Эрин Хантер - Path Of A Warrior

“Oh, Shadowstar.” Pebble Heart’s eyes shone with distress. “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have been alone.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t alone. StarClan was with me.” She brought the conversation back to what seemed most important. “Sun Shadow had been helping me lead the Clan for a long time. He was ready to lead, if he had to. How can I know if one of the others will be able to guide ShadowClan? How can I know if I can even trust … ?” She trailed off, thinking of those amber eyes that had watched her die.

“What do you mean?” Pebble Heart asked, staring at her intently.

Shadowstar told him about the eyes she’d seen watching her and Sun Shadow’s deaths from the woods. “I thought I might have imagined them, but the more I think about it, the more sure I am that there was a cat there. I don’t think it was a ShadowClan cat, although I can’t help wondering … but if it wasn’t, that’s almost as bad. What cat could watch us die without wanting to help? It makes me feel like I have an enemy … or ShadowClan does. And Gray Wing said that if ShadowClan falls, all the Clans could fall… .”

“I see.” Pebble Heart nodded. “You’re wondering how you can leave an untested leader in charge, if the Clans are in such danger.”

“Exactly.” Shadowstar felt oddly lighter. She was still worried and frightened, but she was glad that she’d told Pebble Heart what was bothering her.

“For what it’s worth, I have faith in you,” Pebble Heart mewed. “If the Clan is in danger, I think you will find that danger before your final death.” He pressed his cheek to hers. “You’ve led this Clan so well, I know you will leave us safe.”

Maybe, Shadowstar thought. I hope he’s right.

But as she thanked Pebble Heart and left his den, weaving her way past her warriors, she couldn’t help thinking of Sun Shadow’s death. She had failed him. I should have saved him. I should have made him run to safety. Then he would still be here, ready to lead the Clan when I die.

She would need to do a better job protecting ShadowClan.

Slipping into her nest below the oak tree, she shut her eyes.

I have to make sure my Clan is strong enough to survive my final death.

Shadowstar led her Clan into Fourtrees, the full moon shining above them, bathing the clearing in cold silver. Skystar and Thunderstar were already seated on the Great Rock. Skystar looked tense, his thick light gray fur bristling and his large paws shifting restlessly. Shadowstar strode toward them as her warriors greeted friends and kin from other Clans. Pebble Heart joined Cloud Spots and Acorn Fur, doubtless to talk medicine-cat business.

Leaping lightly to the top of the Great Rock, Shadowstar nodded to Skystar and Thunderstar. Skystar twitched his whiskers irritably at her. “You’re still planning to back me up, right?” he asked urgently.

“I will.” But first I have to hear what’s going on.

Thunderstar, calmer, looked down at where his and Skystar’s deputies sat near the base of the rock. “You haven’t picked a new deputy yet?”

“No.” Shadowstar tried to make it clear from her tone that she didn’t want to discuss it, but the big ginger tom only blinked at her earnestly.

“It was hard for me, too, when Lightning Tail was killed,” he confided. “But I’m glad that I chose Owl Eyes as my deputy. It’s good for the Clan to have another cat they can rely on.”

“I will name a new deputy when the time is right,” she told him coolly. Her Clan’s business was no other cat’s concern.

Thunderstar looked as if he wanted to speak again, but seemed to change his mind as Windstar and Riverstar joined them on top of the Great Rock.

“I notice you don’t have a new deputy yet,” Windstar remarked briskly to Shadowstar. “A leader needs a deputy to bear some of the weight of running a Clan.”

Shadowstar’s tail twitched with irritation, but Skystar broke in, addressing all the cats in the clearing. “Now that we’re all finally here, I need to speak. I don’t have time to tell you how our prey is running or to listen to a list of new apprentices in another Clan,” he yowled. “We have a serious problem.”

“What’s the matter?” Riverstar asked.

“I warned you all about the Twolegs,” Skystar went on. “I tried to tell you at the last Gathering, but you said not to worry, that there was nothing Twolegs wanted in the forest.”

“Oh, this again,” Windstar broke in with an irritable flick of her tail. “A few Twolegs walk across your territory, and you get all worked up.”

“It’s not ‘a few Twolegs,’” Skystar mewed indignantly. “More and more of them are coming, more often now. Sometimes they come in groups, with big Twoleg monsters. They’ve been patrolling, looking very carefully at SkyClan’s territory. I think they’re hoping to take it over as their own. If they do, what will happen to SkyClan?”

“But why would they want your territory?” Riverstar asked reasonably. “Twolegs live in those big dens like mountains. The forest isn’t their kind of place at all.”

“No, Skystar’s right,” Thunderstar broke in. “I’ve seen them, and they’re acting like the forest is theirs. Maybe they want to build some of their dens on forest land.”

“Even if that’s true,” Windstar replied, “this sounds like SkyClan’s problem, not WindClan’s.”

There was an outbreak of angry yowling from the cats gathered in the clearing below.

“So WindClan would be happy enough for SkyClan to be destroyed?” Quick Water, one of Skystar’s cats, snarled, rearing back onto her hind legs.

“We can’t turn our backs on other Clans!” Pink Eyes, a white-furred ThunderClan warrior, looked shocked.

Even Moth Flight, Windstar’s own daughter and her Clan’s medicine cat, was staring at her mother, hissing: “There must be five Clans! We have to protect one another!”

Windstar flicked her tail again, her yellow eyes darkening resentfully.

“If SkyClan lost territory, it would be every Clan’s problem,” Thunderstar meowed firmly. “We should discuss where SkyClan could go if the worst happened. Maybe we should talk about redrawing our borders.”

There was an outcry from the clearing below—cats yowling over one another—and the ginger tom hissed at them for silence.

Riverstar’s eyes narrowed, but his voice remained calm. “Are you suggesting sharing some of ThunderClan’s territory with SkyClan? It is the closest.”

Thunderstar drew back. “We’re all in this together,” he protested. “ThunderClan will change its borders only if every Clan does.”

From the base of the Great Rock, WindClan’s deputy, Gorse Fur, hissed, “WindClan will fight for the moor. We need our territory.”

“Gorse Fur is right,” Windstar agreed. “Changing our borders would mean less prey for every Clan. And prey on the moors is hard to catch—do ThunderClan and SkyClan really think they can survive by hunting rabbits like we do?”

Shadowstar could see cats in the clearing exchanging dubious looks. The warriors who had joined WindClan were the fastest in the forest—long-legged hunters who ran like the wind their leader was named after. ThunderClan and SkyClan cats were better suited to climbing trees or pouncing on smaller prey. And ShadowClan cats are better at stalking through the shadows of the pine forest, she thought, looking at her stealthy warriors. As for RiverClan …

“RiverClan cats swim for their prey,” Riverstar added, echoing Shadowstar’s thoughts. “Does any other Clan really plan to share our hunting grounds?”