Part One: Techniques and Strategies
ThunderClan
ThunderClan Facts
Leader: Firestar
Deputy: Brambleclaw
Medicine cat: Jayfeather
Hunting territory: Forest
Camp: Stone hollow
Unique battle skill: Fighting in dense undergrowth
Brambleclaw’s Welcome
Onestar? Is something wrong? Who are your companions? Ah, a pair of curious kittypets. Welcome to ThunderClan. Our camp is on the other side of that row of thornbushes, sheltered by the cliffs of stone. Forgive me if I don’t invite you in. I have only your word and Onestar’s that you haven’t come to learn more than we are willing to share.
You want to know about ThunderClan’s battle tactics? Well, look around. Notice the brambles and ferns crowding in on you, blocking your sight. We see them as opportunities for camouflage and causing confusion to the enemy when we pounce on them from every side. We have been trained to fight in these enclosed spaces, paw-to-paw, with nowhere for the trespassers to flee. We can spin on the tip of a tail, find strength in a strike where there is barely room to draw back our paws, leap from a standstill while our enemy is struggling to turn around.
Firestar has even started holding training sessions in the trees so we can leap from branch to branch like squirrels and drop onto our enemies’ heads while they’re still trying to find our trail on the ground.
The forest is a magnificent place to fight. This is where we hone our stalking skills, our ability to creep up on our prey unnoticed and pounce with one brutal, effective leap.
You want to know the best ThunderClan battle tactic? Best? Well, without giving away too much, let me just say that every ThunderClan apprentice loves to learn the Lightning Strike. Just like a bolt of lightning, it is straightforward, swift, and deadly. It’s fitting that ThunderClan should be able to summon up a storm, don’t you think?
Special Battle Tactic: Bumblepaw Learns the Lightning Strike
Hey! You guys! Wait till you hear what we did in training today!” Bumblepaw burst through the thorns and raced across the sunbaked earth to the elderflower bush where ThunderClan’s elders slept.
Two apprentices, Dovepaw and Ivypaw, were lying outside with Lionblaze and Purdy. The remains of a mouse and a thrush lay beside them, still warm and tempting, but Bumblepaw was too full of his news to leave room for any appetite.
“Are you going to tell us, or are we supposed to guess?” demanded Ivypaw.
Bumblepaw blinked. “Mousewhisker and Thornclaw taught us the best thing ever! It’s a kind of attack called a Lightning Strike, and it’s amazing! There’s no way we could lose a battle with this!”
Lionblaze snorted. “It takes more than one tactic to win a battle,” he warned. “But you’re right: The Lightning Strike is good for chasing out trespassers because it’s fast and takes the enemy by surprise.”
“Just like lightning!” Bumblepaw agreed. He noticed that Dovepaw and Ivypaw were looking blank. “It’s like this,” he explained. “You two sit over there”—he gave them a nudge with his nose until they shuffled away from Lionblaze and Purdy—“and pretend you’re invading my territory.”
“Are we enemies, too?” asked Purdy, sounding amused.
“No, you’re trees that I’m going to hide behind. First I’m going to track the enemy patrol through the forest.”
Dovepaw and Ivypaw watched wide-eyed as Bumblepaw crouched down behind the other cats and started to creep forward with his belly fur brushing the ground.
“You look like you’re stalking prey!” Dovepaw gasped.
Bumblepaw popped his head above Purdy’s back. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. And you are my prey!” He ducked down again and took another step. “You should have seen Thornclaw showing us this move this morning. He was lower than a snake’s belly! No cat would have seen him coming.”
“You should watch Sandstorm sometime, too,” Lionblaze put in. “She can track a mouse from the other side of the forest.”
Bumblepaw frowned at him. “Trees don’t talk!” he reminded the warrior. “This is my demonstration.”
Lionblaze flicked his tail against Bumblepaw’s shoulder. “Sorry!” he whispered.
Bumblepaw reached Purdy’s nose and stretched his neck until he could see Dovepaw and Ivypaw. Still crouching, he explained, “Once the enemy has been spotted, we sneak up until we can almost touch them. Then we wait for the patrol leader’s command—which will be a silent tail signal, obviously—and pounce!” He pushed down with his hind paws and sprang out from behind Purdy. He landed on Dovepaw’s haunches, careful to keep his claws sheathed, and knocked her gently aside.
Then he spun around and reared up toward Ivypaw, striking the air with his front paws.
“Got you!” he yowled.
Ivypaw twitched one ear. “You’re hardly the scariest warrior in the forest. You didn’t even touch me!”
“I wouldn’t keep my claws hidden if it were a real battle, mouse-brain!” Bumblepaw pointed out as he dropped back onto all fours. “I’d bite you and scratch you and slash you with my hind claws until you begged for mercy!”
Lionblaze interrupted him as Dovepaw’s and Ivypaw’s eyes grew even wider. “This tree is breaking its vow of silence to remind you not to give the new apprentices nightmares,” he warned.
Bumblepaw let his fur lie back down. “Well, you get the idea. We strike hard and fast, pouncing all at once to cause as much confusion as we can. Mousewhisker said to scratch the enemies’ ears because they will bleed more than anywhere else, and make it look as if the invaders are hurt more than they really are. Cunning, huh?”
He gazed triumphantly at the other apprentices. Dovepaw still looked startled, but Ivypaw didn’t seem so impressed. “That’s not a battle tactic,” she complained. “That’s just attacking the enemy.”
“Wait, you haven’t heard the rest of the move,” Bumblepaw told her. “This is the really clever bit. After our first attack, our patrol leader gives the order to retreat into the trees. The enemy thinks we’ve given up! But we don’t run far. We stay quiet and watchful, waiting until the invading cats relax, assuming that we’ve disappeared into the forest to lick our wounds. They won’t expect us to attack them again so soon, not here. After all, lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, does it?” He looked at his audience. “Does it?” he prompted them.
“Er, no, it doesn’t,” Dovepaw agreed.
“But it does this time!” Bumblepaw declared. “As soon as the enemy drops their guard, we strike again, as hard and fast as before, same formation, same attacking moves. Ha! That’s the last thing those mangy crow-furs were expecting!” He leaped forward with his front paws outstretched, imagining his opponents flinching away from him.
“Strike twice in the same place and our enemies will flee in panic, knowing we have the strength to attack anywhere, anytime. ThunderClan will become known as LightningClan!”
Forest Attack: How Thunder Clan Keeps the Element of Surprise
1. Move quietly and communicate with signals. Cracking twigs, startled birds, and rustling bracken will tell the enemy exactly where you are.
2. Keep downwind of the trespassers so that your scent doesn’t give you away.
3. Look for freshly broken twigs, overturned leaves on the forest floor, remains of prey, or a clump of fur caught on a bramble. Any animal that moves through the forest leaves behind signs that it’s passed by—and signs like this could lead you straight to the invaders.
4. Keep your mouth open to search for unfamiliar scents. Be careful: If there is scent when there is no breeze to carry it through the forest, it could mean that your enemy is very close by.
5. Light-colored pelts are easily seen against brown and green foliage, so stay in the thickest cover. Keep low—the enemy will be looking for movement at normal head height, not close to the ground.
6. Never miss an opportunity to perfect your tracking ability. In the nursery, kits sneak up on their mothers and pounce with their moss-soft paws. Apprentices leap out on one another from behind bushes and tree stumps. These are more than just games. One day, these skills could save your life and defend your Clan.
Dustpaw Speaks: Shadows in the Forest
I hurled myself up the tree trunk with my front claws stretched out and my ears flattened. Above me, the fluffy gray tail whisked sideways along a narrow branch and vanished. The faintest rustle of leaves told me that the squirrel had leaped to safety in the neighboring tree.
“Fox dung!” I hissed under my breath, hoping I could catch it before Tigerclaw noticed I’d been too slow up the trunk.
I scrambled onto the branch to follow the squirrel, but it swayed beneath me, spilling me out of the tree. Help! With a yowl, I thrashed my front paws until my claws sank into the bark above my head. Hot-furred with embarrassment, I clung on with my hind legs dangling beneath me, trying to catch my breath.
“Tell me, Dustpaw,” came a politely interested voice below, “when Redtail taught you to swing on branches, did he ever mention that climbing skills could be used to catch prey as well?”
Gritting my teeth, I hauled myself back onto the branch. I knew it wasn’t worth trying to defend myself; Tigerclaw would only take the opportunity to have another dig at my mentor, who was back in the camp with a bellyache after eating an old blackbird. A rustle of leaves on the far side of the tree made me stiffen. Was it another squirrel? Great StarClan, did every squirrel in the forest live in this tree?
I peered past the trunk, trying to see a fluffy gray shape among the leaves. There was a soft chack, followed by the sound of tiny paws pattering along a branch. Suddenly a twig cracked behind me, and I realized that it was the same squirrel taunting me by running circles around my branch. Just you wait till I see you on the ground, you mangy piece of fresh-kill.
Scowling, I lowered myself backward down the trunk and jumped onto the ground. Tigerclaw was waiting for me at the foot of the tree, his hefty paws planted squarely on the leaf mold.
Darkstripe and Longtail stood behind him, watching me with scorn in their eyes. For a moment, I was tempted to challenge them to catch a squirrel from the trees—every cat knew that only the fastest and most experienced hunters went after squirrels above the ground. But I figured that Tigerclaw would know too many ways to punish a cheeky apprentice, so I kept quiet.
A skinny black cat padded up to me. “Bad luck,” Ravenpaw mewed. His green eyes were sympathetic. “I wouldn’t be brave enough to climb that high!”
Tigerclaw glanced sideways at his apprentice, and I winced at the contempt in his gaze. “Which is why I sent Dustpaw after that squirrel. I’d be amazed if you managed to catch whitecough,” the warrior growled. He lifted his head, and a shaft of early morning sun slicing through the trees dappled his fur with frosted gold. “Come on, let’s get back to camp,” he ordered. He led the way along a narrow track through the ferns. Longtail and Darkstripe crowded after him— that’s right, stick close to Tigerclaw if you think it makes you better warriors. Ravenpaw fell into line behind them, his tail so low that the tip left a tiny furrow in the bits of dried leaves.
I looked up at the trees, wondering where the squirrel had gone. If it had a nest close by, it would be worth coming back to this place to catch it on the ground, foraging. Just then, I heard a faint noise, like a twig snapping, and whirled around. A flash of dark fur closely followed by a splash of white; the outline of pricked ears; what looked like the tip of a tail flickering above the ferns.
“Have you grown roots, Dustpaw? Bluestar is expecting us back this side of moonhigh, you know.” Tigerclaw was watching me from the end of the path, his tail twitching impatiently.
“I think we’re being invaded!” I hissed, angling my ears toward the place where I’d seen the passing shapes.
Tigerclaw followed my gaze, stiffening when he saw the line of cats padding stealthily between the slender gray tree trunks.
“ShadowClan!” he snarled. The fur along his spine bristled. “Patrol! Come here!” he called softly. The ferns trembled as Ravenpaw, Longtail, and Darkstripe trotted back to us. They stared through the trees in horror at the ShadowClan warriors heading for the center of ThunderClan’s territory.
“Those mangy crow-food eaters!” growled Darkstripe, unsheathing his claws.
Longtail bunched his hindquarters underneath him. “Should I go and get help?” he offered.
Tigerclaw shook his head. “There’s no time. We must try to head them off ourselves.”
Darkstripe gulped. “But there are only five of us. It looks like they’ve brought the whole Clan to invade!”
“They’ll rip us to shreds!” Ravenpaw whimpered.
“Not if we rip them first,” Tigerclaw vowed. “We’ll use the Lightning Strike: Hit them hard and fast, retreat, then attack again from the same direction.”
Squirrels, I thought. Squirrels running in circles.
“Squirrels!” I said out loud.
Tigerclaw looked at me as if I’d gone mad. “No, ShadowClan invaders,” he growled. “Great
StarClan, if you can’t catch a single piece of prey, how am I supposed to lead you into battle?”
“No, we have to think like squirrels,” I insisted. “At least, the squirrel that I lost up that tree. He circled me, making me think there were two of him. It…it was confusing.”
Darkstripe snorted. “Okay, you go back and persuade your fluffy-tailed friend to help us, and we’ll take care of the fighting,” he suggested with a meaningful look at Tigerclaw.
But the dark tabby warrior was staring thoughtfully at me. “Go on,” he prompted.
My fur felt hot and prickly. “I… I haven’t exactly thought it out,” I stammered, “but I thought if we did a Lightning Strike on one side, then regrouped on the other side and…er…pretended to be different cats, ShadowClan might think there were more of us. It would be like a…a double Lightning Strike.”
“Oh, yes, because ShadowClan warriors are blind and have no sense of smell, so they think every ThunderClan cat looks like us,” sneered Longtail. He flicked his tail.
Tigerclaw raised one front paw. “Wait. This might work.” He turned to face the other cats. “If we attack fast enough and cause enough confusion, the invaders won’t have a chance to recognize us. You three, follow my orders, and don’t lose sight of the rest of the patrol.”
Whoa! Tigerclaw was actually going to listen to my idea?
“Ravenpaw, go to the ravine and tell Bluestar what is happening,” he ordered. “If the plan doesn’t work, we’ll need backup fast.”
Ravenpaw vanished into the ferns like a snake.
Tigerclaw spun around and leaped through the trees in the direction of the invaders. Longtail and Darkstripe sprang after him, and I followed. My first real battle! The blood roared in my ears, and I opened my mouth wide to inhale the scents of the strangers that tainted the fresh, green-tasting air.
“Keep still!” Tigerclaw hissed over his shoulder. “Enemy dead ahead.”
I peered over the heads of the other cats to see the line of ShadowClan warriors slinking along a fox path. They were moving slower now, as if they were unsure exactly where the ThunderClan camp was.
“Ready?” Tigerclaw demanded. “Attack!”
Without checking to see if we were following, he plunged out of the undergrowth and leaped with a roar onto the cat at the back of the ShadowClan line. The short-tailed brown tom didn’t have time to let out a yowl before he was knocked to the ground. Tigerclaw used the tom’s face to push off with his hind paws as he launched himself toward the next cat. Darkstripe tore past and sank his outstretched front claws into another warrior, while Longtail and I tackled the brown tom at the back as he tried to struggle to his feet.
The cats at the head of the line came racing back, teeth bared and hackles raised. There was no time to think about battle moves, about balancing my weight evenly on my hind paws and landing each blow perfectly. Instead, I spun and slashed and snarled until the trees blurred around me. Delicate ear skin caught under one of my claws; with a wrench, I ripped my paw clear and felt a thin spray of blood land on my muzzle.
“ThunderClan, retreat!” Tigerclaw’s command cut through the pant and hiss of the fighting. I sheathed my claws and sprang into the nearest patch of ferns. Glancing back, I saw Longtail blink in satisfaction and raise one front paw to check his claws for trapped fur. Out in the open, the invaders began to talk.
“Did we beat them?” That was the short-tailed tom, who was bleeding heavily from one ear.
The white cat with black paws who had led the patrol looked around. I realized that it was Blackfoot, the ShadowClan deputy; I’d seen him and a couple of the other cats at a Gathering.
“We must have,” Blackfoot growled. “Mouse-hearted cowards. They can’t even defend their own territory!”
“Should we keep going?” asked a red-furred she-cat. Her eyes gleamed, and she seemed the least daunted by the attack out of all of them.
“In a moment, Russetfur,” said Blackfoot. “We’ll let Stumpytail get his breath back first.”
“This way,” Tigerclaw whispered. Turning with difficulty in the crowded space, he pushed his way out of the ferns on the other side from the fox path. He drew the tip of his tail across his mouth, warning us to keep silent, then padded softly in a circle around the ShadowClan warriors, leaping across the fox path when they were out of sight and plunging into the undergrowth on the far side.
There were more brambles than ferns here, and I bit my tongue to stop myself from yelping when thorns scratched my spine.
“Quick!” Tigerclaw hissed. “Before they start moving again.” He forced his way through the tangled prickles until we had drawn level with the invaders. “Remember to scuff up the sand with your paws so that they can’t see us clearly. Now!”
He hurled himself out of the branches with Darkstripe at his heels. Longtail followed, and I pushed out after them. My head was still ringing from the last skirmish, and my legs felt trembly from the race around to the other side of the path. But the plan seemed to have worked: The ShadowClan warriors reacted as if this were a completely new patrol come to attack them.
“Where did the others go?” panted Stumpytail, ducking out of the way of Longtail’s flailing front paws.
“Keep an eye behind you,” warned Blackfoot through clenched teeth. “In case they try to sneak up on us.”
“I’m sure I heard one of them call another one Longtail,” hissed Russetfur. “I’ll remember that name.”
I blinked. Are you sure about that, Russetfur? “Hey, Runningwind!” I yowled. “I need some help over here!”
Longtail looked at me in surprise. He started to say something, then nodded. “Coming, Graypaw!” He sprang over Stumpytail, who had been rolled over by Darkstripe, and kept pace with me as we trapped a pale tabby tom against the brambles and pulled out a few clawfuls of silvery fur.
“Good strike, Lionheart!” Darkstripe called behind us, as Tigerclaw sent Blackfoot stumbling against a rock.
The massive dark tabby spun around to face his warriors. “ThunderClan, away!”
Dodging a swipe from Russetfur, who had come to rescue the silver tabby, I leaped sideways into the brambles. Tigerclaw and the others joined me, their flanks heaving. Kicked-up sand and dust clung to the blood that had splashed on their fur, and one of Darkstripe’s eyes was half-closed from a well-placed blow.
“Final strike,” hissed Tigerclaw. “Longtail and Darkstripe, you stay here. Dustpaw, come with me. When I give the signal, attack from both sides and make it seem as if the whole of ThunderClan is behind us. Okay?”
Grim nods; then Tigerclaw plunged back into the brambles, leaving me scrambling to catch up.
We crossed the path out of sight from the ShadowClan warriors and returned to our original strike point. The invading cats were huddled in the dirt, staring around as they waited for the next attack.
“Do you think we should leave before they come back?” Stumpytail whispered.
Tigerclaw didn’t give the other invaders a chance to reply. “Attack!” he screeched, flinging himself through the ferns. From the far side of the path came the sound of Darkstripe and Longtail crashing out of the brambles, blood-spattered hackles raised and claws unsheathed.
“Over here, Redtail!” I yowled over my shoulder as I leaped into the fray.
“We’ve trapped them, Bluestar!” Longtail added.
The ShadowClan cats whirled in alarm. “They’ve brought the whole Clan!” gasped Russetfur.
Blackfoot paused, muzzle-to-muzzle with Tigerclaw. “You win this time,” he snarled. “But watch your borders, because we’ll be back!” Then he lifted his head and called, “ShadowClan, retreat!”
Tigerclaw stepped back, giving a flick of his tail to warn the ThunderClan cats to do the same. I watched in satisfaction as the ShadowClan cats limped past, leaving a trail of scarlet dots in the sand.
My plan had worked, and my Clan was safe from the ShadowClan invasion.
ThunderClan Facts
Leader: Firestar
Deputy: Brambleclaw
Medicine cat: Jayfeather
Hunting territory: Forest
Camp: Stone hollow
Unique battle skill: Fighting in dense undergrowth
Brambleclaw’s Welcome
Onestar? Is something wrong? Who are your companions? Ah, a pair of curious kittypets. Welcome to ThunderClan. Our camp is on the other side of that row of thornbushes, sheltered by the cliffs of stone. Forgive me if I don’t invite you in. I have only your word and Onestar’s that you haven’t come to learn more than we are willing to share.
You want to know about ThunderClan’s battle tactics? Well, look around. Notice the brambles and ferns crowding in on you, blocking your sight. We see them as opportunities for camouflage and causing confusion to the enemy when we pounce on them from every side. We have been trained to fight in these enclosed spaces, paw-to-paw, with nowhere for the trespassers to flee. We can spin on the tip of a tail, find strength in a strike where there is barely room to draw back our paws, leap from a standstill while our enemy is struggling to turn around.
Firestar has even started holding training sessions in the trees so we can leap from branch to branch like squirrels and drop onto our enemies’ heads while they’re still trying to find our trail on the ground.
The forest is a magnificent place to fight. This is where we hone our stalking skills, our ability to creep up on our prey unnoticed and pounce with one brutal, effective leap.
You want to know the best ThunderClan battle tactic? Best? Well, without giving away too much, let me just say that every ThunderClan apprentice loves to learn the Lightning Strike. Just like a bolt of lightning, it is straightforward, swift, and deadly. It’s fitting that ThunderClan should be able to summon up a storm, don’t you think?
Special Battle Tactic: Bumblepaw Learns the Lightning Strike
Hey! You guys! Wait till you hear what we did in training today!” Bumblepaw burst through the thorns and raced across the sunbaked earth to the elderflower bush where ThunderClan’s elders slept.
Two apprentices, Dovepaw and Ivypaw, were lying outside with Lionblaze and Purdy. The remains of a mouse and a thrush lay beside them, still warm and tempting, but Bumblepaw was too full of his news to leave room for any appetite.
“Are you going to tell us, or are we supposed to guess?” demanded Ivypaw.
Bumblepaw blinked. “Mousewhisker and Thornclaw taught us the best thing ever! It’s a kind of attack called a Lightning Strike, and it’s amazing! There’s no way we could lose a battle with this!”
Lionblaze snorted. “It takes more than one tactic to win a battle,” he warned. “But you’re right: The Lightning Strike is good for chasing out trespassers because it’s fast and takes the enemy by surprise.”
“Just like lightning!” Bumblepaw agreed. He noticed that Dovepaw and Ivypaw were looking blank. “It’s like this,” he explained. “You two sit over there”—he gave them a nudge with his nose until they shuffled away from Lionblaze and Purdy—“and pretend you’re invading my territory.”
“Are we enemies, too?” asked Purdy, sounding amused.
“No, you’re trees that I’m going to hide behind. First I’m going to track the enemy patrol through the forest.”
Dovepaw and Ivypaw watched wide-eyed as Bumblepaw crouched down behind the other cats and started to creep forward with his belly fur brushing the ground.
“You look like you’re stalking prey!” Dovepaw gasped.
Bumblepaw popped his head above Purdy’s back. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. And you are my prey!” He ducked down again and took another step. “You should have seen Thornclaw showing us this move this morning. He was lower than a snake’s belly! No cat would have seen him coming.”
“You should watch Sandstorm sometime, too,” Lionblaze put in. “She can track a mouse from the other side of the forest.”
Bumblepaw frowned at him. “Trees don’t talk!” he reminded the warrior. “This is my demonstration.”
Lionblaze flicked his tail against Bumblepaw’s shoulder. “Sorry!” he whispered.
Bumblepaw reached Purdy’s nose and stretched his neck until he could see Dovepaw and Ivypaw. Still crouching, he explained, “Once the enemy has been spotted, we sneak up until we can almost touch them. Then we wait for the patrol leader’s command—which will be a silent tail signal, obviously—and pounce!” He pushed down with his hind paws and sprang out from behind Purdy. He landed on Dovepaw’s haunches, careful to keep his claws sheathed, and knocked her gently aside.
