Эрин Хантер - Shattered Sky

“We still don’t know that we’ll be welcome,” Sagenose interrupted, glaring at Sparrowpelt.

“I believe it was meant to be this way,” Hawkwing cut in. “This is how we were meant to find ThunderClan.”

“Of course you feel that way,” Sagenose snapped. “She’s your kit.”

“That’s enough!” Leafstar thrust her way into the center of the group, her tail raised for silence. “Enough debating! I am your leader, and I’ve decided that we will follow Twigpaw back to ThunderClan. And that’s the end of it! Sagenose, do you want to be part of SkyClan or not?”

“Of course I do!” Sagenose blinked, sounding a little hurt. “Well, obviously I do. I’ve been through enough with you!”

“Fine,” Leafstar mewed evenly. “Then no further arguments.”

She set out again, striding determinedly along the bank of the stream, and the rest of the Clan followed.

During the argument—and even now that it was over—Twigpaw had been squirming uncomfortably. I hope I can even find ThunderClan. And that they’re willing to take me back… not to mention an entire new Clan… Lilyheart’s words echoed in her mind, from the Clan meeting just before she’d run off. This isn’t the right time to find your kin.

But surely things had improved since Twigpaw had left?

Leaving the last of the trees behind them, the cats struck out into open country, drawing nearer to the hill Twigpaw thought was close to the Clans’ territory. Sunhigh was long past by the time they reached it and trudged up the slope to the top.

As she crested the rise and looked out across the land ahead, Twigpaw halted as if she had just run into a tree. “Oh!” she exclaimed. She had expected to see the Thunderpath and the tunnel where she and Violetpaw had been born. Instead the ground sloped gently away in front of her, covered with bushes and clumps of fern. Down in the bottom of the valley the bushes gave way to dense woodland; here and there Violetpaw caught the glimmer of water.

“Is everything okay?” Leafstar asked, padding up to stand beside her.

“Oh—uh—yes,” Twigpaw stammered. She didn’t want to tell the SkyClan leader that, once again, she had no idea where she was.

Bracing herself resolutely, she led the way down into the trees.

A narrow stream trickled through the undergrowth, and Leafstar decided that they should hunt and camp there for the night. Twigpaw found it difficult to sleep, shifting restlessly in the nest she had made under an elder bush. She was too worried about the next day’s journey.

How long will SkyClan go on following me, if I can’t lead them to the lake soon?

Not long after the cats set off the following morning, they emerged from a thick bank of fern onto a strip of grass that bordered the hard black surface of a Thunderpath. Monsters were roaring up and down it in both directions, their bright colors glittering in the sunlight. Twigpaw’s belly churned as she remembered the monster that had struck her when she fell from the tree.

“Do we have to cross here?” Hawkwing asked.

Twigpaw nodded. She knew that a Thunderpath lay between the lake and the place where she had found SkyClan; she could only hope that this was the same one. It looked very different from the area where the tunnel was.

But it must be the right one, she told herself. How many Thunderpaths do Twolegs need?

Twigpaw waited with the SkyClan cats in a line along the grass verge until Leafstar gave the order to cross. Twigpaw could hear the growl of an approaching monster as her paws skimmed across the Thunderpath, but every cat had reached safety on the other side before it swept past on its round black paws.

“Now where do we go?” Tinycloud asked. The pregnant white she-cat was leaning on Sparrowpelt’s shoulder, and she looked exhausted. “Is it much farther?”

I hope it isn’t, Twigpaw thought, gesturing into the trees with her tail. “This way.”

Sunhigh was still some way off when Twigpaw rounded a bramble thicket and halted at the edge of a clearing. In the middle was a cluster of weird rocks made out of flat pieces of wood. Tasting the air, she picked up the faint scent of Twolegs.

“Oh, I don’t believe it!” Plumwillow exclaimed as she followed Twigpaw around the bramble thicket. “You have Twolegs near your territory, too?”

“Twolegs are everywhere,” Sandynose responded, touching his mate’s shoulder with his tail-tip. “We’re not staying here, are we?” he asked Twigpaw.

Memories were scrambling into Twigpaw’s head. She had never seen this place before, but she remembered Alderheart telling her about his journey to the gorge, and how he had his companions had stopped at a greenleaf Twolegplace and eaten delicious Twoleg food. This must be the very place!

“No,” she replied to Sandynose, “but it means we don’t have much farther to go.”

As they left the greenleaf Twolegplace behind, the trees began to thin out. Soon Twigpaw and the SkyClan cats were faced with a steep slope covered with wiry grass and gorse thickets; here and there outcrops of rock poked through the turf. A stiff breeze swept down from the ridge; Twigpaw’s whiskers twitched with excitement at the familiar scents it brought with it.

“Don’t tell me we have to climb that!” Tinycloud groaned.

“Yes, we do.” Twigpaw replied. “But we’re very close to the ThunderClan camp now. You’ll see!”

Leafstar took the lead as the cats toiled up the slope, while Sparrowpelt and Hawkwing helped Tinycloud. A few tail-lengths from the top, Twigpaw bounded ahead and let out a caterwaul of joy as she reached the ridge, digging her claws into the tough grass.

“Look down there!” she meowed as the SkyClan cats struggled up to join her. “There’s the lake—and the horseplace—and you can’t see it from here, but the ThunderClan camp is down there, too. We’re almost home!”

Yowls of excitement followed her announcement, and Hawkwing gave Twigpaw’s ears an approving lick. “I knew you would find the way,” he meowed, resting his tail over Twigpaw’s shoulders. “I’m very glad Alderheart took you and your sister in,” he added.

“So am I,” Twigpaw purred.

The sun was setting as Violetpaw led her hunting patrol back into the rogue camp. The rest of the patrol—Loki, Nettle, and Scorchfur—dropped their prey on the fresh-kill pile, grabbed some for themselves, and padded off to eat.

Left to herself, Violetpaw chose several of the best pieces of prey and carried them to a dip in the ground not far from Darktail’s den. The shadow of an elder bush sheltered her from the rest of the Kin.

Violetpaw had already hidden the leaf wrap of poppy seeds among the roots of the bush. Now she drew it out and carefully counted out three seeds for each piece of prey before she pushed them inside the fresh-kill.

Darktail and his friends will really enjoy this, she thought grimly. Even though her heart was pounding hard at the risk she was taking, she took a kind of joy in the thought that she was playing such an important part in defeating the invaders.

Darktail’s den was beneath a jutting rock, screened by overhanging fronds of fern. When Violetpaw was sure all the poppy seeds were well concealed, she padded up to the entrance, trying not to let her legs shake with apprehension.

“Darktail!” she called out. “The hunting patrol is back, and I’ve picked out some good prey for you.”