Эрин Хантер - A Forest Divided

The gray tom gazed down at the golden stalks. “Quiet Rain,” he whispered. “Thank you for loving us enough to let us go.”

“Thank you for holding Fluttering Bird next to your belly for as long as she lived.” Clear Sky’s mew was thick with grief.

“Thank you for traveling so far to spend your last moments with us.” Jagged Peak’s eyes clouded as he stared into the hole.

Thunder lifted his muzzle and tasted the air. As he did, a drop of water splashed his nose. Then another. A moment later, rain pattered like countless paw steps over the frozen forest floor.

River Ripple put his paws to the stone and began to push. Thunder hurried to help. Clear Sky, Tall Shadow, and Sun Shadow joined him, while Star Flower hung back and watched, and together they rolled it back into place.

“We should go home,” Tall Shadow called through the rain.

“Not yet.” Sun Shadow was trembling. He crouched beside the rock, pressing his nose to the crack between stone and earth as though breathing in the last scents of his friend. With eyes closed, he grew still.

“He’ll freeze!” Gray Wing looked in alarm at Pebble Heart.

“Let him grieve a while longer.” Pebble Heart’s mew sounded distracted. His gaze was drifting across the clearing, narrowing as though he saw something that intrigued him.

The rain fell harder. Thunder’s pelt clung to his body, and yet he did not feel cold. Familiar scents were filling the hollow. He squinted as he saw shapes in the rain, ghostly outlines moving around the clearing.

The spirit cats!

His heart soared as he recognized Hawk Swoop. Shaded Moss stood beside her, and together they dipped their heads to a new spirit.

Quiet Rain!

The old she-cat’s ghostly form moved with ease across the clearing. She reached out her muzzle to greet her old friends, her pelt sleek and her eyes as bright as though she’d never known pain.

Hawk Swoop wove around her. “Welcome, dear friend.”

“Do you see now?” A mew rang across the clearing.

Thunder blinked as he saw a brown-and-white tabby she-cat calling to them. Who is she?

Clear Sky brushed him and hurried to meet the tabby she-cat. “Bright Stream!” Joy filled his mew.

His first mate. Thunder glanced toward Star Flower. Could she see the cat who had been carrying Clear Sky’s kits when an eagle had killed her?

But Star Flower was oblivious to the spirit cats moving in the clearing. She was watching Sun

Shadow, her eyes filled with pity.

Bright Stream spoke again. “The past is the past. The future is fresh. You must forget all you have known, no matter how much you loved it, and choose paths that will carry you to a new dawn.”

Clear Sky leaned forward to touch her muzzle, but the ghostly shapes were disappearing already.

Thunder jerked his nose toward River Ripple. “Did you see them?”

River Ripple purred. “Of course.”

“What did she mean?”

Clear Sky turned on Thunder, his eyes glittering. “She meant what the spirit cats have always meant. We should be together. We must unite!”

Pebble Heart shook his head. “That’s not what she said, Clear Sky,” he mewed softly.

Gray Wing padded to the young tom’s side. “He’s right, Clear Sky. We must choose a new beginning.”

“But…” Clear Sky’s eyes were shining with a mixture of hope and grief. “Surely that means every cat should join together…”

Thunder felt a twinge of pity. Will he ever let this go? “I have my own camp now, and my own cats,” he told his father. “My future lies with them, not with you.” His paws pricked guiltily at the flash of grief in Clear Sky’s blue eyes. The hope was gone. Thunder dropped his gaze. “You will always be my father,” he went on softly. “But you have to let us all be the cats we want to be. I can’t come and live with you. I must find my own path.” Hesitantly, he looked up at Clear Sky, surprised to find that his father’s gaze was calmer now. Star Flower had crossed the clearing to stand beside him.

“Your father knows this, Thunder.” She glanced at Clear Sky. “It is hard for him, but he understands.”

Clear Sky nodded, his eyes brimming with emotion.

Throat tightening, Thunder dipped his head. “Take care of each other.” As he turned to leave, he glanced at Quiet Rain’s grave. Sun Shadow still lay beside it, his eyes closed. Had he even been aware of the ghostly cats in the clearing?

Thunder nodded to Gray Wing and Tall Shadow, then headed for the slope. It was time he went home. “Thanks for coming,” he meowed to River Ripple as he passed.

He bounded up through the bracken, veering at the top to head into the forest. An owl called through the rain that pounded the trees. A wind was whipping their high branches, and they clattered as he passed. He raced on, certain of the path home, following the scents of the forest until he heard mews echoing up from the ravine. He halted at the top and gazed down into the camp. Shadows swallowed the bushes and dens. Rain glinted on the stones. He jumped down them, claws stretched to keep a grip on the slippery surface. At the bottom, he squeezed under the gorse, happiness surging through his fur as he smelled the familiar scents of his friends.

“Thunder!” Lightning Tail hurried to greet him, his black pelt slick with rain. “We were just deciding whether to send out a search party.”

“Not in this weather, I hope.” Thunder stopped in the clearing. Lightning Tail was the only cat he could see. “Where is everyone?”

“In their dens!” Lightning Tail purred. “Haven’t you noticed? It’s raining!” He beckoned Thunder with a nod of his head and led him toward a large bush a few paces from the rock that towered at the end of the clearing. He ducked underneath and Thunder followed.

Beneath the low-spreading branches, paws had hollowed out the earth to make two nests. The rain pattered above them, but it was dry under here.

“Look.” Lightning Tail nodded toward the gap they’d slid through. There was a clear view to the gorse entrance. “I thought this would make a good place to sleep. It’s dry and we can keep an eye on who comes and goes.”

Thunder purred. “Which nest is mine?” Only one of the hollowed dips was lined with moss.

Lightning Tail nodded toward it. “You can have mine tonight,” he offered. “You must be tired.

Tomorrow we can find fresh moss to line yours.”

Outside, the gorse rattled. Thunder stiffened, peering at the gap beneath the spiny branches.

Milkweed was squeezing her way through, a mouse hanging from her jaws. Leaf followed her into the camp, carrying a vole in his.

“Night hunting?” Thunder blinked at Lightning Tail.

Lightning Tail purred. “They left Pink Eyes in charge of the kits and slipped out at dusk.”

“Together?”

“They haven’t been apart since you left.”

Thunder’s heart swelled until he thought it would burst. Above him, rain battered the bare branches. But he was dry, and his campmates were content. Tomorrow he would roam the forest with Lightning Tail and bring back fresh-kill for his cats.

Gray Wing touched his nose to the rock that covered Quiet Rain’s grave.

Behind him, Tall Shadow was saying good-bye to River Ripple. “Tell Shattered Ice and Dappled Pelt they are missed, but we are glad they’re happy in their new home.”

River Ripple swished his tail. “It’s hard to believe I once lived alone on the island. I can’t imagine life without my campmates now.”