Then he spun around and reared up toward Ivypaw, striking the air with his front paws.
“Got you!” he yowled.
Ivypaw twitched one ear. “You’re hardly the scariest warrior in the forest. You didn’t even touch me!”
“I wouldn’t keep my claws hidden if it were a real battle, mouse-brain!” Bumblepaw pointed out as he dropped back onto all fours. “I’d bite you and scratch you and slash you with my hind claws until you begged for mercy!”
Lionblaze interrupted him as Dovepaw’s and Ivypaw’s eyes grew even wider. “This tree is breaking its vow of silence to remind you not to give the new apprentices nightmares,” he warned.
Bumblepaw let his fur lie back down. “Well, you get the idea. We strike hard and fast, pouncing all at once to cause as much confusion as we can. Mousewhisker said to scratch the enemies’ ears because they will bleed more than anywhere else, and make it look as if the invaders are hurt more than they really are. Cunning, huh?”
He gazed triumphantly at the other apprentices. Dovepaw still looked startled, but Ivypaw didn’t seem so impressed. “That’s not a battle tactic,” she complained. “That’s just attacking the enemy.”
“Wait, you haven’t heard the rest of the move,” Bumblepaw told her. “This is the really clever bit. After our first attack, our patrol leader gives the order to retreat into the trees. The enemy thinks we’ve given up! But we don’t run far. We stay quiet and watchful, waiting until the invading cats relax, assuming that we’ve disappeared into the forest to lick our wounds. They won’t expect us to attack them again so soon, not here. After all, lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, does it?” He looked at his audience. “Does it?” he prompted them.
“Er, no, it doesn’t,” Dovepaw agreed.
“But it does this time!” Bumblepaw declared. “As soon as the enemy drops their guard, we strike again, as hard and fast as before, same formation, same attacking moves. Ha! That’s the last thing those mangy crow-furs were expecting!” He leaped forward with his front paws outstretched, imagining his opponents flinching away from him.
“Strike twice in the same place and our enemies will flee in panic, knowing we have the strength to attack anywhere, anytime. ThunderClan will become known as LightningClan!”
Forest Attack: How Thunder Clan Keeps the Element of Surprise
1. Move quietly and communicate with signals. Cracking twigs, startled birds, and rustling bracken will tell the enemy exactly where you are.
2. Keep downwind of the trespassers so that your scent doesn’t give you away.
3. Look for freshly broken twigs, overturned leaves on the forest floor, remains of prey, or a clump of fur caught on a bramble. Any animal that moves through the forest leaves behind signs that it’s passed by—and signs like this could lead you straight to the invaders.
4. Keep your mouth open to search for unfamiliar scents. Be careful: If there is scent when there is no breeze to carry it through the forest, it could mean that your enemy is very close by.
5. Light-colored pelts are easily seen against brown and green foliage, so stay in the thickest cover. Keep low—the enemy will be looking for movement at normal head height, not close to the ground.
6. Never miss an opportunity to perfect your tracking ability. In the nursery, kits sneak up on their mothers and pounce with their moss-soft paws. Apprentices leap out on one another from behind bushes and tree stumps. These are more than just games. One day, these skills could save your life and defend your Clan.
Dustpaw Speaks: Shadows in the Forest
I hurled myself up the tree trunk with my front claws stretched out and my ears flattened. Above me, the fluffy gray tail whisked sideways along a narrow branch and vanished. The faintest rustle of leaves told me that the squirrel had leaped to safety in the neighboring tree.
“Fox dung!” I hissed under my breath, hoping I could catch it before Tigerclaw noticed I’d been too slow up the trunk.
I scrambled onto the branch to follow the squirrel, but it swayed beneath me, spilling me out of the tree. Help! With a yowl, I thrashed my front paws until my claws sank into the bark above my head. Hot-furred with embarrassment, I clung on with my hind legs dangling beneath me, trying to catch my breath.
“Tell me, Dustpaw,” came a politely interested voice below, “when Redtail taught you to swing on branches, did he ever mention that climbing skills could be used to catch prey as well?”
Gritting my teeth, I hauled myself back onto the branch. I knew it wasn’t worth trying to defend myself; Tigerclaw would only take the opportunity to have another dig at my mentor, who was back in the camp with a bellyache after eating an old blackbird. A rustle of leaves on the far side of the tree made me stiffen. Was it another squirrel? Great StarClan, did every squirrel in the forest live in this tree?
I peered past the trunk, trying to see a fluffy gray shape among the leaves. There was a soft chack, followed by the sound of tiny paws pattering along a branch. Suddenly a twig cracked behind me, and I realized that it was the same squirrel taunting me by running circles around my branch. Just you wait till I see you on the ground, you mangy piece of fresh-kill.
Scowling, I lowered myself backward down the trunk and jumped onto the ground. Tigerclaw was waiting for me at the foot of the tree, his hefty paws planted squarely on the leaf mold.
Darkstripe and Longtail stood behind him, watching me with scorn in their eyes. For a moment, I was tempted to challenge them to catch a squirrel from the trees—every cat knew that only the fastest and most experienced hunters went after squirrels above the ground. But I figured that Tigerclaw would know too many ways to punish a cheeky apprentice, so I kept quiet.
A skinny black cat padded up to me. “Bad luck,” Ravenpaw mewed. His green eyes were sympathetic. “I wouldn’t be brave enough to climb that high!”
Tigerclaw glanced sideways at his apprentice, and I winced at the contempt in his gaze. “Which is why I sent Dustpaw after that squirrel. I’d be amazed if you managed to catch whitecough,” the warrior growled. He lifted his head, and a shaft of early morning sun slicing through the trees dappled his fur with frosted gold. “Come on, let’s get back to camp,” he ordered. He led the way along a narrow track through the ferns. Longtail and Darkstripe crowded after him— that’s right, stick close to Tigerclaw if you think it makes you better warriors. Ravenpaw fell into line behind them, his tail so low that the tip left a tiny furrow in the bits of dried leaves.
I looked up at the trees, wondering where the squirrel had gone. If it had a nest close by, it would be worth coming back to this place to catch it on the ground, foraging. Just then, I heard a faint noise, like a twig snapping, and whirled around. A flash of dark fur closely followed by a splash of white; the outline of pricked ears; what looked like the tip of a tail flickering above the ferns.
“Have you grown roots, Dustpaw? Bluestar is expecting us back this side of moonhigh, you know.” Tigerclaw was watching me from the end of the path, his tail twitching impatiently.
“I think we’re being invaded!” I hissed, angling my ears toward the place where I’d seen the passing shapes.
Tigerclaw followed my gaze, stiffening when he saw the line of cats padding stealthily between the slender gray tree trunks.
“ShadowClan!” he snarled. The fur along his spine bristled. “Patrol! Come here!” he called softly. The ferns trembled as Ravenpaw, Longtail, and Darkstripe trotted back to us. They stared through the trees in horror at the ShadowClan warriors heading for the center of ThunderClan’s territory.
“Those mangy crow-food eaters!” growled Darkstripe, unsheathing his claws.
Longtail bunched his hindquarters underneath him. “Should I go and get help?” he offered.
Tigerclaw shook his head. “There’s no time. We must try to head them off ourselves.”
Darkstripe gulped. “But there are only five of us. It looks like they’ve brought the whole Clan to invade!”
“They’ll rip us to shreds!” Ravenpaw whimpered.
“Not if we rip them first,” Tigerclaw vowed. “We’ll use the Lightning Strike: Hit them hard and fast, retreat, then attack again from the same direction.”
Squirrels, I thought. Squirrels running in circles.
“Squirrels!” I said out loud.
Tigerclaw looked at me as if I’d gone mad. “No, ShadowClan invaders,” he growled. “Great
StarClan, if you can’t catch a single piece of prey, how am I supposed to lead you into battle?”
“No, we have to think like squirrels,” I insisted. “At least, the squirrel that I lost up that tree. He circled me, making me think there were two of him. It…it was confusing.”
Darkstripe snorted. “Okay, you go back and persuade your fluffy-tailed friend to help us, and we’ll take care of the fighting,” he suggested with a meaningful look at Tigerclaw.
But the dark tabby warrior was staring thoughtfully at me. “Go on,” he prompted.
My fur felt hot and prickly. “I… I haven’t exactly thought it out,” I stammered, “but I thought if we did a Lightning Strike on one side, then regrouped on the other side and…er…pretended to be different cats, ShadowClan might think there were more of us. It would be like a…a double Lightning Strike.”
“Oh, yes, because ShadowClan warriors are blind and have no sense of smell, so they think every ThunderClan cat looks like us,” sneered Longtail. He flicked his tail.
Tigerclaw raised one front paw. “Wait. This might work.” He turned to face the other cats. “If we attack fast enough and cause enough confusion, the invaders won’t have a chance to recognize us. You three, follow my orders, and don’t lose sight of the rest of the patrol.”
Whoa! Tigerclaw was actually going to listen to my idea?
“Ravenpaw, go to the ravine and tell Bluestar what is happening,” he ordered. “If the plan doesn’t work, we’ll need backup fast.”
Ravenpaw vanished into the ferns like a snake.
Tigerclaw spun around and leaped through the trees in the direction of the invaders. Longtail and Darkstripe sprang after him, and I followed. My first real battle! The blood roared in my ears, and I opened my mouth wide to inhale the scents of the strangers that tainted the fresh, green-tasting air.
“Keep still!” Tigerclaw hissed over his shoulder. “Enemy dead ahead.”
I peered over the heads of the other cats to see the line of ShadowClan warriors slinking along a fox path. They were moving slower now, as if they were unsure exactly where the ThunderClan camp was.
“Ready?” Tigerclaw demanded. “Attack!”
Without checking to see if we were following, he plunged out of the undergrowth and leaped with a roar onto the cat at the back of the ShadowClan line. The short-tailed brown tom didn’t have time to let out a yowl before he was knocked to the ground. Tigerclaw used the tom’s face to push off with his hind paws as he launched himself toward the next cat. Darkstripe tore past and sank his outstretched front claws into another warrior, while Longtail and I tackled the brown tom at the back as he tried to struggle to his feet.
The cats at the head of the line came racing back, teeth bared and hackles raised. There was no time to think about battle moves, about balancing my weight evenly on my hind paws and landing each blow perfectly. Instead, I spun and slashed and snarled until the trees blurred around me. Delicate ear skin caught under one of my claws; with a wrench, I ripped my paw clear and felt a thin spray of blood land on my muzzle.
“ThunderClan, retreat!” Tigerclaw’s command cut through the pant and hiss of the fighting. I sheathed my claws and sprang into the nearest patch of ferns. Glancing back, I saw Longtail blink in satisfaction and raise one front paw to check his claws for trapped fur. Out in the open, the invaders began to talk.
“Did we beat them?” That was the short-tailed tom, who was bleeding heavily from one ear.
The white cat with black paws who had led the patrol looked around. I realized that it was Blackfoot, the ShadowClan deputy; I’d seen him and a couple of the other cats at a Gathering.
“We must have,” Blackfoot growled. “Mouse-hearted cowards. They can’t even defend their own territory!”
“Should we keep going?” asked a red-furred she-cat. Her eyes gleamed, and she seemed the least daunted by the attack out of all of them.
“In a moment, Russetfur,” said Blackfoot. “We’ll let Stumpytail get his breath back first.”
“This way,” Tigerclaw whispered. Turning with difficulty in the crowded space, he pushed his way out of the ferns on the other side from the fox path. He drew the tip of his tail across his mouth, warning us to keep silent, then padded softly in a circle around the ShadowClan warriors, leaping across the fox path when they were out of sight and plunging into the undergrowth on the far side.
There were more brambles than ferns here, and I bit my tongue to stop myself from yelping when thorns scratched my spine.
“Quick!” Tigerclaw hissed. “Before they start moving again.” He forced his way through the tangled prickles until we had drawn level with the invaders. “Remember to scuff up the sand with your paws so that they can’t see us clearly. Now!”
He hurled himself out of the branches with Darkstripe at his heels. Longtail followed, and I pushed out after them. My head was still ringing from the last skirmish, and my legs felt trembly from the race around to the other side of the path. But the plan seemed to have worked: The ShadowClan warriors reacted as if this were a completely new patrol come to attack them.
“Where did the others go?” panted Stumpytail, ducking out of the way of Longtail’s flailing front paws.
“Keep an eye behind you,” warned Blackfoot through clenched teeth. “In case they try to sneak up on us.”
“I’m sure I heard one of them call another one Longtail,” hissed Russetfur. “I’ll remember that name.”
I blinked. Are you sure about that, Russetfur? “Hey, Runningwind!” I yowled. “I need some help over here!”
Longtail looked at me in surprise. He started to say something, then nodded. “Coming, Graypaw!” He sprang over Stumpytail, who had been rolled over by Darkstripe, and kept pace with me as we trapped a pale tabby tom against the brambles and pulled out a few clawfuls of silvery fur.
“Good strike, Lionheart!” Darkstripe called behind us, as Tigerclaw sent Blackfoot stumbling against a rock.
The massive dark tabby spun around to face his warriors. “ThunderClan, away!”
Dodging a swipe from Russetfur, who had come to rescue the silver tabby, I leaped sideways into the brambles. Tigerclaw and the others joined me, their flanks heaving. Kicked-up sand and dust clung to the blood that had splashed on their fur, and one of Darkstripe’s eyes was half-closed from a well-placed blow.
“Final strike,” hissed Tigerclaw. “Longtail and Darkstripe, you stay here. Dustpaw, come with me. When I give the signal, attack from both sides and make it seem as if the whole of ThunderClan is behind us. Okay?”
Grim nods; then Tigerclaw plunged back into the brambles, leaving me scrambling to catch up.
We crossed the path out of sight from the ShadowClan warriors and returned to our original strike point. The invading cats were huddled in the dirt, staring around as they waited for the next attack.
“Do you think we should leave before they come back?” Stumpytail whispered.
Tigerclaw didn’t give the other invaders a chance to reply. “Attack!” he screeched, flinging himself through the ferns. From the far side of the path came the sound of Darkstripe and Longtail crashing out of the brambles, blood-spattered hackles raised and claws unsheathed.
“Over here, Redtail!” I yowled over my shoulder as I leaped into the fray.
“We’ve trapped them, Bluestar!” Longtail added.
The ShadowClan cats whirled in alarm. “They’ve brought the whole Clan!” gasped Russetfur.
Blackfoot paused, muzzle-to-muzzle with Tigerclaw. “You win this time,” he snarled. “But watch your borders, because we’ll be back!” Then he lifted his head and called, “ShadowClan, retreat!”
Tigerclaw stepped back, giving a flick of his tail to warn the ThunderClan cats to do the same. I watched in satisfaction as the ShadowClan cats limped past, leaving a trail of scarlet dots in the sand.
My plan had worked, and my Clan was safe from the ShadowClan invasion.
ShadowClan
ShadowClan Facts
Leader: Blackstar
Deputy: Rowanclaw
Medicine cat: Littlecloud
Hunting territory: Pine forest
Camp: Bramble-enclosed dip beneath pine trees
Unique battle skill: Night ambush
Rowanclaw’s Welcome
Greetings, Onestar. Why have you come to ShadowClan’s territory? Ah, I see you have brought companions. Is WindClan recruiting kittypets now?
Do you really expect me to invite you into our camp and explain why ShadowClan has the most feared warriors in all the Clans? Our strengths are our secrets, my friend. Would I ask you to train my Clanmates to run as swiftly as you do, or to hunt rabbits? I think not.
But I would not be betraying my role as Blackstar’s deputy if I reminded you that ShadowClan earned its name for a reason. We are night hunters, our senses most alert in the darkness and silence that befuddles other cats. We can slip noiselessly through shadows like fish through black water, and speak to one another without words. Unlike the other Clans, who cling to moonlight or the watchful shine of StarClan, we like the freedom that is found in the darkest nights.
When it comes to battle, we waste no time rallying our warriors with speeches or promises of glory; they know what is expected of them, and they will deliver or face the shame of betraying their Clan. While the other Clans arrange themselves in lines and circles and elaborate battle plans, we swoop and strike and vanish into the night. We fight to win, nothing else.
Go now, and leave us to train in the dead of night. May StarClan—not ShadowClan—walk in your dreams.
Special Battle Tactic: Tigerheart Teaches the Night Ambush
Gather around, apprentices. I know it’s dark, but you can hear my voice, can’t you? That’s right, over here. No, Olivepaw, you’re not going to fall into any foxholes. I checked earlier today that this would be a good place for our ambush practice. Maybe one day you will have to navigate somewhere with holes waiting to trip you up, but hopefully you’ll be more experienced by then, and more confident about moving around at night. That’s if you live that long, Scorchpaw. Come down from that tree at once. No, I can’t see any better than you can, but I have ears, and a deaf badger would have heard your claws scraping on the bark when you climbed up. And the fact that your scent is now coming from above my head is also a giveaway.
Shrewpaw, Redpaw, Owlpaw, are you here? Good. Now, I want everyone to stand very still and close their eyes. Who is snoring? Scorchpaw, that’s not nearly as funny as you think it is. Only horses sleep standing up, and if you’d like to go live with them and eat grass all day, I’m sure Blackstar can arrange it.
Right, keep your eyes closed until I tell you. Mouths closed, too, Owlpaw. If I can hear you whispering, then so can the enemy. Use your other senses: What can you hear? Smell? Taste? Feel on your fur? Well? Anyone?
Okay, you can open your mouth if I’ve asked you a direct question. Good, Shrewpaw. There’s a breeze coming from the lake, bringing the scent of water and fish and RiverClan. But not strong enough to suggest they’re any closer than their territory. You think you can hear ThunderClan snoring, Scorchpaw? No, you can’t. The day Blackstar receives a prophecy about a cat with the ability to hear farther than any other creature, then I’ll believe you.
Yes, Redpaw, there is a pair of owls calling to each other beyond the inland border. And one of those kittypets in the Twoleg nest is making its usual fuss about being shut in on a fine night for hunting. So our senses have told us that our territory is empty save for the creatures that live alongside us—no trespassers, nothing that seems out of place. Now, open your eyes. Yes, Olivepaw, it’s still very dark. But you can see a little more clearly, can’t you? Your eyes have started to adjust to seeing without light. Look at how the trees are outlined against the sky. Down on the ground, you still won’t be able to see much, but thicker shadows could be a bush, or even another cat. The more you practice moving around at night, the easier it will become. The other Clans are frightened and baffled by the dark; without the sense of sight, they are as helpless as kits. Only ShadowClan understands the power of the night, and sees it as a strength.
Tonight, we are the ambush patrol. We are going to lie in wait for our enemy, and launch a surprise attack using the darkness to hide us and weaken our rivals before we unsheathe a single claw. First we need to find an attack zone, a place where we can wait without being seen or scented, with enough room to fight when the other cats arrive. Any ideas? Good, Shrewpaw. This gully is just what we’re looking for. The sides are high and steep, so if we attack from each end, the enemy won’t be able to escape. It’s an obvious route to the camp, so we can be confident that any invaders would pass through it. And we can hide in the bushes at the top, with the advantage of attacking from above.
Redpaw, why don’t you pick a bush on the side of the gully where we can hide? Hmmm, maybe not so far from the edge. We need to be able to hear our enemy approaching, and see them when they enter the gully. This one’s better. Right, squash in, everybody.
So, we’re hidden up here, but it would be good to know when the enemy is coming near. We need an early warning patrol, just two cats to keep track of the invaders as they head toward the gully.
Imagine that you’re following them, and need to warn the ambush patrol to be ready for the attack.
What call would you give?
Well, Owlpaw, that was a very good imitation of an owl, but perhaps the patrol might think it was a real owl? What noise would travel clearly on a night like this, but stand out only to cats who live in this part of the territory? How about, Ssssssssss? Not a snake, Olivepaw. The wind in the trees! Why would that work tonight? That’s right, because the breeze coming off the lake shouldn’t be enough to move the branches of pine trees. Cats from the other territories won’t know that, as this is the only place where pine trees grow by the lake.
What little breeze there is would work in our favor tonight, carrying the scent of the invaders toward us and hiding our own from them. We need to spread out along the top of the gully; if this were a real ambush patrol, we’d have enough cats to line the other side, too. We take up our positions, always within earshot of the leader of the patrol, and wait. Let me see you all waiting now.
What problem would we have if there were moonlight or starlight? That’s right, Redpaw. Our shadows. We’d need to stay on the dark side of the bush to keep our outlines hidden, too. Remember, if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you. That’s why darkness is our ally.
Imagine that the enemy is entering the gully. Who should attack first? Yes, Shrewpaw. The cats at each end of the gully go down first, to trap the enemy and let them know that they are surrounded.
Then the others attack, straight down the sides, using the weight of our fall as part of the first blow.
Apprentices, strike!
Oof! Redpaw, get your tail out of my mouth! Who’s that underneath me? Get up, Olivepaw. No, your tail isn’t broken. It’s just a bit…dented. In a real ambush, no one would get squashed, apart from the enemy. Remember I told you that we’d be in a line along the top of the gully? Well, we’d hold that line as we attacked. What’s the use in landing on one or two invading cats in one big lump, leaving their Clanmates free to fight? We’d hope to outnumber them in order to overpower them as swiftly as possible. Once the command to attack has been given, there will be no other orders. You each know what you have to do.
As soon as the enemy surrenders or begs to flee, the fighting stops. Stand still with your head held high. You are a ShadowClan cat; we do not gloat over our defeated enemies. We simply wait for them to leave, knowing they will be in no haste to return. And when they have gone, head for the closest shadow before you go back to the camp. Make no sound. Melt back into the night, so that if our enemy looks back, they see nothing but emptiness. The forest is ours—and we are unseen. The night, the darkness, the cold still air, all belong to ShadowClan. That is our ancestors’ gift to us, and we honor their memory with every ambush. It is up to you to prove that you are worthy of that gift and will preserve the night as our greatest weapon.
Tail Signals
ShadowClan was the first to devise a system of tail signals, which are now used by all four Clans. Generally, the leader of a patrol is responsible for giving the signals; warriors learn to keep the leader’s tail in sight at all times and react at once when an order is given.
TAIL HELD ERECT: “Stop.”
TAIL RIPPLING: “Move forward with care.”
TAIL HELD ERECT AND SWEEPING SLOWLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE: “Retreat silently.”
TAIL POINTING LOW, PARALLEL TO GROUND, AND SWEEPING: “Spread out.”
TAIL FLATTENED: “Get down.”
TAIL BOBBING: “Enemy sighted.”
TAIL HOOKED: “Danger.”
TAIL POINTED SHARPLY: “Go that way.”
TAIL HELD ERECT AND WAVING FROM SIDE TO SIDE: “Stay behind me.”
TAIL KINKED OVER BACK: “Follow me.”
