Эрин Хантер - Eclipse

The WindClan warrior peered past Lionpaw. “What have you done with her?”

“ Get out of my way! ” Lionpaw lunged at Crowfeather. Hooking his claws into the dark gray warrior’s neck, he flung him through the ferns and thumped him onto the ground. Still gripping his throat, he leaped on top, tearing at his flesh in a frenzy.

Suddenly teeth sank into Lionpaw’s shoulder and claws dug into his flank.

Heatherpaw was dragging him off. “Stop it!” she shrieked.

“What are you doing?”

Startled by the terror in her voice, Lionpaw froze. Crowfeather lay among the green ferns by his forepaws, bright red blood bubbling at his throat.

Heatherpaw crouched over her mentor. “Crowfeather!”

“I’m okay.” He lifted his head. Heatherpaw backed away as he staggered, spluttering, to his paws.

Shame seared Lionpaw’s pelt. The warrior code told him he didn’t need to kill a cat to prove the battle was won. If Heatherpaw hadn’t stopped him, he would have left Crowfeather dead.

What have I become?

Suddenly the light changed.

The bright morning air softened into shadow. Dawn seemed to give way to dusk. The birds fell silent. The screeching and wailing of battle ceased. Even the buzz of insects quieted as darkness seeped through the trees.

Lionpaw looked up.

The sun was disappearing, swallowed by a great black disk, darker and more sharply defined than any cloud.

“What’s happening?” Heatherpaw’s terrified mew hissed in Lionpaw’s ear, but he couldn’t answer. His voice was trapped in his throat, and his claws rooted him to the ground. Around him the air chilled. And above, the sun vanished completely, plunging the forest into night.

“StarClan’s killed the sun!” The shriek of a WindClan warrior rang through the forest. Instantly cats began wailing, and the woods shivered as they fled, their paws thrumming through the pitch-black forest.

“We’ve got to get home.” Crowfeather coughed. He dragged at Heatherpaw’s scruff as she stood petrified beside Lionpaw.

“Come on!”

Wild-eyed, Heatherpaw turned to follow her mentor.

“I won’t forget,” Lionpaw hissed in her ear.

As she disappeared into the forest, he watched the sun’s dying rays bleed from the edge of the wide black circle.

Jaypaw pressed his nose to Sorreltail’s paw. Leafpool had swathed it in damp comfrey leaves, and it seemed cooler already. “How does it feel?”

Sorreltail lifted it. “Much better.” She glanced toward the barrier. “I should get back to the fighting.”

“No.” Leafpool was cleaning up Mousewhisker’s eye beside them, soaking away the blood with wet moss. “ShadowClan are helping us now and, by the sound of it, there are going to be enough injuries to treat without you getting another.”

“But the fighting’s getting closer,” Sorreltail argued.

Leafpool shook water from the moss. “In that case we might need you here.”

Although the camp felt empty, the forest rang with the chilling sounds of battle. Jaypaw pricked his ears to listen more closely. Firestar’s patrol was fighting WindClan just above the hollow. Had they really been driven back that far?

“Shouldn’t we take the injured cats into the den?” he prompted. Spiderleg was already resting there, calmed by poppy seeds, his bleeding stanched by cobwebs. “It’ll be safer.”

If the camp is overrun.

“The light’s better out here now that the sun’s up,” Leafpool meowed. “Besides, I think they like to see us.”

He knew she meant Daisy and the kits. Millie was organizing them on Highledge.

“Now, who can remember what we do if strangers come into the camp?” Millie prompted.

“Take Millie’s kits to the back of Firestar’s cave,” Rosekit squeaked.

“Then what?” Millie was drilling them carefully.

“We stay with them inside in case strangers come in,” Toadkit mewed.

“Where will I be?”

“Just outside the cave, keeping guard with Daisy,” Rosekit mewed.

Mousefur’s pelt brushed the rock beside Millie. “Longtail and I will be defending the top of the rocks, to stop any cat from getting onto Highledge.”

“And I’ll be at the bottom!” Brightheart called up from the clearing.

Graystripe and Whitewing were still on guard outside the thorn tunnel. Icepaw had come inside the camp to practice battle moves with Cinderpaw and Ferncloud.

“You will be careful of your leg, won’t you?” Leafpool warned Cinderpaw. “No heroics.”

“No heroics,” Cinderpaw promised. “But if we’re invaded, I’m not hiding inside the medicine den!”

Fear flashed from Leafpool’s pelt. “We won’t be invaded, I’m sure.”

Would the ThunderClan patrols really be able to hold WindClan and RiverClan at bay?

“Don’t forget ShadowClan are helping us now!” Mousewhisker meowed. “I was fighting beside one of their apprentices when Tawnypelt dragged me away. They’re pretty good fighters. We were about to overpower a WindClan warrior.” His tail swished over the ground.

“Sit still,” Leafpool chided.

Mousewhisker was obviously itching to get back into battle.

Didn’t he understand how serious this was? All four Clans fighting. No warning from StarClan. No clear reason for the battle.

Jaypaw headed for the medicine cats’ den to soak more leaves for Sorreltail’s dressing, but as he neared the entrance, the air grew chilly around him. His fur fluffed, prickling along his spine.

“Why is it getting dark?” Rosekit’s mew echoed around the hollow from above his head.

Was a storm coming?

Graystripe and Whitewing were hurrying through the tunnel.

“What’s happening?” Graystripe called.

“Why’s the camp getting dark?” Daisy’s mew trembled.

“The sky’s still light.”

“The sun’s disappearing!” Brightheart’s terrified wail made Jaypaw stiffen. This couldn’t just be a cloud passing over the sun. The birds in the forest had fallen silent. Even the fighting had stopped. What was going on?

He darted back to Leafpool. “What does she mean?”

“Something’s swallowing the sun!” Leafpool whispered.

Millie’s kits started mewling, their cries muffled as their mother gathered them to her.

Leafpool pressed against Jaypaw. “We have to stay calm.”

Her body was shaking but her mew was steady. “It’s probably a message from StarClan. It will pass.”

“What message?” Ferncloud demanded.

Graystripe leaned closer. “Are they trying to stop us from fighting?”

“I-I don’t know,” Leafpool stammered. “They’ve never hidden the sun, only the moon.”

Why send a message now? They hadn’t given any warning before.

Jaypaw’s blood turned to ice.

This was nothing to do with StarClan. It was Sol who had warned them about this. Sol who had told them a darkness was coming, a darkness that was beyond the control of StarClan, beyond even their powers of sight. Sol had tried to warn them that the sun would disappear, but they hadn’t listened to him.

Wailing swept down toward the camp, and paws thundered near the barrier.

Were they being attacked?

Graystripe’s claws sprayed earth as he dashed to the camp entrance. Brightheart hurtled after him.

Jaypaw held his breath as the thorn barrier rattled and cats exploded into the clearing.

ThunderClan.

Jaypaw smelled the raw fear-scent of his Clanmates returning from battle, along with the stench of blood. Wounded cats, too scared to worry about their injuries.