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.
Part Two:
Tour of the Battlefields
The Lake Territories
Hello! My name is Tawnypelt. I’m a ShadowClan warrior. Did you sleep well? Your fur seems a little ruffled. I expect the sound of the wind might have disturbed you during the night. Onestar has asked me to show you the places where battles have been fought since we moved to the lake. We’ll start here, on the moor. Did Onestar tell you that he had to fight for his own leadership as soon as Tallstar died? Every cat expected Mudclaw to take Tallstar’s place because he was the WindClan deputy, but on the night Tallstar lost his ninth life, he changed his mind. No cat knows why—only Firestar and Brambleclaw were with him at the time—but he appointed Onewhisker deputy instead.
Which meant that by dawn, he was leader of WindClan.
Mudclaw was furious—and can you blame him, really? He’d done nothing wrong. But as a warrior, he should have respected his leader’s decision and supported Onestar. Instead, he plotted to take over WindClan by force, and visited all the other Clans in secret, gaining allies. They struck one night, Mudclaw and a RiverClan warrior named Hawkfrost leading the attack. The rest of us fought on Onestar’s behalf, and Onestar won—helped by StarClan. Do you see that island down there? With the tall trees? If you look closely, you can make out a fallen tree joining the island to the shore, with its roots on the island side. StarClan sent a bolt of lightning to strike that tree and make it fall on top of Mudclaw, killing him instantly, and showing that Onestar was the true leader of WindClan.
Come this way, along the shore toward ThunderClan’s territory. Every cat has the right to walk within three tail-lengths of the water all the way around the lake. If you look through the trees, you might just catch a glimpse of a Twoleg nest. It’s falling down now, but there’s an old Thunderpath that leads to it, and beyond to the hollow where ThunderClan cats live. The biggest battle since we came to the lake took place here. It started with a border dispute between WindClan and ThunderClan; then the other Clans got involved, and we fought for three days. ShadowClan fought on the side of ThunderClan—that’s an alliance that hasn’t happened very often!
It was terrible, fighting cats who I’d shared tongues with at Gatherings, or fought alongside in other battles. But that’s what being a warrior is all about—being ready to fight for your Clan whenever you have to. You just have to focus on your battle skills, think about what will be achieved or saved by winning, and get on with it. Some cats enjoy it; others see it as their duty.
We’re getting close to the ShadowClan border now. Before we cross it, follow me down to the edge of the lake. There isn’t a path, but we can walk along this gully. If you duck under that fern, you’ll be able to stand on a strip of pebbles right beside the water. It’s a great view of the lake, but that’s not why I’ve brought you to this part of the shore. One cat who enjoyed battles too much, in my opinion, died here. So much blood flowed out of him that the lake turned red. The prophecy came true: “Before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red.” It’s okay; you don’t need to look so horrified that your paws got a bit wet from that wave. The blood’s all washed away now.
The dead cat’s name was Hawkfrost, and if you must know, my brother Brambleclaw killed him, to save Firestar’s life.
Now, hurry up and we’ll go to ShadowClan’s territory. Can you walk a bit faster than that? We don’t want to get spotted by Twolegs while we’re crossing this stretch of grass. ShadowClan and ThunderClan fought over this not long ago; sometimes I think I can still smell blood in the air. Firestar gave us this strip of territory soon after we came to the lake, then changed his mind and demanded it back. As if we’d give it up without a fight! The battle ended when Lionblaze killed Russetfur, our deputy. Warriors should never kill one another for the sake of victory. Neither side won that day.
Most battles are settled more easily, thank StarClan. There were some kittypets living here when we arrived who learned to respect us the hard way. They kept stealing our prey, invading our camp, even lying in wait for our apprentices. Stupid mouse-brains, did they really think they could take on the whole of ShadowClan? We took the battle to their own territory, a Twoleg nest in the middle of the trees, just beyond that rise. They fought well, for pampered kittypets, but they were never going to win.