As the sun rose over the gorge, Fleetfoot and Rage washed up on the shore of the river. The wild boar was dead.
Fleetfoot staggered to her feet, dripping wet and trying to catch her breath. Then she saw something that made her fur prickle all along her spine. Standing on the bank of the river was the boar’s mate—an even bigger, fiercer beast who rarely left her den, as Goldenstar and Shadestar knew. This she-boar was named Fury.
Fleetfoot and Fury fought on the bank of the river for two nights and two days. Finally, exhausted, Fleetfoot drove the she-boar out onto the stepping-stones, where Fury lost her footing, fell into the river, and drowned.
Goldenstar and Shadestar were ashamed of their treachery. The young LeopardClan warrior had saved them all from two terrible enemies. So, they gave LeopardClan sole hunting rights to the river forever.
And that is how LeopardClan won the river.
HOW SNAKES CAME TO THE FOREST
There once lived a brave LionClan warrior called Sunpelt. Sunpelt had heard stories of the giant snake called Mouthclaw, who lived in a dark cave by Snakerocks. She was the only snake in the entire forest. She had killed many great warriors from all the Clans. Her sharp-fanged jaws could swallow a living cat whole, and she spat deadly venom.
Cats from all Clans were forbidden to go to Snakerocks. The leaders were afraid to lose any more warriors to Mouthclaw. But Sunpelt wanted to prove what a great warrior he was. He thought that by killing Mouthclaw, he would earn the respect of the forest.
One morning he left the camp before sunup and journeyed to Snakerocks. He stood outside Mouthclaw’s cave and called, “Come out and fight!” Then he angered her further by kicking stones into her cave with his back legs.
Mouthclaw slithered out of her cave, her tongue flickering like lightning. She was ten fox-lengths long and as thick as a badger with a bellyful of cubs. Her eyes were evil red slits, and her scales glittered in the dawn light.
She bared her fangs with pleasure, for LionClan warriors were one of her favorite meals. And then she lunged. But the young warrior was too quick. He leaped from rock to rock, while Mouthclaw spat poison and threw up clouds of dust with her lashing tail. The fight went on all day, but she could never get close enough for the kill.
Finally Mouthclaw could fight no more.
“I have been living in these rocks for a thousand moons,” she hissed. “Spare my life, and I shall grant you one wish.”
The brave warrior thought for a moment. Then he roared, “I wish that you would shrink to the length of a cat’s tail. If you were that small, then I would allow you to remain living at Snakerocks.”
“And that is all you ask of me?” hissed Mouthclaw with an evil glint in her eyes.
“That is all,” said Sunpelt. He knew a tiny snake would be no danger to the giant cats of the forest. He would be a hero.
Mouthclaw began to writhe and slither, back and forth. A great cloud of dust rose up, and when it settled, Sunpelt leaped backward in horror.
A thousand snakes, each the length of a cat’s tail, covered the ground, spitting poison. Now instead of one giant snake at Snakerocks, there were many, each of them deadly and fierce.
Sunpelt could not believe what he had done. Horrified and guilt-stricken, he raced back to camp and confessed all to his leader.
At first Goldenstar was angry. “This was a dangerous thing you did,” he growled. “You should know better than to bargain with snakes. They are cunning and will outwit us every time.”
“I know,” Sunpelt admitted, hanging his head.
“However,” Goldenstar meowed, “you have done a great service for the forest. These smaller snakes may be dangerous, but none can be as dangerous as Mouthclaw. Now no warrior has to fear being swallowed or bitten by her deadly fangs.”
“That is true,” Sunpelt meowed, his spirit rising.
Goldenstar forgave his brave warrior. After all, Sunpelt was not the first cat—or the last—to be tricked by a snake in the grass.
HOW TIGERCLAN GOT THEIR STRIPES
When the big cats first walked the forest, TigerClan and LionClan both had pure gold coats, but only LionClan cats had a mane of long hair like the rays of the sun. The TigerClan cats were jealous of these golden manes, and they were jealous of LeopardClan’s ability to run faster than any other cats. Jealousy made them bitter, and they started hunting at night and keeping to the shadows during the daytime.
