Эрин Хантер - Tigerheart’s Shadow

Tigerheart wondered guiltily what Dovewing had said. “I should have made the journey with her.” His pelt prickled self-consciously. Did they think he’d let her down?

“You’re here now,” Fierce meowed. “And I’m hoping you can help us. Dovewing says you’re a warrior too.”

Cobweb leaned forward. “She says all cats are warriors where you come from. She says you live in Clans. It sounds like a strange way of life.”

“No stranger than this.” Tigerheart glanced around the cavern. These cats were different from Dash and the rot pile cats. They understood what it meant to take care of one another. “How did you come to live like this?”

Fierce shrugged. “Who knows? Sick cats come and go. Some of us with wounds that will never fully heal stay on.” She glanced at her short leg. “It’s safer to have friends. And we each do what we are best at. Some heal; some hunt; some guard.”

Cinnamon’s gaze flicked over Tigerheart. “He looks fit. He might be useful.”

“Of course he’ll be useful,” Dovewing lifted her muzzle proudly. “I just wish I could help too.”

Fierce looked at her sternly. “You need to worry about keeping those kits safe. Look what happened last time you tried to help.” She glanced at Dovewing’s shoulder wound.

Dovewing’s eyes flashed with frustration. “I didn’t think my belly would get in the way of my fighting moves.”

Alarm flickered in Tigerheart’s belly. “You’ve been fighting?”

“We’re having trouble with a fox,” Fierce told him.

“It’s stopping us from gathering herbs,” Cobweb explained.

Cinnamon flicked her tail-tip. “Dovewing said that a few warrior moves would get rid of it, but hers aren’t too good at the moment.”

“She tried to teach us some,” Cobweb chipped in.

“Dovewing is too close to kitting to train us properly,” Fierce meowed. She glanced over her shoulder at the cats moving around the cavern. “We’ve learned a few moves, but she says we’ll need to fight together if we want to drive off a fox.”

“It looks like you already work well together.” Tigerheart gazed around the Twoleg cave. Ant was waiting beside the drip-pipe with a wad of furless pelt to soak up water. A tortoiseshell she-cat was stripping tiny leaves from a twig and laying them on the side of Rascal’s nest. A brown-and-white tom was jumping down from the cave entrance beside the clear wall. A rat dangled from his jaws. He carried it to the nest where the sickly she-cat lay. “Where did you learn your medicine skills?”

“A stray named Pumpkin stayed with us. He’d lived with forest cats and learned that herbs could be useful,” Fierce explained.

Forest cats? Had Pumpkin stayed with a Clan? Tigerheart had never heard talk of such a cat. He wondered if Pumpkin might have stayed with SkyClan while they were still at the gorge.

Fierce went on. “He knew a few herbs and taught us what they looked and smelled like. Since then he’s moved on, and we’ve experimented with new herbs and found what works and what doesn’t. We realized that common sense is as important as herbs when it comes to treating the sick and injured. We’ve collected a lot of knowledge about healing. But fighting needs different skills. We were hoping you could teach us.”

That must have been why Spire was relieved he had come. He’d been hoping some cat would help them drive the fox away from the herbs.

“Well?” Fierce was staring at him.

Tigerheart dipped his head. He admired her directness. Her request was simple, and she offered nothing in return. How different she was from Dash. He was relieved that not all city cats were the same. “So the fox is keeping you from the herbs?”

“Nothing much grows here,” Cobweb chimed. “But we found a space where we can get nearly all the herbs we need. We’ve gathered leaves there for moons.”

Tigerheart nodded. “But now the fox has taken over the land.” He glanced at Dovewing’s wound. “Was it the same fox who did that?”

“Yes. We need to drive it away and gather herbs before the cold weather kills the plants.” Fierce looked at him unwaveringly. “Will you help us?”

“Of course.” If this place was going to be their home for now, Tigerheart would defend it as fiercely as he’d defend ShadowClan territory. “Show me this land. I want to know what we’re dealing with.”

He felt Dovewing stiffen beside him. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”

“This patrol will just be to check out the fox’s territory,” Tigerheart told her. “Let’s find out whether it’s dug a den or is just passing through.” He looked at Fierce. “It may just be a youngster looking for somewhere to settle, or it could be a mother looking for somewhere to raise cubs. Whichever it is, it’s better to know. It could be serious trouble.”

Fierce dipped her head. “Thank you.” She turned toward the cavern entrance, flicking her tail decisively. “I’ll lead you there. Cobweb, Cinnamon, Ant.” She raised her voice as she called across the space to where the scarred brown-and-black tom was swallowing the last mouthfuls of a mouse. Ant looked up eagerly.

“We’re going to show Tigerheart the herb patch,” Fierce told him.

“Are we going to fight that fox?” Ant hurried to join them.

“Let’s check it out first,” Tigerheart told him. “Fighting foxes is one thing; driving them away for good is another.”

Fierce crossed the cavern and leaped onto the wooden ledge. As Tigerheart followed with the others, she scrambled through the gap beside the clear wall and disappeared outside. Tigerheart paused on the wooden ledge while Cobweb, Cinnamon and Ant filed past him. He glanced back at Dovewing. She was settling into her nest, yawning. Affection flooded him as he watched her curl into the old pelts. Her belly was swollen with his kits. Before long, they’d be a family. A purr rumbled in his throat. Thank you, StarClan, for guiding me here.

Tigerheart followed Fierce, Ant, Cinnamon, and Cobweb, hardly daring to glance sideways for fear of losing them as they dodged between towering dens and teeming Thunderpaths. The howl of the city was even louder this morning. Twolegs swarmed everywhere. Clear walls reflected bright sunlight. Monsters barked and shrieked.

Hurrying after Cobweb, Tigerheart kept his ears pressed flat as they ducked beneath a sleeping monster and waited for a moment, then darted through a flood of monsters that had ground suddenly to a halt. How did they know when it was safe to cross? How did they remember the route? Scents overwhelmed him. The noise and movement disoriented him. He prayed he wouldn’t lose sight of the guardian cats. If he did, how would he ever find his way back to the gathering place and to Dovewing?

The thought alarmed him, and he focused even more determinedly on Cobweb’s tail as it disappeared around a corner onto a quieter stretch of stone.

Fierce slowed and glanced at the blue sky, which showed in a strip between the Twoleg dens on either side. Tigerheart felt like he was looking up from the bottom of a huge canyon. “Are we nearly there?” he asked. It seemed a long and dangerous route to the herb patch.

“The dens disappear at the end of this alley,” Fierce told him. “No more Twolegs, just monsters and Thunderpaths.”

Just monsters and Thunderpaths! She sounded so casual. “Won’t that be dangerous?”

“It’s okay,” Ant reassured him. “We know a safe route.”

Tigerheart glanced at the tom skeptically. Was any route safe in this place?