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Firestar's Quest

Erin Hunter




  ERIN HUNTER

  DEDICATION

  Special thanks to Cherith Baldry

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Allegiances

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Yellowfang’s Exclusive Manga Adventure

  About the Author

  Other Works

  Credits

  Copyright

  Back Ads

  About the Publisher

  ALLEGIANCES

  SHADOWCLAN

  LEADER

  CEDARSTAR—very dark gray tom with a white belly

  DEPUTY

  STONETOOTH—gray tabby tom with long teeth

  MEDICINE CAT

  SAGEWHISKER—white she-cat with long whiskers

  WARRIORS

  (toms and she-cats without kits)

  CROWTAIL—black tabby she-cat

  BRACKENFOOT—pale ginger tom with dark ginger legs (Yellowkit’s father)

  ARCHEYE—gray tabby tom with black stripes and thick stripe over eye

  HOLLYFLOWER—dark-gray-and-white she-cat

  APPRENTICE, NEWTPAW

  MUDCLAW—gray tom with brown legs

  TOADSKIP—dark brown tabby tom with white splashes and white legs

  APPRENTICE, ASHPAW

  NETTLESPOT—white she-cat with ginger flecks

  MOUSEWING—thick-furred black tom

  DEERLEAP—gray tabby she-cat with white legs

  AMBERLEAF—dark orange she-cat with brown legs and ears

  FINCHFLIGHT—black-and-white tom

  BLIZZARDWING—mottled white tom

  LIZARDSTRIPE—pale brown tabby she-cat with white belly

  APPRENTICES

  (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

  FROGPAW—dark gray tom

  NEWTPAW—black-and-ginger she-cat

  ASHPAW—pale gray she-cat

  QUEENS

  (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

  FEATHERSTORM—dark brown tabby (mother to Raggedkit and Scorchkit)

  BRIGHTFLOWER—orange tabby (mother to Yellowkit, Nutkit, and Rowankit)

  POOLCLOUD—gray-and-white she-cat

  ELDERS

  (former warriors and queens, now retired)

  LITTLEBIRD—small ginger tabby she-cat

  LIZARDFANG—light brown tabby tom with one hooked tooth

  SILVERFLAME—orange-and-gray she-cat (Brightflower’s mother)

  THUNDERCLAN

  LEADER

  PINESTAR—red-brown tom with green eyes

  DEPUTY

  SUNFALL—bright ginger tom with yellow eyes

  MEDICINE CAT

  GOOSEFEATHER—speckled gray tom with pale blue eyes

  APPRENTICE, FEATHERPAW

  WARRIORS

  (toms and she-cats without kits)

  DAPPLETAIL—tortoiseshell she-cat

  ADDERFANG—mottled brown tabby tom

  TAWNYSPOTS—light gray tabby tom

  HALFTAIL—big dark brown tabby tom

  SMALLEAR—gray tom with very small ears

  ROBINWING—small brown she-cat

  APPRENTICE, LEOPARDPAW

  FUZZYPELT—black tom

  APPRENTICE, PATCHPAW

  WINDFLIGHT—gray tabby tom

  QUEENS

  (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

  MOONFLOWER—silver-gray she-cat

  POPPYDAWN—long-haired dark brown she-cat

  ELDERS

  (former warriors and queens, now retired)

  WEEDWHISKER—pale orange tom with yellow eyes

  MUMBLEFOOT—brown tom, slightly clumsy with amber eyes

  LARKSONG—tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes

  WINDCLAN

  LEADER

  HEATHERSTAR—pinkish-gray she-cat with blue eyes

  DEPUTY

  REEDFEATHER—light brown tabby tom

  MEDICINE CAT

  HAWKHEART—stone-gray tom with flecks of darker brown fur

  WARRIORS

  (toms and she-cats without kits)

  DAWNSTRIPE—pale gold tabby with creamy stripes

  APPRENTICE, TALLPAW

  REDCLAW—dark ginger tom

  APPRENTICE, SHREWPAW

  ELDERS

  (former warriors and queens, now retired)

  WHITEBERRY—small pure-white tom

  RIVERCLAN

  LEADER

  HAILSTAR—thick-pelted gray tom

  DEPUTY

  SHELLHEART—dappled gray tom

  MEDICINE CAT

  MILKFUR—gray-and-white tabby

  APPRENTICE, BRAMBLEPAW

  WARRIORS

  (toms, and she-cats without kits)

  RIPPLECLAW—black-and-silver tabby tom

  TIMBERFUR—brown tom

  OWLFUR—brown-and-white tom

  OTTERSPLASH—white-and-pale-ginger she-cat

  QUEENS

  (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

  LILYSTEM—pale gray queen

  FALLOWTAIL—light brown she-cat with ginger patches around her muzzle, flecked with gray

