“Go, warriors, go!” squealed the ThunderClan kit. Brackenfoot had almost forgotten it was there. He aimed one more blow at the fox before dropping to all four paws and springing backward, out of range of the cracking jaws. The fox snarled once more, then turned tail and vanished into the undergrowth.
“Wow! You were great!” called the kit. “The way you sliced his nose! And swiped his ears! I wish I could fight like that!” the kit continued.
Brackenfoot padded forward. “What’s your name?”
The kit gazed up at him with huge amber eyes. “Tigerkit,” he mewed.
“Well, Tigerkit, one day you will be able to fight like us, if you listen to your mentor and train really hard. But you shouldn’t even be out of your camp. What if we hadn’t seen you? That fox would have made fresh-kill out of you!”
“But he didn’t!” Tigerkit gloated, bouncing on his toes.
“Because you saved me!”
Brackenfoot realized there was no talking sense to this mouse-brained tuft of fur. “Just be more careful from now on,” he growled. Then, nodding to his Clanmates, he led them back across the Thunderpath.
The kit watched them go, stretching his neck to keep them in sight. “May StarClan walk your path!” he squeaked. “Thanks for rescuing me! ShadowClan will always be my friends! One day I’ll help you, too!”
-
Code Thirteen
THE WORD OF THE CLAN LEADER
IS THE WARRIOR CODE.
Not every article of the warrior code is born out of wisdom, and it might seem that this one came from a dangerous lapse of judgment in all Clan leaders. Even so, this piece of code has survived unchallenged all these moons. Why? In reality, leaders take advice from their medicine cat and senior warriors—one cat alone rarely makes a decision. And the best warriors have never been afraid to challenge their leader, even at the risk of breaking the code. But come what may, the leader has to bear responsibility for what happens, and such a heavy burden deserves our respect. The code guarantees it.
Darkstar’s Law
Raincloud held her breath as Darkstar heaved himself onto the Great Rock. The SkyClan leader was nearing the end of his ninth life and looked painfully frail as he scrabbled with his hind legs to boost himself up. Vinestar, the ThunderClan leader, came over and helped him by sinking his teeth into Darkstar’s scruff and hauling him the last tail-length. Darkstar was too breathless to thank him, and lay on his side, panting, while the fifth leader, Yellowstar of ShadowClan, jumped up.
The SkyClan leader had been a strong and well-respected warrior for all his lives. Raincloud had been his deputy for many moons and dreaded the day she would have to watch him slip away from his Clan forever.
She stood with the other deputies at the base of the Great
Rock and faced the cats who had come to the Gathering.
The RiverClan leader, Talonstar, began with a report of Twolegs staying in the fields on the far side of their territory; they came every greenleaf and didn’t even seem to know the cats were there, but this time some of them had brought dogs, which had come dangerously close to the camp. Talonstar assured the other Clans that his warriors had chased them off with their tails between their legs.
Birchstar of WindClan announced a new litter of kits and two new warriors, then Yellowstar described an old, mangy fox that had been causing trouble on the edge of ShadowClan’s territory because it didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. Then Vinestar took his place on the edge of the rock.
“We have three new litters of kits and four new warriors,” he announced with a flick of his long gray tail. “We thank StarClan for making the prey in ThunderClan run well this season, and we hope we can continue to feed ourselves in leaf-fall and leaf-bare.”
He glanced sideways at Darkstar, whose head was hanging down with his eyes closed. Raincloud wondered if he had missed the thorn-sharp edge to Vinestar’s report. ThunderClan patrols had been spotted more and more frequently on the boundary that they shared with SkyClan: not just border patrols, but hunting patrols, too. Raincloud suspected that, with so many new mouths to feed, they were starting to look beyond their territory for sources of fresh-kill.
Talonstar nudged Darkstar and the old tom’s head jerked upright. Darkstar padded to the edge of the Great Rock. His milky yellow eyes gazed down at the cats in the hollow.
“Cats of all Clans,” Darkstar began in a voice as thin as a whisker; the cats in the hollow fell silent, and Raincloud relaxed.
“I, too, have an announcement. I wish to give part of SkyClan’s territory to ThunderClan, to feed their new kits.”
Raincloud stared at her Clan leader in disbelief. All along the line of SkyClan cats, fur bristled and cats whispered to one another in alarm. Raincloud glanced at Twigtail, the medicine cat, who shook his head and looked as stunned as she felt.
Darkstar raised his head and, outlined in moonlight, it was suddenly possible to see him as the great warrior he had once been. “ThunderClan may have the stretch of territory on our border as far as the silver birch on the riverbank on one side and the yellow Twoleg nest on the other. May these hunting grounds be as good to them as they have been to us!”
Raincloud jumped to her feet. She couldn’t listen in silence any longer. “Darkstar, are you sure?” she pleaded. She hated that all the other Clans would see her challenge her own leader, but she didn’t know what else she could do. Darkstar was handing nearly a quarter of SkyClan to their neighbors! Was he so terrified of conflict that he wanted to make peace with Vinestar before the borders were threatened?
Raincloud felt all the eyes from the watching cats burn into her pelt. Ignoring the gasps of shock, she jumped onto the rock and put her face close to Darkstar’s. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “Don’t you trust your warriors to defend our territory? No
Clan has ever given away part of its hunting grounds before!”
Darkstar pulled away from her, his mouth set in a stubborn line. “ThunderClan has more mouths to feed than we do. SkyClan can always extend on its other boundaries.”
“No, we can’t!” Raincloud twitched her tail in exasperation.
“Twoleg nests block us on one side and the treecutplace on the other. And the warrior code says that we must protect our borders at all times!”
Darkstar looked at her, and she was unnerved by the strength in his yellow gaze. He stood up, and the cats below fell silent as if they were waiting for the next lightning strike he would drop among them.
“Forgive my insolent deputy,” he rasped. “She does not understand what it means to be truly loyal to her Clan. Vinestar, the land is yours. My warriors will set new border marks tomorrow.”
Vinestar dipped his head. His eyes were narrowed and full of questions, but he didn’t challenge the generous offer.
Raincloud looked desperately up at the sky. Was StarClan really going to let this happen? But the full moon floated on, a perfect shining disk. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Their warrior ancestors could not have made it clearer that Darkstar could do as he wished with the territory that belonged to his Clan.
Her tail drooping, Raincloud turned to leave the Great Rock.
It would be up to her to send out patrols to change the boundaries and shrink SkyClan’s hunting grounds.
“Wait!” Darkstar ordered. Raincloud stopped and looked around.
“I want you to be my witness to a new law for the warrior code,” the SkyClan leader rasped. His eyes were gleaming now but not quite focused. Raincloud felt her pelt stand on end. Had her leader gone mad, right in the middle of a Gathering?