Code of the Clans

ERIN HUNTER
ILLUSTRATED BY WAYNE MCLOUGHLIN
For Mr. Pugh, with love
 CONTENTS

THE DAWN OF THE CLANS 1

THE WARRIOR C ODE 4
WELCOME TO THE WARRIOR C ODE 7
CODE ONE
The Beginning of the Warrior Code 11
CODE TWO
Finders Keepers 19
Hunting Fish! 24
CODE THREE
A Mystical Battle 30
A Dark Path Chosen 37
CODE FOUR
Mouse Games 44
CODE FIVE
The Queens Unite 48
The Smallest Warrior 54
CODE SIX
A Night of Listening 57
Squirrelflight’s Words of Wisdom 66
CODE SEVEN
Second in Command 68
CODE EIGHT
Follow My Leader 76
Too Late for Regrets: Tallstar Explains 83
CODE NINE
A Sign from StarClan 85
CODE TEN
The Vanishing Moon 93
CODE ELEVEN
Poppycloud’s Rule 100
Who Goes There? Whitestorm Teaches
Border Tactics 107
CODE TWELVE
A Loss for All Clans 111
A Kit in Trouble 119
CODE THIRTEEN
Darkstar’s Law 123
An Empty Prayer: Cloudstar Speaks 129
CODE FOURTEEN
The Medicine Cats Decide 132
CODE FIFTEEN
Pinestar’s Secret 142
A Change of Heart: Sandstorm Speaks 151
RULES THAT DID NOT BECOME PART OF THE CODE:
Leafpool Speaks 154
EPILOGUE 156
Acknowledgments 157
About the Author
other Books by Erin Hunter
Credits
CoVer
Copyright
About the Publisher
 THE DAWN
OF THE CLANS
=

M any 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

Code of the Clans 1

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.

2 Warriors
 The time of the
Clans had begun...

Code of the Clans 3

 -
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.

4 Warriors
 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.

Code of the Clans 5

 Welcome to the
Warrior Code
=

H ello! 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!

Code of the Clans 7

 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 have 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

8 Warriors
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 of the Clans 9

 -
Code One
D EFEND YOUR C L A N , EV EN W ITH YOUR
LIFE . YOU M AY H AV E FR IENDSHIPS W ITH C ATS
FROM OTHER C L A NS , BUT YOUR LOYA LT Y
MUST R EM A IN TO YOUR C L A N .

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.

10 Warriors
 = code
1
The Beginning of the Warrior Code

“R ace you to the hawthorn bush!”

“Not fair, Ryewhisker! You know you’ll win!”
protested Cloudberry.
Ryewhisker turned to look back at the dark gray she-cat.
Cloudberry was slender for a RiverClan cat, but her fur was thick
and sleek.
“I’ll give you a head start,” he offered. Cloudberry tipped her
head on one side, her blue eyes sparkling. “Or . . . or I’ll close my
eyes, or run backward, or carry a stone in my mouth. . . . ”
“Bee-brain,” she purred. She padded up to him and rubbed her
head against his cheek. “I’ll race you to the hawthorn if you race
me across the river.”
Ryewhisker backed away, shaking his head. “No way! You
can’t tell me it’s natural to get your fur wet! I tried it once, don’t
you remember?”
“You fell off a stepping-stone! Hardly a proper way to start
swimming!”
Ryewhisker reached out with his tail to touch Cloudberry’s
flank. “Do you think our kits will be able to run fast and swim?”
he meowed softly.
Cloudberry stared at him in astonishment. “How did you
know? I . . . I was going to tell you, I promise, but I wasn’t sure
how you’d feel. I thought you might want WindClan kits. . . . ”
Ryewhisker let out a frustrated mrrrow. “They will be WindClan
kits! And RiverClan kits! They will be ours, and that’s all that
matters! Do your Clanmates know?”
The she-cat began to roll some small stones restlessly beneath

Code of the Clans 11

 her paw. “Not yet. I
wanted to tell you first.”
“You’re worried about
what your father will say,
aren’t you?” Ryewhisker
guessed.
Cloudberry looked
up at him, her eyes
pleading. “Emberstar is
a good leader. You can’t
blame him for wanting
more RiverClan kits. We need more warriors after that bout of
greencough in leaf-bare.”
“But they will be RiverClan kits!” Ryewhisker reminded her.
He flicked his tail impatiently. “I’ll let you teach them to swim as
soon as they open their eyes!”
“Then you’ll let me raise them in RiverClan?” Cloudberry
queried.
Ryewhisker blinked. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Well,
yes,” he meowed. “I’ll come stay with you when they’re born, of
course. Your father has never minded me staying in your camp.
And you can bring them to WindClan when they’re old enough
to walk that far.”
Cloudberry nodded, but her eyes were still troubled.
Ryewhisker pressed his muzzle against her ear. “It’ll be fine,”
he promised. “Every cat knows that Emberstar’s closest friend
is Thistletail, in ThunderClan. If any cat understands that
friendships don’t stop at the border of a territory, it’s Emberstar.”
“But what about the stolen fish?” Cloudberry asked. Last moon,
RiverClan had accused WindClan of stealing fish from the river
and had sent a patrol to Duststar, WindClan’s leader, to warn him

12 Warriors
to keep away. Duststar had insisted his Clan would never eat fish, code
but Ryewhisker knew the RiverClan cats were still suspicious. 1
“We didn’t take those fish,” he told Cloudberry. “Maybe these
kits will bring our Clans together again.”
Cloudberry relaxed against him and Ryewhisker closed
his eyes, imagining tiny lives stirring within her, dark gray like
their mother or brown tabby like him, swift-pawed and strong
swimmers. These kits would bring peace between the two Clans,
he was sure of it.

“WindClan! Retreat!”
Ryewhisker shook his head to clear the blood from his eyes as
Stonetail yowled the order. The big gray tom was standing on a
tree stump, wild-eyed as he called to his Clanmates to leave the
battleground. Ryewhisker leaped back, freeing the RiverClan
warrior from beneath his paws. This fight was all RiverClan’s
fault! They had accused WindClan twice more of stealing fish
and threatened to tell the other Clans that the cats on the
moor were thieves and trespassers. As
if any WindClan warriors would get
their paws wet chasing that slimy prey!
Duststar had decided that the only way
to stop the complaints was to teach
RiverClan that WindClan cats were
strong enough to catch their own
prey—and well-enough fed not
to need anyone else’s.
“Retreat!” Stonetail
yowled again.
“Mouse-hearted
cowards!” spat a

Code of the Clans 13

RiverClan warrior behind them.
“If you’re going to steal our fish, you should make sure you’re
strong enough to fight us for it!” hissed another.
Ryewhisker felt the fur stand up along his spine, and his paws
tingled with the urge to spin around and claw their ears. When
would these dumb cats realize that WindClan was not stealing
their precious fish? The reeds closed around them as they headed
back toward the Twoleg bridge, and for a moment Ryewhisker
could hear nothing except his Clanmates’ panting and the rattling
of the brittle stalks.
“Stop right there!” screeched a voice up ahead.
Ryewhisker collided with Hawkfur’s haunches as the black
warrior halted in front of him. Peering past his Clanmate, he
saw a ginger-and-white RiverClan warrior glaring at Stonetail,
blocking his way.
“You didn’t think we’d let you go so easily, did you?” growled
the RiverClan cat.
Stonetail didn’t flinch. “We’ll continue to fight if we have to,”
he replied. “Is that what you want?”
The RiverClan warrior bared his teeth. “This fight is far
from over!” He sprang at Stonetail, who rolled onto his back,
scrabbling at his attacker’s belly with his hind paws. The reeds
clattered together and more RiverClan warriors rushed forward,
leaping onto the WindClan cats. A stocky gray tabby sank its
claws into Ryewhisker’s shoulder and dragged him onto the
ground. Ryewhisker ripped himself free, blood soaking into his
fur, and jumped at the warrior with all four paws stretched out.
The warrior crouched low and sprang up to meet him, knocking
him out of the air and grappling with him as they fell side by side,
lying half in and half out of the reeds.
Ryewhisker found himself being smothered by thick gray fur.

14 Warriors
He wrenched his head up to draw breath—and stared straight into code
the startled blue eyes of Cloudberry. As he watched, a dark shadow 1
reared up behind her, claws glinting in the sun, and plunged down
onto her neck.
“No!” screeched Ryewhisker, leaping up so violently that the
attacker, Ryewhisker’s Clanmate Hawkfur, tumbled off into the
reeds.
“Ryewhisker, you can’t do this!” called the gray she-cat, who
was struggling to her paws. “We have to fight our own battles!”
Ryewhisker glanced at her over his shoulder. “You think I’m
going to let our kits be harmed by my own Clanmate?”
Hawkfur stared at him in disbelief. “Kits?” he echoed.
The brown tabby met his gaze. “Cloudberry is expecting my
kits. I cannot let you hurt her.”
“Look out!” screeched Cloudberry.
There was a thunder of paws, abruptly cut off as a broad-
shouldered RiverClan warrior leaped into the air. Then a soft
thud as Ryewhisker’s legs folded under the weight of his attacker
and he slumped to the ground, his eyes already closed. Blood
pooled out from his shoulder, dark and shiny on the wet ground.
The gray tabby scrambled off him, shaking his pelt.
Cloudberry didn’t move, just stared at the limp brown body.
“Oh, Ryewhisker, what have you done?” she whispered.

“Is every Clan here?” Duststar called from on top of the huge gray
rock. All around him, trees murmured softly in the night breeze,
casting blurred shadows across the moonlit hollow. Duststar had
asked the other leaders to meet him here because the hollow
lay at the center of the Clans, yet it belonged to none since the
battle that had separated the Clans for the very first time. The
elders who could recall that battle stayed away from the hollow,

Code of the Clans 15

convinced that the bloodstains would never be washed out of the
grass. Duststar had chosen the night of the full moon because it
would enable cats to travel safely—and offer none the temptation
of darkness to launch an unsuspected attack.
“We are here,” replied Birchstar, leader of SkyClan. He sprang
onto the rock to join Duststar, his strong haunches powering him
up. The other leaders, unwilling to be left at the foot of the rock,
scrambled up, too: Emberstar from RiverClan, Hollystar from
ShadowClan, and Whitestar from ThunderClan, whose pelt
glowed as bright as the moon in the half-light. The rest of the cats
stayed on the ground, a patrol from each Clan, gazing somberly up
at the leaders with their tails tucked over their paws.
“If you’re going to blame my Clan for the death of your
warrior—” Emberstar began, raising his hackles.
Duststar shook his head. “No, Emberstar, that’s not why I
asked you all to come here. Ryewhisker’s death is a tragedy we
can ill afford after such a hard leaf-bare, but it would not have
happened if he had not been . . . attached . . . to Cloudberry.”
He looked down at the RiverClan cats, but Cloudberry was not
among them. She was probably too close to having her kits.
“From now on, cats must be loyal only to their own Clanmates.
Friendships with cats from another territory must be put aside
for the sake of their Clan. We cannot allow our warriors to be
distracted in battle or to fight for anything other than what is best
for their own Clan. Are we agreed?”
Whitestar stood up. “Clan above all else. It makes sense
to me.”
Hollystar and Birchstar nodded. Emberstar meowed, “Well
said, Duststar. My Clan is sorry for the loss of your warrior. But
from now on, each Clan stands—and fights—alone.”
“If we have less contact across borders, how will we let one

16 Warriors
another know about something that could be important, such as code
the arrival of foxes or Twoleg interference?” asked Hollystar, her 1
blue eyes like tiny pieces of sky.
“We could meet here every full moon, when the forest is light
enough to walk easily, and come in peace to share our news,”
Birchstar suggested.
“A truce?” Duststar meowed.
There was a shocked murmuring among the cats of all Clans.
“We cannot promise peace when ThunderClan steals our
prey!” hissed an elderly WindClan warrior.

“And we cannot promise peace while WindClan attacks our

border patrols!” meowed a ThunderClan warrior with a torn ear.
“And which of the Clans can trust ShadowClan?” asked
another cat.
A great yowling broke out among all the cats.
“Enough!” Duststar growled. He stretched to his full height
and stared down at the cats in the hollow. “Birchstar, I see more
clearly than ever that your suggestion is wise. Though I doubt

Code of the Clans 17

any peace will hold even for one night, let us try it and see what it
brings.”
“That’s all I ask,” Birchstar meowed.
“Cats of all the Clans!” Duststar continued. “From now on
you must defend your Clan, even with your life. You may have
friendships with cats from other Clans, but your loyalty must
remain to your Clan, as one day you may meet cats you have
befriended in battle. This will be our code, the law of warriors,
and it is up to each one of us to carry it in our hearts. Until the
next full moon, may StarClan guide your path.”
He jumped down from the rock and, with a flick of his tail, led
the WindClan cats out of the hollow, toward the moon-washed
moor.

18 Warriors
 -
Code Two
DO NOT HU NT OR TR ESPA SS
ON A NOTHER C L A N ’S TER R ITORY.

We take it for granted now that each Clan lives in the

territory best suited to provide food for its particular hunting skills.
But come with me to the time before borders were fixed, when
cats took food from other territories if their own ran short. You will
see that this code was needed, because if anything
is likely to cause trouble, it’s theft of precious fresh-kill.

=
Finders Keepers

T hree seasons had passed since the leaders of the Clans

decided to meet in peace each full moon, and the truce
had held. Stonestar, the WindClan leader, stood on the Great
Rock and surveyed the cats filing into the moonlit hollow. Their
pelts stood out sharply against the snow, apart from Whitestar
of ThunderClan, who was only visible when he looked up and
Stonestar caught a glimpse of his dark eyes.
Whitestar, Emberstar, Birchstar, and Brindlestar, the new
leader of ShadowClan, joined him on the rock. The leaders
nodded to one another before standing in a line to look down on
the cats below.

Code of the Clans 19

 As the oldest leader, Emberstar was usually the first to speak,
but Brindlestar didn’t give him a chance. “I have a complaint
against ThunderClan!” she declared.
Whitestar faced her, his tail twitching. “We aren’t the ones
stealing prey!” he hissed. “You can’t complain because our patrols
drive you out every time.”
“It’s not stealing!” Brindlestar snapped. “What are we meant
to eat, if we can’t find prey in our own territory?”
“Each Clan lives in the place where it is best suited to hunting,”
Birchstar pointed out.
“Yeah, since when did ShadowClan start hunting in
undergrowth and through brambles?” challenged Vinetail,
ThunderClan’s deputy.
“Since we started starving in our own territory,” growled
Lakestorm, the ShadowClan deputy.
Stonestar stepped forward. “ShadowClan should keep to
its own prey,” he meowed firmly. “No Clan has prey to spare,
especially not during leaf-bare.”
“Then what are we supposed to eat?” yowled Lakestorm. His
voice cut through the icy air, and for a moment the hollow fell
silent. Then a creaking sound began. . . .
Stonestar peered up, trying to see where the noise was coming
from. In the clearing, the cats huddled together in their Clans, too
scared to flee.
Crashhhhhh!
A huge branch ripped away from one of the giant oaks and
plunged onto the cats, sending flurries of snowflakes into the
air. Stonestar watched in horror as the cats vanished in a swirling
cloud of snow and twigs.
“SkyClan! SkyClan! Is every cat all right?” Birchstar ran to
the edge of the rock and peered down, calling to her Clanmates.

20 Warriors
 code
2

Whitestar and Brindlestar joined her, yowling into the cloud.

“Wait!” Whitestar ordered. Pushing his way through the
other leaders, he turned to face them. “One at a time, or no cat
will hear you. Birchstar, you go first.” He stepped back, and only
his trembling paws showed how terrified he was for the safety of
his own Clan.
“SkyClan cats! Can you hear me?” Birchstar yowled.
There was a muffled sound, then a speckled gray head popped
up at the edge of the hollow. It was Rainsplash, the deputy. “We’re
all here, Birchstar!” he called.
Stonestar stepped forward. The ground seemed a long way
down, a mess of churned snow divided by a huge black branch
bristling with twigs. “WindClan? Are you there?”
Mudpuddle, the brown-and-white deputy, scrambled up from
the far side of the clearing. “All safe, Stonestar!” he reported, and
Stonestar let out his breath in relief.

Code of the Clans 21

 Emberstar quickly established that the RiverClan cats had been
too far back to be hit by the falling branch. That left ThunderClan
and ShadowClan. The branch had toppled right into the center of
the Gathering, directly onto the two quarreling Clans.
Brindlestar walked to the edge of the rock. “ShadowClan, are
you all right?”
The leaders waited in silence. Heartbeats passed, broken only
by the faint plop of snow sliding from the trees. Then, “We’re all
okay, Brindlestar!” A bundle of twigs rattled together at one side
of the branch, and Lakestorm pushed his way out. Once he was
free, he turned to help his Clanmates out behind him.
Brindlestar narrowed her eyes, checking each member of
her patrol. She nodded. “Lakestorm’s right,” she murmured.
“ShadowClan is safe.”
Now it was Whitestar’s turn. Stonestar held his breath again.
There was no way that branch could have fallen into the hollow
without crushing several cats. It was too big, too heavy. It had
carved too great a slice through the clearing. . . .
“We’re fine, too!” Before Whitestar could speak, Vinetail’s
voice rang out as he wriggled free from a heap of snow. The rest of
the ThunderClan cats tumbled out around him, shaking cold, wet
clumps from their pelts and out of their ears.
“How can this be?” Whitestar whispered. “That branch fell
on top of ThunderClan and ShadowClan; there was no room
between them!”
Stonestar looked once more at the massive chunk of tree,
then at the two groups of cats standing on either side, unhurt and
exclaiming at their good luck.
“It’s a sign from StarClan,” Stonestar meowed, loud enough
for his fellow leaders to hear but not the cats below. “StarClan
is telling us that even when Clans are close together, they are

22 Warriors
separate, far enough apart for a tree to fall without touching them.
Borders may be invisible and thin as a whisker, but they are strong
as oak, and they cannot be crossed. Not for friendship, not for code
prey, not for anything.” 2
Whitestar was nodding. “It’s a sign,” he said.
Brindlestar was staring in disbelief at the cats of her Clan.
They were dazed and shocked but without injuries. Then she
looked down at the fallen branch. “StarClan has spared my cats
for a reason,” she mewed.
“Find food in your territory,” Stonestar urged. “Use the skills
that only you and your Clanmates have—your cunning, stealth,
ability to walk through the darkest nights. The prey is there, and
you’re the only Clan that can find it.”
“You are right. StarClan must not wish us to take inferior
food from inferior Clans.” Brindlestar glanced at Whitestar, who
wisely did not respond.
“Then it’s decided,” Emberstar meowed. “Another rule has
been added to the warrior code. We must not hunt or trespass on
another Clan’s territory.”
“Agreed,” the other leaders mewed in unison. They dipped
their heads to one another. “Until the next Gathering, may
StarClan walk your path.”

Code of the Clans 23

 Hunting Fish!
Not all cats obey the code all the time.
For where there are young cats and a set
of rules to break, there is always
mischief brewing. . . .

“O
pebble.”
uch! You’re stepping on my foot!”
“Sorry!” puffed Dappletail. “I thought it was a

“Since when do pebbles have fur?” demanded White-eye,

shaking her paw. She turned so that starlight glowed in her
remaining eye; the other had been clawed out by a badger when
she was an apprentice, blinding her.
Dappletail wriggled up beside her—on the side where White-
eye could see. “Are we at the river?” she mewed.
White-eye shifted to make room under the ferns. “Yup.
Look!”
Ahead of them, the ground was covered with small gray
stones, sloping down to the thick black water that flowed swiftly
by, sparkling with reflected stars.
“It’s kind of spooky at night,” Dappletail whispered, shrinking
back against White-eye’s sturdy shoulder.
White-eye gave her a nudge. “We’ll be fine,” she assured her.
There was no way she was going back to the camp now. This was
the biggest adventure she’d ever had! In fact, it was probably the
biggest adventure any ThunderClan cat had had. They didn’t need
to take RiverClan’s prey—it was greenleaf, and the woods were
thrumming with juicy birds and squirrels—but White-eye wanted
to know what fish tasted like, and why RiverClan was so snooty
about its prey being the best of all the Clans’.

24 Warriors
 Dappletail jumped onto a flattened rock at the edge of the river
and peered into the water. “I don’t see any fish,” she whispered.
“Do you think they’ve gone to sleep?” code
White-eye huffed impatiently as she squeezed onto the rock 2
beside her. “Fish don’t sleep!”
“They must,” Dappletail argued. “Otherwise they’d be really
tired.”
“Well, maybe some of them are awake.” White-eye wriggled
forward until her front legs dangled over the water.
Dappletail eyed her dubiously. “Is that how RiverClan cats
catch fish? You look like you’re about to fall in.”
“Look!” White-eye strained her neck out, her whiskers
quivering with the effort. “There’s something over there!”
She tensed her hindquarters, and before Dappletail could say
anything, she leaped off the rock with her front paws outstretched
and plummeted into the water with an enormous splash.
Dappletail sprang back, blinking as drops flew into her eyes.
She shook her head and stared at the river. The current flowed as
swiftly as ever, but now it was carrying White-eye, gasping and
scrabbling to keep her head above the surface.
“White-eye!” Dappletail wailed. “Come back!”
“I’m . . . trying . . . ” came the muffled reply. There was another
splash and White-eye’s head bobbed under a wave as the water
swept her around a rock.
Dappletail stood on the shore, her tail bristling with shock.
“Help!” she yowled.
White-eye reappeared farther downstream. “Don’t . . . tell any-
one . . . we’re . . . here,” she spluttered. “Get . . . into . . . trouble. . . . ”
“But you’re drowning!” Dappletail shrieked. “Help!”
Somewhere in the forest an owl hooted, but there were no
sounds of cats coming to help. Dappletail looked at the swift black

Code of the Clans 25

river, took a deep breath, and ran into the waves. The water was so
cold she couldn’t breathe. Waves slapped around her, cutting her
off from either shore and filling her ears with a deafening hiss.
Swimming’s just like running, but in water, right?
She untangled her legs and tried to move them as if she were
walking on grass, but as soon as she hauled herself upright in the
water she sank and had to scrabble back to the surface, gasping for
air. This was the worst idea White-eye had ever had!
“What in the name of StarClan is going on?”
An angry voice sounded above Dappletail’s head, and she
floundered around to see who was speaking. A brown-and-white
tom was standing on a rock on the RiverClan side of the river, his
eyes huge as moons.
“Help!” Dappletail yowled, before a wave filled her mouth and
made her cough.
Another cat appeared beside the first one. “Owlfur, it’s clearly
not out for a nighttime swim. You’d better go fish it out before it
drowns.”
The brown-and-white tom slid into the water and his small
head began bobbing steadily toward Dappletail. She kept her
mouth shut and flailed with her paws, trying to stay in the same
place. She winced as the tom clamped his jaws tightly in the
scruff of her neck, and she felt herself being dragged through the
water toward the shore. Her paws scraped against stones and she
staggered out with most of the river streaming from her fur.
“My Clanmate!” she coughed. She twitched her tail downriver.
“She’s still in there!”
“Mouse-brains!” hissed the second cat. He braced his thick-
pelted gray shoulders and headed for the river. “Owlfur, you stay
here and make sure this feather-head doesn’t try to follow me.” He
broke into a run and disappeared into the river, his pace staying

26 Warriors
the same even when he started swimming.
“You’re from ThunderClan, aren’t you?” Owlfur mewed
disapprovingly. code
Dappletail nodded, her whiskers heavy with drops. 2
“Let me guess. You were trying to steal our fish.”
Dappletail’s head drooped even lower. “S-sorry,” she
muttered.
The brown-and-white tom hissed, then raised his head.
“Looks like Hailstar found your Clanmate,” he meowed.
Hailstar? Oh, great. We’ve been rescued by the leader of RiverClan.
“Dappletail! Look!”
Noisy splashing behind her made Dappletail turn around.
White-eye was stumbling out of the water with Hailstar shoving
her from behind. Her pelt was slicked to her sides and her ears
looked huge against her wet head, but his eyes shone as she dropped
a twitching silver fish onto the stones.
“I caught a fish!”
Hailstar rolled his eyes. “You squashed it against a rock,” he
corrected. “And it wasn’t yours to catch in the first place.” His
eyes narrowed. “You’re trespassing and stealing. What do you say
about that?”
“Hey! Are those our missing ThunderClan warriors?”
There was a shout from across the river. On the far shore,
Pinestar and his deputy, Sunfall, were standing at the edge of the
water, their fur frosted by starlight.
“We caught some unusual prey tonight,” Hailstar called back.
“Why not come across and see if it suits your appetite better?”
The ThunderClan cats ran along the shore and jumped across
the stepping-stones, clearly visible in the low greenleaf river.
Dappletail glanced sideways at White-eye as they waited for their
Clan leader to arrive.

