Эрин Хантер - Path Of A Warrior

Shadowstar hadn’t thought much about why : she hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around it, and she’d been concentrating on how to tell SkyClan about the attacks. But now she could see Quick Water’s reasoning laid out as clearly as a scent trail. “She did it because she’s a Clan cat,” she began slowly. “You’ve all been so worried about the Twolegs taking your territory. From the lives she knows I’ve lost, maybe she decided I could be close to my last.” She paused, pressing her paws into the earth to keep her forelegs from shaking as she tried to make her tone sound dismissive, like the idea of her being on her final life from StarClan was ridiculous. “Perhaps she thought the opportunity was worth breaking our new code. If Sun Shadow and I had both died, ShadowClan would have been without a leader. It would have been easy to move in and take our territory.”

Quick Water dropped her gaze again, working her claws in and out against the ground, and Shadowstar felt a thrill of vindication. I’m right. She knows I’ve seen the truth.

But then the gray-and-white cat looked up, defiant. “I didn’t,” she meowed. “I don’t know who you fought up by Highstones, but it wasn’t me.”

“Then what were you doing?” Shadowstar asked. “Where were you today?” With her tail, she gestured at Quick Water’s side. “That’s a nasty scratch you’ve got there, and I remember scratching the cat I fought.” Quick Water hunched, trying to hide the wound.

“She and Honey Pelt were hunting together,” Skystar meowed. “Weren’t you?”

Everyone looked at Honey Pelt, whose tail drooped. “No,” he answered softly. “We ran into each other outside camp, but we weren’t together before that.”

Every cat looked at Quick Water, and she seemed at a loss, ducking her head silently.

After a moment, Skystar said to Shadowstar, “I never would ask my warriors to attack another Clan’s leader. If I were going to steal territory, I wouldn’t be working so hard to convince the other Clans to change their borders.”

Shadowstar sighed. “I believe you,” she told him.

Skystar turned to Quick Water. “If you can’t prove where you were …” He paused, but Quick Water said nothing, staring back at him, holding very still. “If you can’t tell us what happened, then I have to believe you had some part in this,” he told her. His blue eyes dropped to the ground, his claws flexing like he was wrestling with his decision.

After a long moment, he lifted his head again. “You leave me no choice, Quick Water… . I must exile you.”

There were gasps from his Clanmates. Even Shadowstar was stunned. But Skystar drew himself up. “Go,” he ordered sharply. “You are no longer a SkyClan cat, and you are not welcome on our territory.”

Almost as if she didn’t understand, Quick Water stared at him for a few heartbeats; then she turned and ran out of camp. Even after she disappeared from sight, they could hear the cracks of branches as she forced her way recklessly through the brush.

Skystar looked at Shadowstar again, his gaze bleak. “You made a good case,” he meowed sadly. “I had to exile her, since she couldn’t explain herself. But I want to be clear that I do not like it.”

“I know,” Shadowstar told him. She pressed her cheek against his briefly, grateful that her old friend had listened, however unwillingly. “You did the right thing.”

As they crossed the border onto their own territory, Shadowstar felt as if a weight had been lifted off her back. ShadowClan is safer now.

“It’s been a long day,” Pebble Heart meowed as they approached their camp. The sun had almost set now, and deep shadows stretched beneath the pines.

Mud Paws and Raven Pelt yowled in agreement. “I can’t wait to eat some prey and go to sleep,” Mud Paws added.

“There’s one more thing before we can rest,” Shadowstar told them. Ducking to enter the thorn tunnel, she led them into camp. The rest of ShadowClan had gathered in the clearing and meowed cheerful greetings.

“What did you think of the territory?”

“Pebble Heart, can you look at my paw?”

“Raven Pelt, I saved a vole for you.”

The cats quieted as Shadowstar strode across the clearing and leaped up onto the Clanrock to look down at her Clan. A pale moon was rising over the camp, and it reflected in her Clanmates’ eyes as they gazed up at her.

“I’ve made up my mind,” she told them. She was quite sure of her choice. She looked around at them all: Pebble Heart blinking up at her like he already knew what she would say and approved of it, Juniper Branch grooming Dangling Leaf as if he were still a kit and not a full-grown warrior. Bubbling Stream paused mid-step, carrying a mouse over to share with Dusk Nose. And all the others. She looked down at the upturned faces of the cats of her Clan, cats she had promised to lead and protect, and felt a swell of warmth in her chest. When she left them, she would not leave them alone.

“I’ve chosen a new deputy,” she went on. She almost purred in amusement when she saw Juniper Branch and Mouse Ear eagerly pricking up their ears. “This is a brave and loyal cat, one who I know will always try to make the best choices for ShadowClan.” She thought of Raven Pelt chasing after Quick Water, of him speaking up to Skystar. He would guide the Clan well. “I say these words before StarClan, so that Sun Shadow and the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new deputy of ShadowClan is Raven Pelt.”

“Raven Pelt! Raven Pelt!” the Clan cheered, and Shadowstar leaped down to touch her nose to her new deputy’s.

“Thank you,” he gasped, his yellow eyes wide with surprise. “I’ll try to … I’ll do my best to be a good deputy, I really will.”

“I know you will,” Shadowstar purred. And when the time comes, you’ll be a good leader.

The Clan was crowding around, congratulating Raven Pelt.

“If it can’t be me, I’m glad it’s you,” Juniper Branch meowed, brushing her muzzle against his. Mouse Ear seemed less pleased, but even he congratulated Raven Pelt stiffly.

When Shadowstar finally settled in her nest that night, aching with exhaustion, she felt more at peace than she had since Sun Shadow’s death. But is a new deputy enough to keep ShadowClan strong and together? She hoped so. It was impossible to know for sure.

As she began to drift into sleep, she suddenly shivered. I’ve appointed ShadowClan’s next leader. Does this mean I’ve taken a paw step closer to my death?

Shadowstar was deeply asleep when a screech of terror broke through the night, jerking her awake. Pebble Heart! Her heart pounding hard, she scrambled out of her nest. Worried heads were poking out of the warrior den, but she passed them without a word and slipped between the boulders into the medicine cat’s den.

Pebble Heart lay in his bed, his eyes wide but unseeing. Every muscle seemed tense, his legs stiff, and he was whimpering, his mouth partly open.

“Pebble Heart!” Shadowstar shook him. “Pebble Heart, wake up!”

He blinked, and gradually his body relaxed and his eyes focused. “Shadowstar,” he murmured.

“What’s happening? Do you need some herbs?” Shadowstar looked doubtfully at the neatly sorted dried leaves and roots at the side of Pebble Heart’s den.

“No, I’m all right.” Pebble Heart sat up, still looking groggy. “It was just a dream.”

“A regular dream or a medicine-cat dream?” Shadowstar asked apprehensively. Even as a kit, before the Clan had had a medicine cat, Pebble Heart had been sent dreams by StarClan, warning of danger or pointing a path for the Clans to follow.