Thunder and Shadow Read online

  DEDICATION

  Special thanks to Kate Cary

  ALLEGIANCES

  THUNDERCLAN

  LEADER BRAMBLESTAR—dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

  DEPUTY SQUIRRELFLIGHT—dark ginger she-cat with green eyes and one white paw

  MEDICINE CATS LEAFPOOL—light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, white paws and chest

  JAYFEATHER—gray tabby tom with blind blue eyes

  APPRENTICE, ALDERPAW (dark ginger tom with amber eyes)

  WARRIORS (toms and she-cats without kits):

  BRACKENFUR—golden-brown tabby tom

  CLOUDTAIL—long-haired white tom with blue eyes

  BRIGHTHEART—white she-cat with ginger patches

  THORNCLAW—golden-brown tabby tom

  WHITEWING—white she-cat with green eyes

  BIRCHFALL—light brown tabby tom

  BERRYNOSE—cream-colored tom with a stump for a tail

  MOUSEWHISKER—gray-and-white tom

  POPPYFROST—pale tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

  CINDERHEART—gray tabby she-cat

  LIONBLAZE—golden tabby tom with amber eyes

  ROSEPETAL—dark cream she-cat

  BRIARLIGHT—dark brown she-cat, paralyzed in her hindquarters

  BLOSSOMFALL—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with petal-shaped white patches

  BUMBLESTRIPE—very pale gray tom with black stripes

  IVYPOOL—silver-and-white tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes

  DOVEWING—pale gray she-cat with blue eyes

  CHERRYFALL—ginger she-cat

  APPRENTICE, SPARKPAW (orange tabby she-cat)

  MOLEWHISKER—brown-and-cream tom

  SNOWBUSH—white, fluffy tom

  AMBERMOON—pale ginger she-cat

  DEWNOSE—gray-and-white tom

  STORMCLOUD—(formerly Frankie); gray tabby tom

  HOLLYTUFT—black she-cat

  FERNSONG—yellow tabby tom

  SORRELSTRIPE—dark brown she-cat

  QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

  DAISY—cream long-furred cat from the horseplace

  LILYHEART—small, dark tabby she-cat with white patches, and blue eyes (mother to Leafkit, a tortoiseshell she-kit; Larkkit, a black tom-kit; and Honeykit, a white she-kit with yellow splotches; fostering Twigkit, a gray she-kit with green eyes)

  ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired):

  PURDY—plump tabby former loner with a gray muzzle

  GRAYSTRIPE—long-haired gray tom

  MILLIE—striped silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes

  SHADOWCLAN

  LEADER ROWANSTAR—ginger tom

  DEPUTY CROWFROST—black-and-white tom

  MEDICINE CAT LITTLECLOUD—very small tabby tom

  WARRIORS TAWNYPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

  APPRENTICE, NEEDLEPAW

  TIGERHEART—dark brown tabby tom

  APPRENTICE, SLEEKPAW

  STONETOOTH—white tom

  APPRENTICE, JUNIPERPAW

  SPIKEFUR—dark brown tom with tufty fur on his head

  APPRENTICE, YARROWPAW

  WASPTAIL—yellow tabby she-cat with green eyes

  APPRENTICE, STRIKEPAW

  DAWNPELT—cream-furred she-cat

  APPRENTICE, BEEPAW

  SNOWBIRD—sleek, lithe, well-muscled, pure white she-cat with green eyes

  SCORCHFUR—dark gray tom with slashed ears, one of which is torn

  BERRYHEART—black-and-white she-cat

  CLOVERFOOT—gray tabby she-cat

  RIPPLETAIL—white tom

  SPARROWTAIL—large tabby tom

  MISTCLOUD—spiky-furred, pale gray she-cat

  QUEENS GRASSHEART—pale brown tabby she-cat

  PINENOSE—black she-cat (mother to Birchkit, a beige tom-kit; Lionkit, a yellow she-kit with amber eyes; Puddlekit, a brown tom-kit with white splotches; and Slatekit, a sleek, gray tom-kit; fostering Violetkit, a black-and-white she-kit)

