Warriors: Cats of the Clans

Chapter One

Three Lost Travelers

Who's there? Come forward, into the moonlight. Three kits, smelling of stars and the night? You're a long way from StarClan, little ones. Did you stray too far into the shadows at the edge of your territory? You must be surprised to end up here, far beneath the ground, with such a strange-looking cat to welcome you. I doubt my name, or this place, is spoken of in StarClan.

Hush, don't be scared. I won't hurt you. I'll show you the path home when day breaks, when there is light to see your way. Lie down—the floor is more comfortable than you may think. See how smooth it is underpaw? I would not exchange it for all the prickles and tickling things that line your nests. I have long forgotten how I ever slept amid such rustling. It is always silent here, apart from the echo of the water.

What did you say your name was? Mosskit? Of course, Bluefur's kit, Mistyfoot and Stonefur's little sister. And the underfed tom beside you? Adderkit, yes, from WindClan. You were very young to go to StarClan, weren't you? And named for the snake that . . . Yes, I know you too, Blossomkit! Your white fur is unusual for a ShadowClan cat. Brokenstar may have promised you that you'd be a warrior before any other kit in the forest, but I don't think he ever imagined you going into battle. You died too young, but trust me, you were saved from even greater horrors.

Three little kits who didn't live long enough in the forest to learn about your Clanmates, their friends, and their rivals. There is a price to be paid in being a kit forever.

If you settle down—yes, even you, Mosskit—then I'll answer your questions about the cats you left behind. Ha, the night is not long enough to tell you everything I know! There are so many cats, many more than you know about. You would be here a moon and more to hear of them all. But I shall tell you about the ones I remember most clearly, and the ones I watch still. Oh, yes, I have watched them all, from as far back as any cat in the Clans can remember, and farther. And not only the four Clans that live beside the lake now. Much as they might wish to think they are the center of this world, there are cats of equal worth—or more—far beyond their fragile borders. Cats reviled for being loners and rogues, simply because they do not wish to live in a hive of chattering voices: poor beleaguered SkyClan, driven out because of their fellow Clans' selfishness; the Tribe of Rushing Water, who cling stubbornly to the mountains like the moss that grows beside the waterfall—I know them all. And BloodClan, who are not worthy of the name of Clan, and who will fade into the stuff of nursery tales once they have consumed themselves with their hunger for battle and bloodshed.

Who am I? I am Rock, the keeper of the world beneath the one your former Clanmates walk.

The watcher for more moons than you can dream of.

And the seer of all the moons to come.

Now, be still and listen.

Warriors: Cats of the Clans. Copyright © by Erin Hunter . Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Cats of the Clans by Erin Hunter
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