Code of the Clans 27

 “I am never, ever listening to you again!” she hissed.
The four older cats stood in a line in front of Dappletail and
White-eye and surveyed them.
“Just how many rules of the warrior code did you want to break
tonight?” Pinestar began. “Trespassing, stealing prey, catching
food for yourself . . . ”
“I wanted to see what fish tasted like,” White-eye mumbled.
Pinestar leaned closer to her. “We are from ThunderClan,” he
growled. “We. Don’t. Eat. Fish.”
Owlfur stepped forward. “Wait, I have an idea. Since these
mouse-brains seem so determined to be RiverClan cats, why not
let them eat their fresh-kill? After all, White-eye caught it.”
Dappletail looked up in surprise. Weren’t they going to be
punished?
Pinestar’s eyes gleamed. “What a good idea, Owlfur. White-
eye, Dappletail, eat up. Don’t waste a scrap, or that would be very
insulting to your hosts.”
White-eye didn’t wait to be asked again. She opened her
mouth wide and sank her jaws into the fish just behind its
head. Feeling very uncomfortable with the other cats watching,
Dappletail crouched by the tail of the fish and took a bite.
Yuck!
Both cats sprang back, their lips curling. Wet, cold, slimy,
tasting of stones and weeds and mud . . .
Hailstar cocked his head on one side. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s disgusting!” White-eye spluttered.
Sunfall looked shocked. “You can’t say that when RiverClan is
so generously letting you eat your catch.”
Dappletail forced herself to swallow and concentrated very
hard on not being sick. “Please don’t make us eat any more,” she
meowed.

28 Warriors
 Pinestar looked at them both. “The warrior code exists for
a reason. ThunderClan cats don’t eat fish, don’t catch fish, don’t
swim, don’t have anything to do with the river at all. RiverClan
cats don’t eat squirrels, so they don’t live in the woods. ShadowClan
cats don’t eat rabbits, so they don’t live on the moor.”
Hailstar spoke up. “I think nearly being drowned is enough of
a lesson for now. Go back to your Clan and leave the fish to us.”
White-eye nodded hard. “No more fishing,” she promised.
“No more adventures ever,” Dappletail meowed. ThunderClan
cats ate ThunderClan fresh-kill; as far as she cared, RiverClan
cats could have all the fish in the world.

Code of the Clans 29

 -
Code Three
E LDER S A ND K ITS MUST BE FED BEFOR E
A PPR ENTICES A ND WA R R IOR S .

Caring for the weaker members of the Clan lies at

the heart of the way we live. We are taught to respect elders who
fought for the Clan in the past and kits who can’t yet hunt for
themselves. However, moons ago, when the blood of warriors f lowed
thick and fast over Sunningrocks, if you had asked a warrior
what he or she fought for, the warlike answer would have shocked
you. All that would change thanks to a visionary warrior
called Splashheart, who went on to lead RiverClan and bring
peace to the forest. Let me take you back. . . .

=
A Mystical Battle

T he shape was little more than a flicker beneath the surface of

the water, a trembling shadow cast on the stones crisscrossed
with waving green fronds. Splashheart kept absolutely still, waiting
for the fish to come closer. Another flicker, less than a tail-length
away, and Splashheart shot out one paw, his unsheathed claws
slicing through the cold water. When he felt his pad brush against
the fat, slick body, he curled his paw and swiped it toward him. The
fish flew out of the water, scattering silver droplets, and landed on

30 Warriors
the bank beside him, where he finished it off with a swift blow.
“Good catch,” said a voice behind him. It was Reedshine, the
dark orange she-cat who had mentored him until two sunrises
ago, when he received his warrior name.
“Thanks,” Splashheart purred. “Want to share?” code
Reedshine padded closer and sniffed at the fish before taking 3
a bite. Splashheart bent down and took a mouthful from the other
side of the fish. This was only his second catch as a warrior, and it
tasted as good as the first.
On the other side of the river, Sunningrocks loomed, casting
a heavy black shadow onto the water. These smooth gray rocks
quickly grew warm in the sun, making them perfect to lie on and
share tongues or just watch the river sliding past below. Some
of RiverClan’s elders could remember when the river flowed
on the other side of Sunningrocks, cutting off RiverClan from
ThunderClan’s wooded territory. But then a great flood came
one leaf-fall and the river burst its banks to surround the rocks,
until they resembled a bleak gray island. When the floodwater
went away, the river had carved a new course on RiverClan’s side
of the rocks. Before the next sunrise, ThunderClan had claimed
Sunningrocks as its own, swarming across the dried-out riverbed
to set scent markers along the new riverbank. The Clans had
fought over them many times since, and at the moment the scent
markers lay on the far side of the rocks, keeping ThunderClan
firmly out.
Splashheart narrowed his eyes. There was a cat creeping along
the far riverbank, head and tail low. The cat was half hidden by the
shadow from the rocks, but it was a leaner, sleeker-furred shape
than RiverClan cats, who grew plump and thick-pelted thanks to
their watery prey. ThunderClan!
“ThunderClan intruders on Sunningrocks!” he yowled.

Code of the Clans 31

 “I’ll fetch help!” Reedshine told him. “Stay on this side of the
river until I get back.” She plunged into the reeds, her orange pelt
quickly vanishing among the rattling brown stalks.
Splashheart’s fur stood on end and his paws tingled. His first
battle as a warrior!
“This is our territory now, fish-fur!” snarled a cat from the
other side of the river.
“Never!” Splashheart hissed. He sank his claws into the edge
of the bank, ready to leap into the water and start the battle on his
own.
“Splashheart, wait!” Darkstar burst out from the reeds behind
him.
Splashheart whirled around to face his leader. “We can’t let
them get away with this!” he protested.
The small brown she-cat met his gaze. “We won’t,” she
promised grimly. Dry stalks rattled behind her and suddenly the
bank was thronging with cats, warriors and apprentices, their fur
fluffed up and their claws gleaming in the sun.
“RiverClan, attack!” yowled Darkstar, plunging into the
river.
Splashheart scanned the rocks. Thank StarClan, they didn’t
seem to be outnumbered. Blackbee and Eeltail were chasing after a
ThunderClan she-cat who was streaking for the cover of the ferns
at the bottom of the rocks; Reedshine held another warrior in a
paw lock, hissing a warning into his face. Darkstar had satisfied
herself with a quick slash of claws across a dark brown cat’s ears
before standing back to let him run away, yowling.
As the warrior’s screeches faded among quivering ferns,
Splashheart heard a scraping noise from behind a tumble of
boulders. He gathered his haunches beneath him and sprang
onto the top of the nearest boulder. A pair of terrified amber eyes

32 Warriors
stared up at him from the other side.
“Don’t hurt me!” bleated the small black-and-white cat—an
apprentice, by the look of him.
“Then stay off our territory!” hissed Splashheart.
The ThunderClan cat didn’t move. Instead, he curled his lip code
in a snarl. “Are you sure you want to threaten me, fish-fur?” he 3
challenged.
Too late, Splashheart heard the scrape of claws on the rocks
above him and felt a rush of air as two sleek-furred shapes landed,
one at each flank. In a heartbeat, his face was thrust down against
the rock. “Care to threaten us as well?” growled a voice in his ear,
and the massive paw pressed harder on his neck.
“Get off him and fight a cat your own size!” screeched a
voice from the riverbank. Splashheart caught a glimpse of dark
orange fur leaping toward the boulders. Reedshine! She crashed
straight into the warrior holding Splashheart down, and both
cats plummeted into the narrow gap where the ThunderClan
apprentice was crouching. The young cat jumped on top of
Reedshine and began pummeling her belly with his forepaws;
as Splashheart scrambled to his feet, he saw bright red streaks
blossom in Reedshine’s soft fur. He tried to jump down after her
but the other ThunderClan warrior swiped his hind paws from
underneath him and rolled him over.
The warrior loomed over him, her green eyes blazing. “StarClan
changed the course of the river!” she hissed. “Sunningrocks
belongs to ThunderClan now!”
“Never!” Splashheart spat, but the warrior pressed her paw
against his throat and the sky began to go dark and fuzzy.
Suddenly there was a thud as two heavy bodies collided above
Splashheart, and the weight on his throat lifted. He gulped down
air, almost stopping when it felt like swallowing thorns.

Code of the Clans 33

 “Don’t just lie there, Splashheart,” hissed Darkstar, who
crouched on the rock beside him. “Get down to the shore with the
others, quick.” Splashheart sprang down to the stones at the edge
of the water. The rest of the RiverClan warriors were huddled
together, some of them belly-deep in water.
There was a scuffle behind him and Splashheart turned to
see Darkstar half carrying Reedshine down the bank. The dark
orange warrior left a trail of dark red smears behind her, and her
eyes were half-closed. Splashheart raced over.
“Reedshine, wake up!” He looked at Darkstar. “We have to get
her back to camp, now!”
Darkstar opened her mouth to let Reedshine sink gracelessly
onto the stones. The leader’s eyes were black with rage. “We will
take her back,” she promised. “But first, we will reclaim what is
rightfully ours!” She raised her voice at the end so every RiverClan
cat heard. They lifted their heads and stared at Darkstar in
astonishment.
“But the battle is lost!” Eeltail spat. He jerked his muzzle
toward the top of the rocks, where several ThunderClan warriors
stood in triumph, their tails kinked high above their backs as they
jeered at the defeated cats.
“It is only lost when we stop fighting!” replied Darkstar. She
jumped onto the riverbank so all the cats could see her. “Our
elders, and our elders’ kin, and their kin before them, fought to
keep Sunningrocks in our territory. Many of them lost their lives,
giving up their last breath for stones that belong to us. Can we give
up where they did not, turn tail and flee when they kept fighting
so that their kits could hunt and play and bask on these rocks?
Will you fight with me now, in honor of all our elders and all our
unborn kits?”
“We will fight!” roared the RiverClan cats. In that moment,

34 Warriors
Splashheart saw the rocks swarming with starry shapes of cats
who had gone before him, his Clanmates from long ago battling
over and over to keep Sunningrocks as their own. Now he would
join them, set his paws where their paws once stood, and feel their
battles echo around him as he proved himself worthy to walk code
among them. 3
With a single yowl, the RiverClan cats surged up the riverbank
and onto the boulders. The ThunderClan warriors stood in a line
on the far side of the summit, staring at them in astonishment.
“The battle is over,” snarled one of them, a broad-shouldered
tabby with amber eyes.
Darkstar faced him boldly, the fur standing up along her spine.
“How can that be, when we are not beaten?” she challenged.
With a screech, the tabby sprang at her, but Darkstar
sidestepped, spun around, and sank her claws into his back as he
crashed to the floor. The RiverClan warriors leaped forward to
meet the other ThunderClan cats, and Splashheart felt his teeth
sink into short white fur. He didn’t let go until he dragged the cat
to the edge of the rocks.
“Go!” he ordered, releasing the cat’s scruff at last. Without
looking back, the warrior scrambled down the boulders and
disappeared into the ferns at the edge of ThunderClan’s
territory.
“Good work,” murmured a voice beside Splashheart. He had
plunged back into the throng of cats, and for a moment he couldn’t
tell which cat was speaking to him.
“Watch out for that black-and-white tom over there,” the voice
continued, and Splashheart saw a ThunderClan warrior stalking
toward Eeltail, who was holding down a spitting she-cat.
“Thanks!” he gasped and crossed the open ground in three
quick strides, landing squarely on the black-and-white cat. Eeltail

Code of the Clans 35

turned at the noise and lifted his paw so that the she-cat could
flee; then he joined Splashheart and together they chased the
black-and-white tom after his frightened Clanmate.
When the two cats had gone, Splashheart realized that
the sounds of battle had grown quieter, muffled as if he were
underwater.
“The battle has been won,” whispered the voice. “Sunningrocks
is safe.”
Splashheart turned his head—the only part of his body he
seemed able to move—and saw a faint, glimmering cat standing
beside him. Her fur was the color of floodwater, almost black with
streaks of pale gray, and her tail was so long the tip rested on the
rock. RiverClan scent hung around her, but he’d never seen her
before.
“Who are you?”
The cat dipped her head. “My name is Aspentail,” she replied.
“I am kin of your elders and of your elders’ elders. I fought for
these rocks once, and I will fight for them again, for as many
moons as it takes, until ThunderClan learns that Sunningrocks
belongs to RiverClan.”
“I will fight with you,” Splashheart vowed. Aspentail nodded
and started to fade so that Splashheart could see the gray of the
rock through her fur.
“Splashheart? Who are you talking to?”
Blackbee was standing behind him, looking puzzled. “Didn’t
you realize?” she demanded. “We won! Those fox-hearted
ThunderClan cats won’t set paw on Sunningrocks now.”
“Not for this moon, at least,” Splashheart whispered. “But if
they do, we’ll fight them again. Aspentail, too.”
“What was that?” mewed Blackbee. “Are you okay, Splashheart?
You’re not wounded, are you?”

36 Warriors
 “No, no, I’m fine,” Splashheart promised.
“Cats of RiverClan!” Darkstar was summoning her warriors
to the center of the summit. “Sunningrocks belongs to us once
more! And in honor of our elders and their kin before them, who
never stopped fighting to defend our borders, we will catch fish code
on our way home and feed it to the oldest and youngest cats of the 3
Clan. This victory is for them!”
Some of the warriors looked surprised, but Splashheart
nodded. He would catch the plumpest fish he could find in
memory of Aspentail and take it straight to the elders’ den. And
if he ever became leader of his Clan, he would make it part of the
warrior code that elders and kits should be fed first, in honor of all
they had done, and all they would do, for his Clanmates to come.

A Dark Path Chosen

As you have seen, Clan cats are part of something bigger
than ourselves, and that ensures we are as strong as our strongest
warrior when trouble comes. But come see what can happen
if this part of the warrior code is ignored.

L ongtail winced as a cold drop of water splashed onto his neck.

“The den is leaking again,” he complained to Darkstripe, who
was curled up beside him.
Darkstripe opened one yellow eye. “Better tell Redtail,” he
murmured. “He’ll have to organize a cat to fix it before we drown
in our sleep.”
Longtail slid out of his nest, shivering as the bead of water

Code of the Clans 37

rolled down his back, and pushed his way into the clearing. Leaf-
fall was giving way to leaf-bare, and the sky was flat and gray like
water. Longtail picked his way over to the cleft in the rock where
he could hear Redtail, the ThunderClan deputy, speaking quietly
with Bluestar. His words were punctuated with coughs that
racked the warrior’s body and left him breathless: The Clan was
fighting off greencough, and Redtail had only just emerged from
the medicine cat’s den where he had been treated.
“We need to send out a hunting patrol,” he wheezed to Bluestar.
“The fresh-kill pile was ruined by the rain last night, and the sick
cats won’t get better if they’re weak with hunger.”
“Very well, but only send out healthy cats,” Bluestar warned.
“Which means you stay here, Redtail.”
The deputy started to argue but was interrupted by another
bout of coughing.
“Longtail!”
A tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat, her pelt dappled like a
glade in greenleaf, was calling him from the shelter of a clump of
ferns. Longtail changed direction to join her.
“What’s up, Spottedleaf?”
“Has Redtail organized any hunting patrols yet?” The medicine
cat’s eyes were dark with worry. “I can’t help sick cats when they’re
so hungry. I know hunting is hard in this weather, but we have to
find them something to eat.” Her bones shifted under her pelt as
she moved, and Longtail guessed that Spottedleaf had been giving
up her own share of fresh-kill to the cats she was trying to heal.
“I think he’s just about to send one out,” he told her.
“Good. Let’s hope they come back quickly. Poppydawn is
hardly strong enough to eat the catmint.”
Longtail peered past her into the ferns, where he could just
make out the dark red fur of the sick elder. Poppydawn told good

38 Warriors
stories and was popular with all the kits in the Clan because she
let them chase her tail, which was as thick as a fox’s.
Redtail nodded to Longtail, flicking drops of water from his
feathered ears. “Are you free to go on a hunting patrol?”
“Yes,” Longtail replied. code
“Good. Take Darkstripe with you. Try Snakerocks—there 3
might be some prey sheltering there. You shouldn’t find any snakes
at this time of year, but don’t go too deep into the caves.”
At least Darkstripe won’t
order me around, Longtail
thought as he squeezed
back into the warriors’ den.
In spite of the leaky roof,
Darkstripe had gone back to
sleep. Longtail prodded him
with his paw.
“Wake up! We’ve got to
go on a patrol.”
Darkstripe raised his
head and stared at him
blearily. “In this weather? You must be crazy! Did you tell Redtail
that the roof needs fixing?”
“I didn’t get a chance,” Longtail confessed. “Come on, it’s just
us. Redtail suggested we try Snakerocks.”
“Great,” Darkstripe grumbled, heaving himself to his paws. “I
can either drown or get bitten for the sake of my Clan.”
“It’s not raining that hard,” Longtail pointed out as they
headed for the tunnel that led out of the camp. “It’s mostly just
water being shaken from the trees.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Darkstripe
muttered, but he sprang gracefully up the rocks that littered the

Code of the Clans 39

side of the ravine and reached the top before Longtail.
The rain kept Twolegs and their dogs out of the woods, so
the warriors had a clear run all the way to Snakerocks. Longtail
shivered. Even if the snakes had gone for the cold season, this
place still made him nervous. Darkstripe skirted the edge of the
trees, sniffing at the dead bracken.
“I’m starving,” he meowed. “We’d better catch something. I
haven’t found anything good on the fresh-kill pile for days.”
Longtail headed for the pile of rocks, telling himself that he
wouldn’t go into any caves at all, not even a little way. His whiskers
trembled as he picked up the scent of squirrel at the foot of the
rocks. The trail led behind the stones and a little way into a clump
of brambles. Crouching low, Longtail stepped paw by paw under
the thorns. There was a patch of gray fur just visible through the
tendrils. He gathered his haunches under him, wriggled to get his
balance, then sprang. Blasting his way through the brambles, he
landed squarely on the squirrel. Muttering a prayer to StarClan,
and spitting out leaves, Longtail backed out of the thicket, dragging
his fresh-kill.
“Good catch!”
Darkstripe was standing right behind him, making Longtail
jump. The black-striped warrior padded forward, sniffing
appreciatively. The squirrel’s fluffy gray fur rippled under his
breath. Darkstripe glanced over his shoulder. “This won’t taste
nearly as good once we’ve hauled it back to the camp.”
Longtail shrugged. “We should catch something else quickly;
then it will still be fresh.”
“But it won’t be as fresh as it is now.” Darkstripe looked back at
the squirrel. “And we’ll hunt much better after a decent meal.”
“The warrior code says we can’t eat until the elders and kits
have been fed,” Longtail reminded him. His pelt was starting to

40 Warriors
prickle as if ants were crawling through it.
“How will any cat know?” Darkstripe murmured. He
narrowed his eyes until they were tiny amber slits. “You won’t tell,
will you?” His voice was barely a whisper; Longtail could hardly
hear him. code
“I . . . I . . . ” 3
Darkstripe opened his jaws and sank his teeth into the
squirrel, without taking his eyes off Longtail. He chewed slowly,
releasing the tempting smell of warm, plump meat.
We’re as hungry as the rest of the Clan, and we need our strength to hunt. It
makes no sense to let the warriors starve when they have to look after every other
cat. I caught this squirrel easily; we’ll catch plenty more.
Longtail bent his head and bit into the fresh-kill. Above him,
a cold wind rattled the trees, and the rocks loomed gray and silent
against the heavy sky.

Pelting rain made the sides of the ravine slippery, and the cats
picked their way carefully down with their catch gripped in their
mouths. Longtail had been lucky with the squirrel; prey had been
much harder to find after that, and all they brought were two mice
and an old, tough-looking blackbird. Neither cat looked each other
in the eye as they dragged their fresh-kill over the muddy ground
to the gorse tunnel. Darkstripe hung back, forcing Longtail to go
first. The thorns seemed sharper against his pelt than before, and
a feather from the blackbird had worked its way into his throat,
making him choke and splutter through his mouthful. He pushed
his way into the clearing and looked around, expecting to see a
row of hungry cats waiting by the fresh-kill pile.
The clearing was empty, the ground shiny and bouncing with
raindrops. Darkstripe joined Longtail and they stood side by side
with their catch by their front paws. Before either of them could

Code of the Clans 41

speak, a wail rose from the ferns around Spottedleaf ’s den.
“Poppydawn! No! Don’t leave me!”
It was Rosetail, her daughter.
“It is her time to join StarClan. Our warrior ancestors are
waiting for her.” That was Spottedleaf, her voice muffled by grief.
Longtail looked at Darkstripe, feeling a wave of panic rise
inside him. “We’re too late! Poppydawn is dead! Spottedleaf said
she needed to eat in order to fight the sickness, but we didn’t come
back in time! We should never have eaten that squirrel!”
“Shut up!” Darkstripe hissed. “What’s the matter with you?
Poppydawn was going to die anyway. We should let the old,
useless cats go if it means the warriors survive. The Clan depends
on us now, not them.”
“We killed her. . . . ”
“We did not! Greencough killed her. She was old and weak.
We are the important cats; we should eat first. Do you want to do
what’s best for your Clan?”
“Of course . . . ”
“Then you’ll keep your mouth shut and let your Clanmates
be grateful for what we brought back. There’s one fewer mouth
to feed now. Why spoil everything by trying to blame yourself for
Poppydawn?”
But Poppydawn might still be alive if we had come back earlier—if we had
come back with the squirrel.
Darkstripe was peering at Longstripe as if he could read his
thoughts. “You’ll keep quiet, won’t you?” he hissed, and this time
there was a hint of menace behind his eyes. “After all, I saw you
eat that squirrel. I’ll tell them what you did, how you insisted on
stealing prey from the elders, how you refused to let me bring it
back to the camp.”
A hard, cold lump froze inside Longtail. “There’s nothing to

42 Warriors
tell,” he growled back. “We were sent to hunt for prey, and that’s
what we’ve done. No other warrior could have done better.”
As he bent his head to pick up the blackbird and carry it to the
fresh-kill pile, a waft of warm air ruffled his fur and a familiar
scent brushed over him. Longtail lifted his head in horror.
Poppydawn! I’m so sorry!
Too late, came the silent reply. Too late.

Code of the Clans 43

 -
Code Four
P R EY IS K ILLED ONLY TO BE E ATEN .
GI V E TH A NK S TO S TA R C L A N FOR ITS LIFE .

When you eat, whom do you thank for your food?

It was the clear-sighted leadership of Lilystar of ShadowClan,
moons ago, that taught us to respect our prey and helped us
to see how much we owe to our warrior ancestors for training us
and bringing us to a place where we can live like this.

=
Mouse Games

“O
sister.
ver here, Fallowkit!” Driftkit dodged around a fallen
branch and poked his head over the top to call to his

Fallowkit popped up and shoved the mouse they were playing

with toward him. Its limp body rolled over, leaving a faint mark
on the boggy ground. The snow had only just melted and the
ShadowClan camp was so wet, the kits’ mother, Splashnose,
spent every night licking the mud out of their belly fur. Driftkit
scrambled onto the branch and launched himself off, landing flat
on the mouse. It felt squishy under his paws, and it smelled of dirt
and snowmelt.
Driftkit knew he was going to be the best ShadowClan warrior

44 Warriors
ever! He’d scratch out those scrawny WindClan cats’ eyes, he’d
chase the fat RiverClan cats until their legs fell off, he’d creep up
on the ThunderClan cats and claw their ears. . . .
“Driftkit! What in the name of StarClan are you doing to that
mouse?”
Driftkit fell off the mouse in surprise. A ginger-and-white
she-cat with a bright orange tail was stalking toward him. “I was code
just practicing being a warrior, Sunnytail,” Driftkit stammered to 4
the ShadowClan deputy.
Sunnytail stared down at the mouse. “That’s not fit to eat
now! Does Splashnose know what you’re doing?”
Fallowkit padded up, her light brown fur standing on end.
“She’s in the nursery. She told us to go outside and play.”
Sunnytail shook her head. “This was the last piece of fresh-
kill we had. Now the Clan will have to go hungry until the next
hunting patrol.”
“Sorry,” Driftkit muttered. He wished a giant hole would
open up in front of him so he could jump in and not be yelled at
anymore. He was just having fun. He’d been stuck inside the den
for moons because of the snow, and his legs felt as if they could run
all the way to the Thunderpath that the warriors talked about.
The branches around the nursery rustled and a dusty-brown
tabby with a white streak on her muzzle appeared. “What’s the
matter?” she called.
“Driftkit and Fallowkit have been playing with the last piece
of fresh-kill, Splashnose,” Sunnytail replied.
“I’m sure they didn’t know it was the last piece . . . ” Splashnose
began.
“They must have known!” Sunnytail argued. “There would
have been nothing left!”
“Is this true?” A pale gray cat padded up, her tail kinked

Code of the Clans 45

questioningly over her back. She looked from her deputy to
Driftkit. “Did you take the last of our food?”
Driftkit tried to make a hole appear in front of his paws by
staring at the ground really hard. Just his luck that Lilystar had
overheard. “I guess,” he whispered to the ShadowClan leader.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Splashnose put in, but Lilystar hushed her
with a flick of her tail. When she spoke, her tone was unexpectedly
gentle.
“Driftkit, you should not have taken that mouse to play
with. Prey is too scarce to be wasted. That mouse did not die to
become a toy, but to keep us alive after a long leaf-bare. Do you
understand?”
Driftkit nodded without looking up. Beside him, Fallowkit
squeaked, “Yes, Lilystar.”
Suddenly a shadow swept over the clearing, and there was a
strange rushing sound above Driftkit’s head.
“Owl! Run!” screeched Splashnose, and the cats bolted for
safety.
Driftkit was too terrified to move. He stared up at the huge
white bird, which swooped closer and closer. He could see every
feather on its chest, its sharp hooked talons, the ring of yellow
around each eye as it glared down at him. He gulped, waiting to
be swept up into the air.
The owl folded its wings at the last moment and dropped with
its talons outstretched. Nearer, nearer . . . then it was pulling itself
back up into the air with its mighty wings. Driftkit opened his
eyes. He was still on the ground. The mouse had vanished; when
he looked up, he could see its battered body dangling from the
owl’s claws, getting smaller and smaller as the bird disappeared
over the trees.
I survived!

