The Forgotten Warrior

"I have returned. Let vengeance begin."

— The mystery traveler in The Forgotten Warrior, page 4

The Forgotten Warrior
General
Author:	Cherith Baldry
Cover artist:	Wayne McLoughlin
Jacket designer:	Hilary Zarycky
Details
Publish date:	November 22, 2011
Identification:	ISBN 0061555223
Editions:	Hardcover, E-book
Summary
As a full-scale battle against the Dark Forest moves closer, tensions between the warrior Clans reach a breaking point. Suddenly, a stranger appears in ThunderClan's midst, spinning a web of deceit and pitting the warriors against each other so that no cat can tell who to trust.
Resources
Chapter subpages
Chronology
Preceded by:	Sign of the Moon
Followed by:	The Last Hope

The Forgotten Warrior is the fifth book in the Omen of the Stars arc.

The Bookjacket

The Blurb

The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to battle the darkness that lasts forever....

With a divided StarClan driving a treacherous rift between the four warrior Clans, the spirits of the Dark Forest are gaining strength. Ivypool's role as a spy becomes more dangerous with each passing day, and Dovewing is haunted by nightmares about the mountains.

Then an outsider appears in ThunderClan's midst, spreading discord and pushing the Clans farther apart. As tensions mount and Clanmates turn against one another, the warrior cats will be forced to choose whose word they can trust - before it's too late.

The Praise

"The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to battle the darkness that last forever." The fissures between the warrior Clans have become almost irreparable, but they grow even deeper with the arrival of an outsider. With questions of trust and treachery festering everywhere, the warrior cats clench their teeth and hope desperately for safe passage."

-Barnes and Noble

Plot Summary

The prologue starts as a mysterious, unidentified cat is traveling, apparently heading for the lake. A tom who lives in the area confronts the traveler and threatens it to leave his area, but the cat grows curious as the mystery traveler begins to explain, and eventually questions it. As they talk, the tom grows less hostile and asks if the traveler was lost. The voyager answers with amusement and claims s/he isn't lost, and then leaves the tom, heading for the lake, thinking of plans of vengeance.

As Birchfall and Ivypool are heading towards the old fox den to collect some fox dung to keep rabbits away from marigold, Birchfall abruptly tells Ivypool that he saw her in the Dark Forest, revealing that he is training with them as well, which shocks Ivypool. He tells her it's only training to make them better warriors, meaning he doesn't understand what is to come.

They go to the WindClan border to wash their paws in the stream, where they get into an argument with Heathertail and her apprentice Furzepaw, and Breezepelt with his apprentice Boulderpaw. Here the Dark Forest cats start to take sides with Ivypool and Birchfall, and Birchfall acts with more aggression then usual, until a ThunderClan patrol consisting of Sorreltail, Bumblestripe, Hazeltail, and Berrynose intervene and bring Ivypool and Birchfall back to ThunderClan camp. Meanwhile, Dovewing is collecting moss with Whitewing, and they discuss Bumblestripe's affection for her, as Whitewing notices the two, much to Dovewing's embarrassment. Tigerheart tells Dovewing that Dawnpelt thinks Jayfeather murdered Flametail by drowning him, and is planning revenge.

Later, Cherrykit and Molekit are apprenticed to Rosepetal and Foxleap. They have a run in with a fox, and a mysterious cat saves them. Jayfeather questions them what the cat looks like, searching Molepaw's memory, but they say that didn't see the rescuer clearly. Lionblaze then figures out that the wandering cat turns out to be Sol. Sol is welcomed by the Clan, but not trusted by the senior warriors. Sol told the Clan that he was the one who saved Cherrypaw and Molepaw from the fox. Poppyfrost and Berrynose respect him and tells him that he is always welcome. He disappears at a time, and Dovewing and Ivypool set out in search of him, to find out that he betrayed ThunderClan by telling WindClan their whereabouts.

As Owlwhisker knows somebody is out there, and in their panic, Dovewing and Ivypool meet a stranger, who introduces herself as Hollyleaf. They are awe-stricken, but Hollyleaf says there isn't enough time for questions. Hollyleaf saves them but before she can run away, Lionblaze finds her and brings her back to the Clan. She goes back to ThunderClan and willingly tells the truth about how Ashfur died. But before Hollyleaf gets to the part about killing Ashfur, Brambleclaw cuts across her and says that he was there at the event, but Hollyleaf didn't see him. Brambleclaw continues to speak and says Ashfur leapt at Hollyleaf and they fought, but he slipped and fell into the water, and Hollyleaf was only defending herself. They also find out that it wasn't Sol who saved Poppyfrost's kits, it was Hollyleaf.