  ELDERS OAKFUR—small brown tom

  KINKFUR—tabby she-cat, with long fur that sticks out at all angles

  RATSCAR—scarred tom

  WINDCLAN

  LEADER ONESTAR—brown tabby tom

  DEPUTY HARESPRING—brown-and-white tom

  MEDICINE CAT KESTRELFLIGHT—mottled gray tom with white splotches like kestrel feathers

  WARRIORS NIGHTCLOUD—black she-cat

  GORSETAIL—very pale gray-and-white she-cat with blue eyes

  CROWFEATHER—dark gray tom

  APPRENTICE, FERNPAW (gray tabby she-cat)

  LEAFTAIL—dark tabby tom with amber eyes

  EMBERFOOT—gray tom with two dark paws

  BREEZEPELT—black tom with amber eyes

  FURZEPELT—gray-and-white she-cat

  APPRENTICE, LARKPAW (pale brown tabby she-cat)

  SEDGEWHISKER—light brown tabby she-cat

  SLIGHTFOOT—black tom with white flash on his chest

  OATCLAW—pale brown tabby tom

  FEATHERPELT—gray tabby she-cat

  HOOTWHISKER—dark gray tom

  QUEENS HEATHERTAIL—light brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes (mother to Smokekit, a gray she-kit, and Brindlekit, a mottled brown she-kit)

  ELDERS WHITETAIL—small white she-cat

  RIVERCLAN

  LEADER MISTYSTAR—gray she-cat with blue eyes

  DEPUTY REEDWHISKER—black tom

  MEDICINE CATS MOTHWING—dappled golden she-cat

  WILLOWSHINE—gray tabby she-cat

  WARRIORS MINTFUR—light gray tabby tom

  DUSKFUR—brown tabby she-cat

  APPRENTICE, SHADEPAW (dark brown she-cat)

  MINNOWTAIL—dark gray she-cat

  MALLOWNOSE—light brown tabby tom

  PETALFUR—gray-and-white she-cat

  BEETLEWHISKER—brown-and-white tabby tom

  CURLFEATHER—pale brown she-cat

  PODLIGHT—gray-and-white tom

  HERONWING—dark gray-and-black tom

  SHIMMERPELT—silver she-cat

  LIZARDTAIL—light brown tom

  APPRENTICE, FOXPAW (russet tabby tom)

  HAVENPELT—black-and-white she-cat

  PERCHWING—gray-and-white she-cat

  SNEEZECLOUD—gray-and-white tom

  BRACKENPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat

  JAYCLAW—gray tom

  OWLNOSE—brown tabby tom

  QUEENS LAKEHEART—gray tabby she-cat (mother to Harekit, Dapplekit, Gorsekit, and Softkit)

  ICEWING—white she-cat with blue eyes (mother to Nightkit and Breezekit)

  ELDERS MOSSPELT—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

  MAPS

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Allegiances

  Maps

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Back Ads

  About the Author

  Books by Erin Hunter

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  PROLOGUE

  Sun split the branches above Echosong’s head and sliced through the shadows dappling the forest floor. Echosong relish
ed the rays as they warmed her back. She swished her tail happily as a soft, warm wind rustled the leaves. Overhead, birds chattered, and she licked her lips hungrily. She would hunt before the sun set.

  She paused.

  Before the sun sets?

  Hadn’t it set already today? And hadn’t rain been lashing the juniper bush where she’d made her solitary nest?

  Yes! She’d fallen asleep to its thrumming, wondering where her scattered Clanmates were sheltering as the storm swept the forest.

  This is a dream.

  Yet it felt too real to be a dream. A vision? Her heart lifted. It had been so long since she’d had a vision. She was beginning to think that StarClan had forgotten SkyClan, just like the other Clans had forgotten them countless moons ago.

  Ahead she heard fur brush the undergrowth. Paw steps were stalking toward her. Danger? Echosong froze, fear clutching her belly. No. She calmed herself. This is a vision. I’m safe here. And yet she didn’t move. Instead she waited, her paws pricking with expectation.

  A broad-shouldered tom slid from between the ferns and stopped a few tail-lengths ahead. Stars sparkled in his pelt, and his blue eyes shone like the sky.

  “Who are you?” Recognition itched in Echosong’s paws. His thick gray pelt was familiar, and he blinked at her softly, as though they were old friends. She’d seen him before in a vision!

