Cats
ShadowClan
Leader:
Lilystar – creamy brown tabby she-cat
Deputy:
Pinefur – black tom with brown patches; apprentice: Molepaw
Medicine cat:
Mintmist – misty gray she-cat with blue eyes; apprentice: Applepaw
Warriors:
Foxclaw – ginger tom with green eyes
Falconwing – brown and white tom; apprentice: Honeypaw
Swiftfoot – gray she-cat with yellow eyes
Skystep – yellow and white tom
Ottersplash – light brown tabby she-cat; apprentice: Sycamorepaw
Toadtooth – dark brown tom with black eyes
Rainshade – silver she-cat with gray eyes
Cherrynose – tan and white tom with abnormal nose color; apprentice: Dovepaw
Sedgeleaf – small black and white tom
Shrewnose – spunky dark brown tom
Redsky – ginger and white tom with gray eyes
Apprentices:
Molepaw – dark brown tome with one white paw
Honeypaw – creamy tan tabby she-cat
Sycamorepaw – black and tan tom
Dovepaw – gray and white she-cat
Applepaw – red-brown tom with brown eyes
Queens:
Poppydawn – ginger and tortoiseshell she-cat
Clovertail – mottled she-cat with green eyes
Sunface – bright yellow she-cat
Elders:
Mudthroat – light brown tom with dark throat
Feathercloud – gray she-cat with white cloud-like patches on sides
Berryeye – ginger and black she-cat with permanently red eye from accident(oldest in clan)
RiverClan
Leader:
Harestar – light gray she-cat with short white tail; apprentice: Frogpaw
Deputy:
Leopardpounce – golden and black spotted tom
Medicine Cat:
Willowpool – dark brown she-cat with pink-red eyes; apprentice: Dustpaw
Warriors:
Cloudrunner – fluffy white tom with gray eyes
Aspenroot – dark brown tom; apprentince: Silverpaw
Crookedfoot – large white and brown tom with one twisted foot
Rabbitdash – gray she-cat with blue eyes
Flowerheart – white and black she-cat
Spottedstorm – dark gray tom with black spots; apprentice: Firepaw
Sweetpoppy – white she-cat with black flecks like poppy seeds
Comettail – black tom with silver patches
Brookbreeze – blue-gray she-cat with green eyes; apprentice: Sorrelpaw
Twilightshadow – black she-cat with blue amber eyes
Frostleaf – pure white tom with green eyes
Apprentices:
Frogpaw – dark gray tom with black patches
Silverpaw – sleek silver she-cat
Firepaw – dark ginger tom with blue eyes
Sorrelpaw – dark brown she-cat with bushy tail
Dustpaw – dark yellow tom with small brown patches
Queens:
Cindergaze – tan and white she-cat with dark gray eyes
Elders:
Shadowclaw – black tom
Hazelmouse – brown and tan she-cat with hazel eyes
Stormstrike – dark silver tom with blue eyes
WindClan
Leader:
Nettlestar – dark brown tom with black stripes
Deputy:
Jaypool – gray and white tom with green eyes
Medicine Cat:
Raggedtooth – black tom with white chest patch
Warriors:
Blossomflight- creamy brown she-cat with gray eyes
Sunpatch – sleek ginger and brown tom; apprentice: Sparrowpaw
Stonefoot – light gray tom with front white paws; apprentice: Violetpaw
Mumblestalk – tortoiseshell she-cat
Brightdawn – pale brown and tan she-cat with blue eyes
Tinystep – small black and white tom; apprentice: Leafpaw
Eagletalon – dark brown tom with huge claws
Hollylight – mottled she-cat with pale blue eyes
Longwhisker – light brown tom with long whiskers
Plumfur – pale ginger she-cat
Apprentices:
Sparrowpaw – dark brown tom with pale ginger belly
Violetpaw – black she-cat with a violet tint
Leafpaw – tan and white she-cat with smooth fur
Queens:
Sandwing – sandy brown she-cat with small dark brown spots
Brackenmouse – light brown tabby she-cat with light green eyes
Elders:
Doeflash – brown and white she-cat with one hind leg missing
Troutsplash – orange, black, and white she-cat
ThunderClan
Leader:
Larkstar – light brown tom with yellow-white belly (like a lark)
Deputy:
Icefure – pure white she-cat with piercing blue eyes
Medicine Cat:
Rippletail – gray tom with dark gray patches on tail; apprentice: Ivypaw
Warriors:
