Эрин Хантер - Secrets Оf Тhe Clans

“You will learn the ways of healing herbs. You will read the omens we send you to advise your leader on difficult questions and keep your Clan safe.”

Mothflight shook her head. “Windstar will never let me return.”

“Is that true, Windstar?”

Mothflight spun around to see the shadowy figure of her leader.

“You are dreaming, Windstar,” whispered the spirit. “Welcome your new medicine cat. She will return to you.”

Windstar’s ears twitched, and her fur flattened. She looked into Mothflight’s green eyes, nodded, and vanished into the air.

“These are the cats you must find,” another voice meowed. Three cats appeared before her, each of them curled in a sleeping ball.

“Dapplepelt, from RiverClan,” purred one starry cat, padding up to a delicate tortoiseshell.

“Pebbleheart, from ShadowClan,” whispered another, prodding a dark gray tabby until he snarled in his sleep.

“And Cloudspots, from ThunderClan.” The first spirit pointed his tail at a long-furred black cat with white ears, a white chest, and two white paws.

“Bring them here at the next half-moon,” the spirit-cats meowed, “and we will teach you all how to be medicine cats.”

As they faded away, leaving only the glitter of stars, Mothflight stretched and tucked herself into a comfortable ball. Tonight she would sleep beside the Moonstone. Tomorrow, she would return to the forest as the first medicine cat of the Clans.

When the warrior Clans arrived at their new home by the lake, they knew they needed to find a replacement for the Moonstone. Highstones was too far to travel, and the cats needed guidance from StarClan. The ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice, Leafpaw, was the one who found the Moonpool. This small pool high in the hills above WindClan is surrounded by stone walls and fed by a trickling waterfall. Ancient pawprints in the stone suggest that other cats came to this sacred place once, a long time ago…

My name is Rock. Many generations past, my kin lived on the lakeshore. Now new cats have come here and walk in our pawprints. They have brought their own warrior ancestors with them.

Their fur brushes mine as they learn the sky paths I have trodden for seasons.

They live in four Clans, unlike our three Tribes that scattered so long ago. They have a separate medicine cat and leader, unlike our healers, who were both. And they have found the Moonpool, the place of the ancestors. The pool is as round as the full moon.

I used to travel to the Moonpool with the two other healers. Then we followed the stream up to its source, high in the hills, and onward to a deep claw-slice in the hills. At the far end, we climbed a steep, rocky slope to a stream beyond.

We followed the stream up to a barrier of thornbushes. Once inside, we would stand for a short while, looking down at the hollow and listening to the sound of the water bubbling out of the sheer cliff beyond.

In the center of the hollow is the Moonpool.

We knew the path that spiraled down to it like the scent of our own Tribes. Then we closed our eyes, drank from the water’s edge, and waited for the visions to appear. I remember the clear, cold taste of the water, like drinking silver moonlight.

It gives me joy to see new tribes traveling to the Moonpool. I hope it will bring them serenity, wisdom, and guidance for many moons to come.

In their new home by the lake, the Clans also needed a replacement for Fourtrees—a place to hold the peaceful monthly Gathering. At first they met by the Twoleg horseplace, but a better spot was soon found. The Island is just off the shore of RiverClan territory. It would be impossible for young cats and elders to swim to, but StarClan made a tree fall across the span of the water. Now the cats use the tree as a bridge to get to the Island every full moon. There they can meet in safety, on neutral, sacred ground.

When we first arrived at the lake, I remember looking down from the hill and seeing a dark shape on the near end, and I thought to myself, Dustpelt, that’s an island! I said so to Ferncloud, although she doesn’t remember it now.

Hawkfrost said it would be a perfect place for the RiverClan camp. Imagine! One Clan taking the whole Island! And anyway, how would their kits and elders manage the swim from the lakeshore? But StarClan had other plans. They wanted the Island to be the place of Gatherings, a neutral place for the Clans to meet, like Fourtrees.

A huge storm blew in. Mudclaw tried to snatch the leadership of WindClan away from Onewhisker, but we chased him off, down to the lakeshore. Then a bolt of fire struck a tree on the Island and brought it crashing down on the lakeside, crushing Mudclaw.

Onewhisker was the rightful leader of WindClan, and to prove it, StarClan had sent us a way to get to the Island for Gatherings.

Now every full moon, the Gathering takes place in the clearing at the center of the Island, surrounded by bushes and trees. The leaders look down on all the Clans from the branches of a tree, with their deputies on the roots below.

It’s a strong and safe place. And best of all, it belongs to all the Clans now.

Not far from the Clan’s new lakeside home, there is a vast expanse of water known as the sun-drown-place. Here the sun sinks into the sea every night as if it were being swallowed up. The water is strangely salty and roars as it beats the shore. This is where Midnight the badger lives. This is where the questing cats were sent to learn that the Clans had to leave the forest and travel to a new home.

Icould barely lift my paws to follow the others. The air was filled with the smell of salt, and beneath the shrieking of strange birds I could hear a distant roaring sound. I thought the giant cats of LionClan were prowling out of sight.

Then we reached the top of a cliff, and there below us was a sandy slope stretching down to the water. I didn’t know there was room in the world for so much water. We couldn’t even see the end of it. It was frothing and roaring and leaping up onto the sand. The sun was a flame-red ball on the horizon; we watched it sink into the water, leaving the world dark.

Brambleclaw led the way along the cliff, which slanted closer to the water the farther we went. The edge of the cliff was jagged. I could see the frothing water through cracks in the rock. It was through one of these cracks that Brambleclaw fell, with Squirrelpaw and me tumbling after him.

The salty water got into our mouths and stung our eyes. It wanted to drag us away. But we swam to dry ground. This was the cave we’d been looking for.

Of course, Feathertail found a better way down, using a series of ledges along the cliff wall. That’s how Midnight gets in and out.

Who’s Midnight? Oh, she’s a badger. But we’ll get to her story later…

Clan leaders are the heart of the Clan; their personality affects how the Clan operates and how their warriors treat one another and the world around them. It is up to the Clan leaders to set a good example and guide their Clanmates along the path of the warrior code. They are responsible for calling Clan meetings, appointing warriors, mentors, and apprentices, and deciding Clan policy and strategy with the help of their deputy and any cats they choose to consult for advice (usually the medicine cat, the elders, or senior warriors).