Tales Of The Five Clans

There was a time, long ago, when the Clans were at peace; instead of just RiverClan trading, everyone was trading, and life was very good. However, this time was hardly what one might call 'exciting' in the way of drama. Things were fairly normal, and life was at peace. This suited the Warriors, Deputies, Leaders and Seniors just fine, but some younger people weren't exactly at ease. The Apprentices of ShadowClan were some of these young people.

One of their apprentices, Owlpath, was antsy to earn his Warrior Name. He was excited to finally be recognized as an adult, and finally have responsibilities be put upon him; he wanted to go to his first Gathering and be announced as a Warrior at last, earlier than his friends of the same age!

Finally, he came up with an idea and told a friend of his, Marigoldpath, his plan.

"You shouldn't do it," She told him. "The resort has some pretty scary mysteries going on around it."

But Owlpath didn't listen, and he simply smiled. He walked off, into the ShadowClan territory, and then some. He crossed the small creek that marked the border between his own home and RiverClan's land, even though he knew it was against the Code to trespass. He met a RiverClan patrol, who asked him (rightfully) why he was there; he mentioned that he was looking for a particularly wandery friend, and they let him pass without worry.

This repeated itself through all of the territories; he had to highstep through RiverClan's marshes, which he sunk into which every step, and also had a hard time swimming through; He rounded about the old Signal Tower that marked where Gatherings were held; he had to slink through ThunderClan's dense underbrush, which lashed his legs and made him quiver with how dry it was, unnatural to his feet. However, the true fear came from SkyClan: they were notorious for killing trespassers in those days, and would gladly take him down if they so desired - he was a trespasser!

After avoiding so many different obstacles, he finally made his way to the Resort. He stayed in the Burnt Forest, for a while, until he was certain nobody was there. He'd noticed something strange in the center of the Resort, and had wanted to go and search it out. He left the confines of the burnt underbrush.

However, he never returned. Marigoldpath was made a Warrior weeks later, Marigoldflower, without her friend by her side. It's always wondered where Owlpath's journey took him, and if he survived the Resort encounter - or if he was just stolen and taken away to a mysterious place outside the island. But one thing is for certain:

He never came home!

Long ago, soon after the incident with Owlpath's disappearance, there was quite a stir in the Clans. Fights were going on, and all of the Clans were at the brink of war; WindClan was having a massive shortage of foodstuffs, and all of the other Clans except for ThunderClan wanted to chase them out of their territory to take it for themselves. They knew that, if one less Clan was among them, there would be even more room for them to hunt and exist together without having to fight anymore. ThunderClan was trying to get them all to stop, but they simply couldn't do it.

Eventually, WindClan's hunger and loss of life from it drove them out of their ancestral homeland. They attended the final Gathering, and announced that they were leaving. Three of the four Clans danced and sang with excitement at the leaving of WindClan, as they looked forward to an age where there was more territory - and more food - for everyone!

However, once WindClan left, things started going awry for the rest. They started being unable to find the prey they needed to survive themselves. SkyClan found no birds or squirrels in their trees; ThunderClan couldn't find any deer or turkeys in their foliage; ShadowClan found no frogs or beavers or anything in their swamp; RiverClan found no fish in their marshes. They were beginning to starve, and they knew it.

They all turned to the moorland for help, but it gave them nothing. They saw shadows of their prey, and they always chased after it with great excitement; sometimes various patrols would run into each other and run over each other after the prey they so desperately needed. However, as any hunter gained on their quarry, the moment they blinked - it dissapeared.

So the Clans went hungry, and grew hungry over the longest of months in their lives. So many lives were lost in those days that the Clans' numbers went down significantly - even RiverClan's. The next Gathering was not a time of celebration, but rather a solemn time of mourning to announce the deaths they'd suffered.

During this Gathering, though, desperate desires finally got the best of them. The four remaining Clans snapped at one time, and battle broke out. People bore hidden spears at one another, knives carved skin, and blood spilled into the dirt below them, sullying the bottom of the Signal Tower. Even the leaders took part in the gruesome fight, taking each other to the ground in a fit of hungry rage.

