Эрин Хантер - Thunder Аnd Shadow

“Don’t go!” Alderpaw wanted to ask how he could help save ShadowClan. But Yellowfang was hardly more than a shim m ering heat haze above the grass.

“Speak out for what you believe.” Her mew whisked away on the breeze.

Alderpaw opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the gloom of the hollow. The other cats were getting to their paws.

Leafpool fluffed her fur out against the night air. “Did you share with StarClan?” she asked him.

“Yellowfang told m e to speak out for what I believe,” Alderpaw whispered.

Leafpool glanced at Jayfeather, am usem ent flashing in her gaze. “That might not go down too well in the medicine den.”

Kestrelflight whisked his tail. Excitem ent was burning in his eyes. “I spoke to them!” he mewed. “I know what to do. Follow m e!” He bounded up the dim pled path to the rim of the hollow. “Harespring! It’s okay. StarClan say s it’s okay!”

Startled, Alderpaw hurried after the WindClan medicine cat. “ What’s okay?”

Mothwing, Willowshine, Jayfeather, and Leafpool followed.

Puddleshine hurried at their heels. “What’s happening?”

Kestrelflight was already j um ping down the steep rocks after Harespring. The WindClan cats’ pelts were spiked. Alderpaw sm elled fear-scent. They were scared! What of? Heart quickening anxiously, he scram bled down after them, relieved when they reached a flatter part of the stream.

“It was Harespring’s idea,” Kestrelflight told him as he caught up to the WindClan medicine cat. “He insisted on being the only warrior to escort m e tonight and told m e about it on the way. I wasn’t sure. That’s why I had to ask StarClan.”

Alderpaw’s thoughts swam. What was Kestrelflight talking about?

The WindClan cat glanced over his shoulder toward the other medicine cats. “Hurry!” He beckoned them on with a flick of his tail and hurried after Harespring.

“Where are we going?” Alderpaw fought for breath as he raced to keep up with the WindClan cats.

“To the m oor.” Kestrelflight nodded to where the heather-covered slopes reached down to the stream. Harespring was already crossing the border onto WindClan territory.

As Kestrelflight followed him, Alderpaw hesitated at the scent line. “Onestar won’t want us on his territory.”

Leafpool and Puddleshine caught up to them. They blinked at Kestrelflight and Harespring, puzzled. The WindClan cats had stopped and were staring at them expectantly.

“Follow m e!” The wind whipped Harespring’s call toward them. “But hurry! We have to be quick.”

“We’re going to show you where the lungwort is,” Kestrelflight told them. “You can gather as much as you want.”

“What about Onestar?” Alderpaw stared at him.

“Onestar doesn’t know.” Harespring flicked his tail impatiently. “He can’t know. He’s wrong to let cats die. The rogues harm ed us, not ShadowClan. ShadowClan shouldn’t have to pay for other cats’ cruelty.”

Jayfeather, Mothwing, and Willowshine reached the border.

“What’s going on?” Jayfeather puffed.

“Harespring and Kestrelflight are going to let us gather lungwort. It was Harespring’s idea.”

Alderpaw nodded toward the WindClan deputy, im pressed by his com passion and sense of duty to the Clan cats bey ond his borders. His pelt bristled with excitem ent, but as he gazed across the heather-pelted slope, fear hollowed his belly. What if a WindClan patrol found them? He pushed the thought away. Who cares? ShadowClan needed the herb. And StarClan had given its permission.

Puddleshine had already crossed the scent line and was following Harespring, who was weaving between the heather bushes.

Alderpaw hurried after them, Kestrelflight at his side. “Is it far?”

“It’s just over the next rise,” Kestrelflight purred.

The chill that comes before dawn was seeping through the forest, spreading deep into

Alderpaw’s bones by the time he reached the ThunderClan camp. Leafpool carried the lungwort she’d gathered to the medicine den, nodding good night to Alderpaw as she went.

Jayfeather paused in the em pty clearing. Around them, gentle snores sounded from the shadowy dens.

“Puddleshine still has a long night ahead of him,” he mewed softly to Alderpaw.

“I wish I could have gone with him to help give the herbs to the sick cats.” Alderpaw’s heart ached with the hope that Puddleshine had gathered the herb soon enough to save his Clanmates.

“There’s been enough sneaking around tonight,” Jayfeather m urm ured.

“I hope Harespring and Kestrelflight don’t get into trouble.” Alderpaw fluffed out his fur against the chill.

“Hopefully, Onestar won’t find out,” Jayfeather mewed. “But if he does, he’d be mouse-brained to turn on his deputy and his medicine cat. He needs their support, especially if he’s being as unreasonable with his Clanmates as he is with the rest of us.”

Alderpaw’s thoughts flitted back to the fearful glances of the WindClan warriors as they’d watched their leader rage against Leafpool. “At least we m ay have saved som e lives tonight.”

“And we have our own stock of the herb in case the sickness ever reaches our forest.”

Jayfeather shifted his paws.

Alderpaw pressed back a shiver. Tiredness dragged at his bones, and he longed to head to his warm nest. But Jayfeather seem ed to have som ething on his m ind, so he waited in the dark clearing with him until, at last, the ThunderClan medicine cat spoke.

“Well done, speaking up tonight.” His blind blue gaze flashed in the moonlight. “I wondered when y ou’d finally find y our tongue.”

“I’ve spoken up before—”

Jayfeather cut him off. “Talking back to an old badger like m e is not the sam e as standing up for what you believe to cats from other Clans. I was proud of y ou.”

Alderpaw blinked, wondering if he was im agining Jayfeather’s words. Perhaps he had gone to his nest. Perhaps this was a dream.

Jayfeather turned and headed for his den. “I think you m ay be ready to become a full medicine cat.”

Alderpaw watched him go, too stunned to speak. Was it true? Was he going to get his full medicine cat name soon? Alderpatch. Alderleaf. Alderblaze. Possible names flitted through his mind as he headed for the apprentices’ den. Suddenly he hardly felt the cold. Warm th seeped through his pelt as he im agined the other medicine cats cheering his new name. He’d felt self-conscious being the only apprentice, especially when Puddleshine had been named after only two moons of training. Happily, he ducked into the den and clim bed into his nest. Perhaps I will be a great medicine cat after all.

Violetpaw tore another small morsel from the sparrow and laid it on the edge of Snowbird’s nest.

The white she-cat was recovering well. In the half-moon since Puddleshine had returned to camp with the lungwort, the sickness that had gripped ShadowClan had slowly eased. But the stench of death still lingered in the ShadowClan camp. Wasptail had died the night after Kinkfur, and, more troubling, Crowfrost had been too ill to respond to the herb and had died a few day s later.

ShadowClan had lost its deputy.

As Snowbird leaned forward and lapped up the scrap of sparrow flesh, Violetpaw glanced at Dawnpelt. Her m entor’s gaze was em pty as she gently washed Oakfur’s pelt. It had been hard enough for Dawnpelt to lose Sleekwhisker and Juniperclaw to the rogues. But the death of her mate, Crowfrost, had been devastating. And y et Dawnpelt had carried on with her duties without complaining. Violetpaw wished that som e of her other Clanmates could do the sam e. Mistcloud and Sparrowtail had hardly hunted since Kinkfur’s death. Violetpaw had heard them m uttering about Crowfrost, even as he lay dy ing, blam ing him for letting Twigpaw go. Had they convinced ThunderClan to help by keeping Twigpaw, they might have gotten the herb sooner and not lost their deputy.