Эрин Хантер - Secrets Оf Тhe Clans

Winged predators with hooked beaks and sharp, curving talons, these include hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls.

Nest in hollows or branches of trees, or on the ledges of cliffs.

Extremely sharp vision for spotting prey from a distance. Hawks and eagles are daytime hunters; owls hunt at night. They swoop down from the sky to carry off prey, which includes kits. This was the fate of Snowkit, Speckletail’s deaf son, when a hawk attacked the camp after a forest fire had burned away its protective cover. The Tribe of Rushing Water have developed clever ways to hunt these birds.

Four-legged farm creatures.

Horses are tall and swift with flowing manes and tails and giant, pounding hooves.

Sheep look like fluffy white clouds dotted across a green field.

Cows can be black and white or brown, and their hooves are to be avoided.

Large fenced fields and sometimes hay-filled Twoleg barns.

Mostly harmless. However, take caution passing through their fields. A galloping horse or stampeding herd of cows would trample a cat without even noticing.

Brown-furred and beady-eyed rodents, with long, naked tails and sharp front teeth. Not much bigger than kits.

Live in garbage dumps like Carrionplace in ShadowClan territory or anywhere they can scavenge Twoleg food.

Live and travel in packs. Individually they pose no threat to cats, but their numbers are often overwhelming, and bites can cause infection. A single rat contaminated the whole of ShadowClan during Nightstar’s brief time as leader.

Tall, smooth-skinned creatures with some fur on their heads.

Walk on two legs.

Live in large, boxy nests with hard roofs and floors, often surrounded by tidy gardens and fences.

Also known as Nofurs or Upwalkers. Twolegs ride around in monsters and seem to like dogs. They are to be avoided if possible, as they are capable of doing something unpredictable at any moment, such as tearing down a tree, starting a fire, or locking up a cat for no reason.

Every Clan has its legends—the great adventures of its warrior ancestors, passed down through the generations. But all the Clans share the stories of the ancient, giant, gold-pelted cats who once ruled the forest. LionClan had flowing manes, like the rays of the sun. LeopardClan were swift; they had black spots on their pelts like racing pawprints. TigerClan were flame-colored night hunters, with black stripes like shadows flickering across their fur and the darkness of night in their souls. The giant cats are gone now, but they have passed down special talents to their descendants, the warrior cats.

In a time when the forest was young and untouched by Twolegs, the three Clans of mighty cats came together for a Gathering during the frosts of leaf-bare.

The leader of LionClan, a proud cat named Goldenstar, stepped forward.

“There is a wild boar loose in the forest,” he roared.

“There are many wild boar loose in the forest,” responded Swiftstar, the LeopardClan leader, with a dismissive flick of his tail.

“Not like this one,” growled Goldenstar.

“He is as large as a horse. He has tusks as thick as sycamore branches and a fleece of black hair as sharp as thorns. He killed one of our apprentices.”

“I know of this boar too,” rumbled the TigerClan leader, Shadestar, twitching her ears.

“We call him Rage. A TigerClan hunting party met him in the woods two days ago, but he escaped us. He fights with the strength of ten warriors and can kill with a single blow of his fierce tusks.”

“Ha!” A voice rose from the crowd of warriors, which parted to reveal a LeopardClan warrior named Fleetfoot. “Such a beast would be no match for a LeopardClan warrior,” she boasted. “We would outrun it, outsmart it, and kill it.”

“Oh, yes?” Shadestar snarled. “Then why don’t you do as you say and kill Rage?”

“Show us that your deeds can match your words,” growled Goldenstar.

“With pleasure,” Fleetfoot responded proudly.

“And in exchange,” Swiftstar quickly added, “LeopardClan may claim the river as our hunting grounds.”

“Hmm,” meowed Shadestar, narrowing her eyes.

“Very well,” Goldenstar agreed. “If Fleetfoot kills this beast, LeopardClan may claim the river for one moon, during which no other Clan will hunt there.”

Swiftstar bowed his head in agreement. He leaped down from the Great Rock and swept out of the clearing, with his LeopardClan warriors pouring after him.

Shadestar turned to Goldenstar as the spotted cats disappeared from sight. “There is something we didn’t tell Fleetfoot.”

“I know,” meowed Goldenstar. “She will find it out soon enough. Rest assured, we will not have to give up the river and its hunting grounds.”

The hunt began that night. Fleetfoot tracked the boar by its scent until she found him under a tall oak tree, nosing the ground underneath it. She leaped at him with a ferocious yowl, and the boar, startled, turned and ran. Fleetfoot chased Rage through the forest, leaping fallen trees, dodging bushes, staying close on his heels.

At last they burst out into an open patch of ground, and before the boar could stop himself, he went hurtling off a cliff. Fleetfoot leaped after him into the torrent of the river below. She found him thrashing around and wrapped her claws around his back, pinning him under the water until she thought she would burst for want of air.

As the sun rose over the gorge, Fleetfoot and Rage washed up on the shore of the river. The wild boar was dead.

Fleetfoot staggered to her feet, dripping wet and trying to catch her breath. Then she saw something that made her fur prickle all along her spine. Standing on the bank of the river was the boar’s mate—an even bigger, fiercer beast who rarely left her den, as Goldenstar and Shadestar knew. This she-boar was named Fury.

Fleetfoot and Fury fought on the bank of the river for two nights and two days. Finally, exhausted, Fleetfoot drove the she-boar out onto the stepping-stones, where Fury lost her footing, fell into the river, and drowned.

Goldenstar and Shadestar were ashamed of their treachery.

The young LeopardClan warrior had saved them all from two terrible enemies. So, they gave LeopardClan sole hunting rights to the river forever.

And that is how LeopardClan won the river.

There once lived a brave LionClan warrior called Sunpelt. Sunpelt had heard stories of the giant snake called Mouthclaw, who lived in a dark cave by Snakerocks.

She was the only snake in the entire forest. She had killed many great warriors from all the Clans. Her sharp-fanged jaws could swallow a living cat whole, and she spat deadly venom.