46 Warriors
 Splashnose raced up to Driftkit. “Are you all right, precious?”
she gasped, sniffing him all over.
Driftkit shrugged away. Fierce warriors didn’t get fussed
over by their moms whenever they won a battle. “I’m fine,” he
muttered.
Lilystar pricked her ears to follow the path of the owl. “It is a
sign,” she declared. “StarClan gives our prey to us, and StarClan
can take it away. We should give thanks to our warrior ancestors
that we are able to eat at all. They provide every mouthful as well
as our ability to hunt and feed ourselves. From the next Gathering,
there will be an addition to the warrior code. Prey must be killed
only to be eaten, and we must give thanks to StarClan for its life.
This is the way of the warrior.”

Code of the Clans 47

 -
Code Five
A K IT MUST BE AT LE A ST SI X MOONS OLD
TO BECOME A N A PPR ENTICE .

It seems so obvious now that kits should not be allowed

to fight until they are properly trained and strong enough to
take on full-grown warriors. But it was not always like this.
It took the love of a mother cat to put a stop to
the destruction of fragile lives.

=
The Queens Unite

“A ttack! Jump! Swipe! Roll! No, roll.”

Daisytail winced as Specklepaw scrambled to his
feet and shook his head, panting. He looked dazed, and there was
a bead of blood welling at the tip of one ear. His mentor, Slatepelt,
nudged him toward the other apprentice in the training circle,
Adderpaw.
“Try again,” Slatepelt instructed gently.
Daisytail couldn’t watch as Specklepaw launched himself at his
rival. It seemed like only a moon ago that his freckled, pale brown
head had nuzzled into her belly searching for milk. Adderpaw had
been training for several moons longer and he looked full-grown
next to Specklepaw, whose head barely reached his shoulder.

48 Warriors
There was a thud behind Daisytail, and she bit her tongue to stop
herself from wailing out loud.
“Did you see that?” Specklepaw called. “Did you, Mom? Did
you? I pushed Adderpaw right over!”
Daisytail turned around and forced herself to purr approvingly.
She could tell from the look exchanged by Adderpaw and Slatepelt
that the older apprentice had deliberately let the little cat win.
“Well done, nutkin,” she called. A tuft of fur on Specklepaw’s
head was sticking up, and she longed to go over and lick it flat. code
“You’ll be a warrior before you know it!” Before my milk has dried up, 5
she added silently.
Slatepelt nodded to her. “He’s learning fast. Which is
good, because it looks like we’ll be fighting ShadowClan again
soon. They’ve been seen stealing rabbits in broad daylight, and
Hazelstar won’t let them get away with it.”
Daisytail didn’t answer. Her kit was too small to take part in
a real battle. He couldn’t even take on his own Clanmates, who
would never try to rip his pelt, tear his eyes, claw his ears into
shreds . . .
“Daisytail? Are you okay?” A dark brown face was peering
anxiously out of the entrance to the nursery. Hawkfoot’s three
kits were half a moon younger than Specklepaw: They would be
made apprentices any day now and kept bouncing around their
nest practicing their battle moves.
“There’s going to be another battle with ShadowClan,”
Daisytail burst out. “I can’t let Specklepaw fight, I just can’t!”
“You don’t have a choice,” Hawkfoot pointed out. “He’s an
apprentice now; this is what he’s being trained for.”
Daisytail lifted her head. “And if your kits are apprentices by
then, will you let them go? Knowing they’ll face blood-hungry
ShadowClan warriors?”

Code of the Clans 49

 Hawkfoot prodded a bramble tendril with her forepaw. “It’s
our duty to provide the Clan with new warriors,” she mewed.
“And is it our duty to see those warriors die before they’re
full-grown?” Daisytail challenged. She turned and
stalked away from the nursery.
“Where are you going?”
“To put a stop to this once and for all.”

A bright orange sun stretched its paws over

the edge of the moor, turning the sky
above to pink and cream. Dew sparkled
like starlight in the shadows cast by
rocks and gorse bushes. On one of the
rocks, Hazelstar stood to address his
warriors. They stretched in a line on either side of him, facing the
ShadowClan border, marked by a line of stunted trees.
“Warriors of WindClan!” Hazelstar cried. There was an
indignant murmur from farther along the line, and Hazelstar’s
whiskers twitched. “And apprentices! ShadowClan has stolen
from us one too many times! We will teach them that WindClan’s
borders are strong, they will be defended with claw and tooth, and
our prey protected for our Clan alone.”
The cats yowled in support, and the grass flickered with the
shadows of lashing tails.
Like an echo, a yowl came from the trees on the other side
of the border. The grass beneath the trees stirred, and a line of
ShadowClan warriors stepped out. A white-furred cat with hard
green eyes stood in the center. “Are you sure about that, Hazelstar?”
he sneered. “Some of your warriors look awfully small.”
His gaze swept over the smallest WindClan apprentices, who
suddenly looked even tinier beside their Clanmates.

50 Warriors
 “I’d say we’re evenly matched, Blizzardstar,” Hazelstar replied
calmly. He glanced toward the cats at the end of the ShadowClan
line, some of whom still had a fuzz of kit fur around their ears.
Blizzardstar curled his lip. “We’ll put that to the test, shall
we?” he snarled. “ShadowClan, attack!”
“STOP!” Daisytail leaped onto the rock she had been hiding
behind. Hawkfoot scrambled up beside her. “We won’t let you
fight!”
Blizzardstar stared at the queens in astonishment. “Are all code
your cats this scared of combat, Hazelstar?” 5
“It’s not fear,” called a cat from the ShadowClan line. She
stepped into the open, her amber eyes reflecting the sun.
“Oakleaf? What in the name of StarClan are you doing?”
Blizzardstar demanded.
Daisytail jumped down from the rock and padded into the
open space between the battle lines. The grass felt cool and
springy beneath her paws; she would not let it turn red with her
own kit’s blood. “We’re stopping this battle,” she announced. To
her relief, her voice didn’t give away how much she was trembling
inside. “Some of these apprentices are barely weaned from their
mothers’ milk. They are too young to die, too young to fight, too
young to be treated like full-grown warriors.”
The ShadowClan queen walked out to join her. “Daisytail
came to see me with her Clanmate Hawkfoot two sunrises ago.
She told me that she didn’t want to let her kit go into battle when
he was too small to fight his own Clanmates, and she asked me if
I would let my kit die like this, too.” When Blizzardstar let out
a questioning grunt, she turned and explained, “I met Daisytail
once at a Gathering, when we had both just learned we were
expecting kits. She remembered me and knew I would not want
my kit to fight any more than she did.”

Code of the Clans 51

 Hazelstar turned to Daisytail. “What are you saying?” he
queried, looking baffled. “That we should never fight again? Do
you really think that is how the Clans could live?”
Daisytail shook her head. “No. I know battle is part of our life.
It’s what warriors train for. But they should only be asked to fight
when they are old enough to stand a chance of winning. What is
the point of training kits so young that they’ll be lost in their first
conflict?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Specklepaw duck behind
Adderpaw. Embarrassment prickled from every hair on his pelt,
and he refused to meet her gaze. Inwardly Daisytail gave an
amused purr. One day, he’d understand—he’d still be alive to
know why his mother did this.
Oakleaf trotted across the grass and stood side by side with
Daisytail and Hawkfoot. “We are united, Blizzardstar,” she told
him. She nodded toward the line, and several other she-cats
padded out. Daisytail dipped her head to greet them; some of
these queens were too old to have kits as young as hers, but they all
felt the same: The youngest cats should not be expected to fight.
The grass whispered softly as WindClan she-cats joined them,
falling in beside their ShadowClan rivals.
Daisytail held her breath and looked from Hazelstar to
Blizzardstar and back again. The leaders could still order their
warriors into battle. All that would happen would be that she
would be forced to watch her kit fall beneath the paws of a giant
ShadowClan warrior, never to get up again.
“Hazelstar? Our queens have spoken.” Blizzardstar stepped
out from his battle line, looking hard at his rival leader. “Should
we ignore them and fight?”
The ginger tom paused, letting his gaze rest on the group
of she-cats before glancing at his tiny warriors. Then he faced

52 Warriors
Blizzardstar again. “What sense is there in losing the future of
our Clans, when if we let them grow stronger, battles will be more
easily won?”
Daisytail almost purred out loud. Hazelstar had managed
to make this sound like a threat to ShadowClan rather than a
decision to decrease his battle line.
Blizzardstar nodded. “If you are going to remove your
youngest cats, then so must I. ShadowClan cannot be accused of
being unfair in battle.” code
“I would never suggest such a thing,” Hazelstar murmured. 5
He turned to Daisytail. “How do you propose that we make sure
all Clans keep their youngest cats from battle?” he asked.
Daisytail gulped. Was she really being consulted by the leader
of her Clan? She thought rapidly. “I think there should be an
addition to the warrior code. That kits must be”—she looked up
and down the battle line, judging which cats looked big enough
to take on a fully trained warrior—“six moons old before they are
allowed to train as apprentices.”
Oakleaf brushed the tip of her tail against Daisytail’s shoulder.
“Until then, they must live within the camp, where the queens can
be responsible for their safety.”
Hazelstar nodded. “That makes sense to me. Thank you,
Daisytail. And thank you, Oakleaf.” He dipped his head to the
ShadowClan queen. “Blizzardstar, are we agreed?”
The ShadowClan leader bowed his head. “We are. We will
take this to the Gathering at the next full moon.”
Daisytail gazed at Specklepaw, who looked ready to burst with
frustration. There will be other battles, my little warrior. But not yet. Not
until you are ready.

Code of the Clans 53

 =
The Smallest Warrior
Only a leader that walks the blackest of paths
would break the code that protects kits. Brokenstar
of ShadowClan was such a leader.

T he WindClan warrior sprang with his claws unsheathed,

and the little black-and-white cat fell to the ground without
making a sound. A trickle of blood crept from his ear, which was
crumpled in the dust. Flintfang shook off the warrior trying to
sink her teeth into his tail and bounded over to his unmoving
Clanmate.
“Get off him, you mangy worm!” Flintfang snarled. Then he
bent down to grasp Badgerpaw’s scruff between his teeth. The
apprentice’s fur was still soft and fluffy, and it tickled Flintfang’s
nose. Blinking to stop the sneeze, Flintfang lifted the tiny limp
body into the air and carried it to the edge of the WindClan camp.
Behind him, screeches and thuds echoed around the shallow dip
in the ground where WindClan had once made its home. Now all
the dens were trampled and ruined, and the ground was sticky with
blood. Brokenstar was right: This battle would force WindClan to
leave the moor, and ShadowClan hunters would be able to take
over the territory to feed their growing Clan.
But not Badgerpaw. His breathing was quick and shallow and
a strange smell came from him, sour like blood and crow-food.
There was nothing any cat could do to help him. Flintfang shook
his head angrily. He had trained his apprentice in every battle skill
he knew and made sure he could duck and roll and slash as well as
any of the other apprentices. But Badgerpaw was only three moons

54 Warriors
old; he was too small to take on a full-grown WindClan warrior, his
legs too short to reach the easily wounded parts of belly, eyes, and
ears. What could a mentor do when he was expected to train a kit?
The warrior code said that a warrior must be at least six moons old,
but that didn’t worry Flintfang as much as he feared Brokenstar.
Flintfang had failed his leader—and Brokenstar would make sure
every cat in the Clan knew. He turned away, ready to abandon his
apprentice and teach that fox-faced WindClan warrior a lesson he
wouldn’t forget. code
Badgerpaw’s eyes flickered. “Flintfang? Is that you?” 5
Flintfang’s heart sank. “Yes, it’s me.”
“Was . . . was I good enough?” Badgerpaw rasped in a tiny voice.
His paws shifted in the dust and a bead of blood appeared at the
corner of his lip. “I tried to remember everything you taught me.”
Flintfang stared at the battered little body. Badgerpaw hadn’t
stood a chance from the moment the first battle yowl split the air.
“I hope Brokenstar is proud of me,” Badgerpaw went on. His
eyes were clouding over and
starting to close. “And my
mom.”
Flintfang felt something
stir inside him. What was
he going to tell Fernshade?
That her kit was always
going to die in this battle
because he was too small,
too weak?
“Fernshade will be very
proud of you,” he meowed.
Badgerpaw opened his
eyes with an effort and

Code of the Clans 55

looked straight at Flintfang. “Are you proud of me?”
Flintfang crouched beside Badgerpaw and stroked the
apprentice’s eyelids with the tip of his tail to close them again.
“You fought brilliantly,” he murmured.
“Will you be all right without me?” Badgerpaw asked fretfully.
He moved his head and the trickle of blood coming from his ear
thickened, spilling out faster.
“We’ll do our best,” Flintfang replied gravely. “And we’ll
always remember you and how brave you were.”
Was it his imagination, or did the tiny black-and-white chest
swell with pride?
“Do . . . do you think StarClan will make me a warrior now?”
Flintfang swallowed hard; there seemed to be a stone wedged
in his throat. “I’m sure they will.”
“What will my name be?” Badgerpaw wondered, his voice
growing even fainter.
“I expect they’ll let you choose your own name,” Flintfang
replied. The lump in his throat was growing, making it hard to
speak.
“I’d like to be called Badgerfang. Like you, because you were
such a great mentor.”
Flintfang leaned forward and rested his muzzle on top of his
apprentice’s head. “That is a great honor. Badgerfang is a very
good name for a warrior.” He could feel Badgerpaw’s breaths
coming quicker now, his flank hardly rising at all as he fought for
air. “You will watch over us from StarClan for all the moons to
come.” Badgerpaw let out a tiny sigh, and his flank stilled.
Flintfang straightened up. “This was not your time to die.
For as long as I live, I will honor the warrior code and not train
another kit who should still be at his mother’s belly. Go now, little
one, and walk with warriors.”

56 Warriors
 -
Code Six
N EW LY A PPOINTED WA R R IOR S W ILL
K EEP A SILENT V IGIL FOR ONE NIGHT A FTER
R ECEI V ING THEIR WA R R IOR NA ME .

Being a warrior isn’t just about catching prey and fighting

other Clans, you know. It’s about being part of a tradition that
stretches back longer than any cat can remember, and one
that will last for all the moons to come. It was a RiverClan medicine
cat who learned that the time when every cat realizes this most
is when they are first given their warrior name and become
responsible for the safety and survival of their Clan.

=
A Night of Listening

“M eadowpelt! Meadowpelt, we need you!”

Meadowpelt put down the willow stick he was
shredding and wove his way between the pale yellow stalks that
shielded his den from the rest of the camp. It was greenleaf, and
for once the ground underpaw was dry and dusty rather than
pooling with water.
Several other RiverClan cats were in the clearing, looking
anxious as their Clannmates crackled nearer. Suddenly the
reeds rattled together and a small black tom burst out.

Code of the Clans 57

“Snaketooth is hurt!” he yowled.
“What happened, Molewhisker?” Troutstar demanded. Just
then, two more cats appeared with a third propped between
them, his dark brown head lolling and one of his hind legs trailing
uselessly behind.
Troutstar glanced over his shoulder. “Meadowpelt, take over.”
Meadowpelt ran forward to take a look at his latest patient.
This wasn’t the first injury he’d treated among these young
warriors in the last moon. Molewhisker had ripped out one of his
claws trying to jump across the river, and Lightningpelt, a light
brown tabby with a distinctive white streak down her back, had
nearly poked out her own eye chasing through the thickest part
of the reeds. Every day, the warriors seemed to come up with yet
another competition to discover who was the strongest, fastest . . .
or most mouse-brained, Meadowpelt thought crossly.
Lightningpelt and Nettlepad laid Snaketooth on the ground
in the middle of the clearing. Meadowpelt studied the twisted
leg, noticing the way the snapped bone jutted out beneath the
skin. There was a chance Snaketooth would never walk without
a limp.
“What was it this time?” Meadowpelt sighed.
“Climbing one of the Great Oaks,” Snaketooth muttered
through gritted teeth. “I won.”
“You should have seen him!” Lightningpelt burst out. “He
practically climbed onto a cloud!”
“If I had seen him, I wouldn’t have let him do something
so utterly mouse-brained,” Meadowpelt growled. “When will
you learn to stop showing off and start putting your Clan first?
At this rate there’ll be no warriors left by leaf-bare.” Lifting
his head, he looked around and spotted Oatpaw, whom he was
thinking of taking as his apprentice. “Oatpaw, fetch me some

58 Warriors
poppy seeds, will you?”
Oatpaw ducked his head and ran to the
den, quickly returning with several tiny
black seeds stuck to his forepaw.
“Lick these up,” Meadowpelt told
Snaketooth. He turned back to Oatpaw.
“Help me carry him to my den. He’ll need to stay there tonight.”

Moonlight filtered through the reeds, striping the floor of the

medicine cat’s den with sharp, thin shadows. Meadowpelt checked
that the reeds on Snaketooth’s splint were bound tightly enough, code
and then padded heavily across the clearing to his nest. 6
The reeds slid apart and Molewhisker, Lightningpelt, and
Nettlepad squeezed into the tiny space beside their sleeping
friend. “We wanted to see if he was okay,” Molewhisker explained
in a loud whisper.
“That’s up to StarClan now,” Meadowpelt replied. “I’ve done
as much as I can. Now go to your own dens and let him sleep.”
It was too late. Snaketooth stirred and lifted his head a little
way off the pillow of moss. “Hey, guys!” he croaked.
Nettlepad bent over him. “How’s your leg? It looked really
gross!”
Meadowpelt flicked his tail. “You can stay for a few moments,
but no more, understand?”
The three healthy warriors looked at the medicine cat and
nodded solemnly. With a grunt, Meadowpelt threaded his
way between the reeds that circled his nest and settled down.
Tired as he was—and getting a little deaf in his old age, he
had to admit—he could still hear the warriors whispering to
Snaketooth.
“You’ve got to get better real soon!”

Code of the Clans 59

 “We’re going to jump into the gorge on the full moon,
remember?”
“Yeah, I dared you, so if you don’t do it, I win!” That was
Nettlepad, his voice rising with excitement.
“Hush!” Lightningpelt hissed. “Don’t let every cat hear you!
You know what the old ones are like—they never want us to have
fun.”
“They just wish they were young enough to jump into the
gorge. But I bet they were never brave enough to try. Not like us!”
Molewhisker sounded as if he thought he could grow wings and
glide safely into the river as it thundered and foamed through the
steep-sided canyon at the edge of their territory.
“Look, he’s gone to sleep,” whispered Lightningpelt. “Come
on, let’s leave him.”
Meadowpelt listened to them padding away, bristling at their
foolishness. His mind filled with shadows, and sleep was a long
time coming.

“Troutstar? May I speak with you?” It was the following day, with
hot, merciless sunshine bouncing off the reeds and the surface of
the river.
The RiverClan leader opened his eyes from his doze. He was
curled on a flat stone by the shore, his gray fur blending into the
sun-bleached rock. “Is Snaketooth all right?” he asked anxiously.
Meadowpelt grunted. “You mean apart from having no sense
at all? He’ll live. But whether he’ll be able to hunt and fight again,
I’m not sure.”
Troutstar shook his head. “I don’t know why those warriors
keep doing such ridiculous things.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I want to go to the
Moonstone to ask StarClan for advice.”

60 Warriors
 The gray cat looked at him in surprise. “Do you really think
StarClan needs to be involved?”
Meadowpelt nodded. “Yes, I do. We have raised a whole
generation of warriors who only want to amuse themselves. There
aren’t enough apprentices for them all to be mentors, so they’re
wasting time making up stupid, dangerous games. They’ve all
been hurt, but it hasn’t stopped them. Did you know they’re
planning to jump into the gorge on the full moon?”
Troutstar’s tail bristled. “No, I didn’t know that. Meadowpelt,
if you think StarClan can help, then you must go. May StarClan
be waiting for you with answers.” code
6
It was past nightfall by the time Meadowpelt reached the entrance
to Mothermouth. The Highstones jabbed angrily into the sky,
black against dove-gray. Meadowpelt let his mind empty as he felt
his way down the long, dark tunnel. At the bottom, the flattened-
egg moon made the Moonstone glow brightly enough to light up
the chamber. Meadowpelt lay down at the foot of the Moonstone
and pressed his muzzle against the sharp, cold rock.

Code of the Clans 61

 “StarClan, please show me how to make my Clanmates
understand that the Clan depends on them for its survival, and
that they can’t play like kits now that they are warriors.”
He closed his eyes, and at once the scents of the riverbank
brushed against his fur. He could hear the water rolling past,
whispering against the stones, and the reeds rattling together as
they were bent over by the breeze. When he opened his eyes, he
found that he was lying in the center of the RiverClan camp with
cats stirring softly around him, preparing for the night. With
a shock, Meadowpelt realized that he didn’t recognize any of
them—no, it was more that he couldn’t see them clearly enough, as
if their faces were always in shadow and their scents too mixed by
the breeze to distinguish one cat from another. Even their voices
sounded muffled, almost familiar but not quite. He lay still with
his chin on his paws and listened.
“We tracked that fox to the border, so hopefully it will stay
away,” one voice reported.
“I’m on dawn patrol tomorrow, so I’ll look out for any new
scents,” came the reply.
“The elders are convinced it will come back once more,”
meowed another voice. “They said that foxes will check out a place
twice before deciding whether or not to settle. I think we should
take their advice and be prepared to chase it out again.”
“I promised I’d take all the apprentices for a fishing lesson
tomorrow. Could you do a hunting patrol in my place?”
“Sure. With those kits due any day, we’re going to need a full
fresh-kill pile. Have you seen how much the queens eat when
they’re nursing?”
There was a mrrow of amusement from the other cats, and
Meadowpelt purred, too. Whoever these cats were, they were
the kind of warriors RiverClan could be proud of: brave, loyal,

62 Warriors
hardworking, and aware of how much the whole Clan depended
on them, from the frailest elder to the tiniest kit.

Warm dawn light roused Meadowpelt and he sat up, blinking,

in the sunlit cavern. Was that it? He’d spent a night in his own
Clan, listening to unidentified cats talk about their lives? How is
that supposed to help?
There was the faintest echo inside his head: A night in his own
Clan, listening . . . But how does that provide me with answers for our mouse-
brained warriors?
Silence pressed on his ears. What was he going to tell code
Troutstar? 6
A night of listening . . .
To cats who cared about their Clan, who understood their
duties and took pride in doing them well.
Is that what the warriors need?
Meadowpelt burst into the dazzling air and started to run
down the rock-strewn hill. StarClan had given him the answer!

“One night? To think about being a warrior?” Troutstar sounded

unconvinced, and Meadowpelt was starting to wonder if this wasn’t
such a great idea after all. Knowing the current RiverClan cats,
they’d just come up with a bunch of games to play in the dark.
But Meadowpelt kept his doubts to himself. The full moon
was only a day away, and with any luck a sleepless night would at
least make the warriors too tired to carry out their mouse-brained
scheme of jumping into the gorge.
The young cats looked startled when Troutstar explained
what they had to do: spend one night in silent vigil, watching over
the camp while their Clanmates slept. “And make sure you listen,
as well!” he added sternly.

Code of the Clans 63

 The sun was already sliding behind the outline of the Twoleg
barns beyond the willow trees, so the Clan started to prepare for
the night. Molewhisker, Lightningpelt, and Nettlepad stayed in
the middle of the clearing, looking uncertain about what they
were supposed to be doing. Meadowpelt couldn’t blame them; he
wasn’t sure anymore that he’d understood StarClan.
Meadowpelt slid into his nest and gave in to a wave of black
sleep.

“Fox! Wake up! Fox attack!”

Meadowpelt was on his feet and racing into the clearing before
he had fully opened his eyes. The camp was bathed in cold white light
and cats were plunging out of the reeds, hissing in alarm. Nettlepad
stood in the middle of the clearing with his fur bristling.
“We heard a fox!” he gasped. “Creeping up on the nursery.
Molewhisker and Lightningpelt have chased it away.”
Troutstar nodded to a couple of senior warriors. “Go after
them. Make sure they don’t try to confront the fox. We just need
it to leave the territory.”
A white she-cat with splashes of ginger on her fur padded up
to Nettlepad. A pair of tiny kits bundled along beside her. “You
saved our lives!” she exclaimed. “Thank you!”
“I didn’t even hear that mangy ol’ fox creeping up on us!”
squeaked one of the kits.
“Yeah, even though you’ve got really big ears!” taunted his
littermate.
“Have not!”
“Have so! You look like a rabbit!”
Meadowpelt padded over to Nettlepad, who was looking
rather uncomfortable at being the center of attention. “Sunspots is
right; you saved her life and her kits’. You should be very proud.”

