Erin Hunter - Long Shadows

Wind swept across bleak moorland, carrying with it flurries of rain.

The tough grass was sodden and water had burst the banks of a stream, spreading out in a wide pool; its surface bubbled as raindrops splashed into it.

At the edge of the pool a badger crouched, apparently oblivious to the icy wind and rain. For a long time she gazed into the water as if she could see something there, beyond the broken reflection of gray cloud; then she raised her head and looked around.

“I have come,” she announced.

A black she-cat emerged from behind an outcrop of rocks.

She was barely more than a shadow; starlight flickered at her paws. She was followed by a silvery gray tom whose green eyes stretched wide as he approached the badger. The starlight that shone around him made him seem a cat formed out of rain.

“Why are we here?” The silver tom’s voice was hoarse, as if he hadn’t used it for a long time. “On a day like this we should be curled up in a warm den.”

“True, River,” the black she-cat meowed. “Whose idea was it to drag us out here in weather not even fit for foxes?”

“Mine.” A third cat appeared from behind a gorse bush, a broad-shouldered ginger tom with white paws. Starlight gleamed in his amber eyes, yet he seemed as insubstantial as a flame. “As you know very well, Shadow. We have to meet.”

Shadow snorted. “I don’t have to do anything you tell me, Thunder.”

Thunder dipped his head. “Of course not. But we have been summoned by the danger to our Clans. They are on the brink of being lost forever—and it’s your fault, Midnight.” His voice sharpened.

Before Midnight could reply, River spoke. “Where is Wind? We can’t discuss this without her.”

“I’m here.” The voice came from farther up the stream. The wiry brown she-cat was barely visible against the drenched moorland grass; only the shimmer of silvery light around her revealed her outline. She sprang down the slope toward the pool, her paws scarcely touching the ground. “Why are you all huddling here like lost kits?” she asked, a hint of mockery in her tone. “It’s only a bit of rain and wind.”

Shadow opened her jaws, but Thunder interrupted her.

“We’re not all used to living in the open, Wind. But that doesn’t matter now. We need to know why Midnight has revealed the secrets of the Clans.”

“But why us?” River complained, shivering. “There are younger cats than us in StarClan. Why call us back from the very beginning?”

Wind nodded. “Haven’t we done enough? We formed the Clans and guided them through their first seasons. They have owed us a debt in all the moons since we walked the forest.”

“We must still watch over our Clans,” Thunder murmured. “This is a danger like none they have ever faced before.” He turned to the badger. “Midnight, why did you tell our secrets?”

“Yes, and tell them to that mange-ridden, crow-food-eating loner?” Shadow spat, tearing at the grass with her claws.

“My Clan have abandoned their warrior ancestors since he forced his way among them.”

“On sandy cliffs I met Sol,” Midnight began calmly. “First time of meeting, that was.”

“And do you give away secrets to every stranger who happens to pad by?” Wind growled.

“Can’t you see that you gave him power over the Clans when you told him so much about us?” Thunder pressed.

“Knowledge not always power,” Midnight replied. “Clans not need secrecy to protect themselves. Rogues and loners stay away; they know Clan life is not for them.”

“This loner didn’t stay away,” River pointed out.

“Clans not need to hide,” Midnight insisted. “If did, not strong enough to meet challenges from outside.”

“My warriors can meet any challenge,” Wind snapped.

“Challenges not always from teeth and sharpened claws,” the badger commented.

Wind let out a hiss. Her neck fur bristled as she unsheathed her claws. “Don’t talk to me as if I’m stupid! You’re only trying to avoid admitting that you made a huge mistake. The warriors of StarClan revealed their secrets to you, and you told them to a stranger! There wouldn’t be any trouble in ShadowClan right now if it wasn’t for you.”

Midnight rose to her paws. “Sheathe your claws, small warrior.” Her voice was a rumbling growl. “Stupid is to pick a fight with someone not your enemy.”

For a few heartbeats, Wind stood her ground, only stepping back and sheathing her claws when Thunder rested his tail on her shoulder.

“Quarreling won’t help,” the first-ever ThunderClan leader meowed. “The secrets are out. We have to decide what we can do now to help our Clans.”

River shook his head. “Well, I don’t know.”

“Nor do I.” Shadow lashed her tail in frustration. “I’d like to rip the throat out of this ungrateful badger, but it’s too late to change anything.”

“We don’t understand,” Thunder meowed, meeting Midnight’s gaze. “We shared our secrets with you, and you have done so much for our Clans. Why would you want to destroy them like this?”

Before he had finished speaking, the wind picked up and the starry cats began to fade, blown away like mist. Midnight watched them with berry-bright eyes until their frail forms were gone and the glimmer of starlight had died away.

A cat emerged from behind a windblown bush a few tail-lengths away: a hairless cat with bulging, sightless eyes.

“You heard, Rock?” Midnight asked.

Rock nodded. “I knew the Clan leaders would be unhappy that you confided in Sol,” he rasped. “But you had no choice.

The power of three is coming, and the Clans must be ready.”

The moon was huge, a golden circle resting on a dark ridge of hills.

Stars blazed above Hollyleaf’s head, reminding her that the spirits of her ancestors were watching over her. Her fur prickled as something stirred on the ridge. A cat had appeared there, outlined against the moon. She recognized the broad head and tufted ears, and the tail with its bushy tip; even though the shape was black against the light, she knew the colors of its pelt: white with brown, black, and ginger blotches.

“Sol!” she hissed.

The outlined shape arched its back, then reared up on its hind paws, its forepaws stretched out as if it was about to rake its claws across the sky. It leaped upward, and as it leaped it swelled until it was so huge that it blotted out the moon and the blazing stars. Hollyleaf crouched, shivering, in darkness thicker than the deepest places of the forest.

Screeches of alarm rose up around her, a whole Clan of hidden cats wailing their fear of the shadow cutting them off from the protective gaze of StarClan. Above the noise, a single voice rang out: “Hollyleaf! Hollyleaf! Come out!”

Hollyleaf thrashed in terror and found her paws tangled in soft moss and bracken. Pale gray light was filtering through the branches of the warriors’ den. A couple of foxlengths away, Hazeltail was scrambling out of her nest, shaking scraps of moss from her pelt.

“Hollyleaf!” The call came again, and this time Hollyleaf recognized Birchfall’s voice, meowing irritably outside the den. “Are you going to sleep all day? We’re supposed to be hunting.”

“Coming.” Groggy with sleep, every hair on her pelt still quivering from her nightmare, Hollyleaf headed toward the nearest gap between the branches. Before she reached it, her paws stumbled over the haunches of a sleeping cat, half hidden under the bracken.