  “Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky,” the tom murmured.

  Her thoughts quickened. “What shadows? Who are they?”

  He gazed at her, not speaking.

  “And what does clear the sky mean?” Frustration tightened her chest. This cat had brought her a prophecy before: What remains when the fire has burned out? It had baffled her. Why couldn’t he ever say what he meant? “Just tell me.” Was he trying to give her a clue about what had happened to her Clan? The cats she’d known her whole life had scattered when the rogues had driven them from the gorge. She didn’t even know if any of them were still alive.

  The gray tom lifted his gaze and stared into the oak canopy. As he did, a sharp wind whisked through the branches. She followed his gaze. He was watching a flurry of leaves as they fluttered toward the ground. Dancing, the leaves twirled between them for a moment before drifting onto the forest floor.

  Echosong blinked at the leaves. They were not oak leaves. They were bigger and didn’t have softly curved edges. Each of them had five points, more like maple than oak.

  “Now you’re scattered like leaves, blown by the wind.” The tom’s mew broke into her thoughts. He reached out a paw and swept the fallen leaves, piling a small heap in front of him. Another five-pointed leaf was falling, larger than the rest. It fluttered toward him like a moth. Deftly he reached up and hooked it from the air. He laid it on top of the pile. “Look.”

  Echosong leaned forward, excitement tingling through her pelt. What did the leaves mean? Why were they maple and not oak? As she gazed at them, trying desperately to understand their meaning, she saw them fade.

  “No!”

  The vision was blurring. Darkness clouded her sight. It mustn’t disappear yet. She didn’t understand!

  “Tell me more!” Her own panicked mew woke her, and she lifted her head sharply. She blinked into darkness, disappointment swamping her. She was back in her makeshift nest, rain beating the juniper branches above her. Cold water dripped through the leaves and soaked into her pelt. Shivering, she closed her eyes and tried to remember every detail of the vision. Her heart pounded. What had StarClan been trying to tell her? I have to understand! If only she could figure it out, she might finally find her way home.

  CHAPTER 1

  Alderpaw’s gaze drifted toward the trailing brambles at the entrance of the medicine den. Outside, leaves would be drifting into the hollow. Leaf-fall had come so soon! Less than a moon ago he’d been trekking back from his quest beneath sunny blue skies.

  “Alderpaw!”

  Jayfeather’s sharp mew snapped him from his thoughts. He turned his attention back to the herbs piled in front of him.

  “You’re meant to be separating the yarrow from the coltsfoot.” Jayfeather glared at him with sightless blue eyes.

  “Sorry,” Alderpaw mumbled. Nothing he did seemed to please Jayfeather. Hurriedly he began to peel the wide, limp yarrow leaves away from the brittle coltsfoot.

  Beside him, Leafpool reached deeper into the crevice at the back of the cave. She hauled out another pawful of leaves. “I think that’s the last of them. Once we’ve sorted these, we can decide what we need to gather before leaf-bare.”

  “We’ll need catmint,” Jayfeather mewed. “If we’d gathered more last year, we might not have lost Spiderleg.”

  At the far side of the medicine den, Briarlight pushed herself upright in her nest. “I can help with the sorting.”

  “Thanks,” Jayfeather told her without turning. “But we have enough cats here already.” His ears twitched irritably as he added, “And kits.”

  Alderpaw glanced guiltily at Twigkit. The young cat was playing with a leaf just inside the entrance. She stood on her hind legs, reaching up to bat the leaf into the air, then ducked as it drifted down, to catch it on her back. As it landed between her shoulder blades, she gave a mrrow of delight. “I had to bring her with me,” Alderpaw explained. “She didn’t have anyone to play with.”

  “What about Lilyheart’s kits?” Jayfeather snapped. “They’re her nestmates, aren’t they?”

  Leafpool pushed a pile of thyme to one side. “Lilyheart’s kits are nearly five moons old,” she reminded Jayfeather gently. “They’re far too boisterous for Twigkit.”

  And they’re not interested in having a young kit tag along. Alderpaw was grateful that Lilyheart had agreed to raise Twigkit along with her own kits, Leafkit, Larkkit, and Honeykit, but he wished the older kits had more patience with their foster littermate. Still, he knew they would be apprentices soon; they were more interested in pretending to hunt and fight than in playing nursery games with Twigkit.