  ELDERS

  (former warriors and queens, now retired)

  TROUTCLAW—gray tabby tom

  CATS OUTSIDE THE CLANS

  MARMALADE—large ginger tom

  PIXIE—fluffy white she-cat

  RED—orange she-cat

  BOULDER—gray tom

  JAY—elderly black-and-white she-cat

  HAL—dark brown tabby tom

  PROLOGUE

  Starlight shone down into a large cavern through a ragged hole in the roof. The faint silver sheen was just enough to show a tall rock jutting from the floor in the center of the cave, flanked by soaring rock walls, and at one side, the dark, gaping hole of a tunnel entrance. The shadows in the mouth of the tunnel thickened, and six cats emerged into the cavern. Their leader, a speckled gray tom with clumped, untidy fur, padded up to the rock and turned to face the others.

  “Sagewhisker, Hawkheart, Milkfur,” he began, nodding to each cat as he named them, “we, the medicine cats of the four Clans, are here to carry out one of our most important ceremonies: the creation of a new medicine cat apprentice.”

  Two more cats lingered by the tunnel entrance, their eyes huge in the half-light. One of them shuffled his paws as if they had frozen to the cold stone.

  “For StarClan’s sake, Goosefeather, get on with it,” Hawkheart muttered with an impatient twitch of his tail.

  Goosefeather glared at him, then turned to the two young cats by the tunnel. “Featherpaw, are you ready?” he asked.

  The bigger of the two, a silver-pelted tom, gave a nervous nod. “I guess so,” he mewed.

  “Then come here and sta
nd before the Moonstone,” Goosefeather directed. “Soon it will be time to share tongues with StarClan.”

  Featherpaw hesitated. “But I … I don’t know what to say when I meet our ancestors.”

  “You’ll know,” the other young cat told him. Her white pelt glimmered as she touched his shoulder with her muzzle. “It’ll be awesome, you’ll see. Just as it was when I became Milkfur’s apprentice!”

  “Thanks, Bramblepaw,” Featherpaw murmured.

  He padded up to Goosefeather, while Sagewhisker, Milkfur, and Hawkheart sat a couple of tail-lengths away. Bramblepaw took her place at her mentor’s side.

  Suddenly the moon appeared through the hole in the roof, shedding a dazzling white light into the cave. Featherpaw halted and blinked in astonishment as the Moonstone woke into glittering life, blazing with silver.

  Goosefeather stepped forward to stand over him. “Featherpaw,” he meowed, “is it your wish to share the deepest knowledge of StarClan as a ThunderClan medicine cat?”

  Featherpaw nodded. “Yes,” he replied, his voice coming out as a breathless croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “It is.”

  “Then follow me.”

  Goosefeather turned, beckoning with his tail, and took the few paces that brought him close to the Moonstone. His pale blue eyes shone like twin moons as he spoke. “Warriors of StarClan, I present to you this apprentice. He has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his Clan in accordance with your will.” Flicking his tail at Featherpaw, he whispered, “Lie down here, and press your nose against the stone.”

  Quickly Featherpaw obeyed, settling himself close to the stone and reaching out to touch its glimmering surface with his nose. The other medicine cats moved up beside him, taking similar positions all around the stone. In the silence and the brilliant light, the new medicine cat apprentice closed his eyes.

  Featherpaw’s eyes blinked open and he sprang to his paws. He was standing chest-deep in lush grass, in a clearing of a sunlit forest. Above his head, the trees rustled in the warm breeze. The air was laden with the scent of prey and damp fern.

  “Hi, Featherpaw!”

  The young tom spun around. Approaching him through the grass was a tabby-and-white she-cat with blue eyes; she gave him a friendly flick with her tail as she drew closer.

  Featherpaw stared at her. “M-Mallowfur!” he gasped. “I’ve missed you so much!”

  “I may be a warrior of StarClan now, but I am always with you, my dear,” Mallowfur purred. “It’s good to see you here, Featherpaw. I hope it’s the first time of many.”

  “I hope so, too,” Featherpaw responded.

  Mallowfur kept walking, brushing through the grass until she joined a ginger tom at the edge of the trees; together the two StarClan cats vanished into the undergrowth. Close to the spot where they had disappeared, another StarClan warrior crouched beside a small pool, lapping at the water. Heartbeats later, a squirrel dashed across the clearing and swarmed up the trunk of an oak tree, with two more of Featherpaw’s starry ancestors hard on its tail.

  Featherpaw heard his name being called again. “Hey, Featherpaw! Over here!”

  Featherpaw glanced around the clearing. His gaze fell on a black tom, almost hidden in the shadows under a holly bush. He was small and skinny, his muzzle gray with age.

  The dark-furred cat beckoned with his tail. “Over here!” he repeated, his voice low and urgent. “Are your paws stuck to the ground?”

