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  Tigerclaw nodded. At last, a life that makes sense! He felt a surge of confidence inside his chest, burning like fire and roaring like the wind. Only he knew what was truly right for ShadowClan! They were his cats now!

  A dark tortoiseshell she-cat stepped up. Her eyes shone like yellow moons against the shadows behind. “I am Mossheart,” she announced. “I was a medicine cat long ago, at a time when cats died every day in needless battles against the other Clans. The forest ran with blood, and my herb stores went unused as cats died before I could do anything to help them. I joined together with the other medicine cats to create a new code, in which warriors do not have to kill their opponents to secure victory. What would become of the Clans if we let all our blood spill into the earth?” She touched Tigerclaw’s nose with his. “I give you a life for mercy, for knowing that victory can leave both cats standing. Your opponent may have been the lesser cat in this battle, but he deserves to live and have a chance to try again.”

  What kind of victory is that, knowing you have spared your enemy for another attack? Tigerclaw braced himself against the tide of heat that swept into him, hating the softness that lapped at his fur, closing his mind to the images of bleeding, maimed warriors that flooded behind his eyes. if they lose, they deserve to die!

  He opened his eyes and saw Mossheart looking at him. “Mercy brings strength, remember that,” she murmured. Tigerclaw felt a stab of alarm. Did the old cat know that this was a life Tigerclaw didn’t want?

  Mossheart padded away and the cat that had been standing beside Tigerclaw all this time stepped forward. “You have only one more life to receive,” meowed Cedarstar. “Are you ready?”

  Tigerclaw nodded. One more, and I will be the true leader of ShadowClan!

  Cedarstar let out a sigh. “I should never have appointed Raggedstar as my deputy,” he mewed. “All this trouble goes back to that moment. If only I had known what lay ahead . . .” He lifted his head and placed his muzzle against Tigerclaw’s. “I give you a life for farsightedness, for understanding what the results of your actions might be, however distant in the future. It will be the hardest and most lonely part of your duty as leader, Tigerclaw, but essential to keep your Clan safe. Do not rush into anything. Look forward, and choose the path that leads to where you would want your Clanmates to be.”

  The life was clear and sparkling like the light from the Moonstone. It danced through Tigerclaw’s fur, sharpening all his senses until he felt as if he could see right to the edges of StarClan. Something stirred at the back of Tigerclaw’s mind.

  “But Cedarstar, where are my lives for courage? For strength in battle and revenge on my enemies?” He heard his voice go shrill with doubt, and winced.

  Cedarstar looked calmly at him. “You bring enough courage, strength, and vengeance in yourself. It is the duty of StarClan to give you lives for what you might lack, to make your leadership fair for all the cats in your care.”

  Tigerclaw twitched his ears. if StarClan trusts me to win battles without their help, who am I to argue? “Thank you, Cedarstar,” he mewed.

  “Welcome, Tigerstar!” Cedarstar declared, stepping back and raising his voice. “Lead ShadowClan well with all of your lives!”

  “Welcome, Tigerstar!”

  “Tigerstar!”

  “Tigerstar!”

  Tigerstar bathed in the cheers of the StarClan cats. At last! This is what I have waited for my whole life. He looked around and saw a group of cats standing close together, watching with anxious, hopeful eyes. He recognized the former ShadowClan elders: Cinderfur, Tallpoppy, Darkflower, and Dawncloud. And beside them, Nightstar—or perhaps Nightpelt, here, because he had never been given nine lives? I will lead your Clan back to the glory it had before, Tigerstar promised them silently. Trust me.

  The starlit cats began to fade in front of him. Runningnose appeared, making Tigerstar jump. “I have been here all along,” Runningnose meowed. “It is time to leave now.”

  Tigerstar nodded. “I have a Clan to lead,” he declared.

  Runningnose paused and looked at him. “With StarClan’s blessing,” he mewed. “Tigerstar, you must listen to what our ancestors have said to you tonight. If you do not respect what each life stands for, StarClan cannot help you.”

  Tigerstar tensed. Was his medicine cat threatening him? “I heard nothing tonight that challenges what I want to do with my Clan,” he growled. “You are my medicine cat, Runningnose. You serve me before your Clanmates, before StarClan.”

