Tallstar’s Revenge полностью

Bess crossed the clearing, a pigeon in her jaws. She dropped it at Talltail’s paws. “I caught this earlier,” she told him. “You and Jake can share it.”

Talltail shook his head. “We can’t take your prey.”

“Yes, you can,” Sparrow called from the darkness on the far side of the clearing. “WindClan fed us through greenleaf.”

Algernon nodded. “It’s only fair we feed one of theirs.”

“I’m not one of theirs anymore,” Talltail told him.

Algernon flicked his tail. “Nonsense,” he snorted. “You are Clanborn. You’ll be a Clan cat all your life.”

Reena reached beneath a low branch at the edge of the clearing and hauled out a damp-looking shrew and a half-eaten squirrel. She tossed the shrew to Sparrow and carried the squirrel to Bess. “Mole. Algernon. Will you join us?”

Talltail leaned down and tore the wing from the pigeon with his jaws. He nosed it toward Mole and Algernon as they crouched beside Reena’s squirrel. “Take this,” he offered. “We don’t need all of it.”

“Give them the other one, too,” Jake whispered in his ear.

Talltail ripped it off and dropped it at Algernon’s paws. He was aware of Sparrow’s gaze. He knows why I’m here. The thought flashed like fire in his mind. Fear sparked beneath his fur. He swallowed and padded back to Jake’s side. Jake was already chewing on the pigeon. Talltail’s belly tightened. How could he eat? Act normal. His own words echoed in his mind and he forced himself to take a mouthful of pigeon.

“How’s Palebird?” Bess’s question took him by surprise. She was looking up from the squirrel carcass, her eyes bright with interest.

“Palebird?” Talltail echoed dumbly. Up till now, he’d managed to block thoughts of WindClan from his mind.

“And Whiteberry,” Reena purred.

“Are the tunnelers getting used to not tunneling?” Mole asked.

Talltail blinked at them, mind whirling. He never imagined he’d speak his Clanmates’ names again. “Palebird had Woollytail’s kits,” he told Bess.

“That’s wonderful!” Bess’s eyes flashed with joy.

Talltail spat out a feather. “It’s great,” he lied.

Reena swallowed a mouthful. “How old are they?”

“A quarter moon when I left.” He pictured Wrenkit, Rabbitkit, Flykit, and Bristlekit crowding around his legs, tails high, squeaking with excitement. Their voices echoed in his mind.

Give us a badger ride!

Can we come?

Can I decide my own warrior name?

He closed his eyes, surprised by the sharp pang that stabbed his heart.

“How could you bear to leave them?” Reena’s mew cut into his thoughts.

“They’re happier without me,” he growled, burying his muzzle into the soft flesh of the pigeon.

“Leave him be, Reena.” Algernon’s mew was gentle. “He’s had a long journey. We can ask all our questions tomorrow, when he’s rested.”

The moon was glowing through the branches. Night wrapped the forest in silence. Far away, beyond the trees, a fox barked shrilly.

Jake licked his lips. “I’m exhausted.” He stretched and climbed into his nest.

Talltail nosed the remains of the pigeon toward Algernon. “Thanks for the prey.” He climbed into the nest beside Jake’s, their fur touching. Jake’s warmth eased the racing of his heart as he watched Algernon and Mole gather the prey-scraps and hide them under the holly bush. Reena and Bess settled in their nests beside the bracken. Algernon curled up beside Mole between the roots of the oak. Sparrow circled down into a thick pile of leaves in a shadowy corner of the camp.

Talltail watched through narrowed eyes as Sparrow stirred in his nest, no more than a shape in the darkness. Flexing his claws, he let his lip curl as he stared at Sparrow. You killed my father. His thoughts hardened, like stone shaped in fire. Now, I will kill you.

“Aren’t you used to forest hunting yet?” Reena called over her shoulder as she streaked ahead, zigzagging between the trees. She was chasing a squirrel.

Talltail stumbled on a stone that rocked beneath his paw. He blinked with surprise as Jake overtook him, leaping a frosty log and gaining on Reena. “How’d you get so good at this?” Talltail puffed, dodging a branch a moment before it hit his muzzle.

“It’s a bit like alley running.” Jake disappeared through a wall of bracken.

Talltail pelted after him, the stems crunching as he dived through them. Milky sunshine seeped through gray cloud. An icy wind whipped flecks of snow through the trees. He had lost sight of Reena through the bracken. As he plunged after her, he heard her angry mew ahead.

“Dog dirt!”

He broke from the stems to see her staring up the trunk of an ash tree. Above, a fluffy tail flicked away between the branches.

Jake circled beside her. “Can you climb up after it?”

“Not that high,” Reena mewed sulkily.

Talltail stopped beside them, his flanks heaving. “Why don’t we try the field?”

Jake stared at him. “The one with the monsters?”