Эрин Хантер - Dark River

Instantly, he was swept away in a torrent of seething water.

He struggled and flailed with his paws, his heart bursting with terror as he gasped for air. He looked up and saw a stormy sky clouding above him and all around, churning water that stretched to endless horizons. Then he saw Willowpaw’s head bobbing above the waves. She was swimming, her eyes filled with determination, her jaws clutching a mouthful of herbs as her paws churned. Jaypaw clutched at the water, struggling to keep his head above the surface. The water sucked at his hind paws, dragging him down. Water filled his mouth and nose. Splashing, coughing, he tried to claw his way back into the safety of consciousness.

He opened his eyes. He was lying on damp grass. Trees leaned over him, their leaves blocking out the sun, and ferns crowded around him. Jaypaw struggled to his paws and looked around. Was this Willowpaw’s dream or his own?

“You must hurry!” A husky mew hissed beyond the ferns.

Jaypaw stretched warily onto his hind legs and peered over the ferns. A brown tom, stiff with age, was nudging Willowpaw forward. “You must leave,” he meowed.

“What about my herbs?” Willowpaw dug her claws into the grass. “You know I can’t leave them behind, Mudfur.”

“Take what you can, find the rest when you get there.”

“Get where?” Willowpaw’s voice sounded close to panic.

“There is no time for questions,” Mudfur mewed. “If you stay, the Clan will be destroyed.”

“But there’s nowhere to go!”

Jaypaw dropped back onto four paws. There was something wrong in RiverClan. Something very wrong.

“Spying again!”

Jaypaw spun around. He had heard this voice before, and it had lost none of its mocking sharpness.

“I don’t see how you can accuse me of spying,” he objected, “when you keep turning up in all my dreams!”

“But they’re not your dreams, are they?” Yellowfang stared at him, her amber eyes cloudy, her thick coat as unkempt as ever.

Jaypaw felt a rush of anger. “ I’m dreaming, so it’s my dream!”

“Clever,” croaked Yellowfang, “but not honest. You intended to trespass on Willowpaw’s dream the moment you closed your eyes.”

“If you knew what I was going to do, why did you let me do it?” he demanded.

Yellowfang turned her face away.

“You can’t stop me, can you?” Jaypaw felt a rush of delight, like a bird escaping grasping claws. “I have the power of the stars in my paws!”

Yellowfang swung her head around and glared at him. “Do you really believe that?”

“Are you telling me it’s not true?”

“Just tell me this—what exactly do you have the power to do ?”

Jaypaw stared at her.

“You have no idea, do you?” she pressed.

Jaypaw’s whiskers twitched. “Do you ?”

Yellowfang blinked slowly but did not reply.

“I have this power for a reason!” Jaypaw insisted.

“Then find out what that reason is before you use it!”

Yellowfang turned away. As she disappeared into the ferns, Jaypaw woke up.

Blackness pressed in on him. He was blind once more.

Beside him, Leafpool was stretching. “Did you dream?” she yawned.

“Yes.” Jaypaw scrambled to his paws and whispered in her ear, “About RiverClan.”

“Tell me once we have left the others.” She jerked away from him. “Mothwing! Is everything okay?”

What, in her dreams about hunting squirrels and chasing butterflies?

Jaypaw had long since guessed that there was something wrong with Mothwing’s connection with StarClan, some secret that Leafpool shared but would not betray.

He heard grit skidding across the rock. Willowpaw had leaped to her paws. “Mothwing!” Jaypaw could tell the young cat was trying to stop her voice from trembling. “We have to go home at once!”

“What did you see in your dream?” Anxiety was pricking from Leafpool’s pelt; Jaypaw could feel it like lightning in the air.

They had left the others at the WindClan border and were heading up the slope toward the forest. The wind was chilly and carried the freshness of unfurling leaves. Jaypaw guessed that dawn was close.

“RiverClan is in trouble,” he announced. “I saw Willowpaw swimming in a huge lake, bigger than this one. She said RiverClan have to find a new home and she was talking to some old cat called Mudfur—”

“He was RiverClan’s medicine cat before Mothwing!” Leafpool gasped. “What was he doing in your dream? What was either of them doing…” Her voice trailed away and Jaypaw felt anger flare from her. “You went into Willowpaw’s dream, didn’t you?”

“Hollypaw told me to find out if RiverClan were in trouble.”

“Did she tell you to trespass on her friend’s dreams?”

“Of course not. Hollypaw doesn’t understand that stuff.

She just wanted to know what was wrong, so I tried to find out.”

“As a favor to your littermate.” Leafpool’s mew was scathing. And yet beneath her anger Jaypaw could sense fear, which puzzled him. What was there to be scared of?

“StarClan let me do it,” he told her. “Why are you making such a fuss? The most important thing is that we know RiverClan is in trouble.”

“You shouldn’t be able to find things like that out so easily,” Leafpool murmured, half to herself.

“Just because you can’t do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong,” Jaypaw snorted impatiently.

“That’s got nothing to do with it!” Leafpool snapped. “I’m worried it’ll be like last time.”

“When I dreamed about the dogs attacking WindClan?”

“When Barkface dreamed about the dogs attacking WindClan!” Leafpool was fighting not to raise her voice. “StarClan shared with him so he could protect his Clan. You wanted to take advantage of their vulnerability.”

“Well, this time I’m just doing Hollypaw a favor,” Jaypaw mewed.

“Don’t tell anyone else what you’re doing,” Leafpool begged.

“Why not?” Jaypaw flexed his claws. “Why should I keep secrets about a gift StarClan has given me?”

Why was Leafpool so fond of secrets? Secrets about his gift, secrets about Mothwing and StarClan. He suspected there were even more secrets buried in his mentor’s heart, secrets that she guarded so closely he had never been able to glimpse them.

“Knowledge can be dangerous,” Leafpool warned.

Frustration clawed at Jaypaw’s belly. He lived his life in darkness; he longed for light and clarity, not shadows. He forced away his anger. Leafpool had lived too long with secrets. He couldn’t change her mind in a single night. But why did she have to drag him into her complicated world?

“We will tell Firestar about RiverClan, though, won’t we?” he prompted.

“We might as well.” Leafpool paused. “But please don’t mention how you found out.”

Jaypaw didn’t reply. It was just like the WindClan dream.

He hadn’t cared then whether the other cats knew what he could do or not. He didn’t care now. But he didn’t like Leafpool making the decision for him. He hurried ahead, familiar now with the ground beneath his paws. They were almost back at camp. He broke into a run and heard Leafpool’s paws pattering on the fallen leaves behind him.

She was right on his tail as he burst into the camp.

“Leafpool?” Firestar’s mew sounded from the Highledge.

“Is something wrong?”

“I need to talk to you,” Leafpool called. She whisked past Jaypaw, heading toward the tumble of fallen rocks.

We need to talk to you! He followed her up to Highledge.

“Come inside.” Firestar led the two cats into his cave.

Jaypaw could scent Sandstorm and hear the steady lapping of her tongue.