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.