Эрин Хантер - The Ultimate Guide

Back in the forest, our readiness to invade other territories came from a lack of prey inside our own borders—lizards and frogs can only fill so many bellies in leaf-bare, and it seemed unfair that our neighbors and rivals had rabbits and woodland birds in every season.

And if our leaders took us into battle, what kind of warriors would we have been to refuse?

ShadowClan cats are proud of who they are, proud to fight more bravely and tirelessly than any other Clan. Our first warriors were those who were most willing to take action to answer a complaint, to stand by the proof of claws and teeth rather than fine words. We settled on the outskirts of the forest because that gave us the independence we desired, the freedom to choose our own borders and pursue prey as far as we could run. Carrionplace was a bonus, supplying us with rats, though we had to learn fast how to tell if they had been tainted by Twoleg waste and would give us bellyaches.

Our Clan has stayed pure through all the seasons past; strangers are not welcome, and kittypets have no place inside our borders. Tigerstar was an exception, since he was born and raised in ThunderClan, but if our ancestors were willing to give him nine lives, that showed they wanted him to lead us. We have allowed some rogues to join us too, but only after proving their loyalty and courage.

Inviting Scourge and his cats of BloodClan into the forest may have been a bad idea, but ShadowClan emerged victorious from that battle. And now, beside the lake, we are still the most feared Clan, the cats who have the fiercest skills in stalking and fighting. These virtues have nothing to do with the wind; they are bred within us, and will endure for as long as the warrior code survives.

RAGGEDSTAR WAS BORN IN ShadowClan to the warrior Featherstorm, but the identity of his father was always a mystery. Rumors that his father had been a kittypet followed Raggedkit from the moment he opened his eyes, and the taunts that filled his ears made him grow up all the more determined to prove his courage and skill in battle. He was sharp-tongued to the point of being cruel, and measured himself against punishing standards. It was no surprise that Cedarstar chose him to be deputy when he was still a young warrior, after his daring plan to trap rats at the Carrionplace.

Raggedstar, whose warrior name was Raggedpelt, was respected by his Clanmates, but not particularly well liked because of his prickly, defensive nature. Only Yellowpaw, who would one day be Yellowfang, saw through to the vulnerability that made him lash out. It was Yellowpaw who insisted they try to find Raggedpelt’s real father in Twolegplace, but when they went in search of him they met with nothing but hostility and denial. In fact, Raggedpelt’s father was a Twolegplace rogue named Hal who had no interest in claiming his Clanborn son. Moons later, an attack by Twolegplace rogues brought Raggedpelt face-to-face with Hal once more—and this time Raggedpelt killed him.

Yellowfang’s decision to become a medicine cat made Raggedpelt furious. He couldn’t comprehend why she would give up the future she had with him to follow such an isolated path. But it was too late to untangle their paths; Yellowfang soon revealed that she was expecting his kits.

Raggedpelt was overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a father, then outraged when Yellowfang said their kits could never know who their real mother was. Only one kit survived, an angry tom with a crooked tail who grew up to become Brokenstar.

Raggedstar raised his son to be fierce enough to fight back against the teasing that came from having no mother; Raggedstar knew how it felt to be rejected by a parent. He was desperately proud of Brokentail and made him deputy as soon as he could, after Cloudpelt was killed in a skirmish with WindClan. But even Raggedstar’s ambition and readiness to fight paled beside Brokentail’s desire for power. Too late, Raggedstar realized that his son was training cats to fight to kill. He confessed to Yellowfang that he had made a terrible mistake in appointing Brokentail to be deputy so soon and tried to tell Brokentail to train less fiercely. Days later, Brokentail ambushed and killed his father in a remote part of the territory, blaming WindClan trespassers for his death.

SAGEWHISKER WAS THE MEDICINE cat before Yellowfang. She served Cedarstar and then Raggedstar, but died before she had to witness the cruelty of Brokenstar’s leadership. Sagewhisker had a prodigious memory for herbs and a gift for listening to StarClan, but her greatest strength lay in observing the cats around her. She was the first to realize that the young she-cat Yellowpaw, who would one day be Yellowfang, had a unique sensitivity to other cats’ ailments and felt their pain in sympathy. Sagewhisker encouraged Yellowpaw’s curiosity about berries and herbs, secretly hoping that Yellowpaw would ask to be apprenticed as a medicine cat.

But Yellowpaw seemed intent on following the path of a warrior despite her talents and earned the warrior name Yellowfang. Close questioning after a clash with the Twolegplace cats confirmed Sagewhisker’s suspicions that, even though Yellowfang had escaped with hardly a scratch, she knew exactly where her Clanmates had been hurt. Yellowfang still had her heart set on serving her Clan as a warrior, not a medicine cat, but Sagewhisker was patient. She knew that this was a decision Yellowfang had to reach on her own, and although she let Yellowfang help with herbs and treatments, she made no attempt to change her mind.

Eventually Yellowfang could no longer bear to fight alongside her Clanmates when she could feel every blow that was struck, and she asked Sagewhisker if she could train as a medicine cat. Without gloating, Sagewhisker agreed and helped Yellowfang find a way to block out the pain of other cats.

Soon after Yellowfang became a full medicine cat, Sagewhisker realized the young she-cat was expecting Raggedstar’s kits, and she wondered if she had made a terrible mistake. But Sagewhisker believed that being a medicine cat was more important than anything else, and she persuaded Yellowfang to tell Raggedstar so that their kits would have at least one parent in the Clan.

Yellowfang took her mentor’s advice, and gave Brokenkit up to Lizardstripe as soon as he was born.

Sagewhisker kept Yellowfang out of the nursery so she was not distracted by the sight of her son and gave her herbs to dry up her milk.

Sagewhisker died in her den, midway through sorting herbs. She had fulfilled her duty to her very last breath and trusted Yellowfang to do the same.

RUNNINGNOSE WAS CHOSEN BY Yellowfang to train as a ShadowClan medicine cat. Weaker than his littermates due to his tendency to catch every passing sickness, he was nonetheless cheerful and keen to learn. Yellowfang never did teach him to cure his own sniffles, but he became a skilled and well-respected medicine cat, loyal to his Clan above all else, and patient with the most querulous elder or fractious kit.