Эрин Хантер - Firestar’s Quest

Firestar padded over to her and gave the top of her head an affectionate lick. He was purring so hard that he could hardly speak. “Yes, I think they were,” he murmured. “Leafdapple will be the leader of SkyClan.”

Leafdapple paused with a bite of fresh-kill still between her jaws, her eyes wide with shock. “Me?” She swallowed rapidly. “Leader of SkyClan? Echosong, I think you’ve got bees in your brain!”

As soon as the dawn patrol had returned to rest and eat, Firestar had taken Sandstorm aside to tell her about the sign.

Then he and Echosong had found Leafdapple eating by the fresh-kill pile to give the news to her.

“It’s got nothing to do with Echosong,” he assured the astonished she-cat. “Your warrior ancestors have chosen you.”

“But—but I thought it would be Sharpclaw!”

So did I, Firestar thought. Yet it was Leafdapple who had shown the greater sensitivity to everything that the warrior code meant. She had rallied the Clan in the battle with the rats, and she had understood why Hutch wanted to leave the Clan to be a kittypet again.

Leafdapple took a step back, shaking her head emphatically. “Oh, no, Firestar. I can’t do this. Really, I can’t.”

“I never felt good enough to be Clan leader, either,” Firestar confessed. “I was Clan deputy, so of course I’d thought about being leader one day, but when Bluestar died and I had to take her place, I didn’t feel that I was ready. But my Clan needed me. And now SkyClan needs you.”

Leafdapple seemed to weigh what he was telling her. Then she turned to Echosong. “What do you think?”

Echosong nodded encouragingly. “Our warrior ancestors sent me a vision. I know this is right for you, Leafdapple.”

“But I don’t understand about our warrior ancestors,” Leafdapple protested. “I don’t even know that they exist.

And even if they do”—she forestalled Echosong’s protest—“why would they choose me? I’m nothing special.”

“I don’t think you know how special you are,” Firestar told her. “Believe me, Leafdapple, you can do this.”

Leafdapple’s amber gaze rested on him for several heartbeats. Then she bowed her head. “What do I have to do?” she asked. “Do I have to call myself Leafstar now? And do I have nine lives?”

“You’re not a leader yet,” Firestar warned her. “StarClan will give you your nine lives and your name.”

“When? How?” Leafdapple looked around as if she expected to see starry warriors stalking up to her in the full light of day.

“Tonight,” Firestar meowed. “Your warrior ancestors are watching over you, and we’ll meet with them tonight.”

Under the frosty light of a half-moon, Firestar led the way up the trail to the Skyrock. Leafdapple padded behind him, and Echosong brought up the rear.

Firestar wasn’t sure that he was doing the right thing. He had no doubts about Leafdapple as the destined leader of SkyClan—Echosong’s vision seemed too clear for that—but he wondered if he should have taken Leafdapple to the Whispering Cave for her ceremony. That was the nearest the SkyClan cats had to the Moonstone, where the leaders of the forest Clans received their nine lives and their name. Yet tonight the stars seemed particularly bright, and as he looked up they seemed to shift for a moment into the shape of the SkyClan leader’s face, as if he were saying, “Come.”

Firestar leaped the cleft and paced into the middle of the Skyrock. Starlight glinted on its surface and the wind buffeted his fur. Leafdapple bent her head into it as she padded across to join him.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“We wait,” Firestar replied. “Your warrior ancestors will come to us.”

He hoped he was right. He knew of only the SkyClan ancestor who walked these skies, along with Skywatcher. But Leafdapple needed nine cats who would each give her a life.

He remembered the pain and terror and wonder of his own leadership ceremony, when the clearing at Fourtrees had been lined with starry spirits. Even if they came to her, would Leafdapple have enough strength to cope? There was only one way to find out.

“Are you sure they’ll come? Shouldn’t we tell them we’re here?” Echosong’s voice was eager, her silver tabby fur fluffed up with excitement.

“They’ll know,” Firestar replied. “Lie down by me,” he directed Leafdapple, settling himself on the rock with his paws tucked under his chest.

Hesitantly Leafdapple obeyed him; Firestar could feel a suppressed quivering running all through her body. Echosong crouched on her other side, pressing reassuringly against her fur.

“Don’t be afraid,” the medicine cat whispered. “I know that our warrior ancestors mean you nothing but good.”

Leafdapple still looked unsettled.

“You must trust your warrior ancestors,” Firestar told her.

Leafdapple turned her head and gazed at him with eyes that glowed silver in the moonlight. “No,” she meowed. “I trust you .”

The three cats waited silently in the wash of moonlight. Wind swept over the surface of the Skyrock, pressing their fur close to their pelts. “Close your eyes,” Firestar whispered.

At first there was only darkness, and he was conscious of Leafdapple shifting restlessly by his side. Gradually she grew still; Firestar’s heartbeat quickened as he felt cold creeping over her, until she might have been a cat made of ice. The sound of the wind died away.

Firestar opened his eyes. The Skyrock had vanished; instead, bleak moorland stretched around him, fading into the mist on all sides. No stars could penetrate the cloud, but it shimmered with a pale glow, as if somewhere overhead the moon still shone.

On the other side of Leafdapple, Echosong blinked and raised her head, then rose and arched her back in a stretch.

Her gaze, full of wonder, met Firestar’s. “Where are we? It’s like the place I dreamed of the night I slept on the Skyrock.”

“This is the moor where I saw the fleeing SkyClan cats.”

Firestar stood up, working his claws into the tough grass.

Echosong turned to look down at Leafdapple, laying one 4 8 5

paw gently on her shoulder. The she-cat didn’t move.

“She feels so cold,” Echosong whispered. Bending down, she breathed softly into Leafdapple’s ear; it didn’t even twitch. “Firestar, she’s not dead, is she?”

“No,” Firestar reassured her. “Something like this happened to me. I think her old life is being stripped away so that she can receive her nine new ones.”

Echosong still looked worried. Firestar guessed that her paws were itching to help Leafdapple, but there was nothing she could do.

It might have been seasons or only heartbeats before Leafdapple sneezed and opened her eyes. Her jaws stretched wide in a huge yawn. Then she seemed to become aware of her strange surroundings; she sprang to her paws, staggering a little.

“Firestar, what’s happening?”

“It’s okay.” Firestar rested his tail tip on her shoulder. “This is where you will meet with StarClan.”

As if his words were a signal, the mists swirled in front of him, and the gray-and-white SkyClan ancestor stepped into view. Droplets of water glittered like stars on his fur.

“Greetings,” he meowed. “I know why you have come.”

“Greetings,” Echosong replied, her eyes brilliant as she stood face-to-face with a StarClan warrior for the first time.

Firestar padded forward to meet him. “I’m glad to see you again,” he meowed. “I’ve brought Leafdapple. She is the cat you wanted, isn’t she?”