  Runningnose’s eyes darkened for a moment, then he dipped his head. “Of course, Tigerstar,” he murmured.

  Tigerstar lifted his head and stared at the star-washed landscape. “ShadowClan is mine,” he whispered. “And I have nine lifetimes to make them remember me forever!”

  WINDCLAN

  Introduction to WindClan: Tallstar Speaks

  THE OTHER CLANS HAVE always been quick to dismiss WindClan as puny and skittish, easy to defeat in battle and the least skilled at hunting under trees. But we are the most closely descended from the mountain cats, the first settlers in the forest who came in search of a kinder home than that harsh, rocky place behind the waterfall. Like my Clanmates now, they needed broad, open sky above their heads and the breeze in their fur to feel truly free. Why should we want to smother ourselves with tree branches, or soak our pelts in the cold river, every time we need to hunt? We may be small and lithe, but we can run faster than any other Clan, and we alone have the skills to catch rabbits on the open moor.

  Don’t confuse a keen sense of danger with lack of courage. We can see our enemies coming from far away, and if that makes us more watchful, quicker to alarm than the other Clans, then it only helps to keep us safe. We have no wish to invade other Clans’ territories because our hunting skills are best suited to our own territory—but don’t assume that we won’t fight as fiercely as our neighbors if we are attacked. I would rather make an alliance with another Clan to fend off trouble on an endangered border than risk my Clanmates’ survival for the sake of stubborn pride. I had to watch my Clan suffer more than any other when the Twolegs started to destroy our territory in order to expand the Thunderpath. Their yellow monsters turned our home to rabbitless mud, then made our Clan into prey by trying to poison us. But I would not leave the forest without the other Clans. WindClan is one of four and always will be. Those mountain cats did not leave the waterfall in vain; we will preserve their legacy forever with our speed and determination to survive.

  TALLSTAR

  THE CAT WHO WOULD grow to become Tallstar was born to a pair of tunneling cats, Sandgorse and Palebird, who expected their son to follow the tradition, unique to WindClan, of cats skilled in digging and hunting belowground. But Tallkit preferred running over the open moor with the wind in his fur and hated the thought of being trapped in the dark. Heatherstar realized this and apprenticed him to a moor runner, much to the disappointment of Sandgorse and Palebird. But when Sandgorse was killed in an underground collapse while showing a visiting rogue named Sparrow one of the tunnels, Tallpaw decided to train as a tunneler like his father. However, Heatherstar forbade her cats to go belowground again, and though Tallpaw earned his warrior name, Talltail, he was restless and angry with grief.

  Swearing vengeance on Sparrow, Talltail left WindClan and set out to find him. He encountered a kittypet named Jake and struck up an unlikely allegiance, which deepened into true friendship when they traveled beyond Twolegplace to the rogues’ new home. Jake told Talltail that he could be a better cat by not taking Sparrow’s life in revenge; at the very last moment, with Sparrow poised on top of a cliff above a Thunderpath, Talltail recalled his friend’s words and decided to spare Sparrow. But the tom slipped over the edge anyway, forcing Talltail to risk his life to save him.

  Sparrow told Talltail that Sandgorse died saving his life from the collapsing tunnel. Humbled by his father’s final brave act, Talltail left the rogues, intending to carry on traveling with Jake. But Jake wanted to go home, back to his house
folk, and Talltail knew deep down that he was still a Clan warrior who belonged on the moor. When he returned to WindClan, he fought hard to win back the respect and trust of his Clanmates and was rewarded when Heatherstar made him deputy.

  As Clan leader, Tallstar remembered his experiences beyond the moor and was always willing to make allegiances across his borders to protect his Clan. When a young flame-colored cat joined ThunderClan, Tallstar realized he was the son of his old friend Jake. He never let on to Firestar that he had known his father so well, but Tallstar always favored the ThunderClan cat, sometimes to the dismay of his own Clanmates.

