Эрин Хантер - The Blazing Star

What am I going to do? Clear Sky flattened his ears. His chest was heaving from their brief tussle, and he knew that in his injured state he couldn’t win a fight. What will the other cats do when they see their leader beaten?

But before either of them could make a move, a wild screech sounded from the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing. A blur of tortoiseshell fur shot into the open and barreled into Snake.

Sparrow Fur! Clear Sky stared in astonishment as the little she-cat tackled the tom—who was twice her size—her paws flailing wildly. Snake could have flattened her with a couple of blows, but for a heartbeat he was too confused to defend himself.

In that moment, Nettle threw himself into the battle, raking his claws across Snake’s ears. “Come on!” he yowled to the other cats. “We can’t let some kit fight for our leader!”

“Yes!” From the other side, Quick Water hurled herself at Snake. “Come on!”

At her words, Acorn Fur, Thorn, and Leaf leaped into the fray. Snake went down underneath a mound of spitting, clawing cats.

“Stop!” Clear Sky exclaimed, stepping forward to haul Acorn Fur off. “That’s enough. I don’t want him dead.”

He had to grab Leaf, too, and shove him away. Finally, his order sank in and the enraged cats backed off. They stood in a circle around Snake, who struggled to his paws, spitting out dirt and debris. Blood was trickling from a scratch on his forehead and he had lost several clumps of fur.

Clear Sky paced forward to face him. “You can accept me as leader,” he meowed, “or leave the forest.”

“Then I’ll leave,” Snake snapped.

With a grim nod, Clear Sky motioned for the other cats to move back, to leave Snake an open passage out of the clearing. Snake turned and stalked off into the undergrowth.

As the sound of his departure died away, the rest of the cats encircled Clear Sky, each touching noses with him in turn. Gratitude shone in their eyes.

“It’s good to have you back,” Acorn Fur murmured.

“Thank you.” Clear Sky blinked happily at his cats, and gave Sparrow Fur a swift lick around the ears. “You are without doubt the most flea-brained kit I’ve ever come across,” he meowed. “And the bravest. Thank you, too.”

Before Sparrow Fur could reply, Clear Sky heard the sound of a cat pushing its way through the bracken toward the clearing. He whirled around, half expecting to see Snake returning for another attack. Instead it was Tall Shadow who emerged into the open. Relief flooded through Clear Sky as he saw the bundle of yellow flowers and spiky leaves that she carried in her mouth.

“You brought the Blazing Star!” he exclaimed. “Where’s Gray Wing?”

“Back in the hollow,” Tall Shadow replied, dropping the herbs at Clear Sky’s paws. “Shattered Ice said you needed this.”

Clear Sky nodded. “Petal died of the sickness,” he told her, “and the kits are very ill. Cloud Spots is with them.”

“Where?” Tall Shadow asked, glancing around the camp. “I must see him.”

“I’ll show you.” Clear Sky picked up the stems of Blazing Star and limped off in the direction of the small clearing where the kits were lying.

“You’ll need to go faster than that,” Tall Shadow meowed.

“Sorry, but I’m doing the best I can,” Clear Sky mumbled around his mouthful of herbs. “The kits are that way,” he added, pointing with his tail. “A few extra seconds won’t make a difference, will they?”

“We just left the hollow,” Tall Shadow replied, “and Holly is responding well to the Blazing Star. But that’s not all—her kits are coming early!”

The sun was going down, casting long shadows across the hollow. A raw, damp breeze ruffled the tough moorland grass and stirred the branches of the gorse bushes. Thunder yawned and arched his back in a long stretch, trying to ease the aches in his muscles. The demands of the day had exhausted him. And it’s not over yet.

He settled down again on the grass at the foot of the lookout rock and cast a glance at Tall Shadow, who was sitting beside him. She had finished grooming her black pelt; now she looked neat and composed, her tail wrapped over her forepaws. Her gaze was fixed intently on the nest where Holly was giving birth to her kits.

This was the first time Thunder had been able to draw breath since he had led the attack on One

Eye and his rogues. At least the malignant cat wouldn’t trouble them any further, and nor would his deceitful, treacherous daughter, Star Flower.

Best not to think about her…

Once River Ripple had set off back to the river with his cats, and Wind Runner and Gorse Fur returned to their kits, Thunder had raced across the moor after Gray Wing and the other cats who had set out to gather the Blazing Star, and caught up with them at the edge of the Thunderpath.

“What are you doing here?” Tall Shadow asked, adding anxiously, “Is there trouble back at camp?”

Thunder shook his head. “No, everything’s fine. I just felt restless,” he confessed. “And I wanted to make sure you were okay, and that One Eye’s rogues weren’t around.”

“Huh!” Mouse Ear kneaded the grass with his claws. “We’ve smelled plenty of their reek, but we haven’t seen a hair of their miserable pelts.”

They had crossed the Thunderpath without any trouble, but as they searched the marshes for the Blazing Star Thunder had noticed how Tall Shadow gazed across the reed-filled pools with longing in her eyes, and turned back with reluctant paw steps once they had collected as much of the plant as they could carry.

Now as he examined her calm profile, Thunder had to ask himself how far the black she-cat’s fascination with the marshes would carry her.

“Would you have come back?” he asked her, with a flutter of anxiety in his belly as he dared to put words to his uncertainty. “If we hadn’t needed you to help carry the Blazing Star, would you have stayed over there in the marshes?”

Tall Shadow didn’t shift her gaze from Holly’s den, where they could just make out the group of cats a tail-length back from the entrance. Pebble Heart was tending to Holly, smoothing her fur with one paw and licking her ears. Cloud Spots stood beside him, supervising; he had only just returned from treating Petal’s kits in the forest. Jagged Peak was crouching beside Holly, too, murmuring words of encouragement into her ear. Though she was responding to the Blazing Star, Thunder knew it was still very dangerous for her to be giving birth so soon.

For several heartbeats Tall Shadow did not speak, and when she did, it was not in reply to Thunder. “Who would have thought Jagged Peak would have ended up being such a wonderful mate and father?” she mewed.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Thunder retorted.

Before Tall Shadow could respond, a high-pitched wailing came from Holly, a sound that made every hair on Thunder’s pelt prickle with anticipation.

Tall Shadow leaped to her paws. “The kits are coming!”

All Thunder’s instincts told him to race across to Holly’s nest and see what was happening. But he knew that too many cats crowding around would be bad for Holly and her kits. Tall Shadow seemed to feel the same, and she paced impatiently in tight circles.

The next moments were the longest of Thunder’s life, but at last Cloud Spots broke away from the cluster of cats in the mouth of the den, and bounded over to them.

“Holly’s kits are here!” he announced triumphantly. “Three of them—all well, and Holly is fine too! This is as good as we could possibly have hoped for.”