64 Warriors
 Nettlepad shuffled his paws. “It’s because we were being
quiet, like you said. We’d never have heard that fox if we’d been
in our dens.”
Meadowpelt narrowed his eyes. “Or jumping into the gorge.
Or climbing the Great Oaks at Fourtrees. Or chasing one another
through the reeds, scaring off prey.”
Nettlepad hung his head. “Yeah, I guess that was pretty
mouse-brained.”
Just then, Lightningpelt and Molewhisker hurtled back into
the clearing, followed by the senior warriors. “We chased that fox
all the way to the border!” Molewhisker panted, his eyes shining code
with triumph. 6
“It won’t come back here in a hurry!” Lightningpelt declared.
“Don’t be so sure,” rasped Fernleaf, one of the elders. “Foxes
have a habit of coming back once more before they decide whether
or not to settle. You need to be ready to chase it off again.”
Molewhisker straightened up. “No problem,” he promised.
Lightningpelt spotted a row of apprentices peering out of their
den. “Hey there! I know some great fishing techniques! Would
you like me to show you them today?”
Nettlepad nodded. “She’s really good, honestly. I’ll do your
hunting patrol for you, Lightningpelt.”
“Thanks, that would be really helpful.”
Meadowpelt stared. His vision was unfolding around him,
faces and scents falling into place like raindrops. A night of
listening had turned these cats into warriors that RiverClan could
be proud of.
“Thank you, Meadowpelt,” murmured a voice beside him. It
was Troutstar.
Meadowpelt shrugged. “Thank StarClan,” he mewed gruffly.
“At the Gathering tomorrow night, I’ll suggest we add a new

Code of the Clans 65

part to the warrior code: that all new warriors must spend one
night in silent vigil so they understand how much their Clan
needs them now,” Troutstar went on.
Meadowpelt nodded, and inside a small worm of pride
stretched and swelled satisfyingly. Yes, make it part of the warrior code,
so that all cats have a night of listening. . . .

=
Squirrelflight’s Words of Wisdom
One day even you might have to sit vigil.
Here are a few tips from Squirrelf light to help you pass the
night—if you’re a ThunderClan warrior, that is!

A vigil is the proudest and scariest night of any warrior’s life.

It was for me! Having to spend a whole night awake
guarding the Clan, trying not to doze off,
jumping at every leaf fall in case it’s an enemy
attack, it’s enough to send any cat running
back to the nursery. So, I’m going to give you
some tips on how to get through a vigil. That
way you’ll be prepared when it’s your turn.
First, don’t lie near the warriors’ den; the
noise of all that snoring will make you want
to nod off. Or deafen you. If you feel sleepy, jump onto the
Highledge—quietly, obviously, so you don’t wake Firestar. I know,
I know, we’re not supposed to go up there, but it will give you a
surge of energy and keep you going. When I kept my warrior’s
vigil, back in the old forest, I climbed onto the Highrock in the
middle of the night and it was amazing. The camp looked so tiny!

66 Warriors
And I thought about how brilliant it would feel to summon all the
cats just by calling them together. . . . Don’t look at me like that;
you know I’d never have done something like that. Honestly.
Even if you don’t go up to the Highledge, make sure you stand
up and stretch every so often, otherwise you’ll feel like you’ve
turned into a lump of stone. A little game of mouse-chase won’t
offend the ancestors if it gets really cold. Just don’t send it flying
too close to the nursery, like I did, or you’ll wake every kit. They
can hear a game going on even when they’re fast asleep! Trust me,
the queens won’t thank you for that.
If you hear or see anything suspicious, call out, “Who’s there?” code
Even if it’s just a cat coming back from the dirtplace, better to 6
be safe than sorry. After all, tonight you’re in charge! The safety
of the whole Clan depends on you! Sorry, I’m really not trying
to worry you. Let’s hope nothing does happen, because after all
you’re not supposed to make any noise during the vigil. Unless
there is a raid, in which case you must wake Firestar first, then the
warriors. Don’t investigate anything on your own; it’s too risky.
Obviously you’re allowed to call for help if you need it. And you
can drink if you get thirsty, but you mustn’t eat. Your old mentor
will come and tell you when the vigil is over, once the sun is up.
So, does all that sound okay? I haven’t scared you, have I?
Good luck! May StarClan watch over you!

Code of the Clans 67

 -
Code Seven
A C AT C A N NOT BE M A DE DEPUT Y
W ITHOUT H AV ING MENTOR ED AT LE A ST
ONE A PPR ENTICE .

Our skills and our knowledge will live forever,

thanks to our mentors, who teach the next generation of Clan cats
the way of the warrior. But it took a great leader to see
that it was not only the apprentice who gained valuable knowledge
from the mentor. Being entrusted with an apprentice teaches the
mentor how to lead and gain loyalty and respect. For what is a
deputy or leader if not a mentor to the whole Clan?

=
Second in Command

“S tarClan, hear me as I make my choice. Acorntail will be

the new deputy of WindClan.”
Featherstar stretched out and rested her muzzle lightly
on top of Acorntail’s head. Acorntail
closed his eyes, swallowing his
grief for Pebblefur, the
cat who had once been
his mentor, and whose
death from a strange,

68
agonizing lump in his belly had shocked the Clan.
“Acorntail! Acorntail!” called the cats behind him, but to
Acorntail, they sounded flat and disappointed. It was obvious
they didn’t want him to be their deputy.
“Good luck, Acorntail,” murmured a voice in his ear. It was
Morningcloud, the dark gray she-cat who had made no secret of
her surprise when Acorntail was picked for deputy instead of her.
“Thanks,” Acorntail meowed. Behind her, he could see
her apprentice Quickpaw glaring at him, his pale ginger face
screwed up with indignation. Acorntail wondered if all young
cats rewarded their mentors with such fierce loyalty. He hadn’t yet
had an apprentice of his own, so he didn’t know what it would be
like to train a new warrior and to watch him or her develop from code
bumbling kit to strong, skillful fighting cat. 7
Morningcloud padded back to Quickpaw, and Acorntail heard
the young cat hiss, “It should have been you!”
The she-cat quieted him with a flick of her tail. “Maybe one
day,” she murmured softly.
“Acorntail, you need to sort out the patrols for today,”
Featherstar prompted. Her tone was almost apologetic, as if she
didn’t want to remind him of his duties.
“Oh, yes, of course,” Acorntail stammered. “Gorseclaw,
Sheeptail, and Cloversplash, you can go on hunting patrol.”
Cloversplash, a lightly built dark brown she-cat with a white
flash on her nose shaped exactly like a cloverleaf, stopped him.
“We went on hunting patrol this morning. We should have a
training session with our apprentices now.”
Acorntail felt as if the three apprentices attached to these
warriors were looking at him with a mixture of scorn and pity. He
ducked his head. “Oh, yes, of course, training. Well, maybe you
could take the evening hunting patrol?”

Code of the Clans 69

 “Sure,” mewed Thistlepaw, Sheeptail’s apprentice. “We’re
always in the mood for chasing rabbits all over the place after
fighting all afternoon.”
Acorntail’s fur prickled with embarrassment. Why didn’t he
think of that? Why was he being such a flea-brain?
“Right, okay. Morningcloud, could you and Quickpaw do a
hunting patrol instead?”
Morningcloud put her head on one side. “On our own?” she
questioned.
“Er, no. I’ll come with you,” Acorntail decided hastily. He
glanced at Featherstar, who gave a tiny nod. Acorntail felt lower
than a worm’s belly. Why did Featherstar make me her deputy when I’m so
useless?

“You’ll do fine, Acorntail,” Featherstar told him. She sounded

tired and strained, and Acorntail realized how much she must still
be grieving for Pebblefur, who had died only three sunrises ago.
They were in her den, a shallow scoop in the sandy earth shielded
by a wall of gorse. Sunhigh had just passed, and the hunting patrol
was due to leave.
“Prey is running well at the moment. You’ll catch plenty with
Morningcloud and Quickpaw.”
Acorntail heard the dismissal in her tone. He backed out of
the den. Morningcloud and Quickpaw were waiting for him in the
center of the camp. Quickpaw still looked hostile, but the she-cat’s
expression was impossible to read. Morningcloud just nodded and
let Acorntail lead the way up the slope and out onto the moor.
Acorntail quickly detected the musky tang of rabbit and
hurtled off. For the first time since being made deputy, he felt sure
of what he was doing, confident in the swiftness of his paws and
the prospect of a good piece of fresh-kill for the Clan. The rabbit

70 Warriors
tried to outrun him but he drew steadily alongside, pounced from
running full speed, and brought it down with a muffled snap of
neck bones. He lifted his head and looked around. Morningcloud
was racing after a young rabbit, her tail bouncing as she tore across
the warm grass, and Quickpaw was sniffing the ground as if he had
picked up the scent of a plover’s nest. Eggs laid in a scoop of earth
were a rare treat for the cats as plovers defended their unhatched
young fiercely, but Quickpaw already had a reputation not just for
tracking the nests but for carrying the eggs undamaged back to
camp, tucked under his chin. Acorntail felt a little pebble of worry
in his stomach dissolve. His Clan was the best by far, and it was an
honor to be their deputy.
He stiffened. There was another scent on the air, not rabbit or code
freshly laid eggs, but feline. The breeze was carrying it from the 7
direction of Fourtrees and the border with ThunderClan. What
did those mangy tree-dwellers want now? They were far too slow
and fat to catch WindClan’s prey, so why would they even try?
His fur bristling, Acorntail shoved his rabbit under a gorse
bush and trotted toward the border. The scent grew stronger.
As he crested a rise close to the edge of WindClan territory, he
saw three ThunderClan cats walking along the border, barely a
whisker-length from trespassing.
“Did you want something?” he growled.
The biggest ThunderClan cat shook his head. “Just doing a
patrol,” he replied indifferently.
Acorntail looked closer. The smallest cat, which looked like an
apprentice, had a tuft of dusky-brown fur stuck on his nose. There
was only one type of prey that had fur like that.
“Have you been stealing rabbits?” Acorntail hissed.
The apprentice’s eyes stretched wide—in guilty horror,
Acorntail was sure—but the big warrior just curled his lip. “As if

Code of the Clans 71

we’d waste our energy chasing your scrawny prey.”
Acorntail opened his jaws; he could clearly taste the scent
of fresh-killed rabbit clinging to these cats. Before he could say
anything, Morningcloud and Quickpaw hurtled up from farther
along the border.
“We found a dead rabbit!” Quickpaw panted.
“With ThunderClan scent on it,” Morningcloud added. She
skidded to a stop and narrowed her eyes at the rival patrol.
Acorntail flattened his ears. “So you did steal our prey!”
“It was dead already,” growled the ThunderClan warrior. “We
know better than to waste good fresh-kill—unlike your Clan.”
“It did look old and it smelled funny,” Quickpaw meowed
before Acorntail could silence him. “It could have been dead for
days. Yuck, you just ate crow-food!”
“That’s not the point!” Acorntail hissed. What kind of deputy lets
the first rival patrol he meets get away with trespassing and theft? “These cats
have stolen our prey! They must be taught a lesson! WindClan,
attack!”
He sprang at the big ThunderClan warrior, claws unsheathed.
To his surprise, the warrior didn’t try to jump away or fight back.
Instead, he stared past Acorntail with a glimmer of amusement
in his eyes. Acorntail thudded to the ground and looked over his
shoulder.
Morningcloud and Quickpaw were standing close together,
watching him.
“Attack!” yowled Acorntail.
“Don’t be such a mouse-brain,” Morningcloud retorted. “I’m
not putting my apprentice in danger for the sake of crow-food. If
they want to eat rotten prey that will give them bellyache, that’s
up to them.”
“But they trespassed!” Acorntail protested, starting to feel like

72 Warriors
the day couldn’t get any worse.
“Actually we didn’t,” the other ThunderClan warrior put in
helpfully. “The rabbit was on our side of the border.”
Acorntail looked questioningly at Morningcloud. She
nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Acorntail demanded.
“We were going to,” Morningcloud replied. “You didn’t give
us a chance.”
“And now I think you’ll find you’re trespassing on our
territory,” the first ThunderClan warrior pointed out.
Acorntail walked stiffly back across the border.
“Morningcloud, Quickpaw, we’re going back to the camp,” he
announced. “Featherstar needs to be told that a rabbit has died on
code
ThunderClan’s territory.” 7
Morningcloud looked faintly surprised, but to his relief, she
didn’t argue.
“Which means it belonged to us anyway!” called the
ThunderClan warrior as they headed back up the hill. “You
should pick your battles more carefully.”
I don’t know enough to be a deputy, Acorntail thought miserably. I’m
going to tell Featherstar I can’t do this.

“You’ve made a mistake. You’ll have to choose another cat to be

deputy.”
Featherstar regarded him from her nest, her blue eyes glowing
in the half-light behind the gorse bushes. “When you became an
apprentice, did you know all the fighting moves and how to hunt
prey?”
“Of course not,” Acorntail replied, puzzled.
“And when you became a warrior, did you know how to lead
patrols, how to find the best places to hunt, and where our rivals

Code of the Clans 73

were most likely to try to cross our border?”
Acorntail shook his head.
“Then why do you expect to know everything about being a
deputy on your very first day? Every cat knows you have things to
learn, but once you have, you’ll be as good as Pebblefur.”
Never.
“Think back to when you were an apprentice,” Featherstar
went on. “Remember what it was like to learn new things every
day, knowing they would all lead to making you a warrior of
WindClan?”
“But that was different,” Acorntail argued. “I didn’t have
responsibility for the whole Clan then.”
“And you don’t now,” Featherstar pointed out. “I’m still the
leader.” She put her head to one side. “Why do you feel that you’re
not worthy of giving orders to your Clanmates, Acorntail?”
“Because I don’t know how to! Look at what happened today:
Morningcloud would never have given the order to attack. She’d
have found out all the information first, and then made sure that
her apprentice wasn’t in danger if a fight started. She’d make a
much better deputy than me.”
“But I chose you,” Featherstar meowed. She was silent for a
while, and Acorntail tried not to fidget. Then she lifted her head
and looked straight at him. “I’m sorry. I should have given you an
apprentice first. You would have gotten used to giving orders, and
you would understand how protective mentors feel about sending
young cats into battle.”
She sounded so flat and defeated that Acorntail felt a rush of
concern for her. She had lost her last deputy, now making her life
even more difficult.
“It’s not too late,” he meowed firmly. “Give me an apprentice
now, and I can learn. Cherryfeather’s kits are nearly six moons

74 Warriors
old; let me have Pricklekit.”
Featherstar held his gaze. “If I do that, will you stay as my
deputy?”
Acorntail nodded. “I’ll be the best deputy I can be. Pebblefur
would have wanted me to do that.”
“And you’ll be as good a mentor to your apprentice as he was to
you,” Featherstar assured him. She went on, “I think I’ll suggest an
addition to the warrior code at the next Gathering, that a warrior
cannot be made deputy unless he has had an apprentice.”
Acorntail winced, and she added quickly, “Not because I
regret choosing you, Acorntail, but because you’re right. Training
an apprentice teaches a cat how to give orders, how to protect the
less-experienced fighters, and establishes bonds of loyalty that can
code
survive the worst battles. 7
“Now, go sort out the dawn patrols for tomorrow. And
then you might like to visit the nursery to see how your future
apprentice is faring!”

Code of the Clans 75

 -
Code Eight
THE DEPUT Y W ILL BECOME CL A N LE A DER
W HEN THE LE A DER DIES OR R ETIR ES .

At the dawn of the Clans, new Clan leaders were chosen

from the kin of the previous leader: often their kits, but sometimes
their littermates or their kits’ kits. Leaders were well respected
enough that their kin was respected, too, by the whole Clan, and it
seemed the easiest way to choose a new head of the Clan. But not all
cats follow their kin in skills and temperament, and as you will see,
not every new leader was well suited or well received.

=
Follow My Leader

T he air stilled until the trees were silent, and the only sound
was the splash of water over stones. The brown tabby cat lay
in the shelter of thick ferns, his breathing so shallow that his flank
barely stirred.
“Robinwing?” he rasped.
“Yes, I’m here, Beechstar.” Robinwing leaned closer, refusing
to flinch away from the stench of death that already clung to the
old cat’s fur. “Your Clan is safe.”
The tip of Beechstar’s tail twitched. “They won’t be safe for
long. RiverClan will not be content with my death. SkyClan must

76 Warriors
attack again before they do. Take the battle into their territory
this time. And make sure we win.”
“Hush, Father,” urged Mothpelt. “Get some rest, and we’ll
take you back to the camp tomorrow.”
“This is my final rest,” Beechstar whispered. “My ninth life is
slipping away; my warrior ancestors are already waiting for me.”
His milky blue gaze focused on a point past them; Robinwing
instinctively turned to look, but there was nothing except trees
and bracken. “I come, my friends. Wait just one moment longer.”
With an effort, Beechstar dragged his gaze back to the black-and-
brown cat beside him. “Lead our Clan well, Mothpelt. Make me
proud as I watch you from StarClan.”
“Father, no!” Mothpelt yowled, but the leader’s eyes were
closing now and his legs relaxed as he surrendered his final life.
Robinwing exchanged an agonized glance with a third cat
code
watching the tragic scene: Maplewhisker, SkyClan’s deputy. 8
He knew she shared his concerns about Mothpelt as a leader.
They had shared the nursery with him, trained side by side to
become warriors, and seen him struggle to mentor a succession of
apprentices.
Maplewhisker fell in beside Robinwing as they walked back to
the camp to fetch the elders who would bury Beechstar. “No cat
can doubt his loyalty to SkyClan and to the memory of his father,”
she pointed out, even though Robinwing hadn’t said a word. “And
he fought as bravely as any of us yesterday, especially after his
father fell.”
Robinwing didn’t reply. He wanted to give Mothpelt a chance
to show he could lead SkyClan—for the sake of his Clanmates.
They were still at war with RiverClan over the territory on the
SkyClan side of the river, and he needed to be at least as strong
and wise as his father.

Code of the Clans 77

 “He will need our support,” Maplewhisker went on.
Robinwing glanced sideways at her. “Even if we don’t agree
with him?”
Maplewhisker flicked her ears. “He is our leader now. StarClan
will guide his paws.”

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather to hear me!”
It was raining hard, and Mothpelt had to raise his voice to be
heard above the thundering of water through the trees. His father
had been buried the day before, and he would be going to the
Moonstone to receive his nine lives and his new name that night.
“Cats of SkyClan! My father’s last wish was that we take the
battle to RiverClan’s side of the river and prove once and for all
that SkyClan cannot be beaten!” Mothpelt declared.
There were yowls of support from the cats huddled below
the branch where he balanced. Robinwing kept quiet. He was
wondering what the river looked like after all the rain.
Mothpelt leaped down from the branch and ran to the
entrance of the camp, his tail waving. “I will lead my warriors into
battle, to honor my father who was the greatest leader SkyClan
has ever known!”
And who would know better than to set out before checking the height of the
river, Robinwing thought.
The warriors streamed out of the camp, apprentices racing
to keep up without tripping over branches brought down by
the weight of sodden leaves. Storms this late in greenleaf were
dangerous because water wasn’t the only thing to fall from the sky.
Robinwing dropped back to give his own apprentice a shove over a
slippery tree trunk. Rubblepaw’s fur was slicked to his sides, black
with rain and streaked with mud and scraps of moss.
Rubblepaw looked up at Robinwing and blinked raindrops

78 Warriors
from his eyes. “I feel like I’m going to drown before I get to the
river!” he spluttered.
And I’m afraid you’ll drown when you get there. “You’re doing great.
Just follow the warriors,” Robinwing told him. Picking up his
pace, he squeezed past the other cats until he was at the front,
next to Maplewhisker.
“What do you think the river’s like today?” he asked as quietly
as he could between panting for breath.
She gave a tiny shake of her head. “We’ll see when we get
there.”
Suddenly they burst out of the trees and their paws crunched
on pebbles that sloped steeply down to the edge of the water.
Robinwing stopped and stared in horror. The river was swollen to
twice its size; the shore was no more than a narrow strip of pebbles,
barely a fox-length wide, and the crossing stones were marked only
code
by flashes of white water where the waves broke over the top. 8
“SkyClan, attack!” yowled Mothpelt, rushing toward the river.
Robinwing glanced at Maplewhisker, who looked as horrified as
he felt. RiverClan wouldn’t need to fight them; they could just sit on
the far bank and watch the floodwater carry the SkyClan cats away.
Beechstar would not have wanted his Clan to die like this!
“Mothpelt, stop!” Robinwing screeched. He flung himself
across the stones and brought his Clan leader crashing down,
careful to keep his claws sheathed.
“What in the name of StarClan . . . ?” spat Mothpelt.
“Robinwing, let me go! Since when were you such a coward?”
Robinwing let his leader stand up, but positioned himself
between Mothpelt and the river. Behind the leader, the SkyClan
cats lined up, their expressions ranging from angry to bewildered
to relieved. “I won’t let you cross the river,” Robinwing meowed.
“It’s too dangerous.”

Code of the Clans 79

 “Get out of my way,” Mothpelt growled. “Or have you turned
traitor and joined RiverClan?”
“I am as loyal to SkyClan as I ever was,” Robinwing replied,
keeping his voice even. “Too loyal to watch my Clanmates drown
before they have a chance to fight. We can fight this battle another
day.”
“No! This battle will be fought now, before the memory of my
father fades in our hearts. His death must be avenged!”
“Not if it means other SkyClan cats die!” Robinwing protested,
but Mothpelt was already pushing past him and plunging into
the water. Almost at once, a wave broke over his head and he
disappeared, but then he bobbed up farther into the river, his ears
twitching as he struck out for the first crossing stone. White water
spat in his face but he screwed up his eyes and clung to the rock
with his claws until he could drag himself onto it and stand belly-
deep in churning foam.
“Come on!” he yowled. “All those SkyClan cats who wish to
avenge our leader’s death, follow me!”
Robinwing watched helplessly as at least half of his fellow
warriors and their apprentices ran past him and splashed into the
river.
“No!” he yowled, watching as they floundered in the icy water.
Robinwing turned to face Maplewhisker, reading in her eyes
that she was torn between loyalty to her leader and fear for her
Clanmates in the swollen river. “It looks like Mothpelt is all right
for now, as long as he stays on that rock,” Robinwing meowed.
“We’ll have to get the others out before they go under.”
The cats who hadn’t rushed into the river were creeping
forward, their eyes huge as they watched their Clanmates struggle.
Rubblepaw came up to Robinwing. “We have to help them!” he
gasped.

80 Warriors
 “Yes, we do,” Robinwing agreed. “Maplewhisker, do you
agree?”
She nodded. “Warriors and apprentices of SkyClan!” she
called, addressing the cats on the shore. “Our Clanmates are in
danger from the flooded river. No cat must go into the water
without having two other cats in a chain behind. No apprentices
must go near the water. Rescue the cats closest to the shore first;
don’t take unnecessary risks.” She glanced at Robinwing. “Do you
think that will work?”
“Definitely.” He touched her shoulder with the tip of his tail,
wanting to know how proud he was of her right now. “I’ll form a
chain with Rubblepaw and Spiderpelt. You stay on the shore and
watch out for cats who need help most quickly.” He watched her
run along the shore, encouraging cats to join into chains. Then
he flicked his tail at Spiderpelt. “Come on. You take my tail, and
code
Rubblepaw will take yours.” 8
“Ready?” Robinwing called, and the other cats nodded. Taking
a deep breath, he jumped over a wave and landed up to his chin
in icy cold water. He flailed his legs, pulling himself toward the
middle of the river. On either side of him, other warriors did the
same, their necks strained to keep their muzzles above the surface.
A red-brown shape bobbed on the other side of a wave. Robinwing
held his breath as the wave swept over his head, then struck out
toward the shape. It was Squirrelfur. His eyes were closed and he
looked exhausted as he battled to stay afloat.
“Don’t struggle,” Robinwing panted before biting deep into
Squirrelfur’s scruff. At once, he felt his tail being tugged, and he
was pulled back toward the shore, dragging Squirrelfur with him.
Maplewhisker was standing belly-deep at the edge of the river;
she grabbed Squirrelfur’s scruff on the other side and nodded to

Code of the Clans 81

Robinwing that she had a firm hold on him. Robinwing plunged
back into the river.
One more warrior and two apprentices soon stood shivering
on the bank, with Rubblepaw glaring sideways at them as if he
held them responsible for his mentor risking his life to save them.
“You’ve done enough,” Maplewhisker urged Robinwing as he
crouched on the stones, coughing up river water. He shook his
head.
“I have to fetch Mothpelt,” he gulped. The leader was still
clinging to the crossing stone, watching silent and wide-eyed as
his Clanmates were rescued from the angry river. Robinwing
knew he would be too cold and exhausted to make it back to the
shore without help.
“Promise me one thing,” he meowed. Maplewhisker looked
puzzled. “Promise me you’ll be the new leader of SkyClan.”
“I can’t do that!” Maplewhisker protested.
“You have to. And with the support of your Clanmates, you
will,” Robinwing told her. He flicked his tail at the cats around
them, staggering onto dry ground with grateful glances at their
deputy for organizing the rescue patrol.
“I’ll support you,” Spiderpelt offered.
“And me,” Rubblepaw put in.
“Our Clanmates aren’t mouse-brained,” Robinwing mur-
mured. “They respected you as their deputy, and they’ll respect
you as our leader. And they’ll respect Mothpelt as a warrior.”
Maplewhisker looked once more at her sodden Clanmates,
then nodded. “And I’m not mouse-brained enough to think
that my Clan doesn’t need me. If Mothpelt agrees, then I’ll lead
SkyClan.”
“In that case, we’d better fetch him,” Robinwing meowed. He
glanced at Spiderpelt and Rubblepaw. “Ready?”

