Эрин Хантер: Bluestar's Prophecy

Leopardkit scampered after her brother, swiping playfully at his tail. Her black coat shone in the sunshine. She stopped and stared in delight when she saw Bluekit and Snowkit. “You’ve opened your eyes!”

Bluekit licked her chest, trying to smooth down her fluffy fur and wishing her pelt were as sleek as theirs.

“We can show you around,” Leopardkit mewed excitedly.

Snowkit bounced around the older kit. “Yes, please!”

Bluekit flicked her tail crossly. She didn’t want to be shown her territory. She wanted to explore it for herself! But Leopardkit was already trotting toward the wide patch of ferns near the gorse barrier. “This is the apprentices’ den,” she called over her shoulder. “ We’ll be sleeping there in a moon.”

Snowkit raced after her.

“Are you coming?” Patchkit nudged Bluekit.

Bluekit was gazing back at the nursery. “Won’t you miss your old nest?” She felt a sudden flicker of anxiety. She liked sleeping next to Moonflower.

“I can’t wait to move into my new den!” Patchkit yowled as he darted toward the apprentices’ den. “It’ll be great to be able to talk without Swiftbreeze telling us to be quiet and go to sleep.”

As Bluekit hurried after him, the ferns trembled and a tortoiseshell face poked out between the green fronds.

“Once you start your training,” yawned the sleepy-looking apprentice, “you’ll be glad to get some sleep.”

“Hello, Dapplepaw!” Patchkit skittered to a halt outside the den as the tortoiseshell she-cat stretched, half in and half out of the bush.

Bluekit stared at Dapplepaw’s pelt, thick and shiny; the muscles on the she-cat’s shoulders rippled as she sprang from the ferns and landed beside Patchkit. Suddenly Bluekit’s denmate didn’t seem so big after all.

“We’re showing Bluekit and Snowkit around the camp,” Leopardkit announced. “It’s their first time out.”

“Don’t forget to show them the dirtplace,” Dapplepaw joked. “Whitepaw was complaining only this morning about cleaning out the nursery. The place has been filled with kits for moons, and there’s more on the way.”

Bluekit lifted her chin. “Snowkit and I can keep our nest clean now,” she declared.

Dapplepaw’s whiskers quivered. “I’ll tell Whitepaw when she gets back from hunting. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to hear it.”

Is she teasing? Bluekit narrowed her eyes.

“I can’t wait to go hunting!” Patchkit dropped into a crouch, his tail weaving like a snake.

Quick as the wind, Dapplepaw pinned it down with her paw. “Don’t forget to keep your tail still or the prey will hear you swishing up the leaves.”

Patchkit pulled his tail free and straightened it out, flattening it to the ground.

Snowkit stifled a purr. “It sticks out like a twig,” she whispered in Bluekit’s ear.

Bluekit was watching too intently to reply. She studied how Patchkit had pressed his chest to the ground, how he’d unsheathed his claws and tucked his hind paws right under his body. I’m going to be the best hunter ThunderClan has ever seen , she vowed.

“Not bad,” Dapplepaw congratulated Patchkit, then glanced at Leopardkit. “Let’s see your hunting crouch.”

Leopardkit instantly dropped and pressed her belly to the ground.

Bluekit longed to try it, but not until she’d practiced by herself. “Come on, let’s leave them to it,” she whispered to Snowkit.

Snowkit stared at her in surprise. “Leave them?”

“Let’s explore by ourselves.” Bluekit saw a chance to slip away unnoticed.

“But it’s fun hanging out with…”

Bluekit didn’t hear any more; she was already backing away. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted a low, spreading bush beside the nursery. Patchkit and Leopardkit wouldn’t find them there. She spun around and dashed for the bush, diving under a branch. As she caught her breath, she tasted lots and lots of different scents clinging to the leaves. How many cats were there in ThunderClan? Did they really all fit in the camp?

The branches shook, and Snowkit crashed in after her.

“I thought you weren’t coming!” Bluekit squeaked in surprise.

“Moonflower told us to stay together,” Snowkit reminded her.

Together they peeped out to see if Leopardkit, Patchkit, and Dapplepaw had noticed their escape. The three cats were staring at the nursery, looking puzzled.

Dapplepaw shrugged. “They must have gone back to their nest.”

“Never mind.” Patchkit paced around Dapplepaw. “Now you can take us to the sandy hollow like you promised.”

Sandy hollow? What’s that? Bluekit suddenly wished she’d stayed with the others.

“I never promised!” Dapplepaw protested.

“We’ll be in trouble if we get caught,” Leopardkit warned. “We’re not supposed to leave the camp until we’re apprentices, remember?”

“Then we won’t get caught,” Patchkit mewed.

Dapplepaw glanced uncertainly around the clearing. “I’ll take you to the edge of the ravine,” she offered. “But that’s all.”

Jealousy burned Bluekit’s pelt as she watched Dapplepaw lead Leopardkit and Patchkit toward the gorse barrier and disappear through a gap at the base.

Maybe we can follow them and see where they go…

Suddenly a muzzle nudged her hindquarters and sent her skidding out from her hiding place. Her sister tumbled after her, and a gray tabby face peered out at them from under the leaves.

“What are you doing here? This is the warriors’ den!”

“S-sorry!” Snowkit backed away.

Bluekit faced the warrior. “How were we supposed to know?” she protested. Do warriors have a special scent or something?

The tabby tom narrowed his eyes. “Are you Moonflower’s kits?”

Snowkit’s pelt ruffled and she looked down at her paws.

Bluekit lifted her chin. She wasn’t scared of the grouchy warrior. “Yes. I’m Bluekit. And this is my sister, Snowkit.”

The tabby slid from under the bush and straightened up. He was even bigger than Dapplepaw. Bluekit took a step back.

“I’m Stonepelt,” meowed the gray tom. “Are you looking for Stormtail?”

Snowkit glanced up eagerly. “Is he here?”

“He’s out hunting.”

“We weren’t looking for him, actually,” Bluekit told the warrior, even though she would have liked to see her father now that her eyes had opened. “We were hiding from Patchkit and Leopardkit.”

“Hide-and-seek, I suppose.” Stonepelt sighed.

“No,” Bluekit corrected him. “They were trying to show us around the camp, but we wanted to explore it for ourselves.”

Stonepelt flicked his tail. “A good warrior learns from his Clanmates.”

“W-we thought it would be more fun on our own,” Snowkit blurted out.

The warrior’s pelt bristled. “Well, it’s no fun being woken from a well-earned rest by a stampede of kits.”

“We’re sorry,” Snowkit apologized. “We didn’t realize.”

“That’s what happens when kits are left to wander around by themselves.” Stonepelt snorted and turned his gaze toward the fresh-kill pile. “Now that I’m awake, I might as well eat.” With a flick of his tail, the warrior headed across the clearing, leaving the two kits alone.

Snowkit turned on Bluekit. “Did you have to pick the warriors’ den to hide in?” she mewed crossly.

“How was I supposed to know?” Bluekit snapped back.

“We would have known if we’d stayed with Patchkit!”

Bluekit flicked her ears. Now they knew where the apprentices’ den was, and the warriors’. They had wanted to explore the camp, hadn’t they? She gazed across the clearing, waiting for her eyes to stop being blurry. She hadn’t tried to see this far away yet. As the rock at the opposite end of the clearing came into focus, she noticed scuffed earth around the base. Paw prints led into the shadows and disappeared where a patch of lichen hung at one side. Where did they lead?