by Erin Hunter
Clear Sky also insisted that all cats should be able to care for themselves and contribute to the group, so when Jagged Peak injured his leg by falling from a tree, Clear Sky drove him out.
When he met the rogue she-cat, Storm, Clear Sky fell instantly in love with her. She decided to live with him, but later left because she couldn’t bear his obsessions and the way he ordered her around.
Storm bore Clear Sky three kits, but only one survived the collapse of the Twoleg den where they lived. When Gray Wing took the surviving kit, Thunder, to his brother’s forest camp, Clear Sky rejected him. Later Clear Sky regretted this and after a fire ripped through the forest, he reconciled with Thunder and encouraged the young cat to come live with him.
However, Clear Sky retained his fierceness toward intruders and even his own cats, qualities that led Thunder to leave.
After the Great Battle, Clear Sky realized that his fierceness in protecting his larger group rather than any individual cat had led to horrifying violence. While still proud and protective of the cats under his leadership, he became less fierce toward the other cats in the forest, and gentler with the weaker members of his own group. He became the first leader of SkyClan.
JAGGED PEAK
JAGGED PEAK WAS THE brother of Gray Wing and Clear Sky, from a younger litter. As a kit he was bright and brave, impatient to get out of the cave and begin learning skills of hunting and mountain survival. When the cats cast votes whether to stay in the mountains or leave, Jagged Peak voted to leave and was frustrated when his mother, Quiet Rain, said that he was too young to go. Refusing to be left behind, Jagged Peak crept out of the cave and went after the departing cats.
He tracked the group for a good distance before he was attacked by an eagle and had to be rescued by Gray Wing, who had followed him. But his spirit stayed strong after the danger, and the two cats journeyed on together until they caught up with the group.
Jagged Peak especially admired his brother Clear Sky and went with him to the forest when the cats split into two groups. He enjoyed learning to hunt in trees but was badly injured when he fell from a high branch. As soon as it became clear that his injured leg wouldn’t heal properly, Clear Sky banished him, and he returned to the moorland cats. Here he grew embittered because he felt he was useless. But Jagged Peak discovered an affinity for young kits and was able to become a valued member of the group on the moor by the care he gave them. While his limp never fully disappeared, he gradually became stronger and was eventually able to raise his own family in WindClan.
THUNDER
THE SON OF STORM and Clear Sky, Thunder was born in the Twolegplace and rescued from a collapsing Twoleg den by his father’s brother, Gray Wing, who took him to Clear Sky’s camp in the forest. He was bewildered by Clear Sky’s rejection of him, and anxious about what would happen to him, until Gray Wing brought him to the moor and persuaded the moorland cats to take him in.
Though Thunder was raised on the moor, his instincts were to hunt among trees, using cover to creep up on his prey, and he found it hard to hunt on the open land, where there was nowhere to hide. But he worked hard to perfect his skills, wanting to make Gray Wing proud.
Thunder’s first chance to shine came during the forest fire. He was the first cat to leap over the flames when River Ripple showed the cats the way to safety, and joined Jackdaw’s Cry in returning through the flames to rescue Moon Shadow.
After the fire, Clear Sky and the other forest cats temporarily took shelter with the cats on the moor, and Clear Sky was impressed with the promise of his strong young son. Thunder was proud to be praised by his father, and went with Clear Sky when the forest cats returned to their camp. But Clear Sky’s aggressiveness alienated Thunder’s compassionate nature, and when Clear Sky drove another cat, Frost, out to die, Thunder went with him, taking him to the moorland camp.
While he struggled to find the place where he truly belonged, Thunder was always strong and determined. He fought bravely in the Great Battle and won the respect of the cats around him. In the end he became the first leader of ThunderClan.
STORM AND TURTLE TAIL
STORM WAS A LONER, a beautiful she-cat with silver fur and green eyes. She had no permanent home, but moved easily between the forest and the Twolegplace. The first mountain cat she knew was Gray Wing. Though she teased him, she clearly liked him and was happy to spend time with him in the forest, but when she met Clear Sky, the two cats instantly fell in love.