82 Warriors
 “Lead on,” Spiderpelt meowed, and Robinwing plunged
back into the waves. SkyClan would be safe under Maplestar’s
leadership. And Robinwing would suggest that a new rule be
introduced to the warrior code: that deputies replaced leaders
when they lost their ninth life, as the cats most used to leadership
and dealing with rival Clans.

Too Late for Regrets:

Tallstar Explains
In StarClan there is plenty of time for fallen leaders to think over
the decisions they made when they ruled their living Clanmates, and code
8
there is no escaping judgment as they watch over the consequences.
Listen as Tallstar, the fallen WindClan leader, talks to Bluestar
about one such decision, still hoping that it was the right one.

B luestar? May I speak with you, my friend? My thoughts

trouble me and keep me from sleeping.
You think I made a mistake, don’t you? You may shake your
head, but I can tell by your eyes that you’re
afraid of what I have done. Would you have
let Mudclaw take over your Clan? Why?
Because it was the only way to fulfill the
warrior code and the expectations of all
your Clanmates? But my vision, Bluestar,
I cannot forget my vision. I dreamed
of a hillside stained with blood, of cats

Code of the Clans 83

wailing for their kits and of warriors who had to watch their life
drain out onto the grass. I could not tell who was fighting whom,
just that every cat in WindClan had suffered a loss from an unjust
battle. And looking down on it all from the crest of the hill was
Mudclaw—Mudstar, now, leader of WindClan—because I had let
him remain as my deputy. How could I let that happen?
I know my Clanmates assumed my reasoning was muddled
because my final life was slipping away. Even your Clanmates
Firestar and Brambleclaw looked at me with pity as they
pretended to support my change of heart. I didn’t have enough
breath, enough words left to explain what I had just seen behind
my closed eyes. I died knowing that my Clan might hate me for
changing everything so late—and knowing that I had no choice.
Onewhisker would have been as good a deputy as Mudclaw, and
he will make a great leader.
I know you think that I’m an arrogant old cat who has made
everything much, much worse by giving my Clan a leader they
were not prepared for. But it was the only way to save them!
I know that WindClan will be safe under Onewhisker. He
will have to prove his strength one day; every leader does. And
if I was wrong, if I should have let Mudclaw succeed me because
he was my deputy first, then it’s too late. What’s done is done.
I didn’t come to StarClan to regret my last decision as leader of
WindClan. Whatever happens, it cannot be worse than the fate
WindClan would have suffered if Mudclaw had remained.

84 Warriors
 -
Code Nine
A FTER THE DE ATH OR R ETIR EMENT
OF THE DEPUT Y, THE NEW DEPUT Y MUST BE
CHOSEN BEFOR E MOONHIGH .

It may seem callous to cats like you that a new deputy

is named over the body of the old one. Would you prefer to grieve
for one cat before passing your loyalties to another?
As you are about to see, dwelling in the past is not a luxury
warrior cats have; we must face the future.
The time for mourning will come.

=
A Sign from StarClan

R edscar studied the spluttering, hunched cat in front of him

and shook his head. “You can’t go to the Moonstone today,
Brightwhisker. You wouldn’t make it as far as the Thunderpath.”
Brightwhisker paused to gulp in air, then protested, “But I
have to go! I have to receive my nine lives and my new name from
StarClan!”
“StarClan will be perfectly aware of how sick you are,” Redscar
pointed out. “They won’t want you to exhaust yourself so soon.
Your Clan needs you whole and well. They have already accepted
you as their leader.”

Code of the Clans 85

 The brown-and-white she-cat’s eyes clouded. “They mourn
for Snowstar as much as I do. I wish I was still his deputy.”
“Snowstar will be mourned for many moons, but that can’t
stop us from doing our duty. And yours,” Redscar added, “is to
get rid of this whitecough so you can be fit and strong to lead your
Clan.”
“Are you sure it’s whitecough? Could it be greencough, like
Snowstar had?”
“It’s whitecough, definitely,” Redscar meowed. “Now, lie
down and rest.”
“But I need to appoint a deputy, too,” Brightwhisker protested,
lapsing into a fit of coughing.
“It can wait until you can do it without coughing in his or her
face. I’ll bring you some tansy to soothe your chest and a poppy
seed to help you sleep.”
When he returned, Brightwhisker was curled in her nest, her
flank rising and falling evenly. She didn’t stir, so he decided not
to wake her. He left the tansy leaves and the poppy seed beside a
clump of moss soaked with water. Stretching the stiffness from his
legs one paw at a time, he picked his way across the rutted, half-
frozen clearing and headed for his nest of crow feathers and dry
bracken. Darkness claimed him as soon as he closed his eyes.

“Redscar! Redscar! Come quickly!”

Redscar shot out of his nest and pushed his way into the open.
Flowerstem was staring at him as if all the foxes of the forest were
on her tail. “I can’t wake Brightwhisker!” she wailed.
Every hair on Redscar’s pelt stood on end. He’d left her only
one poppy seed, barely enough for a whole night’s sleep.
“Come see,” Flowerstem pleaded, but Redscar was already
pushing past her, heading for the leader’s den. It was dark inside,

86 Warriors
and Redscar had to blink and wait impatiently for his eyes to
adjust. Slowly he made out Brightwhisker’s sleeping shape. She
didn’t seem to have moved since he last checked on her.
Oh, StarClan, don’t let her be dead!
Redscar pushed his nose into her neck fur, but there was no
sign of the telltale throb of life beneath the skin, and her fur was
as cold as frost.
“Redscar?” Flowerstem was standing in the entrance to the den.
He turned to her and shook his head. Another leader had
died, before she’d had a chance to receive her nine lives.
“Oh, no!” Flowerstem wailed.
A tortoiseshell head appeared behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, Mossfire!” Flowerstem turned to face her littermate.
“Brightwhisker’s dead!”
Redscar padded out of the den, his paws heavy as stone. “She
must have developed greencough in the night. She died in her
sleep.”
code
Mossfire stared at him. “But . . . she never chose a deputy! 9
Who will be our leader now?”
Redscar knew he had to help his Clan find a way out of this
terrible darkness. “I’ll call the cats together,” he meowed.
He chose to stay on the ground rather than stand on the fallen
log that the leaders had used to address the Clan. Brightwhisker
had taken her place there only once, to greet her Clan for the first
time since Snowstar’s death; a fit of coughing had stopped her, and
Redscar had ordered
her back to her den. I
should have known it was
greencough! There must have
been something else I could
have done.

Code of the Clans 87

 Like let her appoint a deputy? a small voice inside him challenged.
Redscar pushed it away. “Cats of ShadowClan, Brightwhisker
is dead. There will be time to grieve for her, but first we must
choose a new leader. Are there any cats who wish to volunteer?”
His Clanmates shifted restlessly and there were worried
murmurs, but no cat spoke out until Jumpfoot stepped forward.
His muscles rippled under his black pelt, and his green eyes were
somber. “I will lead ShadowClan, if my Clanmates wish it.”
There were several yowls of approval, but some murmurs of
disagreement. “We think Mossfire should be leader,” called one
of the queens. “Jumpfoot is too quick to go into battle. We want
peace for our kits.”
Mossfire walked forward to stand beside Jumpfoot. She
dipped her head to Redscar. “My Clanmates honor me, and I
would be willing to be their leader.”
“Not all of them want you,” snarled Jumpfoot. “Who’d want a
Clan full of cowards, too frightened to defend their borders?”
“Not rushing into every battle doesn’t make me a coward,”
Mossfire retorted. “I can fight as well as you any day.”
“Prove it,” Jumpfoot challenged.
“This is no way to choose a leader!” Flowerstem cried.
Jumpfoot glared at her. “We’ll fight, and whichever cat
StarClan favors will be victorious.”
Flowerstem looked pleadingly at Redscar, but he felt frozen.
What was happening to his Clan?
Jumpfoot and Mossfire started circling each other; the other
cats moved back to give them more room. Mossfire struck first,
with an easy swipe that Jumpfoot sprang away from with a
contemptuous hiss. “You’ll have to do better than that!”
“Very well,” spat Mossfire, and she leaped at him, front legs
outstretched, claws glinting in the frosty sun. She raked a set of

88 Warriors
scratches into Jumpfoot’s flank, leaving scarlet beads of blood.
With a yowl, Jumpfoot spun around and slashed at her face, then
sank his claws into her shoulder and rolled her onto the ground,
pummeling at her with his hind legs.
Redscar turned away. He could not believe StarClan wanted
two warriors to fight like this in order to lead their Clan. He
winced as he heard Mossfire gasp with pain and the sound of
ripping fur as she retaliated. There was a thud as Jumpfoot went
down and a gasp from the watching cats. Then another, softer
thud as Mossfire crumpled beside him.
“Mossfire! No!” That was Flowerstem.
The stench of blood told Redscar what he would see. He
turned around. The two cats were lying still as their lives ebbed
away from blows struck too close, too hard. Redscar felt numb. He
had failed, again.
Three elders were already shuffling forward to rearrange
the bodies for their Clanmates’ vigil. It would last all night, and
code
then what? ShadowClan still had no leader. The cats were silent, 9
moving slowly as if their limbs had frozen, none quite meeting
another’s eye. The blood of these cats stains all our paws.
Flowerstem alone seemed to have her voice; she wove among
the stunned cats, comforting them, sending them to the fresh-
kill pile to eat: “We have to keep up our strength. There is still
sickness in the air; no more cats must die.” Quietly she asked two
of the senior warriors to take out hunting patrols with all the
apprentices. “There is no need for them to spend all day looking
at these fallen warriors. Keep them busy, but battle training would
not be appropriate, I think.” Her Clanmates nodded and led the
younger cats silently out of the clearing.
Then Flowerstem approached Redscar. Her eyes looked dull
with shock, but she spoke calmly. “Is there anything I can do for

Code of the Clans 89

you, Redscar? Fetch herbs or water?”
Redscar shook his head. There was nothing any cat could
do. “I’ll be in my den,” he told her and headed for the thicket
of hawthorn that screened his nest and his store of herbs. He
stumbled into his nest, feeling many seasons older than he had
when he last lay down, and closed his eyes.

“Redscar? Redscar, wake up.”

He opened his eyes. He was lying in a clearing among beech
trees, their branches black and sharp against the snow-colored
sky. The grass beneath him was crisp and cold; he jumped up,
shivering.
“Redscar, you must find a new leader for ShadowClan.”
“Snowstar?”
The gray cat nodded. “I have been watching my Clan, and I
grieve for every one of my cats. Most of all, for Brightwhisker, who
would have been a great leader, and for Jumpfoot and Mossfire
who let ambition cloud their senses and sharpen their claws. You
must put this right, my friend.”
“What can I do?” Redscar wailed.
“You will choose a new leader,” Snowstar meowed. “And that
cat must choose a deputy at once. A Clan must never be left like
this again, a headless creature that wades into blood because it
cannot see. At the next Gathering, the new leader must introduce
a new rule for the warrior code: Deputies must be replaced by
moonhigh, so a leader will never be alone for more than half a day.
Now tell me, who would you choose as your next leader?”
Redscar started to protest that he couldn’t, wouldn’t, choose,
but the look in Snowstar’s eyes silenced him. “Flowerstem,” he
meowed. “She watched her sister die in front of her, but her only
thoughts were to make the Clan feel safe and keep them occupied

90 Warriors
before tonight’s vigil.”
“A wise choice. So tell the Clan.”
Redscar stared at him. “Why should they listen to me? I’ve
done nothing for them, nothing.”
Snowstar narrowed his eyes. “You’re their medicine cat. They
will listen to you, if you use the right words.” The beech trees were
looking paler now, blurring against the white clouds. Snowstar was
fading, too. “Go now, Redscar,” he called. “Appoint Flowerstem as
the new leader of ShadowClan!”
Redscar blinked and he was back in his nest with a crow feather
tickling his ear. He shook his head irritably. The Clan was in turmoil.
They must think their warrior ancestors had given up on them.
No words, but maybe an action?
He padded into the clearing. The camp was quiet and deserted,
apart from the bodies of Mossfire and Jumpfoot lying in the shelter
of some dry bracken. He slipped out of the camp and trotted to a
place where an oak tree grew on ground that was less marshy than
code
the rest of the territory. Mossfire and Jumpfoot would be buried 9
near here. At the foot of the tree, sheltered from the wind, grew a
bunch of delicate white flowers, the color of snow and the shape
of raindrops.
Checking there were no cats around, he nipped one of the
snowdrops off at the base of its stalk. Laying it on the ground, he
pulled off the smooth white petals, leaving just the stem. Then
he curled it up and pushed it into a clump of moss that he dug up
from underneath a tree root. Picking up the moss in his teeth, he
headed back for the camp. No cat would question a medicine cat
fetching moss; it was used for bedding as well as to carry water.
When he returned to the camp, there were more cats around.
The hunting patrols had come back with a fair haul of fresh-kill,
and pale sunlight had tempted their Clanmates out to eat. Redscar

Code of the Clans 91

nodded to one or two as he crossed the clearing. As he passed the
fallen log used by the leaders to address the Clan, he relaxed his
grip on the moss and felt the snowdrop stalk spring out. Quick as
lightning, he dropped the moss and kicked it with his paw so that
it rolled underneath a hawthorn, out of sight.
“Look!” he cried, gazing down at the pale green stem lying at
his paws. It was as slim as a whisker, still quivering from where it
had uncurled. “Did any cat bring this into the camp?”
His Clanmates gathered around. “It’s a snowdrop stalk. They
only grow by the oak tree, right?” meowed one of the apprentices.
Redscar lifted his head and faced them. His paws were
shaking but he sank his claws into the earth to keep them still.
“It’s a sign from StarClan,” he announced. “They want us to know
their choice for the new ShadowClan leader.”
“Who?” gasped a she-cat plump with kits.
Redscar touched the stalk with his paw. “Flowerstem.”
There was a gasp, then murmurs of agreement.
The ginger-and-white she-cat was pushed to the front of the
cats. She looked dazed. “I don’t know what to say,” she began.
“Just say you will lead us, as StarClan wishes,” meowed Redscar.
Flowerstem looked down at the snowdrop stalk, then over her
shoulder at her motionless sister. “To honor Mossfire’s memory
and Jumpfoot’s, yes, I will.” She dipped her head as joyful yowls
rose around her.
Maybe StarClan had needed Redscar’s help to send this sign,
but it was what Snowstar wanted. And he would tell Flowerstar
to choose her deputy before the moon reached its height, in front
of the bodies of her fallen Clanmates, and Brightwhisker, so that
their spirits could hear and approve her choice.
“Thank you, Snowstar,” he whispered.

92 Warriors
 -
Code Ten
A G ATHER ING OF A LL C L A NS IS HELD AT
THE FULL MOON DUR ING A TRUCE TH AT L A STS
FOR THE NIGHT. THER E SH A LL BE NO FIGHTING
A MONG C L A NS AT THIS TIME .

Even though the Gatherings started with the very

beginning of the warrior code, the full-moon truce did not become
part of the code until much later. Now the truce is respected
by every cat, whether it is because they value the chance
to exchange news in peace with their close neighbors, or because
they are afraid of what their warrior ancestors might do if they
break the code. Come with me to Fourtrees long ago,
when the ancestors first looked down on the full-moon gathering
and bound the Clan cats to the full-moon truce.

=
The Vanishing Moon

T he four giant oaks cast thick shadows across the moon-

washed clearing as Finchstar crouched at the top of the slope.
Behind him, his Clanmates waited, the air clouded with their
breath. Several cats dotted the hollow already, circling to keep
warm as they exchanged cautious greetings with warriors from
rival Clans.

Code of the Clans 93

 “Come on, ThunderClan!” Finchstar called. He stood up
and began to run down the slope, stretching his tail up so his
Clanmates could follow.
“Good,” muttered Daisyheart, his deputy, as she bounded
beside him. “If I’d stayed still much longer I’d have turned into
an icicle.”
Frost crackled under Finchstar’s paws as he jumped onto the
flat stretch of grass. Two WindClan elders nodded to him and a
RiverClan warrior called a greeting as he wove his way through
the cats to the Great Rock.
“How’s the prey running, Finchstar?” SkyClan’s leader,
Hawkstar, asked as he leaped onto the top of the smooth silver
boulder.
“Fast,” he replied. “It doesn’t like being out in this weather any
more than we do!”
“Our rabbits run so quickly, they’re nothing but muscle and
bone when we catch them,” Dovestar, the WindClan leader, put
in. “So tough to chew!”
The RiverClan leader, Reedstar, said nothing. He was
sitting on the far side of the rock, as far from Hawkstar as
he could get without falling off. Their Clans had been at war
over a strip of shoreline for almost three seasons; one battle
had led to the death of SkyClan’s former leader, Dewstar, and
his Clanmates were far from forgiving their rivals across the
water.
Finchstar looked down at the clearing. “ShadowClan not here
yet? It’s not like Ripplestar to be late.”
Dovestar lifted his haunches off the stone and settled down
again with his tail curled up. “I’ll stick to this rock if we don’t start
soon. It’s colder than ice.”
Reedstar shifted, sending his shadow flickering over the

94 Warriors
edge of the boulder, crisp in the moonlight. “Maybe the frost has
delayed them?”
The tip of Hawkstar’s tail twitched. “Something’s wrong,” he
murmured. “My pelt’s been itching all day.”
“Fleas,” muttered Reedstar.
Finchstar glared at him. It was full moon, the one night they
were supposed to put their rivalry aside and share news for the
good of all the Clans.
There was a hiss like wind at the edge of the clearing. Finchstar
pricked his ears and stared into the moon shadows. Was that a
branch waving in the breeze, or something more?
Why does Fourtrees suddenly feel unsafe?
“ShadowClan! Attack!”
The shadows exploded, spitting and yowling. The cats in
the clearing whirled to face them, but before they could brace
themselves, ShadowClan warriors fell on them, claws and fangs
bared. Within a heartbeat, the hollow thrashed and rippled like a
river full of salmon. The leaders of the Clans stood on the edge of
Great Rock, staring down in horror. Then Reedstar leaped down,
code
quickly followed by Hawkstar and Dovestar. Finchstar heard 10
them screech orders to their senior warriors, splitting them into
battle groups to defend the elders and apprentices who had come
to the Gathering.
A ginger-and-white face flashed up at Finchstar from the
turmoil at the foot of the rock.
“Help us, Finchstar!” Daisyheart wailed, before she whipped
around to claw a ShadowClan warrior over his ears.
Finchstar bunched his haunches, ready to jump down, when
a shadow fell across him. He looked up. Ripplestar stood beside
him on the Great Rock, his yellow eyes glowing as they watched
the battle.

Code of the Clans 95

 “I bet you never thought I’d do it,” he meowed, so quietly
Finchstar could hardly hear him over the screeches and yowls
from below.
“Do what? Attack four Clans when they came in peace to
a Gathering, with elders among them?” Finchstar hissed. “No,
Ripplestar. I never thought you’d be as cowardly as that.”
The black-and-orange cat lashed his tail. “Hardly the actions
of a coward, to take on all four Clans at once!”
Slipping his claws free, Finchstar sprang at Ripplestar,
bringing him down on top of the rock with a muffled thud. The
ShadowClan leader squirmed around until he was lying on his
back, then raked Finchstar’s belly with his hind paws. Finchstar
sank his claws deeper into the loose fur around Ripplestar’s neck,
feeling the slender bones underneath.
“Call off your cats!” he spat. “This attack is wrong!”
Ripplestar scrabbled to his feet and glared at Finchstar. “I
wouldn’t call an easy victory wrong,” he gloated. “Look at your
precious cats now.”
Finchstar risked a sideways look. The battle was slowing; many
cats were slumped on the silver grass, bleeding and motionless.
ShadowClan warriors paced among them, ready to lash out if any
cat stirred.
“No!” Finchstar yowled. “You can’t do this!”
He jumped at Ripplestar but his hind paws skidded on the icy
rock, and the ShadowClan leader stepped easily out of the way.
“So you keep telling me,” Ripplestar observed. “But I seem
to have done it anyway! Looks like I don’t have to listen to you,
Finchstar.”
For a heartbeat, the hollow glowed bright white, outlining
every leaf, every blade of grass, every whisker. Then the air cracked,
and the two cats on the rock flung themselves down, clinging to

96 Warriors
the stone as it trembled beneath them. Finchstar pressed his face
into the cold surface and waited for the roll of thunder to fade
away. A storm in leaf-bare? But there were no clouds. The moon
was out. . . .
“Finchstar!” His name was barely a whisper, drowned by
another clap of thunder slamming into the forest.
Finchstar forced himself to lift his head. His eyes were still
dazzled by the first flash of lightning and he had to blink to see
clearly. The clearing was much darker than before, so dark he
couldn’t see Ripplestar. The moon had vanished. The sky was
covered with thick black clouds.
Finchstar shook his head, waiting for his eyes to adjust. He
could make out the trees now and the shape of the Great Rock
beneath him. But still no Ripplestar.
“Help . . . me. . . . ”
A scratching sound came from the edge of the rock. Finchstar
saw Ripplestar’s yellow eyes staring over the top and his black-
and-orange paws.
“Hold on!” Finchstar yowled. He hurled himself across the
code
stone, reaching out with his front paws to grab Ripplestar’s scruff 10
and haul him to safety.
He was a mouse-length away when the sky burst open again,
filling the air with blazing white light and letting out a roar that
sounded like every tree in the forest was falling at once. Finchstar
crashed down onto the rock and pressed his paws into his ears,
trying to block the explosion of noise that bounced around the
hollow. He heard a thin, terrified wail as Ripplestar lost his grip
and plunged to the ground.
The clearing was silent. The cats still on their paws were
staring at something Finchstar couldn’t see, at the foot of Great
Rock. Then a heavily scarred gray warrior rushed forward.

Code of the Clans 97

 “Ripplestar! No!”
Finchstar bowed his head. The ShadowClan leader must
have been on his ninth life. He was young to die as a leader, but
perhaps his battle-hungry career had used up the rest of his lives
too quickly.
“Murderer!”
The gray warrior—Marshscar, the ShadowClan deputy,
Finchstar suddenly realized—was glaring up at him.
“Come down here and let me avenge our leader’s death!”
Marshscar snarled.
“I didn’t kill Ripplestar!” Finchstar told him, feeling the fur
rise along his spine.
“Then who did?” the gray cat challenged.
Finchstar looked up at the bubbling clouds that hid the full
moon. The truce had been broken the moment Ripplestar told
his warriors to attack the unsuspecting Clans. Then the moon
disappeared and a storm came, bringing thunder and lightning
that shook the forest to its roots.
“StarClan killed him,” Finchstar announced. His paws
trembled. Would his warrior ancestors forgive him for accusing
them of cold-blooded murder? But the sky stayed quiet.
“StarClan has punished ShadowClan for breaking the truce
and attacking on the night of a full moon,” Finchstar went on.
“There is no clearer message they could send.”
A pale brown tabby from RiverClan stepped forward.
“StarClan, forgive us all for fighting!” he yowled.
“From now on, the full moon will be honored by every Clan!”
Dovestar called.
Finchstar stepped to the edge of the rock and raised his voice
so every cat could hear him. There would be time afterward to
tend to the wounded and carry them home. For now, he had to

98 Warriors
make sure this would never happen again.
“There will be a new rule in the warrior code!” he declared.
“There will be no fighting at the time of the new moon. The truce
is sacred and will be protected for every Gathering.”
StarClan, forgive us.

code
10

Code of the Clans 99

 -
Code Eleven
B OU NDA R IES MUST BE CHECK ED
A ND M A R K ED DA ILY. C H A LLENGE A LL
TR ESPA SSING C ATS .

Not all parts of the warrior code come from

tragedy and conf lict. Some, like this one, were needed to
clear up a long-running misunderstanding and avoid
the need for blood to be spilled.

=
Poppycloud’s Rule

T he air was so still, Poppycloud could hear herself breathing.

She waited with one paw raised, knowing the dried leaves
would crackle loud as thunder as soon as she set it down. It was
leaf-fall, and in SkyClan, with all its trees and little undergrowth,
moving silently was almost impossible. The hair along her spine
prickled as she strained to listen.
“Can you hear anything, Poppycloud? Can you, can you?”
Bracken rustled behind her and she turned, resigned, as a
small black-and-white cat exploded from the brittle stems.
“Yes, Mottlepaw, I can hear something,” she meowed.
The apprentice stopped dead and stared at her. “Really?
What?”

100 Warriors
 “You!”
Mottlepaw’s tail drooped. “But I tried to be quiet, like you
showed me.”
Poppycloud walked over to him and touched the tip of his ear
with her nose. “I think we need to practice some more.”
Mottlepaw wriggled free and padded up to the border.
“Why does Rowanstar make us come this way when he knows
ThunderClan doesn’t like it?”
Poppycloud shrugged and nudged a piece
of leaf off her tortoiseshell fur. “I think
he likes to know if anything happens
in our territory. If we just
stuck to the best hunting
areas, we’d never visit
some places.”
“Like this one.”
Mottlepaw’s voice was
muffled as he stuck his head into a
clump of long grass. “I can’t smell any
birds anywhere!”
“That’s because you’re in ThunderClan
code
territory!” came a snarl. 11
Poppycloud spun around. A broad-shouldered brown tom
stood a fox-length away, his lip curled to reveal sharp yellow
teeth.
“What a surprise!” he hissed. “SkyClan cats lurking on the
border again. What’s wrong with your own territory?”
Poppycloud felt her hackles raise. “Nothing!” she retorted.
“We have every right to go anywhere inside our borders.”
“Which your apprentice isn’t,” the ThunderClan warrior
growled.

