Эрин Хантер - Sunrise

“Let’s get this straight.” Hollyleaf drew ahead of the others. “We don’t want any more arguments. We’ll let you help us fulfill the prophecy, as long as you tell us the name of our father.”

Sol’s eyes glowed as he gazed at her, and Hollyleaf shivered. Once she had felt as if she could spend her whole life looking into this cat’s eyes and hearing his voice. Even though she knew how dangerous he was, she still wasn’t quite free from the snare of his charm.

“Shall we go inside?” Sol offered, as if this was nothing more than a friendly visit.

Hollyleaf and the others followed him into the damp interior and shook the raindrops from their pelts before finding a place to crouch on the cracked stones.

“You might need to find a new place to stay,” Hollyleaf warned the loner. “ShadowClan sent a patrol to report us to Firestar for being outside our territory.”

“What?” Sol’s fur began to bristle. “Blackstar dared to do that? Is he allowed to dictate where cats go outside his own borders?”

“Well, he thinks he is,” Jayfeather muttered.

“You were doing nothing wrong!” Sol declared, his fur fluffing up even more and his amber eyes burning. “Blackstar is using this as a way to humiliate ThunderClan.”

“I’m not sure.” Lionblaze was looking uneasy. “I think Blackstar is just being a bit overly keen to prove that he’s keeping the warrior code again.”

Sol gave a snort of contempt. “The warrior code! Belief in StarClan! I can’t understand why you cats think all that is so important.”

Hollyleaf’s belly lurched. No! The warrior code matters more than anything! But she knew that she had to stay calm. If they quarreled with Sol, they would lose the chance of discovering who their father was.

“I know so much more than StarClan does,” Sol continued. “Did they tell you that the sun would vanish? You know very well they didn’t. Doesn’t that make me more powerful than your warrior ancestors? And if I’m so powerful without a prophecy, then the powers you three share must be magnificent!”

Lionblaze’s eyes glowed, and Jayfeather was unconsciously flexing his claws in and out. Hollyleaf had to make a huge effort not to be enthralled by Sol’s voice. So far he’s given us nothing, she reminded herself. His words are nothing but mist and sunshine, impossible to hold down.

“That’s all very well,” she snapped, “but what do we have to do ?”

“ShadowClan cats are worthless!” Sol went on. “They have no right to their territory—and if they are left alone, they’ll soon be invading yours. You need to fake evidence that ShadowClan is stealing ThunderClan prey, so that your Clan leader can launch an attack on them. Once you have ShadowClan’s territory, you can invade RiverClan and WindClan.” He glanced around, lowering his voice to a deep, vibrating purr as he continued, “That’s what absolute power is. Controlling every cat in the territories by the lake!”

Hollyleaf stared at Sol, feeling her paws tingle. Was this really what they had to do to gain power—fight against every cat in the rival Clans? She tried to imagine Firestar allowing that to happen, and couldn’t.

“I don’t think—” she began uncertainly.

But Sol wasn’t listening to her. He padded off into a far corner of the den and hauled a rabbit out of the shadows. As he dropped it in front of her, Hollyleaf picked up the scent of ShadowClan mingled with the smell of fresh-kill.

“I caught this in ShadowClan territory, and rubbed it on their scent markers,” Sol explained. “You can take it back to the camp with you, and tell your Clan that you chased off a ShadowClan patrol.” His eyes glinted with cold amusement. “What can ShadowClan do to deny it? Those stupid cats, they’d rather believe in nursery tales about dead ancestors than try figuring things out for themselves. All that nonsense about signs from StarClan!”

Hollyleaf glanced at Lionblaze; he was staring at Sol with narrowed eyes, and his neck fur was slowly rising.

“You’re no different from Tigerstar,” Lionblaze growled. “You don’t want this for our sake. This is your ambition.”

Bunching his muscles, he launched himself upward, his claws extended toward Sol. Hollyleaf flung herself at him, just managing to knock him away before he slashed into Sol’s pelt.

“What are you doing?” she gasped, pinning her brother to the floor.

“This isn’t part of the prophecy.” Lionblaze shook Hollyleaf off and sat up, glaring at Sol. “He just wants to use us. The power is ours, not his!”

“You’re right.” Jayfeather rose to his paws and flicked his tail toward Sol, who had not flinched at Lionblaze’s attack or tried to respond to his accusation. “Sol doesn’t care about us. He’s still fighting his private battle with ShadowClan because Blackstar made him leave their territory. That battle has nothing to do with us. The truth about our father exists somewhere, but this is not the way to find it.”

Lionblaze rose to his paws. “We’re leaving,” he announced. “And we’re not coming back.”

Hollyleaf stared at him in disbelief. “We can’t!” she protested. “We need to know—”

“We don’t need anything that Sol can tell us,” Lionblaze insisted. “We’ve been fools to trust him, when we know what he’s done to other cats. Can’t you see that he just wants war between all the Clans? The prophecy says nothing about that. It says we were born with power—we shouldn’t have to fight for it! Come on.”

He strode out of the den with Jayfeather hard on his paws. Hollyleaf took a pace after him, then glanced over her shoulder at Sol, but the loner simply stared back at her, giving her no help.

With a hiss of mingled fury and desperation, Hollyleaf sprang after her littermates. We’re the Three! I can’t do this on my own!

Lionblaze and Jayfeather stood a few fox-lengths away from the den, waiting for her in the pouring rain. As she joined them, Sol appeared in the entrance.

“Wait!” he called. “Don’t you want to know who your father is?”

Lionblaze ignored him. “Come on,” he meowed to Hollyleaf. “This isn’t the only way to find the truth. We have to do this for ourselves, not for any other cat.”

Hollyleaf bowed her head, giving in, but as she picked her way through the soaking grass beside Lionblaze she could still feel Sol’s amber gaze burning into her pelt.

CHAPTER 26

By the time the three littermates stumbled back into the hollow, Jayfeather was so exhausted he could hardly feel his paws, and the rain had plastered his pelt to his sides. He felt as if he were struggling in a vast cobweb woven of lies and shadows, with an unseen spider waiting to pounce.

Back in the old Twoleg nest, he had been certain that they were right to abandon Sol, but now he wasn’t so sure. What if the loner really was the only way to the truth?

And what are we going to say when Firestar asks us where we’ve been? He’ll claw us to pieces and toss us on the fresh-kill pile!

But as he staggered into the clearing, he heard a buzz of excitement rising from his Clanmates, who were clustered together near the nursery. No cat was paying any attention to Jayfeather or his littermates.

“What’s going on?” Lionblaze asked.

A sudden rush of paw steps answered him as Foxpaw raced up to them. “It’s Whitewing!” he burst out. “She’s having her kits.”

At the same moment, Jayfeather heard Brightheart calling from the nursery. “Jayfeather! Come quick—Leafpool needs you!”