Эрин Хантер - Firestar’s Quest

The next cat, a brown tabby she-cat, crouched beside Redstar. She reminded Firestar of the RiverClan warrior Heavystep, and she had the look of Clovertail too.

“Birchstar?” The SkyClan ancestor’s voice was guarded.

“RiverClan says the same. We should never have driven you out. I felt compassion for you, but I did nothing—and that makes my actions worse. I am sorry.”

The third cat, an older tom with a gray-black pelt and a long, twitching tail, remained on his paws, but he bowed his head as he meowed, “I am Swiftstar of WindClan, and when I walked the forest I never told any cat I was sorry. But I say it to you now: what we did was wrong.”

The fourth cat’s creamy brown fur glimmered in the moonlight as she slipped up beside Swiftstar and fixed brilliant green eyes on the SkyClan leader. “ShadowClan is sorry too,” she mewed. “We had good reasons for what we did, but I regret that we caused so much suffering to you and your Clanmates.”

“Thank you, Dawnstar,” the SkyClan cat replied. “Thank you, all of you.”

“Nothing can make up for what we did,” Redstar went on.

“But we have each come here to give a life to the new leader of SkyClan, if we may.”

The gray-and-white cat dipped his head, giving his permission.

Redstar stepped forward to touch noses with Leafdapple.

“With this life I give you wisdom. Use it well when you have the hardest decisions of all to make.”

Leafdapple quivered as the fifth life flowed into her.

Firestar remembered how he had felt as the number of his lives mounted up: as though he were a hollowed-out rock, filling up with rainwater that soon would spill over the edges and be lost.

The next cat to approach Leafdapple was Birchstar, the RiverClan leader. “I give you a life for sympathy and understanding,” she murmured. “Use it well for the weakest in your Clan, and for all others who need your help and protection.”

Swiftstar hardly gave Leafdapple time to receive that life before he strode up and touched noses with her. “I give you a life for selflessness,” the former WindClan leader announced. “Use it well in the service of your Clan.”

Last of the four came Dawnstar; Firestar gazed at her, astonished that such a graceful she-cat should be leader of ShadowClan, who always seemed to be at the bottom of trouble in the forest. But then, perhaps the ShadowClan of those days had been different—and perhaps they could change again.

“I give you a life for determination,” she meowed, stretching her head forward to touch her nose delicately to Leafdapple’s. “Use it well to set your paws on the path of what you know to be right.”

Leafdapple’s legs shook as she received the eighth life. She was breathing hard and fast, as if she had been running.

Firestar could see that the effort had drained her strength until she was almost too exhausted to stand on her paws.

When the life had entered into her she gazed at the four rival Clan leaders. “Thank you,” she meowed. “The new SkyClan will hold your Clans in honor. The fifth Clan has returned.”

The four leaders bowed their heads in reply. Then to Firestar’s amazement they turned away from Leafdapple and padded up to him.

“You righted the wrong we did,” Redstar meowed. “For that we thank you.”

“We thought we had to drive SkyClan away for the sake of our own Clans,” Dawnstar added. “But that was a mistake.”

Swiftstar twitched his ears. “We’ve paid for it. None of us could rest easily after SkyClan was gone. Guilt clawed us for the rest of our lives.”

“There should always have been five Clans in the forest,” Birchstar mewed.

Firestar struggled to find words to reply. When he had first learned of the pain and loss of the SkyClan ancestor, he had blamed the leaders of the other Clans for what they had done. But perhaps they were just leaders like himself, doing their best to make the right decisions for their Clan. “I will never forget you,” he murmured.

Redstar remained in front of Firestar as the other leaders turned away. “Your Clanmates are safe and waiting for you,” he meowed. “Your work here is over. You can go home now.”

The four Clan leaders stepped back to the edge of the circle to stand close to Skywatcher, Spottedleaf, and Leafdapple’s mother. The SkyClan ancestor joined them, and all eight starry cats seemed to grow tense and prick their ears, as if they were waiting. No other cat appeared through the mist.

Firestar’s belly clenched. Where was the ninth cat to give Leafdapple her last life?

A breeze had risen, tearing the mists into ragged strands.

The cats shone out more clearly, with glimmering eyes and pelts dusted with starshine. Beyond them Firestar caught glimpses of a vast expanse of moorland stretching into darkness. Above his head the moon shone fitfully, and stars glittered here and there before the mist drifted over them again.

Every hair on his pelt rose.

Beside him, Echosong murmured, “Oh, come—come quickly!”

Then Firestar saw the cats parting to leave a straight path leading far over the moor. At the end of it he could see a single point of light; at first he thought it was a star low on the horizon. It steadily drew closer, and now Firestar could see that it was a cat, racing along with its belly fur brushing the rough moorland grass. Stars streamed from its fur and sparkled at its paws, and its eyes were a blaze of starlight.

The SkyClan ancestor took a single pace forward, his eyes fixed on the approaching cat with a hunger that spoke of moons of starvation.

The shining cat reached the circle, and Firestar saw her clearly for the first time: a beautiful long-furred brown tabby with green eyes fixed intently on the SkyClan ancestor. She padded up to him and lightly touched her nose to his.

“Birdflight!” whispered the SkyClan leader.

“Cloudstar,” she purred, twining her tail with his. “I told you I would find you one day.”

“And I told you I would wait,” Cloudstar replied. He closed his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“I will always be here,” Birdflight murmured. “We will walk the skies together forever.”

For a heartbeat that seemed to stretch into seasons the two cats stood close together, drinking in each other’s scent.

Then Birdflight drew back a pace and beckoned with her tail to two other cats who had approached unseen. They padded into the circle and dipped their heads to Cloudstar.

“These are your children,” Birdflight explained. “Though they were too small to make the journey with SkyClan, and grew up in ThunderClan instead, Spottedpelt and Gorseclaw have chosen to walk these skies with me in honor of their SkyClan ancestors.”

Firestar stared in astonishment. Spottedpelt was a slender tortoiseshell, as like Spottedleaf as if the two cats had been littermates. Gorseclaw was a broad-shouldered tabby tom with glowing amber eyes; Firestar’s belly churned at his like-ness to his old enemy, Tigerstar. Birdflight had said that the two cats had grown up in Firestar’s own Clan. Did that mean that SkyClan’s blood ran in ThunderClan? Were Spottedleaf and Tigerstar both descended from Cloudstar?

He caught Spottedleaf’s eye and saw her gazing delight-edly at the cats in the center of the circle. It must be true! No wonder he had been reminded of the SkyClan leader when she appeared. No wonder she had felt so involved in the destiny of the new Clan.

Cloudstar took a single pace toward his children, his legs stiff with shock. “When I left the forest,” he mewed hoarsely, “I vowed my Clan would never look to the stars again. Some of my warriors still followed the old ways, but as time went on and SkyClan was scattered, StarClan was forgotten, and our warrior ancestors were unable to walk these skies. Until now.” His brilliant gaze traveled from Birdflight and his children until it rested on Firestar and Leafdapple. “Until now.”