The Forgotten Warrior

The traveler reached the wood and looked around for a place to make a temporary nest, but each paw prickled with restlessness, and none of the hollows or the spaces under the tree-roots seemed quite suitable. A mouse crept out from under a bush, nibbling at fallen grass seeds. Remembering long-forgotten lessons, the traveler dropped into the hunter’s crouch and sprang, killing the mouse with a single swift blow. But the limp body looked unappetizing with the life chased out of it; the cat scraped a few pawfuls of earth over it and left it.

Dusk was falling as the traveler continued, heading up the hill more swiftly through the spindly trees.

It’s been a long time. Will the cats that I remember best still be there?

As the day began to fade, the cat left the trees behind and reached the crest of a hill covered in tough moorland grass. Below, a scarlet sunset was reflected in the lake, transforming the water to the color of blood. Above the stranger’s head, the first warriors of StarClan were glimmering in the sky.

The traveling cat took a deep breath. I have returned. Let vengeance begin.

Chapter 1

Jayfeather’s dream dissolved into darkness as he woke and stretched his jaws in a massive yawn. His whole body seemed heavy, and when he sat up in his nest he felt as though ivy tendrils were wrapped around him, dragging him back to the ground. The air was hotter than usual for late newleaf, filled with the scents of prey and lush green growth. Noise filtered through the brambles that screened the medicine cat’s den from the rest of the stone hollow: pawsteps and the excited murmuring of many cats as they gathered for the first patrols of the day.

But Jayfeather couldn’t share his Clanmates’ excitement. Although a moon had passed since he and his companions had returned from their visit to the Tribe, he felt cold and bleak inside. His head was full of images of mountains, endless snow-covered peaks stretching into the distance, outlined crisply against an ice-blue sky. His belly cramped with pain as he recalled one particular image: a white cat with green eyes who gave him a long, sorrowful look before she turned away and padded along a cliff top above a thundering waterfall.

Jayfeather shook his head. What’s the matter with me? That was all a long, long time ago. My life has always been here with the Clans. So why do I feel as if something has been lost?

“Hi, Jayfeather.” Briarlight’s voice had a muffled, echoing sound, and Jayfeather realized she must have her head inside the cleft where he stored his herbs. “You’re awake at last.”

Jayfeather replied with a grunt. Briarlight was another of his problems. He couldn’t forget what Lionblaze had told him when he returned to the mountains: how Briarlight was so frustrated by being confined to the hollow, trapped by her damaged hindlegs, that she’d persuaded her brother Bumblestripe to carry her into the forest to look for herbs.

“There was a dog running loose,” Lionblaze had told him. “A cat with four functioning legs would have been hard-pressed to outrun it. If it hadn’t been for me and Toadstep luring it away, Briarlight would have been torn to pieces.”

“Mouse-brain!” Jayfeather snapped. “Why would she put herself in danger like that?”

“Because she’s convinced that she’s useless,” Lionblaze explained. “Can’t you give her more to do? Cinderheart and I promised her we’d help her find a proper part to play in the life of the Clan.”

“You had no right to promise her anything without speaking to me first,” Jayfeather retorted. “Are you suggesting I take her as my apprentice? Because I don’t want an apprentice!”

“That’s not what I meant,” Lionblaze meowed, his tail-tip twitching in annoyance. “But you could find more interesting duties for her, couldn’t you?”

Still reluctant, Jayfeather had done as his brother asked. He had to admit that Briarlight was easy to teach. She had been stuck in the medicine cat’s den for so long that she had already picked up a lot.

She’s actually useful, he mused. Her paws are neat and quick when she sorts the herbs, and she’s good at soaking wilted leaves in the pool without letting them fall to pieces.

“Jayfeather?” Briarlight’s voice roused Jayfeather from his thoughts. He heard her wriggling around, and then her voice came more clearly as if she was poking her head out of the cleft. “Are you okay? You were tossing and turning all night.”

“I’m fine,” Jayfeather muttered, unwilling to dwell any longer on the dreams that had plagued him.