Warriors: Rise of the New Clans:
What Is Most Precious
Complete Summary:
Spotted Owl, Tall Pine, and the rest of the patrol have returned home to their Clans from their mission to spy on the Bands, groups of cats led by the ruthless Thunderclap who will stop at nothing until he destroys the Clans. The patrol has gathered the information that the Clans need, and they are finally prepared to fight back, but the arrival of a familiar face shakes them to the core. Divisions begin to fracture the Clans when they need to be unified the most. Shadows of the past haunt both dreams and reality. Spotted Owl and Tall Pine must confront both their past and present, wrestling with issues that hit closer to home than ever before in what may just be their greatest trial yet. The siblings come to realize that danger lurks not only outside their home, but may be coming from the heart of the Clans as well…
Allegiances:
The Clan of the Morning Sun
Chieftain: Mossy Moon - dark brown tabby she-cat with ice blue eyes, a white chest and muzzle
Regent: Falling Star - white furred she-cat with cream colored ears and paws and amber eyes
Healer: Red Maple - russet she-cat with white forepaws and yellow eyes
Trainee: Whispering Rain
Fighters: Cloudy Water - dark gray and white tom (council cat)
Rising Water - very pale gray tabby she-cat (council cat)
Sage Fur - mottled brown and cream she-cat with green eyes
Soaring Hawk - large, broad, dark brown tabby tom
Yellow Sky - dark smoky gray she-cat
Trainee: Spotted Owl
Sharp Wind - dark reddish-brown tom with black stripes (council cat)
Raven Swoop - sleek black tom
Rabbit Nose - pale brown tabby and white tom
Trainee: Blossom Dust
Drifting Leaf - dusty brown she-cat with golden patches
Dewy Grass - mottled dark gray and brown she-cat
Dappled Fur - sleek, light brown tabby she-cat with small white spots
Jagged Path - black and dark brown tabby tom
Hunters: Smoke Pelt - dark gray tabby tom with amber eyes
Quick Clouds - white tom with large pale gray patches
Trainee: Tall Pine
Bracken Tail - dark golden brown tabby tom with a ginger tail (council cat)
Maple Sky - tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes
Dawn Sky - pretty pale gray and white she-cat
Trainee: Amber Mist
Willow Leaf - slim silver tabby she-cat with white face, paws, chest and tail tip
Waving Fern - dark brown and gray dappled she-cat with a gray tail
Running Wave - lithe dark brown tabby tom
Passing Storm - dark gray tom with a dark streak along his spine
Fern Dapple - silver tabby she-cat with darker markings
Trainees: Spotted Owl - black and white dappled she-cat with green eyes
Blossom Dust - light brown she-kit with golden patches with yellow eyes
Tall Pine - white tom with black patches with yellow eyes
Amber Mist - lithe amber-gold she-kit with one white paw and a white chest
Whispering Rain - pale silver she-kit with blue-grey speckles and one white paw
Elders: Quiet Sun - pale red and golden tabby she-cat with yellow eyes
Tumbling Stone - solidly built dark gray tom with graying muzzle
Shining Feather - skinny pale gray tabby she-cat
The Clan of the Flowing Waters
Chieftain: Gray Moon - sleek gray tom with stormy blue eyes
Regent: Wind Fur - gray tabby tom with black stripes and amber eyes
Trainee: Frosted Leaf
Healer: Apple Blossom - dark brown she-cat with a white chest and green eyes
Fighters: Ebony Leaf - pale gray tabby she-cat with jet-black stripes (council cat)
Crow Tuft - black tom with amber eyes (council cat)
Dark Night - sleek black tom with yellow eyes
Sun Splash - yellow she-cat with white paws, tail tip, and splash on her chest
Misty Stream - pale silver and white tabby she-cat
Duck Flight - thick-furred sandy-brown tom
Quiet Stream - pretty silver tabby she-cat
Trainee: Patch Tail
Storm Breeze - dark gray she-cat with blue eyes
Holly Blossom - longhaired black she-cat with green eyes
Hunters: Flower Dew - thick-furred golden-brown and white tabby she-cat (council cat)
Cloudy Sky - pale gray she-cat with a black tipped tail and smokey blue eyes
Honey Song - golden tabby she-cat with green eyes
Lily Pool - tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes (council cat)
Nettle Claw - mottled dark gray tabby tom with dark green eyes
Curled Bracken - dark brown tabby tom
Splash Tail - mottled gray and brown tabby she-cat
Trainee: Light Feather
Sky Stripe - pale golden and white tabby tom
Trainee: Stream Song
