To The Woods (Fanfic: Series one, book one)

**Allegiances**

**LightningCult**

**Leader** Azuremoon - blue-gray she-cat, tinged with silver around her muzzle

**Deputy** Rubytail - small tortoiseshell tom with a distinctive ginger tail

Apprentice, Grimepaw

**Medicine Cat** Specklefrond - beautiful dark tortoiseshell she-cat with a distinctive dappled coat

**Warriors** (toms and she-cats without kits)

Maneheart - magnificent golden tabby tom with thick fur like a lion's mane

Apprentice, Pewterpaw

Lynxclaw - big dark brown tabby tom with unusually long front claws

Apprentice, Coraxpaw

Snowstorm - big white tom

Apprentice, Gritpaw

Shadestripe - sleek black-and-gray tabby tom

Lengthytail - pale tabby tom with dark black stripes

Chasingwind - swift tabby tom

Sallowpelt - very pale gray she-cat with unusual blue eyes

Doefur - small dusky brown she-cat

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

Grimepaw - dark brown tabby tom

Pewterpaw - long-haired solid gray tom

Coraxpaw - small, skinny black tom with a tiny white dash on his chest, and white-tipped tail

Gritpaw - pale ginger she-cat

**Queens** (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

Icepelt - beautiful white she-cat and blue eyes

Tawnyface - pretty tabby she-cat

Goldpetal - pale ginger she-cat

Spottedtail - pale tabby she-cat, and the oldest nursery queen

**Elders** (former warriors and queens, now retired)

Badgertail - big dark brown tabby tom with part of his tail missing

Shortear - gray tom with very small ears. The oldest tom in ThunderClan

Dotpelt - Small black-and-white tom

Lost-eye - pale gray she-cat, the oldest cat in ThunderClan. Virtually blind and deaf

Spottail - once-pretty tortoiseshell she-cat with a lovely dappled coat

**DarkCult**

**Leader** Kinkmoon - long-haired dark brown tabby tom

**Deputy** Darkfoot - large white tom with huge jet-black paws

**Medicine Cat** Drippingnose - small gray-and-white tom

**Warriors**

Stumptail - brown tabby tom

Apprentice, Hazelpaw

Stone - silver tabby tom

Apprentice, Splashpaw

Scarface - battle-scarred brown tom

Apprentice, Smallpaw

Darkpelt - black tom

**Queens**

Sunrisecloud - small tabby she-cat

Shiningflower - black-and-white she-cat

**Elders**

Emberfur - thin gray tom

**BreezeCult**

**Leader** Highmoon - black-and-white tom with a very long tail

**StreamCult**

**Leader** Bentmoon - huge light-colored tabby with a twisted jaw

**Deputy** Elmheart - reddish brown tom

**Cats Outside The Cults**

Grimefang - old dark gray she-cat with a broad, flattened face

Mark - plump, friendly black-and-white kitten who lives in a house at the edge of the forest

Oat - black-and-white tom who lives on a farm close to the forest

**PROLOGUE**

A half-moon glowed on smooth granite boulders, turning them silver. The silence was broken only by the ripple of water from the swift black river and the whisper of trees in the forest beyond.

There was a stirring in the shadows, and from all around lithe dark shapes crept stealthily over the rocks. Unsheathed claws glinted in the moonlight. Wary eyes flashed like amber. And then, as if on a silent signal, the creatures leaped at each other, and suddenly the rocks were alive with wrestling, screeching cats.

At the center  of the frenzy of fur and claws, a massive dark tabby pinned a bracken-colored tom to the ground and drew his head up triumphantly. "Elmheart!" the tabby growled. "How, dare you hunt in our territory? The Hotrocks belong to LightningCult!"

"After tonight, Lynxclaw, this will be just another StreamCult hunting ground!" the bracken-colored tom spat back.

A warning yowl came from the shore, shrill and anxious.

"Look out! More StreamCult warriors are coming!"

Lynxclaw turned to see sleek wet bodies sliding out of the water below the rocks. The drenched StreamCult warriors bounded silently up the shore and hurled themselves into battle without even stopping to shake the water from their fur.

The dark tabby glared down at Elmheart. "You may swim like otters, but you and your warriors do not belong in this forest!" He drew back his lips and showed his teeth as the cat struggled beneath him.

The desperate scream of a LightningCult she-cat rose above the clamor. A wiry StreamCult tom had pinned the brown warrior flat on her belly. Now he lunged toward her neck with jaws still dripping from his swim across the river.