  Tallstar lived just long enough to make the Great Journey to the lake and died on the shore before the Clans had separated into their new territories. With his dying breath, Tallstar dismissed his deputy, Mudclaw, fearing he would lead WindClan too quickly into battle with the other Clans, and appointed Onewhisker to succeed him instead. Tallstar meant well, but he left Mudclaw to fester and rise up in rebellion against the new leader, while Onestar tried perhaps a little too hard to prove that WindClan no longer needed the friendship of the other Clans to survive.

  ONESTAR

  AS A WARRIOR, ONEWHISKER was loyal and courageous, but without the fierce ambition associated with most leaders. He befriended Fireheart, who would eventually become Firestar, after the young ThunderClan warrior rescued WindClan from their temporary home by the Thunderpath, where they had fled after a particularly savage ShadowClan invasion. Their friendship helped both their Clans; Onewhisker persuaded Tallstar not to fight Bluestar when she falsely accused WindClan of theft, and Fireheart was more lenient to hungry WindClan warriors than other trespassers.

  But when Onewhisker became leader of WindClan and took the name Onestar, he wanted to prove that WindClan could survive without the help of another Clan. The friendship that had supported him from across the border seemed like a burden, a debt of gratitude that ThunderClan would extract from WindClan until the lake ran dry. Onestar needed to win the respect of his own Clanmates as Mudclaw stirred up rebellion against him. His first challenge was to defeat Mudclaw and his supporters—helped by StarClan sending a bolt of lightning to crush Mudclaw beneath a falling tree. Then he began to reinforce the border between ThunderClan and WindClan more vigorously than Firestar ever anticipated. Onestar made it clear that there would be no favors owed, no ThunderClan cats tolerated on the wrong side of the scent marks.

  When Onestar discovered the existence of tunnels linking the two territories, he recognized their potential as a means of attacking ThunderClan from deep inside its borders. He ordered his warriors to train underground, to hone their skills in fighting in dark and cramped spaces. Seasons upon seasons of tunneling still ran in WindClan’s blood, and the battle was ferocious. ThunderClan won narrowly, and Onestar’s hostility toward Firestar increased. But he was forced to unite with his old friend when the Dark Forest came, bringing all four Clans together to defeat their greatest enemy of all.

  MUDCLAW

  MUDCLAW WAS CHOSEN TO be deputy because Tallstar recognized the need for a warrior who was not afraid to show his claws to balance out his own gentler, peace-loving leadership. Mudclaw was fearless, fiercely loyal to his Clan, and determined to be a strong leader without having the bloodthirsty ambition that had polluted the paths of leaders in other Clans. When Tallstar dismissed him and appointed Onestar in his place, Mudclaw felt utterly betrayed. He saw no reason behind Tallstar’s decision, except that the old cat had lost his mind just before losing his ninth life. A challenge to Onestar’s leadership seemed entirely logical, and Mudclaw was encouraged by a significant number of cats who shared his disbelief—not just from his own Clan, but ShadowClan and RiverClan too. His most determined supporter was Hawkfrost of RiverClan; ever keen to stir up trouble, Hawkfrost warned Mudclaw that Onestar’s reluctance to seize more territory beside the lake than WindClan had originally been given would leave the Clan hungry and weak come leaf-bare.

  Mudclaw met his allies from the other Clans secretly on the island in the lake and one cold night, led them in a brave—perhaps even foolhardy—attack on WindClan’s new leader. They were defeated when Firestar brought ThunderClan warriors to fight on Onestar’s side. Mudclaw fled back to the island, where he was killed by a tree that had been felled by a bolt of lightning. The other cats took this as a sign from StarClan that Onestar’s leadership had their approval, and Mudclaw had been wrong to launch his challenge. The fallen tree provided a bridge, giving easy access to the island, so future Gatherings could be seen as Mudclaw’s dying gift to all the Clans.

  CROWFEATHER

  SHY, AWKWARD, DEFENSIVE CROWPAW, who would become Crowfeather, seemed an unlikely choice by StarClan to share the quest to find Midnight and learn how the Clans could be saved from Twoleg destruction. He was only an apprentice when he set out on the journey, but he fought as bravely as his companions against hostile kittypets and hungry foxes. Feathertail, the WindClan cat, saw past his shyness and sharp tongue to the brave, thoughtful, loyal warrior beneath, and found something to love. Crowpaw loved her back, softened by her quick humor and her gentle reassurance that he was among friends, even if they didn’t share the same Clan.

