Path Of A Warrior

MOTH FLIGHT

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white she-cat with green eyes

HUNTERS

DUST MUZZLE

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gray tabby tom with amber eyes

SLATE

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thick-furred gray she-cat with one ear tip missing

WHITE TAIL

—

dark gray tom-kit with white patches and amber eyes

SILVER STRIPE

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pale gray tabby she-kit with blue eyes

BLACK EAR

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black-and-white patched tom-kit with amber eyes

SPOTTED FUR

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golden-brown tom with amber eyes and a dappled coat

ROCKY

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plump orange-and-white tom with green eyes

SWIFT MINNOW

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gray-and-white she-cat

REED TAIL

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silver tabby tom with a knowledge of herbs

JAGGED PEAK

—

a small gray tabby tom with blue eyes

HOLLY

—

she-cat with prickly, bushy fur

STORM PELT

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mottled gray tom with blue eyes and thick bushy tail

DEW NOSE

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brown splotchy tabby she-cat with white tips on nose and tail, yellow eyes

EAGLE FEATHER

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brown tom with yellow eyes, broad shoulders, and striped tail

WILLOW TAIL

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pale tabby she-cat with blue eyes

SKYCLAN

LEADER

SKYSTAR

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light gray tom with blue eyes

DEPUTY

SPARROW FUR

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tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

MEDICINE CAT

ACORN FUR

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chestnut-brown she-cat

HUNTERS

STAR FLOWER

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she-cat with thick, golden tabby fur

DEW PETAL

—

silver-and-white she-cat

FLOWER FOOT

—

she-cat with tan stripes

THORN

—

splotchy brown tom with bright blue eyes

QUICK WATER

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gray-and-white she-cat

NETTLE

—

gray tom

BIRCH

—

ginger tom with white circles of fur around his eyes

ALDER

—

gray, brown, and white she-cat

BLOSSOM

—

tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with yellow eyes

RED CLAW

—

a reddish-brown tom

HONEY PELT

—

striped yellow tom

RIVERCLAN

LEADER

RIVERSTAR

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silver long-furred tom with green eyes

DEPUTY

NIGHT

—

black she-cat

MEDICINE CAT

DAPPLED PELT

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delicate tortoiseshell she-cat with golden eyes

HUNTERS

SHATTERED ICE

—

gray-and-white tom with green eyes

DEW

—

gray she-cat

DAWN MIST

—

orange-and-white she-cat with green eyes

MOSS TAIL

—

dark brown tom with golden eyes

DRIZZLE

—

gray-and-white she-kit with pale blue eyes

PINE NEEDLE

—

black tom-kit with yellow eyes

SPIDER PAW

—

white tom

Maps

Chapter One

“I think you should wait and see what happens,” Shadowstar told Skystar. Her old friend, the SkyClan leader, stood next to her, watching the last of the ShadowClan cats begin the walk home from Fourtrees. “It’s hard to know what Twolegs will do… .”

Distracted, she trailed off as her medicine cat, Pebble Heart, glanced back at her and at ShadowClan’s deputy, Sun Shadow. Shadowstar twitched her ears, signaling that he should lead the Clan back to their camp. She and Sun Shadow would stay behind to calm Skystar down.

Skystar bristled, his tail slashing through the air. “It’s quite clear to me what these Twolegs are doing,” he mewed bitterly, “even if the other leaders don’t seem convinced. Every day, my patrols report the same Twolegs on our land, looking around as if they’re marking territory. I think they’re drawing their own borders.”

“I know you do,” Shadowstar replied patiently. Skystar had spent much of tonight’s full-moon Gathering explaining his concerns about the Twolegs. “But why would Twolegs want your territory? They have their own places.”

Skystar sighed, his shoulders drooping. “You don’t understand. You would feel differently if it were ShadowClan’s territory at risk. At least promise me that if the Twolegs keep patrolling on SkyClan’s territory, you’ll stand with me at the next Gathering. We’ll need to convince all five Clans to act together.”

“Of course I will,” Shadowstar promised, touching her nose to his. But I’m sure I won’t have to. What could Twolegs want in the forest?

She and Sun Shadow at last said good-bye to Skystar and headed out of Fourtrees toward their own camp. The full moon hung high overhead, lighting their path through the darkness, and Shadowstar matched her pace to her deputy’s, both running lightly through the night. In the moonlight, Sun Shadow’s slender, dark-furred shape reminded Shadowstar so much of her brother, Moon Shadow.

Shadowstar sighed. Lately she’d been thinking of her littermate, Sun Shadow’s father, so often. Moon Shadow had been the cat she’d felt closest to, and he’d died—horribly, in a fire—not long after they had traveled from the mountains to the forest, many seasons ago. Part of me died with him, she thought now.