One TigerClan warrior, Thorntooth, was more bitter than the rest. He started attacking the other Clans at night, stealing their kits and raiding their fresh-kill pile. Shadestar, the TigerClan leader, knew what Thorntooth was doing, but she did nothing to stop him, because her own heart was black with envy.
Then a day came when Thorntooth sneaked back to camp with a small lion cub dangling from his jaws and mewling sadly.
Shadestar took one look at the kit and flew into a rage.
“That’s Petalkit!” she roared. “You’ve stolen Goldenstar’s only daughter!”
“Yes, I have,” Thorntooth replied smugly, dropping the she-cat on the ground. Petalkit let out a wail and buried her nose in her paws.
“What have you done?” Shadestar snarled. “This will mean war. LionClan will not rest until they rescue this kit. They will slaughter us all if they have to.”
“We can fight them,” Thorntooth growled angrily.
“And let TigerClan warriors die? For what?” Shadestar hissed. “For nothing. We’re giving Goldenstar’s daughter back immediately.”
Shadestar called a Gathering that night and gave Petalkit back to Goldenstar before LionClan could attack. Here was proof that Thorntooth was behind the night raids. Goldenstar and Swiftstar demanded that Shadestar put a stop to her warrior’s dishonorable behavior.
“But it’s not fair!” Thorntooth protested. “TigerClan has nothing special. We are plain orange cats with no great skills. We should have something to set us apart like LionClan and LeopardClan have!”
“Enough!” Goldenstar snarled. “Shadestar, your Clan must be punished. For the next moon, TigerClan shall not be seen in daylight. The light of the sun shall not touch your pelts. You may not speak to cats of other Clans. For one whole moon, you forfeit your Clan’s honor. If you stop your raids, you may rejoin the Clans at the next Gathering.”
So TigerClan walked only by night for a moon and stayed away from the other Clans. When the full moon came around again, they stepped into the Gathering under the moonlight. All the other cats gasped.
“Your pelts!” Swiftstar meowed.
TigerClan had spent so long walking in the shadows that their brightly colored pelts were sliced through with jet-black stripes. Thorntooth was pleased, because now TigerClan was marked out like the other Clans.
From that day on, all TigerClan cats were born with stripes.
Catspeak: Humanspeak
Crow-food: rotting food
Fox dung: an insult; stronger offense than mouse-brain
Fresh-kill: recently killed prey
Gathering: a meeting that the Clans hold in peace at every full moon
Greencough: severe chest infection, which can be fatal in elders and young kits
Greenleaf: summer
Greenleaf Twolegplace: a place where humans visit only in the summer (a campsite, resort, etc.)
Halfbridge: a dock
Horseplace: fields and stables near the lake where half-tamed cats live
Housefolk: a house cat’s word for its humans
Kittypet: a house cat
Leaf-bare: winter
Leaf-fall: fall/autumn
Loner: cat that lives peacefully on its own in one place but doesn’t defend its territory
Monster: usually refers to human machines such as cars and bulldozers
Moonhigh: the time of night when the moon is at its highest—often midnight
Mouse-brained: not very smart
Mouse dung: an insult; stronger than mouse-brain, but less offensive than fo
x dung
Newleaf: spring
Nofurs: another word for humans
One moon: one month (half-moon = two weeks, quarter-moon = one week)
Rogue: a potentially hostile cat who lives outside the Clans and never spends too long in one place
Sharing tongues: term used to describe cats grooming each other
Silverpelt: the Milky Way
Sun-drown-place: the sea to the west, where the sun sets
Sunhigh: noon
Thunderpath: a road
Tree-eater: bulldozer
Twoleg nest: a human house
Twolegplace: a human town
Twolegs: the Clans’ word for humans
Upwalkers: another word for humans
Whitecough: mild chest infection
DEDICATION
For Mr. Pugh, with love
Special thanks to Victoria Holmes
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
THE DAWN OF THE CLANS
THE WARRIOR CODE
WELCOME TO THE WARRIOR CODE
CODE ONE
The Beginning of the Warrior Code
CODE TWO
Finders Keepers
Hunting Fish!