Blackstar Speaks: Ambush by the Lake
Oakfur, Cedarheart, wait!” I hissed to the warriors ahead of me. My Clanmates stopped on the edge of the hard black stone where Twolegs left their monsters. This was the border of ShadowClan’s territory; from here on, we would be in RiverClan. Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt joined us, their eyes glowing in the pale starlight. Clouds covered the moon, a clear advantage to the keenly night-sighted ShadowClan cats. Those mangy RiverClan fish-eaters were about to be taught that promises had to be kept—especially when they were made to ShadowClan. They’d had a chance to solve this peacefully and turned it down.
“Careful!”
“Look, there’s one over there!”
“Don’t fall in!”
I flattened my ears at the sound of chatter and splashing coming from the end of the halfbridge.
The noise traveled clearly over the still water, piercing the pine-scented air in ShadowClan’s territory and sending the night prey farther into their holes. There’d be no fresh-kill in my camp tomorrow morning, once again. My Clan would go hungry—and it was RiverClan’s fault.
I nodded to Oakfur and Cedarheart, then pointed the tip of my tail toward the small wooden Twoleg nest at the edge of the water. Oakfur and Cedarheart padded across the hard stone and slipped into the shadows around the wooden nest. With my tail straight up in the air, I gestured for Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw to stay behind me. Then I backed under the cover of some ferns growing at the edge of the stone and sat down to wait.
At the last half-moon, I had visited Leopardstar and asked that she stop her patrols from hunting off the halfbridge, which was right at the edge of my Clan’s border. RiverClan had been fishing during daylight up till then, attracting the attention of the Twolegs that had made their temporary nests in the clearing on the far side of ShadowClan’s territory. Dogs and young Twolegs had come crashing through the pine trees to watch the swimming cats. Their clumsy noise scared off the RiverClan fishers long before the Twolegs arrived, but my Clanmates were left crouching in the scant undergrowth, forced into cover by the intruders and fearing discovery by one of their slavering dogs.
I could have solved the problem with force, extending ShadowClan’s territory to include the halfbridge and the place where Twolegs came to launch the creatures that floated on the lake with huge white wings. That would have kept the RiverClan hunting patrols out of the water closest to ShadowClan’s territory. But the Clans had been living at the lake for only three moons; I wasn’t going to challenge the newly laid-out borders yet, not when the memory of the Great Journey was fresh in every cat’s mind. The four Clans had found the lake together, working as allies for the first time that any cat knew, even the elders. However much I wanted to defend this new territory, I didn’t want to be the one to break the truce that had saved us when our forest homes were destroyed.
So I had surrendered to a RiverClan border patrol and asked to be taken in peace to Leopardstar. When I told her about the unwanted intrusion by Twolegs coming to investigate the cats fishing off the halfbridge, Leopardstar had sympathized and agreed that things would be different from now on. It seemed as if the bonds forged during the Great Journey had survived the separation into four distinct Clans.
After my visit to Leopardstar, things had indeed been different: Instead of hunting off the halfbridge during the daytime, summoning Twolegs and dogs through the pine trees, RiverClan now fished at night, the time when ShadowClan hunting patrols ventured out. Leopardstar must have known that hunting from the halfbridge at night would only create new problems. If RiverClan was determined to prove that it owed nothing from the Great Journey to the other Clans, then ShadowClan was ready to show the same absence of respect.
A slender gray shape appeared at the edge of the black stone: Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy.
Stonestream’s shadow loomed behind her, followed by the smaller dark brown outline of Voletooth with plump, lazy Swallowtail beside him, given away by her distinctive rolling gait. I narrowed my eyes in satisfaction. One cat each.
“ShadowClan, attack!” I yowled, springing out of the ferns. Halfway across the black stone, Mistyfoot froze. The other RiverClan cats stumbled into her, dropping their fish.
The stone felt rough and hot under my paws as I raced to tackle the RiverClan deputy. I was too fast for Mistyfoot to react; crashing into her, I swept her paws from under her belly and raked my claws along her flank. Beside me, Tawnypelt challenged Swallowtail with a furious hiss; quick as lightning, the RiverClan she-cat spun around and lashed out with her front paws, catching Tawnypelt’s ears. Just before I sprang at her, I had time to be impressed that the overfed she-cat could move so neatly. I landed on Swallowtail’s back with my claws out; the dark tabby screeched and collapsed to the ground underneath me. I jumped clear as she flopped sideways, trying to crush me. The weight of her body as well as all that fish-tasting fur would have squashed the breath out of me.
A flash of gray at the edge of my sight warned that Stonestream was coming to help his Clanmate; he was met by Oakfur and Tawnypelt, side by side on their hind legs, driving him back with perfectly matched blows. On the far side of the patrol, Rowanclaw had wrestled Voletooth onto his back and was holding his scruff in his jaws while raking the brown tom’s belly with his hind legs.
Behind me, I heard Mistyfoot scramble to her paws. Her breath came in jagged gasps as she snarled, “Blackstar! What are you doing?”
I took a step backward from Swallowtail and flicked my tail from side to side, ordering my
Clanmates to surround the hunting patrol and hold them in place. Instantly, my warriors stopped fighting and ran into position. Cedarheart placed himself between Swallowtail and the halfbridge, blocking off that means of escape in case the cats tried to swim away. Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt stood on the far side of the patrol with their backs to the rest of RiverClan’s territory. They were vulnerable to being attacked from behind, but the rest of us would keep half an eye on the dense undergrowth, checking for RiverClan warriors coming to their Clanmates’ rescue.
Oakfur lined up beside me and curled his lip when Stonestream took a pace toward him. The RiverClan cat blinked and stepped back.
“Wise move,” Oakfur growled.
I flashed a glance at him. This was an ambush, not a war. We had won the first skirmish without trouble; from now on, I would handle the talking.
Mistyfoot spoke first. “What in the name of StarClan is going on?” she demanded.
I took a deep breath, letting my anger root me to the ground through my unsheathed claws. Losing my temper would be a sign of weakness, and right now, with my warriors surrounding the RiverClan patrol, I was in control. “Leopardstar promised that you would no longer fish from the halfbridge.”
Mistyfoot’s eyes flashed. “She promised we would not hunt when Twolegs could see us. We have kept her word.”
“You know full well that you are making enough noise to summon Twolegs from the other side of the mountains.” My words hissed through my clenched teeth. “How are we supposed to hunt if all our prey has been scared off before our patrols can set out?”
“Perhaps your patrols should learn to hunt better,” sneered Voletooth. “Or do you teach your apprentices to sit with their mouths open until a piece of fresh-kill hops inside?”
I ignored Voletooth and spoke to Mistyfoot again. “Every Clan deserves a fair chance to make their new territory their home. Your selfishness is making that harder for us.”
“Selfishness?” Mistyfoot echoed. “Since when was feeding our Clanmates selfish? Voletooth is right; you need to stop blaming us for the fact that you can’t catch enough prey.”
Curling his lip in anger, Rowanclaw swiped the air with his front paw. “We caught you easily enough tonight,” he reminded her.
Stonestream leaped forward. “Let’s see how brave you are in an honest fight,” he challenged.
“Instead of sneaking around like foxes!”
Rowanclaw reared up on his hind legs and let the moonlight gleam on his thorn-sharp claws.
“Oh, that would be my pleasure,” he growled. “Would you like to land the first strike, or shall I?”
“Stop!” yowled Mistyfoot. “This is not a battle we want to fight.”
I rounded on her and snarled, “It is a battle that we will fight if you don’t stop fishing from the halfbridge.” But I signaled with my tail for my warriors to leave the RiverClan cats alone.
“You should be ashamed of going back on your leader’s promise,” I growled to Mistyfoot.
“Leopardstar knew what she was agreeing to when I told her the problems you were causing by fishing from the halfbridge. I gave her a fair chance to end it, and she chose not to take it.”
Mistyfoot’s eyes flashed in the silvery light. “She chose to let her hunting patrols do what they do best, and feed their Clanmates.”
“Then we’ll respond with what we do best, which is fighting without mercy to protect our Clanmates,” I replied calmly.
There was a flicker of uncertainty in Mistyfoot’s gaze. She knew as well as I did that her warriors stood no chance against mine in a full-scale battle. “Okay, you’ve made your point,” she meowed. “We’ll stop fishing from here, and leave you to figure out how to catch the prey in your new territory.”
I felt Tawnypelt bristle at the RiverClan deputy’s thinly hidden insult. Don’t worry; she’s not going to get away with that. “You think that’s it, do you?” I queried. “One halfhearted skirmish and I’ll leave you in peace?”
Mistyfoot glanced warily at my patrol. “What else do you want?”
“Fresh-kill,” I answered. “You owe us for lost nights of hunting.”
Stonestream snorted. “Are you serious? You think we’re going to surrender our Clanmates’ food to you just because you can skulk in shadows and jump out on cats in their own territory?”
I shook my head. “No. You’re going to give us your food because next time we’ll do more than skulk in the shadows. Next time we’ll bring a patrol right into your camp and rip the ears of each of your warriors so that every Clan knows that Leopardstar cannot keep a promise.” I let my claws scrape on the stone, twisting my paws so that the starlight caught the sharpened tips.
Mistyfoot stood rock-still, with only a blink to suggest that she was shocked by my threat. “I… I think Leopardstar will agree to what you want,” she meowed. “As you say, each Clan should have a time of peace to settle into its new home.”
“We’ll take half of whatever you catch,” I ordered. The knowledge that we had won made my pelt tingle, but I kept my voice steady. “Leave it on the halfbridge at dusk each day until the next half-moon. And if we see a single cat fishing here, we’ll be in your camp before you hear us coming.”
Mistyfoot dipped her head. “Since we have… removed the problem, there is no need to mention it at the Gathering, I presume?” She sounded as if she were speaking through gritted teeth. “It is of no interest to the other Clans, after all.”
I did my best to hide a flash of amusement. How satisfying to have the RiverClan deputy beg to keep Leopardstar’s betrayal a secret from the other Clans. I was half tempted to refuse and let
WindClan and ThunderClan know of RiverClan’s mean spirit toward their newly settled neighbor.
But that would only cause more trouble, and Mistyfoot was right: Peace was needed while our territories were still only half-known.
“Very well,” I meowed. The RiverClan deputy turned to leave, but I called her back. I needed to make sure that she knew ShadowClan had not been softened by the Great Journey, that we owed nothing to any Clan and would not shy away from waging war against our former allies.
“Oh, and Mistyfoot? Never trust the shadows. My warriors wear the night like second pelts. If you wrong ShadowClan, you will never be safe in the dark.”
ShadowClan Facts
Leader: Blackstar
Deputy: Rowanclaw
Medicine cat: Littlecloud
Hunting territory: Pine forest
Camp: Bramble-enclosed dip beneath pine trees
Unique battle skill: Night ambush
Rowanclaw’s Welcome
Greetings, Onestar. Why have you come to ShadowClan’s territory? Ah, I see you have brought companions. Is WindClan recruiting kittypets now?
Do you really expect me to invite you into our camp and explain why ShadowClan has the most feared warriors in all the Clans? Our strengths are our secrets, my friend. Would I ask you to train my Clanmates to run as swiftly as you do, or to hunt rabbits? I think not.
But I would not be betraying my role as Blackstar’s deputy if I reminded you that ShadowClan earned its name for a reason. We are night hunters, our senses most alert in the darkness and silence that befuddles other cats. We can slip noiselessly through shadows like fish through black water, and speak to one another without words. Unlike the other Clans, who cling to moonlight or the watchful shine of StarClan, we like the freedom that is found in the darkest nights.
When it comes to battle, we waste no time rallying our warriors with speeches or promises of glory; they know what is expected of them, and they will deliver or face the shame of betraying their Clan. While the other Clans arrange themselves in lines and circles and elaborate battle plans, we swoop and strike and vanish into the night. We fight to win, nothing else.
Go now, and leave us to train in the dead of night. May StarClan—not ShadowClan—walk in your dreams.
Special Battle Tactic: Tigerheart Teaches the Night Ambush
Gather around, apprentices. I know it’s dark, but you can hear my voice, can’t you? That’s right, over here. No, Olivepaw, you’re not going to fall into any foxholes. I checked earlier today that this would be a good place for our ambush practice. Maybe one day you will have to navigate somewhere with holes waiting to trip you up, but hopefully you’ll be more experienced by then, and more confident about moving around at night. That’s if you live that long, Scorchpaw. Come down from that tree at once. No, I can’t see any better than you can, but I have ears, and a deaf badger would have heard your claws scraping on the bark when you climbed up. And the fact that your scent is now coming from above my head is also a giveaway.
Shrewpaw, Redpaw, Owlpaw, are you here? Good. Now, I want everyone to stand very still and close their eyes. Who is snoring? Scorchpaw, that’s not nearly as funny as you think it is. Only horses sleep standing up, and if you’d like to go live with them and eat grass all day, I’m sure Blackstar can arrange it.
Right, keep your eyes closed until I tell you. Mouths closed, too, Owlpaw. If I can hear you whispering, then so can the enemy. Use your other senses: What can you hear? Smell? Taste? Feel on your fur? Well? Anyone?
Okay, you can open your mouth if I’ve asked you a direct question. Good, Shrewpaw. There’s a breeze coming from the lake, bringing the scent of water and fish and RiverClan. But not strong enough to suggest they’re any closer than their territory. You think you can hear ThunderClan snoring, Scorchpaw? No, you can’t. The day Blackstar receives a prophecy about a cat with the ability to hear farther than any other creature, then I’ll believe you.
Yes, Redpaw, there is a pair of owls calling to each other beyond the inland border. And one of those kittypets in the Twoleg nest is making its usual fuss about being shut in on a fine night for hunting. So our senses have told us that our territory is empty save for the creatures that live alongside us—no trespassers, nothing that seems out of place. Now, open your eyes. Yes, Olivepaw, it’s still very dark. But you can see a little more clearly, can’t you? Your eyes have started to adjust to seeing without light. Look at how the trees are outlined against the sky. Down on the ground, you still won’t be able to see much, but thicker shadows could be a bush, or even another cat. The more you practice moving around at night, the easier it will become. The other Clans are frightened and baffled by the dark; without the sense of sight, they are as helpless as kits. Only ShadowClan understands the power of the night, and sees it as a strength.
Tonight, we are the ambush patrol. We are going to lie in wait for our enemy, and launch a surprise attack using the darkness to hide us and weaken our rivals before we unsheathe a single claw. First we need to find an attack zone, a place where we can wait without being seen or scented, with enough room to fight when the other cats arrive. Any ideas? Good, Shrewpaw. This gully is just what we’re looking for. The sides are high and steep, so if we attack from each end, the enemy won’t be able to escape. It’s an obvious route to the camp, so we can be confident that any invaders would pass through it. And we can hide in the bushes at the top, with the advantage of attacking from above.
Redpaw, why don’t you pick a bush on the side of the gully where we can hide? Hmmm, maybe not so far from the edge. We need to be able to hear our enemy approaching, and see them when they enter the gully. This one’s better. Right, squash in, everybody.
So, we’re hidden up here, but it would be good to know when the enemy is coming near. We need an early warning patrol, just two cats to keep track of the invaders as they head toward the gully.
Imagine that you’re following them, and need to warn the ambush patrol to be ready for the attack.
What call would you give?
Well, Owlpaw, that was a very good imitation of an owl, but perhaps the patrol might think it was a real owl? What noise would travel clearly on a night like this, but stand out only to cats who live in this part of the territory? How about, Ssssssssss? Not a snake, Olivepaw. The wind in the trees! Why would that work tonight? That’s right, because the breeze coming off the lake shouldn’t be enough to move the branches of pine trees. Cats from the other territories won’t know that, as this is the only place where pine trees grow by the lake.
What little breeze there is would work in our favor tonight, carrying the scent of the invaders toward us and hiding our own from them. We need to spread out along the top of the gully; if this were a real ambush patrol, we’d have enough cats to line the other side, too. We take up our positions, always within earshot of the leader of the patrol, and wait. Let me see you all waiting now.
What problem would we have if there were moonlight or starlight? That’s right, Redpaw. Our shadows. We’d need to stay on the dark side of the bush to keep our outlines hidden, too. Remember, if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you. That’s why darkness is our ally.
Imagine that the enemy is entering the gully. Who should attack first? Yes, Shrewpaw. The cats at each end of the gully go down first, to trap the enemy and let them know that they are surrounded.
Then the others attack, straight down the sides, using the weight of our fall as part of the first blow.
Apprentices, strike!
Oof! Redpaw, get your tail out of my mouth! Who’s that underneath me? Get up, Olivepaw. No, your tail isn’t broken. It’s just a bit…dented. In a real ambush, no one would get squashed, apart from the enemy. Remember I told you that we’d be in a line along the top of the gully? Well, we’d hold that line as we attacked. What’s the use in landing on one or two invading cats in one big lump, leaving their Clanmates free to fight? We’d hope to outnumber them in order to overpower them as swiftly as possible. Once the command to attack has been given, there will be no other orders. You each know what you have to do.
As soon as the enemy surrenders or begs to flee, the fighting stops. Stand still with your head held high. You are a ShadowClan cat; we do not gloat over our defeated enemies. We simply wait for them to leave, knowing they will be in no haste to return. And when they have gone, head for the closest shadow before you go back to the camp. Make no sound. Melt back into the night, so that if our enemy looks back, they see nothing but emptiness. The forest is ours—and we are unseen. The night, the darkness, the cold still air, all belong to ShadowClan. That is our ancestors’ gift to us, and we honor their memory with every ambush. It is up to you to prove that you are worthy of that gift and will preserve the night as our greatest weapon.
Tail Signals
ShadowClan was the first to devise a system of tail signals, which are now used by all four Clans. Generally, the leader of a patrol is responsible for giving the signals; warriors learn to keep the leader’s tail in sight at all times and react at once when an order is given.
TAIL HELD ERECT: “Stop.”
TAIL RIPPLING: “Move forward with care.”
TAIL HELD ERECT AND SWEEPING SLOWLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE: “Retreat silently.”
TAIL POINTING LOW, PARALLEL TO GROUND, AND SWEEPING: “Spread out.”
TAIL FLATTENED: “Get down.”
TAIL BOBBING: “Enemy sighted.”
TAIL HOOKED: “Danger.”
TAIL POINTED SHARPLY: “Go that way.”
TAIL HELD ERECT AND WAVING FROM SIDE TO SIDE: “Stay behind me.”
TAIL KINKED OVER BACK: “Follow me.”
Blackstar Speaks: Ambush by the Lake
Oakfur, Cedarheart, wait!” I hissed to the warriors ahead of me. My Clanmates stopped on the edge of the hard black stone where Twolegs left their monsters. This was the border of ShadowClan’s territory; from here on, we would be in RiverClan. Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt joined us, their eyes glowing in the pale starlight. Clouds covered the moon, a clear advantage to the keenly night-sighted ShadowClan cats. Those mangy RiverClan fish-eaters were about to be taught that promises had to be kept—especially when they were made to ShadowClan. They’d had a chance to solve this peacefully and turned it down.
“Careful!”
“Look, there’s one over there!”
“Don’t fall in!”
I flattened my ears at the sound of chatter and splashing coming from the end of the halfbridge.
The noise traveled clearly over the still water, piercing the pine-scented air in ShadowClan’s territory and sending the night prey farther into their holes. There’d be no fresh-kill in my camp tomorrow morning, once again. My Clan would go hungry—and it was RiverClan’s fault.
I nodded to Oakfur and Cedarheart, then pointed the tip of my tail toward the small wooden Twoleg nest at the edge of the water. Oakfur and Cedarheart padded across the hard stone and slipped into the shadows around the wooden nest. With my tail straight up in the air, I gestured for Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw to stay behind me. Then I backed under the cover of some ferns growing at the edge of the stone and sat down to wait.
At the last half-moon, I had visited Leopardstar and asked that she stop her patrols from hunting off the halfbridge, which was right at the edge of my Clan’s border. RiverClan had been fishing during daylight up till then, attracting the attention of the Twolegs that had made their temporary nests in the clearing on the far side of ShadowClan’s territory. Dogs and young Twolegs had come crashing through the pine trees to watch the swimming cats. Their clumsy noise scared off the RiverClan fishers long before the Twolegs arrived, but my Clanmates were left crouching in the scant undergrowth, forced into cover by the intruders and fearing discovery by one of their slavering dogs.
I could have solved the problem with force, extending ShadowClan’s territory to include the halfbridge and the place where Twolegs came to launch the creatures that floated on the lake with huge white wings. That would have kept the RiverClan hunting patrols out of the water closest to ShadowClan’s territory. But the Clans had been living at the lake for only three moons; I wasn’t going to challenge the newly laid-out borders yet, not when the memory of the Great Journey was fresh in every cat’s mind. The four Clans had found the lake together, working as allies for the first time that any cat knew, even the elders. However much I wanted to defend this new territory, I didn’t want to be the one to break the truce that had saved us when our forest homes were destroyed.
So I had surrendered to a RiverClan border patrol and asked to be taken in peace to Leopardstar. When I told her about the unwanted intrusion by Twolegs coming to investigate the cats fishing off the halfbridge, Leopardstar had sympathized and agreed that things would be different from now on. It seemed as if the bonds forged during the Great Journey had survived the separation into four distinct Clans.
After my visit to Leopardstar, things had indeed been different: Instead of hunting off the halfbridge during the daytime, summoning Twolegs and dogs through the pine trees, RiverClan now fished at night, the time when ShadowClan hunting patrols ventured out. Leopardstar must have known that hunting from the halfbridge at night would only create new problems. If RiverClan was determined to prove that it owed nothing from the Great Journey to the other Clans, then ShadowClan was ready to show the same absence of respect.
A slender gray shape appeared at the edge of the black stone: Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy.
Stonestream’s shadow loomed behind her, followed by the smaller dark brown outline of Voletooth with plump, lazy Swallowtail beside him, given away by her distinctive rolling gait. I narrowed my eyes in satisfaction. One cat each.
“ShadowClan, attack!” I yowled, springing out of the ferns. Halfway across the black stone, Mistyfoot froze. The other RiverClan cats stumbled into her, dropping their fish.
The stone felt rough and hot under my paws as I raced to tackle the RiverClan deputy. I was too fast for Mistyfoot to react; crashing into her, I swept her paws from under her belly and raked my claws along her flank. Beside me, Tawnypelt challenged Swallowtail with a furious hiss; quick as lightning, the RiverClan she-cat spun around and lashed out with her front paws, catching Tawnypelt’s ears. Just before I sprang at her, I had time to be impressed that the overfed she-cat could move so neatly. I landed on Swallowtail’s back with my claws out; the dark tabby screeched and collapsed to the ground underneath me. I jumped clear as she flopped sideways, trying to crush me. The weight of her body as well as all that fish-tasting fur would have squashed the breath out of me.
A flash of gray at the edge of my sight warned that Stonestream was coming to help his Clanmate; he was met by Oakfur and Tawnypelt, side by side on their hind legs, driving him back with perfectly matched blows. On the far side of the patrol, Rowanclaw had wrestled Voletooth onto his back and was holding his scruff in his jaws while raking the brown tom’s belly with his hind legs.
Behind me, I heard Mistyfoot scramble to her paws. Her breath came in jagged gasps as she snarled, “Blackstar! What are you doing?”
