Эрин Хантер - Tigerheart’s Shadow

“Nor have I.” Ant sounded excited.

Tigerheart purred, wondering what Ant expected to find.

Cinnamon and Spire padded after them, stumbling a little as the stones shifted beneath their paws.

Dovewing looked at Tigerheart, her eyes shining. There was enough real light now to see the green of her gaze. “We’ve made it out of the city.” She looked at the kits as they hurried ahead, Dash trotting protectively alongside them. She purred loudly. “We’re going to make it back to the lake, aren’t we?” She spoke as though this was the first time she’d believed it.

Tigerheart purred back. “Yes.”

Behind them, Spire was muttering, but Tigerheart couldn’t make out the words. He didn’t care about the strange tom. He just wanted to see the sky. Hurrying, he caught up with the kits, and before long they were padding out of the stinking tunnel into fresh air. A few moments later, Spire followed.

Stars glittered above. A sliver of moon hung between them. The dark sky reached to the horizon, so wide, Tigerheart’s chest seemed to burst with joy. He breathed in the scents of trees and grass. Dew-scented, the landscape stretched before them like a dream.

Shadowkit blinked at it. “Where are the big Twoleg dens?”

Small Twoleg nests crowded the Silverpath. But they nestled low against the ground like prey. The only shapes that tried to reach the stars here were the distant hills.

Lightkit moved closer to Tigerheart as Dovewing, Cinnamon, Spire, and Ant caught up to them. “It’s so big.” She sounded frightened.

“And quiet.” Pouncekit pricked her ears. Only the cry of a distant owl disturbed the peace. “I don’t like it.” She blinked at Tigerheart with wide, frightened eyes.

He leaned down and licked her head. “You’ll get used to it,” he promised.

Dovewing smoothed her tail along Lightkit’s spine. “When you’ve been out of the city for a few days, you’ll realize it’s not so big. And there are plenty of noises. The sound of the wind in the trees is like the rumbling of distant monsters, and the birds chatter like Twolegs.”

“Really?” Lightkit looked hopefully.

“What’s that funny smell?” Pouncekit twitched her nose.

Tigerheart breathed deep the familiar scents of wind and grass. “That’s what fresh air smells like.”

Shadowkit padded along the Silverpath for a few paces, then stopped. He looked up at the stars twinkling overhead. “There are more stars here!” His tail twitched excitedly.

“Wait until we’re far away from the Twoleg nests,” Tigerheart told him. “You’ll see more stars than you could ever dream of.”

Shadowkit blinked at him. “Are those our ancestors?”

Tigerheart nodded solemnly.

Lightkit looked up and frowned. “We have a lot of ancestors.”

Dash shifted beside them. “I’d better head back,” he meowed.

Dovewing met his gaze. “Will you be okay on your own?”

“Yeah.” Dash shook out his fur. “I’ve never been this far, but I’m glad I came.”

“You can come with us,” Dovewing offered suddenly.

Tigerheart looked at her in surprise. Was that a good idea? They would already be bringing four strange cats back to the Clans.

“Thanks,” Dash purred. “But I like city life.”

Tigerheart blinked at him gratefully. “Thank you, Dash. You have the heart of a warrior.”

“I don’t know about that,” Dash twitched his tail, clearly pleased. “But I’ve been glad to help.” He dipped his head. “Good luck to you all.” Pausing to glance at each cat for a moment, he turned and headed into the tunnel.

Tigerheart stretched. It was good to feel the moonlight on his pelt once more. It seemed to wash the stench of the city from his fur. “Let’s find somewhere to make camp for the night.” He looked toward the grassy bank beside the track. Twoleg nests clustered at the top. But a stretch of ground lay beside them, dotted with trees. The bushes around their roots would provide shelter until dawn. They could hunt then and fill their bellies with warm, clean prey before they set off for the lake. He blinked at Dovewing. “We’ll start early tomorrow.”

She stretched her muzzle forward and touched her nose to his cheek. “Yes,” she breathed happily. “Tomorrow we can head home.”

The moon showed in the late afternoon, pale against a paler sky. It had grown fat in the days they’d been walking. A half-moon had passed, and each dawn brought colder weather. Tigerheart fluffed his fur out against it and looked at Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit. They were quiet today, walking close to Dovewing.

“Don’t forget,” she told them softy. “If you get a piece of grit in your paw, lick it out straight away or it’ll work its way into your pad and hurt.”

Lightkit’s tail drooped. “My pads already hurt.”

“They’re tougher, though,” Pouncekit encouraged. “You stuck one in my muzzle while you were sleeping last night, and it felt as hard as stone.”

Shadowkit looked thoughtful. “If our pads are tougher, will it be harder for grit to get in?”

“Yes.” Dovewing leaned down as she walked and licked him gently between the ears.

“How far is there to go?” Lightkit asked.

Dovewing turned her anxious gaze on Tigerheart.

He glanced at the landscape stretching around the Silverpath. The Twoleg dens were fewer, dotted now. Yesterday they had passed the ledge where he’d been pushed into the belly of the Thundersnake. He tried to remember how many days he’d walked to get here. “We just need to keep going,” he meowed. “If we make good time, we’ll be there for full moon.”

“Full moon!” Pouncekit flicked her tail crossly. “Yesterday you said we’d be there before full moon.”

Traveling with kits was slower than Tigerheart had imagined. “We might make it home earlier if we don’t dawdle,” he told her.

Cinnamon hurried to catch up to the kits. “Why don’t we play a game to make the time pass?”

Lightkit looked at her, brightening. “What game?”

“Let’s make up names for the trees and plants and creatures we see, and Tigerheart and Dovewing can tell us if we’re right.” Cinnamon looked hopefully at Tigerheart.

He blinked at her gratefully. He’d been surprised at how hard she and Ant worked to distract the kits. Yesterday, Ant had persuaded Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit to race him as they traveled; he had pointed out trees along the way and challenged them to reach them before he did. The guardian cats had also turned out to be useful hunters. Tigerheart had wondered how they’d manage without scrapcans to scavenge from, but they’d adapted easily to chasing prey, and their pelts grew glossier, their eyes brighter, and their muscles tighter each day.

Blaze was shaping up to be the best hunter. Two days ago he’d caught his first rabbit. He’d outwitted it by cutting across its path, and his killing bite was so accurate that it had hardly mattered that the rabbit was almost as big as him. Hunting was when the young tom seemed happiest. During the day, as they walked, he kept quiet and stayed close to Spire, shadowing the healer protectively. Spire hardly spoke, but watched the passing fields and hills as though looking for something. Tigerheart had the feeling that he was making this journey for a reason he had left unspoken. He was uneasy that the strange tom never shared the dreams and visions that seemed so often to cloud his gaze.

“Thorn-thistle!”

Shadowkit’s mew jerked Tigerheart back to the present. He blinked at the kit, wondering why he was staring at him so eagerly.