Storm went to live with Clear Sky, but gradually became disillusioned. She could not approve of Clear Sky’s obsession with guarding his territory and controlling his cats’ lives, or his violent clashes with trespassers. She felt guilty because she didn’t speak up when Clear Sky drove Jagged Peak out of the forest. As an independent, spirited cat, she also became impatient with Clear Sky when he tried to pamper her while she was carrying his kits.
Finally Storm couldn’t stand Clear Sky’s ways any longer and grew tired of making excuses for him. She left the forest and made a nest in an abandoned Twoleg den, where she had her kits. She and two of her kits died when Twolegs demolished the den; Gray Wing rescued the third kit, Thunder. In his grief, Clear Sky was unable to forgive himself for driving Storm away and would not accept Thunder into his group.
Despite her death, the memory of Storm continued to affect Gray Wing and Clear Sky for many moons, and Thunder would always yearn for the mother he could barely remember
Turtle Tail had tortoiseshell fur and green eyes; her name came from her stumpy tail. She was part of the group of cats who came from the mountains, and remained on the moor when the group split into two. She befriended a kittypet named Bumble and spent a lot of time with her, even visiting her home in the Twolegplace.
Always cheerful and brave, Turtle Tail’s natural optimism was tried when she fell in love with Gray Wing, who at first only regarded her as a friend. She was hurt when Gray Wing became interested in Storm and, feeling rejected, she went to live with Bumble and her Twolegs.
When the Twolegs brought another kittypet named Tom into their home, Turtle Tail thought she might be able to make a life with him and became pregnant with his kits. But when Bumble admitted that the Twolegs would take her kits away from her, she left the Twolegs and returned to the moor.
At first Turtle Tail was unsure whether her former denmates would welcome her back, and some of them were hostile to admitting a cat who had chosen to be a kittypet. But Gray Wing spoke up for her; while she was away he had missed her dreadfully, and now he realized how much she meant to him. Turtle Tail finally had the life she’d dreamed of when she and Gray Wing became mates, and Gray Wing became father to her kits, Pebble Heart, Owl Eyes, and Sparrow Fur.
TALL SHADOW
TALL SHADOW WAS A thick-furred, black she-cat with green eyes. She left the mountains with Clear Sky and the others and became the leader of the group after the death of Shaded Moss.
She was always a watchful and thoughtful cat, tending to be suspicious of strangers. She was reluctant to allow other cats to join the group and at first sent Gorse and Wind away, even though the rest of the group would have welcomed them in. This caused a quarrel among her cats; some of them even called for her to step down as leader and for Gray Wing to take her place, though Gray Wing himself had no wish to do this. Her insistence on watching the camp also angered some cats, who felt that she should be taking a more active leadership role.
However when her littermate, Moon Shadow, was badly injured in the forest fire and later died, Tall Shadow found her anxiety and grief was too much to bear. She willingly gave up the leadership to Gray Wing, although later she resumed her authority and for a time the two cats acted as joint leaders.
Eventually Tall Shadow became the first leader of ShadowClan and led her cats into new territory across the Thunderpath.
DAPPLED PELT AND CLOUD SPOTS
DAPPLED PELT WAS A tortoiseshell she-cat with a compassionate nature and an instinctive talent for healing. She was interested i
n herbs and had an excellent memory for which ones were the best to treat her denmates’ injuries and illnesses. She came with the cats from the mountains and settled on the moor with Tall Shadow’s group.
When Jagged Peak was injured by falling from the tree, Dappled Pelt went to the forest and lived for some moons with Clear Sky’s cats while she took care of him. But her loyalty to the moorland group never wavered and she was glad to return home.
