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COPYRIGHT
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollins Children’s Books An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk warriorcats.com
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2011
First published in the USA by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2006
Copyright © Working Partners Limited 2005
Series created by Working Partners Limited.
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007419258
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007550104
Version: 2017-08-23
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Allegiances
Maps
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Keep Reading
About the Author
Also by the Author
About the Publisher
ALLEGIANCES
THUNDERCLAN LEADER FIRESTAR—ginger tom with a flame-coloured pelt DEPUTY GREYSTRIPE—long-haired grey tom MEDIGINE CAT CINDERPELT—dark grey she-cat APPRENTICE, LEAFPAW WARRIORS (toms, and she-cats without kits) DUSTPELT—dark brown tabby tom APPRENTICE, SQUIRRELPAW SANDSTORM—pale ginger she-cat CLOUDTAIL—long-haired white tom APPRENTICE, SPIDERPAW BRACKENFUR—golden brown tabby tom APPRENTICE, WHITEPAW THORNCLAW—golden brown tabby tom BRIGHTHEART—white she-cat with ginger patches BRAMBLECLAW—dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes ASHFUR—pale grey (with darker flecks) tom, dark blue eyes RAINWHISKER—dark grey tom with blue eyes SOOTFUR—lighter grey tom with amber eyes SORRELTAIL—tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes APPRENTICES (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors) SQUIRRELPAW—dark ginger she-cat with green eyes LEAFPAW—light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes WHITEPAW—white she-cat with green eyes SPIDERPAW—long-limbed black tom with brown underbelly and amber eyes QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) FERNCLOUD—pale grey (with darker flecks) she-cat with green eyes ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired) GOLDENFLOWER—pale ginger coat LONGTAIL—pale tabby tom with dark black stripes, retired early due to failing sight MOUSEFUR—small dusky brown she-cat SHADOWCLAN LEADER BLACKSTAR—large white tom with huge jet black paws DEPUTY RUSSETFUR—dark ginger she-cat MEDICINE CAT LITTLECLOUD—very small tabby tom WARRIORS (toms, and she-cats without kits) OAKFUR—small brown tom APPRENTICE, SMOKEPAW CEDARHEART—dark grey tom ROWANCLAW—ginger tom APPRENTICE, TALONPAW TAWNYPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) TALLPOPPY—long-legged light brown tabby she-cat ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired) RUNNINGNOSE—small grey and white tom, formerly the medicine cat BOULDER—skinny grey tom WINDCLAN LEADER TALLSTAR—elderly black and white tom with a very long tail DEPUTY MUDCLAW—mottled dark brown tom MEDICINE CAT BARKFACE—short-tailed brown tom WARRIORS (toms, and she-cats without kits) TORNEAR—tabby tom APPRENTICE, OWLPAW WEBFOOT—dark grey tabby tom APPRENTICE, WEASELPAW ONEWHISKER—brown tabby tom CROWFEATHER—dark grey, almost black tom with blue eyes ASHFOOT—grey she-cat QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) WHITETAIL—small white she-cat ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired) MORNINGFLOWER—tortoiseshell she-cat RUSHTAIL—light brown tom RIVERCLAN LEADER LEOPARDSTAR—unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat DEPUTY MISTYFOOT—grey she-cat with blue eyes MEDICINE CAT MOTHWING—dappled golden she-cat WARRIORS (toms, and she-cats without kits) BLACKCLAW—smoky black tom APPRENTICE, VOLEPAW HEAVYSTEP—thickset tabby tom APPRENTICE, STONEPAW HAWKFROST—dark brown tom with a white underbelly and ice-blue eyes. SWALLOWTAIL—dark tabby she-cat QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) MOSSPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat DAWNFLOWER—pale grey she-cat CATS OUTSIDE CLANS SMOKY—muscular grey and white tom who lives in a barn near the horseplace DAISY—she-cat with long creamy brown fur who lives with Smoky FLOSS—small grey and white she-cat who lives with Smoky and DaisyMAPS
PROLOGUE
Moonlight washed over the hillside, casting heavy shadows around a thick wall of thornbushes. The bushes surrounded a hollow with rocky sides that sloped down steeply to a pool in the shape of a full moon. Halfway up the side of the hollow, a trickle of water bubbled up between two moss-covered stones, glimmering like liquid starshine as it fell into the pool below.
The branches rustled and parted as cats emerged at the top of the hollow and began to pick their way down to the water’s edge. Their pelts shone with a soft, pale light, and their pawsteps left a frosty glitter on the moss behind them.
A tortoiseshell she-cat was the first to reach the pool. She looked around with glowing eyes. “Yes,” she purred. “This is the place.”
“You’re right, Spottedleaf. When we chose the four cats to lead the Clans out of the forest, we chose well.” The reply came from a blue-grey warrior who was approaching from the other side of the hollow. She leaped down from a jutting rock to face the tortoiseshell across the moonlit water. “But the Clans still have a hard task ahead of them.”