CODE THREE
A Mystical Battle
A Dark Path Chosen
CODE FOUR
Mouse Games
CODE FIVE
The Queens Unite
The Smallest Warrior
CODE SIX
A Night of Listening
Squirrelflight’s Words of Wisdom
CODE SEVEN
Second in Command
CODE EIGHT
Follow My Leader
Too Late for Regrets: Tallstar Explains
CODE NINE
A Sign from StarClan
CODE TEN
The Vanishing Moon
CODE ELEVEN
Poppycloud’s Rule
Who Goes There? Whitestorm Teaches Border Tactics
CODE TWELVE
A Loss for All Clans
A Kit in Trouble
CODE THIRTEEN
Darkstar’s Law
An Empty Prayer: Cloudstar Speaks
CODE FOURTEEN
The Medicine Cats Decide
CODE FIFTEEN
Pinestar’s Secret
A Change of Heart: Sandstorm Speaks
RULES THAT DID NOT BECOME PART OF THE CODE:
Leafpool Speaks
EPILOGUE
THE DAWN OF THE CLANS
Many moons ago, a community of cats settled in dense woodland close to the edge of a moor. Some were kittypets intrigued by the idea of exploring beyond their housefolk’s backyard; others had been born and raised in the wild, by cats who knew how to catch their own prey and find shelter in the cold nights of leaf-bare.
The woodland, with the river running fast and deep at the edge of the trees, proved to be good territory for the cats. There was enough shelter for every cat, enough prey to feed them all, and the freedom to hunt among the trees, on the open moor, and along the fish-filled river.
The cats began to settle according to their preferences for hunting and prey. The fish-eaters kept mostly to the banks of the river, making their dens among the reeds and twisted willow roots; the mouse-pouncers stayed under the densest trees, perfecting their leaps among the tangled undergrowth; the rabbit-chasers, faster and leaner than the other cats, kept to the open moor; the squirrel-stalkers settled in the sparser woodland, where they learned to climb trees and hunt among the branches; and the cats who had a taste for snakes and lizards, and the cunning to catch them on marshy ground, settled among brittle grass stalks and rattling pine trees on the farthest edge of the territory.
There were no borders at first, and within each hunting ground the cats lived separately, meeting only as they went in pursuit of the same prey. Occasionally cats clashed over a piece of fresh-kill or a good place for a den, but battles between large numbers of cats were unheard of.
Then a time came when prey was scarce, and there were too many mouths to feed and bodies to shelter in each hunting ground. Battles broke out, just a few cats at first, but more and more until hunting ground took on hunting ground, fighting for survival, not just for themselves, but for the cats who lived alongside them. After one dreadful battle, when the ground beneath the four great oak trees turned red with blood, the spirits of the dead cats came back to plead for peace with the strongest cats from each hunting ground: Wind, River, Thunder, Shadow, and Sky.
The five vowed to their fallen companions that they would find a way to put an end to the fighting, to live in their separate hunting grounds in communities that would preserve each territory for generations of cats to come.
THE TIME OF THE CLANS HAD BEGUN…
THE WARRIOR CODE
1. Defend your Clan, even with your life. You may have friendships with cats from other Clans, but your loyalty must remain to your Clan.
2. Do not hunt or trespass on another Clan’s territory.
3. Elders and kits must be fed before apprentices and warriors.
4. Prey is killed only to be eaten. Give thanks to StarClan for its life.
5. A kit must be at least six moons old to become an apprentice.
6. Newly appointed warriors will keep a silent vigil for one night after receiving their warrior name.
7. A cat cannot be made deputy without having mentored at least one apprentice.
8. The deputy will become Clan leader when the leader dies or retires.
9. After the death or retirement of the deputy, the new deputy must be chosen before moonhigh.
10. A gathering of all Clans is held at the full moon during a truce that lasts for the night. There shall be no fighting among Clans at this time.
