Эрин Хантер - Moth Flight’s Vision

Turtle Tail touched her nose to her kit’s head. “I always knew you were special,” she murmured. “Take care of them all, my dear.”

Pebble Heart stirred, his ear twitching as his mother’s muzzle grazed it. Then he huffed and turned in his sleep, and the vision faded.

Gray Wing moved to Turtle Tail’s side and guided her away, his tail curled protectively across her spine.

Moth Flight watched the pair take their place among their companions. Who next? Medicine cats had been chosen for every Clan except SkyClan. She looked back at the stone and blinked as yellow fur shimmered into view. There’s no yellow cat in SkyClan. She stiffened as she recognized the slender shoulders and smooth back of the tom. “Micah!”

Shock pulsed through her. Unlike the others, Micah wasn’t asleep. He sat, alert, gazing ahead, as though waiting.

He’s waiting for me.

A small tabby she-cat brushed in front of Half Moon.

“Petal.” Half Moon purred fondly as she passed.

Moth Flight stared as Petal approached the vision of Micah.

“How can he be a medicine cat?” she gasped. “He doesn’t belong to any Clan!”

“Nor did I, once.” Petal blinked at her, her eyes glittering in the light from the stone. She leaned forward and brushed her muzzle against Micah’s cheek. “Protect your Clan as though they had raised you.”

Micah didn’t flinch, but carried on staring, serenely unaware that spirit-cats were watching him. Moth Flight wanted to call out to him that she was safe and she could see him. But she knew he wouldn’t hear.

As Micah faded away, Half Moon stepped forward once more. “You must return to your Clan now, Moth Flight. Tell the cats what we have shown you.”

Moth Flight stiffened. “All of them?” She’d have to convince every cat that what she’d seen was real. How would she make them believe her?

“Just speak your truth, Moth Flight.” Half Moon’s mew was firm. “Have faith in who and what you are.”

I am a medicine cat. Moth Flight lifted her chin as the white cat went on.

“Next half-moon, and every half-moon after that, you and the other medicine cats must return here and we’ll speak again.”

“Next half-moon ? I’ll need more time that that!” Moth

Flight spluttered. She pictured Tall Shadow sitting sternly in her bramble den, and Clear Sky’s thick tail flicking scornfully. And Thunder! He was the most powerful tom she’d ever seen. She’d never even spoken to the mysterious River Ripple. And Wind Runner…

Her paws felt suddenly hot against the icy stone. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to convince my own mother! “I can’t do it!”

Her heart pounded in her chest. “I’ll never be able to do it!”

Half Moon whisked her tail irritably. “Have faith in yourself!”

Moth Flight’s hackles lifted. That was easy for her to say!

You’re dead! What do you have to lose? “My Clan thinks I’m feather-headed enough,” she snapped. “If I go back with stories about talking to spirit-cats and telling them that they’re supposed to have medicine cats and I should be one, they’ll think I’m a complete birdbrain!”

“The moonlight will be gone soon. We don’t have long,” Half Moon warned. “This is your destiny, whether you want it or not. You have no choice but to follow it. Every Clan’s destiny depends on you , though they don’t know it yet. But they will.

And there will come a time when they will listen to you and you alone. I can tell you this, but it’s up to you to earn their respect.”

“ How ?” Moth Flight felt frantic. At any moment the moon might pass over the hole and the cave would be plunged into darkness. She’d be alone, to face the Clans by herself. “I haven’t managed to earn any cat’s respect so far! Wind Runner told me I was a danger to my Clan. I lost Slate’s kits. I nearly got Gorse Fur killed by a monster. I’m useless!” Her mew broke as hopelessness overwhelmed her. She dropped her gaze to the moon-washed stone.

Downy fur moved in front of her. She lifted her head to see a tom-kit nosing past Half Moon. He was tiny, and looked hardly more than a day old, although his eyes were open and bright. A she-kit stopped beside him, a little bigger, but less than a moon old. Moth Flight blinked at them, shocked to see kits among the spirit-cats, but then her nose twitched. She recognized their scent. For a moment she was back in Wind Runner’s nest, nuzzling for milk at her mother’s belly beside Dust Muzzle.

“Morning Whisker? Is that you?” She stared at the she-kit.

Morning Whisker had died in the sickness that swept the Clans.

She looked well now, her starry pelt fluffed out, her eyes sparkling.

Morning Whisker nodded. “It’s good to see you, Moth

Flight.”

Moth Flight’s gaze flicked to the tom-kit. He’d died before she could know him, on the day they were born. “Emberkit?”

“Hello, Moth Flight,” he purred.

Morning Whisker padded closer. “You have to do this, Moth

Flight,” she urged. “The Clans need you.”

“But I don’t know how,” Moth Flight answered bleakly.

“Wind Runner’s never going to listen to me.”

“She will,” Morning Whisker insisted.

“You don’t know that.”

Morning Whisker’s gaze hardened. “We share three things, Moth Flight.”

“What?” How could she share anything with these dead kits?

“Isn’t it obvious?” Emberkit pushed in front, fur spiking.

“We share a history, a future, and—”

Morning Whisker interrupted her brother. “Let Moth Flight tell us the third thing.”

Moth Flight frowned, trying to guess. “I don’t kno—” Then she realized. “A mother !” She paused, breathless with anguish.

She’d never wondered before about her brother who’d died.

And yet, here he was, as bright and strong as a living kit. Their sister stood beside him. She hadn’t thought about Morning Whisker for moons. Her pelt pricked along her spine. Wind Runner was their mother too! Moth Flight was used to sharing Wind Runner with Dust Muzzle, but Dust Muzzle had always seemed independent; he’d never worried about Wind Runner’s approval. He’d never had to; everything came naturally to him.

But these kits had been Wind Runner’s too, before they’d been taken from her. Did Wind Runner still think about them? Of course she did! She must miss them! Is Wind Runner missing me too? With a pang, she remembered her mother’s angry words as they’d parted. “I just wish I could please her,” she murmured sadly.

“You will,” Morning Whisker mewed.

“Of course you will!” Emberkit’s tail was twitching excitedly. “In time she will understand everything. Until then, she will support you because you are her kit.”

Moth Flight wasn’t convinced. “She thinks I’m useless.”

“She can be harsh,” Morning Whisker conceded. “But are you surprised? The moor is a harsh place. She lost us there. If she’s strict, it’s because she worries about you, not because she thinks you’re useless.”

Emberkit stepped forward and lifted his muzzle close to Moth Flight’s. His breath felt warm on her nose. “She just wants to protect you. It’s a mother’s strongest instinct. When you’re medicine cat and your Clanmates are relying on you, you will feel the same way.”

Moth Flight’s ear twitched uneasily. Will I have to be mother to the whole Clan?