On first leaving the mountains, Dappled Pelt discovered a natural affinity for the water, learning to fish minnows from the river with her paws. While exploring the moor, she became good friends with the helpful and friendly River Ripple and was delighted to find a lush growth of herbs around the river. After the Great Battle, she soon found her true home by the riverside, joining River Ripple’s group of cats and eventually becoming the first medicine cat of RiverClan.
A long-furred, black tom, with white ears and chest and two white paws, Cloud Spots was a mountain cat who settled on the moor. He was interested in healing, particularly in figuring out why certain herbs worked on certain illnesses, and in researching more curative plants. He and Dappled Pelt were close friends and worked well together, her warmer nature complementing his focus on the effects different herbs. He was not a strong fighter and in fact did not participate in the Great Battle, instead staying in the moor cats’ hollow, preparing to treat injuries from the battle.
Cloud Spots was a shy and reserved cat, which made it harder for him to show his compassion toward his patients, and he tended to be brusque with them. He was especially impatient when dealing with sickly kits, often explaining in great detail the effects of a particular herb rather than sympathizing with a kit’s aches and pains. He did, however, form a close bond with young Pebble Heart, who would one day become ShadowClan’s first medicine cat, and taught the kit all he knew about herbs and the treatment of illnesses and injuries.
Despite the time he spent on the moor, Cloud Spots was happier in the dense undergrowth of the forest. When Thunder left the moor for the forest after the Great Battle, Cloud Spots went with him and settled there. He would become the first medicine cat of ThunderClan.
WIND RUNNER
WIND RUNNER WAS ORIGINALLY a loner named Wind, who lived on the moor before the arrival of the mountain cats. With her mate, Gorse, she was hostile when they first arrived, accusing them of stealing prey. But gradually both cats grew to appreciate the advantages of living with a group.
A thin and wiry cat, Wind was able to race across the moors speedily and was a good hunter. She would even follow rabbits down into their burrows, as brave and quick belowground as she was out in the open. She showed Gray Wing and the other moor cats this way of hunting, though Gray Wing felt trapped in the narrow, dark spaces. When Jagged Peak was trapped in a tunnel collapse, Wind and Gorse were able to dig him out and clear his nose and mouth of dirt so he could breathe again, saving the young cat’s life.
Before long, Wind and Gorse became regular visitors to the camp on the moor. For Wind, the turning point from loner to group member came when she realized she was expecting Gorse’s kits, and she asked that she and Gorse officially become part of the camp, eager for her kits to have the protection of this larger group. They willingly took longer names to be like the rest of the mountain cats, and Wind became Wind Runner.
Wind Runner was strong and intelligent, but some cats were wary of her because she tended to be pushy, making decisions that should have been made by the leader. While most of the mountain cats wanted to bring the two valuable cats into their group, they felt that Wind Runner was likely to take over.
After the Great Battle, Wind Runner naturally stayed on the moor, although she and Gorse Fur separated themselves and their kits from most of the mountain cats for a while, leaving the hollow. Eventually the tough and determined she-cat became the leader of WindClan.
GORSE FUR
QUIETER AND LESS EAGER to lead than Wind, Gorse, whom the moor cats renamed Gorse Fur, was nonetheless smart and observant, able to pick out prey at long distances from across the moor. Deeply loyal to his mate, Gorse Fur was willing to follow where she led, whether it was joining Tall Shadow and Gray Wing’s cats on the moors or starting their own Clan after the Great Battle.
Despite this choice to follow Wind Runner, the thin, gray tabby cat had a mind of his own. He was always patient with other cats, often taking a whole day to teach restless kits the basics of hunting on the moor, and this patience and intelligence served him well, first as Wind Runner’s deputy and, after her death, as the second leader of WindClan.
RIVER RIPPLE
RIVER RIPPLE WAS AN elegant, silver-furred cat. He was very good-natured and most at home in and around the water. When the mountain cats arrived, he was a loner living beside the river at the edge of the forest. Though he was friendly toward the mountain cats when he encountered them, he was proudly independent and showed no interest in joining them. During the forest fire, it was River Ripple who showed the moorland cats how to escape the flames—and for that, they were forever grateful.