Shadowed Fur - black tom with orange tipped ears and orange tipped tail
Trainees: Frosted Leaf - pale gray she-cat with a white belly, tail tip, ear tips, and paws
Light Feather - very pale gray and white tom
Stream Song - gray tabby she-cat
Patch Tail - pale gray and white patched tom
Mothers: Pine Needle - lithe silver tabby she-cat, mother of Blue Clouds (blue-gray tom), Mint Leaf (pale gray tabby she-kit), Waving Reed (light gray tom), and Bright Pebble (white she-kit with silver patches)
Elders: Hazel Fall - hazel-brown tabby tom
Speckled Moss - light gray she-cat with dark brown speckles and green eyes
Shimmering Wave - sleek black she-cat
The Clan of the Dark Caves
Chieftain: Hawk Moon - dark brown tabby tom
Regent: Broken Breeze - pale gray tabby she-cat with a white tail tip
Healers: Night Pelt - black tom with green eyes
Trainee: Doe Leap
Fighters: Owl Eye - dark brown tabby tom with one yellow eye, blind in the other
Dawn Leaves - silver and white tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Dark Flame - dark gray tom with lighter stripes and belly (council cat)
Hare Stripe - light brown tabby and white tom
Falling Leaf - tortoiseshell she-cat
Vole Leap - light brown tabby she-cat with dark gray stripes
Lark Feather - thick-furred brown tom
Trainee: Bright Blossom
Hunters: Flash Tail - black tom with a white underbelly, chest, and tail (council cat)
Dusky Fur - thick-furred dark brown she-cat (council cat)
Lightning Foot - sleek black tom with one white foot (council cat)
Sun Shade - golden tabby tom with light paws, belly and tail tip and green eyes
Weasel Whisker - ginger tabby tom with green eyes
Snow Drift - white she-cat with a few pale gray patches
Trainee: Birch Shade
Shadow Step - dark gray tom with darker forepaws
Dappled Feather - silver and black tabby she-cat
Trainees: Birch Shade - cream tom with brown streaks
Bright Blossom - tortoiseshell she-cat
Doe Leap - mottled light brown she-cat
Mothers: Ember Heart - amber-brown she-cat with grey patches, mother of Flower Petal (small white she-cat with tortoiseshell patches) and Wolf Howl (dark gray she-cat with a light brown muzzle, underbelly, and paws)
Quick Breeze - small white she-cat with pale blue eyes, mother of Thistle Tuft (dark brown tabby tom), Frozen Pool (dark brown and white tom), and Smokey Stripe (very pale gray and white tabby tom)
Elders: Fox Nose - ginger tom with a light underbelly and paws
Silent Step - pale gray and white tabby she-cat
Damp Whisker - mottled gray tom with darker markings
Shrew Tail - dark brown tom with three darker paws and one white sock
The Clan of the High Peaks
Chieftain: Grass Moon - blue-gray tabby she-cat with white paws and green eyes
Regent: Ash Leap - pale gray tom with darker patches
Healers: Silver Song - silver and white tabby she-cat
Blue Streak - blue-gray tom with a darker streak along his spine
Fighters: Echoing Breeze - blue-gray she-cat (council cat)
Wild Claw - dark brown tabby tom with darker stripes
Melting River - silver and white tabby tom (council cat)
Trainee: Sunny Leaf
Falcon Wing - ginger and brown tabby and white tom
Tawny Fang - tawny brown tabby tom with blue eyes
Windy Song - very pale gray she-cat
Cedar Frost - silver tabby tom
Trainee: Prickling Thorn
Feather Flight - light gray she-cat with darker dapples
Swift Sky - silver she-cat with white patches
Hunters: Clear Gaze - mottled ginger and cream tabby she-cat with green eyes (council cat)
Rising Fawn - white she-cat with brown dapples and amber eyes
Small Foot - black and white she-cat
Soaring Jay - black tom piercing blue eyes
Trainee: Fluttering Wing
Darkening Skies - very dark gray tom with lighter gray paws (council cat)
Singing Dove - sleek light brown tabby she-cat
Trainee: Sandy Pelt
Robin Song - mottled orange and cream she-cat
Trainee: Bubbling Creek
Trainees: Sandy Pelt - light brown tabby and white tom
Sunny Leaf - golden brown she-cat with amber eyes
Pricking Thorn - brown tabby tom with spiky fur
Fluttering Wing - elegant white she-cat
Bubbling Creek - very dark tabby gray tom
Mothers: Soft Dusk - dark brown tabby she-cat, mother of Berry Pelt (pale cream and white tom), and Morning Mist (pale gray tabby she-kit)
Elders: Breezy Feather - skinny dark brown and gray she-cat with pale blue eyes
Stone Foot - light gray tom with one white foot
Windswept Rock - light gray tom with dark patches
Prologue
The rust-tinged dawn clouds were the color of blood.
