleek, pale gray she-cat apprehensively.

What had Stagleap told her? And what was Sunstar going to say? Was he going to repeat the lies that Tigerclaw had told him? Near Redtail, Tigerclaw gazed up at the Clan leaders, his face calm but the tip of his tail twitching as if he was waiting for something.

What does Tigerclaw want to happen?

Cedarstar cleared his throat. “Newleaf has brought new prey to ShadowClan’s territory… .”

Redtail’s mind wandered as first ShadowClan’s and then RiverClan’s leader shared the news from their Clans. Heatherstar spoke, too, and Redtail listened to her attentively, but she didn’t mention the conflict at the border. As Sunstar stepped forward next, Redtail snapped to attention, his heart pounding.

“After a hard leaf-bare, prey is running well in ThunderClan,” Sunstar said. “We had a bout of whitecough go through camp, but Featherwhisker and Spottedpaw were able to treat it, and the last of the ill cats left the medicine den a few days ago.”

He looked out onto the cats below him, and his eyes caught Redtail’s. Redtail tensed, dread filling his belly: What would happen when Heatherstar told Sunstar the truth, and Sunstar realized that he and Tigerclaw had lied?

“We have two new warriors in ThunderClan,” Sunstar announced instead. “Redtail and Willowpelt.” The cats around them murmured their congratulations, and Willowpelt purred with pride. Redtail wanted to feel the same way, but he was too nervous.

Once the chatter had died down, Sunstar spoke again. “Unfortunately, something happened today at the boundary between Fourtrees and ThunderClan. A WindClan apprentice crossed the boundary, scaring away prey, and picked a fight with two ThunderClan warriors.” He looked sharply at Heatherstar. “I’d like your assurances that this isn’t going to happen again.”

Heatherstar looked thoughtful. “I heard about the fight, although the story I heard was a bit different,” she meowed. She paused, and Redtail’s chest suddenly felt tight with fear. Will she tell Sunstar what really happened? But after a moment, the WindClan leader went on. “Mistakes will happen from time to time, especially with apprentices. Warriors should be patient with them.” Is she looking at me? Redtail wondered. He couldn’t tell. “But of course, the borders must be honored,” Heatherstar went on. “I know Sunstar will agree to put this behind us so we can avoid further conflict.”

In the crowd below, Tigerclaw laid back his ears. “Is she calling Sunstar weak?” he murmured to Thistleclaw beside him, in a meow that was just a bit too loud.

Sunstar clearly heard him, and the fur on his shoulders rose. “If WindClan will get its cats in line and have them show some respect, there won’t be a reason to fight,” he hissed.

Surprised rumblings rose from the crowd.

“Is Sunstar threatening WindClan?” a small white RiverClan tom asked, his eyes wide.

“It’s time we showed the other Clans they can’t cross ThunderClan’s boundaries without consequences,” Thistleclaw replied, and Tigerclaw nodded.

All across the clearing, fur was rising, and hisses and grumbling broke through the usual friendly chatter of the Gathering. Redtail’s chest felt hollow. Was this full-moon Gathering going to end in a battle? Surely it couldn’t. The Gathering was always a time of peace.

Up on the Great Rock, Cedarstar flicked his dark gray tail. “Do we really need to air all these petty grievances at a Gathering? Some of us have business back in our own camps.”

“I agree.” Crookedstar, probably relieved to avoid getting caught up in a fight after several moons of peace with ThunderClan, leaped from the Great Rock. “RiverClan cats, follow me!”

As the RiverClan cats began to stream out of camp, Redtail quickly made his way across the clearing toward Stagleap. The big tom might not want to talk to Redtail. He might want to tear his pelt off— and I’d deserve it, Redtail thought miserably—but Redtail had to find out if Sorrelpaw was okay.

“Was Sorrelpaw too hurt to come to the Gathering?” he asked as soon as he was close to Stagleap.

Stagleap turned, looking startled. “She’s sore, but she’ll be all right,” he replied. “No thanks to you.”

“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Redtail mewed apologetically. “I was just doing my duty.”

“Your duty?” Stagleap repeated. He stared at Redtail for a long moment before he spoke again. “You haven’t been a warrior very long, have you, Redtail? Warriors are supposed to teach apprentices, not hurt them. Even other Clans’ apprentices. Your duty was to scold her and send her home, or to wait for me to come and show her where she’d gone wrong.”

“Tigerclaw was right that we had to defend our boundary,” Redtail insisted, bristling, but he still felt hollow with guilt.

“What threat was Sorrelpaw to ThunderClan?” Stagleap hissed. “I know Tigerclaw’s style. I knew before you told me that it must have been you who fought Sorrelpaw, because Tigerclaw would have torn her apart.”

Tear her apart. Redtail’s stomach twisted, remembering Tigerclaw’s instructions. “No,” he murmured. “Tigerclaw’s … just a brave warrior. A good warrior.”