Prologue

"Get out of here, kittypet!"

The small kitten bristled, backing up until his tail touched the fence behind him. His eyes widened at the cats before him – short, but thick and muscular with wide paws and sharp claws. Narrowed eyes glinted in the moonlight.

"I just want to -"

The kitten's voice broke off with a squeak as he dodged beneath a set of claws. A dark brown tabby drew himself up to his full height and curled his lip at the kittypet kitten.

"Kittypets don't belong in the forest," he spat. "So go back home, to your soft bed and your soft slop!"

The kitten crouched and trembled before them. Behind the brown tabby tom, his Clanmates hissed and jeered, spitting insults that roiled in the kitten's mind until he couldn't take it anymore. Turning tail, the kitten scrambled beneath the fence, flattening his ears against the cheers of the forest cats.

"Good riddance!" shouted one of them.

"Stupid kittypet," spat another. "Hope that's the last we see of that one!"

"Determined little mouse, I'll give him that," added a third, their voice growing quiet as the group of cats began to pad back into the marshy forest from whence they came. "If he weren't a kittypet…"

If I weren't a kittypet…

The kitten drew himself up, taking a deep breath to still the heart beating in his ears.

I won't give up! He thought. Warmth flooded his pelt as he looked up at the stars, recalling stories of how the cats in the forest ran free beneath them, between bushes and trees with no Twolegs to pick them up. No one to own them. No one to rely on but one another and themselves. The kitten dug his claws into the earth.

The marsh cats don't want me, he thought, resolved, but there are other groups in the forest. His father's colorful stories filled his mind.

I will be a Clan cat!

"I want to join you!"

The Clan cats stared at him incredulously. The young tom could see anger brewing in the lean ginger tabby tom's eyes. The younger cat, her blue-gray fur still kit-soft, looked uninterested. The massive dark brown tabby tom was confused.

Why can't they see? The young tom thought. He dug his claws into the earth. "I can hunt and fight! I want to be a Clan cat! I'm just like you!"

This made the ginger tabby scoff. "Do you hear this nonsense, Tigerclaw? This kittypet is just like us?"

Tigerclaw, the large tabby tom, squared his shoulders. "I don't know – he seems to have spirit, Sunfall."

"Spirit!" Sunfall hissed. "It takes more than spirit to make a warrior cat! You need to be born with the wind in your whiskers and sunlight on your pelt. This kittypet doesn't know anything but food and warmth – he'd shrivel and die when leaf-bare came."

The young tom fluffed out his pelt. "You don't know anything about me!" he hissed back. Would they let him in if he challenged them? Was that what they wanted? "I was born a kittypet but my heart calls for the forest! I feel the wind in my fur, pulling at my whiskers. Not all kittypets dream of softness and food!"

He stepped forward, daring, trying to disguise his heart beating in his ears. "I am a warrior!"

"Blasphemy!" spat Sunfall. "You would never learn the warrior code – never truly feel it in your heart! Weakness is in your blood and your bones."

"Why do you get to decide that?" spat the tom.

Sunfall thrust his muzzle into the tom's face. "Because I am a warrior! And you are nothing!"

"Sunfall, stop -"

"Bluepaw," Sunfall hissed, pacing back to the young she-cat. "Show him. Show him what makes a warrior! Teach this kittypet to respect his place in the world."

The young tom had little time to react – he didn't see the blue-gray she-cat bunch her haunches, and suddenly she was on top of him. Frantically, he tried to strike her – but the surprise attack had rendered him incapable of defending himself. He could only curl beneath her blows as they rained down upon his shoulders.

He yowled as searing pain raked over him.

"Sunfall, are you mad?!" snapped Tigerclaw. Suddenly, the weight was gone from the young tom's shoulders. Tigerclaw had thrust Bluepaw aside, and now placed his big, bulky body between the tom and his Clanmate. "He's barely an apprentice himself, and you sick Bluepaw on him like he's prey?"

"I am defending our border," Sunfall retorted. "Like a warrior does. Do you see him cowering, Tigerclaw? This kittypet is no warrior. He never was, and never will be. The first border skirmish would send him to Twolegplace with his tail between his legs."

"That's no excuse to attack him!" Tigerclaw growled back. "These aren't the days of Oakstar, of attacking any cat that so much as sniffs at us! He did no harm."

"Feeling soft towards a kittypet, are you?" Sunfall sneered suddenly. His voice got low and dangerous. "Maybe you'd like to go back to Twolegplace with him, eh? Maybe go and see that father of yours -"

Tigerclaw let out a roar befitting his name. The massive tabby tom was twice Sunfall's size, his fur fluffed out to its ends, as he pushed the ginger tom away with his sheer size. Sunfall flinched – but the young kittypet tom could see satisfaction glinting in the warrior's eye as he hit his Clanmate's nerve.

"Come away, Bluepaw," Sunfall meowed casually. "Let's wash that kittypet blood off of your claws. You've given him a reminder of what lies in wait in the forest."

The blue-gray she-cat's eyes were cold as they met the young tom's. That gaze bore into him, so cold it was like snow on a burn. She said nothing, and yet that gaze was seared into the young tom's memory long after the warrior patrol had left him.

He curled up into a ball and cowered, fear making him tremble. Blood matted against his shoulder, stiffening the fur.

Not long after, the fear turned to anger.

Then the anger… the anger turned to hatred.

"They're here, Scorch."

Scorch balanced atop the dumpster, feeling the cold of the hard Twoleg material seep into his bones. He watched his visitors pad cautiously through his alley, feeling proud of the fear he instilled into the outsiders. The alley stank of rotting Twoleg food and too many cats, making their forest-smelling pelts seem like a breath of fresh air.

All it did for Scorch was make his shoulder ache.

His cats were tense, waiting for any signal from him to attack. In a moment, Scorch could have these forest cats' pelts at his paws. But he was patient, and he had a small modicum of honor – he always heard out cats' pleas. Whether or not he helped them was part of the risk they took in coming here in the first place.

A black tabby tom was leading the outsiders; his short body and round face a contrast to his companion – a mid-sized, slender blue-gray she-cat whose fur shone silver in the harsh Twoleg light. Her blue eyes were cold, and familiar.

The black tabby tom stopped before Scorch. "This is the one I told you about," he meowed.

"So you are Scorch," meowed the blue-gray she-cat. She stepped forward, her shoulders bearing a regal weight. Scorch could tell from that arrogance that she sought to reign over all she could see. "You are the leader of this… Clan."

"Yes," Scorch meowed back. Do you remember me? He wondered, looking down upon her. No, of course you don't. I am still beneath you in your eyes, even if I tower above you right now. "I am Scorch. And you?"

"I am Bluestar," she said, in a voice that commanded respect, "the leader of ShadowClan."

Scorch's whiskers twitched. "Very well. Your lackey here -" the black tabby flinched at the words – "has told me of you and your intentions, Bluestar. Tell me, now; why should we aid you?"

Bluestar's eyes glittered. "Because I can offer you something beyond this alley in a Twolegplace," she declared.

"And what might that be?"

"The forest. All the prey you can eat, and safety from these Twolegs within the trees." Bluestar's whiskers twitched. "Your Clan will be powerful, and together we can rule the forest in peace."

Scorch couldn't help but smile.

"Very well, Bluestar… let us see what BloodClan can do for you."