Эрин Хантер - The Blazing Star

They knew each other since they were both kits, Thunder thought, revulsion welling up inside him.

Then he heard his father’s voice, a low, grief-stricken murmur. “I’m so sorry.”

Clear Sky was truly mourning his dead friend.

The guilt will hurt him more than any cat’s claw ever could.

His heart still weighing heavy in his chest, Thunder dipped his head to take Hawk Swoop’s scruff in his jaws. Her fur was soaked with the taste of death, and he had to fight hard not to recoil. Her body was limp and heavy now that the life had run out of her. I can see why the other cats worked in pairs, Thunder thought as he tugged her toward the hole.

Before he had gone many paw steps, he caught a flash of black fur. He turned his head to see Lightning Tail, with his sister, Acorn Fur, hovering behind him.

“Please let us help,” Lightning Tail meowed.

Thunder nodded, knowing how right it was that the two younger cats should help to bury their mother.

The black tom gripped Hawk Swoop’s tail, his green eyes filled with sorrow as his teeth met in her orange tabby fur. Acorn Fur worked her shoulder underneath her mother’s belly. With their help, Hawk Swoop’s body suddenly seemed lighter, and in only a few heartbeats Thunder, Lightning Tail, and Acorn Fur carried her to the edge of the grave.

Panting as he recovered from the effort, Thunder took a step back. Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur stood over their mother’s body, their heads drooping and their shoulders sagging. Exchanging a grief-stricken glance, they put their noses to the ground and pushed Hawk Swoop into the hole. At the last moment their eyes closed as if they couldn’t bear to see her tumble and flop onto the pile of bodies.

“No day could ever be worse than this one.”

The raspy, wheezing voice startled Thunder, who whipped around to see Gray Wing. Beyond him, through the trees that still bore their last few ragged leaves, Thunder could see the line of the moor, bare and bleak under the frosty sky.

“The days ahead can only be better,” the gray tom mewed.

Thunder straightened up, raising his head with an instinctive pride. Gray Wing is right, he thought determinedly. We’ll make sure we never feel grief like this again.

“Hawk Swoop, I’ll never forget you.” Lightning Tail spoke from the edge of the grave, his voice throbbing with sorrow.

“Neither will I,” Acorn Fur added. “We’ll both miss you so much.”

At their words, other cats gathered around the hole to gaze down at their fallen friends.

Shattered Ice crouched at the side of the grave, his gaze fixed on his friend Jackdaw’s Cry. “We’ll never dig out tunnels together again,” he mewed in a voice rough with grief. “The hollow won’t be the same without you.”

“But you have not died in vain,” Cloud Spots added, standing so close to Shattered Ice that their pelts brushed. “None of you have. We shall learn from this terrible day, we promise you.”

More cats took up his words, raising their voices in wails of anguish. “We promise! We promise!”

As the yowling died away, Thunder drew back from the graveside, and found himself beside Tall Shadow. As if something invisible was tugging at their paws, River Ripple and Wind Runner padded up to join them.

A couple of heartbeats later, Clear Sky drew closer with reluctant paw steps. His eyes seemed fixed, as if he was staring at something very far away, looking through the other cats at a vision they could not grasp. He halted a little way from the other four, who stood in a line facing the rest of the survivors.

We look like we’re guarding the grave, Thunder thought.

Gray Wing limped to his littermate and sat beside him, though Clear Sky kept his distance from Thunder and the others.

“Listen to me, all of you!” Tall Shadow yowled, her gaze raking across the huddle of grief-stricken cats. “This must never happen again. We should listen to the cats in the stars, to the warning they gave us. From now on we have to work together peacefully, and at the next full moon we must return to this clearing to hear more messages from the spirit-cats.”

“Yes!” Clear Sky’s voice was a shaken purr. “At last there are cats who will tell us what we have to do.”

Sudden understanding flashed into Thunder’s mind like the dazzle of sunlight on water.

“So that’s why you’ve been so protective and so hostile!” Gray Wing turned to his brother, his gaze full of compassion. “All this time your responsibilities have been too much for you. You tried to do the right thing, but you asked too much of yourself.”

Clear Sky turned his head away in shame. “I’m so sorry…”

For the first time in many days, Thunder felt hope stirring inside him. Clear Sky will get guidance from the spirit-cats now, so maybe… Then he shook his head. Nothing will make me believe that these cats needed to die.

Tall Shadow cleared her throat loudly, interrupting his thoughts. “If I can be allowed to finish what I was saying…” She paused as the other cats dipped their heads in acknowledgment, then continued, “I want a promise that all cats will respect one another. No more fighting over territory and prey. Too much has happened, and all of us need time to recover. Indeed, I believe that any cat who needs help should receive it: whoever the cat, and wherever they’ve chosen to live. Do you agree?”

As she finished speaking, Tall Shadow looked at Gray Wing, whose gaze immediately flicked to Thunder.

“My young kin proved himself in the battle,” Gray Wing meowed. “Tall Shadow, he is the one you should look to in times like this.”

Tall Shadow looked puzzled. “To Thunder?”

“Yes,” Gray Wing replied, bowing his head. “I need to think about what’s happened, and what the future will hold. Thunder should take his rightful place as leader with you and Clear Sky and River Ripple.”

A storm of anxiety broke inside Thunder. Gray Wing had been like a father to him. Now it sounded as though he was distancing himself. Gray Wing was crouching down as if he was overcome by grief, as well as weakened by his illness.

Knowing that the time for reluctance or modesty was far behind him, Thunder turned to Tall Shadow. These cats need me now.

“Yes, we should help any cat in trouble,” he replied.

A mrrow of agreement came from Wind Runner, while River Ripple dipped his head. “I will help any cat I can,” he responded, surprising Thunder with the depth of feeling in his voice. It was the first time River Ripple had lost his usual calm detachment. And he wasn’t really close to any of the cats who died today, Thunder thought, impressed.

He turned to his father. “Clear Sky, do you agree?”

Clear Sky was once again gazing into the distance at something that only he could see. He started slightly at the sound of Thunder’s voice. “Yes—yes, I agree,” he mewed.

Thunder wished that his father seemed more committed to the decisions that the rest of them were making, but he told himself that Clear Sky was probably shaken up by the terrible events of the night.

Just like the rest of us.

“Now it’s time for all of us to go home,” Tall Shadow announced. “To the forest, or the hollow on the moor. Every cat is free to choose.”

“I don’t live in either camp,” River Ripple put in. “But any cat is welcome to come with me to my island home.”

Thunder watched as the cats padded to and fro, still looking uneasy. Gradually they began to gather into two groups, one around Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, and Thunder, the other around Clear Sky.