Эрин Хантер: Battles of the Clans

Redpaw, why don’t you pick a bush on the side of the gully where we can hide? Hmmm, maybe not so far from the edge. We need to be able to hear our enemy approaching, and see them when they enter the gully. This one’s better. Right, squash in, everybody.

So, we’re hidden up here, but it would be good to know when the enemy is coming near. We need an early warning patrol, just two cats to keep track of the invaders as they head toward the gully.

Imagine that you’re following them, and need to warn the ambush patrol to be ready for the attack.

What call would you give?

Well, Owlpaw, that was a very good imitation of an owl, but perhaps the patrol might think it was a real owl? What noise would travel clearly on a night like this, but stand out only to cats who live in this part of the territory? How about, Ssssssssss ? Not a snake, Olivepaw. The wind in the trees! Why would that work tonight? That’s right, because the breeze coming off the lake shouldn’t be enough to move the branches of pine trees. Cats from the other territories won’t know that, as this is the only place where pine trees grow by the lake.

What little breeze there is would work in our favor tonight, carrying the scent of the invaders toward us and hiding our own from them. We need to spread out along the top of the gully; if this were a real ambush patrol, we’d have enough cats to line the other side, too. We take up our positions, always within earshot of the leader of the patrol, and wait. Let me see you all waiting now.

What problem would we have if there were moonlight or starlight? That’s right, Redpaw. Our shadows. We’d need to stay on the dark side of the bush to keep our outlines hidden, too. Remember, if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you. That’s why darkness is our ally.

Imagine that the enemy is entering the gully. Who should attack first? Yes, Shrewpaw. The cats at each end of the gully go down first, to trap the enemy and let them know that they are surrounded.

Then the others attack, straight down the sides, using the weight of our fall as part of the first blow.

Apprentices, strike!

Oof! Redpaw, get your tail out of my mouth! Who’s that underneath me? Get up, Olivepaw. No, your tail isn’t broken. It’s just a bit…dented. In a real ambush, no one would get squashed, apart from the enemy. Remember I told you that we’d be in a line along the top of the gully? Well, we’d hold that line as we attacked. What’s the use in landing on one or two invading cats in one big lump, leaving their Clanmates free to fight? We’d hope to outnumber them in order to overpower them as swiftly as possible. Once the command to attack has been given, there will be no other orders. You each know what you have to do.

As soon as the enemy surrenders or begs to flee, the fighting stops. Stand still with your head held high. You are a ShadowClan cat; we do not gloat over our defeated enemies. We simply wait for them to leave, knowing they will be in no haste to return. And when they have gone, head for the closest shadow before you go back to the camp. Make no sound. Melt back into the night, so that if our enemy looks back, they see nothing but emptiness. The forest is ours—and we are unseen. The night, the darkness, the cold still air, all belong to ShadowClan. That is our ancestors’ gift to us, and we honor their memory with every ambush. It is up to you to prove that you are worthy of that gift and will preserve the night as our greatest weapon.

ShadowClan was the first to devise a system of tail signals, which are now used by all four Clans. Generally, the leader of a patrol is responsible for giving the signals; warriors learn to keep the leader’s tail in sight at all times and react at once when an order is given.

TAIL HELD ERECT:“Stop.”

TAIL RIPPLING:“Move forward with care.”

TAIL HELD ERECT AND SWEEPING SLOWLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE:“Retreat silently.”

TAIL POINTING LOW, PARALLEL TO GROUND, AND SWEEPING:“Spread out.”

TAIL FLATTENED:“Get down.”

TAIL BOBBING:“Enemy sighted.”

TAIL HOOKED:“Danger.”

TAIL POINTED SHARPLY:“Go that way.”

TAIL HELD ERECT AND WAVING FROM SIDE TO SIDE:“Stay behind me.”

TAIL KINKED OVER BACK:“Follow me.”

Oakfur, Cedarheart, wait!” I hissed to the warriors ahead of me. My Clanmates stopped on the edge of the hard black stone where Twolegs left their monsters. This was the border of ShadowClan’s territory; from here on, we would be in RiverClan. Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt joined us, their eyes glowing in the pale starlight. Clouds covered the moon, a clear advantage to the keenly night-sighted ShadowClan cats. Those mangy RiverClan fish-eaters were about to be taught that promises had to be kept—especially when they were made to ShadowClan. They’d had a chance to solve this peacefully and turned it down.

“Careful!”

“Look, there’s one over there!”

“Don’t fall in!”

I flattened my ears at the sound of chatter and splashing coming from the end of the halfbridge.

The noise traveled clearly over the still water, piercing the pine-scented air in ShadowClan’s territory and sending the night prey farther into their holes. There’d be no fresh-kill in my camp tomorrow morning, once again. My Clan would go hungry—and it was RiverClan’s fault.

I nodded to Oakfur and Cedarheart, then pointed the tip of my tail toward the small wooden Twoleg nest at the edge of the water. Oakfur and Cedarheart padded across the hard stone and slipped into the shadows around the wooden nest. With my tail straight up in the air, I gestured for Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw to stay behind me. Then I backed under the cover of some ferns growing at the edge of the stone and sat down to wait.

At the last half-moon, I had visited Leopardstar and asked that she stop her patrols from hunting off the halfbridge, which was right at the edge of my Clan’s border. RiverClan had been fishing during daylight up till then, attracting the attention of the Twolegs that had made their temporary nests in the clearing on the far side of ShadowClan’s territory. Dogs and young Twolegs had come crashing through the pine trees to watch the swimming cats. Their clumsy noise scared off the RiverClan fishers long before the Twolegs arrived, but my Clanmates were left crouching in the scant undergrowth, forced into cover by the intruders and fearing discovery by one of their slavering dogs.

I could have solved the problem with force, extending ShadowClan’s territory to include the halfbridge and the place where Twolegs came to launch the creatures that floated on the lake with huge white wings. That would have kept the RiverClan hunting patrols out of the water closest to ShadowClan’s territory. But the Clans had been living at the lake for only three moons; I wasn’t going to challenge the newly laid-out borders yet, not when the memory of the Great Journey was fresh in every cat’s mind. The four Clans had found the lake together, working as allies for the first time that any cat knew, even the elders. However much I wanted to defend this new territory, I didn’t want to be the one to break the truce that had saved us when our forest homes were destroyed.