I took a step backward from Swallowtail and flicked my tail from side to side, ordering my
Clanmates to surround the hunting patrol and hold them in place. Instantly, my warriors stopped fighting and ran into position. Cedarheart placed himself between Swallowtail and the halfbridge, blocking off that means of escape in case the cats tried to swim away. Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt stood on the far side of the patrol with their backs to the rest of RiverClan’s territory. They were vulnerable to being attacked from behind, but the rest of us would keep half an eye on the dense undergrowth, checking for RiverClan warriors coming to their Clanmates’ rescue.
Oakfur lined up beside me and curled his lip when Stonestream took a pace toward him. The RiverClan cat blinked and stepped back.
“Wise move,” Oakfur growled.
I flashed a glance at him. This was an ambush, not a war. We had won the first skirmish without trouble; from now on, I would handle the talking.
Mistyfoot spoke first. “What in the name of StarClan is going on?” she demanded.
I took a deep breath, letting my anger root me to the ground through my unsheathed claws. Losing my temper would be a sign of weakness, and right now, with my warriors surrounding the RiverClan patrol, I was in control. “Leopardstar promised that you would no longer fish from the halfbridge.”
Mistyfoot’s eyes flashed. “She promised we would not hunt when Twolegs could see us. We have kept her word.”
“You know full well that you are making enough noise to summon Twolegs from the other side of the mountains.” My words hissed through my clenched teeth. “How are we supposed to hunt if all our prey has been scared off before our patrols can set out?”
“Perhaps your patrols should learn to hunt better,” sneered Voletooth. “Or do you teach your apprentices to sit with their mouths open until a piece of fresh-kill hops inside?”
I ignored Voletooth and spoke to Mistyfoot again. “Every Clan deserves a fair chance to make their new territory their home. Your selfishness is making that harder for us.”
“Selfishness?” Mistyfoot echoed. “Since when was feeding our Clanmates selfish? Voletooth is right; you need to stop blaming us for the fact that you can’t catch enough prey.”
Curling his lip in anger, Rowanclaw swiped the air with his front paw. “We caught you easily enough tonight,” he reminded her.
Stonestream leaped forward. “Let’s see how brave you are in an honest fight,” he challenged.
“Instead of sneaking around like foxes!”
Rowanclaw reared up on his hind legs and let the moonlight gleam on his thorn-sharp claws.
“Oh, that would be my pleasure,” he growled. “Would you like to land the first strike, or shall I?”
“Stop!” yowled Mistyfoot. “This is not a battle we want to fight.”
I rounded on her and snarled, “It is a battle that we will fight if you don’t stop fishing from the halfbridge.” But I signaled with my tail for my warriors to leave the RiverClan cats alone.
“You should be ashamed of going back on your leader’s promise,” I growled to Mistyfoot.
“Leopardstar knew what she was agreeing to when I told her the problems you were causing by fishing from the halfbridge. I gave her a fair chance to end it, and she chose not to take it.”
Mistyfoot’s eyes flashed in the silvery light. “She chose to let her hunting patrols do what they do best, and feed their Clanmates.”
“Then we’ll respond with what we do best, which is fighting without mercy to protect our Clanmates,” I replied calmly.
There was a flicker of uncertainty in Mistyfoot’s gaze. She knew as well as I did that her warriors stood no chance against mine in a full-scale battle. “Okay, you’ve made your point,” she meowed. “We’ll stop fishing from here, and leave you to figure out how to catch the prey in your new territory.”
I felt Tawnypelt bristle at the RiverClan deputy’s thinly hidden insult. Don’t worry; she’s not going to get away with that. “You think that’s it, do you?” I queried. “One halfhearted skirmish and I’ll leave you in peace?”
Mistyfoot glanced warily at my patrol. “What else do you want?”
“Fresh-kill,” I answered. “You owe us for lost nights of hunting.”
Stonestream snorted. “Are you serious? You think we’re going to surrender our Clanmates’ food to you just because you can skulk in shadows and jump out on cats in their own territory?”
I shook my head. “No. You’re going to give us your food because next time we’ll do more than skulk in the shadows. Next time we’ll bring a patrol right into your camp and rip the ears of each of your warriors so that every Clan knows that Leopardstar cannot keep a promise.” I let my claws scrape on the stone, twisting my paws so that the starlight caught the sharpened tips.
Mistyfoot stood rock-still, with only a blink to suggest that she was shocked by my threat. “I… I think Leopardstar will agree to what you want,” she meowed. “As you say, each Clan should have a time of peace to settle into its new home.”
“We’ll take half of whatever you catch,” I ordered. The knowledge that we had won made my pelt tingle, but I kept my voice steady. “Leave it on the halfbridge at dusk each day until the next half-moon. And if we see a single cat fishing here, we’ll be in your camp before you hear us coming.”
Mistyfoot dipped her head. “Since we have… removed the problem, there is no need to mention it at the Gathering, I presume?” She sounded as if she were speaking through gritted teeth. “It is of no interest to the other Clans, after all.”
I did my best to hide a flash of amusement. How satisfying to have the RiverClan deputy beg to keep Leopardstar’s betrayal a secret from the other Clans. I was half tempted to refuse and let
WindClan and ThunderClan know of RiverClan’s mean spirit toward their newly settled neighbor.
But that would only cause more trouble, and Mistyfoot was right: Peace was needed while our territories were still only half-known.
“Very well,” I meowed. The RiverClan deputy turned to leave, but I called her back. I needed to make sure that she knew ShadowClan had not been softened by the Great Journey, that we owed nothing to any Clan and would not shy away from waging war against our former allies.
“Oh, and Mistyfoot? Never trust the shadows. My warriors wear the night like second pelts. If you wrong ShadowClan, you will never be safe in the dark.”
RiverClan
RiverClan Facts
Leader: Mistystar
Deputy: Reedwhisker
Medicine cat: Mothwing
Hunting territory: The lake and streams
Camp: Overgrown island in a stream
Unique battle skill: Water combat
Reedwhisker’s Welcome
Intruders, Silverpaw? Are you sure? Oh, Onestar, it’s you. What are you doing on this side of our territory? Great StarClan, that’s a long walk for a pair of kittypets. Here, bring them down to the shore so they can cool their pads in the water. Are you joining WindClan? No? Then why…?
I see. You want to know the secret behind RiverClan’s strength in battle. Well, you are up to your bellies in it right now. That’s right, water. Water feeds us, cools us, and keeps us safe from foxes, dogs, and curious Twolegs. It gives us the power to choose whether we fight or not, knowing that few cats are brave enough to swim across our borders to attack us. Some say we are too quick to hide behind our barricade of streams, but it’s easier to call us cowards than admit we have an advantage over all the other Clans.
We can slide out of rivers like fish with fur, silently flooding the shore before our enemy knows we are there. You may look at my Clanmates and see only sleek, glossy fur as thick as a kittypet’s, but look closer and you’ll find strong legs that can carve through water and tails that steer us through the swiftest currents.
Have you seen how we hunt? Not with speed or stealth or pounces, but with lightning reflexes, scooping fish from the lake while they drowse below the surface. How would you like to feel these claws raking over your spine? In close combat, RiverClan cats are the most feared among all the Clans because we can hold our enemy down and rake their bellies until they beg for mercy. If the ground is too open for close combat, we’ll lure our enemies to the shore and drag them into the water to fight there. Other cats’ fur quickly becomes sodden and heavy, pulling them down, but our fur sheds water like the feathers on a duck. We stay light and nimble, freed by the water rather than trapped by it. Our rivals don’t stand any chance of winning when the lake fights alongside us.
So don’t listen to the other Clans when they say we are proud, lazy cats who unsheathe our claws only to catch our food. They fear us because we have water as our ally. And because of all the Clans that ever lived in the forest or by the lake, we are the only one never to have been overrun against our will. That is real strength, young kittypets.
Special Battle Tactic: The Rushpaw Splash
RiverClan fish! RiverClan swim! RiverClan warriors use water to win!”
The line of apprentices stopped chanting as they halted on the bank of the stream with their paws sinking into the soft brown earth. Mistystar looked proudly at them. She’d trained apprentices before, but being the RiverClan leader made her feel even more connected to these young cats who would fish and swim and fight to protect future generations.
“Into the water!” she called, and the four apprentices scrambled down the bank and waded into the gently flowing water.
“Ooh, it’s cold!” whimpered Rushpaw, trying to stand on tiptoe to keep her belly fur dry.
Her littermate Tanglepaw snorted. “Don’t be such a scaredy-mouse. You won’t notice it after a while.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Rushpaw grumbled. “My legs are way shorter than yours. You’re hardly wet up to your knees!”
Mistystar flicked her tail. “Rushpaw, would you like to run ahead and tell the enemy exactly where and when we’re planning to attack? Perhaps you’d like to invite them to strike first?”
Rushpaw put her head to one side. “What would be the point of that? I thought you said we’d be learning about surprise attacks today?”
“That’s what she’s trying to teach us, fluff-brain,” hissed Pikepaw. His dark gray fur bristled along his spine. “But you’re making such a fuss that every cat from here to the mountains knows where we are!”
Rushpaw looked down at the surface of the stream and flattened her ears. “Oops. Sorry.”
Mistystar tried not to let her amusement show in her voice. “Thank you for reminding us, Pikepaw,” she meowed out loud. “Today we’re going to pretend that this stream is the lake, and the far bank is the border of one of the other Clans. All the territories slope down to the shore, but you’ll rarely find border patrols there because the other Clans don’t see water as a point of access. Why does this give us an advantage?”
“RiverClan fish! RiverClan swim! RiverClan warriors use water to win!” the young cats shouted.
“Exactly. Now follow me, and make sure only your ears, eyes, and nose show above the water.”
Mistystar jumped down the bank and slid into the stream. The water flattened her fur, cold and comforting and lifting her gently off her paws. She let herself sink until only her muzzle peeped out, tipping back her head to keep her eyes and ears level with the surface. Pushing off with one hind paw, she let the current sweep her into the center of the stream, using long, graceful strokes to propel her between the banks.
The apprentices struck out behind her; twisting her head, Mistystar saw Pikepaw sink so far down that only the tip of his nose was visible. She hoped he could still see where he was going.
Rushpaw and Tanglepaw’s littermate Duckpaw held herself higher in the water, but she swam strongly, without splashing. Tanglepaw looked as if he were putting in more effort—probably because of his long fur, Mistystar guessed. It took a while for a RiverClan cat’s fur to become glossy enough to shed water like a duck’s feathers, and Tanglepaw would be weighed down as it became sodden. Behind him, Rushpaw paddled frantically as she tried to keep up; her legs were below the surface, but Mistystar could tell she was struggling, because her head bobbed from side to side and her tongue peeped out as she panted for breath.
The stream curved between banks shored up with tree roots and then opened out beside a broad, sandy shore. Mistystar used her tail to steer her toward the beginning of the shore and bent her legs as soon as her paws brushed the bottom of the stream, staying in a crouched position to slip quietly out of the water. “Follow me,” she called over her shoulder. “I don’t want to hear any of you leaving the stream!”
She stood halfway up the shore, facing inland, listening for her apprentices. A whisper of droplets told her that the first cat had emerged. That was fine; a border patrol would pay no attention to that. Heavier pads on the sand gave away Tanglepaw’s exit, but masked any sound of Duckpaw.
Now they were waiting for Rushpaw.
“Ow!”
The muffled yelp was followed by a splash. Mistystar spun around to see Rushpaw vanish headfirst under the water, then bob up almost at once, spluttering and thrashing with her front paws.
“I stubbed my toe on a stone!” she wailed.
Pikepaw curled his lip and Tanglepaw rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Rushpaw, you’re hopeless!”
Rushpaw stumbled out of the water and stood on the sand, tilting back her head to glare at her brother. “I am not hopeless! I’m just a lot smaller than you!”
“If you’re that small, maybe you should have stayed in the nursery,” meowed Duckpaw. “You’re spoiling everything!”
Rushpaw’s tail drooped like a piece of wet fern. Mistystar stepped forward. “I would have made you all do the exercise again, anyway.” She didn’t want Rushpaw to get into trouble from her denmates because she had ruined their first exit. But Mistystar was beginning to have doubts about the undersized apprentice. RiverClan cats weren’t known for their long legs, but Rushpaw’s were shorter than most, and she didn’t seem to have the serious attitude toward training that the other apprentices did. Should she go back to the nursery for a couple of moons to gain some maturity?
The apprentices paddled back into the stream and swam out to the center.
“I’m going to be an enemy patrol,” Mistystar called. “See if you can surprise me upstream.” She trotted across the shore and ducked into the undergrowth farther up the bank.
In the water, Tanglepaw took charge. “Let’s swim ahead of her and set an ambush.”
“The bank slopes down again on the far side of that willow tree,” mewed Duckpaw. “We can climb out there.”
“Okay, but don’t swim too fast,” puffed Rushpaw.
“Perhaps you should stay here and keep watch in case she comes back?” Pikepaw suggested as he pushed off from the bottom.
Rushpaw splashed water at him with her front paw. “You’re not leaving me behind! I’ll get it right this time, I promise!”
Duckpaw circled around and swam alongside the little apprentice. “Don’t worry; we won’t leave you here. Just try to keep up, okay?”
“Er, I think we’re supposed to be swimming silently?” Tanglepaw reminded them over his shoulder. He struck out, leading the group around a curve in the stream, toward the willow tree. He couldn’t see Mistystar in the undergrowth that grew along the bank, and the noise of the water in his ears made it impossible to hear anything but the loudest birdcalls overhead. He just had to hope she was deep enough in the reeds that she didn’t know how far the apprentices had swum.
A narrow strip of pebbly beach opened up as they passed the trailing willow branches.
Tanglepaw steered into the cover of the delicate silver-green fronds and carefully lowered his paws to the bottom of the stream. The stones were larger here, and he took a moment to find his balance.
Duckpaw, Pikepaw, and Rushpaw swam in behind him. They were enclosed in a pale green cave dappled with sparkles reflecting from the water and hidden from the bank by the trunk of the willow tree. It was a perfect place to launch an ambush.
A tiny crackle downstream revealed that Mistystar was approaching.
“Get ready,” Tanglepaw whispered. “And remember, we can’t make any noise as we leave the water.”
Tanglepaw eased himself forward, placing each paw down before he lifted the next. Pikepaw, Duckpaw, and Rushpaw kept close to him, easing through the branches toward the open shore. Out of the corner of his eye, Tanglepaw glimpsed a pale gray flash behind the willow tree. Mistystar was coming closer.
“Quick!” he hissed under his breath. Crouching low, he waded clear of the water, keeping his belly fur on the surface until most of the water had run off his fur. Pikepaw followed, then Duckpaw.
But the she-cat moved too fast and sent back a small wave that slapped Rushpaw squarely across the muzzle.
“Ack!” she spluttered.
Tanglepaw froze. Behind the trunk of the willow tree, one of the shadows on the path stopped moving. Mistystar had heard the noise, too. She knew they were here; the exercise had failed!
Behind him, Rushpaw took another cautious step forward, as if she didn’t know the task was already over. Her paw slipped off a smooth stone underwater and she stumbled forward. She flicked her tail as she tried to keep her balance, sending a glittering arc of droplets through the air to land with a splash downstream.
Tanglepaw was about to tell Rushpaw she was the clumsiest cat in all of the Clans, ever, when he realized that the shadow behind the willow tree had changed shape. It had whisked around, and he could see the outline of two pointed ears facing the other way, in the direction where the drops had landed. The splash had confused Mistystar into thinking the apprentices were downstream!
“Come on!” whispered Tanglepaw, leaping out of the water. In two swift bounds, he crossed the stones and leaped into the mottled shadows behind the tree. Mistystar spun around, her mouth open with surprise. She didn’t have a chance to speak before all four apprentices bundled on top of her, claws sheathed, knocking her off her paws.
“Got you!” Duckpaw declared triumphantly.
“Did we pass the test?” Tanglepaw asked.
Mistystar pulled her muzzle free from Pikepaw’s tail and puffed, “Yes! You passed! Now get off me!”
“Oh, sorry.” Tanglepaw jumped up and gave the leader room to stand up and shake herself.
“Are you all here?” asked Mistystar, craning her neck to count them. “So who made that splash downstream?”
Rushpaw hung her head. “That was me,” she mewed in a small voice. “I lost my balance and my tail flicked some water.”
Mistystar stared at her. “It was a brilliant move! Making a noise downstream made me think you were somewhere completely different.”
Tanglepaw nodded. “I saw from your shadow that you’d turned around, so I realized we could still catch you by surprise.”
“That was very observant of you, Tanglepaw,” Mistystar praised him. “Now, Rushpaw, do you think you could show us exactly what you did?”
Rushpaw blinked. “You mean I did something right?”
“Better than that,” Mistystar told her. “You invented a brand-new tactic for water combat! And I think we’ll call it the Rushpaw Splash!”
Water Combat Moves
RiverClan warriors have developed special techniques for fighting in the water. The water techniques are a closely guarded secret among RiverClan cats, so all training is done out of sight, along the streams that run through the territory.
DOUBLE-FRONT-PAW SLAP-DOWN: Splashes water into the face of the enemy.
UNDERWATER LEG SWEEP (FRONT OR HIND): The opponent will not see it coming under the water so won’t have a chance to brace himself before losing his balance.
PUSH-DOWN AND RELEASE: Almost all non-RiverClan cats panic if they are submerged, while RiverClan cats know how to hold their breath underwater. This move can be used to secure a decisive victory, because it’s most likely to make the opponent surrender.
UNDERWATER CLINCH: Uses warrior’s weight to hold the opponent below the surface, with a firm grip that enables the warrior to bring his enemy spluttering back to the surface before forcing him under again.
TAIL SPLASH: Temporarily blinds opponent by flicking water in his eyes.
UNDERWATER PUSH-OFF: Crouching and erupting out of the water into opponent, using surprise and impact to knock him off balance.
RUSHPAW SPLASH: Using noise of water splashed at a distance to create a decoy, leaving opportunity for a surprise attack.
Hailstar Speaks: The Lost Kits
Great StarClan, if what I am about to do is wrong, then send me a sign and the kits will stay where they are.”
I tipped back my head and stared into the star-flecked sky. Silverpelt hung like a frosted cloud in the middle of the sky, an archway of ancient spirits leading to StarClan’s hunting grounds. Nothing moved. StarClan had spoken with their silence: The mission would go ahead.
I drew a deep breath. I had known I would face challenges when I became RiverClan’s leader, but this was beyond anything I had expected. For my Clan’s sake, I could not fail.
I padded through the reeds to the warriors’ den. The sound of breathing drifted on the cold air, with the scent of sleeping cats. Would they sleep so easily again after what I was about to ask them to do?
“Timberfur?” I whispered through the entrance.
A dark shape stirred inside, and Timberfur’s head popped out. “Hailstar! What is it?”
“Bring Rippleclaw, Owlfur, and Ottersplash,” I ordered. “Meet me outside the camp.”
The big brown tom blinked; then his head vanished. I slipped out of the clearing and sat on the narrow pathway between the reeds. I could hear the river sliding past; was it whispering a warning?
The warriors appeared, shaking sleep from their heads and stretching their paws. Ottersplash looked worried, the white patches on her ginger fur glowing like snow.
“I want you to come to WindClan with me. We are going to take back Fallowtail’s kits.”
Four pairs of eyes stared at me in disbelief. Owlfur spoke first. “But…but you agreed that Reedfeather could raise them in WindClan.”
Ottersplash nodded vigorously. “You said he had equal claim because he was their father, and RiverClan had enough mouths to feed this leaf-bare.”
I pictured the WindClan deputy’s glow of satisfaction as he led his daughters out of the RiverClan camp. Fallowtail had remained in the nursery, unable to watch. She knew she had broken the warrior code by falling in love with a WindClan cat; she was lucky that I had allowed her to stay in RiverClan after bearing his kits. There was no place for half-Clan cats in RiverClan. I wanted loyalty without question—I deserved it, because I was their leader.
But for the past moon I had watched Fallowtail slowly dying of grief for her lost kits. It was too great a punishment for her to bear.
“WindClan will expect this,” Rippleclaw warned, breaking into my thoughts. “Heatherstar announced at the Gathering that they had doubled their border patrols.”
“Not along the cliff,” I replied. “I’ve been watching for the last three nights. If we approach from the gorge, we should be able to get to the camp without meeting any patrols.”
“Then we’re going to take the kits by force?” meowed Timberfur.
I looked at him without blinking. “You think Reedfeather would give them back if we asked nicely?”
Timberfur turned his head away, his gaze shadowed. I didn’t allow myself time to wonder whether I was testing his warriors’ loyalty beyond their limits. “Follow me,” I ordered.
We walked in silence to the far border of their territory, where the wooden bridge crossed the river just after it spilled out of the gorge. The water stilled and flattened out in a matter of fox-lengths, as if it were exhausted by its maddened, foaming tumble between the high stone cliffs. On the far bank, a tiny path clung to the bottom of the stone, just above the water. If we could scale the cliff from there, we would be able to enter WindClan’s territory along the unguarded border.
Owlfur padded alongside me as I crossed the bridge. “Did you tell Fallowtail what you were going to do?”
I shook my head. “She’ll know when we succeed,” I meowed.
The climb to the top of the cliff was harder than I’d imagined; our thick fur weighed us down, and Timberfur tore one of his claws when he lost his grip on a paw hold. Only Ottersplash giving him a shove from below stopped him from crashing all the way down to the bottom, where the river foamed over jagged rocks.
Finally we hauled ourselves, panting, over the edge of the stone wall and lay flat on our bellies, listening. Rippleclaw raised his head. “No scent of any patrols,” he reported, keeping his mouth wide-open to taste the air. The breeze was blowing steadily from the forest, which would serve us well, bringing traces of any WindClan cats in that direction.
“Which way is the camp?” asked Ottersplash.
I tried to recall from my only previous visit, when I had been Heatherstar’s guest. “In the center of the moor, I think. It’s in a dip, so you can’t see it as you approach, but there is a circle of gorse around the top.”
Timberfur exhaled loudly. “So we’re looking for some gorse bushes…on a moor.”
“I never said it would be easy,” I told him.
The brown tom flashed a look of anger toward me. “I didn’t expect it to be. I’m a warrior, just like you are. Let’s go.” He strode away from the cliff, heading into the expanse of shadow that distinguished the moor from the night sky. We followed in single file, Owlfur at the rear.
Ottersplash’s white markings flared like starlight, and for a moment I wondered if it had been wise to bring her. Unlike the other Clans, WindClan hunted by sight, keeping watch for the flicker of movement that indicated a fleeing rabbit. Their patrols would be looking for intruders as well as listening and tasting the air. But we were deep into the moor now; there was no point sending Ottersplash back from here. Besides, we might need her.
Suddenly Timberfur froze. “Patrol dead ahead!” he hissed.
We flattened ourselves against the grass, feeling as exposed as rocks in an empty streambed. A
small group of WindClan cats—no more than three or four—appeared briefly over a rise, then disappeared again as the ground sloped downward toward the forest.
