Yellowfang’s Secret полностью

Fresh… she thought. One or two cats have been through here—and not long ago, either. There was a mess of tracks around the hole, but the traces were too confused to tell Yellowfang anything useful. She wasn’t sure whether she ought to tell the others. It will only cause trouble… but then, we’re a border patrol. This is the sort of thing we’re looking for.

Before she could make up her mind, she noticed that Newtspeck had picked up the scent too, raising her head with a suspicious gleam in her eyes. “Kittypets!” she hissed.

Her neck fur bristling, she began searching along the base of the fence, trying to find the scent trail. Crowtail helped her, while Yellowfang stood still, flexing her claws, and Hollyflower watched intently from the top of the fence.

“It’s no good,” Crowtail snarled eventually. “This StarClan-cursed snow is blotting out the scent.”

“But kittypets have definitely been on this side of the fence,” Newtspeck meowed, her neck fur still fluffed up and her tail lashing. “Trespassing on our territory again. This has to stop!” She crouched, bunched her muscles, and leaped up to the top of the fence beside Hollyflower, where she let out a challenging yowl. “Stay out of our territory, kittypets!”

Yellowfang’s paws tingled with frustration. Why does Newtspeck have to go looking for a fight? Why can’t we just leave one another alone? She wasn’t sure why she was so desperate not to encounter the Twolegplace cats, but she felt cold fear deep inside her, as agonizing as Nettlespot’s hunger. We mustn’t fight!

Newtspeck launched herself off the fence and vanished on the other side into the Twoleg garden. Yellowfang heard a hiss of pain from her, and in the same heartbeat felt a sharp stab in her shoulder.

“Newtspeck, what happened?” she called.

“Nothing!” the black-and-ginger she-cat called back. “I’m fine!”

Yellowfang knew that wasn’t true. My shoulder feels like it’s on fire! “We have to make them come back,” she meowed to Hollyflower. “There’s no point in looking for trouble.”

Hollyflower looked doubtful. “We need to teach those kittypets a lesson about invading our territory,” she insisted.

Reluctantly Yellowfang scrambled back onto the fence and looked down at Newtspeck. The she-cat was holding one foreleg stiffly, but she said nothing; only the waves of pain flooding over Yellowfang told her that her Clanmate was badly hurt. Crowtail leaped up beside her and dropped down to join Newtspeck in the snow. Her ears twitched and her tail lashed as she gazed around.

“Come out if you dare!” she called. “We’ll teach you to trespass on our territory!”

A soft growl broke the silence that followed Crowtail’s challenge. Balancing awkwardly on the fence-top, Yellowfang turned to see a huge orange tom appearing around the side of the Twoleg den.

That’s Marmalade! she realized, her belly lurching. All her instincts told her to leap down from the fence before he recognized her, but she knew she couldn’t abandon her Clanmates, especially when one of them was injured.

Marmalade looked up at Yellowfang with baleful yellow eyes. “What are you doing here again?” he demanded.

“What does he mean, ‘again’?” Crowtail’s voice was sharp. “Do you know a kittypet?”

Yellowfang didn’t know how to reply. “Uh… sort of,” she admitted. “It’s not important. We’re just leaving,” she assured the ginger tom.

“No, we’re not,” Newtspeck hissed through her pain, fixing Marmalade with a fierce glare. “We’re here to tell you to stay out of our territory.”

Marmalade snorted. “I don’t understand you wild cats and your so-called territories,” he sneered. “We’re far freer on this side of the fence, because we can go wherever we want.”

Kittypets are free? Yellowfang had never thought of that before. To her dismay, Hollyflower dropped down from the fence to join Newtspeck and Crowtail.

Now she’s joining in, Yellowfang thought helplessly. I just want to get out of here!

“What do kittypets know about freedom?” Hollyflower hissed. “You don’t even catch your own food. Try asking Russetpaw and Boulder where they want to live, and see if they think kittypets are free!”

“Russetpaw? Who’s that?” Marmalade asked.

“You knew her as Red,” Hollyflower replied.

Marmalade stiffened, his gaze fixed on Hollyflower. “You know where Red and Boulder are?”

“They’re part of ShadowClan now.” Crowtail’s voice was full of triumph. “You won’t be seeing them again.”

Yellowfang braced her muscles to jump down and help her Clanmates if Marmalade attacked.

But the ginger tom just narrowed his eyes. “I see,” he mewed evenly. “Well, I’ll let you go back to your territory now.”