Эрин Хантер - Moth Flight’s Vision

A wail welling in her throat, Moth Flight struggled into consciousness. Heart burning with loss, she blinked open her eyes into Sun Shadow’s hollow den.

Moth Flight felt a paw push her shoulder. She struggled awake, her mouth dry, her eyes sticky with sleep.

“Moth Flight?” Pebble Heart sounded worried. “Are you okay?”

She lifted her head groggily and blinked at the dawn sunshine filtering into the den. “I’m…”

Pebble Heart’s shoulders relaxed. “I’m not used to giving poppy seeds,” he admitted. “I was worried you’d sleep for days.”

Moth Flight looked around, surprised by the dark brambles enclosing her nest. Where was the gorse?

A sick feeling hit her belly like rotten prey. “Micah’s dead.”

She stared at Pebble Heart, a tiny spark of hope flickering beneath her pelt. Perhaps she’d dreamed it all.

But the medicine cat’s amber eyes glistened with sympathy.

He leaned down and picked up a wad of dripping moss and laid it on the edge of her nest. “I thought you might be thirsty.”

Sadness swamped Moth Flight as she remembered the pool in Cloud Spots’s den. Micah had still been with her then. She lapped at the moss, her tongue welcoming the moisture.

“I brought you food too.” Pebble Heart draped a mouse over the side of her nest. It was still warm, freshly killed.

Moth Flight wrinkled her nose. “I’m not hungry.”

“But you must eat,” Pebble Heart reasoned.

“Why?” Moth Flight snorted rebelliously. “If I starve, I can join Micah in StarClan.”

“You mustn’t say that!” Pebble Heart’s eyes widened.

“Why not?” Anger rolled deep in Moth Flight’s belly.

“What about your Clanmates? And the other Clans?” Pebble Heart stared at her fiercely. “StarClan shared the secret of the Moonstone with you. You’re important !”

“And Micah’s not?” Moth Flight growled.

Pebble Heart stared at her sadly. “Perhaps he’s supposed to be with them.”

“His destiny ,” she muttered bitterly. She pictured the rolling meadows of StarClan’s hunting grounds. Was Micah going to spend forever chasing spirit-rabbits while she worked her paws to the bone taking care of her Clanmates? “What about me ?

Does StarClan want me to be lonely? Is that my destiny? Am I just here to carry out their orders? I can’t even get a good night’s sleep because they haunt my dreams ! Can’t they give me any peace?”

Pebble Heart’s eye flashed with curiosity. “They haunt your dreams?” he echoed. “How?”

“I dream of spirit-cats doing some dumb ceremony,” Moth

Flight snapped. “The same thing, over and over again, but to different cats.”

Pebble Heart leaned closer. “What cats?”

“Why should I care?” Anger prickled beneath Moth Flight’s pelt.

Pebble Heart nudged the dripping moss with his paw. “Drink some more.”

“Stop trying to make me feel better, because you can’t!”

“I know,” he soothed. “But I want to know more about these dreams. They might be important.”

“Of course they’re important!” Moth Flight snapped. “But StarClan won’t tell me why. They just keep making me dream the same dream.” She lapped at the moss crossly.

“Perhaps, if you describe the dream exactly, we can work out what it means,” Pebble Heart urged.

Moth Flight swallowed back her anger. “I wake up at the Moonstone. And two cats come into the cave.”

“Do you recognize them?”

“No.” Moth Flight narrowed her eyes as the dream grew more vivid in her mind. “One of the cats sits at the Moonstone and, when the moonlight strikes it, the spirit-cats come.”

“StarClan?”

“I guess,” Moth Flight told him. “They have starry pelts but I don’t recognize any of them.”

“Go on.” Pebble Heart’s pelt twitched along his spine.

“The starry cats approach the living cat and, one at a time, they touch his head with their muzzle.” She shuddered. “It seems to hurt a lot. The real cat jerks like he’s been hit by lightning, but he doesn’t flinch away. He’s not scared. He just lets the spirit-cats touch him, one after another and at the end, he looks stronger. Kind of proud, like he’s been given a special gift.”

“Is it always a tom?”

Moth Flight shook her head. “The first time, it was a she-cat.

I’d seen her before in a different dream. She was dead and then she came back to life.”

Pebble Heart shifted his paws, his gaze clouding with thought. “What gift could StarClan give a living cat?”

Moth Flight shrugged. “I just know it looks painful. I don’t think I’d want it.”

“Really?” Pebble Heart’s ear twitched. “But you’re the cat who went to Highstones and found the Moonstone. You’re the bravest cat I know. I think you’d endure anything if StarClan wished it.”

Moth Flight returned his gaze, her heart twisting. “I can’t endure losing Micah.” Her mew cracked.

Pebble Heart got to his paws. “Why don’t you come and visit Juniper Branch with me? She’s expecting Raven Pelt’s kits and I promised to check on her. She’s been having pains.”

“When are the kits due?”

“Not for another half moon.” Pebble Heart flicked his tail.

“Join me. This will be the first litter I’ve helped with. We can both learn a lot.”

Moth Flight frowned. Pebble Heart was clearly trying to distract her from her grief. “No.” She dug her paws deeper into the nest. “I’m staying here.”

“Some fresh air might help you feel better.”

“I don’t want to feel better.” She crouched in the nest, glaring at him stubbornly.

Pebble Heart tipped his head sympathetically. “Okay. You rest. I guess there’s no rush.”

Moth Flight watched him duck out of the den, uncertain whether she wanted to be alone. But what use am I to anyone like this? She tucked her nose between her paws and closed her eyes. Sadness washed over her, wave after wave until she pushed every thought away and sought sanctuary in sleep.

She opened her eyes into another dream. She was standing in a wide meadow. The grass was wilting and the flowers had died. Mist swirled across the ground and swallowed the sky. She glanced around, anxiety creeping beneath her fur as she strained to see through the murky fog. What was hiding there? Her heart quickened as she saw a shape. Broad shoulders, pricked ears, a long tail. It was a tom.

“Hello?” Moth Flight tasted the air warily.

Micah’s scent washed her tongue.

“Micah!” She raced toward the shadowy figure in the mist, the scent growing stronger as she neared. “It’s me! Moth

Flight!”

The tom didn’t turn but kept moving, swinging his head from side to side as though searching.

“Micah!” She was only a tail-length away. Surely he could hear her! She caught up with him and dodged in front of him, trying desperately to catch his eye.

He walked through her as though she were part of the mist.

Her heart dropped like a stone. “No!” Rage swept through her. Why was she so powerless in her dreams? Helplessly, she watched Micah move through the mist, heading one way, then the other, his ears pricked, his mouth open. Is he looking for me? Pain stabbed her heart. Micah, I’m here!

She woke, trembling, and jerked up her head.

Sun Shadow was sitting beside her nest. “You were dreaming.”

Moth Flight blinked at him, the mist from her dream still fogging her thoughts. “What are you doing here?” She pushed herself to her paws. “Do you want your nest back?”