  On their return from finding Midnight, the badger at the edge of the sun-drown-place who told them where to find a new home for the Clans, the cats stopped in the mountains with the Tribe of Rushing Water. These cats were plagued by a mountain lion named Sharptooth. The Clan cats laid a trail to catch Sharptooth and feed him prey stuffed with deathberries, but the mountain lion arrived too soon and Crowpaw became trapped in a corner of the cave behind the waterfall. Feathertail leaped up to a talon of stone that hung from the roof and wrenched it free to plunge down into Sharptooth’s back, killing him instantly. The fall killed Feathertail too, and Crowpaw was left with the horrifying knowledge that the cat he loved had given her own life to save his.

  He chose his warrior name, Crowfeather, in her memory and vowed never to let himself become so vulnerable by falling in love again. Leafpool, the ThunderClan medicine cat, showed sympathy for his heartbreak and tried to reassure him that Feathertail was still with them, watching over him from the stars and urging him to move on from his grief. Crowfeather had no intention of letting Feathertail slip from his mind and refused to be comforted. But in an attack by ShadowClan, when ThunderClan and WindClan warriors fought side by side, Crowfeather found Leafpool clinging to the top of a cliff, about to crash down into the hollow beneath. His mind whirled straight back to the moment Feathertail had lost her life in a fall—but this time he knew he could save Leafpool. In that moment, he realized he loved Leafpool just as he had loved Feathertail, however guilt-stricken that made him feel.

  The two cats tried to deny their feelings until Crowfeather persuaded Leafpool that they would be happier together, even if that meant leaving their Clans. They had been gone for less than a day when they learned of a badger attack against ThunderClan. Crowfeather realized that Leafpool would never forgive herself if she did not return to help her Clanmates. They arrived at the hollow in time to see Cinderpelt, the other medicine cat, being killed by a badger, just as Sorreltail’s kits came into the world. Crowfeather’s heart broke all over again, knowing that Leafpool would stay with her Clan now.

  He went back to WindClan and took Nightcloud as his mate in an attempt to prove to his suspicious Clanmates that he was a loyal warrior once more. Nightcloud gave birth to Breezepelt, but unbeknownst to Crowfeather, Leafpool was expecting his kits too. Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfeather were raised by Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, but when the truth emerged about their true parentage, Crowfeather was horrified and refused to acknowledge them as his own. However much his heart still ached for Leafpool, he could not betray his Clan again. He lived in private torment, unable to connect with his difficult WindClan son, Breezepelt, and resentful toward Nightcloud because she was not the she-cat he truly loved.

  In the Great Battle with the Dark Forest, Crowfeather realized the lega
cy he had created when he found Breezepelt attacking Lionblaze. He pulled his WindClan son from the ThunderClan warrior, vowing that he would never let another cat harm a hair on Lionblaze’s pelt. Breezepelt tried to blame Crowfeather for driving him to find alliances among the Dark Forest cats, but Crowfeather insisted Breezepelt had made his own decisions. Left alone with Leafpool, Crowfeather admitted he regretted nothing—the closest he would ever come to accepting her kits as his own.

  NIGHTCLOUD AND BREEZEPELT

  NIGHTCLOUD WAS OLDER THAN Crowfeather, and was starting to feel concerned she would never have a chance to bear kits, when he asked her to be his mate. She accepted with the sincere belief that she would be able to make Crowfeather fall in love with her, but she soon realized he had only asked her in order to prove he was loyal to WindClan. Nightcloud was short-tempered, defensive, and far from well suited to being a second-best choice. She stuck by Crowfeather without respecting him or even liking him particularly, but she loved their son, Breezepelt, with a ferocity that came from anger because Crowfeather did not love him equally. Nightcloud coddled her son, encouraged him to believe he was better than the other warriors, and in doing so, never gave him a chance to prove his own worth. Her bitterness toward Crowfeather tainted Breezepelt with its poison—though it’s hard to blame Nightcloud when Crowfeather put her in such a difficult position.