A sickly scarlet red color stained clouds that were hooked like a cat's claw as if a great lion from the legends of old was reaching down to scar the earth with claws smeared with blood, fresh from battle.
The sight was as evident as a kit's wail. A sign. One that would be hard to miss, but hardly any could understand.
Far below, a pair of smoldering green eyes watched from between the tangled branches of lofty trees rattled by a raw breeze. A jaw tightened as whiskers twitched. The cat who the eyes belonged to knew all too well what the sign meant. It was a warning. A harbinger of danger. A bad omen.
For some.
A small smile tugged at the tom's lips.
The cat lowered his head, returning his gaze to the forest in front of him and his attention on the task at hand. The muscles along his shoulder rippled as he started moving, prowling the forest floor, more dangerous than any predator. The fire-gold rays of the sun slanted across the earth, casting long shadows from the trees that made a striped pattern like the tom's tabby pelt. Shadows flitted through the pools of sunlight, and muffled pawsteps crunched on the leaf-strewn earth as other cats sprinkled throughout the trees began to move.
The tom paused. Like a ripple through a lake, the other cats stopped as well. He stretched his muzzle toward the ground, his mouth open. He inhaled deeply, tasting the forest scents—the sharp evergreen, the musty leaves, the rich prey, but none were what he was looking for. He took another step, but once again, nothing. Three more steps yielded nothing as well.
Where is it? Impatience swelled inside the tom. His nose swept the trunk of a sapling oak and then investigated beneath the fronds of a fern clump. His ears pricked as he caught a whiff of something on the breeze. The large tom thrust his way through the ferns and bounded to the edge of a gushing brook. There, among the stones and damp blades of grass, faint and almost washed away by the torrential water, he caught the scent.
The tom drew in a deep breath, bringing in the familiar scent, one so much like his own. One that made his lip curl back as if he was smelling rotten roadkill. Sharp.
The word tasted like snake venom on his tongue.
His whiskers trembled like leaves in a raging storm. His blood boiled like a swollen warm-season stream threatening to flood its banks.
Sharp. That sniveling, cowardly weakling. A pathetic excuse for my son. I chose him as my successor. I taught him everything I know. I pushed him to be the best. I gave him countless chances. I was merciful. But time and time again, he has continued to fail me.
He failed countless times to dedicate himself to his training and become a better fighter.
He failed to detach himself from that weakling sister of his.
He failed to follow orders and take that Clan-scum's life.
He failed by lying instead of killing that annoying little trainee.
He failed the heartbeat that he allowed himself to care about that Clan-scum.
He failed his mission.
He failed to stop the Clan-scums' attack and keep the prisoners.
He failed in the worst way possible, being disloyal to the Bands and me by colluding with the Clan-scum.
"Thunderclap!" The large tom turned, his expression shifting into a well-practiced mask of neutrality.
A fiery ginger tom bounded up to Thunderclap, his fluffy tail streaming out behind him. His green eyes sparkled with kit-like excitement. "Did you find the scent?"
"Yes." Thunderclap turned, his tail swishing behind him. "Come, Ember."
Ember loped alongside Thunderclap, undaunted by the bigger tom's brusque demeanor. Although his fur was a solid ginger color like the embers of a fire he was named for to other tom's paler tabby coat, by their identical green eyes, these two could be nothing except father and son. Like his pelt, Ember's personality was fiery as he babbled on like a warm-season brook. "I'm so excited. I can't believe I'm on my first mission. Thank you for taking me, Thunderclap. I won't let you down."
