Эрин Хантер - Dark River

Hollypaw’s muscles burned with exhaustion, but she didn’t dare stop moving. With Thistlekit’s fur blocking her mouth, every breath was a struggle, but she kept her gaze pinned on the shoreline and pushed on. At last, she felt pebbles graze her hind paws and, reaching down, touched the bottom with a forepaw. Thank you, StarClan!

Wading from the water, she dropped Thistlekit in the shallows and stood panting for a moment, struggling to get her breath back. Heatherpaw and Lionpaw already lay farther up the shore, their flanks heaving while Sedgekit crouched beside them, vomiting water onto the pebbles.

Pebbles clacked behind her as Jaypaw followed her out of the lake.

“How did you know it would carry us into the lake?”

Hollypaw gasped.

“It… it made sense,” Jaypaw mewed between coughs. He splashed onto the beach, and Thistlekit stumbled after him.

Breezepaw was struggling out of the shallows a few foxtails along the shore. Swallowkit dangled from his jaws, her paws flailing as she fought to be put down.

“We’re all safe!” Hollypaw breathed. She padded to Lionpaw and Heatherpaw, her trembling paws slipping on the wet pebbles. “Are you two okay?”

Lionpaw lifted his head. “Only half -drowned.”

A purr burst from Heatherpaw. She flicked Lionpaw with her dripping tail and got to her paws. “We’d better get the kits back to camp.”

Hollypaw glanced up the beach. Brambles and ferns crowded the shoreline, the forest dark behind them. This was ThunderClan territory. “Let’s take them to Leafpool,” she suggested. “It’s nearer and we need to make sure they’re okay.” Sedgekit was still coughing up water. Thistlekit had collapsed beside him, and though her eyes were open, her breathing was rapid.

“Hollypaw’s right.” Jaypaw joined them. “They need treatment for shock.”

Swallowkit hurried toward them, Breezepaw at her side.

“That was the horriblest thing I ever did!” She shook the water from her fur.

“You wait till you taste Leafpool’s medicine,” Jaypaw warned.

Breezepaw’s eyes glittered with suspicion. “Leafpool?”

“The ThunderClan camp’s closest,” Heatherpaw told him.

“We should get them treated.”

Breezepaw stared at Swallowkit. There was blood on her fur where the rocks had scoured her pelt. “Okay,” he agreed.

Jaypaw pricked his ears. “Listen.”

Threatening yowls rang through the night air. Hollypaw stiffened as she recognized her father’s voice, countered by the menacing growls of WindClan cats.

“It’s coming from the forest border,” Jaypaw mewed.

Had their disappearance made things even worse?

“There’s going to be a battle if we don’t get back soon!”

Hollypaw gasped.

Lionpaw leaped to his paws. “We can show them the kits.

If they know they’re safe, there doesn’t need to be a fight.”

“Are we going to the battle?” Swallowkit’s eyes grew wide as an owl’s.

“I can help fight!” Sedgekit mewed.

“There won’t be a battle if we get there quickly,” Hollypaw mewed. Sedgekit had no idea that he’d helped cause this mess, or that he’d be fighting some of the cats who’d just saved him. “Do you think you can make it?”

“Of course we can!” Thistlekit flicked her tail.

Jaypaw sniffed each kit in turn. “They need herbs,” he mewed doubtfully. Then he lifted his chin. “But it can wait a while.”

“Walking will warm them up,” Heatherpaw pointed out.

Hollypaw led the way up the beach. She scrambled up the bank and pushed aside a swath of ferns, holding back the fronds to let the others pass. Heatherpaw nudged Swallowkit up the slope while Breezepaw followed Thistlekit, pressing his muzzle against her flank to stop her stumbling. Lionpaw grabbed Sedgekit by the scruff and swung him up the steep bank, letting him drop beside Hollypaw. She pressed the ferns back as the kit padded past. He was staring up at the branches, eyes wide as though he’d never walked beneath trees before.

“What’s Jaypaw doing?” Lionpaw was staring at his brother on the shore.

Hollypaw narrowed her eyes. Jaypaw was crouched beside a stick.

“You stay with the others,” she told Lionpaw. “We’ll catch up with you.”

She darted back onto the beach. “Are you okay?” she called to Jaypaw.

He didn’t seem to hear her. He was staring at the stick, eyes closed like he was asleep. She padded closer, feeling as if she were intruding.

“All safe, just as you promised,” Jaypaw was murmuring, his muzzle pressed against the smooth, pale wood. “Thank you.”

“We have to go!” Hollypaw urged.

Jaypaw didn’t stir. “Go carefully, Fallen Leaves,” he whispered. “I hope you find your own way out one day.”

“Come on, Jaypaw!” They must hurry. The yowls from the border were growing fiercer.

Jaypaw lifted his head. “I’m coming.” He left the stick and padded to her side.

“What were you doing?”

“It’s not important,” Jaypaw replied, turning his sightless eyes on her. Hollypaw knew him well enough to guess that it was. Sometimes she wished she understood Jaypaw better.

Lionpaw was easy. His friendship with Heatherpaw had broken the warrior code, but there was no mystery in his liking the pretty WindClan cat. But Jaypaw seemed to be guided by invisible paws, as though he walked in a secret world she could never be part of.

They caught up with the others. Hollypaw’s chest ached and her paws felt raw after the journey through the tunnels.

How soft the forest floor felt on her pads after so much rough stone. Breezepaw pushed the pace harder and the kits had to scurry to keep up. Thistlekit tripped over a root. Lionpaw instantly scooped her up and she didn’t complain, hanging limp from his jaws, her eyes glazed with exhaustion.

Sedgekit was panting hard.

“I can carry you,” Hollypaw offered. The kit shook his head, too breathless to speak.

Suddenly, Swallowkit squealed. A bramble had snagged her fur. Jaypaw plucked it free with his teeth. Hollypaw’s chest tightened. It was cruel to make the kits travel so quickly through the forest. But they had to stop the battle.

“We’re nearly there,” she mewed.

The ground sloped down and Breezepaw broke into a run.

Sedgekit and Swallowkit skittered after him.

An angry yowl echoed from the forest ahead. “I told you, we don’t have your kits!”

It was Firestar.

“Then where are they?” Onestar spat back. “RiverClan swears they don’t have them either. But they must be somewhere and we mean to find them.”

“Put one paw across the border and we’ll shred you!”

Hollypaw strained to see her Clanmates. Through the trees, she could make out Brambleclaw squaring up to Ashfoot on the WindClan side of the gully. Firestar stood shoulder to shoulder with his deputy. Thornclaw, Whitewing, Spiderleg, and Berrypaw were bristling behind them as the WindClan cats faced them, fur on end, lips drawn back in threatening snarls. Crowfeather was tearing at the ground beside Onestar and Ashfoot, claws unsheathed, while Owlwhisker and Tornear paced up and down behind them.

Heart pounding, Hollypaw swerved past the kits and chased after Breezepaw. Brambles sprang back in his wake, lashing her muzzle. She burst from the undergrowth just in time to see Breezepaw leap across the gully.

“Stop! We found the kits,” he yowled.

“There’s no need to fight!” Hollypaw stared anxiously over her shoulder, willing the others to hurry.

“Where are they?” Onestar demanded.

“They’re coming,” Hollypaw promised.

The warriors stared in astonishment as the undergrowth shivered and Heatherpaw nosed Sedgekit and Swallowkit out into the open. The kits stumbled to a halt and stood blinking in the moonlight. Lionpaw padded out of the brambles, Jaypaw following, and placed Thistlekit gently beside them.