Эрин Хантер - Secrets Оf Тhe Clans

“My name is Fuzz!” He jumped back into a play-crouch. “What’s yours?”

“Er—Barley,” I meowed.

“Hello, Erbarley!” Fuzz meowed.

“No, just Barley,” I meowed.

“All right, Justbarley,” Fuzz meowed.

I began to get the idea that this wasn’t the brightest cat I’d ever met.

“You should let my Twolegs take a look at that leg.”

“Oh, no!” I couldn’t think of anything more alarming.

“Don’t worry,” Fuzz purred. “They do this all the time.

It’s their job.” He let out a yowl loud enough to wake a sleeping badger on the far side of the forest. The door to the Twoleg nest swung open, and a tree-tall Twoleg male stepped out into the garden.

I must have blacked out. When I awoke, I was nestled in something soft, surrounded by warmth. I opened my eyes slowly.

Fuzz’s face was a mouse-length from my own, peering at me with his giant green eyes.

“You’re awake!” he meowed, sounding delighted and amazed.

“Have some milk!”

I twisted around to sniff at my leg. It was wrapped in a soft white web of stuff and felt much better. I tried to stand and realized I could put my weight on it with only a little pain.

Suddenly I remembered Violet. I glanced up at the window. The sky outside was dark.

“How long have I been here?” I asked Fuzz.

“All day,” Fuzz meowed cheerfully.

“I have to get back to my sister,” I meowed, scrambling to my feet. “She’ll be so worried.”

“Well, eat something before you go,” Fuzz urged me. I swiped my tongue around the saucer, licking up the scraps of tuna that were left.

The flavor was dazzling. Fuzz led me through a flap in the door. Then I was back out in the yard, scrambling over the fence and hurrying back to the park.

The moon was high in the sky when I reached our den.

“Violet?” I called, crawling into the darkness below the branches.

“Violet?”

Bone’s scent hit my nose just before he spoke from the shadows.

“Your sister is not here.”

I froze, all my muscles turning to stone. “W-where is she?” I stam-mered.

“She came looking for you.” The black-and-white cat stood and stretched his long, muscular legs. His eyes gleamed in the fragments of moonlight. “What an interesting setup you have here, Barley. You and your sister, living in this den. Isn’t that against the rules ?”

“I’m just taking care of her,” I meowed. “We’re no threat to Scourge.”

“That is for Scourge to decide,” Bone hissed. “Come.” He stalked out of the bush, brushing past the thorns as if he didn’t feel them. I hurried after him, my heart sinking as we approached the trash heap where Scourge held court.

The small black cat was perched atop a mound of discarded Twoleg things. The teeth on his collar and claws glinted like the freezing chips of ice that were his eyes. Cats were gathered all around the mound, waiting for something to happen. Below Scourge, in a cleared circle of dirt, my sister was sitting with her shoulders hunched. Her eyes were huge and terrified.

“Violet,” I cried, springing forward, but Bone whirled around and slammed his paw into my head so I was knocked aside, my vision spinning. I crouched for a moment, shaking my head.

“This is what we do with cats who break the rules,” Scourge hissed in his eerily high-pitched voice. He flicked his tail at the shadows to his left. My brothers emerged into the moonlight, their teeth bared in furious snarls.

“No!” I yowled. “Leave her alone! Fight me, if you must! She’s done no harm!”

“It’s true,” Scourge snarled. “You are the one who broke the rules.

You are the one who must be punished.” He swiped his tongue over his paw, making us all wait for a long, horrible moment. Then he looked down at me with a sinister twitch of his whiskers. “And what better punishment could there be than for you to watch your sister die right in front of you.”

“No!” I wailed, but before I could move, Bone leaped on me and pinned me down. I could only struggle futilely, my claws scrabbling at the ground, as Snake and Ice stalked up to Violet. There was a flash of claws and a shriek of pain from Violet. And then my poor little sister was lying on the ground, blood spilling out of her, her paws twitching feebly. I stared in horror as Snake and Ice licked the blood off their paws and slunk back into the shadows. Scourge nodded, looking pleased, and then he melted away into the darkness, with all his followers disappearing behind him. Bone lifted his paws and looked down at me with disgust in his eyes.

“Don’t ever try to fight BloodClan again,” he snarled. “We always win.”

Then he too vanished into the darkness.

I crawled over to Violet, my breathing coming in ragged gasps.

She was so still, so small. I nosed her face gently and suddenly her eyes opened.

“Barley.” She coughed. “Help me.”

She was alive! I frantically tried to stop the blood spilling out of the long slice in her stomach, but I didn’t know anything about healing another cat.

Then I remembered Fuzz and the Twoleg. It was risky, but it was the only thing I could think of to do.

I closed my mouth gently around the scruff of Violet’s neck and dragged her out of the dump. She kept letting out little yips of pain, but she didn’t struggle. I dragged her all the way down the small Thunderpath to the gate in the Twoleg fence where Fuzz lived. And then I laid her down on the path and started yowling with all my heart.

Fuzz shot out the cat door a few moments later, his face as brightly confused as ever. He sprang up to the top of the gate and teetered precariously, gawking at me and Violet.

“Who’s that ?” he exclaimed. “She’s the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen! Why is she so sad? Oh, my whiskers, is she bleeding too? What on earth is wrong with your Twolegs? Why don’t they take better care of you?”

“Fuzz, I need your help,” I panted. “I need your Twoleg to take care of Violet for me.”

“Where are you going?” Fuzz asked, all wide-eyed innocence.

Until he said that, I hadn’t really thought about it. I knew I couldn’t stay anywhere near BloodClan. She would be safe only here in this Twoleg nest—and she would be safe only if I was far away. Then perhaps Scourge and Bone would forget about us.

“The far side of the forest,” I meowed. “Please will you take care of her?”

“Sure,” Fuzz meowed. “She doesn’t look like she eats much tuna.

Maybe she’ll share hers with me.” He tilted his head at Violet.

The door opened behind him, spilling yellow light into the garden. I bent my head to whisper in Violet’s ear.

“You’ll be safe now,” I meowed. “Remember, I love you.”

She blinked up at me. “I love you too, Barley.”

“I’ll always be your brother,” I meowed. “However far apart we are.”

“Bye, Justbarley!” Fuzz meowed.

I dashed across the Thunderpath and up a tree. From there, I watched as the Twoleg swung open the gate and saw Violet. He made a sad, shocked sound, then leaned over to gently pick her up. From the way he cradled her as they went back inside, I could tell that he would take care of her. I didn’t know why I felt so sure we could trust him, but I did.

Fuzz scampered after them. His long, fluffy tail whisking through the door was the last I saw of the Twoleg nest before I turned and ran swiftly toward the woods.

I traveled quickly through the trees. I could smell other cats around me, but I was afraid they would be like BloodClan, so I didn’t stop. I crossed a stream and ran through a clearing guarded by four tall oak trees. I scrambled up a rocky slope and found myself on an open moor, where I ran even faster, as if my life depended on it. I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself and BloodClan.