Code of the Clans 101

 Mottlepaw pulled back from the clump of grass and stood with
his head down, trembling.
“Mottlepaw, come over here,” Poppycloud ordered. The
black-and-white apprentice shot toward her, swerving around the
ThunderClan tom, who hissed as he went past.
“It was a mistake,” Poppycloud pointed out. “We weren’t trying
to steal your prey.”
Ferns parted and another cat joined the brown warrior. She
fixed her startlingly green gaze on Poppycloud. “Why are there
always SkyClan cats snooping around here? Is your own Clan so
bad that you want to join ours?”
“Never!” Poppycloud retorted. “We prefer not to chew
through mouthfuls of fur when we’re eating our prey!”
The brown tom tipped his head to one side. “Oh, and feathers
are so much tastier, are they?”
“Come on, Oatwhisker,” urged the she-cat. “We’re wasting
our time. If these dumb cats want to spy on us, they won’t learn
much from the bushes around here. I don’t think I’ve even been to
this part of the territory before.”
Oatwhisker narrowed his eyes at Poppycloud. “Don’t think
this is over. I’m going to tell Lionstar I caught SkyClan cats
hanging around the border yet again, and I wouldn’t want to be in
your pelts if he thinks you’re planning an attack.”
He stalked out of the clearing with his green-eyed Clanmate.
As soon as they had vanished, Poppycloud turned to Mottlepaw.
“How many times do I have to tell you? You can’t go into another
Clan’s territory!”
Mottlepaw sniffed. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” he
complained. “Anyway, it’s so hard to tell where our territory turns
into ThunderClan’s. It’s not like there’s a river in the way!”
Poppycloud opened her jaws to taste the air. Mottlepaw was

102 Warriors
right: The scents of the different Clans were very faint here, so she
couldn’t blame her apprentice for straying too far. “Come on,” she
meowed. “We’d better go and tell Rowanstar what happened, in
case ThunderClan makes a fuss.”
“He won’t be angry with me, will he?” Mottlepaw whimpered.
“I already had to put mouse bile on the elders’ ticks after I scared
Morningmist’s kits with my tiger roar.”
“I’ll tell him it was an honest mistake,” Poppycloud promised.
“Just try not to get into any more trouble on the way back.”

“Tell Rowanstar that we wish to speak with him.”

A buzz of curiosity ran through the camp.
“Who’s that?”
“ThunderClan cats!”
“What do they want?”
“Have they come to get me?”
Poppycloud looked down at Mottlepaw, who was staring at
her with his blue eyes stretched wide. “I’m sure they haven’t come
to get you,” she meowed. “But I’m glad we told Rowanstar what
happened on the border.”
Oddfoot, a brown tabby who was born with one of his paws
twisted inward, led the visitors into the clearing. A massive tom
code
11
with long ginger hair padded beside him, flanked by the green-
eyed gray tabby Poppycloud had met on the border and a dark
brown tom who looked as if he expected to be jumped on at any
moment. Poppycloud drew in her breath sharply: This must be
serious if Lionstar had come himself.
Nightmask, the SkyClan deputy, met them in the center of the
camp. “Lionstar, Greeneyes,” he greeted them with a nod of his head.
Poppycloud stared at the gray tabby with new interest; she hadn’t
realized this was the recently appointed ThunderClan deputy.

Code of the Clans 103

 “You are, of course, welcome to speak with Rowanstar. Will
he know what this is about?”
Greeneyes curled her lip. “It’s about your warriors spying on
us!” she hissed.
Lionstar flicked his tail, warning her to stay quiet. “I am
concerned that there are always SkyClan cats on the edge of our
territory, and I want to know what they’re doing there.”
“I think you’ll find they’re on the edge of our territory,” came a
deep voice. Rowanstar, his black-and-brown coat gleaming in the
weak sunlight, padded out of his den. “So there shouldn’t be any
problem.”
“But there’s nothing there!” Lionstar argued. “Nothing but
the start of ThunderClan’s territory.”
Rowanstar glanced at Poppycloud. “From what I hear, it’s
not always easy to tell where your territory begins. Perhaps
if you visited your border more often, your scent would be
clearer.”
Lionstar’s hackles raised, swelling him to nearly twice his size.
Mottlepaw shrank behind Poppycloud with a whimper.
“ThunderClan should not have to patrol its boundaries to
make sure SkyClan isn’t trespassing!” Lionstar growled.
“If you patrolled more often, there would be less danger of us
crossing the border!” Rowanstar flashed back.
Greeneyes stepped forward. “The warrior code says nothing
about it being a Clan’s responsibility to keep cats out! It should be
obvious that other Clans aren’t allowed across the border.”
“Well, maybe the code should say something!”
All eyes turned on Poppycloud. She snapped her mouth shut,
feeling as if her pelt were on fire. Did I really just say that in front of the
leaders of two Clans?
“Yay! Go, Poppycloud!” Mottlepaw cheered behind her.

104 Warriors
Poppycloud silenced him
with a glare.
Rowanstar put his
head to one side. “That’s
an interesting theory,
Poppycloud. Go on.”
Poppycloud felt a small
nose nudge her from behind.
She shot a fierce glance at her apprentice
before padding into the clearing. Every cat watched her. Greeneyes
looked scornful; this made Poppycloud square her shoulders and
tilt her chin defiantly toward the ThunderClan deputy.
“I . . . I just think all the quarreling about SkyClan being
on the ThunderClan border would be cleared up if every Clan did
the same as Rowanstar wants us to do: have regular patrols around
the entire territory. That way, the scents of each Clan would be
left behind more frequently, not just in the places where the cats
hunt most often, and boundaries would be more clearly marked.
Any cats that crossed over the border could be punished, because
it wouldn’t be a mistake.”
Rowanstar nodded. “And if both ThunderClan and SkyClan
patrols regularly went along our shared border, then neither Clan
code
11
could be accused of spying or trying to trespass.” He flicked his
tail at Poppycloud. “That’s a great idea.”
Lionstar hissed. “So you think the warrior code should tell us
how to defend our territories, do you? What kind of leader would
be mouse-brained enough to need instructions like that?”
“The kind of leader who thinks that a patrol walking along
their own boundaries is planning an attack,” Rowanstar meowed
smoothly.
“Well, I think it’s a ridiculous idea,” sniffed Greeneyes. “The

Code of the Clans 105

Clans have lived in these territories for more moons than any cat
can remember, and we’ve never needed the warrior code to tell us
how to protect our borders. Clearly some cats are more mouse-
brained than others.”
Slanting her eyes at Poppycloud, she turned away with a huff.
Lionstar started to turn and follow his deputy, but Rowanstar
called out, “Wait!” When Lionstar faced him again, the SkyClan
leader announced, “I shall put forward Poppycloud’s idea at the
next Gathering. We should let the other leaders decide—not
because I think any Clan cat needs to be reminded that their
territories should be well defended, but because it will stop needless
suspicion over border patrols.”
Lionstar stretched one forepaw and let his claws slide out.
“You do realize that if the other leaders agree to this ridiculous
rule, then I’ll be allowed to tear the fur off any of your apprentices
who just happen to cross our border?”
From the corner of her eye, Poppycloud saw Mottlepaw back
into the brambles that surrounded the apprentices’ den, until only
his white patches could be seen.
Rowanstar didn’t flinch. “And we’d punish any ThunderClan
cats who trespassed,” he meowed. “The situation will be clear and
fair—like the boundaries.”
Lionstar spun around and started to stalk toward the entrance.
“Until the next Gathering, Rowanstar. We’ll see what the other
Clans think of your idea then.”
“Indeed we will,” Rowanstar murmured as the ThunderClan
cats were swallowed up by the bracken.
Poppycloud watched until the fronds of bracken stopped
trembling. If this becomes part of the warrior code, I will live forever! She
shook her head to chase away such huge dreams and looked for
Mottlepaw. Adding rules to the warrior code was kit’s play

106 Warriors
compared with trying to keep her apprentice in line. But he was a
quick learner and would one day make a warrior to be proud of.
Not that I could be any prouder of him than I am already, as his mother as
well as his mentor. With a soft purr of amusement, she went in search
of her unruly son.

=
Who Goes There? Whitestorm
Teaches Border Tactics
Once the borders were fixed, cats of neighboring
Clans started to meet frequently across their borders when on
patrol. It became apparent that cats of all Clans must know
how to handle disputes. Here’s Whitestorm training a group of
ThunderClan apprentices in border tactics.

I s every cat here? Firepaw, Graypaw, Ravenpaw, Sandpaw, and

Dustpaw? Dustpaw, stop trying to push Firepaw into the
brambles. I’m not blind; I can see what you’re doing. Firepaw, go
to the other end of the line. Sandpaw, he does not have fleas! Stand
code
11
still, all of you.
As Lionheart told you, we’re going to practice border defense
today. You can be the patrol, and I’ll be a deputy from another
Clan who’s crossed the boundary. Who’d like to lead the patrol?
Don’t look so terrified, Ravenpaw. I won’t make you be the leader
if you don’t want to be. Graypaw, why don’t you have first turn? If
you could just pick up that stick in your mouth and use it to draw a
line across the sand, we’ll call that the border. Sandpaw, it doesn’t
matter that the line is wobbly. Boundaries aren’t whisker-straight,

Code of the Clans 107

are they? So, you’re on
that side, walking along
on a dawn patrol. Off
you go, patrol!
Did you really
need to yawn like
that, Graypaw? Oh, I
see, it’s because it’s the
dawn patrol, and you’re
tired. Well, let’s pretend
you all had a really good night’s
sleep and are full of energy. Now, what should you be doing?
Yes, sniffing, tasting the air—what for? That’s right, Sandpaw.
ThunderClan border marks. And what else? Yes, Firepaw. The
border marks of the other Clan. But only where the two borders
meet. Beside the river and the Thunderpath, it would be bad news
to find any scents of RiverClan or ShadowClan, because it would
mean they’d crossed over from their side. So keep sniffing.
Maybe not that much, Sandpaw. Have a good sneeze and you
should get the sand out of your nose. So, border marks, border
marks. Can you smell both sets? Good. But what’s this? A cat
from another Clan has ignored the marks and stepped over your
border?
No, Ravenpaw, I didn’t mean we were actually being invaded.
The cat from the other Clan is me. See how I just stepped over
the line in the sand? What are you going to do about it? Wha . . .
whoa! Stop treading on my ears!
Well, yes, Dustpaw, launching an attack and knocking me
back across the border is one option. But is it wise to take on a cat
twice your size? Or a trained warrior with more experience than
you? The purpose of a patrol is to assess the situation and report

108 Warriors
back to your Clan leader. You won’t be able to do that if your pelt
is clawed to shreds at the farthest part of the territory from the
camp. Any other ideas?
How about asking what I’m doing? I might have a valid
reason for crossing the border, especially if I’m alone. That’s right,
Graystripe: What do you want? is a good way to start. Don’t be too
hostile: Remember, you are in the stronger position, because this
is your territory and you have the right to defend it. Unless I have
a very good explanation for crossing your border, I don’t have any
rights at all. What do you think my reply might be?
Yes, Ravenpaw, I might need your help. My Clan might have
been invaded, we might have serious trouble with prey, or we might
have sickness that needs your herbs. All these reasons would mean
that I am weak, so you can allow me into your territory but never
out of sight.
If I am hostile, then meet me with hostility—which isn’t
the same as aggression, Dustpaw. You’ve started with a strong
challenge—What do you want?—and now you need to give me
some sort of warning. Ravenpaw, what would you say?
Hmmm. If you’re going to threaten to claw a cat’s ears, you
should try not to look so terrified at the prospect. Firepaw, would
you like to try? Ah, yes, I like that you indicated the rest of your
code
11
patrol. It’s always good to let the enemy know they’re outnumbered.
Sandpaw, put that fire ant down. No, I don’t care that Firepaw might
not know what it is. Now is not the right time to show him—and
he certainly doesn’t need to get bitten by one.
So, you’ve challenged the trespasser, warned me that there’s
a whole patrol here that can take me to your Clan leader if that’s
what I wish; what next? That’s right, Graypaw, let me—the
intruder—speak. If I can’t give you a convincing explanation
for what I’m doing on your territory, if I don’t ask to be taken to

Code of the Clans 109

Bluestar at once, then chase me off with no more questions. Don’t
provoke a full-scale war—chasing means chasing, not catching and
clawing. Just make it clear that you will defend your boundaries
from any kind of invasion, even one paw across the border. A good
warrior is always ready to fight, but only if it’s absolutely necessary:
A good warrior will seek a peaceful, claws-sheathed solution first.
You will all make good warriors one day. Don’t look so
doubtful, Ravenpaw. You need to find only a little more courage
to be as good as your denmates. Your hunting skills are excellent—
Dustpaw, you’d do well to watch him. Who knows? You might
even lead this Clan one day!
Now, back to camp, all of you, and leave this old warrior to
enjoy the sun in peace.

110 Warriors
 -
Code Twelve
NO WA R R IOR M AY NEGLECT A K IT
IN PA IN OR IN DA NGER , EV EN IF TH AT K IT
IS FROM A DIFFER ENT CL A N.

The strength of a Clan does not depend only on

the strength of its warriors. We also need to raise healthy kits to
follow in the paw steps of their Clanmates. For this reason,
kits are protected by all the cats in the forest, wherever their Clan
loyalties lie. But it was not always so. As you will see, it sometimes
takes a tragedy to teach the simplest of lessons.

=
A Loss for All Clans

G raywing stood on the flattened rock overlooking the river

and closed her eyes, letting the fine mist spray her face.
Heavy newleaf rains had swollen the water to a fast black torrent
that spat and tumbled out of the gorge. Today the rain had stopped,
sending Graywing and most of the RiverClan cats out of the camp
to stretch their cramped legs and see which parts of the territory
were underwater.
“Don’t fall in!” warned a voice behind Graywing. “All this
damp weather is bound to bring coughs and stiff joints, so we
need our medicine cat!”

Code of the Clans 111

 Graywing turned to see a sleek tortoiseshell she-cat padding
over the stones toward her. “Don’t worry, Brindleclaw. I have no
intention of going for a swim today.”
A ginger tom slid out of the reeds behind Brindleclaw. He
scowled at the flooded river. “We’ll be living off voles for a while,”
he predicted. “We can’t risk any of our warriors trying to catch
fish in that.”
Brindleclaw nodded. “I’ll warn the hunting patrols to stay well
clear of the river until the level has gone down. Perhaps you could
take a patrol into the fields, Foxwhisker?”
The ginger warrior grunted in agreement.
Graywing jumped down from the rock. “I need to see if my
supply of mallow has survived the floods. I’ll see you back at the
camp.”
Brindleclaw opened her mouth to reply, then stopped, staring
straight past Graywing with a look of horror in her eyes. Graywing
spun around. Three tiny fluffy shapes were clinging to the side of
the gorge on the WindClan side, their hind legs dangling over the
foaming water below.
“Great StarClan!” snarled Foxwhisker. “What on earth do
those kits think they’re doing?”
Brindleclaw was already running along the bank toward the
mouth of the gorge. “It doesn’t matter what they’re doing!” she
called over her shoulder. “They’re going to fall!”
As she spoke, one of the kits lost its grip on the rocks and fell like
a ripe apple into the river. There was a high-pitched squeal from one
of its denmates, and another bundle plunged down into the water.
Graywing felt as if her paws were frozen to the ground; the only
thing she could do was watch as the third kit fell. It was impossible
to see where they landed; any little splashes were swallowed up in
the foam as the river burst out of the narrow canyon.

112 Warriors
 “Come on!” Brindleclaw yowled. “We have to help them!” She
reached the end of the open river and raced down the shore to
where the water exploded out of the gorge.
“Stop!” Graywing screeched. Her paws suddenly let go of their
grip on the stones and she tore after Brindleclaw with Foxwhisker
on her heels. “You can’t go in!”
Brindleclaw stared at her. “What do you mean? Those kits
will drown if we don’t get them out!”
Graywing felt a pain in her chest as if she had just swallowed a
boulder. “They’re probably dead already,” she forced herself to say.
“We can’t risk our own lives trying to save them. Besides, they are
WindClan kits. They are not ours to save.”
Beside them, there was a tiny squeak from the waves, and
a paw the size of a blackberry shot above the surface before
disappearing again.
“They’re not dead!” Brindleclaw gasped. She bunched her
haunches, ready to leap into the water, but Graywing took hold of
her scruff with her teeth.
“I can’t let you do this!” she choked through thick tortoiseshell
fur. “StarClan made me medicine cat to serve RiverClan, not risk
my Clanmates’ lives to help other Clans.”
Brindleclaw wrenched herself free and glared at Graywing.
“How can you watch those kits drown without doing anything?
What kind of a medicine cat are you?”
code
12
“One that is loyal to her Clan above all else,” Graywing
murmured. The pain in her chest swelled until she couldn’t
breathe, and her vision blurred.
“Graywing is right,” meowed Foxwhisker. “It would have been
madness to risk the life of a RiverClan warrior to save cats from
another Clan. Come on, Brindleclaw.”
The two warriors crunched away over the stones. Graywing

Code of the Clans 113

let her legs crumple beneath her until she was slumped on the
pebbles, feeling them hard and cold through her pelt. The only
thing she could think of was the pitiful cry from the river as the
kit had been swept away.

Ivystar, the RiverClan leader, was shocked to hear about the

WindClan kits, but agreed that Graywing had been right not to
let Brindleclaw jump in. She studied her medicine cat closely as
Graywing stood before her with her head bowed. “It wasn’t your
fault those kits fell in,” Ivystar murmured. “I’m sure they were told
over and over to stay away from the gorge.”
Graywing shook her head. “Their poor mother. Such a terrible
loss for their Clan.”
“And it could have been a terrible loss for RiverClan, too, if
Brindleclaw had gone in after them,” Ivystar pointed out. “Now
go get some rest. I’ll tell the patrols to keep an eye out for your
mallow plants.”
Graywing walked slowly to her den. Two RiverClan kits,
Wildkit and Minnowkit, bounced around her.
“Did you really see those kits drown?”
“Were they all wet and horrid looking?”
“Did their eyes fall out?”
“Wildkit! Minnowkit! Stop asking such horrible questions!”
their mother scolded from the nursery. “Come back here at
once!”
Graywing didn’t look up. She padded to her nest and curled up
with her nose under her tail. It’s not my fault that those kits died.
So why do I feel so guilty?

When Graywing opened her eyes, moonlight flooded her den

and the camp was still and quiet. She sat up, shocked that she’d

114 Warriors
slept for so long. The reeds that shielded her den rattled, and she
heard a soft murmur from the clearing. Wondering if a cat had
been taken ill, Graywing slipped out of her nest and pushed her
way through the reeds. Three cats stood in the center of the camp,
their fur frosted by the dazzling white light.
“Who are you?” Graywing stammered. These weren’t
RiverClan warriors, and she didn’t recognize them from
Gatherings. She wondered how they had managed to get all the
way into the camp without being challenged.
The tallest of the strangers, hard-muscled beneath his brown
tabby coat, dipped his head. “Greetings, Graywing,” he meowed.
“My name is Runningstorm of WindClan. This is Wolfheart”—
he nodded to the elegant gray she-cat beside him—“and our leader,
Smallstar.”
The third cat, whose tiny frame was covered in sleek black-
and-white fur, looked at Graywing. His blue eyes were friendly as
he mewed, “We have traveled far to see you.”
Graywing looked from one cat to the other. “I don’t
understand. Has something happened to Fallowstar?”
Smallstar shook his head. “Fallowstar is fine. We are the cats
who would have been.”
Graywing stared at them in horror. The image of three
terrified bundles, falling one by one into the churning river, filled
her eyes. “You are the kits who drowned,” she whispered.
code
12
Wolfheart bent her head. “That is so. Come, we have
something to show you.”
She turned and led the way across the clearing toward the
nursery. Graywing followed without having to tell her paws what
to do; they seemed to be carrying her on their own.
Runningstorm nosed aside the bramble that was draped
across the entrance to the nursery, protecting the precious cats

Code of the Clans 115

inside. “Look,” he urged Graywing.
Oh, StarClan, let our kits be all right, Graywing prayed as she poked
her head inside. Had the WindClan kits returned to punish her by hurting
the youngest RiverClan cats?
The den smelled warm and milky, and enough moonlight
filtered through the branches for Graywing to see Hayberry
curled around Wildkit and Minnowkit, who snuffled gently in
their sleep. Hayberry’s flank rose and fell in time with her kits’
breathing, and although her eyelids flickered when Graywing
looked at her, she didn’t stir.
Graywing pulled her head out. “They’re safe,” she breathed.
Smallstar looked surprised. “Of course. Did you think we’d
hurt one hair on their pelts? Kits are the most special part of a
Clan. They are the warriors who will defend their Clanmates
in moons to come, the hunters who will find food even in the
coldest leaf-bare, the cats who will have kits of their own to pass
on everything they have learned. A Clan that has no kits might as
well be dead.”
“And if one Clan dies, the survival of all the Clans is
threatened,” Runningstorm added. “We may be rivals, but we are
linked by StarClan, stronger than rock, stronger than tree roots,
stronger than the water in the river.”
“I’m sorry.” Graywing faced the shining warriors and
bowed her head. “I should have let Brindleclaw try to save you.
WindClan’s loss is ours, too.”
There was no reply. She lifted her head to see the three cats
fading away, returning to their home in the stars.

Graywing blinked. She was lying in her nest, the moss and feathers
underneath her looking as if a battle had been fought there the
night before. Graywing hauled herself up and stretched one hind

116 Warriors
leg at a time. Why did she feel as if she hadn’t slept at all?
The dream!
She raced out of the den and went straight to Ivystar. “I have
to take a patrol out,” she panted.
Ivystar put her head to one side. “Do we need herbs so
desperately? Has a cat fallen ill?”
“No, nothing like that. Please, let me take Brindleclaw and
Foxwhisker. I’ll explain everything later.”
“Very well. But be careful. The river will still be flooded.”
Graywing shot out of Ivystar’s den and went to wake up
Brindleclaw and Foxwhisker. The she-cat was still icy cold toward
her, but Graywing didn’t try to apologize or even tell the warriors
what they were doing. They would understand soon enough. . . .
Graywing led them along the shore heading downriver,
toward Sunningrocks. She slowed as they drew near the looming
gray shapes and started to sniff carefully along the river’s edge.
“Are you looking for something?” Foxwhisker asked.
Graywing looked up. “I want to find the kits who drowned
yesterday,” she mewed. “They should have lived to become
warriors for their Clan. We need to take them back home.”
Brindleclaw stared at her in shock. “But yesterday you said
we couldn’t have anything to do with them because they weren’t
RiverClan!”
Graywing nodded. “And I was wrong. Kits should be precious
code
12
to all Clans. After we have taken these three back to WindClan,
I will ask Ivystar to suggest an addition to the warrior code: that
kits should be protected by every cat in the forest, regardless of
which Clan they come from. All our futures depend on them.”
“Over there,” came a quiet meow. Foxwhisker was standing
on the edge of the water, facing away from them. He jerked his
muzzle toward the far bank, where a tangle of sodden fur had

Code of the Clans 117

been washed up against a branch.
“Come on,” murmured Graywing. She and her Clanmates
slipped into the water and paddled strongly through the current
toward the branch. The swollen river tried to drag them away, and
battered them with twigs and other debris washed down from
the gorge, but they stretched their necks to keep their muzzles
above the surface and churned with legs well used to swimming.
Graywing reached the kits first. Through the filthy, water-dark
fur, she could just make out patches of black and white in the
shape nearest to her. It was Smallkit, who would have been leader
of his Clan had he survived. Graywing picked him up and carried
him back to the RiverClan shore. Foxwhisker followed with
Runningkit, and Brindleclaw brought Wolfkit.
They laid their tiny burdens on the shore to get their breath
back. Graywing touched each body with her muzzle. “Your Clan
will honor you with a burial for the warriors that you would have
been,” she told them. “And you will live on in the law that makes
every Clan responsible for the safety of kits, wherever they are
born.
“Precious kits, walk safely among the stars.”

118 Warriors
 A Kit in Trouble
No cat doubts that cats of all Clans must protect kits. But we know
from bitter experience that not all kits grow up to honor the warrior
code that once protected them. Every full-grown tyrant or murderer
was once a tiny bundle of f luff that swelled a mother’s heart with
pride. If we could see into the future, would we protect each and
every kit the same?

