Эрин Хантер - Thunder Rising

“Time for Morning Meditation,” Arc meowed as Ripple stepped back from his food bowl, swiping his tongue around his jaws. Whatever had been bothering Arc before their meal seemed to have passed. He was more cheerful now, his green eyes bright.

Ripple followed him across the Park, leaping up to sit next to him on top of one of the boundary walls. On the other side, the hill fell away steeply to where a river ran between banks edged with thick vegetation. None of the cats ever went there; the drop was too long to leap safely.

Besides, who would want to? Ripple reflected. We have everything we need, right here.

But Ripple was named for the movement of the river water, and he found special pleasure in focusing on that for his meditation. He was proud, too, of the way the movement was repeated in the rippling stripes of his silver-gray pelt.

“We’ll practice hunting later,” Arc told him as he folded himself into the correct pose for meditation, his paws tucked underneath him and his tail curled around them.

“Great!” Ripple purred, copying his mentor’s position.

Through slitted eyes he watched the rippling river below and felt the warmth of the sun soaking bone-deep into his fur. A contented sigh escaped him.

We do this every day. We have an order and a routine, and we do things right . Nothing will ever change. It’s so good here.

Ripple stretched drowsily in the shade of a bush with glossy dark leaves. His belly was comfortably full, and he could still taste the mouse he had caught in his hunting session with Arc. Half asleep, he remembered the small gray body scuffling through the grass, and the sense of triumph as he pounced and felt his claws grip his prey.

This is one of the best days ever, he thought.

A panic-stricken yowl flew into Ripple’s ear like a claw. He sprang up, shooting out from the shelter of the bush and staring around wildly. Nearby stood Arc, his back arched and his black fur bristling to twice his size. As Ripple stared at him in dismay, he let out another desperate yowl.

“What’s the matter?” Ripple cried. He had never seen his calm, wise mentor like this before.

Arc didn’t reply. Following his horrified gaze, Ripple saw that the edge of the Park was surrounded. Twoleg monsters! They were much bigger than any he had seen before on the Thunderpath that passed the Park.

Their shining yellow bodies edged forward with throaty roars, and the nearest one opened glittering jaws with teeth as long as a cat’s body. Ripple stared in disbelief as it clamped those jaws deep into the earth. It was eating the Park!

“What’s happening?” Ripple wailed.

His mentor seemed to pull himself out of his panic. Racing over to Ripple, Arc gave him a shove toward the far side of the Park. “We have to get out of here!” he snarled. “Come on!”

Pelting along beside Arc, Ripple dodged through a crowd of Twolegs who were using some fierce, growling creature to bite through a tree. Its shining fangs sliced through the wood as easily as Ripple’s claws had sunk into the mouse.

“They’re destroying everything!” he gasped. “Why? It’s so peaceful here!”

“Not anymore,” Arc grunted. “Run!”

As the two cats raced past, the wounded tree let out a massive groan, tilted slowly to the side, then crashed to the ground. Birds flew upward, letting out loud alarm calls, and the wind of the tree’s fall ruffled Ripple’s pelt as he fled.

Twolegs were rampaging through the Park. Everywhere Ripple darted his frantic gaze, he could see destruction. Why… why? But there was no answer to his anguished question.

Then Ripple spotted a group of Twolegs heading across the park, carrying small dens of shiny mesh. There were cats trapped inside, clawing at the mesh and yowling to be let out. Ripple’s jaws gaped in disbelief.

“Look!” he meowed, halting for a moment in sheer horror. “There’s Dart… and Shine… and that’s your sister Flutter!”

Arc gave him another shove. “I know,” he responded, his voice full of grief. “But we can’t help them. Keep moving!”

He dodged to one side to avoid a Twoleg who was bearing down on them, and Ripple followed, racing along in Arc’s paw steps until they reached the wall overlooking the river. This was the farthest part of the Park, and so far no Twolegs had appeared. Ripple could hardly believe that only that morning they had sat there to meditate.

Arc glanced back as they reached the wall. “This way!” he panted. “If we run along the top we can escape.”

He leaped up to the top of the wall, and Ripple followed.

As he landed, a louder roar from one of the monsters broke out behind him. Startled, Ripple jumped backward. His paws slid from under him; gray stone rushed past him. He let out a screech of terror as he found himself falling.

Ripple whirled through the air, his legs and tail flailing. I’m going to die!

A heartbeat later he plunged into the river, all the breath driven out of his body. He sank into darkness, with nothing to hold on to. His senses began to spiral away.

Then there was a burst of light as his head broke the surface. Gasping and coughing up water, Ripple thrashed his limbs in a panic.

One paw struck something solid; he drove his claws into it. He was gripping a floating log. He managed to haul himself onto it with a frantic scrabble.

A caterwaul sounded overhead. Sunlight on the water dazzled his eyes, but as Ripple looked up he caught a glimpse of Arc, still standing on the wall high above him.

“Ripple!” he yowled.

With a last, desperate effort, Ripple lunged for the riverbank. But a wave washed over him, and his head went under again. When he first resurfaced, he could see nothing but surging water. Then, as he twisted his head, he spotted the log bobbing in the current beside him. Gulping and choking, he managed to scramble back onto it.

I’ll be carried away… or drown…

As the river swept him along, Ripple looked back at his mentor, now no more than a small black shape on top of the wall. Spread-eagled on the log, Ripple gazed back until Arc, and with him everything Ripple had ever known, had vanished out of sight.

Ripple was shaking with cold and terror. When he had caught his breath again, he drew his paws up until he was crouching in the very middle of the log, as far away from the water as he could get. His pelt was soaked, plastered uncomfortably to his sides.

The river carried him past Twoleg dens and gardens stretching down to the water’s edge. Gradually the current was carrying the log closer to the bank, and as the sun dried his fur Ripple began to feel more optimistic.

Maybe I can get to shore and find my way back to Arc.

Surely the Park would not be completely destroyed. Ripple’s life would return to the way it had always been.

As the river bent into a wide curve, the log was driven toward a place where the current had scoured a hollow in the bank. Branches and bits of Twoleg rubbish had collected there. The log bumped gently up against the floating debris and stopped.

Ripple sized up the distance to the bank. Can I jump that far?

As he bunched his muscles for the leap, he heard a high-pitched yowling, and a couple of Twoleg kits came running along the bank. Ripple blinked at them hopefully. He had never had much to do with Twolegs, even the ones who left food for the Cats of the Park.

Maybe they’ll help me, he thought. “Hey! Over here!” he called out, rising shakily to his paws.