Эрин Хантер - Battles of the Clans

The first time I fought wasn’t in a skirmish over some cats stepping over the ThunderClan border, or a piece of stolen prey. The enemies in the battle weren’t even cats: They were badgers. Huge, fierce creatures with shadows streaking their fur and burning eyes; the snap of thorn-sharp teeth still echoes in my dreams, with the shrieks of my Clanmates as they are battered by a foe with no code of honor, no respect for our courage or skills. They came seeking vengeance because we had driven out a female and her cubs when we arrived at the lake. But they didn’t want territory or fresh-kill. They wanted our blood.

I saw them first. I was returning to the hollow with my mentor, Brackenfur, after a training session. I was bouncing on air, proud that I’d finally mastered the leap-and-hold. Brackenfur must have been aching from the number of times he’d let me scramble onto his back and attempt to hold him down. Tufts of his fur clogged my claws; I was looking forward to cleaning them while I told my mother, Brightheart, about my new battle skill. The sun was sinking into the lake behind us as we approached the camp. Brackenfur’s pelt glowed pink and gold in the slanting rays. My belly growled, and I thought hungrily of fresh-kill.

There was a crackle in the bracken at the end of the abandoned Thunderpath, and I looked over, expecting to see one of my Clanmates emerging. Beside me, Brackenfur stopped.

“Whitepaw, go inside the camp,” he ordered.

I put my head to one side and looked up at him. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Just go!” he snapped. His fur was standing on end and his nostrils flared. Had he scented something?

I opened my mouth and took a deep breath. A sour smell hit the back of my throat. Yuck! I started to ask Brackenfur what it was when the bracken rustled and a long, thin snout poked out. It was black with a broad white stripe, and a bead of moisture hung at the end, as if whatever it belonged to was slavering with anticipation.

There was a rumble of thunder from the trees—no, not thunder— roaring , a low, angry bellow that got steadily louder. The muzzle in the bracken opened and a snarl came out.

“Get inside now!” Brackenfur spat, and I ran. I burst through the thorns with my ears flat back, trying to block out the noise that filled the forest, bounced around the walls of the hollow, swept over me like a wave coming nearer and nearer…

Brackenfur pounded beside me, panting with fear. We stumbled into the center of the camp and Squirrelflight was leaping to her paws, her eyes growing wide in horror as the barrier crashed down behind us.

“Badger!” she yowled.

The clearing exploded with cats. I spotted my mother, Brightheart, pelting across the clearing to me, her good eye stretched so wide that it seemed almost white.

She shook her head. “Come with me. I’ve got to get Daisy and her kits out of the camp. You can hide with them at the top of the cliff.”

I planted my paws more firmly on the grass. “No! I want to stay and fight!”

“Don’t be a mouse-brain,” snapped Brightheart. “This is no place for an apprentice. I want you where I know you’ll be safe.”

I looked up to the top of the hollow, which was circled with dense bushes. “There might be badgers up there, too,” I pointed out.

“You’ll be in the thickest patch of thorns I can find!” my mother hissed. “Stop arguing and follow me!”

“I want to fight!” I wailed.

There was a flash of white and Cloudtail appeared beside me. “What’s going on?”

“Whitepaw needs to leave the camp with Daisy and her kits,” Brightheart told him.

“But I want to stay!” I scowled.

“There isn’t time for this!” Brightheart spat. “Have you seen what’s happening?” She flicked her tail around the clearing, and I looked past her at a whirling storm of fur and teeth and claws.

Spiderleg and Sootfur were attacking a female badger from both sides, springing forward to land a claws-out blow on her ears before leaping out of the way as she swung her massive head toward them.

I turned back to my mother. “Let me fight,” I begged. “My Clanmates need me.”

“She’s right,” Cloudtail put in unexpectedly. “This is what she has trained for. We need all the warriors we can get right now.”

“She’s not a warrior!” Brightheart hissed, and in her eyes I saw her fear that I was too young, too small, too inexperienced.

“If I survive this, I will be,” I meowed softly.

My mother looked at me, then nodded. “Don’t let her out of your sight, Cloudtail,” she ordered without taking her gaze from me. Then she spun around and raced for the nursery, where Squirrelflight was standing guard.

Cloudtail opened his mouth to speak, but a huge shadow fell across him and he looked up, shutting his jaws with a snap. A badger loomed over us, fury gleaming in its tiny black eyes. With a roar, it struck out with one front paw and sent Cloudtail spinning across the clearing. I backed away, desperately trying to think of the battle moves I’d just learned. But I was aware only of the ground under my paws and the tip of my tail brushing against brambles. I thought how pale I must look against the dark green thorns, my white pelt shining like the full moon. I’m over here! Come and eat me!

The badger opened its jaws, revealing pointed yellow teeth and a lolling red tongue. I wondered if it would hurt much when the badger sank its teeth into me. Everything seemed to have gone quiet; had the rest of the fighting stopped?

“Leave her alone!” There was a screech somewhere behind the badger, and a heavy white shape launched itself onto the creature’s shoulders. Cloudtail! The badger reared backward and snaked its neck around, trying to bite him.

The noise of the battle crashed into my ears, and the ground beneath me trembled as bodies thudded around the hollow. I unsheathed my claws and sprang up, reaching for the badger’s tiny curled ears. The pelt was thinnest there, just like on a cat, so I stood the best chance of reaching skin.

I thumped against the side of the badger’s head and tried to catch hold, but my paws slipped off the stinking black fur. Looking down, I realized in horror that my claws were so filled with hair from Brackenfur’s pelt after our training session that I couldn’t sink them into the badger’s flesh.

I fell back to the ground with a thud and frantically yanked the fur out with my teeth. I rolled sideways, between the badger’s front and hind legs. Then sensing a pointed muzzle swooping down toward me, I leaped for its ear again, and this time my claws ripped into soft skin. I clung on, scrabbling with my hind legs against the badger’s shoulder.

Cloudtail was on the other side of the creature, staring up at me in amazement.

“Go help Brightheart!” I screeched. “You have to get Daisy’s kits out!”

To my relief, he whipped around and vanished into the throng of cats. Badgers reared among them like black-and-white islands looming over a swirling brown-and-tabby lake. Beneath me, my badger bucked and plunged downward, trying to flip me off. I wrenched my claws free from its ear, wincing as an arc of blood spattered across my eyes, and sprang away just as the badger crashed onto the ground.

I had never felt more alive. On the far side of the hollow, Squirrelflight led Daisy up the tiny path to the top of the cliff. Brightheart, Cloudtail, and Brambleclaw followed, each carrying one of Daisy’s kits. StarClan, please let them be safe , I prayed.