Эрин Хантер - Outcast

“And sometimes for emergencies,” Pebble added.

“I suppose that’s different in the Clans, too,” Screech sneered. Eventually he’d started to work at the training, but Hollypaw could tell he didn’t like it.

“Yes, a Clan leader hunts and patrols with his warriors,” Breezepaw explained. “And fights if he has to.”

“Doesn’t that mean there’s a danger he’ll be killed?” Pebble asked, just as shocked as Hollypaw had been a moment before.

“Sort of.” Hollypaw didn’t want to get started on how a Clan leader had nine lives. She wasn’t sure if the Tribe of Endless Hunting had given nine lives to Stoneteller, and the Tribe cats might feel resentful if not. Besides, the forest was a much safer place to live than the mountains; it was easier to shelter from hawks, and there weren’t many places where a cat might fall to its death. She looked around at the cold gray rocks that surrounded her, and homesickness stabbed her again, sharp as a claw.

“I think we should keep going,” she began, rising to her paws to begin another training session.

She broke off as something landed on her from behind, bowling her over until she finished up sprawling on the very edge of the pool, with her tail in the water. Breezepaw had pinned her down with both paws on her chest. His amber eyes shone gleefully.

“That’s the best way to tackle an enemy!” he boasted.

“When they’re not expecting you.”

He stepped back; Hollypaw heard mrrow s of laughter from the to-bes as she scrambled to her paws.

“Stupid furball!” she meowed, flicking water from her tail into his face. But she couldn’t really be angry. That was exactly the sort of thing she and Lionpaw might have done to each other, back in ThunderClan territory. “Breezepaw’s right,” she went on. “And hunting techniques are good for creeping up on an enemy who doesn’t know you’re there.

Let’s practice some.”

But when the practice session started, Hollypaw felt too hollow with hunger to do it well. Her paws were clumsy; she couldn’t set them down as lightly as she wanted. She was relieved when the scent of cats announced the return of Lionpaw with Brambleclaw and the rest of the border patrol.

Her brother was limping badly as he picked his way down the rocks toward the pool. Hollypaw quickly dismissed the to-bes; they were all getting too tired to go on much longer anyway. Breezepaw accompanied them back into the cave, telling them a story about battling a fox on WindClan territory.

Like there’ll ever be foxes up here , Hollypaw thought. She padded up to Lionpaw and gave him her shoulder to lean on over the sharp stones to the pool. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine.” Lionpaw sighed wearily and crouched by the water to drink. Then he looked up, flicking droplets from his whiskers. “Today was hopeless. We couldn’t get around the whole of the border. The route was just too difficult.”

Hollypaw wished she could cheer him up with news of the to-be training, but she was still unhappy about teaching them Clan ways, and there were one or two like Screech who made it clear they didn’t want to learn. She glanced at the warriors and Tribe cats, who were making their way slowly and dispiritedly along the path into the cave. For the first time she noticed that Jaypaw had emerged and was sitting on a rock by the waterfall with his paws tucked under him. When the full-grown cats had passed him, he leaped down and bounded across to his littermates.

“I’m sick of that cave,” he announced as he came up. “I’m so bored I could claw my own fur off. I’ve been stuck in there all day, listening to she-cats moaning on about their sickly kits.”

“Couldn’t you help them?” Hollypaw asked.

“I’m not their medicine cat,” he snapped. “Can you imagine what Stoneteller would say if I trod on his tail?”

“Well, you’re our medicine cat.” Hollypaw’s frustrations were making her cross. “What about doing something for Lionpaw?”

“Why, what’s the matter?” Jaypaw asked, giving Lionpaw a curious sniff.

Lionpaw was dipping his sore pads into the pool and then licking them. “I’m okay, honestly.”

Hollypaw wasn’t convinced. He sounded exhausted, and his pads were raw and bleeding. “His paws are sore. Can’t you do anything?” she prompted Jaypaw.

Jaypaw twitched his ears irritably. “Where am I supposed to find herbs in this StarClan-forsaken place?” But he stood up, tasting the air, then padded over to the rock wall, where a few scrubby bushes and a narrow patch of grass were struggling to survive. A moment later he returned with a couple of dock leaves in his jaws. “Chew these up and rub the pulp into your pads,” he told Lionpaw.

“Thanks.” Lionpaw sighed with relief as the cooling juices soothed the pain.

Hollypaw heard the pad of paws on stone and looked up to see Squirrelflight walking toward them around the edge of the pool. “How did your training session go?” she asked.

“Okay, I think,” Hollypaw replied. “Some of them learn really quickly. But I’m not sure…”

“What?”

“Whether we’re doing the right thing. They’ve followed their traditions for so long. It feels wrong to be teaching them something different.”

“It’s the same with the border,” Lionpaw meowed. “I don’t think it’s going to work, treating the mountains like Clan territory. The trespassers don’t want borders, that’s for sure, and I don’t think the Tribe does, either. They want things the way they’ve always been.”

“I don’t know why you’re getting your tails in a twist.”

Jaypaw still sounded sour. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting isn’t helping the Tribe, and they don’t want our help. So why should we try to make them do stuff they don’t want?”

“Because they’ll die without us,” Squirrelflight snapped, then touched Jaypaw’s shoulder with her tail to show that she hadn’t meant to be harsh. “I’m sorry, I’m just as frustrated as you. But I don’t think we should give up yet. We have got valuable lessons to teach the Tribe, and sooner or later they’ll realize it.”

Hollypaw wasn’t so sure. There are too many battles going on around here , she thought. And not just the kind that spill blood .

Jaypaw lay in the moss-lined nest beside Lionpaw and Hollypaw, listening to the endless thunder of the waterfall. There seemed to be voices in it, too faint for him to catch, however hard he strained his ears. Nearby, he could hear the murmuring of tired cats as they settled down for the night.

Hollypaw and Lionpaw were sleeping like hedgehogs in leaf-bare, exhausted from working so hard. Curled up with his tail over his nose, Jaypaw tried to sleep too, but it was no good. His paws itched to be up and doing something. Careful not to disturb his littermates, he slid out of the nest and padded into the center of the cave.

He was beginning to learn his way around. He could distinguish the sleeping places of the cave-guards and prey-hunters and scent his own Clanmates who were sharing their space. Creeping across the cave floor with the waterfall behind him, he heard an echoing tinkle of water drops falling and discovered a trickle spilling into a pool. He crouched down to lap; the water was ice cold and tasted of the wind.

He found it hard to believe that the Clan cats would stay here in the mountains for much longer. They weren’t welcome here, whatever Stoneteller said, and it didn’t look as if forcing the Tribe to learn Clan skills would solve anything. But before they left he was determined to discover more about the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Rising to his paws again, he licked the last drops of water from his jaws and tasted the air.