Эрин Хантер - Crookedstar’s Promise

Fear gripped his heart. “But who will be waiting for me?”

She blinked at him. “I don’t know,” she admitted quietly. She ducked away, leaving him alone in the cave.

Padding slowly forward, Crookedjaw closed his eyes. He crouched down and leaned forward till the tip of his muzzle touched the stone. He waited for light to flood through him, to be swept into the stars in a dazzling dream. Please!

He blinked open his eyes. He was standing in a huge, empty hollow. Shadows pressed at the edge of his vision. His heart tightened. The Dark Forest! They’ve come to claim me. His breathing quickened. He backed away, shaking his head, desperately trying to find a way out of the dream.

Silvery light began to spread from the top of the hollow, gathering speed as it spiraled down around him. It lit faces and pelts that sparkled with stars until the slopes were filled with countless cats staring down at him. Crookedjaw spun around, watching more and more faces light around him. He smelled the river and the forest and heather and pines—all Clans mingled as one, eyes blazing, pelts shimmering. Had the whole of the Dark Forest come to gloat? A gray pelt stirred from the mass and padded forward.

Hailstar!

“Welcome to StarClan.” Hailstar dipped his head. He looked young and strong, his pelt sleek, his eyes bright. “I’m proud of you, Crookedjaw,” he meowed. “You saved your Clanmates from the rats.”

“But not you.”

“It was my time to die.” The old RiverClan leader leaned toward him. “Now it’s your time to live.”

Crookedjaw bent his head, mouth dry. This wasn’t the Dark Forest, not if Hailstar was here. But would he receive StarClan’s blessing?

“With this life I give you courage,” Hailstar whispered. “When you feel doubt, let your heart lead you forward, not back.”

As Hailstar’s muzzle touched his head, agony blazed through Crookedjaw. He tried to flinch away but his paws were rooted to the ground. Hailstar’s memories flared in his mind. Battle flashed around him, claws slashed, teeth snapped, enemies screeched. Crookedjaw found himself falling, plummeting from Sunningrocks, splashing down into the river, bubbles exploding around him.

He gasped as Hailstar stepped back and the memories faded. He swayed on his paws, weak with relief. “Thank you,” he croaked.

Another cat stepped from the ranks of StarClan.

Duskwater. Her name flashed in his mind, though he’d never met her; she’d died in the flood on the night he was kitted. Yet Crookedjaw knew her as though he’d been born knowing her—as though he’d been born knowing all his ancestors.

“I died in the storm that gave birth to you,” Duskwater mewed. “With this life I give you a mother’s love.” She stretched up to rest her nose on his head. Shock pierced Crookedjaw as love, fierce as tigers, dazzled through him, hardening his heart until he knew no fear. Was a mother’s love for her kits really this ferocious?

Duskwater stepped away and Crookedjaw found himself blinking into the eyes of a long-haired tabby. “Troutclaw!” Crookedjaw greeted him with delight.

Troutclaw’s pelt rippled like moonlit water. “With this life I give you justice.” His mew had lost its rasping croak; he sounded young and confident. As he leaned close, Crookedjaw felt certainty flow over his heart like water over stone. He would always know what was right, though seasons changed and moons passed. Time may smooth the stone, but time will never wear it away.

Troutclaw moved aside and another took his place.

“I’m Mossleaf.” The ancient RiverClan cat had the bright eyes of a young warrior. “With this life, I give you trust.” He touched his muzzle to Crookedjaw’s head and Crookedjaw felt the peace of a wide blue sky move through him.

He heard another name. Lilyflower. He nodded his thanks as the RiverClan queen padded forward. Her blue eyes sparkled with starlight. “With this life I give you compassion.” Warmth swept him as her muzzle touched his head; love for his Clanmates, for cats who were injured or frightened or displaced, flooded him until he felt his heart would burst.

She turned away and a young tom appeared in front of Crookedjaw. “I’m Lightningpaw.” He nodded to Crookedjaw. “With this life I give you humility.” As the RiverClan apprentice touched Crookedjaw with his muzzle, the world shifted around him, widening till he could only see RiverClan’s territory at the edge of his vision, a tiny speck in a spreading ocean of meadows, rivers, and forest. The world is so big! What we do matters to us, but there is always something more happening in a different place.

As Lightningpaw pulled away, Crookedjaw stared excitedly at the cat who replaced him . Brightsky! He recognized her pelt with a surge of joy. Peeking behind her he saw three tiny kits, their eyes round and shining. Brightsky gazed at him with happiness glowing in her eyes. “With this life I give you hope,” she whispered. “Never be afraid of the future, for it brings wonderful things.” As she touched his head Crookedjaw felt himself skimming over meadows, running like the wind, hardly touching the ground, the horizon ahead of him lit by a rosy dawn.

Brightsky’s kits trotted around her, ducking under her soft belly, as she took her place among the rest of StarClan.

“With this life I give you patience.” Crookedjaw blinked as a tom touched his head. Sparrowfeather . The name flashed in Crookedjaw’s mind as though he’d spoken it all his life. Peace seeped into his pelt, slowing his heart until the present existed only as a single beat.

As Sparrowfeather ducked away, the moment of perfect stillness passed and the future and the past crowded into Crookedjaw’s thoughts once more. Rainflower? He scanned the crowd for his mother. Did she have a life to give him?

“Crookedjaw.”

He looked up as he heard Shellheart’s mew. Bittersweet joy touched his heart. “She is here,” Shellheart murmured as if Crookedjaw had spoken out loud. “But your last life is mine to give.” His eyes burned into Crookedjaw’s. “Long ago, you lapped water at a poisoned spring. I’m sorry I didn’t know until too late. I would have guided you better.”

Crookedjaw shook his head. “You couldn’t have guided me any better.”

Shellheart silenced him with a look. “With this life I give you loyalty, to your Clan and to the cats who love you. Promise you’ll use it wisely.”

Crookedjaw shuffled his paws. He’s warning me to turn my back on Mapleshade. “I walk alone now,” he vowed.

“No, not alone.” Shellheart gazed down at him. “Your ancestors walk alongside you, always. Travel well, Crookedstar. You will make a great leader.”

Crookedstar closed his eyes as the cats of StarClan lifted their heads to the sky and called his new name. He would be a great leader. He could feel the certainty of it tingling in his paws. He couldn’t wait to get back to his Clan. As StarClan spun away, Crookedstar blinked open his eyes. Where’s the Moonstone?

“We did it!” A familiar hiss sounded in his ear.

Mapleshade!

She stood beside him, her eyes glowing. “You kept your promise and I kept mine! You’ve proved that nothing is more important than leading your Clan. Are you going to thank me for the sacrifices I made for you?”

Crookedstar stared at her. Sacrifices? Did she mean Rainflower? Hailstar? Did she really think she’d made him leader by persuading him to abandon the cats he loved?

“I promised to be loyal to RiverClan, but not at the cost of my Clanmates!” he snarled. “Leave me alone! That’s the only thing you can do for me. The promise I made you means nothing!”