Эрин Хантер - Shattered Sky

Another peal of thunder rolled out, but Darktail’s voice rose above it. “Kin! Follow me! If you’re smart enough, retreat with me—you deserve to survive!”

At their leader’s command, the rogue cats—Roach, Raven, and a few others—tore themselves away from fighting with the Clans and raced after Darktail out of the camp. Twigpaw realized that Sleekwhisker and some of the other young ShadowClan warriors had remained with Darktail, and now they fled with him, too. The Clan cats stood back and let them go.

In any other battle, Twigpaw would have been dismayed to see their enemies escaping so easily, but now she felt a fierce satisfaction. It’s all going exactly the way we planned it!

“Follow the rogues!” Bramblestar yowled, pelting up the slope and through the brambles after the vanishing Kin.

Twigpaw swarmed up the nearest tree and began to leap from branch to branch after Darktail and his followers; here and there, she spotted other SkyClan cats doing the same.

Down on the ground, she saw Onestar bounce to his paws and join in the pursuit. “Bramblestar!” he yowled as he went. “Darktail is mine!”

Darktail and the rogue cats headed toward the lake, with the Clan cats streaming after them. By now the rain was thrumming down, plastering Twigpaw’s pelt to her sides and turning the earth beneath the pine trees to glutinous mud. Branches shook down more water onto Twigpaw as she brushed through them, but she didn’t hesitate until she leaped into the last tree at the forest edge, above the pebbly shore that stretched down to the lake. She had only just reached it when the rogue cats burst out into the open.

Now! Twigpaw thought.

Dark shapes rose up out of the shallow water at the edge of the lake. Stunned, the rogue cats skidded to a halt, staring in utter disbelief at the RiverClan warriors who had been lying there in wait. Slowly they began to advance, cutting off the rogues’ retreat.

The rogues spun around and fled back toward the forest, only to be confronted by Bramblestar and Onestar, with the rest of the Clan cats beside them, ranged in a threatening line along the edge of the trees.

As Onestar leaped forward, with the Clans hard on his paws, most of the rogues broke away with terrified shrieks, dodging and diving under outstretched claws as they tried to escape.

Only Darktail stood still, confronting Onestar. Twigpaw watched, her breath coming short and her heart pounding, as the two toms circled each other. Torrential rain drenched them both, lighting flashing above their heads, glittering across the surface of the lake. The rumble of thunder followed it; Twigpaw dug her claws hard into her branch, feeling as if the whole world might be splitting apart.

“You would never have made it as a warrior,” Onestar taunted Darktail. “You would have been better off as a kittypet.”

Darktail let out an enraged shriek and sprang at Onestar. The two toms collided in a tangle of soaked fur, claws, and teeth. Locked together, they rolled down the shore and into the waves that lapped the pebbles.

Still wrestling, Onestar and Darktail rolled over in the water—first one on top, and then the other. A jolt of terror struck through Twigpaw, fierce as the lightning.

What if Darktail drowns Onestar, like he drowned Needletail?

Gradually, the two battling cats moved away from the shore, into deeper and deeper water. For a while, Twigpaw could catch glimpses of a head, a tail, or a lashing paw, until at last both cats sank out of sight and did not reappear. The lake rippled and fluttered as rain battered the surface, but no sign of a cat disturbed the water.

Twigpaw heard a single WindClan warrior’s voice ring out across the lake. “Onestar! Onestar!”

Rogues forgotten, the Clan cats formed a line along the edge of the lake, the waves lapping at their paws. They gazed toward the place where Darktail and Onestar had been fighting. From the trees, Twigpaw and the SkyClan warriors watched, too.

They waited there for a long time, but neither cat resurfaced.

“I’m really going to miss you,” Violetpaw meowed, stretching out her neck to touch noses with Zelda. “Do you have to go home?”

The young tabby she-cat nodded. “I’ll miss you, too, Violetpaw,” she sighed. “But I need to go back to my housefolk.”

“Me too.” Loki, standing at Zelda’s shoulder, ducked his head shyly. “I think they’ll be really worried about us.”

Violetpaw knew that the two kittypets were right. They were so brave, staying with us until they were sure that Darktail was defeated, but this isn’t their place. They’ll be happier living with their Twolegs.

She knew too that the pain of parting wasn’t the only shadow that lay over them. Max should have been with them, too, but the older kittypet was gone forever, killed uselessly in the attack on RiverClan.

Loki and Zelda were carefree once, Violetpaw thought. But they’ll never be able to forget what they’ve seen under Darktail.

Zelda stepped forward and gave Violetpaw an affectionate nuzzle. “I’ll come visit you now and again,” she promised. “I’m so happy that you’ve found your father!”

“You’ll be okay?” Violetpaw asked. “You don’t want me to come with you?”

“No thanks, we know the way home,” Loki assured her. “And there’s nothing to be scared of, now that Darktail’s gone.”

“Good-bye, then,” Violetpaw mewed. “And may StarClan light your path.”

She stood watching as the two kittypets disappeared through the thorn tunnel.

The sun had risen over ThunderClan’s camp. The storm of the night before had passed, leaving a rain-washed sky, pale blue with a few wisps of white cloud. Cats were moving sluggishly around the camp; ShadowClan and RiverClan had returned there too, as their own camps were too damaged for them to be able to rest and recover there. Violetpaw didn’t think that any of them had slept well after the fight, even though they were all exhausted.

Neither Onestar nor Darktail had reappeared after they sank, still fighting, into the lake. The WindClan cats had been stunned by grief, especially as they would never be able to bury their leader. When the other Clans had withdrawn, they had remained to sit vigil for him, and Kestrelflight had spoken the words that would guide Onestar toward StarClan.

“He died nobly,” the medicine cat had said. “He made up for all his other mistakes when he rid us of Darktail.”

Violetpaw hadn’t been able to sleep, either. She couldn’t stop thinking about how dreadful it was for a Clan leader to lose his final life in such a terrible way.

I have to keep busy, she told herself, heading across the camp and instinctively veering toward the nursery. Alderheart was bustling in ahead of her, on his way to check on the queens and their litters.

It must be almost time for Tinycloud to have her kits.

But before Violetpaw could follow Alderheart into the nursery, she halted at the sound of her sister’s voice.

“Violetpaw—come here! The ShadowClan cats are leaving,” Twigpaw continued, as Violetpaw bounded over to her. “You should say good-bye.”

The ShadowClan cats were gathered together near the entrance to the thorn tunnel, with Bramblestar, Squirrelflight, and some of the ThunderClan, RiverClan, and SkyClan warriors beside them.

“We need to get the stink of Darktail out of our camp,” Rowanstar was meowing as Violetpaw and her sister padded up. “And make sure that the rest of his mange-ridden rogues are off our territory.”