Long before the mountain cats came to the forest, River Ripple had grown up as one of another group of cats, far away. While he treasured his independence after coming to the forest, he accepted the role given to him by the spirits of former cats after the Great Battle and became an inspiring leader, the founder of RiverClan.
River Ripple was always willing to give other cats the benefit of his wisdom and experience, and so it is not surprising that he was the cat to first propose the system of formally apprenticing each young cat to an older warrior. This openness to sharing his knowledge with others is perhaps River Ripple’s greatest legacy to the cats of the Clans.
MOTH FLIGHT
MOTH FLIGHT, A SOFT-FURRED, white she-cat with green eyes, was one of the first cats to be born to the group of cats living on the moor, the daughter of Wind Runner and Gorse Fur. She had a dreamy, restless, and curious nature, which at first made her seem unwarriorlike despite her swift feet and true heart. Gentle and playful, she was likely to be distracted from a hunt or battle by the discovery of a feather drifting across the grass or a bunch of berries growing on a bush. At one point, her distractibility almost led to Gorse Fur’s death, when he had to shove her out of the path of a monster and was almost killed himself. In a rage, Windstar exiled her own daughter from WindClan.
But it was these qualities of imagination and curiosity that were to decide Moth Flight’s destiny and lead her to the Moonstone. After her exile, Moth Flight followed the signs only she could see—a blowing feather, a flying bird—to a cave in the mountains beyond the Clans’ territories. There, she found the Moonstone, and the spirits told her to take the knowledge of this sacred place back to the Clans. They told her to return to WindClan, that she would become the first medicine cat, and gave her visions of who the other first medicine cats, one for each Clan, would be. They explained that she and the other medicine cats would be not just cats with the knowledge of healing herbs, but responsible for seeing visions, interpreting signs, and guiding their leaders to make the best choices for their Clans.
Moth Flight, once an outcast, would always be remembered and admired by all the Clans as the first true medicine cat.
ANIMALS OUTSIDE THE CLANS
Introduction: Rock Speaks
EVER SINCE CATS FIRST decided to live together—in Tribes, Clans, whatever they chose to call themselves—there have been others that preferred to live alone. The Clans may believe that there is no way to survive except by the warrior code but, nevertheless, they have to acknowledge the tenacity of the Tribe of Rushing Water, the cheerful contentment of certain kittypets and rogues who have crossed their paths, even the ruthless battle-hunger of Scourge’s BloodClan.
For the Clan cats, the warrior code has served them well, providing them with food and shelter and well-defended territories, as well as neighbors to turn to in times of great need. But the forest is not littered with the bodies of loners and rogues who have star
ved to death or been killed like prey, and kittypets do not swarm from Twoleg nests like bees to join their groups. There are other ways to live—ways that might suit some cats even better than being a warrior. And every so often, it is cats from outside the code that have shaped the destiny of a Clan.
RAVENPAW AND BARLEY
RAVENPAW’S FATE WAS SEALED the moment Bluestar appointed Tigerclaw to be his mentor. Ravenpaw was never going to be a ferocious warrior, leaping into battle at the head of a patrol. He preferred to seek peace through compromise and agreement. Tigerclaw saw this natural reserve as cowardice and pushed his apprentice to the point of hysteria. When Ravenpaw had the misfortune to witness Tigerclaw killing Redtail, then lying about it to their Clanmates, he put himself in more danger than he could have imagined.
Firepaw saved Ravenpaw from Tigerclaw’s vengeance by taking him far from his forest home to the farm that the warriors passed on their way to the Moonstone. Here, Ravenpaw found the peace and freedom from borders that his heart had longed for. And most important, he found the dearest friend he would ever have: Barley, the plump black-and-white mouser who lived in a cozy barn with a feast of mice at his claw-tips.