Mousewhisker – tan and brown tabby she-cat; apprentice: Owlpaw
Lionclaw – golden tom with darker golden patches like a mane
Spiderfoot – black tom with long legs; apprentice: Stumppaw
Dawnshine – red and brown she-cat with green eyes
Fawnleap – light brown she-cat with white spots
Palestripe – white tom with pale gray stripes
Lizardspot – gray and brown tom with tawny spots
Ashwing – dark gray tom with yellow eyes
Greenshade – pure black tom with stunning green eyes
Adderfang – brown tom with black spots
Buzzardheart – tan and black tom with red eyes
Apprentices:
Ivypaw – gray and white she-cat
Owlpaw – dark brown tom with light brown paws
Stumppaw – tan and light brown tom
Queens:
Splashsong – silver she-cat with white ears and tail tip
Elders:
Lightningfoot – long haired yellow and black tom
Sheeppelt – white she-cat with black legs (oldest cat in clan)
Cats outside the Clans
Chipper – bouncy brown and black she-kit
Wendell – old gray tom with white muzzle and throat
Oscar – yellow and black tom
Quince – young orange tom
Felicia – gray she-cat with white patches
Prologue
Paw steps crunched through the snow and a tiny mew filled the bitter cold air. A she-cat bounded down the side of a twoleg path, searching for shelter. The little bundle hanging from her jaws bounded on her frozen forelegs, mewing again in pain and protest. She winced, feeling her heart ache for her freezing kit. The gray and white cat stopped and scraped the snow away to reveal frozen grass. The tiny white tom was placed on the cleared spot and the she-cat huddled close while licking his fur the wrong way to warm him up. Her tail quivered both from the cold and fear for her son.
The kit started to meow louder, begging wordlessly for food and warmth. "It's okay, my son. We'll find some place" She purred with doubt in her voice. Glancing left was a land of forest and beyond a twoleg nest, a stretched out moor. Her gut told her to not go that way.
Looking left there was a stretch of pines, but in the darkness she couldn't tell what lay beyond it. The she-cat went to pick the kit up to head into the pines, but stopped suddenly. He was growing quiet and his flank was barely rising and falling. The rogue knew she needed to act quickly.
The kit was picked up in a hurry and she rushed off. The poor scrap didn't have enough energy to cry out in pain of being kicked. The gray she-cat bounded on until her neck ached. The pines in the night made chills pass through her small body. Then, the brambles near by rustled. She scraped snow off the ground quickly and set her kit down. Arching her back and fluffing out her short coat, she hissed and spat at whatever intruder lay near.
Her eyes were adjusted enough to see four cat figures surround her. One was a little smaller than the other three. "Does your nose not work properly, rogue? You just crossed a scent border!" The biggest of the cats spat at her. His amber eyes glowed with a strip of moonlight on his face. "My name is Felicia! I'm just passing through" She hissed back and lashed her tail.
"Wait, Pinefur" The female stranger meowed with a sniff to follow. "She has a kit. Don't harm her" The she-cat took a careful step forward. Felicia skidded back slightly then back in place to hover over her kit. "Please, let me pass. He'll die if I don't find shelter. I just want him safe!" The gray cat mewed more desperately and bent to lick him some more.
Pinefur eyed the fretting mother. His dark tail flicked with thought. "Sycamorepaw," he swung his head around to the smaller cat there, "Go tell Lilystar we have a visitor. Hurry" He ordered with roughness in his voice. The small tom nodded and raced through the pines. The cat that seemed to be in charge, Pinefur, trotted closer. "Let one of us carry the kit to our camp" said the dark tom. His amber eyes were not filled with hostility now.
