Эрин Хантер - Tigerheart’s Shadow

“Who would be out here?” Dovewing stared at the young tom.

As she spoke, Tigerheart’s pelt prickled. An unexpected jab of longing made him stiffen as scents that he hadn’t smelled in moons touched his nose. His heart quickened as he followed Blaze around the wall. On the moonlit grass behind, he saw Spire with two cats. Blaze stopped and stared at his friend. The healer seemed to be trying to beckon the strange cats away from a dip in the grass where they’d made a nest.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Spire called. “I can take you to my friends.”

Tigerheart looked past Spire and saw a familiar pelt. “Rippletail?” The tom’s white pelt looked nearly blue in the moonlight.

Rippletail jerked his gaze toward Tigerheart, his eyes widening with shock. “Tigerheart?”

“You’re alive!” Tigerheart hadn’t seen Rippletail since the battle with Darktail. Rippletail had stayed in ShadowClan when Darktail’s rogues had taken over. After the battle, he’d disappeared along with several other members of ShadowClan. Tigerheart had assumed they must be dead. What else would have kept a warrior from his Clan? What else? Tigerheart stiffened, fear hollowing his belly.

Dovewing stopped beside Tigerheart, her pelt bristling. “Is that Rippletail?” She paused as her gaze flicked to a second figure in the shadowy dip behind Rippletail—his sister, Berryheart.

Tigerheart couldn’t believe his eyes. He padded closer until he could make out the she-cat’s black-and-white pelt. His former Clanmate was clearly thriving, because she’d grown fat since leaving ShadowClan. He froze. She isn’t fat—she’s expecting kits! Which meant maybe Sparrowtail was with them too!

He narrowed his eyes as a thought crept into his mind. Why hadn’t these cats returned to their Clan? He fixed Rippletail with an icy stare. “Are you… rogues now?”

Rippletail stared back. “Rogues? No!” Shock edged his mew. “Is that what ShadowClan thinks?”

“Our Clanmates think you’re dead.” Anger hardened Tigerheart’s mew. “Why have you let them grieve for so long?” His gaze flitted from Rippletail to Berryheart. “You are Snowbird and Scorchfur’s kits. Can you imagine their pain?”

Berryheart pressed close to her brother, her gaze shimmering with hope. “They still have Yarrowleaf, don’t they?”

“We think she went with the rogues after the battle with Darktail.” A bone-chilling wind swept down the hillside and bit through Tigerheart’s pelt.

Berryheart blinked in disbelief. “We thought she’d returned to the Clan!”

“Like you did?” Tigerheart curled his lip.

Rippletail stepped forward, shielding his sister. Alarm glittered in his eyes. “We meant to, eventually, but—”

“You betrayed your Clan!”

As Tigerheart bristled, Dovewing brushed against him. “Be gentle,” she murmured. “We don’t know what they’ve suffered.”

Guilt jabbed Tigerheart’s belly. Dovewing was right. Moons had passed since these warriors had left their Clan. And hadn’t he left ShadowClan too? Perhaps they had their reasons for staying away, like he had. He dipped his head to Berryheart and Rippletail. “I’m sorry. You’re not responsible for your littermate’s decision. But ShadowClan has lost so many. Mistcloud, Lioneye and Spikefur…” Berryheart’s eyes widened with horror as Tigerheart went on. “Please tell me Sparrowtail’s with you, at least.”

Rippletail pricked his ears. “Sparrowtail and Cloverfoot are with us!”

“They are?” Tigerheart breath caught in his throat.

Rippletail nodded toward a shadow on the hillside. “We’ve been living up there. In an abandoned Twoleg nest.”

“Are Sparrowtail and Cloverfoot there now?” Tigerheart could hardly believe his ears. He’d found four of ShadowClan’s missing warriors.

“They’re hunting,” Rippletail told him. “We were getting ready to go out ourselves when this cat found us.” He nodded to Spire. The healer was gazing blankly toward the abandoned Twoleg den.

Blaze stood beside him, staring at Rippletail and Berryheart with wide moonlit eyes. “Are these warriors too?”

“They were Clanmates once,” Tigerheart told him. Were they Clanmates now?

Rippletail went on. “Sparrowtail is the father of Berryheart’s kits.”

Dovewing padded forward and blinked kindly at the queen. “When are they due?”

“Soon.” Berryheart shifted her paws nervously.

Rippletail narrowed his eyes as he stared at Tigerheart. “What are you doing here? Why are you traveling with them ?” He looked suspiciously at Dovewing, Blaze, and Spire.

Blaze puffed out his chest. “I’m going to be a warrior. And Spire is going to be a medicine cat.”

If only it were that simple. Tigerheart glanced at the young tom, imagining all the questions and recriminations that might be waiting at the end of their journey. “It’s a long story,” he told Rippletail. He felt suddenly tired. What would Rippletail think when he discovered that he and Dovewing had kits waiting for them on the other side of the hill? “Too long to tell here.”

As he spoke, paw steps thrummed across the frozen hillside. Tigerheart recognized the shapes of Cloverfoot and Sparrowtail at once. Lit by the moon, their pelts gleamed as they raced closer.

Cloverfoot called out anxiously from the darkness. “Rippletail? Berryheart? Who’s with you?” The gray tabby she-cat pulled up, blinking in surprise at Tigerheart.

Sparrowtail scrambled to a halt beside her. A fat rabbit dangled from his jaws. He dropped it as he saw Tigerheart. “What are you doing here?” His surprised gaze flitted to Spire and Blaze. “Who are you?”

Rippletail fluffed out his pelt. “Let’s have this conversation somewhere warmer.”

Berryheart’s eyes were clouding with tiredness. She blinked gratefully at her brother.

“Let’s go back to our den.” Cloverfoot nodded toward the abandoned Twoleg nest as Sparrowtail hurried to Berryheart and pressed his muzzle against her cheek.

Dovewing glanced anxiously at Tigerheart. “The kits,” she whispered. “They’ll be worried about us.”

Blaze whisked his tail. “Ant and Cinnamon will want to know that Spire’s okay.”

“Ant and Cinnamon?” Cloverfoot frowned.

Berryheart pricked her ears. “Kits?”

Rippletail padded between the cats, his tail flicking. “I guess you do have quite a story to tell.”

Spire flicked his tail impatiently. “The past is irrelevant. Now that we’ve found you, you must come with us.”

“Where to?” Rippletail looked alarmed.

“To the Clans, of course,” Spire meowed.

Rippletail and Sparrowtail exchanged anxious looks.

“We’ve been worried about going home,” Cloverfoot explained. “We joined the rogues. We fought the Clans. We weren’t sure ShadowClan would have us back. That’s why we’ve stayed away.”

Tigerheart returned the gray tabby’s gaze. After such disloyalty, any cat would find it hard to return to the Clan they’d betrayed. But ShadowClan was in trouble. Doubt fluttered in his belly. Could he trust them? He met Cloverfoot’s eye. “Would you join the rogues again?” he asked.

Her eyes flashed in alarm. Sparrowtail and Berryheart pressed together.

Rippletail lifted his chin. “Never.” His meow was unflinching. “We made a terrible decision. We didn’t realize that Darktail was a liar and a bully. We truly thought he could make ShadowClan stronger and safer. We were wrong. And we will spend our lives making it up to ShadowClan, if they agree to take us back.”