When I had almost forgotten how it felt to have a full belly, and when my pelt hung loose on my jagged bones, I had a waking dream, a vision as clear as the mountains around me. I saw a soft and sheltering place, safe from the cruel winds that sharpened the mountain peaks, with room for many cats to live and raise kits. There was no chance of my old bones traveling farther than the eye could see from our rocky home, but I gave my blessing to those cats who were brave enough to leave in search of what I had seen. When these far-traveling cats reached Highstones, they looked down on moorland, forest, and winding river, and knew they had found their home.
There were trees for the cats who loved to hunt by stalking and climbing, a broad shallow river for those willing to get their paws wet, and a large stretch of moorland for swift-heeled cats to catch rabbits out in the open. Of course, it took many seasons for the five Clans to emerge with distinct, hard-fought boundaries and the shared laws known as the warrior code. But the seeds of those Clans were sown in the personalities of the early settlers, in their differing preferences for hunting in trees or in open moorland, or risking wet fur in search of a plump fish. They fought and quarreled, shared loss and disaster, but every sunrise, every paw step, every blow struck and prey killed drew them steadily closer to the Clans they would become. And farther from their memories of the cats they had left behind…
HALF MOON, ALSO KNOWN AS STONETELLER
HALF MOON WAS A white she-cat with green eyes, daughter of Rising Moon and Chasing Clouds, who lived beside the lake with the ancient cats. She was one of the first to suggest moving away to find a new place to live. When the cats cast their votes, she showed no hesitation in pushing her stone into the circle that meant “leave.”
She loved Jayfeather (who she knew as Jay’s Wing) and was heartbroken when he didn’t follow them into the mountains, not knowing that Rock had forced him to return to his own time through the tunnels.
When the ancient cats reached their new home in the mountains, Half Moon demonstrated her courage in learning new hunting skills, and when she first explored the Cave of Pointed Stones, she was able to read the signs revealed by moonlight in the water. She was delighted when Jayfeather reappeared in the cave behind the waterfall, but devastated when he told her that her destiny was to become Stoneteller. Despite her abilities, all she wanted was to be Jayfeather’s mate and raise his kits, not to lead the mountain cats. Jayfeather wanted that too, but he knew that fate did not guide their paw steps side by side. At last Half Moon accepted what Jayfeather told her and took on the burden of becoming her Tribe’s Healer.
Later, as a very old cat, Half Moon received the vision of the Sun Trail, which told her that some of her cats should follow the path of the sun to find a new home. Jayfeather had told her that her ancestors would send her signs, and through all the seasons she still loved and trusted him. When Jayfeather left the mountains for the last time, he heard Half Moon’s spirit calling to him, telling him that she would wait for him forever.
GRAY WING
WHEN THE TELLER OF the Pointed Stones told the cats about her dream of a different place to live, the young tom Gray Wing made it clear he would not leave the mountains. He insisted that he belonged in the Cave of Rushing Water with his mother, Quiet Rain, and younger brother, Jagged Peak. But Gray Wing was courageous and loyal, and when Jagged Peak put himself in danger by following the departing cats, Gray Wing went after him.
Having traveled almost to the edge of the mountains, Gray Wing and Jagged Peak caught up with the other cats and joined the quest to find somewhere else to live. Gray Wing’s best friend, Turtle
Tail, who had cherished hopes of one day becoming Gray Wing’s mate, was overjoyed to see him again—unaware that Gray Wing was secretly in love with Bright Stream, who loved his brother, Clear Sky.
No cat expected the journey to be easy, but snow, turbulent rivers, and hostile wildlife made every paw step a challenge. The lowest point came when Bright Stream died, snatched away by an eagle the cats were trying to hunt. Gray Wing, who was unable to save her, blamed himself for Bright
Stream’s death, and for the death of her and Clear Sky’s unborn kits.
When they reached their new home, the mountain cats settled on the moor. Gray Wing preferred having the sky above his head to tree branches, and was dismayed when Clear Sky and some of the other mountain cats left the moor for the denser forest. He grew close to a loner named Storm but she became Clear Sky’s mate instead, then left the forest when she was expecting his kits. Gray Wing went to look for her, finding her just as the abandoned Twoleg den where she had given birth was being knocked down. Gray Wing risked his life to rescue one of the three kits, but was unable to save the rest of the litter or Storm. Gray Wing named the surviving kit Thunder and took him back to the moor to raise him when Clear Sky refused to have anything to do with his son.
Gray Wing was able to help both the moor cats and Clear Sky’s group escape a devastating forest fire, but was permanently weakened by inhaling the smoke of that fire. After Tall Shadow stepped back from leading the cats on the moor to care for her injured brother, Moon Shadow, Gray Wing emerged as leader in her place. His heart ached when Thunder, now almost grown, decided to leave the moor and live with Clear Sky, but he found love with his old friend Turtle Tail and helped to raise her kits as if he were their father. Although Gray Wing eventually stepped away from leadership and never became a true Clan leader, his clear-sighted compassion and his gift for planning battles meant that future generations of cats would know him as Graywing the Wise.
CLEAR SKY
CLEAR SKY WAS ENTHUSIASTIC about the idea of leaving the mountains—unlike his littermate Gray Wing. He was in love with Bright Stream, who was expecting his kits, and persuaded her to join the group on their quest to find a new home. When Bright Stream was carried off by an eagle early in their journey, Clear Sky fell into a deep depression, blaming himself for her death.
Clear Sky began to recover as the cats settled into their new home, and he took the lead in establishing a camp among the trees where his talents for leaping and hunting high in the branches served him well. Separated from many of the cats from the mountains who had chosen to make a home in a hollow on the moor, Clear Sky encouraged rogues to join him. Gradually he grew so obsessed with keeping his cats safe that he established boundaries and set cats to guard them. He and his guards attacked any cat who crossed his borders, and no other cat was permitted to hunt there—not even his old friends from the mountains or his littermate Gray Wing could visit him without trouble.
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.