The kittypets keep out of our way now, but we don’t trust them, and our hunting patrols stay away from the Twoleg nest. There are plenty of other places to find prey. No, not here, there’s no cover. See how the trees finish and hard black stone covers the ground? This is where Twolegs come in greenleaf to float on the lake. On the far side, where those bushes are, is the start of RiverClan’s territory. They’ve fought their own battle there, against young Twolegs who tried to take over their camp. I heard the warriors made the river wider to protect their dens! Only RiverClan would fight back with water.
It was the same in the old territories, before we came to the lake. You’ve heard the Clans used to live somewhere else, right? Back then, RiverClan’s camp was on the bank of a river, too broad to jump across except in the driest greenleaf. All the fighting was done on the other side of the river, where the rest of the Clans lived. Our territories there weren’t so different from the ones we have now—WindClan lived on a moor, ThunderClan among the thickest trees, and ShadowClan in a copse of pines, surrounded by marshland. It’s all gone now, crushed and splintered into the mud by Twolegs. All those battles that were fought, the borders we once defended with our lives, the dens where warriors were born and trained, have been lost forever. Good memories as well as bad, fading in the sunlight like dew. I’m sorry you won’t get a chance to see those territories, too.
Great StarClan, where did all this mist come from? I’d better get you back to WindClan’s camp before we get lost. Come on, follow me.
The Forest Territories
Hello, kittypets. You’re a long way from home, aren’t you? Do you know who I am? I’m sure that you’ve heard my name, even though no cat would expect you to meet me. I am Tigerstar, once warrior of ThunderClan, then leader of ShadowClan. Now I walk in the Place of No Stars, the Dark Forest where cats with courage and ambition and cunning are sent, denied entry to StarClan by cats who see no farther than the end of their own noses.
There’s no use calling to Tawnypelt. She can’t see me; I’ve come only for you. There’s something I need to show you. Tawnypelt was wrong when she said you would never be able to visit the old territories of the Clans. Come this way, through the mist.
That rustling noise? It’s the branches of the four Great Oaks, one for each of the Clans. Look up; can you see them? Yes, we are in the forest, as it once was. This is the hollow where the Clans gathered every full moon—and it’s the place where I lost every one of my nine lives, ripped from my belly by that traitor Scourge. Not long after, the Clans fought their greatest battle against Scourge and his followers, who called themselves BloodClan. I should have fought alongside my Clanmates!
Instead I could do nothing but watch as the cat who had promised to help me take over the forest waged war against the Clans. They lined up at sunrise here, under the trees looking down into the hollow. Firestar led out the Clans from the other side of the hollow. Can you imagine how puny they looked? If you’d been standing here beside Scourge, you would have had dog claws fitted over your own, and the scent of blood and victory in your throat. You’d just seen your leader kill me, the greatest warrior of all the forest Clans; the other warriors must have looked like easy prey.
Just by this rock is where Whitestorm, the ThunderClan deputy, was killed by the BloodClan cat
Bone. ThunderClan apprentices avenged his death, jumping onto Bone and dragging him down, clawing the life out of him. Even in the Place of No Stars I could hear his screams, and their shrieks of victory. StarClan never would have let Scourge win that battle. And Firestar showed great courage; I’ll grant him that. He’ll need every last whisker of it when we meet again.
Are you shivering from cold or are you scared? Stand close to me—it’s all right, I bite only my enemies. It’s colder now because we’re on the open moorland, where WindClan used to live. Looks like their territory by the lake, doesn’t it? You can see why they’re so skinny and fast, when they have to chase rabbits all the time. Foolish cats, they should learn to stalk and pounce; then they could find fresh-kill under cover of trees. Come to the edge of the camp, in this shallow dip. Can you believe they chose to make their dens here? No wonder ShadowClan forced them out. Brokenstar defeated them with a single patrol, rushing down into the hollow and trapping the WindClan warriors in their nests before they realized what was happening. It was a classic ShadowClan ambush—but in the enemy’s own den. Tallstar didn’t bring WindClan back to the moor until Firestar and Graystripe fetched him. Firestar has been criticized a lot for constantly interfering in WindClan’s affairs, but if Tallstar hadn’t shown such weakness against Brokenstar, his Clan never would have gotten so reliant on ThunderClan’s help.
Jump! Come on, just one more leap and you’ll be on top of Sunningrocks. Look at the view! You can see the whole forest from here; those dark trees in the distance are where ShadowClan lived, and the harsh orange lights over there come from Twolegplace.
Feels peaceful up here, doesn’t it? But these rocks have been the site of more battles than anywhere else in the forest. RiverClan would never accept that Sunningrocks belonged to ThunderClan. As if those fat, lazy fox-hearts didn’t have enough places to lie in the sun. It’s not like they could catch prey on the rocks, since they wouldn’t know what to do with a mouse if one sat on their paws. Battles here were boring. Whichever cats had the highest place on the rock would win, simple as that. You can’t escape when warriors are dropping like rain on your shoulders.
But there was one battle, not long before Firestar joined the Clan, where these rocks served me well. See that gully down there? Ah, that’s better; now we can walk through it. Squeeze past the rock shaped like a cat’s muzzle. Here, in this space so narrow that it’s almost like a cave, I watched my deputy, Redtail, kill Oakheart, the RiverClan deputy. It was a quick fight—Oakheart tried to use his weight to knock Redtail against the stone wall, but Redtail sprang right over him, reaching down to slice Oakheart’s flanks with his claws. Oakheart staggered and crashed onto his knees; he tried to lash out at Redtail, who just stepped backward, knowing the fight was over as Oakheart’s life spilled out onto the sand. In that moment, I saw the best opportunity I’d had to make deputy. I was a good warrior; I deserved to be deputy. Only Redtail stood in my way.
Look up; see how tight the gully is above our heads. I knew that no cats elsewhere on Sunningrocks would have seen what just happened. The truth about Oakheart’s death could die with Redtail. My Clanmate thought I was going to congratulate him. He never saw the strike that fell across his neck. He lay where you’re standing now with the light of victory still in his eyes. I carried his body back to the camp and told Bluestar that Oakheart had killed him, and I had taken Oakheart’s life in furious vengeance. I should have been made deputy! Not Lionheart! Bluestar knew nothing of justice and true courage!
I had my revenge seasons later, when I became leader of ShadowClan. Dogs came to the forest, fierce and wild and ravenous, and I turned them on my former Clanmates to show they should never have doubted my loyalty. Look around—we’re not at Sunningrocks now. This is Snakerocks, a place where few hunting patrols come because of the adders that live here. But ThunderClan had far more to fear when the dogs made a den in a cave under that overhanging slab of rock. I kept the dogs here by bringing them fresh rabbits; it was easy to sneak into ThunderClan’s territory when my scent was not fully ShadowClan. The first victims were apprentices, Brightpaw and Swiftpaw, who were foolish enough to hunt too close. Swiftpaw was killed at once; Brightpaw survived, but she has probably wished more than once since then that she hadn’t. Did you see her in ThunderClan? The cat with half a face?