SUNSET. Эрин Хантер

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      Night lay heavily over the forest. No wind stirred the long grass at the edge of the path where a massive tabby cat stalked through the shadows. He paused, ears pricked, amber eyes narrowed. No moon or stars shone in the sky above his head but tree trunks thick with fungus shed an eerie glow on the bare earth beneath his paws.

      The huge tom opened his jaws to draw in air, though he did not expect to taste the scent of prey. He knew that the twitching of the ferns meant nothing, and the flickering scraps of darkness that he could see from the corner of his eye would vanish like mist if he pounced on them. There was no hunger in this place, but he longed for the sensation of claws sinking into prey and the first warm bite of fresh-kill after a successful hunt.

      The fur on his neck and shoulders rose as a new scent drifted towards him: the scent of cat, but not the two he had met here before. This was a different cat, a cat he knew from long ago. He stalked forward, following the scent, until the trees thinned out and he stood at the edge of a clearing washed by sickly light. The other cat came bounding across the open space to meet him, ears flattened and eyes wild with terror.

      “Tigerstar!” he gasped, sliding to a halt and cowering to the ground. “Where did you come from? I thought I was alone here.”

      “Get up, Darkstripe.” The tabby tom’s voice was a rumble of disgust. “Stop cringing like a terrified kit.”

      Darkstripe rose to his paws and gave his fur a couple of quick licks. Once sleek like a well-fed fish, his pelt was now thin and tangled with burrs. “I don’t understand this place,” he meowed. “Where are we? Where are StarClan?”

      “StarClan do not walk here.”

      Darkstripe’s eyes stretched wide. “Why not? And why is it always dark here? Where is the moon?” A shiver ran through him. “I thought we would be hunting across the sky with our warrior ancestors, and watching over our Clanmates.”

      Tigerstar let out a faint hiss. “That way is not for us. But I don’t need starlight to follow my path. If StarClan think they can forget about us, they’re wrong.”

      He turned his back on Darkstripe, shouldering his way through the ferns without waiting to see whether the other cat followed him or not.

      “Wait,” Darkstripe panted, scrambling after him. “Tell me what you mean.”

      The massive tabby glanced back, his amber eyes reflecting the pale light. “Firestar thought he won when Scourge took my nine lives. He is a fool. What lies between us is not over yet.”

      “But what can you do to Firestar now?” Darkstripe protested. “You can’t leave this forest. I know—I’ve tried. But however far I walk, the trees never end, and there’s no light anywhere.”

      Tigerstar did not reply at once. He padded on through the undergrowth with Darkstripe following close behind. The smaller cat started at every rustle among the ferns and every flickering shadow that fell across his path. Once he halted, eyes staring, jaws open to taste the air.

      “I can scent Brokenstar!” he exclaimed. “Is he here too? Brokenstar, where are you?”

      Tigerstar stopped and looked back. “Save your breath. Brokenstar won’t answer you. You will sense traces of many cats here, but seldom will you meet one face-to-face. We may be trapped in one place, but we are trapped alone.”

      “Then how do you expect to deal with Firestar?” Darkstripe asked. “He doesn’t even walk this forest.”

      “I won’t deal with him.” Tigerstar’s voice was a soft, threatening growl. “My sons will. Together, Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw will show Firestar that the battle is far from won.”

      Darkstripe’s gaze flickered to his former leader’s face and away again. “But how can you make Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw do what you want?”

      Tigerstar silenced him with a single lash of his tail. His claws flexed in and out, scoring the earth beneath his paws. “I have learned to walk in the paths of their dreams,” he hissed. “And I have time. All the time in the world. When they have destroyed that mangy kittypet, I’ll make them leaders of their Clans, and show them what true power is.”

      Darkstripe flinched back into the shelter of a clump of bracken. “They couldn’t have a better teacher,” he meowed.

      “They will learn the best fighting skills in the forest,” Tigerstar went on, as if the other cat had not spoken. “They will learn to have no mercy on any cat who tries to oppose them. And in the end, they will divide the entire territory around the lake between them.”

      “But there are four Clans—”

      “And soon there will be only two. Two Clans of purebred warriors, not weakened by kittypets and halfClan cats. Firestar has already taken in that useless lump of fur from the horseplace, and her whining kits. Is that any way to lead a Clan?”

      Darkstripe bowed his head, ears flattened in agreement.

      “Hawkfrost is fearless,” Tigerstar growled approvingly. “He proved that when he drove a badger out of RiverClan’s territory. And he showed great wisdom when he helped his sister become a medicine cat. Her support will smooth his path to leadership, and Hawkfrost knows that. He knows that power comes only to those who want it most.”

      “Yes, he’s truly your son.” The words spilled out of Darkstripe like rainwater from an upturned leaf, but if Tigerstar was aware of any edge to them, he ignored it.

      “As for Brambleclaw . . .” Tigerstar narrowed his eyes. “He has courage too, but he is troubled by his loyalty to that fool Firestar. He must learn to allow nothing—not his leader, not the warrior code, not StarClan themselves—to stand in his way. He earned the respect of every cat when he made the journey to the sun-drown-place and led the Clans to their new home. His reputation alone should make it easy for him to take control.” He straightened, his powerful shoulder muscles rippling. “I will show him how.”

      “I could help you,” Darkstripe offered.

      Tigerstar turned on him with a look of cold contempt. “I need no help. Did you not hear me say that every cat walks this dark forest alone?”

      Darkstripe shivered. “But it’s so empty and silent . . . Tigerstar, let me come with you.”

      “No.” There was a hint of regret in Tigerstar’s voice, but no hesitation. “Don’t try to follow me. Cats have no friends or allies here. They must walk their path of shadows alone.”

      Darkstripe sat up, curling his tail over his forepaws. “Where are you going now?”

      “To meet my sons.” He bounded away down the path, his fur gleaming in the pale yellowish light. Darkstripe was left behind, crouching in the shadow of the ferns.

      Before Tigerstar vanished into the trees he glanced back to make one last promise. “Firestar will learn that my time is not yet over. He may have seven lives left to lose, but I will stalk him through my sons until every one has been ripped from him. This is one battle that he will not win.”