  If only her sister, Violetkit, had been allowed to stay with her in ThunderClan. Alderpaw remembered with a spark of disgust how callously the ShadowClan cats had carried Twigkit’s sister away from the Gathering. They hadn’t cared that they were separating orphaned littermates. All they cared about was that Needlepaw—a ShadowClan apprentice—had helped find them. And since the kits might be part of a prophecy sent from StarClan, Rowanstar was determined to claim one of them for his Clan.

  Anger surged through Alderpaw. It was my prophecy! I led the quest that found them. And yet that wasn’t why he resented losing Violetkit so much. He felt sorry for Twigkit. And for Violetkit. Was ShadowClan taking care of her? Did she have a foster mother as kind as Lilyheart? Memories of his own kithood with his sister, Sparkpaw, and his mother, Squirrelflight, warmed his heart. How would I have felt if I had been separated from them?

  Twigkit batted the leaf into the air once again, then leaped, her short fluffy tail whipping to balance her as she spun in the air. Nimbly she caught the leaf between her forepaws.

  “She’s agile.” Leafpool watched approvingly.

  “She should be playing outside,” Jayfeather huffed. “A medicine den is no place for kits.”

  “She could play with Briarlight,” Alderpaw suggested.

  Because of her crippled hind legs, it was important for Briarlight to keep her forelegs strong and active and her lungs clear. Chasing a leaf with Twigkit would be good exercise.

  Jayfeather frowned, but Leafpool spoke before he could object. “That’s a great idea, Alderpaw.” She called to Twigkit. “Would you like to play catch with Briarlight?”

  Twigkit blinked at Leafpool, her eyes sparkling with delight. “Can I?”

  “Of course,” Briarlight purred. “You can play with me anytime you like.”

  Jayfeather huffed and began untangling the pile of thyme. “Does this mean she’s going to be in here even more?”

  “Don’t be so grouchy,” Leafpool
chided. “She’s not doing any harm.”

  “I guess I only trip over her three or four times a day,” Jayfeather snorted.

  Alderpaw’s pelt pricked with irritation. It was almost as though Jayfeather enjoyed being the grumpiest cat in the Clan. At least Twigkit didn’t seem to have heard him. She was happily crossing the den, hurrying toward Briarlight with her leaf.

  “Get on with your work!” Jayfeather’s ears twitched crossly. Not for the first time, Alderpaw wondered if the blind medicine cat could read his thoughts. Guiltily he turned his attention back to the yarrow and coltsfoot.

  The trailing brambles at the entrance rustled, distracting him again. Graystripe popped his head through and blinked at Jayfeather. “Jayfeather, Bramblestar wants to see you, Leafpool, and Alderpaw.”

  Alderpaw’s heart quickened. Why?

  He waited for Jayfeather to speak, but Graystripe went on. “Can I take some comfrey back to the elders’ den?” The gray elder glanced at the herb piles hopefully.

  Leafpool tipped her head. “Are your joints aching again?”

  “Not mine,” Graystripe huffed. “Millie’s.”

  “Should I come and check on her?” Leafpool was already rolling up a wad of leaves.

  “There’s no need. Unless you know a cure for aging.” Graystripe pushed his way into the den. “Besides, I don’t think you should keep Bramblestar waiting. Rowanstar’s with him.”

  Jayfeather pricked his ears. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “I just did.”

  As Graystripe grasped the comfrey between his jaws, Jayfeather brushed past him and headed for the entrance.

  Alderpaw glanced at Twigkit. Had something happened to Violetkit? Was that why the ShadowClan leader had come? “Stay here with Briarlight, okay?”

  She nodded.

  Alderpaw’s heart was racing. He nosed his way through the brambles after Jayfeather, the sharp sunshine stinging his eyes.

  Outside the nursery, Lilyheart stretched beside Daisy, soaking up the meager warmth. There was a chill in the air, but the cliff sheltered the camp from the blustery breeze that was stirring the branches at the top of the hollow. Leafkit, Larkkit, and Honeykit were nosing around the fallen beech, poking their noses through the gaps in the woven walls of the apprentices’ den.

  “There’s so much room inside!” Leafkit gasped.