Эрин Хантер - Tigerheart’s Shadow

“Spire!” Disbelief swept Tigerheart. He can’t be gone! The stone of the Thunderpath scoured his belly as he slid down the bridge. Landing with a thump, he stared blindly at the top.

Dovewing dropped beside him, grunting as she landed. “Pouncekit.” She rushed to her kit and began washing her frantically.

Tigerheart couldn’t move. “Spire.” His mew came as a helpless whisper.

“We have to get off the bridge.” Ant nudged his shoulder.

Tigerheart blinked at him. “What about Spire?”

“He’s in the river!” Blaze had already dashed to the edge of the Thunderpath and was scrambling down the steep grass bank to the water’s edge.

Rippletail, Cloverfoot, and Cinnamon streamed after him while Sparrowtail steered Berryheart, Dovewing, and the kits to the side of the Thunderpath.

Tigerheart’s mouth was dry. “He can’t swim.” The river was so huge. How could any cat survive?

“Come on.” Ant nosed him forward. “He might have made it to the bank.”

Tigerheart could hardly believe what was happening. He ran numbly after Ant, his paws slipping on the grass as he followed the others down the bank.

Blaze was leaning out over the swirling water, scanning the surface desperately.

Cinnamon and Cloverfoot scurried beneath the bridge, their gazes fixed on the river. Tigerheart stared blankly at the floating monster, which was gliding through the gap the raised bridge had made. Water whirled at its flanks and churned at its tail. Dread hollowed Tigerheart’s belly. Even if Spire had survived the drop and managed to swim to the surface, the monster would have chewed him up.

“I can’t see him!” Panic edged Blaze’s mew. He paced up and down, straining harder to glimpse the black tom.

Had Spire foreseen this? Had he known when he suggested the crossing? Why didn’t he find another way? Tigerheart swallowed back the grief threatening to overwhelm him. He couldn’t give up. Blaze would need him. The whole patrol would need him. He had to be strong. There was no sign of Spire. No black pelt showed on either bank. The river had taken him.

He padded to Blaze’s side and waited until the young tom stopped pacing. Pain glittered in the young tom’s amber eyes as he gazed over the muddy water. The floating monster was gone. Above them, the bridge was slowly lowering its legs. Tigerheart heard the clatter of the fences lifting and the rumble of monsters moving once more. “He saved Pouncekit,” he murmured.

Blaze turned on him, helpless grief twisting his young face. “Why didn’t he find another way to cross the river?”

Tigerheart held his gaze. “There was no other way.” The river stretched wide on either side for as far as the eye could see. He touched his nose to Blaze’s ear. “We will remember him. StarClan will remember him.” Tigerheart glanced at the darkening sky where the first stars were beginning to show. “His visions helped me and Dovewing, and they led him to Clanmates I thought were lost forever.”

Rippletail padded to his side. “How are we going to find our way now that Spire is gone?” Worry darkened the white tom’s gaze.

Blaze bristled. “Oh, now you believe him?” He glared at Rippletail. “Spire died trying to help you. Are you only bothered that we don’t have a guide anymore?”

Rippletail dropped his gaze. “Of course not, but how will we find where we…”

As his mew trailed away, Sparrowtail padded forward. “Rippletail meant no disrespect.” He glanced toward Berryheart, who had climbed down the slope with Dovewing and the kits and waited now beside the others. “But we need to get home before Berryheart starts kitting.”

“Especially now that we’ve lost Spire.” Cinnamon stood at Blaze’s side. “He was the only healer with us.”

“We should go back to the Silverpath.” Cloverfoot’s tail twitched anxiously. “We know it leads to the lake.”

“It would take too much time to retrace our steps,” Ant argued.

“But we might be wandering forever without a guide.” Cinnamon gazed across the river. “Surely it’s better to travel longer and be sure of getting where we’re going.”

“I think we should keep going this way.” Blaze pointed his muzzle toward the side of the valley where the Thunderpath cut between hills. “Spire said a Twolegplace lies that way and we must travel around it.”

“But where do we head after that?” Tigerheart searched the young tom’s gaze.

Blaze looked at the ground. “Spire didn’t say.”

Tigerheart paused, willing his heart to feel less heavy. “I came past a Twolegplace when I left ShadowClan,” he mewed hopefully. “Maybe this Twolegplace is the same one…”

“I guess we could keep going,” Cinnamon conceded. “If we get lost, we can still retrace our steps to the Silverpath later.”

Cloverfoot’s pelt prickled along her spine. “We could be walking for moons.”

“We’ve traveled so far already.” Dovewing’s green eyes shone in the dying light. “We must be getting closer to the lake. Surely we’ll see it soon.”

Tigerheart glanced around at the patrol. Doubt darkened every gaze. “We’ll follow the route that Spire began,” he meowed firmly. “He would not have set us on this path if he thought we couldn’t reach the end.”

Ant shifted his paws. “Spire would have known we’d find our way.”

Cinnamon and Blaze nodded. Cloverfoot, Berryheart, Sparrowtail, and Rippletail mumbled in reluctant agreement.

Lightkit glanced nervously to where the Thunderpath cut between the hills. “Are we going to follow the monsters to the Twolegplace?”

“No.” Tigerheart nodded to the hill rising beside it. Trees and bushes covered the slope. The ground would be soft underpaw and provide shelter.

Rippletail followed his gaze. “It looks like a good place for prey.”

Tigerheart glanced at Dovewing. “Are the kits okay?” Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit were clustered beside her. They looked at him with wide, worried eyes.

“They’re fine, but it’s been a long day,” Dovewing mewed. “We should make camp soon.”

“Once we’re away from the river.” Blaze glanced at the flowing water, fresh pain in his eyes.

“Let’s travel until sunset and then hunt and rest for the night,” Ant suggested.

“Okay.” Stiffening his shoulders, Tigerheart led the party away from the river. With each paw step, his grief at losing Spire deepened, and his regret at ever having doubted him stuck in his belly like a claw trying to rip its way through.

Spire might not have grown up among the Clans, he thought, but if we make it back to the lake, if ShadowClan is restored, then he’ll have done more for our Clan than some of our own warriors.

He pushed on as the slope grew harder, and ducked between swaths of bracken. No cat spoke as they walked. The wind stirred the trees and bushes around them as they headed into thicker vegetation. Soon they were climbing through a stretch of forest. Birds began their evening song, calling from the branches above their heads. The moon rose, burning a patch in the darkening sky, and as they reached a clearing in the trees, Tigerheart stopped.

“Are we going to make camp?” Rippletail stopped beside him.

Tigerheart gazed between the trees. Far below, the wide river reflected moonlight. The image that had burned in his mind since they’d left its banks burned stronger still—Spire lifting Pouncekit to safety, then swaying and disappearing… giving his life for cats he hadn’t known very long, and for a way of life he had never known at all. “We should honor him.”