Эрин Хантер - Tallstar’s Revenge

“Stormkit.” Brambleberry’s eyes clouded. “He fell.”

“Can I help?” Barkface offered.

“There’s nothing more to be done.” Brambleberry glanced back into the shadows. “Time and care will see him through.” She turned back to Barkface. “Why have you come?”

“Hopkit has an infected paw. The infection’s spreading fast.”

Brambleberry cut him off. “You want sweet-sedge.”

Barkface’s eyes lit. “Can you spare some?”

Brambleberry glanced at her leader. Hailstar dipped his head. “I have some,” Brambleberry mewed, turning back to her den. “Come.”

Talltail watched Barkface disappear into the shadows after the RiverClan medicine cat. He could feel the probing eyes of the RiverClan warriors, hot on his pelt. Shellheart, the dappled-gray deputy, sat on the arching root of a willow, watching through narrowed eyes. Nightsky appeared beside Piketooth. She whispered into her clanmate’s ear, then dipped her head to Talltail. He nodded back. He’d been right to let them cross the border to feed their Clan. Now RiverClan was returning the favor. StarClan willing.

Hailstar lifted his chin. “WindClan has never asked for help before.”

Talltail met his gaze. “WindClan has never needed help before.”

Owlfur’s growl hardened. “But now you do. Has leaf-bare weakened you?”

Talltail’s hackles lifted. Was the RiverClan warrior goading him? He dug his claws deep into the marshy ground. You’re outnumbered, Talltail. Jake’s voice echoed in his mind. Are you really going to start a fight? Warmth stirred in his chest and his fur smoothed. “WindClan is grateful for your kindness.” He bowed his head low to Hailstar.

“No warrior would let a kit die, no matter the Clan.” As Hailstar spoke, Barkface padded from Brambleberry’s den with a thick, white root between his jaws.

“He must swallow the sap!” Brambleberry called after him.

Barkface flicked his tail, his mouth too full to answer.

Hailstar stepped forward. “Ottersplash and Rippleclaw will help you cross the river.”

“We managed to get here alone,” Talltail pointed out.

“You were lucky,” Hailstar meowed grimly. “There are dangerous currents when rain has swollen the waters.”

Talltail pushed back a growl. He hated being treated like a kit. And he suspected that the RiverClan leader was more interested in making sure they left his territory than in keeping them from drowning. But they had been given what they’d come for. That was enough. He paused as Rippleclaw pushed in front of him and led him along a winding trail through the reeds. Barkface trotted after him with Ottersplash at his heels.

At the shore, Rippleclaw stayed close to Barkface as the medicine cat waded into the water. The RiverClan warrior guided Barkface across, boosting him forward with her shoulder.

“I can swim by myself,” Talltail told Ottersplash.

Ottersplash stared at him coldly. “Would you let me run through rabbit tunnels by myself?”

Talltail stiffened. Did RiverClan know about the maze of tunnels beneath WindClan? Of course not. She’s just guessing that we chase rabbits into their burrows.

“Come on, then!” Ottersplash was already padding into the water.

Talltail braced himself as the freezing water lapped over his shoulders. He churned his paws clumsily while beside him, Ottersplash moved through the water like a snake. As he struggled to stay afloat, she glided at his side, hardly ruffling the surface. An eddy tugged him suddenly, spinning him off course. Water dragged at his paws down. The river was trying to swallow him! He thrashed in panic, jerking his head around. Where was Ottersplash? Had the river swallowed her too?

Suddenly something hard pushed against his belly. Beneath the water, a strong back steadied him while he regained his balance, then disappeared. A moment later, Ottersplash broke the surface. She blew water from her nose.

“Hailstar warned you about the currents,” she murmured, and swam close beside Talltail until they reached the shore where Barkface and Rippleclaw were shaking out their pelts.

Talltail stretched his feet down to the pebbles, relieved as he felt them underpaw, and staggered out after Ottersplash. “Thanks,” he grunted.

Ottersplash shrugged. “I’m impressed a WindClan cat can swim at all.”

Rippleclaw nodded along the trail toward the gorge. “We’ll watch you go,” he meowed. “To make sure you don’t have trouble on the path. It’s steep beside the gorge.”

He wants to make sure we cross the border. Talltail prickled with irritation. Why was an invisible scent line so important?

“Thanks.” Barkface shook the water from his fur. He dipped his head to the RiverClan warriors, the precious plant in his jaws.

Talltail swished his tail, stirring the pebbles behind. “Thanks,” he grunted, and headed toward the gorge.

At the top, Barkface dropped the root at Talltail’s paws. “Take this to Hawkheart as quickly as you can. You’re faster than me and he’ll know what to do with it.”

“Okay.” Talltail grabbed the root and pelted up the slope toward camp. The wind streamed through his ears, freezing the tips.

As he burst into camp and raced across the clearing, Hawkheart stuck his head out of the medicine den. “You got it!” He snatched the root from Talltail’s mouth and disappeared inside. Talltail paced in a tight circle outside.

Meadowslip hurried over with her mate, Hickorynose.

Hickorynose glanced at Talltail’s wet pelt. “Did you swim the river?” His eyes widened.

“It was the only way across.”

Hickorynose dipped his head. “Thank you, Talltail. Your courage may have saved our kit’s life.” He looked past Talltail toward the medicine den.

Talltail followed his gaze. “Let’s hope it works.”

“I smell grouse.” Dawnstripe jerked her head toward the heather. It shimmered, frost-tipped, in the early morning sunshine. Beside her, the bramble that marked the Fourtrees border still reeked with the stench of ShadowClan.

Aspenfall tasted the air, nodding. “Definitely grouse.”

Plumclaw lifted her tail. “It’ll make a good meal for the elders.”

Talltail was impressed with how willingly the tunnelers had slipped into the role of moor runners now that all the tunnels had been blocked off. Their underground duties had given them agility and strength, traits easily turned to hunting on the moor.

Dawnstripe headed across the grass. “Perhaps Hopkit will be well enough to eat some today.”

In the sunrises since Talltail and Barkface had returned from RiverClan, Hopkit had rarely been conscious. The sedge root hadn’t cured him overnight, but it seemed to have slowed the infection and given the young tom a chance to fight for his life. Barkface had even reported that the swelling in his paw had begun to ease. Hopkit might yet recover.

“Talltail?” Dawnstripe’s mew jolted Talltail from his thoughts. Plumclaw and Aspenfall were already nosing their way into the wide swathe of heather. “Are you coming?”

Talltail’s nose twitched as he scented rabbit. “You can catch grouse without me,” he told her. “I smell prey here.”

“You’d rather hunt alone?” Dawnstripe narrowed her eyes, then followed her Clanmates without waiting for an answer.

Why waste four warriors on one catch? Talltail watched her tail disappear into the heather, then sniffed the grass. The ShadowClan stink from the bramble was distracting, but as he followed the faint rabbit scent along the slope to where it dipped toward the Thunderpath, it grew stronger. His mouth began to water. He’d never caught rabbit here before. Rabbits rarely strayed this far from their burrows. Halfway down the slope, he paused. Unease pricked in his pelt.