Эрин Хантер - Legends of the Clans

“Thunderstar,” he said, sounding pleased. “It’s good to see you outside of a full-moon Gathering. How is everything in ThunderClan?” Thunderstar hesitated, and a gleam of anxiety came into Skystar’s eyes. “Is Violet Dawn all right? No problems with the kits?”

“No, no, Violet Dawn’s fine,” Thunderstar said. “But we had some trouble yesterday.” He told Skystar about the dogs’ attack on the ThunderClan camp. “We wanted to warn you that they may still be nearby,” he finished. “I’ve never seen such vicious dogs. We were lucky no cat was killed.”

Skystar was looking away from Thunderstar, and his tail flicked indecisively, as if he was wondering whether to tell Thunderstar something. Thunderstar narrowed his gaze, struck by an unpleasant suspicion. “Did you already know these dogs were in the forest?” he asked.

Skystar was still avoiding Thunderstar’s gaze. “We’ve been scenting dogs here and there lately, but never too close to our camp, so we haven’t been worried.”

Thunderstar lashed his tail angrily. “Close to ThunderClan’s borders, I suppose? You’re never worried about anything unless it threatens your own Clan. You could have warned us.”

There was a genuine look of regret in Skystar’s eyes when he finally raised them to meet Thunderstar’s. “Believe me, Thunderstar, I would have told you if I’d thought your Clan was in danger. The scent seemed to have been carried here on the wind from far away. I didn’t think the dogs I smelled were a threat to any of us.”

“Well, they are,” Thunderstar said, his fur still ruffled. “We’re all going to have to be alert if we want to keep our Clanmates safe.”

“Their scent was very different from the scents of the forest,” Skystar said thoughtfully. “Almost as acrid as the scent of the Thunderpath. We would have noticed an animal that smelled that strange if they had been here before.”

Thunderstar’s pelt prickled with anxiety. “So they must have come a long way. If they’re brave enough to roam that far while they’re hunting, they won’t think anything of raiding our camps. Perhaps we should find where they live and teach them a lesson so they won’t dare to come near us again.”

Skystar stared at him doubtfully, and Thunderstar went on, thinking hard. “If we could get the other Clans and all attack them together…”

Skystar cut him off, flicking his ears dismissively. “That sounds like trying to get ourselves killed. SkyClan isn’t going to attack a pack of fierce dogs on their own territory.”

Thunderstar’s tail drooped. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d back away from a fight, Skystar,” he said. “But maybe you’re right. Even all the Clan cats together might struggle to defeat these dogs. And what if there are more of them?”

“I can show you where I last caught their scent,” Skystar offered. “Maybe we can figure out where they came from.” He glanced back at the cats sunning themselves and sharing prey in the SkyClan camp. “Tell Star Flower I went with Thunderstar and I’ll be back soon,” he called to Quick Water, and the gray-and-white she-cat twitched her whiskers in acknowledgment.

Skystar led Thunderstar back through the forest. When they reached the border with ThunderClan, he hesitated. “It was around here that I scented strange dogs,” he said, turning his face to the wind.

Thunderstar sniffed, too, and caught a whiff of the acrid dog-scent. It was weak, noticeable only on the odd burst of air, and he had to admit that if this was the only hint of the dogs he had gotten, he wouldn’t have been worried enough to alert the other Clans either.

He told Skystar this, and the older cat brightened. “Let’s try to follow the scent,” he said.

Stopping and sniffing the breeze, following each hint of dog-scent, Thunderstar and Skystar passed through ThunderClan’s territory as far as the Thunderpath that marked their border with ShadowClan. Thunderstar pressed his paws against the Thunderpath, feeling for the vibration that would mean monsters were approaching, and then they quickly crossed.

Skystar was as fast as ever, Thunderstar noted. His long legs still moved surely and steadily, covering as much territory with each stride as Thunderstar’s could. His father wasn’t really getting old, not yet.

Skirting ShadowClan’s territory, Thunderstar wrinkled his nose in disgust as they passed the foul-smelling Carrionplace. “I can’t smell anything here except the usual stench,” he said.

“This way, I think,” Skystar said.

They walked a long way, the sun climbing to sunhigh and then beginning its descent on the other side of the sky. They had passed out of Clan territory, and out of anywhere Thunderstar had traveled before. Thunderstar’s paw pads were beginning to ache, but the dog-scent was getting stronger.

As they topped a hill, the valley below came into view and both cats froze.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Thunderstar murmured, and Skystar nodded.

Below them, a vast stretch of land, made of the same black stuff as the Thunderpaths, spread out behind a glittering silver fence. All over it, as still as if they were sleeping, were Twoleg monsters. Not normal monsters, though.

“They’re dying ,” Thunderstar whispered. “Or already dead.” These monsters would never race down a Thunderpath again. No Twoleg would ride inside them. The eyes of one of the great beasts were broken into pieces. Another gaped open, the top of what must have been its mouth torn off completely. Others were missing their round black feet or were only strangely shining bones.

This was the source of the strange acrid smell Thunderstar had not been able to identify, the smell the dogs had carried with them that was almost like the scent of the Thunderpath, but not quite. Mixed in with it came the stench of dogs and, in the distance, a faint, fierce barking.

“This is it,” Thunderstar meowed. “This is where they come from.”

“I never thought that Twoleg monsters could die,” Violet Dawn mewed, twitching her tail thoughtfully. Thunderstar had pulled her and Lightning Tail aside as soon as he returned to camp, and now all three were sitting outside Thunderstar’s den and discussing his and Skystar’s discovery.

“So we’ve found where the dogs live, but now what?” Lightning Tail asked. “Do you really think we should move ThunderClan’s camp? If that’s what we’re going to do, we should do it soon so we have all of greenleaf to settle into a new camp.”

Thunderstar shook his head. “I don’t want to move until it’s clear we don’t have any other choice. There’s no other place in ThunderClan’s territory that would make as good a camp as the ravine.” He hesitated. Violet Dawn wasn’t going to like what he was going to say next, but he was sure it was the right thing to do. “Before we think about moving, I want to learn more about these dogs. If I go into that Twolegplace where they live, maybe I can find out more about them.”

Lightning Tail cocked his head curiously. “You’re going to walk all that way just to look at a bunch of dogs? What good will that do?”

“I don’t know,” Thunderstar said. “I’m not sure anything will come of it, but it’s better than just sitting here waiting for them to come back. Or moving the whole Clan when we don’t know if a new camp would be any safer.”

Violet Dawn twitched her ears. “Are you hoping a good idea will just suggest itself once you’re there?”

Thunderstar hunched his shoulders, feeling stubborn. “I want to do something. The more I learn about these dogs, the easier it will be to figure out the best way to fight them.”