Эрин Хантер - Night Whispers

DUSKFUR—brown tabby she-cat

MOSSPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

DAPPLENOSE—mottled gray she-cat

POUNCETAIL—ginger-and-white tom

SMOKY—muscular gray-and-white tom who lives in a barn at the horseplace

FLOSS—small gray-and-white she-cat who lives at the horseplace

MIDNIGHT—a star-gazing badger who lives by the sea

Torn clouds streaked the stars. Branches whisked the night-black sky and showered leaves over the shadowed glade. Wind hollowed the shallow clearing while, around its rim, bushes stirred and rustled as though wolves paced through them.

At the center of the glade, an old she-cat hunched her shoulders against the growling air. Starlight sparkled on her matted gray pelt. She flattened her ears as two feline shapes padded down the slope to join her.

“Yellowfang.” A white-pelted she-cat spoke first. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“Lionheart told me.” Yellowfang lifted her chin. Rain specked her muzzle as the medicine cat blinked at her former mentor. “What is it, Sagewhisker?”

Sagewhisker answered sharply: “We’ve been talking.”

“The whole of StarClan has been talking,” her tortoiseshell companion cut in. “Every cat thinks you should have stopped it.”

“The battle between ThunderClan and ShadowClan?” Yellowfang flicked her tail. “Do you think I have that much power, Fernshade?”

Sagewhisker leaned forward. “You could have sent a message to ThunderClan.”

“If you had, Russetfur might not have died.” Fernshade stepped closer. There was a hint of claws in her words. “I trained her, you know.”

“I hadn’t forgotten,” Yellowfang rasped.

Fernshade narrowed her eyes. “I’m the one who’s going to have to fetch her.”

Yellowfang’s shoulders sagged. “She was old,” she murmured. “Maybe she’ll be glad to join us.”

Sagewhisker lashed her white tail. “No warrior wants to die. Especially in a battle that should not have happened.”

Fernshade curled her lip. “You knew what the cats from the Dark Forest were doing. There was no need for Firestar to challenge Blackstar over that worthless stretch of grass. Did you want cats to die?”

Wind swirled through the hollow, tugging ears and tails, as Bluestar’s mew sounded from the top of the slope.

“Enough!”

The ThunderClan leader stalked down to greet the others. She nodded to Sagewhisker and Fernshade in turn. “The battle was unfortunate, but it was a lesson we needed to learn.”

Sagewhisker met her gaze. “A lesson in what?”

Bluestar stood with her paws rooted in the streaming grass. “We know what we’re up against now. The Dark Forest cats can change the destinies of the Clans. This battle would not have been fought if not for them.”

Yellowfang shuddered. “I should have known the Clans would suffer the moment I saw Brokenstar in the Dark Forest.”

Sagewhisker jerked her head toward her former apprentice. “And whose fault is it that he is there? Or that he was ever born at all?” Her eyes glittered. “You broke the warrior code and kitted him. What did you expect?”

Yellowfang flinched.

“Blaming each other won’t help.” Bluestar brushed past Yellowfang, drawing her tail over the old cat’s knotted pelt. “We’ve all made mistakes in our time.”

Fernshade’s whiskers twitched angrily. “Not every cat breaks the warrior code!”

Bluestar didn’t blink. “Mistakes are where we learn the most,” she meowed evenly. “And we can learn from this battle. We must set aside old grievances. The Clans must join forces.”

“Brokenstar has already punished me more than I ever deserved,” Yellowfang muttered. “And now he’s trying to punish me again by destroying the Clans I once called my own.”

“This isn’t about you!” Sagewhisker snapped. “Whatever’s going on in the Dark Forest affects us all. We need to deal with it before it does any more harm to ShadowClan!”

A growl rose in Bluestar’s throat. “Not just ShadowClan! Firestar lost a life, too!”

Lightning flared. The cats crouched and blinked upward, pelts bristling. As thunder rolled in the distance, more cats began to slink into the glade.

“Lionheart!” Bluestar called. There was relief in her voice as she saw her old friend lead Mudfur and Oakheart down the slope.

“What’s going on?” Lionheart stopped beside Bluestar.

“We know the Dark Forest was behind the battle between ShadowClan and ThunderClan,” Bluestar told him.

“ThunderClan started it!” Fernshade growled.

“The cats from the Dark Forest started it!” Bluestar reminded them. She glanced at Yellowfang. “Not just Brokenstar. Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, too.”

Oakheart narrowed his eyes. “Do we know who they’re training?” His slick RiverClan pelt was starred with beads of rain.

Yellowfang showed her cracked and stained teeth. “Brokenstar will claim any soul he can reach.”

“What if they recruit a Clan leader?” Fernshade growled.

Mudfur, the old WindClan medicine cat, shook his head. “We can no longer trust any cat.”

“Or Clan,” Sagewhisker muttered darkly.

Mudfur stiffened and tasted the air, ears pricking. “Who’s there? Mudclaw? We weren’t expecting to see you here.”

The cats turned to watch the WindClan warrior hurry down the slope. “I came as soon as I heard. What’s the plan? How are we going to deal with the Dark Forest cats?”

Grass ripped beneath Bluestar’s paws as she unsheathed her claws. “We must persuade the Clans to join forces and fight this threat together.”

Sagewhisker flattened her ears. “How will they know who to fight?”

“Why don’t the Dark Forest warriors just come and fight us, if they’re so hungry for a battle?” Fernshade snarled.

Lionheart stared over the rippling grass. “Because that would be too easy. They know they’ll hurt us much worse if they attack the Clans we left behind.”

“Is there no other way to defeat them?” Oakheart fixed his questioning gaze on Bluestar.

She froze for a moment as though she were scanning his thoughts. Then she blinked. “Tigerstar has only ever understood violence.”

Oakheart looked away.

“That’s all any Dark Forest cat understands,” Bluestar pressed. “If we try to reason with them, they will see it as weakness.”

Sagewhisker snorted. “Just as long as no one’s blaming ShadowClan for Brokenstar.” She glanced at Yellowfang.

“As far as I can see, it’s ShadowClan who’s suffered most this time,” Fernshade added.

Thunder cracked overhead.

Sagewhisker nudged Fernshade. “You’d better fetch Russetfur.”

As she spoke, the skies opened. Rain pelted the glade, and the cats scattered, racing for the shelter of the trees.

“Fernshade!” Yellowfang called after the tortoiseshell warrior.

Fernshade skidded to a stop and glanced back. “What?”