B rackenfoot curled his lip as he pushed through the broad,

sticky plants that grew along the Thunderpath that bordered
ShadowClan’s territory. He didn’t share his Clanmates’ taste for
monster-kill, and the stench and the noise coming from the strip
of black stone made him blind and deaf to everything else. He
waited for the roar of the monsters to fade, then bounded onto the
narrow strip of foul-smelling grass.
Archeye was sniffing at some crumpled gray and white feathers
lying on the edge of the Thunderpath. “Looks like we might be
able to take some pigeon home,” he commented.
It won’t taste of pigeon, thought Brackenfoot. It’ll taste burned and
bitter, like licking a monster’s paw.
To his relief, Hollyflower wrinkled her nose. “There’s not
enough meat left to bother with,” she told Archeye.
code
12
The still, hot air was ruffled by the sound of a growl;
Brackenfoot spun around, expecting to see a curious dog that had
broken away from its Twoleg. But nothing stirred on ShadowClan’s
hunting grounds. Then Hollyflower yowled, “Fox!”
Brackenfoot stiffened. A red-brown creature with the familiar
pointed snout was standing among the ferns on the far side of the
Thunderpath, in ThunderClan’s territory. The fox’s fur bristled

Code of the Clans 119

along its back, and it held its head low.
“Is it stalking us?” Archeye whispered.
“Foxes don’t hunt full-grown cats,” Crowclaw whispered back.
“Not unless they’re starving.”
Brackenfoot peered closer. There was something trembling
on the very edge of the Thunderpath, directly across from them.
“It’s not interested in us,” he hissed. “It’s found some much easier
prey.” The lump of fluff looked like a young rabbit or perhaps a
very fat vole.
“ThunderClan won’t like having a fox stealing their fresh-
kill,” Archeye commented gleefully.
“That’s not fresh-kill!” Hollyflower burst out. “That’s a kit!”
She sprang onto the Thunderpath before the other cats could stop
her and raced across to stand over the tiny cat. “Get away!” she
spat at the fox.

120 Warriors
 Archeye glanced sideways at Brackenfoot. “I suppose we’d
better join in before she loses both her ears,” he muttered.
Brackenfoot sighed. Yes, all kits had to be protected whichever
Clan they came from, but this kit was still on its own territory!
Couldn’t they wait for a ThunderClan patrol to come to the
rescue?
Clearly not. Hollyflower was advancing on the fox, putting
herself between it and the kit. Protecting another Clan’s kit was
one thing; saving your denmate from being savaged was another.
Side by side, Brackenfoot and Archeye pelted across the hot
black stone, screeching a battle cry. The fox jumped back and
growled, baring long pointed fangs.
“You don’t scare us!” Hollyflower yowled. She lashed out with
her claws unsheathed and drew her paw back clogged with reddish
hair. The fox snapped at her, its breath foul as crow-food.
Brackenfoot reared up onto his hind legs and swiped with both
front paws, catching the fox on its ears. At the same time, Archeye
ducked low and ran at its snout, striking as he shot past. The fox
shook its head, scattering scarlet drops from its muzzle.
“Go, warriors, go!” squealed the ThunderClan kit. Brackenfoot
had almost forgotten it was there. He aimed one more blow at the
fox before dropping to all four paws and springing backward, out
of range of the cracking jaws. The fox snarled once more, then
turned tail and vanished into the undergrowth. code
12
“Wow! You were great!” called the kit. “The way you sliced his
nose! And swiped his ears! I wish I could fight like that!” the kit
continued.
Brackenfoot padded forward. “What’s your name?”
The kit gazed up at him with huge amber eyes. “Tigerkit,” he
mewed.
“Well, Tigerkit, one day you will be able to fight like us, if you

Code of the Clans 121

listen to your mentor and train really hard. But you shouldn’t even
be out of your camp. What if we hadn’t seen you? That fox would
have made fresh-kill out of you!”
“But he didn’t!” Tigerkit gloated, bouncing on his toes.
“Because you saved me!”
Brackenfoot realized there was no talking sense to this
mouse-brained tuft of fur. “Just be more careful from now on,” he
growled. Then, nodding to his Clanmates, he led them back across
the Thunderpath.
The kit watched them go, stretching his neck to keep them in
sight. “May StarClan walk your path!” he squeaked. “Thanks for
rescuing me! ShadowClan will always be my friends! One day I’ll
help you, too!”

122 Warriors
 -
Code Thirteen
THE WOR D OF THE CL A N LE A DER
IS THE WA R R IOR CODE .

Not every article of the warrior code is born out of

wisdom, and it might seem that this one came from a dangerous
lapse of judgment in all Clan leaders. Even so, this piece of
code has survived unchallenged all these moons. Why? In reality,
leaders take advice from their medicine cat and senior
warriors—one cat alone rarely makes a decision. And the best
warriors have never been afraid to challenge their leader, even at
the risk of breaking the code. But come what may, the leader
has to bear responsibility for what happens, and such a heavy
burden deserves our respect. The code guarantees it.

=
Darkstar’s Law

R aincloud held her breath as Darkstar heaved himself onto

the Great Rock. The SkyClan leader was nearing the end
of his ninth life and looked painfully frail as he scrabbled with his
hind legs to boost himself up. Vinestar, the ThunderClan leader,
came over and helped him by sinking his teeth into Darkstar’s
scruff and hauling him the last tail-length. Darkstar was too
breathless to thank him, and lay on his side, panting, while the

Code of the Clans 123

fifth leader, Yellowstar of ShadowClan, jumped up.
The SkyClan leader had been a strong and well-respected
warrior for all his lives. Raincloud had been his deputy for many
moons and dreaded the day she would have to watch him slip away
from his Clan forever.
She stood with the other deputies at the base of the Great
Rock and faced the cats who had come to the Gathering.
The RiverClan leader, Talonstar, began with a report of
Twolegs staying in the fields on the far side of their territory;
they came every greenleaf and didn’t even seem to know the cats
were there, but this time some of them had brought dogs, which
had come dangerously close to the camp. Talonstar assured the
other Clans that his warriors had chased them off with their tails
between their legs.
Birchstar of WindClan announced a new litter of kits and two
new warriors, then Yellowstar described an old, mangy fox that
had been causing trouble on the edge of ShadowClan’s territory
because it didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. Then Vinestar
took his place on the edge of the rock.
“We have three new litters of kits and four new warriors,” he
announced with a flick of his long gray tail. “We thank StarClan
for making the prey in ThunderClan run well this season, and we
hope we can continue to feed ourselves in leaf-fall and leaf-bare.”
He glanced sideways at Darkstar, whose head was hanging
down with his eyes closed. Raincloud wondered if he had missed
the thorn-sharp edge to Vinestar’s report. ThunderClan patrols
had been spotted more and more frequently on the boundary that
they shared with SkyClan: not just border patrols, but hunting
patrols, too. Raincloud suspected that, with so many new mouths
to feed, they were starting to look beyond their territory for
sources of fresh-kill.

124 Warriors
 Talonstar nudged Darkstar and the old tom’s head jerked
upright. Darkstar padded to the edge of the Great Rock. His
milky yellow eyes gazed down at the cats in the hollow.
“Cats of all Clans,” Darkstar began in a voice as thin as a
whisker; the cats in the hollow fell silent, and Raincloud relaxed.
“I, too, have an announcement. I wish to give part of SkyClan’s
territory to ThunderClan, to feed their new kits.”
Raincloud stared at her Clan leader in disbelief. All along
the line of SkyClan cats, fur bristled and cats whispered to one
another in alarm. Raincloud glanced at Twigtail, the medicine
cat, who shook his head and looked as stunned as she felt.
Darkstar raised his head and,
outlined in moonlight, it was
suddenly possible to see him as
the great warrior he had once
been. “ThunderClan may have the
stretch of territory on our border
as far as the silver birch on the
riverbank on one side and the
yellow Twoleg nest on the other. May
these hunting grounds be as good to
them as they have been to us!”
Raincloud jumped to her feet. She
couldn’t listen in silence any longer. “Darkstar, are you sure?”
she pleaded. She hated that all the other Clans would see her
challenge her own leader, but she didn’t know what else she could code
do. Darkstar was handing nearly a quarter of SkyClan to their
13
neighbors! Was he so terrified of conflict that he wanted to make
peace with Vinestar before the borders were threatened?
Raincloud felt all the eyes from the watching cats burn into
her pelt. Ignoring the gasps of shock, she jumped onto the rock

Code of the Clans 125

and put her face close to Darkstar’s. “What are you doing?” she
hissed. “Don’t you trust your warriors to defend our territory? No
Clan has ever given away part of its hunting grounds before!”
Darkstar pulled away from her, his mouth set in a stubborn
line. “ThunderClan has more mouths to feed than we do. SkyClan
can always extend on its other boundaries.”
“No, we can’t!” Raincloud twitched her tail in exasperation.
“Twoleg nests block us on one side and the treecutplace on the
other. And the warrior code says that we must protect our borders
at all times!”
Darkstar looked at her, and she was unnerved by the strength
in his yellow gaze. He stood up, and the cats below fell silent as
if they were waiting for the next lightning strike he would drop
among them.
“Forgive my insolent deputy,” he rasped. “She does not
understand what it means to be truly loyal to her Clan. Vinestar,
the land is yours. My warriors will set new border marks
tomorrow.”
Vinestar dipped his head. His eyes were narrowed and full of
questions, but he didn’t challenge the generous offer.
Raincloud looked desperately up at the sky. Was StarClan really
going to let this happen? But the full moon floated on, a perfect
shining disk. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Their warrior
ancestors could not have made it clearer that Darkstar could do as
he wished with the territory that belonged to his Clan.
Her tail drooping, Raincloud turned to leave the Great Rock.
It would be up to her to send out patrols to change the boundaries
and shrink SkyClan’s hunting grounds.
“Wait!” Darkstar ordered. Raincloud stopped and looked
around.
“I want you to be my witness to a new law for the warrior

126 Warriors
code,” the SkyClan leader rasped. His eyes were gleaming now
but not quite focused. Raincloud felt her pelt stand on end. Had
her leader gone mad, right in the middle of a Gathering?
“No other leader should have to face such insubordination in
front of the other Clans,” Darkstar announced. “I propose a law
that the word of a leader is the warrior code. What we say must
never be challenged. StarClan gave us the power to lead; StarClan
would wish it to be so.”
Oh, no. That can’t be made part of the warrior code. Leaders are cats,
first and foremost, good and bad or a mixture of both. Raincloud realized
her mouth had dropped open and she was shaking her head. She code
forced herself to stay still, and closed her mouth in case she said
13
something that made Darkstar even angrier. She didn’t care about
being punished herself, but it suddenly felt as if she was all her
Clan had left.
“I support the new law!” Vinestar declared.

Code of the Clans 127

 There’s a surprise. Raincloud waited for one of the leaders to
point out how ridiculous this was, that there was more than one
cat in each Clan with a worthwhile opinion, but the other three
cats stepped forward in turn to agree with Vinestar. Yellowstar’s
eyes were troubled, and Talonstar’s deputy stared hard at the
RiverClan leader as if challenging the wisdom of his decision, but
the law was accepted. The word of a Clan leader was now to be
treated as if it was part of the warrior code.
As if sensing that several cats in the hollow were about to
protest, Vinestar quickly announced that the Gathering was over
and leaped down from the Great Rock. His Clanmates swarmed
around him as he led them up the slope and out of the hollow. The
other leaders followed, leaving Darkstar to dismount last of all, his
stiff joints creaking. He paused as he went past Raincloud, who
was still sitting in the shadows at the edge of the rock.
“You may continue to serve as my deputy,” he croaked. “But
never challenge me like that again. The borders will change at
dawn.”
He sprang down to the ground and beckoned the SkyClan
cats with his tail. They headed out of the hollow, still muttering
to one another. One or two glanced anxiously back at Raincloud,
as if they thought she might have been exiled for arguing with
Darkstar at the Gathering. No. Just humiliated. But Raincloud knew
she wouldn’t leave. SkyClan deserved better than that. Better than
Darkstar, even.
She stayed on the rock until the shadows had stopped rustling
with departing cats. She stared up at the moon, still expressionless
and cloud-free. Did you really want this, StarClan? she wailed silently.
What happens when a leader comes who wants to change everything? Turn the
Clans against one another, wipe out all the values we have ever lived by?
What will you do then?

128 Warriors
 =
An Empty Prayer:
Cloudstar Speaks
Few cats know of the fifth Clan that once lived in the forest.
SkyClan cats were the highest jumpers and lived among the tall trees
where they snatched birds from the branches. But long ago, SkyClan
was driven out of its territory by Twoleg monsters, and then driven
out of the forest by the remaining four Clans, erased from Clan
memory by a legacy of guilt. Come with me, to SkyClan in its new
territory, under new skies, far from the forest.

T he gorge is so quiet when night falls. It makes my Clan uneasy;

they are used to hearing the rustle of branches and the call of
birds above them—not just endless sky splashed with stars, more
than I ever imagined there would be when we lived in the forest.
I wonder if any of our warrior ancestors can see us. And if they
could, would they listen? I know those cold fragments of light in
the sky are not my warrior ancestors. StarClan stopped watching
over us long ago, as soon as the Twolegs attacked our territory with
tree-eating monsters, churning up the ground to build their nests
of hard red stone.
My poor Clan. Was I right to bring them here, so far from code
13
their home? Perhaps we should have fought to stay in the forest,
mustered the last remains of our strength to take on ThunderClan
or WindClan and steal some of their territory. Not ShadowClan
or RiverClan, though: We would never have developed a taste for
frogs or fish, however hungry we were.

Code of the Clans 129

 We traveled far to come here,
and I want this to be a home to
us as much as the forest was for
all those countless moons. We
have caves for shelter, fresh water
to drink, and there’s prey enough
if we are patient and learn to stalk
in the open rather than through
branches high above the ground.
Yesterday Buzzardtail and Mousefang brought back a squirrel,
so there must be trees close by. Maybe tomorrow I will explore
beyond the cliffs. I have to: My Clan should not know more about
our new territory than I do.
But I am so tired. I ask only for a place to sleep that is sheltered
from the wind and rain, and a mouthful of prey. Maybe not even
that: Do I really want to live for moons in this strange place carved
out of sand? Everything is different without Birdflight. When I
sleep, my dreams are dark and empty, and whatever I eat tastes of
nothing.
I brought my Clan to a place where I thought they could live,
but it seems that isn’t enough. These stars are as unfamiliar to
them as they are to me, so I am their only link to the way we used
to live. The word of the Clan leader is the warrior code. So they watch me
and wait for me to tell them that everything will be all right, that
SkyClan will rise once more to be strong and proud, rulers of their
territory.
But this is not our territory. This is an empty gorge, a tunnel
through orange rock with the sky for its roof. Our ancestors are no
longer with us—if they ever were at all. Our fresh-kill pile used to
whisper with the sound of plump, thick-feathered birds; now we
eat mice and rabbits, when we are swift enough to catch them.

130 Warriors
 I hear my cats wailing like kits in the dead of night, wishing
they could go back to the forest. But there is nothing left for us
there. This is our home now. We will learn to catch prey and
defend our borders against whatever other cats live near here. We
do not need our warrior ancestors, or the other Clans, to tell us
what to do. My cats trusted me enough to follow me here; I cannot
let them down. Birdflight would never have wanted that.
As long as I am here, SkyClan will survive.
The word of the Clan leader is the warrior code.

code
13

Code of the Clans 131

 -
Code Fourteen
AN HONOR A BLE WA R R IOR DOES NOT NEED TO
K ILL OTHER C ATS TO W IN HIS OR HER BATTLES ,
UNLESS THEY A R E OUTSIDE THE WA R R IOR CODE
OR IT IS NECESSA RY FOR SELF - DEFENSE .

I know you kittypets think we are fierce, bloodthirsty creatures

who line our nests with the fur of our enemies, but we
are not. Battles with cats who do not live in Clans are far more
likely to result in death, because those cats often have no sense
of the honor in a victory without bloodshed. Now you are
about to discover what bitter experience taught—that the way
of the warrior does not have to be steeped in blood.

=
The Medicine Cats Decide

M ossheart finished chewing the marigold leaves to a pulp

and spat them carefully onto a leaf. “These should help
the infection,” she told the mottled gray tom lying awkwardly on
his side. The jagged cut smelled of crow-food and looked yellow
around the edges, and the skin surrounding it was tender and
inflamed.
“If I ever catch that mangy WindClan cat who did it, I’ll rip
out his throat,” Smoketalon muttered through clenched teeth.

132 Warriors
 Mossheart shook her head. “Then his Clan will lose a warrior
and swear vengeance on ShadowClan, and it will go on forever.
Back and forth, shedding blood on one side of the border or the
other, until the stars grow old.”
“We have to defend our boundaries!” Smoketalon hissed.
“The warrior code says so.”
Mossheart sighed. The border skirmishes between
ShadowClan and its neighbor WindClan had grown more and
more violent in recent moons, with warriors from both sides
darting across the Thunderpath on raids. Neither Clan was short
of food, and it wasn’t as if WindClan had developed a taste for
frogs or ShadowClan had gained the swiftness needed to catch
rabbits. It was nothing but mouse-brained pride that made each
Clan refuse to be the first to stop. A WindClan warrior had died
last moon, and a ShadowClan she-cat had been lamed and would
never be able to hunt or fight for her Clan again.
Mossheart finished packing the wound with juicy green pulp
and laid cobwebs on top in an attempt to hold the edges of the cut
together and keep the poultice in place. “Don’t move until I tell
you,” she warned Smoketalon. She pushed some dry moss under
his head to make him more comfortable, then padded out of her
den to clear her head of the bitter marigold scent.
Several of her Clanmates were standing on the far side of the
clearing, staring into the trees with their ears pricked. A white
she-cat, her belly round with kits, turned to look at Mossheart.
“They’re fighting again,” she meowed. “Listen.”
Oh, StarClan, no!
Mossheart padded forward to stand beside Lilyfur. Mossheart’s code
pelt felt strangely hot and sticky, and there was a sour scent in her
14
nose. She looked down. Her dark tortoiseshell fur was drenched in
scarlet blood that ran down her legs and dripped onto the ground.

Code of the Clans 133

Mossheart opened her mouth to cry out and choked on a thick,
salty clot. Retching, she spat it out.
“Mossheart? Are you all right?”
Mossheart opened her eyes. Lilyfur was bending over her, and
Mossheart’s fur was healthy and clean.
“Have you got a furball stuck in your throat?”
“No. I . . . ” Mossheart straightened up. The only taste in her
mouth was marigold juice. Faint sounds of battle drifted on the
breeze: yowls and thuds as cats hit the ground, the rip of claws
through fur. So much blood . . .
Mossheart bolted toward the noise.
“Wait!” Lilyfur called. “Where are you going?”
“We have to stop the battle!” Mossheart screeched without
slowing down. Her vision must have been a message from
StarClan that the cats in the forest were in danger of drowning
in bloodshed.
Paws thudded behind her, and she realized Lilyfur was
following. “Go back!” she panted. “Your kits . . . ”
“My kits will be fine,” Lilyfur wheezed. “I’ve watched you
enough times to be useful.” She risked a glance sideways at
Mossheart. “It’s going to be bad, isn’t it? I mean, worse than
before.”
Mossheart nodded.
The two cats burst out of the trees into a clear patch of ground
not far from the Thunderpath. The air tasted of monsters and the
bushes at the edge were black and shriveled from the creatures’
foul breath. A tangle of bleeding, screeching cats wrestled in the
center of the clearing. Mossheart narrowed her eyes. Two large
patrols, from the look of it, each containing several apprentices as
well as warriors.
“Stop!” came a screech from the far side of the clearing, and a

134 Warriors
small gray face appeared from the blackened bushes. “Stop right
now!” he yowled again.
“It’s Swiftfoot!” Mossheart mewed, recognizing the WindClan
medicine cat from Gatherings.
The gray tom stepped around the motionless body of one of
his Clanmates with a rueful glance and marched up to the nearest
tussle. “Enough!” he ordered. “There is nothing to be won here!”
The two cats paused and stared at him. They stepped back
and Swiftfoot gave the WindClan warrior a shove with his nose.
“Go home!” he hissed. To Mossheart’s astonishment, the cat
spun around and ran into the bushes that separated the clearing
from the Thunderpath. The ShadowClan warrior, a dark brown
tabby called Logfur, bunched his haunches, ready to leap back
into battle, but Mossheart hurtled up to him and planted herself
in her way.
“You heard what Swiftfoot said! Go home!”
“There’s a battle to be fought,” Logfur growled. code
“Not anymore,” Mossheart replied.
14
Logfur glared at her, then slunk away, leaving a thin trail of
blood from a cut on his tail.

Code of the Clans 135

 “What in the name of StarClan are you doing?” demanded a
voice.
Mossheart spun around. Silvermask stood behind her, the gray
stripe on his face stained with blood. “Do you want us to lose?” he
growled.
“No. I want you to live,” Mossheart spat. “Are you going to keep
fighting until there are no warriors left at all?” She flicked her tail
at the bodies that lay slumped on the ground. “Three more cats
dead? How is this going to help?”
“Because two of them are WindClan, which means two fewer
enemies for us.” Silvermask curled his lip in triumph.
Mossheart shook her head. “You are more mouse-brained
than I thought,” she mewed sadly.
Behind them, the warriors were staggering apart, stumbling
into the undergrowth in the direction of their own territories.
Silvermask eyed them in disgust. “Are you happy now, Mossheart?
We could have won that battle.”
“No, you couldn’t. Every battle is a loss.”
With a hiss, the deputy limped away. Mossheart decided she’d
wait a while before telling him his wounds needed to be treated
with goldenrod. Lilyfur padded up. “Is there anything I can do to
help?” she offered.
Mossheart gazed around the clearing. Two WindClan cats
wouldn’t be making their own way back to their camp, and neither
would a ShadowClan apprentice, Spottedpaw. Mossheart gulped as
she looked at his little brown body. A warm breeze stirred the fur
on his flank, making it look as if he were breathing. But the scent of
death hung over him, and his bright blue eyes were glazed and milky.
Swiftfoot glanced up at Mossheart. “I am sorry for your loss,”
he meowed.
“And I for yours,” Mossheart replied dully.

136 Warriors
 “This has to stop!” Swiftfoot hissed, startling Mossheart. “If
we lose any more warriors, our Clans will starve when leaf-bare
comes. How can StarClan let this happen?”
“Have you been to the Moonstone to speak with them about
it?” Mossheart asked.
“No. Have you?”
Mossheart shook her head.
“Then we should go. You and me, and all the other medicine
cats. If we all show up, perhaps StarClan will be forced to listen.”
Mossheart stared at him. She’d met the other medicine cats
at Gatherings but never alone, without other Clanmates around
them. “How can we tell them what we want to do?”
“I’ll visit them. I’ll go on my own so it’s obvious I’m not a
threat, and I’ll bring them all to the moor. Meet us by the pointed
stone next sunrise.”
Mossheart knew that Swiftfoot was right. The medicine cats
needed to unite. They had the power to heal their Clans—perhaps
this meant they could stop battles before they started.
“I’ll be there,” she promised.

Swiftfoot popped his head around the corner of the gorse as

Mossheart approached the pointed stone the next morning. “I
thought you’d decided not to come,” he greeted her.
Kinktail, the RiverClan medicine cat whose tail had been
crushed by a monster when she was a tiny kit, appeared behind
Swiftfoot. Her eyes were shining. “I can’t believe we’re doing
this!” she breathed. “All five of us, going to share tongues with
StarClan at the same time.” code
“Maybe we should have done it before,” muttered Swiftfoot.
14
“Come on, we have a long way to go before sunset.”
He led them across the moor, padding confidently in the

Code of the Clans 137

blazing sun. Mossheart walked beside Quailfeather of SkyClan,
not envying her long, thick coat. Kinktail followed with
Prickleface, the ThunderClan medicine cat with a temper to
match his name. Mossheart waited for him to make a sour remark
about what they were doing, but they traveled mostly in silence,
speaking only when they needed to stop and find water. Above
them, the sky was tinged purple as the sun slid behind the ridge,
and a crisp half-moon appeared. Mossheart gasped.
“It’s red!”
The moon was washed with scarlet, darker around the edge.
Mossheart had never seen it look like that before.
“It’s the color of blood,” Quailfeather pointed out quietly.
Perhaps StarClan is already waiting for us, Mossheart thought.
Prickleface took the lead as they entered Mothermouth and
began the long, echoey walk into darkness. Suddenly the blackness
up ahead faded and a watery pink light started to filter along the
stone walls. Prickleface quickened his pace, and soon they were
running along the tunnel and exploding into the chamber where
the Moonstone stood. The crystal reflected the scarlet moon
tonight, giving off a reddish gleam that shone in the cats’ eyes.
Swiftfoot nodded to the Moonstone. “You know what to do,”
he told his companions. “We have to ask StarClan if there is a way
to stop the fighting.”
Mossheart lay down and pressed her muzzle against the base
of the stone. It was ice-cold and she winced, but gradually it grew
warm and she felt it begin to throb gently, as if she were curled
against the belly of her mother. She was safe here, safe and loved.
No blood would ever be shed in the Moonstone chamber. . . .

“ShadowClan! Attack!” Mossheart jumped as Silvermask yowled

right next to her ear. She looked around and realized she was back

138 Warriors
in the clearing by the Thunderpath, surrounded by a ShadowClan
patrol rushing to hurl themselves on WindClan cats running
toward them. She was watching yesterday’s battle from the very
start.
“You can’t stop them, you know.”
Mossheart looked down. A small brown tom stood beside
her, his brown coat flecked with ginger. “Spottedpaw! You’re not
fighting!”
The apprentice looked up at her. “How can I? I’m dead,
remember?”

“But this is yesterday!” Mossheart protested.

“No it’s not. It’s every day,” Spottedpaw mewed. “This battle,
and battles like it, will happen over and over, for all the moons to code
come, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. We fight to
14
protect our territories, our kits, our reputation among the other
Clans. It’s what warriors do.”