“They didn’t see us,” breathed Rippleclaw. “Let’s keep going.”
Behind me, I heard Ottersplash take a deep breath and swallow. “There’s stronger scent here.
We must be close to the camp.”
I peered into the darkness, trying to make out a circle of gorse. The moon was little more than a claw scratch in the sky, and the stars shed only the faintest light, so bushes and boulders showed up as patches of shadow against the dark bulk of the moor. But there was a line of bushes over to one side that looked more solid than the rest. Could they be sheltering the camp?
“That way,” I hissed.
As we started forward, Rippleclaw asked, “What do you want us to do when we get there?”
“You and Timberfur deal with the guards while we find the nursery. Ottersplash and Owlfur, you corner the queens, and I’ll get the kits. Once I’ve taken them outside the nursery, Owlfur, you pick up one of the kits and we’ll all make a run for it—but don’t head back to the cliff. We can’t carry the kits that way.”
“Five of us against an entire Clan?” Owlfur mused. “We’ll need to be lucky.”
“We’ll make our own luck,” I told him grimly.
The sharp scent of WindClan grew stronger as we approached the gorse bushes. Pushing through the barrier, I stood at the edge of the shallow dip and looked down at the camp. More bushes screened scoops in the dusty soil that must have made rather drafty dens, and on the far side, a hawthorn tree with low-hanging branches enclosed a nest where the faintest squeaks and rustlings could be heard.
“That must be the nursery,” I whispered, nodding toward the hawthorn.
Guards, Timberfur mouthed as two cats appeared at the rim of the hollow. He looked searchingly at me. “How much force do you want us to use?”
I knew what he was asking. I wasn’t going to tell my warriors to break the warrior code—that had suffered enough already—but I wanted those kits back where they belonged. “Enough.”
Timberfur nodded.
The guards were heading toward us but hadn’t seen us yet. Timberfur and Rippleclaw turned and vanished back through the gorse bushes. A moment later, they slipped into view just behind the patrolling cats. Silently, and perfectly in step, they sprang onto the backs of the guards and rolled them into the gorse. Any squawks were quickly muffled; the bushes quivered briefly; then all was still. I pictured my warriors sitting heavily on the WindClan cats, keeping them quiet.
Lifting my tail to signal to my Clanmates, I raced down the side of the hollow and across the clearing to the hawthorn.
“Stop! Who’s there?”
A yowl went up behind me; we’d been spotted. I nodded to Owlfur and Ottersplash, and they plunged through the branches of the hawthorn. At once the queens inside started shrieking and scrabbling to protect the kits. I spun around to face the cat who’d raised the alarm. It was Dawnstripe, her gold-and-cream-striped fur almost white in the starlight.
“Hailstar!” She gasped. “What are you doing?”
More cats were emerging from their dens around the hollow; there was no way any of them were going to listen to me. I whirled around and forced my way into the nursery. Inside was solid darkness, muggy and scented. “Ottersplash? Owlfur?” I hissed.
“Over here,” Owlfur replied from the far corner. His voice sounded muffled, as if he were holding fur in his mouth. “The kits are with me.”
There was a hiss and paws scrabbled against the earthen floor. “Let me go,” spat the queen.
“Those are WindClan kits!”
“Not anymore,” I growled. Nosing forward, being careful not to tread on any small bundles of fur, I found Fallowtail’s daughters. They were bigger than when I’d last seen them—of course—but they still carried her scent, and the touch of the fur reminded me of her softness. “Graykit? Willowkit?
It’s time to come home.”
I picked one of them up and it let out a squeak.
There was a snarl from the opposite corner. “Put her down, or you’ll regret it.”
Ottersplash’s paw landed on the queen’s ear with a smack. “Those kits are ours, and you know it.”
I couldn’t reply because I had a mouthful of fur. I backed out of the den, shuffling the other kit under my belly with my front paws. Hawthorn branches scraped my pelt; then cold air swept over my haunches. I turned around—and found a line of warriors facing me. Heatherstar stood in the center, her eyes fierce.
“You cannot steal our kits!”
I lowered the kit to the ground—I still wasn’t sure which one it was—and met the WindClan leader’s gaze. “They are RiverClan, too. They belong with their mother.”
“They are my kits as much as Fallowtail’s.” A pale brown tabby stepped alongside Heatherstar.
It was Reedfeather, the deputy. “You said we could have them!”
“I made a mistake.” I forced the words out, choking as if they were thistles. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“You can’t do that,” hissed Heatherstar.
There was movement behind me as Ottersplash and Owlfur emerged from the nursery. “He can,” meowed Owlfur softly. “And we’re here to help him.”
“Three of you against all of us?” Heatherstar sounded scornful.
“Actually, there are five. And right now, I’d say we held the advantage.”
Every cat, including me, turned to look up at the top of the hollow. Rippleclaw and Timberfur stood there with their unsheathed claws pressed against the throats of the guards.
“Let our Clanmates pass, or their blood will feed your barren home,” Timberfur went on. The eyes of the guard he was holding bulged madly.
Heatherstar took a step back. Her gaze when it met mine was puzzled and a little sorrowful. “A threat to kill? That is not how we fight, Hailstar.”
“It is when we have to,” I replied through clenched teeth. I picked up the kit once more, and Ottersplash scooped up the other one. With Owlfur beside us, we carried them through the silent
WindClan warriors and up the slope. Timberfur and Rippleclaw released the guards when we drew level; as the scrawny cats hurtled down the slope to their Clanmates, we pushed through the gorse bushes and started running for the border.
Thundering paw steps behind us told us that we were being pursued. I wasn’t surprised; I would have done the same.
“Faster!” panted Rippleclaw.
The dark ground was a blur beneath my paws, and the kit wailed as she bumped against my legs.
I tried to tip my head back to lift her higher, but she seemed to weigh as much as a full-grown cat, getting heavier with every stride. Owlfur tried to help me, but we couldn’t match our pace and ended up falling over each other, sending the kit flying through the air. Timberfur snatched her up and we raced on. Behind us, the sky was growing lighter, and ahead I could see the dark line of the forest, then an empty gray space where the land dipped down to the river.
“That way!” I screeched, swerving.
The ground started to slope in front of us, lending speed to our paws. But the WindClan warriors hadn’t already climbed up a cliff, and weren’t burdened by kits. I could feel their breath on my tail, and a barb of pain shot through me as one of them reached out to claw my flank. I wrenched myself away and kept running without looking back.
“Get into the river!” I yowled to my Clanmates.
Ottersplash grabbed a mouthful of fur on Timberfur’s kit, and Owlfur helped Rippleclaw with his. Side by side, the warriors raced awkwardly toward the water. I slowed down, offering myself as an easy target to our pursuers. At once I felt myself toppling over, crashing down on a rock, which sent a stab of agony along my ribs. Reedfeather stood over me, his lips pulled back in a snarl. “You can’t steal my kits!”
I looked up at him, wondering if I was about to lose one of my lives. “We already have!” I growled back.
Reedfeather raised his paw, ready to strike, when there was a screech from ahead. “They’re nearly at the river!”
He dropped his paw and leaped away from me. “Stop them!” he ordered.
Letting out a quavering breath, I rolled over and pushed myself up. My warriors stood knee-deep in the water, facing the WindClan cats, with the kits placed on stones above the surface behind them. I charged across the grass, ignoring the pain in my side, and sprang on Reedfeather from behind, knocking him into the river. Cold water rushed up to enfold us in a noisy, bubbling grip. I threw back my head and took a gulp of air before thrusting down with my front paws as hard as I could. Beneath me, Reedfeather struggled to get free, sending up another flood of tiny bubbles. I unsheathed my claws until they pricked his skin beneath his thin fur.
All around me, my warriors wrestled with WindClan cats. Owlfur swept one of his paws and left one cat floundering out of his depth. Ottersplash dived down and surfaced under the belly of another warrior, sending him lurching off balance. Meanwhile, Timberfur and Rippleclaw swam to the far side with the kits and deposited them on the shore.
“Hailstar? Hailstar! Stop!”
Owlfur was standing beside me, wild eyed with fear. I looked down and saw Reedfeather’s eyes beginning to close. His body hung heavily in my claws, and the bubbles were petering out. “You’re killing him!” Owlfur hissed.
In horror, I unhooked my claws and stepped back. Reedfeather’s body twitched in the current as he sank to the bottom. Owlfur pushed me back, ducked his head, and came up with the WindClan deputy hanging from his jaws. “Help me get him out!” he spluttered around a mouthful of sodden fur.
I grabbed the loose skin at the top of Reedfeather’s tail and hauled him onto the sand. The deputy lay still for a moment while Owlfur rubbed his chest. Behind me, the other WindClan warriors stood frozen in horror. They knew they had lost the battle with us; now they were willing Reedfeather to win his battle with the river.
Suddenly Reedfeather bucked under Owlfur’s paws and coughed up a stream of sticky water. He rolled onto his belly and coughed again.
“He’ll be okay now,” Owlfur meowed.
“No thanks to you,” snarled one of the warriors, stepping forward. He glanced across the river to where Timberfur and Rippleclaw were licking the kits in an effort to dry them out. “I hope they were worth it.”
I followed his gaze and thought of Fallowtail. “They are.”
Shortly before Graypaw’s sister, Willowpaw, was due to receive her warrior name, Fallowtail asked to speak to me in private.
“I’d like her warrior name to be Willowbreeze,” she meowed. “And Graypaw to be Graypool.
That way I’ll always know that my daughters carry the strength of wind and water together.”
I looked at her soft brown face, her blue eyes gazing earnestly into mine. She had never stopped loving Reedfeather, not for a single moment. I had won back her kits, but part of her heart lay on the moor, with the wind and the rabbits.
RiverClan Facts
Leader: Mistystar
Deputy: Reedwhisker
Medicine cat: Mothwing
Hunting territory: The lake and streams
Camp: Overgrown island in a stream
Unique battle skill: Water combat
Reedwhisker’s Welcome
Intruders, Silverpaw? Are you sure? Oh, Onestar, it’s you. What are you doing on this side of our territory? Great StarClan, that’s a long walk for a pair of kittypets. Here, bring them down to the shore so they can cool their pads in the water. Are you joining WindClan? No? Then why…?
I see. You want to know the secret behind RiverClan’s strength in battle. Well, you are up to your bellies in it right now. That’s right, water. Water feeds us, cools us, and keeps us safe from foxes, dogs, and curious Twolegs. It gives us the power to choose whether we fight or not, knowing that few cats are brave enough to swim across our borders to attack us. Some say we are too quick to hide behind our barricade of streams, but it’s easier to call us cowards than admit we have an advantage over all the other Clans.
We can slide out of rivers like fish with fur, silently flooding the shore before our enemy knows we are there. You may look at my Clanmates and see only sleek, glossy fur as thick as a kittypet’s, but look closer and you’ll find strong legs that can carve through water and tails that steer us through the swiftest currents.
Have you seen how we hunt? Not with speed or stealth or pounces, but with lightning reflexes, scooping fish from the lake while they drowse below the surface. How would you like to feel these claws raking over your spine? In close combat, RiverClan cats are the most feared among all the Clans because we can hold our enemy down and rake their bellies until they beg for mercy. If the ground is too open for close combat, we’ll lure our enemies to the shore and drag them into the water to fight there. Other cats’ fur quickly becomes sodden and heavy, pulling them down, but our fur sheds water like the feathers on a duck. We stay light and nimble, freed by the water rather than trapped by it. Our rivals don’t stand any chance of winning when the lake fights alongside us.
So don’t listen to the other Clans when they say we are proud, lazy cats who unsheathe our claws only to catch our food. They fear us because we have water as our ally. And because of all the Clans that ever lived in the forest or by the lake, we are the only one never to have been overrun against our will. That is real strength, young kittypets.
Special Battle Tactic: The Rushpaw Splash
RiverClan fish! RiverClan swim! RiverClan warriors use water to win!”
The line of apprentices stopped chanting as they halted on the bank of the stream with their paws sinking into the soft brown earth. Mistystar looked proudly at them. She’d trained apprentices before, but being the RiverClan leader made her feel even more connected to these young cats who would fish and swim and fight to protect future generations.
“Into the water!” she called, and the four apprentices scrambled down the bank and waded into the gently flowing water.
“Ooh, it’s cold!” whimpered Rushpaw, trying to stand on tiptoe to keep her belly fur dry.
Her littermate Tanglepaw snorted. “Don’t be such a scaredy-mouse. You won’t notice it after a while.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Rushpaw grumbled. “My legs are way shorter than yours. You’re hardly wet up to your knees!”
Mistystar flicked her tail. “Rushpaw, would you like to run ahead and tell the enemy exactly where and when we’re planning to attack? Perhaps you’d like to invite them to strike first?”
Rushpaw put her head to one side. “What would be the point of that? I thought you said we’d be learning about surprise attacks today?”
“That’s what she’s trying to teach us, fluff-brain,” hissed Pikepaw. His dark gray fur bristled along his spine. “But you’re making such a fuss that every cat from here to the mountains knows where we are!”
Rushpaw looked down at the surface of the stream and flattened her ears. “Oops. Sorry.”
Mistystar tried not to let her amusement show in her voice. “Thank you for reminding us, Pikepaw,” she meowed out loud. “Today we’re going to pretend that this stream is the lake, and the far bank is the border of one of the other Clans. All the territories slope down to the shore, but you’ll rarely find border patrols there because the other Clans don’t see water as a point of access. Why does this give us an advantage?”
“RiverClan fish! RiverClan swim! RiverClan warriors use water to win!” the young cats shouted.
“Exactly. Now follow me, and make sure only your ears, eyes, and nose show above the water.”
Mistystar jumped down the bank and slid into the stream. The water flattened her fur, cold and comforting and lifting her gently off her paws. She let herself sink until only her muzzle peeped out, tipping back her head to keep her eyes and ears level with the surface. Pushing off with one hind paw, she let the current sweep her into the center of the stream, using long, graceful strokes to propel her between the banks.
The apprentices struck out behind her; twisting her head, Mistystar saw Pikepaw sink so far down that only the tip of his nose was visible. She hoped he could still see where he was going.
Rushpaw and Tanglepaw’s littermate Duckpaw held herself higher in the water, but she swam strongly, without splashing. Tanglepaw looked as if he were putting in more effort—probably because of his long fur, Mistystar guessed. It took a while for a RiverClan cat’s fur to become glossy enough to shed water like a duck’s feathers, and Tanglepaw would be weighed down as it became sodden. Behind him, Rushpaw paddled frantically as she tried to keep up; her legs were below the surface, but Mistystar could tell she was struggling, because her head bobbed from side to side and her tongue peeped out as she panted for breath.
The stream curved between banks shored up with tree roots and then opened out beside a broad, sandy shore. Mistystar used her tail to steer her toward the beginning of the shore and bent her legs as soon as her paws brushed the bottom of the stream, staying in a crouched position to slip quietly out of the water. “Follow me,” she called over her shoulder. “I don’t want to hear any of you leaving the stream!”
She stood halfway up the shore, facing inland, listening for her apprentices. A whisper of droplets told her that the first cat had emerged. That was fine; a border patrol would pay no attention to that. Heavier pads on the sand gave away Tanglepaw’s exit, but masked any sound of Duckpaw.
Now they were waiting for Rushpaw.
“Ow!”
The muffled yelp was followed by a splash. Mistystar spun around to see Rushpaw vanish headfirst under the water, then bob up almost at once, spluttering and thrashing with her front paws.
“I stubbed my toe on a stone!” she wailed.
Pikepaw curled his lip and Tanglepaw rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Rushpaw, you’re hopeless!”
Rushpaw stumbled out of the water and stood on the sand, tilting back her head to glare at her brother. “I am not hopeless! I’m just a lot smaller than you!”
“If you’re that small, maybe you should have stayed in the nursery,” meowed Duckpaw. “You’re spoiling everything!”
Rushpaw’s tail drooped like a piece of wet fern. Mistystar stepped forward. “I would have made you all do the exercise again, anyway.” She didn’t want Rushpaw to get into trouble from her denmates because she had ruined their first exit. But Mistystar was beginning to have doubts about the undersized apprentice. RiverClan cats weren’t known for their long legs, but Rushpaw’s were shorter than most, and she didn’t seem to have the serious attitude toward training that the other apprentices did. Should she go back to the nursery for a couple of moons to gain some maturity?
The apprentices paddled back into the stream and swam out to the center.
“I’m going to be an enemy patrol,” Mistystar called. “See if you can surprise me upstream.” She trotted across the shore and ducked into the undergrowth farther up the bank.
In the water, Tanglepaw took charge. “Let’s swim ahead of her and set an ambush.”
“The bank slopes down again on the far side of that willow tree,” mewed Duckpaw. “We can climb out there.”
“Okay, but don’t swim too fast,” puffed Rushpaw.
“Perhaps you should stay here and keep watch in case she comes back?” Pikepaw suggested as he pushed off from the bottom.
Rushpaw splashed water at him with her front paw. “You’re not leaving me behind! I’ll get it right this time, I promise!”
Duckpaw circled around and swam alongside the little apprentice. “Don’t worry; we won’t leave you here. Just try to keep up, okay?”
“Er, I think we’re supposed to be swimming silently?” Tanglepaw reminded them over his shoulder. He struck out, leading the group around a curve in the stream, toward the willow tree. He couldn’t see Mistystar in the undergrowth that grew along the bank, and the noise of the water in his ears made it impossible to hear anything but the loudest birdcalls overhead. He just had to hope she was deep enough in the reeds that she didn’t know how far the apprentices had swum.
A narrow strip of pebbly beach opened up as they passed the trailing willow branches.
Tanglepaw steered into the cover of the delicate silver-green fronds and carefully lowered his paws to the bottom of the stream. The stones were larger here, and he took a moment to find his balance.
Duckpaw, Pikepaw, and Rushpaw swam in behind him. They were enclosed in a pale green cave dappled with sparkles reflecting from the water and hidden from the bank by the trunk of the willow tree. It was a perfect place to launch an ambush.
A tiny crackle downstream revealed that Mistystar was approaching.
“Get ready,” Tanglepaw whispered. “And remember, we can’t make any noise as we leave the water.”
Tanglepaw eased himself forward, placing each paw down before he lifted the next. Pikepaw, Duckpaw, and Rushpaw kept close to him, easing through the branches toward the open shore. Out of the corner of his eye, Tanglepaw glimpsed a pale gray flash behind the willow tree. Mistystar was coming closer.
“Quick!” he hissed under his breath. Crouching low, he waded clear of the water, keeping his belly fur on the surface until most of the water had run off his fur. Pikepaw followed, then Duckpaw.
But the she-cat moved too fast and sent back a small wave that slapped Rushpaw squarely across the muzzle.
“Ack!” she spluttered.
Tanglepaw froze. Behind the trunk of the willow tree, one of the shadows on the path stopped moving. Mistystar had heard the noise, too. She knew they were here; the exercise had failed!
Behind him, Rushpaw took another cautious step forward, as if she didn’t know the task was already over. Her paw slipped off a smooth stone underwater and she stumbled forward. She flicked her tail as she tried to keep her balance, sending a glittering arc of droplets through the air to land with a splash downstream.
Tanglepaw was about to tell Rushpaw she was the clumsiest cat in all of the Clans, ever, when he realized that the shadow behind the willow tree had changed shape. It had whisked around, and he could see the outline of two pointed ears facing the other way, in the direction where the drops had landed. The splash had confused Mistystar into thinking the apprentices were downstream!
“Come on!” whispered Tanglepaw, leaping out of the water. In two swift bounds, he crossed the stones and leaped into the mottled shadows behind the tree. Mistystar spun around, her mouth open with surprise. She didn’t have a chance to speak before all four apprentices bundled on top of her, claws sheathed, knocking her off her paws.
“Got you!” Duckpaw declared triumphantly.
“Did we pass the test?” Tanglepaw asked.
Mistystar pulled her muzzle free from Pikepaw’s tail and puffed, “Yes! You passed! Now get off me!”
“Oh, sorry.” Tanglepaw jumped up and gave the leader room to stand up and shake herself.
“Are you all here?” asked Mistystar, craning her neck to count them. “So who made that splash downstream?”
Rushpaw hung her head. “That was me,” she mewed in a small voice. “I lost my balance and my tail flicked some water.”
Mistystar stared at her. “It was a brilliant move! Making a noise downstream made me think you were somewhere completely different.”
Tanglepaw nodded. “I saw from your shadow that you’d turned around, so I realized we could still catch you by surprise.”
“That was very observant of you, Tanglepaw,” Mistystar praised him. “Now, Rushpaw, do you think you could show us exactly what you did?”
Rushpaw blinked. “You mean I did something right?”
“Better than that,” Mistystar told her. “You invented a brand-new tactic for water combat! And I think we’ll call it the Rushpaw Splash!”
Water Combat Moves
RiverClan warriors have developed special techniques for fighting in the water. The water techniques are a closely guarded secret among RiverClan cats, so all training is done out of sight, along the streams that run through the territory.
DOUBLE-FRONT-PAW SLAP-DOWN: Splashes water into the face of the enemy.
UNDERWATER LEG SWEEP (FRONT OR HIND): The opponent will not see it coming under the water so won’t have a chance to brace himself before losing his balance.
PUSH-DOWN AND RELEASE: Almost all non-RiverClan cats panic if they are submerged, while RiverClan cats know how to hold their breath underwater. This move can be used to secure a decisive victory, because it’s most likely to make the opponent surrender.
UNDERWATER CLINCH: Uses warrior’s weight to hold the opponent below the surface, with a firm grip that enables the warrior to bring his enemy spluttering back to the surface before forcing him under again.
TAIL SPLASH: Temporarily blinds opponent by flicking water in his eyes.
UNDERWATER PUSH-OFF: Crouching and erupting out of the water into opponent, using surprise and impact to knock him off balance.
RUSHPAW SPLASH: Using noise of water splashed at a distance to create a decoy, leaving opportunity for a surprise attack.
Hailstar Speaks: The Lost Kits
Great StarClan, if what I am about to do is wrong, then send me a sign and the kits will stay where they are.”
I tipped back my head and stared into the star-flecked sky. Silverpelt hung like a frosted cloud in the middle of the sky, an archway of ancient spirits leading to StarClan’s hunting grounds. Nothing moved. StarClan had spoken with their silence: The mission would go ahead.
I drew a deep breath. I had known I would face challenges when I became RiverClan’s leader, but this was beyond anything I had expected. For my Clan’s sake, I could not fail.
I padded through the reeds to the warriors’ den. The sound of breathing drifted on the cold air, with the scent of sleeping cats. Would they sleep so easily again after what I was about to ask them to do?
“Timberfur?” I whispered through the entrance.
A dark shape stirred inside, and Timberfur’s head popped out. “Hailstar! What is it?”
“Bring Rippleclaw, Owlfur, and Ottersplash,” I ordered. “Meet me outside the camp.”
