Chapter One

A gray tortoiseshell she-cat splashed through the shallow waters to join her father's side. The Islandclan leader looked down at his daughter, affection lighting up his eyes. A long line of cats formed on either side of him, waiting for a signal. The narrow bank of sand made a formidable battlefield, flat and sandy with shallow waters lapping at the edges.

'Cavernclan!' The tortoiseshell exclaimed, lifting her muzzle and parting her jaws to taste the air. Her ears pricked at the prospect of her first battle.

Her father lowered his haunches, keeping his gaze fixed on the enemy. 'Wait for my signal, Moonpaw.' Birchstar growled under his breath, sensing how much effort it took the apprentice to restrain herself from leaping at the advancing cats. 'Robinstar's cats are prepared for any impulsive apprentices. Stay back!'

Almost before he had spoken, Robinstar's voice yowled out across the bank. 'Attack!' Moonpaw let her haunches propel herself forward, yowling out in excitement. She flung herself in the battle, excited to bring honor to her clan by fighting bravely in her first battle. She slashed around with sharp claws, striking down a few smaller apprentices. As she challenged a Cavernclan warrior, a weight struck her from behind, throwing her off-balance. An older apprentice dragged her off the Cavernclan cat, paying no attention to her hiss of protest. His flame-colored pelt flashed around the battle, wounding many Islandclan cats. Moonpaw lunged, claws unsheathed, and missed his whiskers by an inch. She spun around to meet the cat's amber eyes.

'Follow me,' he hissed through sharp fangs. 'I know where your father's body is.'

Moonpaw felt her blood turn to ice. She spun around and searched the seething battle, but the Cavernclan cat was right. Her father wasn't there. Birchstar couldn't be dead! He only had one life left, and if he lost it, the brave leader would finally join StarClan. I need to say goodbye, Moonpaw thought desperately, turning back to the Cavernclan apprentice.

'Show me.' Her voice trembled with pain as she followed him through Cavernclan territory. Soon they came to Cavernclan's camp. Moonpaw's pelt prickled with fear. She had never been to another Clan's camp before. This one smelled of reeking falcon meat, like all the Cavernclan cats. She shivered as several cats came over to see who the stranger was, but then snickered evilly as though there was something to laugh at. Then it reached her—something was terribly wrong. Moonpaw's eyes grew wide in hopeless fear. Her paws wanted to run back to the lake and swim across to the safe island—but if they really had Birchstar's body, she would do anything to say goodbye to her father.

'Stay in here,' the Cavernclan apprentice growled as he shoved Moonpaw into a small, smelly den, smashing her into the prickly brambles. Several warriors worked together to roll a heavy stone in front of the tiny opening through which she had been pushed. Her mind registered the moment quickly.

'No!' she screeched. 'You tricked me! Let me go—now!'

The Cavernclan cats laughed at the young Islandclan apprentice as she fought against the thickly woven reeds and brambles that formed her prison. Blood welled up in scratches on her pads, where the thorns had cut her skin. The barrier ripped out clumps of her fur, but already the apprentice knew that fighting her way out would be impossible. Moonpaw's hopes plummeted deeper than the lake's sandy bottom. She crumbled, letting her mind go blank. She did not wake until a familiar voice yowled her name.

'Birchstar?' Moonpaw got to her feet, a spark of hope bursting into flames. 'You're here!'

She pummeled into the bracken once more, hoping to free herself in time to fight alongside her father.

'Moonpaw! Are you all right?' Birchstar called out from the Cavernclan camp. Moonpaw fixed her ears on the cats, but there wasn't a hint of the usual battle screams. Light spilled into the dark den, making her eyes hurt when the rock was moved from the entrance. It hadn't been moved by her father but by several Cavernclan cats. They were silent as the grave, but the triumph showed clearly on their faces.

'Moonpaw, you're safe now,' Birchstar bounded to his daughter, nosing her fur. A small patrol was with him—Ivyfoot, Nightstrike, and Rainwhisker. They watched from a few tail-lengths away, alarm and relief washing over their faces both at once.

'Come, we'll go home,' Birchstar swept past the stocky Cavernclan guards at the camp's exit. They did not budge to try and stop the Islandclan warriors. They stared after the cats.

'But—'Moonpaw protested, wanting to know the whole truth about this mysterious way of freeing her without a fight. Soon a Cavernclan patrol ran after them, and Moonpaw started, anxiously pointing it out to the Islandclan patrol.

'Don't ask questions,' Birchstar meowed. 'You'll learn what happened when we've reached the camp.'

Moonpaw remained silent until they reached home. She leaped into the camp, expecting several warm greetings, but only her two brothers and her mother ran over to meet her joyously. The Clan regarded her with cold silence, glaring viciously at the young apprentice.

'What did I do?' she half wailed to her mother when she was alone with Brookblossom. 'They're treating me like a piece of fox dung!'

'Hush, Moonpaw,' Brookblossom answered. 'Lightpaw and Sprucepaw will tell you about it in the den.'

Thankfully there had been no other apprentices in the den, and Moonpaw could hear the truth from the two brothers she trusted.

'We were winning the battle,' Sprucepaw explained. 'But then Sunpaw tricked you away into their camp, and Cavernclan took you prisoner.'

Lightpaw nodded. 'We didn't even realize until Robinstar demanded the territory be given peacefully. When Birchstar asked why, he said that they would kill you if the bank wasn't given to them by sunhigh.' Moonpaw gasped. What if the Clan had objected?

'Of course, Birchstar gave up the bank to Cavernclan, and he went to rescue you from their camp,' Lightpaw went on. 'The bank is now rightfully theirs, I guess.'

'No,' Moonpaw cried incredulously. 'If they hadn't kidnapped me in the first place, the bank would still be ours.'

'But you believed Sunpaw,' Sprucepaw pointed out. 'Didn't you ever learn not to believe anything Cavernclan says to you?'

Moonpaw had fallen silent, and her brothers shared her need to keep their thoughts to themselves. Only a moment later, Birchstar's call for a Clan meeting rung through the air, and Moonpaw looked up, alarmed. Would he speak of her in front of the whole Clan?

Moonpaw's eyes flitted anxiously up to the Highstone, where Birchstar towered above the clan. His powerful shoulders rippled his light tabby fur, and the tom easily jumped the old, eroded rock in the center of the camp. Moonpaw couldn't detect any trace of feeling from his stone-cold face, causing her pelt to prickle with worry.

Birchstar glanced down and made meaningful eye contact with several cats. 'I am sorry for what happened to our sandbank. It is valuable, but I don't think we should try to invade Cavernclan and take back what is rightfully ours. Our warriors need to heal and I know the right time will come.' The leader looked around the circle of anxious cats below as if looking for one particular face. Moonpaw would not meet her father's gaze. 'Moonpaw, you didn't mean to do any wrong. We all know it wasn't your fault.' Several cats dared to grunt in disagreement as the leader spoke, but he did not flinch, speaking boldly to the fatigued but still high-strung clan. ' I call an end to this clan meeting.'

Moonpaw stared at her paws, barely daring to move. The clan was hurt because of her. It was her fault they had lost an important piece of territory, valuable with fish and sunshine.

Moonpaw met her father's gaze, willing her father to see the determination in her eyes.

I'll catch more prey than any other cat to prove I'm still worthy to become a warrior of Islandclan!