Code of the Clans 139

 “But you died because of it!”
Spottedpaw looked sad. “Yes. I wish I hadn’t. I wanted to be
the best warrior ShadowClan had ever seen.”
Mossheart touched her muzzle to his fluffy ear. “I’m sorry,
little one,” she murmured.
Spottedpaw was beginning to fade. “You can’t stop the
fighting,” he repeated. “But maybe you can stop the dying. That
WindClan warrior didn’t need to kill me. I knew I was beaten. If
he’d let go of me, I’d have run away. He didn’t have to keep biting
me, harder and harder. . . . ”
His blue eyes glowed for a moment after his body vanished,
then they went out like setting suns. Mossheart closed her eyes as
grief swept over her. What a bitter, bitter waste.

When she opened her eyes, she was back in the chamber, lying by
the Moonstone. Her body was cold and cramped, so she stood up
and stretched each leg in turn, arching her back and kinking her
tail right over her ears.
“Well?” prompted Swiftfoot, who was sitting in the shadows
with the other medicine cats. With a shock, Mossheart realized
she was the last to wake up.
“I . . . I dreamed of Spottedpaw, the ShadowClan apprentice
who died yesterday,” she began. She stopped when she saw the
other cats nodding to one another.
“We all dreamed of fallen Clanmates,” meowed Quailfeather.
“Each one said the same: that we could never stop battles from
happening, but that they knew they had lost their fight before
they were killed. They didn’t have to die for the other cat to win.”
“Victory without death,” murmured Prickleface. “Do you
think the Clans would accept it?”
“They have to,” meowed Swiftfoot. “StarClan has told us all the

140 Warriors
same thing: that a warrior does not have to kill to be victorious.”
“What if he is fighting for his life?” put in Kinktail, looking
worried. “Against a fox or a rogue?”
Swiftfoot nodded. “There will be exceptions,” Swiftfoot
determined, “because some battles can only end in death. But for
Clans fighting Clans, killing is not the answer.”
“When should we tell our leaders about this?” Mossheart
asked.
“Why don’t we wait until the next Gathering?” Quailfeather
suggested. “It’s only a quarter-moon away. We can tell them about
our dreams and suggest a new law for the warrior code. The
leaders can’t disagree with all five of us.”
“That’s right,” Swiftfoot meowed. “And from now on, I think
we should meet every half-moon to share tongues with StarClan
together. None of us wants to see our Clanmates die, and all of
us would be happy never to treat a battle wound again. Perhaps
boundaries don’t exist for medicine cats the way they do for
our Clanmates. We should work together whenever we can, to
preserve the peace and health of all the Clans.”
He led them back into the tunnel that led to the ridge and
fresh air and starlight. When they emerged, the moon had cleared
and shone as white as ever. The cats began to head down the
slope, their paws whispering over the short grass. Mossheart was
convinced she could hear another set of paws close by, even though
she wasn’t near any of the other cats. Then she caught a trace of
scent and knew who was running beside her.
Thank you, Spottedpaw whispered. Your law will save the lives of
many, many cats. StarClan will honor all of you forever. code
14

Code of the Clans 141

 -
Code Fifteen
A WA R R IOR R EJECTS THE SOFT LIFE
OF A K ITT Y PET.

The life of the Clans is as far from the life of a kittypet as

you could imagine. We hunt for our food, choose our own boundaries
and fight to defend them, and raise our kits to follow traditions
laid down by cats long since faded from our memories. Many Clan
cats would say this makes us better than you; I would not necessarily
claim that. There are good and bad cats everywhere—and good
and bad within every cat. If every Clan cat was pure of heart and
unfailingly loyal, we wouldn’t need the warrior code at all.

=
Pinestar’s Secret

“H ey, Lionpaw! Have you seen Pinestar?”

Lionpaw looked up from grooming his pelt. “I
thought Pinestar went out with a hunting patrol,” he told his
mentor.
Sunfall narrowed his eyes. “I thought so, too, but the hunting
patrol’s just come back and Pinestar’s not with them.”
Lionpaw gave up on his tufty fur and padded over to the bright
orange warrior. “Would you like me to look for him?” he offered.
Sunfall shook his head. “I want you to come with me on a patrol

142 Warriors
to check the border along the river,” he explained. “The dawn
patrol picked up some RiverClan scents as far in as the trees.”
Lionpaw felt the hair along his spine bristle. Those mangy
RiverClan cats! Why couldn’t they stick to their own territory?
But when they went on patrol they found only the faintest hint
of RiverClan scent under the trees, which could have been blown
there by the wind, so they left their neighbors alone. When they
returned to the camp, Pinestar was back. He greeted his deputy as
soon as the patrol pushed its way through the gorse tunnel.
“Sunfall, is all quiet on the borders?”
“Yes,” Sunfall replied. “Did the prey run well for you?”
Pinestar nodded. “StarClan was good to me.”
Lionpaw was surprised. Pinestar didn’t smell of fresh-kill, just
flowers and crushed grass. Sunfall had told him he’d done well on
the patrol today; Lionpaw hoped Pinestar would invite him on a
patrol soon so he could show the leader how much he had learned.
But Pinestar rarely went out with other cats; he preferred to patrol
alone, he said, so he could hear and scent more clearly. Lionpaw
was very frustrated. How would Pinestar know the best warrior
name for him if he never saw him hunt or fight? He would only be
an apprentice for two more moons, so there wasn’t much time.
Lionpaw woke early the following morning, before any of his
denmates. Outside the den, the air was clear and cold, with a hint
of mustiness that suggested leaf-fall was on its way. The clearing
was empty but the gorse tunnel was quivering as if a cat had just
gone through. Lionpaw pushed his way in, wondering if whoever
it was would like some company.
A reddish brown shape was just reaching the top of the ravine.
Pinestar! Perhaps this was Lionpaw’s chance to show off some of
his skills. He bounded up the rocks behind him, intending to call code
out when he reached the top, but by the time he got there, Pinestar
15

Code of the Clans 143

 had vanished. Lionpaw looked
around. A fern was bobbing
more strongly than the
breeze was blowing, and the
ThunderClan leader’s scent
drifted just above the dewy
grass. Lionpaw put his nose
down and followed the trail.
He decided to see how far he
could track Pinestar without being spotted. That would be a great
way to show how good he was at stalking!
Staying far enough back to be out of sight and treading as softly
as he could, Lionpaw followed Pinestar across the territory, past
the treecutplace, and into the thinner trees. It was harder to track
through the pine trees without being seen; Lionpaw had to rush
between fallen branches and sparse clumps of bracken, hoping
Pinestar didn’t look back. He was so busy concentrating on not
stepping on any crackly twigs that he didn’t realize where he was
until he looked over the bracken and saw Twoleg fences in front
of him. They were right at the edge of the forest! But where was
Pinestar? Lionpaw stretched his neck out from his hiding place
and sniffed. The trail was still there—and it led straight out of the
forest.
Had Pinestar chased a kittypet out of ThunderClan’s
territory? Lionpaw was sure he would have heard something
like that. He crept through the long grass that grew under the
outermost trees and sniffed the bottom of a wooden Twoleg fence.
Pinestar had definitely climbed up here—there were scratchmarks
on the wood. It looked as if this was a regular climbing place.
Lionpaw clawed his way up the wooden fence and looked
down into the little square of Twoleg territory. Short green grass

144 Warriors
was edged with strong-smelling flowers, and a strange, leafless
tree stood in the center holding bright-colored Twoleg pelts. Just
past the leafless tree, the grass turned into flat white stone, where
two spindly wooden objects stood on skinny legs. They each
had a flat ledge at the top of the legs, and on one of the ledges a
red-brown shape was curled, with a tail hanging over the edge.
Lionpaw nearly fell off the fence.
What was Pinestar doing in the Twoleg territory?
Lionpaw was about to jump down and call to him when a flap
in the Twoleg nest swung open and a Twoleg appeared. Lionpaw
ducked behind some flowers, trying not to sneeze as the pollen
tickled his nose. The Twoleg made some noises, and to Lionpaw’s
astonishment, Pinestar replied.
“Oh, thank you, I love it when you rub my ears! Could you do
my back as well? That’s perfect!”
Lionpaw peered around a leaf. The Twoleg was bent over the
spindly object, stroking Pinestar’s fur with one pink, hairless paw.
If Pinestar hadn’t been purring, Lionpaw would have thought he
was being attacked. But he was enjoying it.
Pinestar rolled onto his back so that his hind legs dangled over
the edge of the ledge. His head tipped back and Lionpaw caught
a glimpse of his eyes, closed in delight. Suddenly afraid of being
seen, Lionpaw scrambled back over the fence and dived into the
long grass. He wanted to run all the way back to the camp and
forget what he had seen, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He had
to ask Pinestar what he was doing.
“Lionpaw! What are you doing here?”
Pinestar was standing on top of the fence, looking down at him.
“I . . . er . . . ” Lionpaw stammered.
Pinestar sprang down and looked closely at him. “Did you code
follow me?”
15

Code of the Clans 145

 “Yes,” Lionpaw admitted. “I wanted to show you my stalking
skills.”
“Well, I didn’t notice you, so they must be good! Now, I expect
you’re wondering what I was doing with that Twoleg.”
Lionpaw nodded. Every hair on his pelt seemed to be on fire.
Pinestar began walking back into the trees, and Lionpaw
trotted to catch up. “The kittypet that lives there has been causing
trouble for the last moon,” Pinestar explained. “Straying into the
forest, scaring our prey—not that he catches any, of course. But I
decided to see how he liked it when I went onto his territory—and
I wanted to give him a warning to stay away for good.”
Lionpaw felt a little knot inside his belly relax. He had guessed
this was the reason Pinestar had gone over the fence!
“He wasn’t there, just my luck,” Pinestar went on. “Then
I heard the Twoleg coming, so I jumped on that ledge and
pretended to be another kittypet so she didn’t get suspicious. It
was hard work, I can tell you!”
Lionpaw nodded. His leader was so brave and clever! Lionpaw
would never have thought of pretending to be a kittypet!
“You won’t say anything to the others, will you?” Pinestar
checked. “I don’t want any other warriors trying this. It’s far too
dangerous.”
Lionpaw shook his head. “Oh, no. I won’t say a word,” he
promised. His tail bristled with excitement. Pinestar must trust
him as much as a warrior! Maybe his name would be Liontrust, or
Lionloyal, because of the great secret they shared.

“I knew it!” Sunfall hissed. Keeping low so that his orange pelt was
hidden by ferns, he looked back at Lionpaw. “Go back to the camp
and tell Pinestar we’re being invaded! Those RiverClan warriors
have deliberately crossed the border. We can’t let them get away

146 Warriors
with it. Pinestar needs to send a fighting patrol here at once.”
Lionpaw nodded and whipped around. He squeezed past
Bluefur and Tawnyspots and pelted back along the trail that led to
the ravine. He jumped down the rocks in one giant leap and burst
through the tunnel. “RiverClan is attacking us!” he yowled.
Several heads appeared around the clearing. “Where’s
Pinestar?” Lionpaw panted. “He needs to send a warrior patrol.”
“I thought he was with you,” meowed Thrushpelt. “I’ll take
the patrol to Sunningrocks; you go find Pinestar and tell him
what’s going on.”
Lionpaw spun around and raced out of the camp. He could
guess where Pinestar was: defending their territory against that
pesky kittypet! Well, he’d have to focus on RiverClan right now,
before those fish-faces took over all of ThunderClan. Lionpaw
ran through the pine trees and threw himself at the wooden fence.
He slithered down the other side, unable to stop on the top, and
landed in a heap among the flowers. Shaking earth off his fur, he
looked out.
Pinestar was standing on the white stone, eating a pile of
brown pellets. The Twoleg was standing over him, showing its
teeth and making soft, friendly noises. Pinestar swiped his tongue
around his jaws and looked up at the Twoleg, curling his body
around its hind legs. “That was delicious!” he meowed. “Is there
any more?”
“Pinestar! What are you doing?”
The ThunderClan leader froze and looked straight at Lionpaw.
A flash of horror appeared in his eyes; then he ran across the lawn.
“You shouldn’t be here!” he hissed. “What if that kittypet comes
back?”
“RiverClan is invading!” Lionpaw told him. “You have to code
come!”
15

Code of the Clans 147

 Pinestar looked down at his paws. “I can’t.”
“Why not? Did the kittypet hurt you?” Lionpaw peered at him
but couldn’t see any blood.
“There is no other kittypet,” Pinestar mumbled. “Only me.”
Lionpaw shook his head, confused. “You’re just pretending to
be a kittypet. So the Twoleg doesn’t chase you away.”
Pinestar glanced over his shoulder. The Twoleg was standing
on the stone watching them. “She won’t chase me away,” he
mewed. “She likes me.”
Lionpaw stared at him in disbelief. “But you’re our Clan
leader! You can’t be friends with Twolegs!”
“Then I can’t be your leader anymore,” Pinestar whispered.
“I’m sorry, Lionpaw. I can’t keep the Clan safe. I’m too old, too
scared of losing any more battles. Sunfall will make a better leader
than me. Tell ThunderClan that I am dead.”
Lionpaw felt a surge of anger. “No! I will not lie for you! You
might not want to be our leader anymore, but you could at least be
brave enough to tell the Clan yourself. They deserve to know the
truth, that you are leaving to become a kittypet.”
He whirled around and scrabbled back over the fence. He
heard Pinestar following, and the Twoleg call out in a high-
pitched voice. “I’ll come back, I promise!” Pinestar meowed from
the top of the fence, before jumping down after Lionpaw.
They ran back through the forest. With a jolt, Lionpaw
wondered what had happened by Sunningrocks. Had Thrushpelt’s
patrol been enough to drive out the RiverClan invaders? Would
Pinestar be forced to fight for his Clan one last time?They reached
the ravine and jumped down. The gorse tunnel was trembling as
if several cats had just burst through it. The clearing was crowded
with warriors and apprentices circling, some of them bleeding
from scratches, others limping. Featherwhisker, the apprentice

148 Warriors
medicine cat, was chasing Rosepaw around with a mouthful of
marigold leaves.
“If you just keep still long enough for me to put these on your
cut,” the medicine cat puffed, his voice muffled through the herbs,
“I’ll be able to treat the other cats.”
“Treat them first!” Rosepaw protested. “That stuff stings!”
The cats fell silent one by one as they spotted Pinestar.
When they were all quiet, Sunfall stepped out, bleeding from
a torn ear.
“Where were you, Pinestar?” he asked.
Pinestar didn’t answer at once. “Did you win?”
Sunfall nodded. “We chased those fish-faces back as far as the
river. They still have Sunningrocks—that is a battle for another
day—but they won’t set foot across the border for a while.”
“Good,” Pinestar meowed. He padded across the clearing and
jumped onto Highrock. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own
prey gather to hear what I have to tell you!” he yowled.
Most of the Clan were in the clearing already, but they turned
to face Highrock and settled down. Lionpaw joined Rosepaw and
Bluefur, who was licking one of her claws. “I nearly tore it out on a
RiverClan warrior!” she whispered proudly.
Lionpaw looked up at Pinestar. It felt so strange, knowing
what he was going to say. The blood roared in his ears, and he
didn’t hear the start of the Clan leader’s announcement, just the
gasps of shock around him. Sunfall said something; then Pinestar
spoke again.
“I have been honored to serve you for eight of my lives. My
ninth will be spent as a kittypet, where I have no battles to fight,
no lives depending on me for food and safety. Sunfall will lead you
well, and StarClan will understand.” code
“The other Clans might not,” Sunfall warned. “You won’t be
15

Code of the Clans 149

able to come back to the forest, you know.”
Pinestar let out an amused huff. “Oh, I can imagine the names
they’ll call me. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the leaders suggests
an addition to the warrior code, that all true warriors scorn the
easy life of a kittypet. But you’ll make ThunderClan as strong as
it ever was, Sunfall. My last act as leader is to entrust my Clan to
you, and I do it confidently.”
Sunfall dipped his head. “I am honored, Pinestar. I promise I
will do my best.”
Pinestar jumped down from Highrock and wove among his
Clanmates for the last time.
A sleek black she-cat stepped forward. “Pinestar, what about
our kits? Won’t you stay to watch them grow up?” She nodded to
the three tiny cats beside her. Two were weak and sickly-looking,
slumped on the ground with glazed eyes, but the third, Tigerkit,
was a sturdy dark brown tabby, who pounced on his father’s tail.
Pinestar gently pulled it away.
“They’ll be fine with you, Leopardfoot. I’m not a father they
could be proud of, but I will always be proud of them. Especially you,
little warrior,” he added, bending
down to touch his muzzle
to the dark tabby’s ears.
Tigerkit gazed up at
him with huge amber
eyes and growled,
showing thorn-
sharp teeth.
“Be strong, my
precious son,” Pinestar
murmured. “Serve your
Clan well.”

150 Warriors
 He straightened up and continued across the clearing. He
paused once more beside Lionpaw. “Thank you,” he meowed. “You
were right. I had to tell my Clan myself. You have a good spirit,
young one. When it is time for you to receive your warrior name,
tell Sunfall I would have called you Lionheart.”
He nodded, then padded softly into the gorse tunnel and
disappeared. Lionpaw watched until the gorse stopped shaking.
May StarClan walk your path, always, he murmured to the old
leader. And may I be worthy of my warrior name.
Lionheart.

=
A Change of Heart: Sandstorm Speaks
I f Fireheart was just a kittypet, would he have gone to Tallstar
behind Bluestar’s back and arranged to stop the battle before
it began? Would he have risked Bluestar’s trust because he
believed what he was doing was best for the Clan? Would so many
of his Clanmates have supported him, even Whitestorm and
Goldenflower?
Dustpelt tells me over and over that Fireheart can never be
a true Clan warrior because he wasn’t born in the forest. He
belonged to Twolegs, who fed him that muck that looks like rabbit
droppings, and made him wear a collar! He was such a show-off
when he first came to ThunderClan. He always had to be best in
training, or catch the most prey, and be the most solemn when we
went to Gatherings. Dustpelt and I could never figure out why
Graystripe was friends with him; he didn’t seem to know what fun
was. code
And he was always causing trouble! Like taking Ravenpaw
15

Code of the Clans 151

away—Fireheart said he didn’t
know what happened when
Ravenpaw vanished, but I
saw them sneaking out of the
camp. He always seemed to
be doing something to annoy
Tigerclaw. But now it looks as
if he was right, and Tigerclaw
was our biggest enemy all along.
Would a kittypet have been able to
figure that out? Not even Bluestar realized until Tigerclaw tried
to kill her.
Maybe it’s because Fireheart was a kittypet. He doesn’t just
accept the warrior code; he thinks about it and figures out how
it’s supposed to work. And when it doesn’t, like when he should
have obeyed his leader who ordered him to attack WindClan, he
challenges it and does something different. Is that a weakness in
Clan cats, that we do what we’re told just because that’s what our
ancestors did?
Dustpelt insists that Fireheart doesn’t belong in ThunderClan
because the code says we have to reject kittypets. But we have to
reject their life, not the cats themselves. And Fireheart has done
that, hasn’t he? He started out as a kittypet and chose to leave it
all behind to join ThunderClan.
If I had to choose between Dustpelt and Fireheart to lead the
Clan, who would I pick? Dustpelt is so loyal to the warrior code,
he’d never dream of breaking it. The other Clans would respect
him for that, which might make them more peaceful toward us.
Fireheart would argue with any cat, in ThunderClan or outside,
if he didn’t think they were doing the right thing. I don’t want to
live in a Clan that is always at war.

152 Warriors
 But Fireheart won’t fight a battle that he doesn’t believe in.
That’s why he talked to Tallstar, persuaded him not to let his
warriors fight when Bluestar led the attack on his border. Which
means Tallstar must respect Fireheart and trust him, because he’s
always been friendly with Bluestar before now.
Maybe a kittypet can know us better than we know ourselves.
Maybe it takes an outsider looking in to see the truth—like
Fireheart knew the truth about Tigerclaw. I wonder if he’ll ever
see the truth in my own heart: that, whatever Dustpelt says,
however much Fireheart breaks the warrior code, I love him more
than I could imagine loving any other cat.
And if Fireheart knew, would he love me, too?

code
15

Code of the Clans 153

 -

Rules That Did Not Become

Part of the Code: Leafpool Speaks

N ot every rule that was suggested was accepted by all the

Clans—and it was always understood, without having to
be made part of the code, that every Clan had to agree.
Did you know it was once suggested that only cats of pure
forest blood could be Clan members? Kittypets, rogues, and
loners would be barred from Clan life—and those already living
in the Clans would be expected to leave. I can tell you assume it
was a ShadowClan leader that put this forward, but actually it was
Featherstar of WindClan. After a hard leaf-bare, when only the
swiftest warriors could catch any of the fleet-footed prey on the
moor, she blamed her Clan’s hunger on those cats who hadn’t been
born with the ability to run rabbit-fast. She saw the other Clans
struggling to catch enough fresh-kill and was convinced that only
Clanborn cats could look after themselves and their Clanmates.
Owlstar of ThunderClan argued most strongly against her—it
was rumored afterward that he had kittypets among his ancestors,
but he didn’t. He just saw that all the Clans would be weakened if
they had to purge their members of non-forestborn cats. Loyalty
to Clanmates has always lain at the core of the warrior code, and
what Featherstar was proposing would let Clanmates turn on one
another and claim superiority for something they had no control
over. As long as cats were loyal to their Clan, Owlstar insisted,
then they deserved to stay.

154 Warriors
 Not long after that, Hawkstar’s successor, Robinstar, put
forward that Clans should eat only the prey they were most suited
to hunting: fish for RiverClan, birds for SkyClan, rabbits for
WindClan, and so on. This was shouted down by all the Clans.
It was unlikely that all the birds in SkyClan’s hunting grounds
would ever get sick and die, even during the coldest leaf-bare, but
fish, rabbits, and ThunderClan’s squirrels had all been known
to suffer from an illness that either spread to cats or reduced
the numbers of prey drastically. Besides, every Clan welcomes a
chance to taste a different kind of fresh-kill when it strays into
their territory—though RiverClan are welcome to keep all their
slimy fish!
It was Dovestar of RiverClan who wanted to make it law that
every Clan cat had to acknowledge that StarClan controlled Clan
life; to deny the existence and power of the warrior ancestors
would be to break the code. Does it surprise you that this is not
one of our laws?
Being a Clan cat is not about being forced to believe
something. We are allowed to think for ourselves, you know! It
is not law that you have to stay in a Clan—cats may leave any
time they wish if they no longer feel true to the warrior code or
loyal to their Clanmates. As long as we believe in StarClan and
the influence it has over our lives, accepting the warrior code is
easy and loyalty comes as natural as breathing. You cannot force
a cat to be faithful. That would be far worse than letting them be
honest enough to choose a different path through life.

Code of the Clans 155

 -
Epilogue
Y ou’ve now heard the history of the warrior code. Stretch
your legs; you’ve been sitting a long time. I’ll walk with you
to the edge of our territory. I could use some fresh air.
Thank you for listening. Perhaps you understand our way of
life a little better now. As you’ve heard, we’re not always perfect,
but we have a great deal of faith in our warrior ancestors. The code
lives in us in our heartbeat, the blood pulsing beneath our fur.
When we die, the code carries on in our kits, and their kits, for all
the moons to come. StarClan willing, the code of the Clans will
live forever, until the forest and the lake have turned to dust and
our hunting grounds are no more.

156 Warriors
Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Victoria Holmes

 About the Author
ERIN HUNTER is inspired by a love of cats and a
fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. In Addition to having great
respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical
explanations for animal behavior. She is also the author of the bestselling
Seekers series.

Visit the Clans online and play

Warriors games at
www.warriorcats.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite

HarperCollins author.
 Explore the
Warriors World

WARRIORS
Book One: Into the Wild
Book Two: Fire and Ice
Book Three: Forest of Secrets
Book Four: Rising Storm
Book Five: A Dangerous Path
Book Six: The Darkest Hour

THE NEW PROPHECY

Book One: Midnight
Book Two: Moonrise
Book Three: Dawn
Book Four: Starlight
Book Five: Twilight
Book Six: Sunset

POWER OF THREE
Book One: The Sight
Book Two: Dark River
Book Three: Outcast
Book Four: Eclipse
Book Five: Long Shadows
Book Six: Sunrise
 MANGA
The Lost Warrior
Warrior’s Refuge
Warrior’s Return
The Rise of Scourge
Tigerstar and Sasha #1: Into the Woods
Tigerstar and Sasha #2: Escape from the Forest
Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans

SPECIALS
Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans
Warriors Super Edition: Firestar’s Quest
Warriors: Cats of the Clans

Also by Erin Hunter

SEEKERS
Book One: The Quest Begins
Book Two: Great Bear Lake
Book Three: Smoke Mountain
 Credits
Typography by Larissa Lawrynenko
Jacket art © 2009 by Wayne McLoughlin
Jacket design by Hilary Zarycky
 Copyright
WARRIORS: CODE OF THE CLANS. Text copyright © 2009 by Working Partners
Limited. Series created by Working Partners Limited. Illustrations copyright
© 2009 by Wayne McLoughlin. All rights reserved under International and
Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you
have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read
the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced,
transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or
by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter
invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader May 2009

ISBN 978-0-06-192033-2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher

Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com