11. Boundaries must be checked and marked daily. Challenge all trespassing cats.
12. No warrior may neglect a kit in pain or in danger, even if that kit is from a different Clan.
13. The word of the Clan leader is the warrior code.
14. An honorable warrior does not need to kill other cats to win his or her battles, unless they are outside the warrior code or it is necessary for self-defense.
15. A warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet.
Welcome to the Warrior Code
Hello! Firestar told me you’d be visiting today. Come in. Watch out for the brambles at the entrance; they’ve grown faster than ever with the warm rain we’ve had this moon. Sorry, did that one catch on your pelt? I have some marigold leaves if it’s cut you. No? Good. My name is Leafpool, by the way, and I’m ThunderClan’s medicine cat—but I expect you knew that, didn’t you? I forget how well-known our Clan has become, even among loners and kittypets.
Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. We have a lot to talk about!
Firestar said that you wanted to learn about the warrior code. I can see how it would fascinate you, born and raised outside the Clans. Does it seem as if our lives are governed by strict, ancient rules? Your life must feel free as air in comparison; you can hunt when you like, eat what you catch, and choose friends and enemies wherever you please without having loyalties and responsibilities forced upon you. I can see by the glint in your eyes that you sometimes pity us for the code that binds us like bramble tendrils to our Clanmates, our territories, and our long-dead ancestors. But the warrior code isn’t like that. If you’re born to it, raised in its nurturing paws, it feels as obvious as breathing.
You hunt just for yourself, yes? But what would happen if you got injured or sick? In the Clans, the strongest cats, the warriors, hunt for all of us. And when it is their turn to have graying muzzles and trembling paws, new warriors will catch prey for them until they walk with StarClan and hunt like young cats once more.
You think the Clans hate one another and fight all the time. It’s true, we live in close quarters with the other Clans, and that can lead to tension, but we also unite against common enemies—you heard about the badger attack, yes? We would h
ave been destroyed if WindClan hadn’t come to help us. And when we had to leave the forest, four Clans succeeded in making the Great Journey where one alone would have starved or frozen to death.
Being part of a Clan means knowing that you’ll never be alone. The life of the Clan surrounds you and stretches into the distance as far as your imagination can see. You follow in the paw steps of Clanmates born moons before you and those who are younger will follow your paw steps in moons to come. You will always be part of your Clan, even when you walk among your ancestors in the stars.
You’re still uncertain, aren’t you? No matter. Wait until you hear how each part of the code came about. No, I am not going to tell you stories. Relax your mind and together we will travel back through the ages, through many generations of cats. Just as grass grows even on the bare cliffs around the hollow, each code arose from the Clans’ daily lives as a way of ensuring that every cat was safe, nurtured, and fed from its very first breath. You will see that while the warrior code is still a force for good, for protection and balance among the Clans, many cats have challenged it—for it can bring terrible conflict to individual lives.
Are you ready? Let us begin with the first code....
CODE ONE
DEFEND YOUR CLAN, EVEN WITH YOUR LIFE. YOU MAY HAVE FRIENDSHIPS WITH CATS FROM OTHER CLANS, BUT YOUR LOYALTY MUST REMAIN TO YOUR CLAN.
It’s hard to imagine a time when cats were allowed to have friendships with cats in other Clans. I know better than most cats the agony of loving a cat from a different Clan—and of knowing that I had to return to my own Clanmates because they needed me, and because I wanted to remain loyal to the warrior code. Come with me, and let me show you the sad fate of Ryewhisker and Cloudberry. Though it breaks my heart, you will see why this terrible piece of the code came to be. As every cat must learn, the strength of the entire Clan depends on the loyalty of each one of its members.