Эрин Хантер - Moth Flight’s Vision

“It can’t be,” Cloud Spots reasoned. “WindClan cats must be covered in heather dust. And you don’t get sick when you wash.”

Why didn’t I think of that? Moth Flight began to feel hot.

“Perhaps I should have brought Reed Tail with me,” she mumbled. “He knows a lot.”

“So does Milkweed,” Cloud Spots mewed. “She’s the one who suggested mouse bile.”

Micah’s tail twitched. “Instead of bringing every cat who knows something about healing here , why don’t we travel to each other’s camps?”

Moth Flight frowned. She wasn’t sure what he meant.

“It would only take one or two of us to travel around, learning and sharing knowledge.” Micah paced in front of the Moonstone. “What if Moth Flight and I traveled to another Clan’s camp and learned everything we could? Then we could move on to another Clan and share what we’d learned and pick up new skills.”

“What about the Clan you’d left behind?” Cloud Spots argued. “They’d only learn what you knew.”

“We could take turns,” Micah suggested. “You could travel with Dappled Pelt, or Pebble Heart. So long as we keep learning and sharing, it doesn’t matter who travels where.”

Pebble Heart nodded. “It sounds like a good idea.”

“How can we leave our Clans?” Dappled Pelt argued. “They need us.”

Moth Flight shifted her paws. “I know so little that WindClan would be just as safe with Reed Tail in charge.”

“Milkweed knows enough to look after ThunderClan while

I’m gone,” Cloud Spots added.

“You see?” Micah’s eyes glowed in the half-light. “The sooner we get started the better.”

Dappled Pelt tipped her head. “Why don’t you and Moth

Flight come visit RiverClan first? River Ripple will welcome you. He thinks medicine cats are a great idea.”

“It might be hard to get Tall Shadow to agree to have strangers in her camp,” Pebble Heart murmured.

Micah blinked at him. “Do you think Clear Sky is going to let me leave without an argument?” He swished his tail. “We have to persuade our leaders that it’s for the good of their Clans.”

Pebble Heart nodded slowly. “The more we know, the better we can help our Clanmates,” he agreed.

“Then it’s settled.” Micah turned to Dappled Pelt. “Moth

Flight and I will visit you the day after tomorrow.”

Moth Flight’s ears twitched. “What if Wind Runner stops me?”

“You’re WindClan’s medicine cat now,” Micah told her.

“She has to listen to you.”

Moth Flight blinked. He was right. She wasn’t a kit anymore. She wasn’t even an ordinary Clan cat. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll meet you at the stepping-stones, the day after tomorrow.” She’d seen stones dotting the river where the forest gave way to the reed beds of RiverClan’s territory.

Micah purred. “Great.”

Pebble Heart shook out his pelt. Cloud Spots stretched, shivering, while Dappled Pelt swallowed back a yawn.

Moth Flight guessed they were cold and tired. “Let’s go.”

She headed for the tunnel. “We’ve got a long way to travel.”

Micah fell in beside her as she ducked into the shadows.

“How’s Rocky’s cough? Did the catmint work?”

“Yes.” Moth Flight purred. Rocky had slept the whole day away after he’d swallowed the leaves, but he’d woken brighter and his cough was clearing up.

Pebble Heart’s mew sounded from the darkness behind. “Is he the only cat in your Clan with a cough? Sun Shadow and Raven Pelt have been coughing for days.”

“Dew Nose was a bit wheezy this morning,” Moth Flight told him. “But I think it’s just pollen making her throat tickle.”

“Milkweed and Clover both have coughs,” Cloud Spots meowed.

“Shattered Ice has been croaking like a frog these past days,” Dappled Pelt’s mew echoed around the tunnels walls.

Moth Flight brushed against Micah, frowning. Perhaps newleaf always brought coughs. “Is Tiny Branch still okay?”

“He was spluttering a bit this morning,” Micah confessed. “I told Acorn Fur to keep an eye on him.”

Moth Flight could hear anxiety in his mew. “He’ll be okay if you give him catmint, won’t he?”

Micah’s paws scuffed the rock. “There was a tom on the farm with a cough,” he meowed darkly. “We called it redcough because, at the end, he coughed up blood.”

At the end? Moth Flight shivered. The darkness suddenly seemed to press against her pelt as she padded on.

“I’ve never seen a Clan cat cough blood ,” Dappled Spots murmured darkly.

Alarm pricked in Moth Flight’s paws. “Didn’t catmint help?” she asked Micah. “You said there was some behind the barn.”

“Cow tried giving him catmint, but it didn’t work,” Micah explained.

“I know something more powerful than catmint.” Cloud

Spots’s mew sounded at Moth Flight’s tail. She felt his breath stir her fur. “There’s a tree on SkyClan’s land. It oozes sap from cracks in the bark. The sap can cure any cough.”

Moth Flight glanced over her shoulder hopefully. “Even redcough?”

“I’ve never tested it,” Cloud Spots admitted.

Fresh air began to wash Moth Flight’s muzzle. A few more paw steps, and starlight showed through the darkness. Crisp air sent a surge of energy through her fur. She hurried onto the ledge and gazed over the valley. Moonlight drenched the distant moor. “We’ll be home by dawn.” She leaped down, sending stones cracking down the slope, and headed for the meadow.

Paws heavy with weariness, Moth Flight ducked through the gap in the camp wall. Beyond it, the sky showed orange over the forest as dawn pushed the night away. She could hear the gentle snoring of her Clanmates, and make out their pelts, just shadows in the grass as they slept curled in their nests. How good it would feel to slip into her den and snuggle deep into her own nest.

She heard the sound of fur brushing the rocks as she passed them. She turned, blinking, through the half-light. “Who is it?”

Wind Runner’s scent bathed her nose as her mother slid from the rocks.

“You’re back.” The WindClan leader stretched sleepily and touched her nose to Moth Flight’s cheek.

“Did you wait up for me?” Warmth glowed in Moth Flight’s chest.

“I slept a little,” Wind Runner admitted. “But I wanted to make sure you got back safely. It’s a long journey to Highstones.”

“I had Micah with me,” Moth Flight reassured her.

“I know.” Wind Runner wrinkled her nose distastefully. “I can smell his scent on you.”

Moth Flight felt suddenly self-conscious. “Cloud Spots, Dappled Pelt, and Pebble Heart were there too,” she pointed out.

Wind Runner’s gaze slid away. “Did you speak with the spirit-cats?”

“Yes!” Moth Flight lifted her tail excitedly. “StarClan told us we must share the knowledge we have with each other.”

“ StarClan? ” Wind Runner jerked her gaze back.

“That’s what the spirit-cats are called now. They even have their own hunting grounds.”

Wind Runner’s eyes widened but she didn’t comment.

Instead she tipped her head. “ Who has to share knowledge?”

“The medicine cats.” Moth Flight squared her shoulders.

She might as well tell Wind Runner about Micah’s plan now.

“I’m meeting Micah at the border tomorrow. We’re going to visit RiverClan and learn everything Dappled Pelt knows about healing. All the medicine cats are going to visit each other’s camps. It’s what StarClan wants.”

Wind Runner narrowed her eyes. “Clear Sky won’t let

Micah visit other Clans. No matter what StarClan wants.”