Эрин Хантер - Moth Flight’s Vision

“Give me a moment to catch my breath,” Wind Runner growled. She slumped as Dust Muzzle stepped away, her flanks heaving.

Moth Flight leaned close to her muzzle. “I hope I can be as brave as you one day.”

Wind Runner lifted her gaze. “You already are.”

“Let’s go!” Dust Muzzle nosed Moth Flight away, pressing hard against Wind Runner. A wide gap had opened between two monsters.

This was their chance. Moth Flight hopped onto the Thunderpath, pausing to make sure Wind Runner was following. Spotted Fur and Dust Muzzle half carried the WindClan leader onto the stone. Wind Runner fought to find her paws. “I can do this!” she hissed through gritted teeth. Shaking the toms away, she limped forward. Moth Flight turned to face the oncoming monster. It pounded toward them, its eyes flaring.

Another monster hurtled toward them from the other direction.

“Wait here!” Spotted Fur screeched, throwing himself against Wind Runner. Moth Flight ducked into her mother. Dust

Muzzle pressed against them. Moth Flight screwed up her eyes, and her heart seemed to burst as the two monsters screamed past on either side. Foul water drenched her pelt as the ground shook beneath her paws.

“Move!” Dust Muzzle’s order was sharp.

Moth Flight opened her eyes and saw that the way to the far side was clear.

Wind Runner straightened with a groan of pain and hobbled toward the verge. Spotted Fur pushed his shoulder beneath her and urged her on. The roar of another monster screamed in Moth Flight’s ears. She turned her head, blinded by the glare of its eyes.

“Don’t look! Run! ” Dust Muzzle shoved her forward and she stumbled over the edge of the Thunderpath, collapsing onto the muddy grass beyond as the paw of a monster whisked past her tail. The wind from its passing tugged her dripping fur.

“Wind Runner!” She looked around, fear shrilling through her. Wind Runner was lying on the grass a tail-length ahead.

Spotted Fur half cradled her against his belly. He struggled from beneath her. “I fell,” he grunted, shaking rainwater from his fur. Dust Muzzle hurried to help Wind Runner to her paws.

Moth Flight was on his heels. “Are you okay?” She sniffed her mother’s broken leg. The swaths of comfrey were hanging from it loosely. Wind Runner flinched as she touched it with her nose.

Moth Flight looked into her mother’s eyes, seeing agony spark in their amber depths. Then she looked back at the Thunderpath. Monsters streaked back and forth, picking up speed as the rain began to ease. The gaps closed between them.

There was no way back now. They had to keep going.

“Can you do this?” She searched Wind Runner’s gaze, praying she’d say yes.

Wind Runner nodded and struggled to her paws. Dust

Muzzle and Spotted Fur flanked her.

Moth Flight blinked through the rain, scanning the meadows ahead. Perhaps she’d find some poppy seeds along the way.

Anything to ease her mother’s suffering.

They crossed the sodden fields slowly. Mud clung to their paws as they skirted meadows and squeezed beneath hedgerows. Every few steps, Moth Flight glanced up at Highstones, hoping each time that they’d loom larger. But it seemed that, with each paw step, the great, dark cliffs were moving farther away. We’ll never make it! Staring at the ground, Moth Flight trudged on. She could hear Wind Runner swallowing back gasps of agony. Rain thrummed her pelt as the fields around them darkened. She focused on the mud clogging her paws as she tried to block the fear churning in her belly. She flattened her ears against the pained growling of Wind Runner.

Was I wrong? Doubt sliced into her thoughts. What if she’d misunderstood her dreams? What if the moth had nothing to do with StarClan? Moths and butterflies danced across the heather all greenleaf. Why was this one special?

She lifted her head, blinking at Spotted Fur and Dust Muzzle as they helped Wind Runner squeeze beneath a hedge. She could hardly see them in the darkness. Dusk was passing and night rolling in.

Had they come all this way for nothing? She stopped, frozen with fear.

“Moth Flight?” Dust Muzzle’s call jerked her from her thoughts. She stared at him as he turned from the hedge and headed toward her. “Are you all right?”

“What if I was wrong?” she whispered.

“You’re never wrong,” Dust Muzzle told her.

Moth Flight hardly heard him. “Gorse Fur said that if she’s going to die, she should be with her Clan. And we’ve taken her away from them.”

“She’s with us .” Dust Muzzle leaned closer, keeping his mew low. “And she’s not going to die.”

Moth Flight looked past him. She could just make out the shapes of Spotted Fur and Wind Runner beyond the hedge. The WindClan leader was lying on the ground. Moth Flight darted forward, panic spiraling in her chest. She wriggled under the hedge and sniffed Wind Runner’s muzzle. Was she still breathing?

“I’m just resting,” Wind Runner grunted.

Moth Flight’s paws trembled beneath her as relief swept her pelt.

“Did you think I’d give up when we were so close?” She lifted her chin from the muddy earth and looked toward Highstones.

Moth Flight blinked in surprise. They were nearly there! As she gazed up at the sheer cliff face, green wings fluttered above her. She looked up and saw the moth bobbing toward the dark opening in the stone.

Hope flared in Moth Flight’s belly. I must trust myself more!

“Come on!” She nosed Wind Runner gently to her paws. “We have to get there before the moon does.”

“Are we racing the moon ?” Wind Runner glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, amusement flashing through her pain.

“I always told Gorse Fur you were a strange one…”

Affection opened like a flower in Moth Flight’s chest.

Then Wind Runner coughed, her paws buckling beneath her.

Moth Flight smelled the scent of fresh blood. She pressed her shoulder against her mother’s as Dust Muzzle slid around the other side. Wind Runner’s fur felt warm and wet and Moth

Flight guessed that her neck wound was bleeding heavily now.

Please let her make it. Praying to StarClan, she began to guide Wind Runner onward. I just hope the Moonstone can save you.

“You have to wait here.” Moth Flight gazed solemnly at Spotted Fur. She nodded to Dust Muzzle. “You too.”

They had managed to haul Wind Runner over the stone lip of the cave. Wind Runner leaned against Dust Muzzle, her eyes clouded. She murmured under her breath. “Where’s Gorse Fur?

Tell him I’m coming.”

Moth Flight glanced at her mother anxiously. Wind Runner was clearly lost in a feverish world of pain.

Dust Muzzle peered into the darkness at the back of the cave. “Where’s the Moonstone?”

“It’s down a tunnel,” Moth Flight told him.

“Can you get her there alone?”

“I must.” She was their medicine cat. She alone must guide her mother to StarClan.

Spotted Fur shifted his paws uneasily. “We could help her there and then leave.”

Moth Flight hesitated. Wind Runner was exhausted. Do I really have the strength to help her though the tunnel? Outside, the clouds were clearing, revealing the night sky. Stars stretched to the distant moor. So much depends on me. Spotted Fur and Dust Muzzle were hunters—moor runners who fed the Clan. My bond with StarClan is special. Her belly hardened. She met Spotted Fur’s gaze. “I must do this alone.”