Эрин Хантер - Path Of A Warrior

She watched as they hurried off toward the medicine cat’s den, looking abashed; then she turned to the rest of her Clanmates. “I’m going to lead a hunting patrol,” she announced. “Maybe that way, we’ll be able to focus on actually catching some prey. Who wants to come with me?”

“I will,” Dusk Nose volunteered quickly, and Bubbling Stream stepped forward to join them. With a nod of approval, Shadowstar turned and headed for the tunnel, the two younger cats following.

Out in the forest, the familiar pine scent made Shadowstar feel a little calmer. The earth was cool and damp underfoot. She sniffed the air, searching for prey.

“There were a lot of mice over by the Thunderpath yesterday,” Bubbling Stream suggested.

“We’ll head over there, then,” Shadowstar mewed briskly. Her muscles tightened at the idea of going back to where Sun Shadow had died—where she had died—but she wasn’t going to avoid any part of her own territory.

There was long grass just past where the tree line ended, and Dusk Nose stiffened. “There,” he meowed. “In that clump of grass.” The air was heavy with the scent of mouse, and Shadowstar could hear several quick heartbeats coming from the grass.

“Drive them out and Bubbling Stream and I will catch them,” she told him, and she and the white she-cat slipped forward, passing on either side of the clump of grass where the mice were concealed. Once they were a few steps closer to the Thunderpath, Dusk Nose charged into the grass. Four mice, panicked, ran straight toward the she-cats.

Bubbling Stream pounced at once, pinning one mouse beneath her paws. Shadowstar was a heartbeat too slow to catch the other three and whipped around to leap after them.

They were so close to the Twoleg bridge. For a moment, she expected the shaggy brown dog to step out and block her path. Her heart thumped painfully, and she hesitated.

The mice dashed out of sight.

“What happened ?” Dusk Nose burst out, and then licked at his chest fur, embarrassed.

Shadowstar shifted uneasily from one paw to another. “I’m just tired,” she lied. Both her Clanmates were staring at her with concern, and she flicked her ears at them. “Come on,” she meowed. “Let’s try a little farther into the woods.”

I need to get over this, she thought as she led them farther on. It’s because I can’t forget that this is my last life. I have to make sure my Clan is ready to go on without me before I die, but I can’t be so afraid of death that I don’t act.

Catching a rich prey-scent, she peered around. There. A small squirrel was sitting up, its back to them, clutching a nut.

Shadowstar didn’t hesitate this time. She took off, running fast. Excitement shot through her as the squirrel, startled by her movement, began to run too. She could leap before it reached its tree.

Then she stumbled, a blinding pain shooting through her foreleg. Looking down, she realized that she had stepped into a hole and twisted her limb.

I would have seen it if I hadn’t been so reckless. But she’d had to charge, hadn’t she? Otherwise, she would have frozen up again.

As Bubbling Stream and Dusk Nose hurried toward her, Shadowstar wondered bleakly if she’d lost her nerve for good.

Chapter Three

Shadowstar gingerly lowered her paw, shifting her weight onto her foreleg, then relaxed. It barely twinged. It had taken half a moon, but her leg was finally healed. Still, she knew Pebble Heart would insist on examining it one last time.

As she waded through ferns to the cave beneath the Clanrock where the medicine cat made his den, she could hear him treating one of her warriors.

“Hold still and I’ll soon have that out,” the gray tabby tom was saying gently. Looking through the cave entrance, Shadowstar saw Shade Pelt holding one paw in the air as Pebble Heart worked a thorn out of his paw pad.

“There,” he said cheerfully to the younger cat. “I’ll put some comfrey on to help you feel better.”

Shadowstar watched as Pebble Heart chewed the comfrey leaves into a paste and licked it carefully onto Shade Pelt’s paw. He cares so much, she thought. He’s always looking out for every member of ShadowClan.

The medicine cat’s amber eyes glinted as he looked up at Shade Pelt. “Keep off it for the rest of today.”

Shadowstar caught her breath. Amber eyes. Again she pictured the cold eyes that had watched her from the forest as she struggled and died.

Pebble Heart would never do something like that. She was quite sure that if she could trust any cat, she could trust Pebble Heart. She had known him since he was a kit, and he was a medicine cat—charged by StarClan with the duty of taking care of his Clanmates.

Shade Pelt limped out of the medicine cat’s den, dipping his head respectfully to Shadowstar as she ducked through the entrance.

“How’s the leg feeling?” Pebble Heart asked.

“Much better,” Shadowstar told him, and stood patiently as Pebble Heart felt it over.

“Not hurting at all?” he meowed at last, and she shook her head. “I think you’re fine to go back to hunting and patrolling. But let me know if it bothers you.”

“Okay,” Shadowstar replied, but she lingered, watching as Pebble Heart tidied his herbs. The medicine-cat den was the most peaceful place in camp.

“Are you okay?” Pebble Heart asked as he returned the leftover comfrey to the dried herbs at the side of his den. “You’ve been keeping to yourself lately.”

Shadowstar started to say that she was fine; but then she noticed how heavy her fur felt, and how her worries had filled her head like water. “They just keep fighting,” she sighed bitterly. “With Sun Shadow gone, some warriors seem so eager to walk in his paw steps that all they do is compete with each other.” Despite having been punished more than once, Mouse Ear and Juniper Branch were still at odds. “And now other warriors are picking sides in their argument.” She swallowed hard, her stomach an unhappy ball. “The Clan’s being pulled apart.”

Pebble Heart looked into her eyes, his own gaze steady. “Take a moment,” he told her. “Breathe deeply.” He inhaled a long, slow breath, and Shadowstar imitated him. Together they held the breath for a moment, then gradually let it out. “Again.”

After a few repetitions, Shadowstar relaxed a little.

“It’s true that not knowing who’s going to be your deputy is causing some conflict,” Pebble Heart said. “It’s been more than half a moon since Sun Shadow’s death. Maybe it’s time to name his successor?”

Shadowstar hesitated. I can tell Pebble Heart the truth, she reminded herself . “But it matters so much who I choose as deputy,” she told him. “It has to be a cat I can trust.”

Pebble Heart cocked his head, looking puzzled. “Is that any different from when you chose Sun Shadow?” he asked. “I don’t remember it being such a struggle.”

Shadowstar looked down at her paws, wondering if she could tell the medicine cat the truth.

“This is my last life,” she finally confessed, keeping her mew as quiet as she could. “My next deputy will have to be ready to lead the Clan soon , and be able to keep ShadowClan together.”

Pebble Heart looked deeply troubled. “Are you sure?” he asked after a moment. “There was the infection, and the fight with the badger … the cough, the time you drowned … that fall …”

“Er … I may have died twice without telling you,” Shadowstar confessed. “I was hit by a Twoleg monster and I fought a rogue.”

At the stormy look on Pebble Heart’s face, she added quickly, “I didn’t tell any cat. Both times, I died alone and began my new life alone. There was nothing anyone could have done. It seemed safer for the Clan if no cat knew how close I was to my last life.”