Эрин Хантер - Path Of A Warrior

Raven Pelt was above Shadowstar now, trying to clean some of the blood from her face.

The warrior code is what keeps us from being rogues. It makes us Clan cats. If we don’t follow the code, the Clans will be more lost than we would be without our territory. Shadowstar wanted to tell Raven Pelt this—he was going to lead ShadowClan now; it was important that he know—but she couldn’t speak, only gasp for air. Meeting his eyes, she was sure he knew what she wanted to say.

“Shadowstar, I’m so sorry,” Quick Water moaned, her voice weak. “I thought I was saving my Clan. But I should have been trying to keep all the Clans safe. All you cats”—she looked around wildly at the crowd, which Shadowstar could barely see now through the blur of her vision—“please know I know I was wrong. Please, forgive me… .”

Darkness was filling the clearing. Shadowstar could make out only the shapes of cats , all around them. But she was sure, somehow, that right now they stood united—not Clans, but one great Clan. They wouldn’t forget. Her paw twitched as she tried to reach out, tried to touch Quick Water.

I forgive you.

Chapter Ten

A warm breeze ruffled Shadowstar’s fur, and she stretched luxuriously, enjoying the pull of her muscles in a sleepy, contented way.

I’m dead. For good this time. She opened her eyes and stared out over the lush grass of the clearing. The warmth of the sun, the scents of prey and growing things were stronger, more real than she had ever experienced. Because all of me is in StarClan now.

She felt … surprisingly content. She had had nine good lives. Her Clan was safe with Raven Pelt. She had the strong feeling that her and Quick Water’s deaths had brought all the Clans closer together than they had been before. They would take care of one another.

A soft whimper came from beside her, and she turned to see Quick Water. The gray-and-white she-cat’s amber eyes were wide with fear and sorrow, and she was shivering.

“Oh, Shadowstar,” she whispered. “We’re dead. I don’t belong here. How can StarClan forgive me for what I did?”

Shadowstar reached out a paw to touch Quick Water’s, the way she had wanted to, and couldn’t, while they lay dying. “The Clans will go on,” she told her. “That’s the only thing that matters.” She tried to give Quick Water a reassuring look. “And if I can forgive you for what you did, I’m sure StarClan will, too… .”

Quick Water looked doubtful. “So you think my breaking the code and killing you and Sun Shadow—you twice— is somehow okay if it made the Clans stronger in the end? I feel like StarClan might see things differently.”

“You confessed to what you did,” Shadowstar said, “before the Clan cats could kill one another for no reason. That must count for something. You were so sorry before you died.” She paused and thought. “I think you might owe Sun Shadow an apology of his own, though.”

Quick Water’s shoulders drooped.

“You definitely do,” a cheerful voice meowed behind them. “But at least I’m in good shape now.”

Both she-cats turned to see Sun Shadow—looking healthy and strong—trotting happily across the grass toward them, Gray Wing by his side. Quick Water jumped to her feet and ran to them, clumsy in her haste.

“I am sorry,” she said, dipping her head to Sun Shadow. “Sincerely. I made a terrible mistake. It’s like I’ve been crazy for moons—all I could think about was whether SkyClan would have to leave our territory. I stopped caring about anything else, even whether other cats lived or died. I don’t deserve to be forgiven.” She turned to Gray Wing, her tail drooping. “I’m so ashamed.”

Gray Wing bent to touch his muzzle to hers. “Old friend, I want you to see something.” He gestured to Shadowstar with his tail. “You too.”

Shadowstar and Quick Water followed the two StarClan cats to a pool at the edge of the clearing. “Look,” Gray Wing said, nodding at the pool.

Gazing down, Shadowstar watched soft ripples cross the pool’s surface. Gradually, the reflections of the sun on the water began to change. She could see the Clan’s territories from above. There was ShadowClan’s pine forest, and Fourtrees… .

Beside her, Quick Water whimpered. “What’s happening ?” In the pool, SkyClan’s territory was being torn apart. Twolegs and their yellow monsters were felling trees and digging great gaping holes into the earth. “Our territory is gone… .” She sounded dazed.

Their view changed. A group of cats was setting out from the ruined territory, heading not toward Highstones but off into strange lands. It really isn’t a good territory by Highstones, Shadowstar thought. I guess they couldn’t settle there. “But where is Skystar?” she asked. The tom leading the cats had Skystar’s pale gray fur, but it was splotched with cloud-like white spots. And he was small and lithe, not long-legged and broad like the SkyClan leader. But there was something familiar about his determined stride, and the tilt to his ears. “Is he … kin of Skystar?” she wondered.

“I don’t recognize any of those cats,” Quick Water said. “What’s going on? They’re not SkyClan.”

“They are SkyClan,” Gray Wing corrected her. “Generations on, but kin to the SkyClan you knew. The Twolegs won’t take your territory now, but they will someday, and SkyClan will have to find a new home.” His voice was sad. “The rest of the Clans will follow them, in time.”

Uncertainty ran through Shadowstar. “So every Clan will leave the forest?” she asked. “I thought I could save ShadowClan—but nothing I did mattered at all.”

Gray Wing raised his head to look at her, his golden eyes full of affection. “Of course it mattered,” he said warmly. “Even so many generations on, they remember you. ShadowClan survives. And all the Clans will uphold the warrior code, knowing it’s what makes them Clan cats.”

Quick Water swished her tail. “So what?” she yowled, sounding heartbroken. “I betrayed all the Clans to save SkyClan’s home, and they’re still going to have to leave! They’ll be lost without the other Clans.”

Shadowstar stroked her tail across Quick Water’s back, trying wordlessly to comfort her.

“No,” Gray Wing said. “Look.” The scene shifted. It was somewhere else now—a lake with open land around it—but there were cats there, hunting and patrolling their borders, sharing tongues and lazing in the sun together. There were thin black cats slinking through shadows, and broad-shouldered ginger cats climbing trees, and rangy thin brown cats chasing rabbits, and sleek gray cats swimming after fish. She didn’t know any of these cats, but she recognized them: Clan cats. Warriors.

And, coming toward them, walking wearily, but with the same proud tilt to their ears as Skystar had, and as the cat who had led SkyClan from the forest had: another Clan.

“They come back,” Shadowstar breathed.

Gray Wing nodded. “Even apart, the Clans survive. They remember the code, and they look after their Clanmates. And they’ll be united again.”

Another black cat was walking toward them. Moon Shadow. Shadowstar raised her tail to gesture to her brother, feeling suddenly light and free. All the fear she’d carried, fear of her own final death and of what it meant for ShadowClan, was gone now.

The Clans would survive. Their traditions would be passed down for generations of kin, StarClan watching over them all.

I did everything I could, she thought, and it meant something: ShadowClan will go on. My lives have been truly worthwhile.