The big brown tom blinked; then his head vanished. I slipped out of the clearing and sat on the narrow pathway between the reeds. I could hear the river sliding past; was it whispering a warning?
The warriors appeared, shaking sleep from their heads and stretching their paws. Ottersplash looked worried, the white patches on her ginger fur glowing like snow.
“I want you to come to WindClan with me. We are going to take back Fallowtail’s kits.”
Four pairs of eyes stared at me in disbelief. Owlfur spoke first. “But…but you agreed that Reedfeather could raise them in WindClan.”
Ottersplash nodded vigorously. “You said he had equal claim because he was their father, and RiverClan had enough mouths to feed this leaf-bare.”
I pictured the WindClan deputy’s glow of satisfaction as he led his daughters out of the RiverClan camp. Fallowtail had remained in the nursery, unable to watch. She knew she had broken the warrior code by falling in love with a WindClan cat; she was lucky that I had allowed her to stay in RiverClan after bearing his kits. There was no place for half-Clan cats in RiverClan. I wanted loyalty without question—I deserved it, because I was their leader.
But for the past moon I had watched Fallowtail slowly dying of grief for her lost kits. It was too great a punishment for her to bear.
“WindClan will expect this,” Rippleclaw warned, breaking into my thoughts. “Heatherstar announced at the Gathering that they had doubled their border patrols.”
“Not along the cliff,” I replied. “I’ve been watching for the last three nights. If we approach from the gorge, we should be able to get to the camp without meeting any patrols.”
“Then we’re going to take the kits by force?” meowed Timberfur.
I looked at him without blinking. “You think Reedfeather would give them back if we asked nicely?”
Timberfur turned his head away, his gaze shadowed. I didn’t allow myself time to wonder whether I was testing his warriors’ loyalty beyond their limits. “Follow me,” I ordered.
We walked in silence to the far border of their territory, where the wooden bridge crossed the river just after it spilled out of the gorge. The water stilled and flattened out in a matter of fox-lengths, as if it were exhausted by its maddened, foaming tumble between the high stone cliffs. On the far bank, a tiny path clung to the bottom of the stone, just above the water. If we could scale the cliff from there, we would be able to enter WindClan’s territory along the unguarded border.
Owlfur padded alongside me as I crossed the bridge. “Did you tell Fallowtail what you were going to do?”
I shook my head. “She’ll know when we succeed,” I meowed.
The climb to the top of the cliff was harder than I’d imagined; our thick fur weighed us down, and Timberfur tore one of his claws when he lost his grip on a paw hold. Only Ottersplash giving him a shove from below stopped him from crashing all the way down to the bottom, where the river foamed over jagged rocks.
Finally we hauled ourselves, panting, over the edge of the stone wall and lay flat on our bellies, listening. Rippleclaw raised his head. “No scent of any patrols,” he reported, keeping his mouth wide-open to taste the air. The breeze was blowing steadily from the forest, which would serve us well, bringing traces of any WindClan cats in that direction.
“Which way is the camp?” asked Ottersplash.
I tried to recall from my only previous visit, when I had been Heatherstar’s guest. “In the center of the moor, I think. It’s in a dip, so you can’t see it as you approach, but there is a circle of gorse around the top.”
Timberfur exhaled loudly. “So we’re looking for some gorse bushes…on a moor.”
“I never said it would be easy,” I told him.
The brown tom flashed a look of anger toward me. “I didn’t expect it to be. I’m a warrior, just like you are. Let’s go.” He strode away from the cliff, heading into the expanse of shadow that distinguished the moor from the night sky. We followed in single file, Owlfur at the rear.
Ottersplash’s white markings flared like starlight, and for a moment I wondered if it had been wise to bring her. Unlike the other Clans, WindClan hunted by sight, keeping watch for the flicker of movement that indicated a fleeing rabbit. Their patrols would be looking for intruders as well as listening and tasting the air. But we were deep into the moor now; there was no point sending Ottersplash back from here. Besides, we might need her.
Suddenly Timberfur froze. “Patrol dead ahead!” he hissed.
We flattened ourselves against the grass, feeling as exposed as rocks in an empty streambed. A
small group of WindClan cats—no more than three or four—appeared briefly over a rise, then disappeared again as the ground sloped downward toward the forest.
“They didn’t see us,” breathed Rippleclaw. “Let’s keep going.”
Behind me, I heard Ottersplash take a deep breath and swallow. “There’s stronger scent here.
We must be close to the camp.”
I peered into the darkness, trying to make out a circle of gorse. The moon was little more than a claw scratch in the sky, and the stars shed only the faintest light, so bushes and boulders showed up as patches of shadow against the dark bulk of the moor. But there was a line of bushes over to one side that looked more solid than the rest. Could they be sheltering the camp?
“That way,” I hissed.
As we started forward, Rippleclaw asked, “What do you want us to do when we get there?”
“You and Timberfur deal with the guards while we find the nursery. Ottersplash and Owlfur, you corner the queens, and I’ll get the kits. Once I’ve taken them outside the nursery, Owlfur, you pick up one of the kits and we’ll all make a run for it—but don’t head back to the cliff. We can’t carry the kits that way.”
“Five of us against an entire Clan?” Owlfur mused. “We’ll need to be lucky.”
“We’ll make our own luck,” I told him grimly.
The sharp scent of WindClan grew stronger as we approached the gorse bushes. Pushing through the barrier, I stood at the edge of the shallow dip and looked down at the camp. More bushes screened scoops in the dusty soil that must have made rather drafty dens, and on the far side, a hawthorn tree with low-hanging branches enclosed a nest where the faintest squeaks and rustlings could be heard.
“That must be the nursery,” I whispered, nodding toward the hawthorn.
Guards, Timberfur mouthed as two cats appeared at the rim of the hollow. He looked searchingly at me. “How much force do you want us to use?”
I knew what he was asking. I wasn’t going to tell my warriors to break the warrior code—that had suffered enough already—but I wanted those kits back where they belonged. “Enough.”
Timberfur nodded.
The guards were heading toward us but hadn’t seen us yet. Timberfur and Rippleclaw turned and vanished back through the gorse bushes. A moment later, they slipped into view just behind the patrolling cats. Silently, and perfectly in step, they sprang onto the backs of the guards and rolled them into the gorse. Any squawks were quickly muffled; the bushes quivered briefly; then all was still. I pictured my warriors sitting heavily on the WindClan cats, keeping them quiet.
Lifting my tail to signal to my Clanmates, I raced down the side of the hollow and across the clearing to the hawthorn.
“Stop! Who’s there?”
A yowl went up behind me; we’d been spotted. I nodded to Owlfur and Ottersplash, and they plunged through the branches of the hawthorn. At once the queens inside started shrieking and scrabbling to protect the kits. I spun around to face the cat who’d raised the alarm. It was Dawnstripe, her gold-and-cream-striped fur almost white in the starlight.
“Hailstar!” She gasped. “What are you doing?”
More cats were emerging from their dens around the hollow; there was no way any of them were going to listen to me. I whirled around and forced my way into the nursery. Inside was solid darkness, muggy and scented. “Ottersplash? Owlfur?” I hissed.
“Over here,” Owlfur replied from the far corner. His voice sounded muffled, as if he were holding fur in his mouth. “The kits are with me.”
There was a hiss and paws scrabbled against the earthen floor. “Let me go,” spat the queen.
“Those are WindClan kits!”
“Not anymore,” I growled. Nosing forward, being careful not to tread on any small bundles of fur, I found Fallowtail’s daughters. They were bigger than when I’d last seen them—of course—but they still carried her scent, and the touch of the fur reminded me of her softness. “Graykit? Willowkit?
It’s time to come home.”
I picked one of them up and it let out a squeak.
There was a snarl from the opposite corner. “Put her down, or you’ll regret it.”
Ottersplash’s paw landed on the queen’s ear with a smack. “Those kits are ours, and you know it.”
I couldn’t reply because I had a mouthful of fur. I backed out of the den, shuffling the other kit under my belly with my front paws. Hawthorn branches scraped my pelt; then cold air swept over my haunches. I turned around—and found a line of warriors facing me. Heatherstar stood in the center, her eyes fierce.
“You cannot steal our kits!”
I lowered the kit to the ground—I still wasn’t sure which one it was—and met the WindClan leader’s gaze. “They are RiverClan, too. They belong with their mother.”
“They are my kits as much as Fallowtail’s.” A pale brown tabby stepped alongside Heatherstar.
It was Reedfeather, the deputy. “You said we could have them!”
“I made a mistake.” I forced the words out, choking as if they were thistles. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“You can’t do that,” hissed Heatherstar.
There was movement behind me as Ottersplash and Owlfur emerged from the nursery. “He can,” meowed Owlfur softly. “And we’re here to help him.”
“Three of you against all of us?” Heatherstar sounded scornful.
“Actually, there are five. And right now, I’d say we held the advantage.”
Every cat, including me, turned to look up at the top of the hollow. Rippleclaw and Timberfur stood there with their unsheathed claws pressed against the throats of the guards.
“Let our Clanmates pass, or their blood will feed your barren home,” Timberfur went on. The eyes of the guard he was holding bulged madly.
Heatherstar took a step back. Her gaze when it met mine was puzzled and a little sorrowful. “A threat to kill? That is not how we fight, Hailstar.”
“It is when we have to,” I replied through clenched teeth. I picked up the kit once more, and Ottersplash scooped up the other one. With Owlfur beside us, we carried them through the silent
WindClan warriors and up the slope. Timberfur and Rippleclaw released the guards when we drew level; as the scrawny cats hurtled down the slope to their Clanmates, we pushed through the gorse bushes and started running for the border.
Thundering paw steps behind us told us that we were being pursued. I wasn’t surprised; I would have done the same.
“Faster!” panted Rippleclaw.
The dark ground was a blur beneath my paws, and the kit wailed as she bumped against my legs.
I tried to tip my head back to lift her higher, but she seemed to weigh as much as a full-grown cat, getting heavier with every stride. Owlfur tried to help me, but we couldn’t match our pace and ended up falling over each other, sending the kit flying through the air. Timberfur snatched her up and we raced on. Behind us, the sky was growing lighter, and ahead I could see the dark line of the forest, then an empty gray space where the land dipped down to the river.
“That way!” I screeched, swerving.
The ground started to slope in front of us, lending speed to our paws. But the WindClan warriors hadn’t already climbed up a cliff, and weren’t burdened by kits. I could feel their breath on my tail, and a barb of pain shot through me as one of them reached out to claw my flank. I wrenched myself away and kept running without looking back.
“Get into the river!” I yowled to my Clanmates.
Ottersplash grabbed a mouthful of fur on Timberfur’s kit, and Owlfur helped Rippleclaw with his. Side by side, the warriors raced awkwardly toward the water. I slowed down, offering myself as an easy target to our pursuers. At once I felt myself toppling over, crashing down on a rock, which sent a stab of agony along my ribs. Reedfeather stood over me, his lips pulled back in a snarl. “You can’t steal my kits!”
I looked up at him, wondering if I was about to lose one of my lives. “We already have!” I growled back.
Reedfeather raised his paw, ready to strike, when there was a screech from ahead. “They’re nearly at the river!”
He dropped his paw and leaped away from me. “Stop them!” he ordered.
Letting out a quavering breath, I rolled over and pushed myself up. My warriors stood knee-deep in the water, facing the WindClan cats, with the kits placed on stones above the surface behind them. I charged across the grass, ignoring the pain in my side, and sprang on Reedfeather from behind, knocking him into the river. Cold water rushed up to enfold us in a noisy, bubbling grip. I threw back my head and took a gulp of air before thrusting down with my front paws as hard as I could. Beneath me, Reedfeather struggled to get free, sending up another flood of tiny bubbles. I unsheathed my claws until they pricked his skin beneath his thin fur.
All around me, my warriors wrestled with WindClan cats. Owlfur swept one of his paws and left one cat floundering out of his depth. Ottersplash dived down and surfaced under the belly of another warrior, sending him lurching off balance. Meanwhile, Timberfur and Rippleclaw swam to the far side with the kits and deposited them on the shore.
“Hailstar? Hailstar! Stop!”
Owlfur was standing beside me, wild eyed with fear. I looked down and saw Reedfeather’s eyes beginning to close. His body hung heavily in my claws, and the bubbles were petering out. “You’re killing him!” Owlfur hissed.
In horror, I unhooked my claws and stepped back. Reedfeather’s body twitched in the current as he sank to the bottom. Owlfur pushed me back, ducked his head, and came up with the WindClan deputy hanging from his jaws. “Help me get him out!” he spluttered around a mouthful of sodden fur.
I grabbed the loose skin at the top of Reedfeather’s tail and hauled him onto the sand. The deputy lay still for a moment while Owlfur rubbed his chest. Behind me, the other WindClan warriors stood frozen in horror. They knew they had lost the battle with us; now they were willing Reedfeather to win his battle with the river.
Suddenly Reedfeather bucked under Owlfur’s paws and coughed up a stream of sticky water. He rolled onto his belly and coughed again.
“He’ll be okay now,” Owlfur meowed.
“No thanks to you,” snarled one of the warriors, stepping forward. He glanced across the river to where Timberfur and Rippleclaw were licking the kits in an effort to dry them out. “I hope they were worth it.”
I followed his gaze and thought of Fallowtail. “They are.”
Shortly before Graypaw’s sister, Willowpaw, was due to receive her warrior name, Fallowtail asked to speak to me in private.
“I’d like her warrior name to be Willowbreeze,” she meowed. “And Graypaw to be Graypool.
That way I’ll always know that my daughters carry the strength of wind and water together.”
I looked at her soft brown face, her blue eyes gazing earnestly into mine. She had never stopped loving Reedfeather, not for a single moment. I had won back her kits, but part of her heart lay on the moor, with the wind and the rabbits.
WindClan
WindClan Facts
Leader: Onestar
Deputy: Ashfoot
Medicine cat: Kestrelflight
Hunting territory: The open hillside
Camp: Shallow scoop in hillside
Unique battle skill: Speed and agility
Ashfoot’s Welcome
Welcome back, Onestar. I see your companions are still in one piece. They now know about three different kinds of combat—forest, water, and night. But they have yet to learn about WindClan’s strengths, which enable us to survive on the bleakest, most open territory, where there is nowhere to hide from invaders, and where borders lie open to the sky, as fragile as the breeze.
Come into our camp, kittypets. That’s right. Now settle down in the shade here, and help yourself to some fresh-kill. There are plenty of cats here with tales to tell you about battles from the past. See that dark gray tabby over there? That’s Webfoot, our best storyteller. You’ll have to squeeze past a crowd of kits to hear him talk!
You have nothing to fear here. Unlike the other Clans, who skulk in brambles or shadows or even in water, WindClan has nothing to hide. We live in the open, and we fight in the open, too, with two lines of cats facing one another across empty ground. This is surely the noblest way to fight. Both sides are equally prepared but only one Clan leaves the field victorious, in certain knowledge of its superior strength. The loser can only lick its wounds and accept that, this time, it fell short in strength, skill, or courage. Yes, the other Clans are content to skirmish amid bushes or mud, but as the great WindClan tactician Graywing the Wise taught us, it is open battles that carry the weight of destiny.
Special Battle Tactics
Graywing the Wise led WindClan many, many moons ago, before “star” was added to leaders’ names. He won the reputation for being the greatest leader of any Clan, thanks to his attention to battle strategy. He realized that the most important element of any battle was the position of warriors before and during combat. Using small stones and marks made by sticks on the floor of his den, he developed tactics for every sort of battle, even on WindClan’s open moorland territory, where there were no natural hiding places or traps.
1. APPROACH FROM ABOVE YOUR ENEMY.
The advantage of gaining the higher ground is that you can charge at greater speed at the enemy, who will be weakened by having to fight uphill.
2. USE THE LIGHT FROM THE SUN.
The sun should be behind you to dazzle the enemy. In greenleaf, the midday sun is especially bright and cruel to cats who are used to skulking under the cover of trees. In leaf-bare, the low sun hovers around the eye line like a troublesome bee; keep your enemies facing it, and they’ll have trouble seeing an attack from any direction.
3. KNOW WHERE THE WIND IS COMING FROM.
If there is a strong wind, it should blow from behind you toward the enemy, blinding them with dust and holding them back like the current of a river. If you wish to preserve the element of surprise, the wind should blow from the enemy position toward you so that your scent is carried away from them.
4. CONCEAL THE SIZE OF YOUR FORCE.
The number of cats in your battle patrols can be hidden to confuse the enemy from a distance. Cats packed tightly together will appear as a small attacking force, encouraging the enemy to be overconfident and make poor strategic decisions. Alternatively, if cats are spread out single file, they will look like a solid border of warriors, which will seem impenetrable to an advancing enemy.
5. ATTACK BOTH ENDS OF THE ENEMY LINE FIRST.
If both ends of the enemy’s line are defeated, the cats in the center of the line will have to fight on two fronts. Even if they are not outnumbered, they will be outflanked, vulnerable, and in disarray.
6. KEEP FRESH WARRIORS IN RESERVE.
Always have adequate reserves of fresh, fit warriors behind the battle line. They will be able to replace injured warriors, launch a separate attack if the enemy tries to encircle your forces, or fend off a surprise enemy from the rear. If the battle is in your favor, finish it by sending your reserve warriors behind the enemy line to surround them and demand surrender.
7. FEIGNED RETREAT AND AMBUSH.
A group of strong cats charges at the enemy, screeching, then turns around and withdraws. Repeat this until the infuriated enemy finally breaks its line and gives chase.
Then the trap is sprung. Other warriors positioned in rabbit holes and in dips in the ground—out of the enemies’ eye line—attack as soon as your opponents have gone past.
The enemy will be forced to stop and turn around to fight this unexpected threat, and as they do the retreating cats must turn and charge back at them at full speed. The enemy is caught between two bodies of attacking cats and will quickly surrender.
Webfoot Speaks: The Story of the Lost Tunneler
Okay, one story; then it’s bedtime for all of you. I will tell you about a distant ancestor of mine, a young tunneler named Rabbittail who lived in the very early time of the Clans, before the Twolegs built the Thunderpath that cut ShadowClan off from the rest of the forest. Without the stinking trail of monsters to divide them, and with few clear territory markers on the empty hillside, WindClan and ShadowClan were forever bickering and squabbling about where the boundary should lie. Finally, after yet another ShadowClan patrol ignored WindClan’s border marks, the two great Clans confronted each other on the moor for a deciding battle. Gorsestar, the WindClan leader, signaled to his Clanmates that they should use the feigned retreat and ambush against their crow-food-eating foes.
Rabbittail, who was pale gray with a stunted white tail like a rabbit’s, was one of the tunneling cats who crawled into a burrow, ready to attack the enemy as they crossed over his head. He figured that if he followed the tunnel farther down the hillside, he could come up on the far side of the enemy and attack them from behind at the same time his Clanmates appeared in the middle of their ranks.
As Rabbittail tunneled, he heard the WindClan warriors begin to charge and retreat above him, their paw steps echoing through the ground like thunder. But ShadowClan held steady, ignoring the insults hurled at them. Rabbittail kept going, right underneath the line of ShadowClan warriors. All at once, the ground shuddered above him! The enemy had finally taken the bait and were charging after the retreating WindClan cats. Rabbittail twisted and turned along the narrow black paths, looking for one that would lead him up to the surface so he could launch his own attack. But he had never tunneled this far before, and the paw steps thudding overhead confused him until he knew he was walking in circles. Rabbittail was lost.
He forced himself to stand still in the cold, empty dark, and waited for his senses to tell him which way he should go. He felt a cool breeze stroke his flank, carrying a faint scent of rabbit. A breeze on its own could signify nothing more than a long, steep, unclimbable shaft reaching far underground; but combined with rabbit scent, it suggested that Rabbittail was close to the surface. He headed back the way he had come, staying quiet and scenting the air every few paces. The breeze on his face led him down a side tunnel, where the darkness began to fade to gray. He was nearly out!
Suddenly there was a scrabbling noise behind him, and an earsplitting yap bounced off the rock walls. There was a dog in the tunnels! Peering over his shoulder, Rabbittail caught a glimpse of brown-and-white fur, a pointed muzzle, and glistening black eyes before he pushed off with his hind legs and ran as hard as he could. The tunnel twisted and turned, making him lose his footing more than once as he scrabbled to change direction. He could feel the dog’s hot, stinking breath on his haunches, and flecks of saliva spattered over his back. But the gray light was growing brighter ahead of him, pulling him on and giving extra speed to his tired paws.
The sky burst open in front of him, and Rabbittail hurled himself out of the mouth of the tunnel, springing with all four feet off the ground.
But he didn’t land with familiar prickly grass under his paws. Instead, he hung in midair, trapped in a floppy brown mesh that smelled strongly of Twolegs and rabbits. A furless pink face appeared beside him, shouting so loud that Rabbittail tried to shrink down in the net, but his hind paws slipped through the holes until he was swinging on his belly with his head twisted up at an angle. Behind him, to his horror, he saw a pile of dead rabbits, their necks broken. This was no tempting pile of fresh-kill: The Twoleg must have killed them when his dog chased them into the mesh.
Rabbittail was not used to giving up. He rolled onto his side and wrenched his paws clear of the mesh. Then he sank his claws into the coarse brown tendrils and ripped hard. One of his claws was torn out and blood sprang from his foot, making the dog circle madly on the ground below him. The Twoleg bellowed and shook the net, but Rabbittail clung on with his claws and hauled at the mesh until he felt it start to give way. He thrust down with his hind legs as hard as he could, and the mesh split open beneath him, spilling him onto the grass.
The dog pounced, but Rabbittail had already leaped up and was racing across the grass. He was on the far side of the moor from the camp, but there was a gully beyond the next rise that would lead him around the peak of the hill to just below the circle of gorse bushes that sheltered the dens.
For several long heartbeats, the dog chased him; Rabbittail considered whether he should find a burrow to hide in but decided that he might get lost again—and besides, the dog was small enough to follow him, as he had already found out. Just as he thought his legs would give way from exhaustion, the Twoleg shouted and Rabbittail heard the dog slither to a halt behind him. With a reluctant whine, it spun around and trotted back to the Twoleg.
Mouse-brained, fox-hearted, useless dog! Rabbittail thought as he skidded over the top of the rise and down into the gully. Gathering his paws beneath him, he headed for the camp, still running flat out. You’d better hope that Twoleg lets you share his fresh-kill pile, he thought, because you’re too dumb to catch your own prey.
Well, I think that’s enough. Bed, all of you! And when you wake up tomorrow, practice those battle skills. As the story proves, our battle skills serve us equally well in times of peace, giving us the strength and cunning to outwit Twolegs and dogs, and other creatures too dumb to know the skill of their enemies. Rabbittail never surrendered, and didn’t let courage abandon him even when he was cornered by a dog in a place where dogs weren’t supposed to be. Aboveground or in the tunnels, WindClan cats don’t give up as easily as the other Clans think. There have been no easy victories against WindClan warriors, nor will there ever be.