Spottedleaf dipped her head in agreement. “Yes, Bluestar. Their courage and faith will be tried to their limits. But they have come this far—they will not give up.”
More starry warriors joined them, clustering around the water until the hollow was lined with their sleek, shining shapes.
“Our journey was hard, too,” one cat meowed.
“We felt the pain of leaving the paths we had walked for so long,” added another.
“Now we must learn to walk in new skies.” Spottedleaf’s voice was full of confidence. She sat on a rock near the tumbling stream and wrapped her tail around her paws. “We must guide our Clans to this new meeting place, where we can speak to the leaders and medicine cats. Then this will truly be home for all five Clans.”
A murmur of agreement rose, and a gleam of hope shone in the eyes of the cats around her.
“They will catch fish from the lake,” one cat meowed.
“And prey is running in the hills and beside the water,” another put in. “All the Clans will find food, even in leaf-bare.”
The blue-grey warrior still seemed uneasy. “There’s more to life than fresh-kill,” she mewed.
A bracken-coloured tom thrust his way to the front of the crowd. “They’re not kits,” he pointed out impatiently. “They know how to avoid Twolegs and their dogs. Foxes and badgers, too.”
“Not all trouble comes from Twolegs,” Bluestar snapped. She swiveled her head to glare into the tom’s eyes. “And not from foxes or badgers either, Oakheart. You know that as well as I do. The Clans bring trouble within themselves.”
The warriors glanced uneasily at one another, but Oakheart dipped his head. “Of course. And they always will. That is part of what it means to be a warrior.”
“Trouble from within greatest danger brings.” A new voice spoke, deep and gravelly.
Bluestar whipped around, her neck fur rising, and stared at the newcomer standing at the top of the hollow. It was too big and solid to be a cat. Instead, it seemed as if a clot of darkness had entered the circle of thornbushes, in which the watching cats could just make out broad, muscular limbs and the gleam of small, bright eyes.
After a few heartbeats Bluestar relaxed. “Welcome, friend,” she meowed. “StarClan owes you thanks. You have done well.”
“By me is little done,” the newcomer replied. “These cats their destiny have faced with courage.”
“The Clans have travelled far and suffered a great deal of sadness that we were powerless to ease,” Spottedleaf agreed. “They kept going even when we lost sight and hearing of them among the mountains, when they walked the paths of a different Tribe. Now they must learn to be four Clans again.” She looked solemn. “There will be much pain, especially for those who travelled together to the sun-drown-water. They won’t find it easy to forget their friendship.”
“They must mark out their new territories as soon as they can.” Oakheart’s voice rumbled in his throat. “There’ll be trouble there.”
“Every loyal warrior will want the best for their Clan,” meowed Bluestar.
“So long as it is their Clan that they fight for,” returned Oakheart, “and not themselves.”
“That’s where the danger lies,” murmured an anxious voice. A tomcat with a glossy black coat was gazing down into the silvery water as if he could see danger rising to the surface like a giant fish. “I see one cat, hungry for power that is not deserved . . .”
“Not deserved?” A lean tom with a crooked jaw sprang to his paws on the other side of the pool, the fur on his shoulders bristling in fury. “Nightstar, how dare you say ‘not deserved’?”
The black tom’s pelt rippled in the moonlight as he looked up. “Very well, Crookedstar, not deserved yet,” he meowed. “This cat needs to learn the virtue of patience. Power is not a piece of prey to be grabbed before it escapes.”
The cat with the crooked jaw sat down again, though the anger stayed in his eyes. “Would you have all our warriors as timid as mice?” he muttered.
Nightstar’s eyes narrowed and his tail-tip twitched, but before he could spit out a reply another cat padded forward: a thick-furred grey she-cat with a broad face and a fierce gleam in her eyes. She stood beside Spottedleaf at the mossy edge of the pool and gazed down into the water. After a few moments, ripples began to spread in circles from the middle of the pool and wash against the bank.
The grey she-cat lifted her head. “I have seen what will come,” she growled. “There are dark times ahead.”
A stir of anxiety passed through the cats like wind rippling through reeds, but no cat dared to question her out loud.
“Well?” Bluestar demanded when the silence had stretched out for several heartbeats. “Tell us what you mean, Yellowfang.”
The grey she-cat hesitated. “I am not certain what I have seen,” she rasped at last. “And you won’t like what I have to tell you.” She closed her eyes, and when she spoke her voice was deeper and quieter than before, so that every cat had to strain to listen: “‘Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red.’”
Bluestar stiffened, and she bent her head to look into the water. A red stain was spreading across the surface, rippling outward until the water flamed scarlet. It seemed to reflect the fire of sunset, yet above the hollow the moon still floated in thin drifts of cloud.