  Featherpaw shouldered his way through the long grasses until he stood in front of the tom. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “My name is Molepelt,” the cat replied. “I have a message for you.”

  Featherpaw’s eyes stretched wide. “A message from StarClan, my first time here?” he breathed. “Wow, that’s so great.”

  Molepelt let out an irritable grunt. “You might not think so, when you’ve heard what it is.”

  “Go on.”

  Molepelt fixed him with an icy green gaze. “A dark force is on its way,” he rasped, “with the power to pierce deep into the heart of ThunderClan. And it will be brought by a ShadowClan medicine cat.”

  “What?” Featherpaw’s voice rose to a high-pitched squeak. “That can’t be right. Medicine cats have no enemies, and they don’t cause trouble for other Clans.”

  Molepelt ignored his protest. “A long time ago, I was the ShadowClan medicine cat,” he went on. “My Clanmates and I did a great wrong to another Clan—a Clan that belonged in the forest as much as any of us, but was driven out through our selfishness and hard-heartedness. I knew then that what we did was wrong, and I have waited, my heart filled with dread, for the Clans to be punished.”

  “Punished? How?” Featherpaw asked hoarsely.

  “The time has come!” Molepelt’s green eyes were wide, and he seemed to be gazing into the far distance. “A poison will spring from the heart of ShadowClan, and spread to all the other Clans.” His voice became a soft, eerie wailing. “A storm of blood and fire will sweep the forest!”

  Featherpaw gazed at the old cat in horror. Before he could speak, a powerful black-and-white tom pushed his way through a clump of ferns and padded up to the holly bush.

  “Molepelt, what are you doing?” he demanded. “Why are you spilling all this to a ThunderClan apprentice? You don’t know that this is the time!”

  Molepelt snorted. “You were once my apprentice, Hollowbelly, and don’t you forget it! I know I’m right.”

  Hollowbelly glanced at Featherpaw, then back at Molepelt. “Things are different now,” he meowed.

  “What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” Featherpaw asked, his voice shaking.

  Hollowbelly ignored him. “There’s no reason to punish ShadowClan,” he continued. “What happened was too long ago. The medicine cat code will keep the Clans safe.”

  “You’re a fool, Hollowbelly,” Molepelt growled. “The medicine cat code can do nothing to save the Clans.”

  “You don’t know that for sure!” When Molepelt did not respond, Hollowbelly turned to Featherpaw. “Please, say nothing about this,” he meowed. “There is no need to spread alarm, not when the future is lost in mist even to StarClan. Promise me that you won’t tell any of your Clanmates. Promise on the lives of your ancestors!”

  Featherpaw blinked. “I promise,” he whispered.

  Hollowbelly nodded. “Thank you, Featherpaw. Go well.” Nudging Molepelt to his paws, he led the old medicine cat away into the trees.

  Featherpaw gazed after them. After a few heartbeats he scrambled out from underneath the holly bush and staggered into the sunlit clearing. “Even if Molepelt was telling the truth, it makes no sense!” he meowed out loud. “How can ThunderClan be threatened by a ShadowClan medicine cat?”

  CHAPTER 1

  “ShadowClan warriors, attack!”

  Yellowkit burst out of the nursery and hurtled across the ShadowClan camp. Her littermates, Nutkit and Rowankit, scurried after her.

  Nutkit pounced on a pinecone that lay at the foot of one of the pine trees overhanging the clearing. “It’s a WindClan warrior!” he squealed, batting at it with tiny brown paws. “Get out of our territory!”

  “Rabbit-chasers!” Rowankit flexed her claws, growling. “Prey-stealers!”

  Yellowkit leaped at a straying tendril from the brambles that encircled the camp; her paws got tangled in it and she lost her balance, rolling over in a flurry of legs and tail. Scrambling to her feet, she crouched in front of the bramble, her teeth bared in a growl. “Trip me up, would you?” she squeaked, raking her claws across its leaves. “Take that!”

  Nutkit began to scan the clearing, peering around with narrowed amber eyes. “Can you see any more WindClan warriors on our territory?” he asked.

  Yellowkit spotted a group of elders sharing tongues in a shaft of sunlight. “Yes! Over there!” she yowled.

  Nutkit and Rowankit followed her as she raced across the hard brown earth a
nd skidded to a halt in front of the elders.

  “WindClan warriors!” Yellowkit began, trying to sound as dignified as her Clan leader, Cedarstar. “Do you agree that ShadowClan is the best of all the Clans? Or do you need to feel our claws in your fur to persuade you?”

  Littlebird, her ginger pelt glowing in the warm light, sat up, giving the other elders an amused glance. “No, you’re far too fierce for us,” she meowed. “We don’t want to fight.”

  “Do you promise to let our warriors cross your territory whenever they want?” Rowankit growled.