Эрин Хантер - Eclipse

“Firestar.” Unexpectedly, the stranger broke in. “I am honored to meet you. I have long looked forward to seeing ThunderClan.” His mew was deep but his tone light, as though promising honesty.

“How does he know us?” Spiderleg hissed.

“Where’s he from?” Leafpool breathed.

“You’ve looked forward to seeing ThunderClan?” Disbelief edged Firestar’s meow as he echoed the stranger’s words.

“What do you want with us?”

“What do we want with him ?” Mousefur growled. “Send him away!”

“I want nothing from you.” The stranger’s mew echoed around the hollow.

Wariness flashed from Firestar. “Then why are you here?”

“I came because it was time.”

“Time for what?” Spiderleg called.

“Time to come,” the stranger replied. Jaypaw shivered. How did this cat make such simple words sound so powerful?

Firestar shifted his paws.

“He’s talking nonsense,” Mousefur muttered. “Tell him to leave.”

“But he just got here!” Toadkit skipped excitedly across the clearing. “Who are you?” he asked, stopping in front of the stranger.

A purr of amusement rumbled in the stranger’s throat. “I am Sol.”

Brambleclaw padded quickly forward. “You and Rosekit should be resting in the nursery,” he told Toadkit. “You couldn’t have gotten much sleep last night.”

“There was trouble?” Sol meowed.

“No.” The ThunderClan deputy followed Rosekit and Toadkit as they padded, grumbling, to their den. He waited while they scrambled inside, then called to Thornclaw, “Where did you find this stranger?”

“On the WindClan border,” Thornclaw explained. “He wasn’t stealing prey, or even trying to cross into our territory.

He was just… waiting.”

“I was waiting for a patrol,” Sol told them.

How does a loner know about borders and patrols?

“Why?” Firestar sounded baffled.

“So that they could escort me here.”

Jaypaw focused on Sol, groping for a reason why he had come. But he still couldn’t make any sense of the glittering shoal of thoughts.

His Clanmates seemed to have been lulled into a bewildered, ruff led silence.

When no one spoke, Sol meowed again. “I have intruded.”

The tip of his tail brushed the earth. “I thought that ThunderClan above all would welcome me.” His attention fixed on Firestar like a shaft of light. “You like to help cats less fortunate, don’t you?”

Firestar bristled. “We don’t turn away cats who are in need,” he meowed carefully. “But you say you need nothing.”

“You want me to go,” Sol concluded. But he made no move to leave. Instead, he sniffed as though tasting the air for more information. “May I meet your Clan first? I have traveled far, and alone, and I would be grateful to brush pelts with other cats for a few moments.”

“Very well.” Firestar padded across the clearing. “This is Brambleclaw, my deputy.” His tail swished the air. “And that is Leafpool, our medicine cat.”

“So you are the medicine cat.” Sol sounded pleased.

“Y-yes,” Leafpool meowed, shifting her paws.

“This is Thornclaw, Graystripe, Sandstorm, and Dustpelt,” Firestar meowed quickly.

“And I’m Icepaw!” The young apprentice bounded forward. “And that’s my brother, Foxpaw.”

“Ah, ’paws,” Sol meowed thoughtfully. “You are learning to be warriors, yes?”

“That’s right,” Brambleclaw answered for her. “In fact, they should be training now.” He addressed the apprentices.

“Shouldn’t your mentors have you out in the forest?”

Whitewing darted forward. “Yes, come on, Icepaw, let’s go do some battle training. Foxpaw, you can train with us until Squirrelflight gets back from hunting.”

“Can’t we stay here?” Foxpaw whined. But Whitewing was already shooing them out of the camp.

With a squeak, Rosekit and Toadkit tumbled out of the nursery.

“I thought I told you—” Brambleclaw began, then stopped as Daisy followed them out, scolding.

“I told you, Millie’s kits are too young to play! Even if you were just tickling them with a feather!” The queen’s angry mew trailed off abruptly. She must have spotted Sol.

“Away with you!” she whispered to her babies, her mew brittle with embarrassment. She hurried Rosekit and Toadkit toward the apprentice den. “Play over here, and don’t make any noise. Firestar is busy.”

“She isn’t Clanborn, is she?” Sol commented.

Spiderleg growled. “She’s part of ThunderClan now!”

“Of course,” Sol meowed smoothly.

Spiderleg shuffled his paws. “I meant she’s one of us, that’s all.”

Jaypaw smelled fresh prey as the barrier rustled. Squirrelflight and Sandstorm were returning from their hunt. They slowed when they spotted Sol, surprise pulsing from them.

“More prey?” Sol queried as they dropped their catch self-consciously on the fresh-kill pile. “Do you ever run out?”

Brambleclaw crossed the clearing to join Squirrelflight.

Jaypaw didn’t catch what he whispered in his mate’s ear before turning back to Sol. “Prey is scarce in leaf-bare, but we survive,” he meowed.

“I can see,” Sol meowed approvingly.

“Perhaps we can offer you a meal before you continue your journey,” Firestar offered.

Sol sat down. “I catch my own prey.”

“Can’t he take a hint?” Hollypaw whispered.

Jaypaw felt Sol’s gaze hot on his pelt.

“You have blind cats in the Clan?”

Leafpool stepped in front of Jaypaw. “Jaypaw’s my apprentice,” she meowed protectively.

“ Two medicine cats,” Sol observed. “Even better. I have something to share that I think a medicine cat will appreciate more than a warrior.”

“So you have come for a reason!” Firestar challenged.

“I am just passing through,” Sol meowed lightly. “But while I’m here I may as well share.” He paused. “Would you rather I left immediately?”

“No!” Leafpool darted forward. “Let him share what he knows with me,” she begged to Firestar.

“It is not for all ears,” Sol warned.

“We can go into the forest,” Leafpool suggested.

She feels his power too! Why else would she be so eager to share with him?

Firestar hesitated.

“Very well,” the ThunderClan leader agreed cautiously.

“But take Jaypaw with you.”

Leafpool led Sol out of the camp, and Jaypaw followed, padding in their paw steps until they reached a mossy clearing not far from the camp entrance.

“What is it that you want to tell us?” Leafpool seemed determined not to be intimidated.

Sol crouched, energy surging from his pelt. “Darkness is coming,” he hissed.

Jaypaw held his breath. The choking blackness! He pushed the memory away. He had to hear everything that this cat said.

“What do you mean?” Leafpool’s mew was taut.

“A time of great emptiness lies ahead,” Sol warned. “Nothing will be the same again.”

Sol’s voice was hypnotic, and his words seemed to echo with the wisdom of the ancient Clans. Jaypaw leaned closer as Sol’s voice grew softer.

“The sun will go out.”

What does he mean? Jaypaw struggled to see beyond the words, into Sol’s thoughts, but it was like trying to catch fish too slippery to grip.

Leafpool shifted her paws. “StarClan haven’t given me any signs.”

“Dear Leafpool.” Sol sighed. “Your faith is noble, but can StarClan really know everything?”

“But—” Leafpool tried to object, but Sol pressed on.

“They are only the spirits of ordinary cats like you and me, aren’t they?”