Эрин Хантер - The Ultimate Guide

Tigerstar began plotting against his former Clan at once, first laying a trail of dead rabbits to lure a pack of wild dogs into the heart of the camp, and then forming an ill-advised allegiance with Scourge and his violent cats from Twolegplace, BloodClan. Little did Tigerstar realize that Scourge was the young kittypet whom he’d fought all those moons before. At the moment when ShadowClan, RiverClan, and BloodClan were poised to leap into battle against their neighbors, Scourge turned on Tigerstar and ripped all nine lives from him with one terrible blow.

But for Tigerstar, death was no obstacle to his pursuit of revenge on Firestar and all of ThunderClan. He walked in the dreams of his sons, Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw, training them among the shadows of the Dark Forest and urging them to kill Firestar. Hawkfrost, a RiverClan warrior, was willing to do whatever it took to please Tigerstar, but at the last moment Brambleclaw realized his loyalties lay with his Clan leader, not his long-dead father, and he killed Hawkfrost instead.

Undaunted, Tigerstar walked in the dreams of more and more cats from the Clans, raising an army of warriors who were discontented, restless, or simply keen to learn more fighting skills. Finally he led an onslaught of warriors, dead and alive, out of the Dark Forest and into the living world of the Clans. Face-to-face with his enemy Firestar, Tigerstar struck the fatal blow that took the ThunderClan leader’s ninth life. But Firestar matched it with a strike that ended Tigerstar’s existence in the Dark

Forest, and put him beyond revenge, beyond influence, and beyond a warrior’s darkest dreams once and for all.

BLACKSTAR HAD THE UNENVIABLE task of taking over the leadership from Tigerstar. ShadowClan was in ruins, awash with the blood of its own warriors and stained by the memory of inviting BloodClan into the forest. Blackstar took a dogged, loyal, and almost unnoticeable path to restoring the strength of his Clan. He had faith in the virtues at the heart of ShadowClan, the loyalty and courage that ran through the veins of every cat. He acknowledged the role of ShadowClan in bringing death to the forest, but refused to apologize for cats who no longer walked among his Clanmates. Instead, he looked to the future, spoke calmly and without challenge at Gatherings, and willingly let Tawnypelt—born in ThunderClan but now firmly part of ShadowClan—join the quest to find mysterious Midnight and learn the destiny of all four Clans.

Settled in their new territory beside the lake, beneath pine trees that reminded the ShadowClan cats of their former home, Blackstar became disillusioned with a life that seemed as difficult as ever for his warriors. Scarce prey, troublesome kittypets, even Twolegs that invaded the clearing at the edge of their territory, were all things he hoped to have left behind. When his medicine cat, Littlecloud, didn’t seem to be getting reassurance from StarClan, Blackstar began to question why their ancestors had brought them to this place.

Then a charismatic rogue named Sol moved to ShadowClan after a battle involving all four Clans.

Sol offered a different way of living to Blackstar, one in which cats took care of their own needs, hunted for themselves, and lived free from the burden of the warrior code. He told Blackstar that each cat was more powerful than StarClan because they could control their own destinies. The fact that Sol had predicted a recent eclipse of the sun convinced Blackstar that he should listen to this stranger.

ShadowClan stopped attending Gatherings, and Blackstar forbade Littlecloud from visiting the Moonpool. He returned to using the name Blackfoot and ordered all apprentice training to cease.

In despair at the disintegration of ShadowClan, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jaypaw schemed with Tigerpaw and Dawnpaw to create a false message from StarClan. Lying in wait for Blackfoot in a marshy part of the territory, they dug up saplings to fall onto the former leader and trap him while

Jaypaw pretended to be a StarClan cat with a dire warning to start believing in the warrior ancestors once more. At the last moment, Jaypaw was joined by two real StarClan cats, Raggedstar and Runningnose, who told Blackfoot that Sol represented darkness and the imminent loss of the warrior code. Stunned back into faith, Blackstar reclaimed his leader name and exiled Sol.

He led his ShadowClan warriors against the Dark Forest in the Great Battle, and survived. The oldest Clan leader by many moons, still proud of his warriors’ fighting skills and fearsome reputation, Blackstar would lay down every one of his remaining lives to defend the warrior code.

RUSSETFUR WAS BORN TO Twolegplace rogues who gave her the name Red. She came to ShadowClan with Boulder after glimpsing the lifestyle of the proud and disciplined wild cats.

Cedarstar changed her name to Russetpaw to mark the beginning of her new life. Russetpaw trained harder than any other apprentice, and quickly earned her Clanmates’ respect and the warrior name Russetfur. Despite having left her kittypet life behind, Russetfur was devastated when Raggedpelt killed her father, Hal, in a skirmish. She never learned the truth that Raggedpelt was her half brother and that Hal was also his father. Russetfur dedicated her life to serving ShadowClan and was rewarded by Blackstar when he appointed her deputy.

She had a reputation throughout the Clans for a sharp tongue and a short temper, as well as fearlessness in battle and deep pride in ShadowClan. She played a vital role in helping establish the new territory beside the lake when she took on the troublesome kittypets who lived in a Twoleg den amid the pine trees. Even as she got older and more frail, Russetfur remained the ShadowClan deputy, keeping younger warriors in line with her brisk words and high expectations. She was killed by Lionblaze in a battle over the clearing between ShadowClan and ThunderClan; her death was a shock to everyone, and there were suggestions that such an old cat should not have been allowed to fight.

But it was the death Russetfur would have chosen for herself, bravely and in the midst of battle on behalf of her beloved ShadowClan.

THE SHADOWCLAN WARRIOR BOULDER was born and raised in Twolegplace. He first encountered cats from the forest when Yellowpaw and Raggedpelt visited Twolegplace looking for Raggedpelt’s father. Even then, Boulder was full of curiosity about the mysterious wild cats. Later, he took part in a skirmish with ShadowClan cats after one of their patrols caught Twolegplace cats stealing prey. The ShadowClan warriors were victorious, and Boulder had nothing but admiration for the way they had fought: in particular, the fact that the Clan cats could have killed their rivals, but chose not to. He was intrigued by this warrior code that brought with it honor, dignity, and fiercely honed battle skills.