Эрин Хантер - Hawkwing’s Journey

The rocky valley didn’t offer much prey, but Hawkwing managed to catch a rabbit and Sandynose caught a shrew while

Plumwillow found a sheltered spot where the kits could take a nap.

They all settled down together after they had shared the fresh-kill, Hawkwing a short distance away.

He found it impossible to sleep. The lake where they were to meet the other Clans had never seemed so far away.

The sky was streaked red with the last traces of sunlight when the cats of SkyClan set out again, padding cautiously across the open space that separated them from the Twolegplace. The acrid tang in the air grew stronger and harsh yellow light spilled out onto the ground as they approached the dens. M onsters roared up and down the Thunderpaths, beams from their huge eyes slicing through the gathering darkness.

Leafstar and Hawkwing kept their Clanmates bunched together as they slipped between the dens, darting from one clot of shadow to the next, crouching in a shivering cluster as monsters or Twolegs passed by. Hawkwing couldn’t forget his lost Clanmates’ despairing wails as the Twolegs carried them off from the lake camp.

After what seemed like a moon, he felt himself relax as he and his Clanmates left the last of the Twoleg dens behind and headed out across a stretch of open ground covered with coarse grass and scrubby bushes. The grass stems were stiff and spiky, furred with frost, pricking the cats’ pads as they trudged over them. But in spite of the discomfort, and a cold wind buffeting their fur, Hawkwing sensed the easing of tension among his Clanmates too.

The sky was beginning to grow pale with the light of dawn, showing a belt of woodland crossing their path, the leafless branches outlined against the sky.

“Trees!” Sparrowpelt exclaimed. “Thank StarClan!”

Sandynose swiped his tongue around his jaws. “And where there are trees, there’ll be prey.”

But when the cats arrived under the trees, they found that there was little undergrowth, and the scanty prey-scents were faint and growing stale.

“I think all the prey is hiding away down their holes,” Tinycloud grumbled.

Plumwillow managed to track down a mouse, which she gave to her kits to share, and Sparrowpelt caught a squirrel after a frantic dash through the branches, but none of the other cats had any luck.

Then Hawkwing caught sight of a few rabbit holes in a steep bank on the far side of the trees. His whiskers twitched at the scent of rabbit. “Look over there,” he murmured to Leafstar. “I could go down one of those holes and scare the rabbits out.”

“You will not ,” Leafstar replied decisively. “I don’t want my deputy stuck down a rabbit hole. If we wait, maybe they’ll come out on their own.”

Hawkwing sighed. “Okay.”

As the dawn light strengthened, most of the Clan settled down at the edge of the wood, their gazes fixed on the rabbit holes.

Plumwillow and Sandynose kept their kits well back among the trees, so the kits wouldn’t make a noise and scare away the prey.

Eventually Hawkwing saw a flicker of movement at the mouth of one of the burrows, and a rabbit hopped into the open. It halted a fox-length away from the opening and began to nibble the grass.

“Wait a few moments,” Hawkwing whispered, his jaws beginning to water. “Let it come out a bit further before we attack.”

He had scarcely finished speaking when a flash of ginger erupted from the top of the bank. A ginger tom leaped straight onto the rabbit, pinning it down with his claws and cutting off its squeal with a bite to the neck.

“Hey!” M acgyver called out, jumping to his paws. “That was ours!”

The ginger tom paused in the act of stooping to pick up his prey. “Yours?” he snarled. “M y claws. M y teeth. My prey.”

M acgyver stalked out into the open, followed by the rest of the Clan. “Shove off, flea-pelt!” he snapped.

The ginger tom’s fur bristled and he crouched over the body of the rabbit, ready to spring. He didn’t look at all intimidated by the number of cats surrounding him.

Hawkwing exchanged an uneasy glance with Leafstar. The tom was no full-fed kittypet; he was clearly a rogue or a loner, and he looked just as thin and desperate as the SkyClan cats.

“We can’t risk a fight,” Leafstar murmured. “We’ve enough problems without that. Besides, he is the one who caught the rabbit.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Hawkwing responded, an idea slipping into his mind.

He padded forward, gesturing with his tail for his Clanmates to keep back. “Okay,” he meowed to the ginger tom. “You can keep the prey if you’ll answer a few questions.”

The tom narrowed his eyes. “What questions?”

“Is there a big lake around here?” Hawkwing began. “One that’s so big you can stand on the shore and hardly see the other side.”

The tom’s hostility began to fade, replaced by confusion. He shook his head. “There’s nowhere like that around here.”

A chill of despair began to creep through Hawkwing’s pelt, but he went on. “Then do you know about any Clans of cats nearby?”

The ginger tom twitched his whiskers, puzzled. “Clans?”

“Cats like us,” Hawkwing mewed.

The tom raked his gaze across the SkyClan warriors and gave a disdainful sniff. “M ange-ridden prey-stealers, you mean?”

A low growl came from Sparrowpelt’s throat, but Hawkwing glared at him and flicked his tail at his Clanmate for silence.

“Clan cats live in a group together,” Leafstar explained, padding up beside Hawkwing. “We look after each other and train our young ones.”

“Really?” The ginger tom sneered. “That doesn’t seem to have done you much good, does it?”

Hawkwing winced at the truth behind the tom’s words. “Have you seen any cats like that?” he asked.

“No. Never heard of Clans before. Never want to hear about them again. You’ve all got brains full of feathers!”

Without waiting for a response, the ginger tom snatched up the rabbit, bounded up the bank past the burrows, and vanished from sight.

“That went well,” Hawkwing sighed.

“We’d better move on,” Leafstar meowed, above the angry muttering of her Clan. “It sounds like we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Finally, after more than two moons, the cats of SkyClan made camp in a copse of oaks and gorse bushes, where the ground was covered with bracken and bramble thickets, offering some shelter from the cold.

“We’ll rest here for a few days,” Leafstar decided. “Tonight is the full moon, when StarClan draws closest to us. Perhaps they will send us a sign at last.”

Every cat was too exhausted that night to do more than curl up where they stood. The following morning, Hawkwing began to make a proper nest for himself in the bracken. As he pulled at the dead brown stems, he noticed tiny new fronds beginning to uncurl in the depths of the clump. The biting green color brought a sudden surge of hope in his heart.

Maybe this long, miserable leaf-bare is coming to an end at last .

Looking up, Hawkwing spotted Echosong speaking urgently to Leafstar across the makeshift camp. He hardly had time to wonder what that was all about before Leafstar raised her head and let out a yowl.

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here in the middle of the camp for a Clan meeting!”

Cats slid out of the bracken where, like Hawkwing, they had been making their nests. Plumwillow’s kits bounced to the front of the crowd, with Sandynose and Plumwillow just behind them.

Bellaleaf sat beside Fallowfern and Blossomheart, while

Sparrowpelt and M acgyver padded up from the opposite side of the camp. The rest of the Clan gathered around; Hawkwing could feel a sense of tension in the air, as if every cat was expecting something to happen.