Heathertail Speaks: The Lost Skill of Tunneling
In the old territory, WindClan’s moor was almost hollow with tunnels and burrows, some made by animals, others by underground streams that cut through stone and sand to leave endless holes filled with nothing but darkness. The cats who first settled there realized that the tunnels could be used to their advantage—not just for storing fresh-kill or sheltering from the weather, but as a strength against their enemies, enabling WindClan warriors to move right across their territory without being seen.
Certain cats—usually the smallest—were trained as tunnelers, clearing the secret passageways and memorizing the cobweb of paths that led underground. Some led right into other Clans’ territories, giving a secret means of access into (or escape from) enemy camps; the exit was always carefully concealed with bracken and branches, and any trace of scent wiped away with the pelt of a freshly killed rabbit. Often the tunnelers grew so accustomed to working in blackness that they lost any daylight vision, and were clumsy and nervous above the ground. But once inside their tunnels, they could run as fast as any WindClan warrior, using scent and touch and sound to navigate their way beneath the entire forest.
Tunneling apprenticeships were keenly fought over—in spite of having to live in dark and cramped spaces for their working lives, tunnelers had special status among their Clanmates. Training took twice as long as for warriors, and injuries, even deaths, were common. A few hard-learned rules kept the most experienced tunnelers alive—and gave apprentices a chance to survive their first few moons below the surface of the moor.
They learned to leave a clear scent trail, marked like a border, so they could find a way out.
They came to recognize the feel of the wind on their muzzles, knowing that it did not necessarily mean they were approaching the surface; shafts strike far underground, bringing fresh air to the lowest tunnels, but it is not always possible to climb up them. And even the least experienced tunneler stayed alert for the sound of dripping water—rivers are no place for WindClan cats, whether they’re on the surface or belowground.
They learned to recognize the smell of underground animals, not to hunt them but to stay out of their way—no cat wants to end up in a den of foxes, and cornered rabbits can break ribs with their hind legs. After several moons of traveling below the surface, tunnelers were able to imagine their route aboveground, so they could keep track of where they were in the dark. This was the skill most highly prized among the Clan, because it was too easy to get lost in the darkness and vanish forever down a bottomless hole. These dark, secretive abilities were feared and respected by the tunnelers’ Clanmates as much as by the other Clans.
When we settled by the lake, our tunneling skills were abandoned. “There are no tunnels here,” declared the senior warriors. “All cats must be trained to hunt and fight aboveground from now on.”
But some of us know differently. Some of us have explored and played and battled for our lives in the web of tunnels coiled below our new home. Cats in other Clans know our secret—Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf. But it was all a terrible mistake. I should never have followed my curiosity belowground, out of the safety of daylight and fresh, clean air. I risked everything because I was in love with Lionblaze. But my discovery nearly carried us to StarClan—and the games we played ended up breaking our hearts.
WindClan Facts
Leader: Onestar
Deputy: Ashfoot
Medicine cat: Kestrelflight
Hunting territory: The open hillside
Camp: Shallow scoop in hillside
Unique battle skill: Speed and agility
Ashfoot’s Welcome
Welcome back, Onestar. I see your companions are still in one piece. They now know about three different kinds of combat—forest, water, and night. But they have yet to learn about WindClan’s strengths, which enable us to survive on the bleakest, most open territory, where there is nowhere to hide from invaders, and where borders lie open to the sky, as fragile as the breeze.
Come into our camp, kittypets. That’s right. Now settle down in the shade here, and help yourself to some fresh-kill. There are plenty of cats here with tales to tell you about battles from the past. See that dark gray tabby over there? That’s Webfoot, our best storyteller. You’ll have to squeeze past a crowd of kits to hear him talk!
You have nothing to fear here. Unlike the other Clans, who skulk in brambles or shadows or even in water, WindClan has nothing to hide. We live in the open, and we fight in the open, too, with two lines of cats facing one another across empty ground. This is surely the noblest way to fight. Both sides are equally prepared but only one Clan leaves the field victorious, in certain knowledge of its superior strength. The loser can only lick its wounds and accept that, this time, it fell short in strength, skill, or courage. Yes, the other Clans are content to skirmish amid bushes or mud, but as the great WindClan tactician Graywing the Wise taught us, it is open battles that carry the weight of destiny.
Special Battle Tactics
Graywing the Wise led WindClan many, many moons ago, before “star” was added to leaders’ names. He won the reputation for being the greatest leader of any Clan, thanks to his attention to battle strategy. He realized that the most important element of any battle was the position of warriors before and during combat. Using small stones and marks made by sticks on the floor of his den, he developed tactics for every sort of battle, even on WindClan’s open moorland territory, where there were no natural hiding places or traps.
1. APPROACH FROM ABOVE YOUR ENEMY.
The advantage of gaining the higher ground is that you can charge at greater speed at the enemy, who will be weakened by having to fight uphill.
2. USE THE LIGHT FROM THE SUN.
The sun should be behind you to dazzle the enemy. In greenleaf, the midday sun is especially bright and cruel to cats who are used to skulking under the cover of trees. In leaf-bare, the low sun hovers around the eye line like a troublesome bee; keep your enemies facing it, and they’ll have trouble seeing an attack from any direction.
3. KNOW WHERE THE WIND IS COMING FROM.
If there is a strong wind, it should blow from behind you toward the enemy, blinding them with dust and holding them back like the current of a river. If you wish to preserve the element of surprise, the wind should blow from the enemy position toward you so that your scent is carried away from them.
4. CONCEAL THE SIZE OF YOUR FORCE.
The number of cats in your battle patrols can be hidden to confuse the enemy from a distance. Cats packed tightly together will appear as a small attacking force, encouraging the enemy to be overconfident and make poor strategic decisions. Alternatively, if cats are spread out single file, they will look like a solid border of warriors, which will seem impenetrable to an advancing enemy.
5. ATTACK BOTH ENDS OF THE ENEMY LINE FIRST.
If both ends of the enemy’s line are defeated, the cats in the center of the line will have to fight on two fronts. Even if they are not outnumbered, they will be outflanked, vulnerable, and in disarray.
6. KEEP FRESH WARRIORS IN RESERVE.
Always have adequate reserves of fresh, fit warriors behind the battle line. They will be able to replace injured warriors, launch a separate attack if the enemy tries to encircle your forces, or fend off a surprise enemy from the rear. If the battle is in your favor, finish it by sending your reserve warriors behind the enemy line to surround them and demand surrender.
7. FEIGNED RETREAT AND AMBUSH.
A group of strong cats charges at the enemy, screeching, then turns around and withdraws. Repeat this until the infuriated enemy finally breaks its line and gives chase.
Then the trap is sprung. Other warriors positioned in rabbit holes and in dips in the ground—out of the enemies’ eye line—attack as soon as your opponents have gone past.
The enemy will be forced to stop and turn around to fight this unexpected threat, and as they do the retreating cats must turn and charge back at them at full speed. The enemy is caught between two bodies of attacking cats and will quickly surrender.
Webfoot Speaks: The Story of the Lost Tunneler
Okay, one story; then it’s bedtime for all of you. I will tell you about a distant ancestor of mine, a young tunneler named Rabbittail who lived in the very early time of the Clans, before the Twolegs built the Thunderpath that cut ShadowClan off from the rest of the forest. Without the stinking trail of monsters to divide them, and with few clear territory markers on the empty hillside, WindClan and ShadowClan were forever bickering and squabbling about where the boundary should lie. Finally, after yet another ShadowClan patrol ignored WindClan’s border marks, the two great Clans confronted each other on the moor for a deciding battle. Gorsestar, the WindClan leader, signaled to his Clanmates that they should use the feigned retreat and ambush against their crow-food-eating foes.
Rabbittail, who was pale gray with a stunted white tail like a rabbit’s, was one of the tunneling cats who crawled into a burrow, ready to attack the enemy as they crossed over his head. He figured that if he followed the tunnel farther down the hillside, he could come up on the far side of the enemy and attack them from behind at the same time his Clanmates appeared in the middle of their ranks.
As Rabbittail tunneled, he heard the WindClan warriors begin to charge and retreat above him, their paw steps echoing through the ground like thunder. But ShadowClan held steady, ignoring the insults hurled at them. Rabbittail kept going, right underneath the line of ShadowClan warriors. All at once, the ground shuddered above him! The enemy had finally taken the bait and were charging after the retreating WindClan cats. Rabbittail twisted and turned along the narrow black paths, looking for one that would lead him up to the surface so he could launch his own attack. But he had never tunneled this far before, and the paw steps thudding overhead confused him until he knew he was walking in circles. Rabbittail was lost.
He forced himself to stand still in the cold, empty dark, and waited for his senses to tell him which way he should go. He felt a cool breeze stroke his flank, carrying a faint scent of rabbit. A breeze on its own could signify nothing more than a long, steep, unclimbable shaft reaching far underground; but combined with rabbit scent, it suggested that Rabbittail was close to the surface. He headed back the way he had come, staying quiet and scenting the air every few paces. The breeze on his face led him down a side tunnel, where the darkness began to fade to gray. He was nearly out!
Suddenly there was a scrabbling noise behind him, and an earsplitting yap bounced off the rock walls. There was a dog in the tunnels! Peering over his shoulder, Rabbittail caught a glimpse of brown-and-white fur, a pointed muzzle, and glistening black eyes before he pushed off with his hind legs and ran as hard as he could. The tunnel twisted and turned, making him lose his footing more than once as he scrabbled to change direction. He could feel the dog’s hot, stinking breath on his haunches, and flecks of saliva spattered over his back. But the gray light was growing brighter ahead of him, pulling him on and giving extra speed to his tired paws.
The sky burst open in front of him, and Rabbittail hurled himself out of the mouth of the tunnel, springing with all four feet off the ground.
But he didn’t land with familiar prickly grass under his paws. Instead, he hung in midair, trapped in a floppy brown mesh that smelled strongly of Twolegs and rabbits. A furless pink face appeared beside him, shouting so loud that Rabbittail tried to shrink down in the net, but his hind paws slipped through the holes until he was swinging on his belly with his head twisted up at an angle. Behind him, to his horror, he saw a pile of dead rabbits, their necks broken. This was no tempting pile of fresh-kill: The Twoleg must have killed them when his dog chased them into the mesh.
Rabbittail was not used to giving up. He rolled onto his side and wrenched his paws clear of the mesh. Then he sank his claws into the coarse brown tendrils and ripped hard. One of his claws was torn out and blood sprang from his foot, making the dog circle madly on the ground below him. The Twoleg bellowed and shook the net, but Rabbittail clung on with his claws and hauled at the mesh until he felt it start to give way. He thrust down with his hind legs as hard as he could, and the mesh split open beneath him, spilling him onto the grass.
The dog pounced, but Rabbittail had already leaped up and was racing across the grass. He was on the far side of the moor from the camp, but there was a gully beyond the next rise that would lead him around the peak of the hill to just below the circle of gorse bushes that sheltered the dens.
For several long heartbeats, the dog chased him; Rabbittail considered whether he should find a burrow to hide in but decided that he might get lost again—and besides, the dog was small enough to follow him, as he had already found out. Just as he thought his legs would give way from exhaustion, the Twoleg shouted and Rabbittail heard the dog slither to a halt behind him. With a reluctant whine, it spun around and trotted back to the Twoleg.
Mouse-brained, fox-hearted, useless dog! Rabbittail thought as he skidded over the top of the rise and down into the gully. Gathering his paws beneath him, he headed for the camp, still running flat out. You’d better hope that Twoleg lets you share his fresh-kill pile, he thought, because you’re too dumb to catch your own prey.
Well, I think that’s enough. Bed, all of you! And when you wake up tomorrow, practice those battle skills. As the story proves, our battle skills serve us equally well in times of peace, giving us the strength and cunning to outwit Twolegs and dogs, and other creatures too dumb to know the skill of their enemies. Rabbittail never surrendered, and didn’t let courage abandon him even when he was cornered by a dog in a place where dogs weren’t supposed to be. Aboveground or in the tunnels, WindClan cats don’t give up as easily as the other Clans think. There have been no easy victories against WindClan warriors, nor will there ever be.
Heathertail Speaks: The Lost Skill of Tunneling
In the old territory, WindClan’s moor was almost hollow with tunnels and burrows, some made by animals, others by underground streams that cut through stone and sand to leave endless holes filled with nothing but darkness. The cats who first settled there realized that the tunnels could be used to their advantage—not just for storing fresh-kill or sheltering from the weather, but as a strength against their enemies, enabling WindClan warriors to move right across their territory without being seen.
Certain cats—usually the smallest—were trained as tunnelers, clearing the secret passageways and memorizing the cobweb of paths that led underground. Some led right into other Clans’ territories, giving a secret means of access into (or escape from) enemy camps; the exit was always carefully concealed with bracken and branches, and any trace of scent wiped away with the pelt of a freshly killed rabbit. Often the tunnelers grew so accustomed to working in blackness that they lost any daylight vision, and were clumsy and nervous above the ground. But once inside their tunnels, they could run as fast as any WindClan warrior, using scent and touch and sound to navigate their way beneath the entire forest.
Tunneling apprenticeships were keenly fought over—in spite of having to live in dark and cramped spaces for their working lives, tunnelers had special status among their Clanmates. Training took twice as long as for warriors, and injuries, even deaths, were common. A few hard-learned rules kept the most experienced tunnelers alive—and gave apprentices a chance to survive their first few moons below the surface of the moor.
They learned to leave a clear scent trail, marked like a border, so they could find a way out.
They came to recognize the feel of the wind on their muzzles, knowing that it did not necessarily mean they were approaching the surface; shafts strike far underground, bringing fresh air to the lowest tunnels, but it is not always possible to climb up them. And even the least experienced tunneler stayed alert for the sound of dripping water—rivers are no place for WindClan cats, whether they’re on the surface or belowground.
They learned to recognize the smell of underground animals, not to hunt them but to stay out of their way—no cat wants to end up in a den of foxes, and cornered rabbits can break ribs with their hind legs. After several moons of traveling below the surface, tunnelers were able to imagine their route aboveground, so they could keep track of where they were in the dark. This was the skill most highly prized among the Clan, because it was too easy to get lost in the darkness and vanish forever down a bottomless hole. These dark, secretive abilities were feared and respected by the tunnelers’ Clanmates as much as by the other Clans.
When we settled by the lake, our tunneling skills were abandoned. “There are no tunnels here,” declared the senior warriors. “All cats must be trained to hunt and fight aboveground from now on.”
But some of us know differently. Some of us have explored and played and battled for our lives in the web of tunnels coiled below our new home. Cats in other Clans know our secret—Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf. But it was all a terrible mistake. I should never have followed my curiosity belowground, out of the safety of daylight and fresh, clean air. I risked everything because I was in love with Lionblaze. But my discovery nearly carried us to StarClan—and the games we played ended up breaking our hearts.
SkyClan
SkyClan Facts
Leader: Leafstar
Deputy: Sharpclaw
Medicine cat: Echosong
Hunting territory: A sandy gorge
Camp: Caves in wall of gorge
Unique battle skill: Aboveground combat
Buzzardstar’s Welcome
Hello, kittypets. Don’t be scared; you’re asleep in WindClan’s apprentice den, safe and well fed.
My name is Buzzardstar, and I was once the leader of a Clan many days’ travel from here. Even though I went to StarClan long ago, I can walk in the dreams of some cats. You are lucky that I can walk in yours, because there’s one more Clan that you need to know about. Its name was SkyClan, and we were once the equal of any of the four Clans by the lake.
We earned our name because our warriors were happiest in the trees, hunting birds and climbing into nests for juicy, warm eggs. We could jump higher than any other cats, and climb more confidently, even to the thinnest branches. Like the hawks and eagles who swoop silently down on prey from above, SkyClan warriors could launch into battle from the air, dropping down on the enemy from the branches of trees and catching even the wariest intruders by surprise.
We were driven out of the forest many moons ago, when I was the deputy, after our territory was destroyed by Twolegs building new nests. We tried to make a new home at the source of the river that flowed through the forest, but we faced too many enemies, and within a few generations, my Clan had disappeared.
Even after watching the heartbreaking defeat of the Clanmates who came after me, I knew that SkyClan could live again, strong and proud and preserved by the warrior code. Cloudstar, the leader I had served under as a deputy, summoned Firestar from ThunderClan to find the descendants of the cats who had lived in the gorge and create a new SkyClan for their ancestors—my Clanmates and me—to watch over and protect. Now my Clan lives once more, relearning the old battle moves that moons ago made SkyClan one of the most respected Clans of the forest.
Special Battle Tactic: Sparrowpaw Explains the Sky-drop
Clovertail? Clovertail, are you awake? Oh, good. I thought all those kits might have worn you out.
Er, yes, they’re lovely. Are they supposed to be that loud? Have they got a thorn stuck in them? They can’t be hungry, surely! All they do is drink milk!
I think this one here’s gone to sleep. Is that okay? Should I wake him up in case he’s still hungry?
I guess it would be nice for you if they all went to sleep. Okay, I’ll leave him alone. Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know his tail was right by my foot! Shhhh, little cat. It’s all right; have some more milk. That’s better. Where was I?
I wanted to tell you about this totally amazing battle move Sharpclaw taught me today.
Apparently our ancestors—you know, the first SkyClan—used it all the time to defeat their enemies.
Skywatcher told Firestar, and Firestar told Sharpclaw, and now he’s going to teach all the apprentices! But he started with me, which must mean I’m the best, or the strongest, or the smartest, right?
Oh, yes, my new battle move. It’s called the Sky-drop! Like something an eagle would do! It was just me doing it today, but usually it would be a whole bunch of warriors, called the drop patrol.
First I had to climb this really high tree. Then I had to wait on a branch, where I could see the path underneath in both directions. Sharpclaw says that cats tend to look directly ahead or side to side—not up or down. So they don’t realize there’s a patrol right above their heads! SkyClan is so smart!
You don’t just have to climb the tree quietly—which can be really hard when you get your paw stuck in a hole in the bark, let me tell you—you also have to be dead silent when you’re waiting in the branches.
You can’t move a muscle, not even one little hair, in case that makes a leaf move. Do you have any idea how noisy leaves can be? When they’re right by your ears, that rustling is like thunder! No wonder I couldn’t hear Sharpclaw muttering down below. It was totally unfair that he got so mad at me. I am not as deaf as an old badger, so there!
And Sharpclaw says it’s even harder to stay hidden in leaf-bare because there are no leaves to cover you. And if the sun’s shining, then you have to remember that the enemy can see your shadow on the ground.
Today, Whitewhisker was pretending to be my enemy. So after I’d been waiting up there for about a moon, not breathing or anything, Whitewhisker walked along the path. When he was right underneath my branch, I let myself fall straight down, like Sharpclaw said—he wanted my belly to land on Whitewhisker’s back so that I knocked him over. Later on I’ll learn how to drop with my claws out, or ready to flick the enemy off his feet with my legs. And how to swing from my front legs to claw the enemy’s face with my hind paws! There’s no way we could lose a battle if we did that! I kind of wish there were some Clans living closer, just so we could be invaded. I’d be up the nearest tree, ready to squash them flat!
What? Oh, Whitewhisker’s fine. I didn’t actually land exactly where I was supposed to. You don’t know how confusing it is to be up a tree, trying to balance on the thinnest branch you ever saw, and keep watching your enemy, and make sure you jump off at the right time. Sharpclaw says I was nowhere near Whitewhisker, but I definitely felt his tail brush against me. And that would be a pretty big shock for an invader, right? I bet it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t land on top of them. They might think it was raining cats! Splash! Splosh!
Oops. Sorry. Wow, for such stumpy little tails, they sure stretch a long way. Hey, can you believe they’re still hungry? They must be all belly and nothing else inside! Well, good luck getting them back to sleep, Clovertail. They wake up really easily, you know. Maybe you should train them to sleep a bit more deeply? Okay, see you later!
Aboveground Battle Moves
It is a matter of great pride to SkyClan apprentices that they can carry out the Sky-drop, as well as these other moves.
THE SKY-CRUSHER: Landing with all four feet on top of an opponent, flattening him like a leaf.
THE FLICK-OVER: Landing with front paws outstretched to sweep the opponent off his feet and roll him onto his back.
THE KICK: Kicking down hard as the warrior nears the ground, then using momentum from landing to spring away before the opponent can retaliate.
THE SLICE: Dropping down with claws unsheathed for maximum injury.
THE BRANCH SWING: Holding on to branch with front claws and swinging hind legs into the opponent’s face.
THE REVERSE BRANCH SWING: Holding on to branch with hind claws and striking with front legs through the swing.
THE TRUNK SPRING: Sliding down trunk and springing off at head height, using hind legs to push off and clear opponents (good if tree is surrounded).
THE REVERSE CLIMB: Climbing backward up the trunk as the opponent advances to gain advantage of height; often followed by Trunk Spring.
Cloudstorm Speaks: A Lesson to Kittypet Thieves
A battle against those mangy kittypets?” Nightfur’s eyes gleamed, and he unsheathed his claws as if he were already imagining sinking them into glossy fur. The spine of a feather cracked under his front paw, and I looked down at the tattered remains of the plump thrush. It was inedible now, after the trespassers from Twolegplace had toyed with it and dragged it through the mud, not giving it the swift and respectful death that a warrior gives to its prey.
“They won’t stand a chance against us!” Nightfur’s apprentice, Fernpaw, agreed. “Once we drop out of the trees, we’ll find out just how fast they can run—back to their precious Twolegs!”
I shook my head. “We can’t fight them in our territory.”
Buzzardpaw, an apprentice with a reputation for taking on warriors twice his size in battle practice without flinching, curled his lip. “How can you say that? Those kittypets ignore our border marks, chase off our patrols, and steal our prey. Are you suggesting we’re too scared to defend ourselves?” he growled.
“Of course he isn’t!” Birdflight, a she-cat who had been made warrior at the same time as me, jumped to my defense. “Cloudstorm is as brave as any of you—probably braver!”
I was grateful for her vote of confidence, but I didn’t want our Clanmates thinking that I needed her to stand up for me. I blinked at her to say thanks, then got to my paws to address the gathered cats.
“We know that the Twolegs are already uncomfortably close to our borders. We can tolerate them—but not their kittypets. These aren’t fat, lazy, overfed creatures, but young, strong, bold cats who catch the birds we need for food, jumping high enough and fast enough to snag them in their claws and drag them out of the sky. They must have watched us train our apprentices in order to copy our hunting skills.”
I noticed Petalfall, the deputy, widen her green eyes in surprise. As one of the youngest warriors, it wasn’t my place to take charge of the Clan meeting. But she gave a tiny nod, so I carried on. I hoped she’d think my plan was good enough to report to Flystar when he returned from the Moonstone.
“We can’t fight the kittypets in SkyClan because they don’t all come here at once,” I explained.
“If we scare a couple of them enough, they’ll soon tell their thieving friends to keep away!” Nightfur interrupted.
“How do we know they talk to one another?” I argued. “They come from different Twoleg nests; they might not even know that other kittypets come into the woods, too. We need to take the battle to them. We must launch an attack on Twolegplace!”
There was silence. Then Fernpaw mewed, “What, all of it?”
