Эрин Хантер - The Sun Trail

“I did it for all our future kits,” she responded.

Gray Wing realized that his turn to vote had come. He felt a hard jolt in his belly, as if a falling rock had struck him. I can’t put off my decision any longer .

Looking around, he noticed afresh the jutting bones of his companions, their dull eyes, their air of exhaustion. At last he met his mother’s gaze, and saw her eyes full of pleading. He knew that she believed his future safety lay in leaving the cave.

But what about her safety? And Jagged Peak’s? And all the cats who want to stay here? They need strong hunters.

When Gray Wing took up a stone, he felt as though he were trying to move the whole mountain. But his paw steps were steady as he carried it to the inner wall and set it down.

Without looking at his mother again, Gray Wing padded back to rejoin the other cats around Stoneteller. He was in time to see Moon Shadow pick up a stone and march determinedly over to the waterfall.

Dewy Leaf padded alongside him. “Your kits will never know their father’s name!” she hissed.

Moon Shadow didn’t reply. After a heartbeat, Dewy Leaf whisked around, picked up her own stone, and carried it to the inner wall.

The rest of the cats voted in silence. When the last stone had been set in place, Stoneteller examined the piles. Without looking closely, Gray Wing thought that they seemed about the same size.

What will we do, if the votes are equal for staying and leaving ?

At last Stoneteller limped back to the center of the cave. “There are more stones in the leaving pile,” she announced.

A murmur passed through the cats who surrounded her, like wind blowing over rock. They looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes, as if they had suddenly realized the magnitude of the decision they had helped to make.

“Good luck to those who wish to leave,” Stoneteller continued. “We will always remember you.”

The mood in the cave remained somber. Gray Wing couldn’t sense any feeling of triumph, or even relief, that a firm decision had been made.

“Come on,” Shaded Moss meowed at last. “We’ll go and scout the route again. We need to know exactly what we’re doing before we finally set out.”

He led the way to the cave entrance, and the cats who planned to go with him followed.

Gray Wing stayed behind, feeling awkward as he watched Clear Sky and the others disappearing into the dazzle of light from the falling water. After a moment he realized that Quiet Rain had padded up to him.

“I told you to leave,” she murmured. “You need to consider your future.”

Gray Wing stretched out his neck to touch noses with her. “My future is here,” he told her. With a brief nod, he headed out of the cave and toward the ridge, his ears pricked and his jaws parted for the faintest hint of prey.

As he climbed, Gray Wing spotted Shaded Moss and his followers on top of the ridge. Shaded Moss seemed to be explaining something with waves of his tail, while his companions offered comments and suggestions. They’re making their plans to leave , Gray Wing thought, with a pang of loss at his heart.

He didn’t want to meet them. Turning, he bounded in the opposite direction, down into the valley, hoping he might come across another hare. From the corner of his eye he glimpsed a flicker of movement and veered toward it, his paws skidding in a flurry of snow.

It was a small creature—a mouse or vole—scampering rapidly over the icy surface. Gray Wing put on an extra burst of speed, but just before he caught up, it slipped through a narrow gap between two boulders and was gone. Gray Wing tried to squeeze through after it, but the space was too small.

He halted, letting out a growl of frustration. His tail drooped dejectedly, and for a few heartbeats he lost all hope. Why is it so hard to go on living here? Why must so many cats leave?

A faint sound from behind made him whirl, his claws extended. Then he froze with astonishment. Stoneteller stood in front of him, her white pelt barely visible against the snow. Gray Wing couldn’t remember the last time she had left the cave.

“Are—are you all right?” he stammered.

“I’m fine,” Stoneteller responded. Padding past him, she clambered awkwardly to the flat top of a nearby rock. “I just wanted some fresh air,” she continued. “It’s been a long time…”

Gray Wing leaped up to sit beside her. “Stoneteller,” he blurted out, “are you sure there’s a better place beyond the sunrise?”

Stoneteller turned her green gaze on him. “I felt more certain during my dream than ever before in my life,” she assured him. “I’m sad to watch so many cats leave, but I truly believe it will give all of us the best chance of survival.”

“Then why did you leave the lake?” Gray Wing asked. He was awestruck to be questioning Stoneteller about an event that had happened so long ago. She was there… she remembers all of it . “Was it worth it, to come and live here?”

“It was,” Stoneteller replied, a wistful note in her voice. “We left for the best of reasons, and for a long time now these mountains have sheltered us well. And I had the honor of leading the Tribe in our new territory.”

Gray Wing felt a pang of pity for the old she-cat. Stoneteller gave up her whole life in our service. She never had the chance to have a mate and kits of her own .

“Things could have been different for you,” he suggested awkwardly. “Did you ever want another kind of life?”

Stoneteller shook her head, seeming to understand what he meant. “All the cats in the Tribe are my kits, even the elders. And as for finding a mate… I knew love once, and once was enough. We can never be sure of our future, Gray Wing,” she added quietly. “All we can do is trust that what we believe is right.”

“Well, I believe that it’s the right thing for me to stay here,” Gray Wing meowed.

Stoneteller did not reply in words, but the nod she gave him silenced his doubts.

Gray Wing stood on top of the rocks in the pale dawn light, his fur buffeted by the wind. All the cats, even the kits, were gathered around Stoneteller, who stood on a boulder near the waterfall. Those leaving with Shaded Moss stood close together. Gray Wing watched them flexing their paws impatiently, exchanging excited, apprehensive glances.

As they waited for Stoneteller to speak, Clear Sky broke from Shaded Moss’s group to pad over to where Gray Wing stood beside their mother and brother.

“Good-bye,” he murmured, brushing his muzzle against Quiet Rain’s shoulder and then Gray Wing’s, before stooping to touch Jagged Peak’s ear with his nose. “I hope everything will go well for you now. And who knows?” he added, clearly trying to sound cheerful. “One day I might come back and visit.”

Gray Wing exchanged a glance with Quiet Rain, seeing that she knew perfectly well that would never happen.

But neither of them spoke their thought aloud.

“Travel safely, my son,” Quiet Rain mewed.

“Why can’t I come with you?” Jagged Peak broke in loudly.

Quiet Rain silenced him with a glance; the young kit scrabbled sulkily at the loose pebbles beside the river. Quiet Rain’s glance drifted beyond him, to the small pile of stones that covered Fluttering Bird.

“Are you sure you won’t come?” Clear Sky meowed to Gray Wing. “It won’t be the same without you.”

Gray Wing touched his muzzle to Clear Sky’s, and the two brothers twined tails. “I’m sorry you have to do this without me,” Gray Wing responded, loss piercing his heart like an eagle’s talon. “But my place is here, with Quiet Rain and Jagged Peak.”