A gasp of horror rose from the cats. Spottedleaf padded forward, trembling, and stared desperately into the water as if she were searching for something that would challenge Yellowfang’s ominous words.
“Are you trying to find out what will happen to Firestar?” Bluestar asked her gently. “Don’t search too hard, Spottedleaf. You of all cats should know that sometimes there is nothing we can do.”
Spottedleaf raised her head, and there was a fiercely determined light in her eyes. “I would do anything to help Firestar,” she hissed. “I will protect him with all the power of StarClan.”
“But even that may not be enough,” Bluestar warned her.
Around them, the warriors of StarClan began to pad away from the pool, climbing the slope and slipping back through the thornbushes until the shimmer of their pelts vanished and the only light in the hollow came from the reflection of the moon in the water.
The creature in the shadows remained a moment longer, watching in silence until the last cat had gone. Then she stirred, and a shaft of moonlight struck her powerful shoulders.
“Midnight, this not your place,” she growled to herself. “Is no more to do.” She paused and added, “Once more, maybe, with Clans I will meet. Clouded is time to come.”
As she turned to push her way back through the thorns, the moonlight caught the broad white stripe down the badger’s head; then Midnight was gone, and the hollow was left empty.
CHAPTER 1
Brambleclaw stood at the top of the slope, gazing at the clawpricks of silver fire reflected in the lake below. The Clans had finally found their new home, just as Midnight had promised. StarClan was waiting for them, and they were safe from the Twoleg monsters at last.
Around him warriors from all four Clans murmured to each other, staring uneasily at the dark, unfamiliar space at the foot of the hill.
“It’s impossible to tell what’s down there in this light.” Brightheart, a ginger-and-white ThunderClan warrior, swung around so that her one good eye could take in the whole of the landscape.
Her mate, Cloudtail, twitched his tail. “How bad can it be? Think what we’ve come through to get here. We can fight off anything on four legs.”
“And what about Twolegs?” demanded Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy.
“The journey has left us all tired and weak,” Blackclaw of WindClan added. “Foxes and badgers could track us down easily when we’re all out in the open like this.”
For a moment Brambleclaw felt a tremor of fear. Then he braced his shoulders. StarClan would not have brought them here if they did not believe the Clans could survive in their new territories.
“What are we waiting for?” a new voice spoke up. “Are we going to stand here all night?”
Stifling a mrrow of laughter, Brambleclaw turned to see his Clanmate Squirrelpaw standing behind him. The ginger apprentice was tearing the tough, springy grass with her front paws, her green eyes glowing with anticipation.
“Brambleclaw, look!” she purred. “We did it! We found our new home!”
She tucked her hindlegs under her, ready to dash down the hill, but before she could take off, Firestar pushed through the cats and stood in her way.
“Wait.” The ThunderClan leader touched his daughter’s shoulder affectionately with the tip of his tail. “We’ll go together, and keep a sharp lookout for trouble. This may be the place that StarClan wished us to find, but they would not expect us to leave our wits in the forest.”
Squirrelpaw dipped her head respectfully and stepped back, but when she shot a sideways glance at Brambleclaw, he saw that her eyes still gleamed with excitement. For Squirrelpaw, their journey’s end could not possibly be scary.
Firestar padded over to join Blackstar and Leopardstar, the leaders of ShadowClan and RiverClan. “I suggest we send a patrol ahead,” he meowed. “Just a couple of cats, to find out what it’s like down there.”
“Good idea—but we can’t just stand here and wait for them to return,” Leopardstar objected. “It’s much too exposed.”
Blackstar grunted in agreement. “If a fox came along now, it could pick off the weaker cats with no trouble at all.”
“But we need to rest.” Mudclaw of WindClan came up to join the discussion. His leader, Tallstar, lay on the ground a little way off, with the medicine cat Barkface crouching over him. “Tallstar can’t go much further.”
“Then let’s send the patrol right away,” Firestar suggested, “and the rest of us will follow more slowly until we find somewhere more sheltered. Yes, Mudclaw,” he added, as the WindClan deputy opened his mouth to argue, “we’re all tired, but we’ll sleep more easily if we’re not stuck out on the open hillside like this.”
Blackstar called Russetfur over to him, while Leopardstar signalled with her tail for her deputy, Mistyfoot.
“I want you to go as far as the lake, then come straight back,” Leopardstar ordered. “Find out what you can, but be quick, and stay out of sight.”
The two cats flicked their ears, then whirled and raced away, loping along with their bellies close to the ground; within a couple of heartbeats they had vanished into the darkness.
Firestar watched them go before letting out a yowl to call the rest of the cats around him. Mudclaw went back to Tallstar and nudged the old leader to his paws. Their Clans clustered together behind the leaders of ThunderClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan and began to follow them down the slope towards the lake.