Lynxclaw heard the cry and let go of Elmheart. With a mighty leap, he knocked the enemy warrior away from the she-cat. "Quick Doefur, run!" he ordered, before turning on the StreamCult tom who had threatened her. Doefur scrambled to her paws, wincing from a deep gash on her shoulder, and raced away.

Behind her, Lynxclaw spat with rage as the StreamCult tom sliced open his nose. Blood blinded him for an instant, but he lunged forward regardless and sank his teeth into the hind leg of his enemy. The StreamCult cat squealed and struggled free.

"Lynxclaw!" The yowl came from a warrior with a tail as red as fox fur. "This is useless! There are too many StreamCult warriors!"

"No, Rubytail. LightningCult will never be beaten!" Lynxclaw yowled back, leaping to Rubytail's side. "This is our territory!"

Blood was welling around this broad black muzzle, and he shook his head impatiently scattering scarlet drops onto the rocks.

"LightningCult will honor your courage, Lynxclaw, but we cannot afford to lose  any more of our warriors," Rubytail urged.

"Azuremoon would never expect her warriors to fight against these impossible odds. We will have another chance to avenge this defeat." He met  Lynxclaw's amber-gaze steadily, then reared away and sprang onto a boulder at the edge of the trees.

"Retreat, LightningCult! Retreat!" he yowled. At once his warriors squirmed and struggled away from their opponents. Spitting and snarling, they backed toward Rubytail. for a heartbeat the StreamCult cats looked confused. Was this battle so easily won? Then Elmheart yowled a jubilant cry. As soon as they heard him, the StreamClan warriors raised their their voices and joined their deputy in caterwauling their victory.

Rubytail looked down at his warriors. With a flick of his tail, he gave the signal and the LightningCult cats dived down the far side of the Hotrocks, then disappeared into the trees.

Lynxclaw followed last. He hesitated at the edge of the forest and glanced back at the bloodstained battlefield. His face was grim, and his eyes furious slits. Then he leaped after his Cult into the silent forest.

In a deserted clearing, an old gray she-cat sat alone, staring up as the clear night sky. All around her in the shadows she could hear the breathing and stirrings of sleeping cats.

A small tortoiseshell she-cat emerged from a dark corner, her pawsteps quick and soundless.

The gray cat dipped her head in greeting. "How is Doefur?" she meowed.

"Her wounds are deep, Azuremoon," answered the tortoiseshell, settling herself on the night-cool grass. "But she is young and strong; she will heal quickly."

"And the others?"

 "They will all recover, too."

Azuremoon sighed. "We are lucky not to have lost any of our warriors this time. You are a gifted medicine cat, Specklefrond." She tilted her head again and studied the stars. "I am deeply troubled by tonight's defeat. LightningCult has not been beaten in its own territory since I became leader," she murmured. "These are difficult times for our Cult. The season of newleaf is late, and there have been fewer kits. LightningCult needs more warriors if it is to survive."

"But the year is only just beginning," Specklefrond pointed out calmly. There will be more kits when greenleaf comes."

The gray cat  twitched her broad shoulders. "Perhaps. But training our young to become warriors takes time. If LightningCult is to defend its territory, it must have new warriors as soon as possible."

"Are you asking MoonCult for answers?" meowed Specklefrond gently, following Azuremoon's gaze staring up  at the swath of stars glittering in the dark sky.

"It is at times like this we need the words of ancient warriors to help us. Has MoonCult spoken to you?" Azuremoon asked.

"Not for some moons, Azuremoon."

 Suddenly a shooting star blazed over the treetops. Specklefrond's tail twitched and the fur along her spine bristled.

Azuremoon's ears pricked but she remained silent as Specklefrond continued to gaze upward.

After a few moments, Specklefrond lowered her head and she turned to Azuremoon. "It was a message from MoonCult," she murmured. A distant look came into her eyes. "Fire alone can save our clan."

 "Fire?" Azuremoon echoed. "But fire is feared by all the Cults! How can it save us?"

  Specklefrond shook her head. "I do not know," she admitted. "But this is the message MoonCult has chosen to share with me."

The LightningCult leader fixed her clear blue eyes on the medicine cat. "You have never been wrong before, Specklefrond," she meowed. "If MoonCult has spoken, then it must be so. Fire will save our Cult."

**Chapter 1**