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 starved 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.
Barley was no stranger to the horrors of bloodshed, though. He had been born in Twolegplace among the cats of BloodClan. When he insisted on staying with his littermate Violet, against
Scourge’s orders, he was forced to watch his sister being attacked by Scourge’s closest supporters—none other than Scourge and Violet’s remaining littermates. Violet barely survived and became a kittypet soon after. Barley escaped to the farm and lived in solitude until the happy arrival of Ravenpaw.
Neither of them forgot Ravenpaw’s Clan origins, and they helped the cats from the forest many times over, joining the battle against BloodClan with relish and then allowing all four Clans to hunt and rest at their farm before they embarked on the Great Journey. Ravenpaw was much missed by his ThunderClan friends, but not a single one of them would have forced him to return to the place where he had known such abject misery because of Tigerclaw.
SMUDGE AND PRINCESS
SMUDGE WAS THE WELL-FED, idle, black-and-white kittypet who first sensed Rusty’s obsession with the wild cats in the woods. While Smudge was in no hurry to meet dangerous creatures that feasted on bones and lived by some obscure code that kept them in the cold, wet trees, he was a loyal and courageous friend to Rusty, who would become Firestar. When Smudge started dreaming of strange, far-off cats that seemed in dire need of help, he left the safety of his backyard and ventured into the forest to find Firestar. Who knows why StarClan would have sent dreams of SkyClan to a pampered kittypet? Perhaps the warrior ancestors have learned to be less judgmental of cats with a different lifestyle than the living Clans.
Princess was the pretty, fluffy littermate of Rusty’s who went to live with different housefolk when they were still tiny kits. She had no idea what had happened to her brother until a chance encounter at the edge of ThunderClan territory. Although Princess had no wish to live by the rules of the wild herself, she was proud enough of her brother to give him her firstborn kit, Cloudkit, wishing for him the same noble life that Fireheart spoke of. The wisdom of her decision was questionable at times, especially in the beginning when Cloudpaw had difficulty settling into this tougher life, but it was a clear sign of Princess’s trusting and hopeful nature. Firestar often thought of his sister, even when he had taken his Clan far from the forest to their new home beside the lake. And Princess still thinks of him, knowing he and her precious son have traveled far away, but with no means of finding out if they are still alive.
SCOURGE AND BONE
SCOURGE WAS BORN ON the edge of Twolegplace, the kittypet son of Quince and Jake, who went on to father Firestar and Princess with another kittypet, Nutmeg. Initially named Tiny, Scourge was a puny, protesting kit who was treated with dismissive scorn by his littermates, Socks and Ruby. Determined to prove that he was their equal, Scourge began exploring the woods that lay beyond the backyard fence. An encounter with a ThunderClan patrol led to his first fight, with the powerful apprentice
Tigerpaw. Scourge was soundly defeated—and he never forgot the injustice of the uneven battle. He decided not to return home, but instead to live wild in Twolegplace, finding his own food and shelter.
Scourge tried to rip off his kittypet collar using an ancient dog’s lost tooth, but the tooth got stuck in the fabric without loosening the collar one bit. If other stray cats chose to interpret this as a trophy from a fight with a dog that Scourge had killed, he had no intention of stopping them. His reputation grew among the Twolegplace cats, and Scourge felt the first seductive stirrings of power. He sought out the strongest, cruelest cats to support him and used them to punish weaker cats that disobeyed the rules he introduced. He called his disparate rabble of followers BloodClan, not that he had any interest in a code of honor like that of the forest Clans.
When a former BloodClan cat came to him with the leader of ShadowClan, asking for an alliance against the other Clans, Scourge recognized Tigerstar at once. He agreed to help, with no intention of falling in with Tigerstar’s plans. When Scourge led BloodClan into the forest, he declared his real aim: to take over the whole forest as extra territory for his Twolegplace cats. Tigerstar protested, so
Scourge killed him, ripping all nine lives from him with a single blow.
But the Clan cats were braver than he anticipated and, in a ferocious battle, Scourge met his match in his half brother, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan. Scourge struck the first deadly blow, but Firestar had been given nine lives by his warrior ancestors and recovered to strike back. Without belief in StarClan, Scourge had only one life to lose and he died at Firestar’s paws, leaving his rogues to scatter back to Twolegplace in shame.