Felicia nodded hesitantly. If these cats had shelter she would take it. "Will you carry him?" She looked to the other she-cat, Ottersplash. "Yes" Ottersplash dipped her head then picked the weak kit up by the scruff. "Toadtooth, bring up the rear" Pinefur said curtly to the lighter tom, the fourth of the party. He gave a nod and stood behind the other three cats.
Felicia watched as Pinefur left the small clearing and stalked into the dark. Ottersplash urged the timid cat forward and once she moved, the light brown tabby trotted next to her. Toadtooth brought up the rear silently.
It seemed as if they walked forever in the frozen air until Pinefur veered a sharp right and into a bramble thicket. Felicia looked shocked and watched as Ottersplash, who carried her kit, squeezed in after him. She turned and gave Toadtooth a bewildered look then plunged in after them.
As her eyes adjusted Felicia nearly ran into a large boulder near the entrance. She went around it and took a soft right. Just as Pinefur had said, it was indeed a camp. The moonlight that was barely visible through all the branches gave her just enough light to see many den entrances covered with tall grass and more brambles. In the middle was a tree stump that seemed ages old. Getting closer she smelled prey. By her surprise there was only a small finch inside. Her ears flattened and she caught up to Ottersplash, who was nearing a den next to a thick pine tree.
The she-cat hesitantly entered through the brambles and gasped. The size was unbelievable since it seemed so tiny from the outside. Three nests were taken up already. Pinefur, Ottersplash with her kit, and two other she-cats stood near also.
The tabby she-cat snapped her head up when she realized Felicia was there. "My name is Lilystar. Felicia, do you have any milk for your son?" She asked briskly. The gray cat shook her head. "No. I haven't eaten in days. My son is going to die and it's my entire fault" She wailed quietly. "Your kit will not die. Sunface has offered to nurse him. She already has two of her own" The other she-cat, a misty gray one, spoke now.
"This is our medicine cat, Mintmist. You may stay here for the night if you like" Lilystar brushed her tail on Felicia's flank. Peering past Pinefur, she watched Ottersplash place her kit next to the bright yellow she-cat that lied in her nest. Her belly was already lined with two kits, their pelts too hard to see in the dim light. The tabby warrior slid past every cat and out the entrance.
Felicia felt her heart squeeze when she watched her son guide himself to suckle from the strange cat. Lilystar sighed and looked at her expectantly. "Felicia" She whispered, slightly impatient. The gray rogue flattened her ears. "I thank you, Lilystar, but I see my son having a better life here. He will just die in my care with no milk or warm shelter" Her eyes shone with a mix of pain and sorrow.
"You want to leave your son with a clan of strangers?" Mintmist challenged her for the mother's sake. "Yes. He is better off this way. Please, Sunface, love him dearly. He is only a day old" Felicia moved to the back of the nursery and licked the white tom's head. "I love you, Smoke. I will never forget you" she stood there for a few moments, then turned tail and left. Mintmist and Lilystar followed her.
Heads were beginning to poke out of all the dens, curious of the scene. "Felicia, wait!" The clan leader called. The she-cat didn't stop. She fled the strange camp, away from any judging eyes. Mintmist put her tail tip on her leader's shoulder. "He's here now, Lilystar. Sunface said she would look after him. Let's get you to your den" The medicine cat pulled the tabby along to the den under the biggest tree stuck in the camp.
Back in the nursery, Sunface looked at her two kits then the new one that had just been brought. Pinefur was curled up by her head, grooming her ears. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to. He won't replace Stonekit" the tom purred gently. The nursing she-cat winced at the too soon memory. Sunface had given birth to three kits. In such a harsh leafbare, she lost her final kit moments after he was born.
"I know he won't, Pinefur, but I feel he will ease the pain" she murmured. There were two other she-cats in the den also; Clovertail, who lay alone since her four kits became apprentices not too long ago and Poppydawn with one older kit. That kit, Mothkit, had been awoken by the commotion. She scurried over and sniffed at the newest little bundle of fur. "What's his name?" She meowed. Her mother hissed at her to return to her nest, but Sunface just hushed her.
"Felicia called him Smoke. I'll call him Smokekit" She whispered and put her tail tip on the tom's head.
