Эрин Хантер - Secrets Оf Тhe Clans

It was not long after that when we learned that my sister, Bluefur, was having kits. I wished we could just be happy for her, but she had broken the warrior code, and I knew it was going to bring her much sorrow. The father of the kits was not ThunderClan. He was the RiverClan deputy, Oakheart.

“A kit is coming to join us,” Brambleberry, the former RiverClan medicine cat, meowed. “Half ThunderClan, half RiverClan.”

“Half-Clan!” spat a ShadowClan warrior.

“It is an innocent kit,” Brambleberry meowed with fierce anger in her voice.

The cats of StarClan were gathered at Fourtrees, which was blan-keted by snow just like the whole forest in the world of our descendants. It was a bitter leaf-bare, and many cats were starving. More cats came to StarClan every day, and we were all feeling frustrated that there was nothing we could do to help.

“This kit did not have to die,” hissed Moonflower. She was my and Bluefur’s mother, but she did not approve of what my sister was doing. “It is Bluefur’s fault for falling in love outside the Clan in the first place. And now she is dragging her three helpless kits out into the snow with her! Of course one of them is going to die. I’m amazed the other two will make it as far as RiverClan.”

“But they will be safer there than they were in ThunderClan,” meowed a RiverClan spirit. “RiverClan has more prey than any other Clan. If Oakheart will take them in, they have a better chance of survival than they did before.”

“We don’t know that,” Moonflower meowed. “If she had kept them safely in our den, all three of them might have lived to be warriors.”

“And what else lies along that path?” meowed Owlstar, one of the oldest ThunderClan spirits. “Study that future carefully, Moonflower.”

“It is too dark to see it clearly,” she protested.

“But we can guess,” Owlstar murmured. “If Bluefur stays in the nursery with her kits, Thistleclaw will become deputy instead. He is an ambitious, violent cat, and we know it. He would lead his warriors to attack other Clans—the last thing this forest needs right now.

Would you rather see more warriors coming to join us because of his bloody leadership?”

“So a kit’s life is the price to be paid for the warriors whom Thistleclaw might lead into death,” Moonflower growled. “I know that Bluefur believes Thistleclaw would be the wrong leader for ThunderClan. But how do we know that being deputy wouldn’t make him a better cat?”

“We don’t know,” Brambleberry meowed. “And neither does Bluefur. She must make her choices based on what she thinks might happen. I don’t agree with what she’s doing… I would never endan-ger innocent kits… but I can see why she’s doing it.”

“It is for the good of the Clan,” Owlstar meowed.

“But not for the good of the kit,” Moonflower spat.

“We cannot change what will happen to Mosskit,” Brambleberry meowed. “We can only make sure he is protected on his journey to StarClan.”

“I will take care of him,” I spoke up. The others all looked around at me. “I was a queen when I died,” I pointed out. “My son, Whitepaw, had only recently left the nursery. I remember well how to care for kits… and I miss it. I would be a good mother to this kit.”

Owlstar nodded. “I think Snowfur is right. She would be a good choice.”

“I agree,” Brambleberry meowed.

Moonflower nodded as well, her eyes soft and sad.

I slipped away from the group and followed the edge of the river down toward Sunningrocks. My paws skimmed the smooth pebbles like I was swimming over them. I could feel the cold blasts of wintry air in the forest world, although they could not pierce my thick white fur.

A few fox-lengths into the trees, I found Bluefur curled around three small gray shapes. She was lucky they all looked like her, I thought—if any had had Oakheart’s coloring, some cat in ThunderClan might have suspected her secret by now. Two of the kits were squirming and protesting as Bluefur licked them. The third seemed to be sleeping in the snow. This was Mosskit.

Bluefur kept nudging him with her nose. Her eyes were pools of grief, and I could feel it with her. The snow buffeted her sides, where her ribs were showing through her thin gray fur, but she kept meowing: “Oh, Mosskit! What have I done? Mosskit, please wake up Mosskit, don’t leave. There’s warmth and safety just on the other side of the river. Your father will look after you, I promise. Just a little bit farther, my tiny, brave son.” She crouched closer to him, gathering him between her paws. “Mosskit, how could I do this to you?”

My heart ached for her, but it was too late. Mosskit had crossed over into my world. I ducked my head and whispered, “Mosskit, wake up.”

The dark gray kit opened his eyes and looked at me. “Who are you?” he squeaked. “Why do you have stars in your fur?”

“Don’t be scared,” I murmured. “I’m Snowfur. I’m here to take care of you.”

Mosskit shook himself and staggered toward me on tiny paws.

His spirit nuzzled into my fur. Behind him, his body was still curled beside Bluefur, but Mosskit didn’t notice.

“I’m cold,” he protested. “I’m so cold. Cold all the way to the tip of my tail. My whiskers are frozen, look.”

“I know,” I meowed, licking the top of his head. “Come with me, and you will be warm.”

Mosskit hesitated, looking up at me with wide green eyes. “What about my mother?”

“She’ll be all right,” I meowed. It was true. It would be hard for a long time, and she would never forget Mosskit, but she would push aside the memory and focus on her Clan. She would survive.

“But I want to be with her,” Mosskit whimpered. “I want my mother and Mistykit and Stonekit.”

“You will see them again,” I promised. “You will watch over them from the stars until they come to join you.”

He pressed his face into my fur and nodded. I looked back at my sister one more time, and then Mosskit and I walked away, following the moonlight back into the stars.

Fourtrees

In a clearing at the center of the forest, where all four Clan territories converge, there is a space sacred to StarClan. Four great oaks stand at the corners of the clearing. At one end is a large boulder called the Great Rock, where the Clan leaders stand during Gatherings. Every month, at the full moon, cats from all four Clans gather here in peace for one night to share the news of the forest.