Эрин Хантер - Cats of the Clans

It’s just as well Tribe cats have no allies; they’d take until the next full moon to introduce themselves at a Gathering. According to tra-dition, they are named for the first thing their mother sees when they are born, although to my mind that would lead to a lot of kits being called Roof of Cave or Wall of Cave or Floor of Cave.

Brook met the Clan cats on their journey back from the sun-drown-place, when it seemed that Stormfur was the cat who had been sent by the Tribe of Endless Hunting to help them defeat Sharptooth.

From the beginning Brook saw Stormfur as a special cat, one with enough courage and skill to fight the mountain lion that had killed the Tribe’s best cave-guards.

Brook came to love Stormfur for real when she taught him how to hunt hawks and eagles, using mice as bait. She loved him for his readiness to try new skills, and for his refusal to treat her differently because she didn’t come from a Clan. And she shared his grief when his sister died fulfilling the prophecy that a silver cat would kill Sharptooth.

Brook’s brother, Talon, was less accepting of the visitors, but why not? Five cats had crashed over the waterfall like oversize raindrops, bigger and heavier than Tribe cats, with different ways of talking and different warrior ancestors. He came to accept Stormfur because Brook loved him, but it was less easy for cats who weren’t her kin.

Or Stoneteller, as he isknown less arduously. The Tribe of Rushing Water doesn’t have a leader, a deputy, and a medicine cat, like the Clans; instead, it has a Healer, one cat fulfilling all duties.

The Healer is always called Stoneteller because that is part of their role: to go into the chamber filled with pointed stones at the back of the caves and interpret the messages in the fall of moonlight on the rocks and in the puddles on the floor. Herbal skills are less important than they are in the Clans, but that’s because there are fewer herbs and berries to be harvested in the mountains. The Tribe cats have survived without these supplies this long because they had no enemies at their borders, ready to wound and scratch.

The Stoneteller encountered by the Clans on the Great Journey is a proud cat, keenly aware that his Tribe clings to life in the mountains by the merest cobweb. There is scant prey, and what they can catch can also catch them, especially eagles, which are always hungry for a kit.

Leaf-bare is long and cold enough to freeze bone, and even the eagles keep to their nests. In the Tribe’s territory, a missed paw step leads to crashing death many, many fox-lengths below; another reason why healing herbs are rarely needed. It’s not hard to see why the mountain lion made Stoneteller desperate to find the silver cat who would save his Tribe—desperate enough to take Stormfur prisoner when he fell over the waterfall. Feathertail and the other cats came back to rescue him, and Feathertail killed Sharptooth. Stoneteller was not too proud to be grateful to this faraway cat who had given her life for the Tribe. He buried her above the waterfall, with the honor given to the noblest cave-guard or prey-hunter.

Inever thought SkyClanwould be driven out of the forest when they asked the other four Clans for help. Unseen, I watched in disbelief as each Clan gave their reasons why they could not share their territory—mostly because SkyClan were not able to catch their prey. Could they not have been taught? If kittypets like Firestar can learn how to stalk mice and thrushes, surely forest-born cats can pick up those skills? But no, the four Clan leaders insisted they could do nothing to help, and SkyClan, the fifth Clan in the forest, was forced to leave.

Cloudstar was their leader at the time, and although he stayed with his Clan, leading them all the way to the gorge, where they scratched a new home out of the sandy cliffs, he lost everything when he left the forest: his home, the borders he had patrolled for so many moons, his faith in StarClan, and worst of all, his mate, Birdflight, and their kits.

They promised they would wait for each other, but it was not until Firestar and Sandstorm rebuilt their scattered Clan, countless seasons later, that they were able to keep their promise.

Skywatcher was the last descendant of SkyClan living in the gorge when Firestar and Sandstorm arrived. His mother had told him tales of their ancestors who watched the full moon from the rock jutting out over the gorge, and who lived in different sandy dens according to their role in the Clans. The cats around him scorned him for being mad, but his madness became reality when SkyClan arose from the dust.

These are the cats who became the leader, medicine cat, and deputy of the newly rebuilt SkyClan. Leafdapple was a kittypet with the SkyClan talent for leaping into trees, a sign of her ances-try that made Firestar invite her to join the Clan. She was also wise enough to realize that cats without her bloodline would need to be welcomed to swell the ranks, and strong enough to win their respect.

Echosong was pure kittypet, with no hint of SkyClan in her long, fluffy coat and delicate paws. But she dreamed of Firestar and Sandstorm before they arrived, knew strange cats would one day need her help. SkyClan’s warrior ancestors had all but faded away when there was no Clan left to remember them, but they had enough voice left to call to Echosong; this and her quick learning when it came to healing herbs made her the clear choice for medicine cat.

Sharpclaw used to be a rogue called Scratch, with the SkyClan abil-ity to jump and the courage of a fully trained Clan warrior. He will make a strong leader one day, but he has much to learn from Leafdapple, who might spill less blood as she builds her Clan.

No, Mosskit, you wouldn’t have seen the SkyClan warrior ancestors among StarClan. They stopped watching over the forest when their Clanmates were driven out, and they walk in different skies now. But they have made their peace with StarClan, and the lessons have been learned.

Maybe I shouldn’thave saved these two for last; you’re getting sleepy, little kits, and there’s not long before dawn. I don’t want to give you nightmares for what little rest you can have before it’s time to go back to StarClan. But I’m sure you’ve heard of Scourge already, the self-appointed leader of BloodClan, which was only ever a rabble of stray cats roaming in Twolegplace. No warrior code for them, no honor or loyalty to anything except themselves and finding their next meal. Scourge united them in terror, and made the alternative to obeying him much worse with the help of sharp-clawed followers such as Bone.

Scourge’s greatest strength was his lack of any sense of right or wrong; without a code to tell him when to stop, he saw no harm in car-rying on until his hunger for power was satisfied. But this was also his greatest weakness, because without a belief in StarClan, he had just one life to lose. Firestar took that life from him in the battle with BloodClan after Scourge killed Firestar’s greatest enemy, Tigerstar, and Firestar could only watch helplessly as the ShadowClan leader died, losing all nine lives one after another.