Эрин Хантер - Lost Stars

A moment later he felt a paw prodding him in the side. “What’s the matter with you?” Tree asked.

“Nothing,” Rootpaw mumbled, taking another bite of fresh-kill.

“And hedgehogs fly,” his father retorted. “Come on, tell me.”

Rootpaw let out a sigh, knowing that Tree wouldn’t give up until he explained himself. “It’s just . . . the way Wrenkit acts around you,” he muttered. “You shouldn’t have told her about seeing her dead littermates. She’s so little; it just freaked her out.”

“I thought it would help,” Tree responded, shaking his head in exasperation. “I thought she’d like to know that they were still close to her, watching over her, until they left to go to StarClan.”

“She didn’t understand!” Rootpaw snapped. Unable to stop himself, he added, “Other cats don’t say weird stuff like that!”

He glanced up at his father and saw a hurt look in Tree’s eyes. “I raised you to think for yourself,” Tree meowed. “I don’t want you just going along blindly with the ways of the Clan. They’re good ways, but they’re not the answer to everything.”

Rootpaw didn’t respond, but just gulped down the last scraps of his mouse. He knew his father was wrong with every hair on his pelt, but he couldn’t find the words to explain why. I hope my apprenticeship goes quickly, he thought. He couldn’t wait to be a warrior and prove that he was totally committed to his Clan. When they see that I’m not like my father, maybe my Clanmates will stop treating me like I’m weird too.

Rootpaw scrambled to his paws, shaking drops of dew from his pelt. Strands of mist still floated among the trees, and the grass in the clearing was heavy with moisture.

Not the best morning for Dewspring to show me his fighting moves! We’ll get soaked to the bone.

Two days had passed since Rootpaw and Needlepaw had been made apprentices, and Rootpaw had been excited to go out at dawn with his sister and their mentors for their first session of battle training. But it wasn’t working out how he had hoped.

“Let’s try it again,” Dewspring meowed, “and remember what I told you. If a cat has you pinned down, the best way to escape is to go limp. Let your opponent think you’ve given up. Then explode out of their grip, as fast as you can. Okay?”

Rootpaw nodded. “Okay.”

Dewspring leaped at him, knocking him off his paws, then held him down with one paw on his neck and another on his back. Rootpaw let himself go limp. But as he prepared to spring upward, he heard a yowl of triumph from across the clearing. Kitepaw and Turtlepaw were training with their mentors, leaping and twisting in the air. Kitepaw had just managed to knock Turtlepaw’s paws from under her and land on top of her with his jaws at her throat.

“Well done,” his mentor, Sagenose, praised him.

I’ll never be able to do that, Rootpaw thought.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Dewspring’s voice held an edge of irritation. “Your opponent has had time to claw your fur off.”

“Sorry,” Rootpaw muttered.

He waited for a couple of heartbeats and then powered upward with all his strength. But instead of leaping clear of his mentor, he flopped clumsily back to the ground, jerked downward by Dewspring, who had both his paws firmly fixed on his tail, trapping him.

Just like the other times I tried it, Rootpaw thought, giving his pelt a shake as Dewspring released him. It’s all Kitepaw’s fault. I could do it if I weren’t distracted.

He felt even worse as he saw Needlepaw hurl herself into the air, flip Reedclaw away from her, and land on all four paws with a triumphant lash of her tail.

“That’s enough for now,” Dewspring meowed; Rootpaw could hear the weariness in his voice. “We’ll try it again tomorrow when you’re ready to pay attention. Meanwhile, you and Needlepaw can practice together.”

Rootpaw just nodded, too embarrassed to say anything.

“Hey, Dewspring!” Blossomheart called from the other side of the clearing. “If you’ve finished your training session, do you want to go hunting?”

“Sure,” Dewspring replied, with a glance at Reedclaw. “We’re all done here.”

His pelt hot with shame, Rootpaw watched as the four mentors went off together. Needlepaw padded up to him and touched her nose briefly to his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” she murmured. “Let’s practice. You’ll get it soon.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get it,” Rootpaw responded bitterly.

“You’re waiting too long.” Turtlepaw’s voice broke into the conversation as she and Kitepaw crossed the clearing to join Rootpaw and Needlepaw. “And you have to be sure that you don’t brace your muscles before you leap. That warns your opponent what you’re going to do.”

Rootpaw gave her a nod of thanks, but before he could reply, Kitepaw interrupted him.

“Or you might just decide to follow a different path in life,” the older apprentice added, a sparkle of malice in his eyes.

“What do you mean by that?” Rootpaw asked, his pelt beginning to prickle with hostility.

“Maybe the reason you’re having such problems with training is that you’re not meant to be a warrior. Maybe you’re meant to be the kind of cat who talks to dead cats. After all, your father has his ‘ways,’ right?” Kitepaw sounded amused.

Fury swelled inside Rootpaw, and he felt his shoulder fur bushing up. He drew his lips back in a snarl. “Don’t talk to me like that!”

“Or else what?” Kitepaw taunted him.

Rootpaw took a pace forward. “Or else I’ll claw your ears off!”

“Hey!” Turtlepaw shouldered her way between the two toms. “You’ll get in trouble for fighting. And it’s not like you’d win,” she added sneeringly to Rootpaw.

Her mockery stripped away the last of Rootpaw’s self-control. Letting out a furious screech, he launched himself at the tortoiseshell she-cat. He heard Needlepaw yowl his name, but he ignored her, sliding out his claws and stretching his forepaws to swipe at Turtlepaw.

His blow never landed. Turtlepaw sidestepped quickly and hooked Rootpaw’s paws out from under him; he thumped to the ground, the breath driven out of his body. Turtlepaw stood over him, her forepaws on his neck and belly.

Rootpaw let out a furious hiss, then went limp, remembering the move Dewspring had demonstrated. But when he tried to leap upward, he only crashed back down, and twisted around to see Turtlepaw with her paws on his tail and a smug expression on her face.

“You should know better than to attack us,” she mewed. “We’re older than you, and better fighters. And don’t lash out at us just because Kitepaw is right. Maybe you should go be weird somewhere else!”

She stood back, letting Rootpaw scramble to his paws. He felt as though his fur were on fire with anger and embarrassment, even though none of the warriors had seen Turtlepaw overpower him.

“I will become a strong warrior,” he insisted. “I’ll be important to the Clan. I’m not weird.” Not like Tree, he added to himself.

The two older apprentices exchanged a knowing look.

“Okay, if you want to prove yourself, maybe you can help us,” Kitepaw suggested.

“Rootpaw, no!” Needlepaw padded up to his side. “Dewspring told you to practice,” she added urgently. “You don’t want to get mixed up with these stupid furballs. They’ll only trick you somehow.”

Part of Rootpaw’s mind told him that his sister was right. But he could just imagine the taunts he would receive from the two older apprentices if he backed down now.

“I can take care of myself,” he spat. “Okay, Kitepaw, what do you want me to do?”

“We’re going on an expedition down to the lake,” Kitepaw replied. “There are supposed to be herbs down there that Frecklewish and Fidgetflake need for their stores. If we can get some, we’ll show we’re ready to be warriors—maybe we’ll even be given our warrior names! Are you brave enough to come with us?”