Thunderclap met Ember's gaze out of the corner of his eye. "I know you won't."
A grin stretched across Ember's face. "I will make you proud, I promise—"
Thunderclap stopped short and held up his tail, cutting the young tom off. He bent his head, searching the ground until he located Sharp's scent again. "Sniff around here, and tell me what you can find," he ordered.
"Okay." Ember's tail swished happily as he began to investigate the terrain around them. "Hmm. I smell a squirrel...there's a mouse nest over here...a fox must've passed by recently."
"Less talking, more sniffing," Thunderclap grunted.
"Okay," Ember chirped. A few heartbeats later, his head shot up. "I found it. I found Sharp's scent."
Thunderclap nodded. "Now, follow it."
"Really?" The young tom's eyes shone. Without waiting, for an answer, he bounded off into the lead.
Thunderclap waited for a moment as Ember's white-tipped tail vanished into the trees. He began walking again, slower this time, and made an almost indiscernible flick of his tail. Two shapes slipped from the shadows and slid into step with him. Thunderclap didn't spare them a glance. "Torrent. Panther."
A she-cat with a glossy pelt as black as night inclined her head to him. "Thunderclap."
"How is our leverage?"
"Rage is watching her." A reddish-brown tom on his other side replied. His whiskers twitched. "She's safe and sound, for now."
"And the soldiers? Are they ready to do what is needed?"
Panther's deep amber eyes flashed. "Of course. We are all ready to do whatever it takes."
Thunderclap nodded. He scrutinized Panther's face, his brow slowly furrowing. A growl rumbled in his throat. "Do you have a concern that you're not sharing with me?"
Torrent cleared his throat. "It's not our concern, but there has been some rumbling among the soldiers about your decision to bring Ember."
"What of it?"
"He's young and inexperienced," Panther pointed out. "And after what happened with Sharp—"
Thunderclap's eyes snapped to her face. His upper lip curled back ever so slightly. "I decided to bring Ember. He's ready." He narrowed his eyes. "He won't fail me."
"Of course." Torrent dipped his head before he and Panther slipped off as Thunderclap flicked his tail again.
I know Ember will not fail me, Thunderclap repeated to himself. He set his jaw as an unwavering certainty settled into his stomach. He had his captains behind him. He had loyal soldiers ready to carry out their plan. He would not let anything stop him from doing what needed to be done. He would have no regrets. A small grin of eager anticipation spread across his face. Sharp has failed me for the last time.
Hi everyone, I'm baaaaaack! It has been a while (two months, I know) but I've finally gotten everything figured out and planned, and I'm ready to dive into Book Three! I can't believe we're here! It feels like ages ago and just yesterday that I started Fractured Peace. As you can probably tell, the title is What Is Most Precious, which I got the idea for after writing the epilogue of Land of Shadowed Stars. The title hints at some very important parts of the book, both figuratively and literally, so keep that in mind. We've had a sinister prologue from Thunderclap's perspective, and soon, in chapter one, we will finally meet Spotted Owl again. I'm so excited to write from her perspective again. Thank you for reading the prologue. If you're new, welcome! I recommend that you read the other two books of the series so you know what in the stars is going on before reading this one. If you've not new, welcome back! Thank you for your commitment to this very long series.
As I was planning the book, I began to have so many cool ideas for the details of all of the characters. That is why I've decided to give a Fun Fact after every chapter (will be included below) to share my ideas with you all and develop some of the characters that I might not have the time or way to do in the book. I hope you enjoy!
Right now, I plan to update this story about every week. I will develop more of a schedule as I dive into writing. I have a lot more time on my hands now that my school is closed for the foreseeable future because of the coronavirus. I know this is a scary time for all of us, myself included, so make sure you listen to what the authorities are saying and take precautions to keep yourself and those you love safe and healthy. Writing has helped me pass the time and distract myself from all of the chaos of the outside world. I hope reading this helps you and I hope you all stay safe and healthy. We'll get through this.
Fun Fact: While Thunderclap chose Sharp as his successor, Sharp and his sister, Sage, were both trained to fight together. Out of the pair, Sage is actually the one that showed a natural talent for fighting, and she helped Sharp whenever he had trouble. However, Thunderclap could never see beyond her frequent bouts of sickness as a kit that left her small and prone to coughing fits.
Until next time!
- A Warrior At Heart