“Of course not. Look.” Using one of my foreclaws, I drew a line on the dusty ground. “This is the border between Twolegplace and our territory—it’s a fence, right? About the height of a low tree, so we could still use a Sky-drop from it?” As my Clanmates shuffled closer, I drew some straight-edged shapes to represent Twoleg nests, with narrow paths between them. “We’ll attack the kittypets closest to the fence first—on a sunny day they tend to lie in their own territories. After all, they don’t need to hunt our prey for their food.”
There were growls of agreement. Petalfall rested the tip of one claw on my dust marks. “What about the other kittypets? They don’t all live underneath the fence.”
“For those, we’ll send patrols farther into Twolegplace,” I meowed, tracing a line around the shapes on the ground. “Most of the little territories are enclosed with fences, and some have small trees that we can use to our advantage.” I looked up and felt my heart pounding with excitement.
“We’ll show them we can fight as well in their territory as ours!”
“We’ll invade Twolegplace!” Nightfur yowled. “This will be the greatest battle in SkyClan’s history!”
We were ready at dawn the following day. Flystar hadn’t returned from the Moonstone, but Petalfall agreed that we couldn’t wait any longer. With every day that passed, we lost prey to our kittypet enemies. The air was warm before sunrise, promising the kind of hot, sleepy day that would keep the kittypets sprawled in their fussy, cramped territories. We set off through the trees in tense silence, four patrols, each with a different part of Twolegplace to attack. We’d start by lining up along the outer fence to deal with the kittypets who lived closest to the forest so that they couldn’t send word to the others that they were under attack. Then we’d move into Twolegplace in four directions, using all the aboveground moves and warrior skills that defended our territory from other rivals.
Petalfall drew alongside me. Her rose-cream fur sparkled with dew, and the tips of her ears were dark with water as she brushed through the cool ferns. Her green eyes were worried, so I slowed my pace and steered deeper into the undergrowth, where we could talk without being overheard by the others.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Petalfall blinked, as if she hadn’t realized her thoughts were so obvious. “I think Flystar should know what we’re doing,” she meowed.
“He will, when we greet him with news of our victory,” I answered.
“But what if StarClan has told him to do something else to deal with the kittypets? What if StarClan doesn’t want us to attack them like this, in their own territory?”
I stopped and faced her. “Our warrior ancestors gave us the warrior code and the battle skills to protect and feed ourselves. They don’t live among us, risking their fur to catch prey and drive out trespassers. These are things we must do for ourselves. We should be grateful for what they have taught us, but our actions are our own.”
Petalfall took a step back. “But StarClan guides us in all things!”
“StarClan watches us,” I corrected her. “That’s different. It was my idea to take the fight into Twolegplace, not theirs. I hope we have their support, but our paws will carry us into battle, our claws will prove our strength to those thieving kittypets. This is our fight to win, not StarClan’s.”
Petalfall turned away, and for a moment I thought she was going to leave me there in the dew-heavy ferns and go back to the camp. I opened my mouth to ask her to stay—we’d need her skills and her courage—just as she paused and looked back at me. “I will fight alongside you,” she meowed quietly. “And with StarClan’s blessing, we will win. But if I were you, I’d be careful about dismissing our ancestors so lightly. We owe them everything, and it is a debt that will never be repaid.”
The top of the fence dug into my belly as I lowered myself over, stretching my forepaws toward the ground and steadying my weight with the tips of my claws on the smooth, strong-smelling wood. I was aiming for a Trunk Spring to carry me over the thorny bush at the foot of the fence, leaving a clear run across the green grass to the kittypet sprawled under a tree on the far side. I heard fences creak on either side as my Clanmates eased themselves into position; one easy leap took us to the top of the fence, but our next move would be slow and careful, in order to take the kittypets by surprise. The slender wood underneath me wobbled as Birdflight lost her balance for a moment.
“Sorry!” she whispered from the territory beside mine.
I didn’t reply, just sank one claw into the fence to hold myself still. From the other side came a low hiss. It was Petalfall’s command to attack. The fences groaned as we pushed off with our hind legs and sprang into the Twoleg territories. My paws thudded onto soft grass and I crossed the distance to the tree in two bounds. The kittypet, a brown tabby with a flash of white on his chest, barely had time to lift his head before I pounced on him with my claws unsheathed.
“Wha…?” he yowled. “Get off me!”
I cuffed his muzzle and jumped back as drops of blood scattered across my chest. “Stay out of our territory!” I snarled. From the other side of the fence, I could hear Birdflight hissing and spitting at the fat orange tom who’d stolen a squirrel in front of our hunting patrol three sunrises ago.
The brown tabby scrabbled backward, his eyes stretched wide. I tensed. There was something about the way he kept his hind paws tucked under him, the flex of his pelt as he gathered his haunches… I was ready when he sprang, screeching in an echo of my own battle cry, raking the air with his outstretched claws. I flipped sideways, swiping his back feet from under him as I ducked away from his front paws. The tabby landed with a thud on the hard-packed earth. I stood over him and lowered my face until my muzzle was nearly touching his.
“Stay away from the forest,” I hissed. “The prey is ours, and we can fight harder than this if we have to.”
“Keep looking over your shoulder, fox-breath, because one day you might have to,” the tabby grunted between clenched teeth.
I rested one paw on his throat and let my claws sink through his fur until I felt his skin flex beneath the thorn-sharp tips. “I could finish this now if you like,” I offered.
The tabby winced, but to his credit, he didn’t take his gaze from mine. “Those scrawny birds aren’t worth fighting for,” he growled. “You’re welcome to them.”
I lowered my paw and stepped back. The tabby sat up and blinked. “Is that it?” he mewed hoarsely.
I shook my head. “Only for you. Your thieving friends will be getting the same warning, wherever they are.”
I spun around, racing for the gap at the side of the Twoleg nest that would lead me farther into kittypet territory. All around, I heard yowls of triumph from my Clanmates, and kittypet snarls abruptly cut off as the SkyClan warriors showed just how far we would go to keep our borders safe.
When I burst onto the Thunderpath on the other side of the Twoleg nest, Birdflight and Buzzardpaw joined me, panting but bright-eyed with victory. I nodded to the ugly red nests across the hard black path. Side by side, we leaped forward to search out the next thief who would learn to leave the forest alone.
We won the battle, of course. Fired with hunger and fury after spending moons watching pampered kitties steal our prey, we dropped like hawks from trees and walls onto our startled enemies. We had the advantage of battle training as well as surprise; most of the time we barely needed to unsheathe our claws before the kittypets fled, or cowered in corners, begging for mercy. We stormed through Twolegplace, leaving no kittypet under the illusion that they would be welcome in the forest again.
Some even pathetically offered to bring us their own food—as if we wouldn’t rather starve than eat kittypet slop.
When Flystar returned from the Moonstone, he was relieved that we had secured our territory and made our prey our own once more. He summoned the Clan to thank the warriors who had taken the battle beyond our boundaries, and to order extra patrols for the next moon to make sure the kittypets stayed away. He said nothing about what StarClan had told him. Had they offered a different solution that was no longer needed? Or had they reminded Flystar that his Clan’s strength lay in his living warriors, with sharp claws and hard-learned battle skills?
When Petalfall met my gaze across the camp, I lifted my chin, acknowledging what I had believed all along: that SkyClan’s survival lay in our power, in the strength and swiftness of our paws, the thrust of our hind legs as we leaped higher than any other cat, and not in any dreams of warriors past.
SkyClan Facts
Leader: Leafstar
Deputy: Sharpclaw
Medicine cat: Echosong
Hunting territory: A sandy gorge
Camp: Caves in wall of gorge
Unique battle skill: Aboveground combat
Buzzardstar’s Welcome
Hello, kittypets. Don’t be scared; you’re asleep in WindClan’s apprentice den, safe and well fed.
My name is Buzzardstar, and I was once the leader of a Clan many days’ travel from here. Even though I went to StarClan long ago, I can walk in the dreams of some cats. You are lucky that I can walk in yours, because there’s one more Clan that you need to know about. Its name was SkyClan, and we were once the equal of any of the four Clans by the lake.
We earned our name because our warriors were happiest in the trees, hunting birds and climbing into nests for juicy, warm eggs. We could jump higher than any other cats, and climb more confidently, even to the thinnest branches. Like the hawks and eagles who swoop silently down on prey from above, SkyClan warriors could launch into battle from the air, dropping down on the enemy from the branches of trees and catching even the wariest intruders by surprise.
We were driven out of the forest many moons ago, when I was the deputy, after our territory was destroyed by Twolegs building new nests. We tried to make a new home at the source of the river that flowed through the forest, but we faced too many enemies, and within a few generations, my Clan had disappeared.
Even after watching the heartbreaking defeat of the Clanmates who came after me, I knew that SkyClan could live again, strong and proud and preserved by the warrior code. Cloudstar, the leader I had served under as a deputy, summoned Firestar from ThunderClan to find the descendants of the cats who had lived in the gorge and create a new SkyClan for their ancestors—my Clanmates and me—to watch over and protect. Now my Clan lives once more, relearning the old battle moves that moons ago made SkyClan one of the most respected Clans of the forest.
Special Battle Tactic: Sparrowpaw Explains the Sky-drop
Clovertail? Clovertail, are you awake? Oh, good. I thought all those kits might have worn you out.
Er, yes, they’re lovely. Are they supposed to be that loud? Have they got a thorn stuck in them? They can’t be hungry, surely! All they do is drink milk!
I think this one here’s gone to sleep. Is that okay? Should I wake him up in case he’s still hungry?
I guess it would be nice for you if they all went to sleep. Okay, I’ll leave him alone. Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know his tail was right by my foot! Shhhh, little cat. It’s all right; have some more milk. That’s better. Where was I?
I wanted to tell you about this totally amazing battle move Sharpclaw taught me today.
Apparently our ancestors—you know, the first SkyClan—used it all the time to defeat their enemies.
Skywatcher told Firestar, and Firestar told Sharpclaw, and now he’s going to teach all the apprentices! But he started with me, which must mean I’m the best, or the strongest, or the smartest, right?
Oh, yes, my new battle move. It’s called the Sky-drop! Like something an eagle would do! It was just me doing it today, but usually it would be a whole bunch of warriors, called the drop patrol.
First I had to climb this really high tree. Then I had to wait on a branch, where I could see the path underneath in both directions. Sharpclaw says that cats tend to look directly ahead or side to side—not up or down. So they don’t realize there’s a patrol right above their heads! SkyClan is so smart!
You don’t just have to climb the tree quietly—which can be really hard when you get your paw stuck in a hole in the bark, let me tell you—you also have to be dead silent when you’re waiting in the branches.
You can’t move a muscle, not even one little hair, in case that makes a leaf move. Do you have any idea how noisy leaves can be? When they’re right by your ears, that rustling is like thunder! No wonder I couldn’t hear Sharpclaw muttering down below. It was totally unfair that he got so mad at me. I am not as deaf as an old badger, so there!
And Sharpclaw says it’s even harder to stay hidden in leaf-bare because there are no leaves to cover you. And if the sun’s shining, then you have to remember that the enemy can see your shadow on the ground.
Today, Whitewhisker was pretending to be my enemy. So after I’d been waiting up there for about a moon, not breathing or anything, Whitewhisker walked along the path. When he was right underneath my branch, I let myself fall straight down, like Sharpclaw said—he wanted my belly to land on Whitewhisker’s back so that I knocked him over. Later on I’ll learn how to drop with my claws out, or ready to flick the enemy off his feet with my legs. And how to swing from my front legs to claw the enemy’s face with my hind paws! There’s no way we could lose a battle if we did that! I kind of wish there were some Clans living closer, just so we could be invaded. I’d be up the nearest tree, ready to squash them flat!
What? Oh, Whitewhisker’s fine. I didn’t actually land exactly where I was supposed to. You don’t know how confusing it is to be up a tree, trying to balance on the thinnest branch you ever saw, and keep watching your enemy, and make sure you jump off at the right time. Sharpclaw says I was nowhere near Whitewhisker, but I definitely felt his tail brush against me. And that would be a pretty big shock for an invader, right? I bet it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t land on top of them. They might think it was raining cats! Splash! Splosh!
Oops. Sorry. Wow, for such stumpy little tails, they sure stretch a long way. Hey, can you believe they’re still hungry? They must be all belly and nothing else inside! Well, good luck getting them back to sleep, Clovertail. They wake up really easily, you know. Maybe you should train them to sleep a bit more deeply? Okay, see you later!
Aboveground Battle Moves
It is a matter of great pride to SkyClan apprentices that they can carry out the Sky-drop, as well as these other moves.
THE SKY-CRUSHER: Landing with all four feet on top of an opponent, flattening him like a leaf.
THE FLICK-OVER: Landing with front paws outstretched to sweep the opponent off his feet and roll him onto his back.
THE KICK: Kicking down hard as the warrior nears the ground, then using momentum from landing to spring away before the opponent can retaliate.
THE SLICE: Dropping down with claws unsheathed for maximum injury.
THE BRANCH SWING: Holding on to branch with front claws and swinging hind legs into the opponent’s face.
THE REVERSE BRANCH SWING: Holding on to branch with hind claws and striking with front legs through the swing.
THE TRUNK SPRING: Sliding down trunk and springing off at head height, using hind legs to push off and clear opponents (good if tree is surrounded).
THE REVERSE CLIMB: Climbing backward up the trunk as the opponent advances to gain advantage of height; often followed by Trunk Spring.
Cloudstorm Speaks: A Lesson to Kittypet Thieves
A battle against those mangy kittypets?” Nightfur’s eyes gleamed, and he unsheathed his claws as if he were already imagining sinking them into glossy fur. The spine of a feather cracked under his front paw, and I looked down at the tattered remains of the plump thrush. It was inedible now, after the trespassers from Twolegplace had toyed with it and dragged it through the mud, not giving it the swift and respectful death that a warrior gives to its prey.
“They won’t stand a chance against us!” Nightfur’s apprentice, Fernpaw, agreed. “Once we drop out of the trees, we’ll find out just how fast they can run—back to their precious Twolegs!”
I shook my head. “We can’t fight them in our territory.”
Buzzardpaw, an apprentice with a reputation for taking on warriors twice his size in battle practice without flinching, curled his lip. “How can you say that? Those kittypets ignore our border marks, chase off our patrols, and steal our prey. Are you suggesting we’re too scared to defend ourselves?” he growled.
“Of course he isn’t!” Birdflight, a she-cat who had been made warrior at the same time as me, jumped to my defense. “Cloudstorm is as brave as any of you—probably braver!”
I was grateful for her vote of confidence, but I didn’t want our Clanmates thinking that I needed her to stand up for me. I blinked at her to say thanks, then got to my paws to address the gathered cats.
“We know that the Twolegs are already uncomfortably close to our borders. We can tolerate them—but not their kittypets. These aren’t fat, lazy, overfed creatures, but young, strong, bold cats who catch the birds we need for food, jumping high enough and fast enough to snag them in their claws and drag them out of the sky. They must have watched us train our apprentices in order to copy our hunting skills.”
I noticed Petalfall, the deputy, widen her green eyes in surprise. As one of the youngest warriors, it wasn’t my place to take charge of the Clan meeting. But she gave a tiny nod, so I carried on. I hoped she’d think my plan was good enough to report to Flystar when he returned from the Moonstone.
“We can’t fight the kittypets in SkyClan because they don’t all come here at once,” I explained.
“If we scare a couple of them enough, they’ll soon tell their thieving friends to keep away!” Nightfur interrupted.
“How do we know they talk to one another?” I argued. “They come from different Twoleg nests; they might not even know that other kittypets come into the woods, too. We need to take the battle to them. We must launch an attack on Twolegplace!”
There was silence. Then Fernpaw mewed, “What, all of it?”
“Of course not. Look.” Using one of my foreclaws, I drew a line on the dusty ground. “This is the border between Twolegplace and our territory—it’s a fence, right? About the height of a low tree, so we could still use a Sky-drop from it?” As my Clanmates shuffled closer, I drew some straight-edged shapes to represent Twoleg nests, with narrow paths between them. “We’ll attack the kittypets closest to the fence first—on a sunny day they tend to lie in their own territories. After all, they don’t need to hunt our prey for their food.”
There were growls of agreement. Petalfall rested the tip of one claw on my dust marks. “What about the other kittypets? They don’t all live underneath the fence.”
“For those, we’ll send patrols farther into Twolegplace,” I meowed, tracing a line around the shapes on the ground. “Most of the little territories are enclosed with fences, and some have small trees that we can use to our advantage.” I looked up and felt my heart pounding with excitement.
“We’ll show them we can fight as well in their territory as ours!”
“We’ll invade Twolegplace!” Nightfur yowled. “This will be the greatest battle in SkyClan’s history!”
We were ready at dawn the following day. Flystar hadn’t returned from the Moonstone, but Petalfall agreed that we couldn’t wait any longer. With every day that passed, we lost prey to our kittypet enemies. The air was warm before sunrise, promising the kind of hot, sleepy day that would keep the kittypets sprawled in their fussy, cramped territories. We set off through the trees in tense silence, four patrols, each with a different part of Twolegplace to attack. We’d start by lining up along the outer fence to deal with the kittypets who lived closest to the forest so that they couldn’t send word to the others that they were under attack. Then we’d move into Twolegplace in four directions, using all the aboveground moves and warrior skills that defended our territory from other rivals.
Petalfall drew alongside me. Her rose-cream fur sparkled with dew, and the tips of her ears were dark with water as she brushed through the cool ferns. Her green eyes were worried, so I slowed my pace and steered deeper into the undergrowth, where we could talk without being overheard by the others.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Petalfall blinked, as if she hadn’t realized her thoughts were so obvious. “I think Flystar should know what we’re doing,” she meowed.
“He will, when we greet him with news of our victory,” I answered.
“But what if StarClan has told him to do something else to deal with the kittypets? What if StarClan doesn’t want us to attack them like this, in their own territory?”
I stopped and faced her. “Our warrior ancestors gave us the warrior code and the battle skills to protect and feed ourselves. They don’t live among us, risking their fur to catch prey and drive out trespassers. These are things we must do for ourselves. We should be grateful for what they have taught us, but our actions are our own.”
Petalfall took a step back. “But StarClan guides us in all things!”
“StarClan watches us,” I corrected her. “That’s different. It was my idea to take the fight into Twolegplace, not theirs. I hope we have their support, but our paws will carry us into battle, our claws will prove our strength to those thieving kittypets. This is our fight to win, not StarClan’s.”
Petalfall turned away, and for a moment I thought she was going to leave me there in the dew-heavy ferns and go back to the camp. I opened my mouth to ask her to stay—we’d need her skills and her courage—just as she paused and looked back at me. “I will fight alongside you,” she meowed quietly. “And with StarClan’s blessing, we will win. But if I were you, I’d be careful about dismissing our ancestors so lightly. We owe them everything, and it is a debt that will never be repaid.”
The top of the fence dug into my belly as I lowered myself over, stretching my forepaws toward the ground and steadying my weight with the tips of my claws on the smooth, strong-smelling wood. I was aiming for a Trunk Spring to carry me over the thorny bush at the foot of the fence, leaving a clear run across the green grass to the kittypet sprawled under a tree on the far side. I heard fences creak on either side as my Clanmates eased themselves into position; one easy leap took us to the top of the fence, but our next move would be slow and careful, in order to take the kittypets by surprise. The slender wood underneath me wobbled as Birdflight lost her balance for a moment.
“Sorry!” she whispered from the territory beside mine.
I didn’t reply, just sank one claw into the fence to hold myself still. From the other side came a low hiss. It was Petalfall’s command to attack. The fences groaned as we pushed off with our hind legs and sprang into the Twoleg territories. My paws thudded onto soft grass and I crossed the distance to the tree in two bounds. The kittypet, a brown tabby with a flash of white on his chest, barely had time to lift his head before I pounced on him with my claws unsheathed.
“Wha…?” he yowled. “Get off me!”
I cuffed his muzzle and jumped back as drops of blood scattered across my chest. “Stay out of our territory!” I snarled. From the other side of the fence, I could hear Birdflight hissing and spitting at the fat orange tom who’d stolen a squirrel in front of our hunting patrol three sunrises ago.
The brown tabby scrabbled backward, his eyes stretched wide. I tensed. There was something about the way he kept his hind paws tucked under him, the flex of his pelt as he gathered his haunches… I was ready when he sprang, screeching in an echo of my own battle cry, raking the air with his outstretched claws. I flipped sideways, swiping his back feet from under him as I ducked away from his front paws. The tabby landed with a thud on the hard-packed earth. I stood over him and lowered my face until my muzzle was nearly touching his.
“Stay away from the forest,” I hissed. “The prey is ours, and we can fight harder than this if we have to.”
“Keep looking over your shoulder, fox-breath, because one day you might have to,” the tabby grunted between clenched teeth.
I rested one paw on his throat and let my claws sink through his fur until I felt his skin flex beneath the thorn-sharp tips. “I could finish this now if you like,” I offered.
The tabby winced, but to his credit, he didn’t take his gaze from mine. “Those scrawny birds aren’t worth fighting for,” he growled. “You’re welcome to them.”
I lowered my paw and stepped back. The tabby sat up and blinked. “Is that it?” he mewed hoarsely.
I shook my head. “Only for you. Your thieving friends will be getting the same warning, wherever they are.”
I spun around, racing for the gap at the side of the Twoleg nest that would lead me farther into kittypet territory. All around, I heard yowls of triumph from my Clanmates, and kittypet snarls abruptly cut off as the SkyClan warriors showed just how far we would go to keep our borders safe.
When I burst onto the Thunderpath on the other side of the Twoleg nest, Birdflight and Buzzardpaw joined me, panting but bright-eyed with victory. I nodded to the ugly red nests across the hard black path. Side by side, we leaped forward to search out the next thief who would learn to leave the forest alone.
We won the battle, of course. Fired with hunger and fury after spending moons watching pampered kitties steal our prey, we dropped like hawks from trees and walls onto our startled enemies. We had the advantage of battle training as well as surprise; most of the time we barely needed to unsheathe our claws before the kittypets fled, or cowered in corners, begging for mercy. We stormed through Twolegplace, leaving no kittypet under the illusion that they would be welcome in the forest again.
Some even pathetically offered to bring us their own food—as if we wouldn’t rather starve than eat kittypet slop.
When Flystar returned from the Moonstone, he was relieved that we had secured our territory and made our prey our own once more. He summoned the Clan to thank the warriors who had taken the battle beyond our boundaries, and to order extra patrols for the next moon to make sure the kittypets stayed away. He said nothing about what StarClan had told him. Had they offered a different solution that was no longer needed? Or had they reminded Flystar that his Clan’s strength lay in his living warriors, with sharp claws and hard-learned battle skills?
When Petalfall met my gaze across the camp, I lifted my chin, acknowledging what I had believed all along: that SkyClan’s survival lay in our power, in the strength and swiftness of our paws, the thrust of our hind legs as we leaped higher than any other cat, and not in any dreams of warriors past.
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