However, it seemed StarClan didn't want the Clans to disintegrate into nothingness like cinders from a flame. WindClan suddenly appeared over a ridge, and their Warriors entered in - their food replenished and their bellies round with good feeding. The Clans stopped their fighting at once, and stared in awe at the fleshed out Leader.

Heatherstar stood tall above them on his ridge, and announced, "WindClan has returned to their territory while you were bickering and fighting under the Full Moon. While we were away, we had a call from StarClan to return; we saw many stars, shooting in the direction of our home, our rightful place on this island. No other place would do. So we returned, and found the land teeming with life."

"But when we hunted on it, we always came to Camp empty-handed," The ThunderClan leader, Mosquitostar, said with an angry tone. "Why did you get the food, and my patrols didn't? Out of all the hunting parties, we deserved it the most." He hissed.

"Because we were destined to reside here," The WindClan deputy, Reedclaw, said - equally as angry. "We were always destined to live, sleep, birth and die in the moorland where our ancestors did the same."

"Can't you see?" their Healer, Spiderleaf, said with a gentle point to the old Signal Tower. "The loops on the Tower - each one has five different straight edges to it, see? Because there are five Clans. There always have been, and there always will. Look what your foolishness has caused," She said angrily, "Look at the death you've wrought on yourselves!"

Finally the Leaders saw their mistakes. Death and destruction lay on the sacred ground where StarClan trusted them to meet. The bodies of mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles - entire families, even - lay dead where they should've been enjoying themselves.

"We can't let this happen anymore," Dawnstar, the RiverClan leader, said with worry. "We can't let anger and hunger take over our minds anymore."

The Healers looked at each other, knowing they were the Clans' only hope of achieving this. They had the closest understanding of StarClan, having sworn themselves to chastity and loyalty in the ancestors' name.

"What if we had a truce?" The ThunderClan Healer, Squirrelfoot, said suddenly. "Every Full Moon, no fighting would be allowed. Anywhere."

"Anywhere?" Spiderleaf said excitedly. "Not even at the borders, or on the training grounds?"

"Anywhere."

The leaders seemed unwilling to accept that. But as each one gazed down at the dead of their Clan - the lives they caused the loss of, the lives they would have to bury later in the night, the lives they once knew as their own children - and they understood the urgency. One by one, they slowly nodded their heads and assented to this, until all five had accepted the idea of a Full Moon truce.

"Then it's done," Spiderleaf said with confidence. "There will be no battle on the Full Moon from today, down to our descendants!"

When the Clans were still somewhat new - the Code was in place, the ranks were worked out - there was still trouble from outside their borders. The Resort was always agitated, always finding ways to steal away Clan members and never give them back. It was a time of great fear; few Warriors had the courage to go out of Camp alone, even the wiliest of ThunderClan apprentices, or the slickest of the WindClanners' warriors. It was a time when few slept, and even fewer even laid down to rest their bodies from the day.

One day, the Resort people set up an entire invasion. They came with bolts of lightning and flame in their hands, and anger in their hearts. They shouted hatred and curses, and started capturing the people who lived in the Clans' ranks, being sure they never let any one of them escape.

However, it seemed StarClan was on their side. Suddenly the world began to grow dark. Everyone looked up and found themselves looking at a rather unusual sight; the sun was being blotted out by a great black mass, and immediately the Clans knew what they had to do. The Resort-people had given them the instructions in their panic: "don't look directly at the sun!" so they didn't. But they were smarter than the Resort-people.

While StarClan hid the sun, the Resort-people had their backs turned, covering their eyes so they couldn't even risk seeing the sun. While distracted, the Clanspeople ran around among the trapped of their numbers and freed them, being as quiet as possible as they unlocked them from their prisons. By the many they darted out and escaped into the woods, never once looking back to the Resort-people. They knew where they truly belonged.

Finally, the sun was returned to the world by StarClan, and the Resort-people looked around and discovered that all their prisoners were utterly gone. They were bewildered, unsure what to think of it. But they left after that.

So this is why we should always thank StarClan every day for the world they let us live in. If they hadn't taken the sun for that moment, the Clans may have died out right then and there: and you wouldn't even be here.