Being aware of the threat Sol poses to the ThunderClan cats, Hollyleaf starts to bring ThunderClan warriors down in the tunnels for underground battle training, having the knowledge that Sol will use the tunnels for WindClan's raid on ThunderClan. The purpose for the underground battle training is to have every cat ready for the battle.

Yellowfang comes in a dream with Jayfeather and angrily demands for him to tell Cinderheart who she really is. Jayfeather, unsure, talks to Leafpool about the situation. Leafpool immediately objects, because Spottedleaf came to her in a dream saying they should keep quiet about this, and then Cinderheart can be the warrior she wants to be, and do what she couldn't do when she was Cinderpelt.

Lionblaze is disappointed since Cinderheart thinks he's special because of the prophecy, and that they cannot be mates. Jayfeather becomes furious and goes into one of Cinderheart's dreams. He shows the past to Cinderheart, and at the end, the vision shows Cinderheart born, and Jayfeather tells her she was Cinderpelt. Cinderheart suddenly remembers all the herbs, and Cinderpelt's life.

Ivypool wakes up to find herself in the Dark Forest, then Hollowflight rushes up to her to tell her that there is a meeting happening in the Dark Forest. Ivypool and Hollowflight show up at the meeting, and Ivypool notices Blossomfall and Birchfall there. The meeting takes place at the heap of fallen trees where Ivypool fought Antpelt. After the meeting, Ivypool demands that the Dark Forest make her a warrior. They tell her if she can beat Antpelt, she will become a warrior. Antpelt and Ivypool fight a hard battle, in the end, Ivypool manages to slice Antpelt from throat to tail. Antpelt is defeated and fades away. Brokenstar tells Ivypool that she is a warrior. Breezepelt gets furious with Ivypool for killing Antpelt, and he threatens her.

After Jayfeather tells Cinderheart about her past, she then feels like she must be a medicine cat again. Mousewhisker and Cherrypaw eat poison water hemlock, mistakenly thinking it was parsley to cure their stomach aches. Leafpool's quick actions save their lives until Jayfeather returns. Yellowfang gets angry with Jayfeather for making Cinderheart a second medicine cat, and Jayfeather reminds Yellowfang that she told him to. Yellowfang is embarrassed, and says she was distracted, and told Jayfeather it's Cinderheart's choice to become a medicine cat or a warrior.

Jayfeather speaks with Cinderheart about who she wants to be, and she said she wanted Lionblaze, but she can't, because of the prophecy. Jayfeather explains that StarClan gave Cinderheart a second life to give her the chance of being a warrior, a mate and a mother; all the things she couldn't have as Cinderpelt.

At a Gathering, Dawnpelt and Tigerheart accuse Jayfeather of murdering Flametail. None of the leaders agree with this, though Mistystar and Onestar say Jayfeather should be suspended from medicine cat duties until he could prove his innocence. The other medicine cats agree with this. A thunderstorm errupts, showing StarClan's disapproval, and the Clans leave immediately.

WindClan attacks through the tunnels, but ThunderClan is prepared and defeats WindClan. Dovewing notices that Sol hasn't got a stratch on his pelt, meaning that he is not lifting a claw to help WindClan. Hollyleaf attacks Sol and pins him down, preparing to kill him. Sol said that many seasons ago, he met another Clan in a gorge far away, possibly and very likely SkyClan. They did not accept him to be one of their warriors, revealing his reason for wanting to destroy the Clans. Hollyleaf lets him go, saying they have to let the warrior code rule their hearts, and Sol runs away. Dovewing questions Hollyleaf's motives on letting Sol run away, and she replies, saying that there would be no honor in doing that. The book ends as Hollyleaf, Ivypool and Dovewing are leaving the tunnels to go home.

Trivia

• Vicky originally stated that the cat on the bottom of the cover was Leafpool. However, she has since then said otherwise, saying the cat is Hollyleaf.
• Hollyleaf has been confirmed to be the Forgotten Warrior.
• The Forgotten Warrior is about how difficult it is to go back to a life you thought you'd left behind. It's also about forgiveness, and acceptance, and coming to terms with guilt.
• Antpelt is mistakenly listed in the allegiances despite having died in the previous book.
• Blackstar is mistakenly described with one jet black paw in the allegiances.

Publication List

• The Forgotten Warrior (EN), HarperCollins (hardcover), 22 November 2011
• The Forgotten Warrior (EN), HarperCollins (eBook), 22 November 2011

See Also

• Allegiances
• Chapter-by-Chapter Notes
• Character List
• Book Cover Gallery
• HarperCollins Browse Inside

References and Citations

Template:Warriors Book