Эрин Хантер – STARLIGHT (страница 1)

Шрифт

Warriors
The New Prophecy

STARLIGHT

ERIN
HUNTER

COPYRIGHT

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollins Children’s Books An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk warriorcats.com

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2011

First published in the USA by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2006

Series created by Working Partners Limited.

Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007419258

Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007550104

Version: 2017-08-23

ALLEGIANCES

MAPS

PROLOGUE

Moonlight washed over the hillside, casting heavy shadows around a thick wall of thornbushes. The bushes surrounded a hollow with rocky sides that sloped down steeply to a pool in the shape of a full moon. Halfway up the side of the hollow, a trickle of water bubbled up between two moss-covered stones, glimmering like liquid starshine as it fell into the pool below.

The branches rustled and parted as cats emerged at the top of the hollow and began to pick their way down to the water’s edge. Their pelts shone with a soft, pale light, and their pawsteps left a frosty glitter on the moss behind them.

A tortoiseshell she-cat was the first to reach the pool. She looked around with glowing eyes. “Yes,” she purred. “This is the place.”

“You’re right, Spottedleaf. When we chose the four cats to lead the Clans out of the forest, we chose well.” The reply came from a blue-grey warrior who was approaching from the other side of the hollow. She leaped down from a jutting rock to face the tortoiseshell across the moonlit water. “But the Clans still have a hard task ahead of them.”

Spottedleaf dipped her head in agreement. “Yes, Bluestar. Their courage and faith will be tried to their limits. But they have come this far—they will not give up.”

More starry warriors joined them, clustering around the water until the hollow was lined with their sleek, shining shapes.

“Our journey was hard, too,” one cat meowed.

“We felt the pain of leaving the paths we had walked for so long,” added another.

“Now we must learn to walk in new skies.” Spottedleaf’s voice was full of confidence. She sat on a rock near the tumbling stream and wrapped her tail around her paws. “We must guide our Clans to this new meeting place, where we can speak to the leaders and medicine cats. Then this will truly be home for all five Clans.”

A murmur of agreement rose, and a gleam of hope shone in the eyes of the cats around her.

“They will catch fish from the lake,” one cat meowed.

“And prey is running in the hills and beside the water,” another put in. “All the Clans will find food, even in leaf-bare.”

The blue-grey warrior still seemed uneasy. “There’s more to life than fresh-kill,” she mewed.

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