Eclipse (Warriors) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The group of cats that made the journey to the Tribe of Rushing Water return. Before they leave the mountains, Brook and Stormfur decide that they'd like to go back to living with the tribe. A few days after the cats came back, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost continue training Lionpaw in his dreams. Lionpaw tells them about the prophecy but they think that it was just a dream.

Hollypaw and a few other cats go on a border patrol to the WindClan border because they scented WindClan on their territory, and find dead fresh-kill with WindClan scent on it. Hollypaw spots something on a hill that she swore was a lion, but the patrol think she was either kidding or imagining it. The next day, Hollypaw, Lionpaw, and a patrol go to the WindClan border for a second time. There, Hollypaw scents something in the bushes, which turns out to be one of the tunnels the leads to the river, the same one from Dark River. She doesn't tell the rest of the patrol, but Lionpaw goes back to see what it was. He finds out that the tunnel led to WindClan and that Hollypaw didn't tell the patrol because she was afraid that Lionpaw would meet with Heatherpaw.

Meanwhile, while Cinderpaw was having her assessment, her leg was injured and is forced to delay her warrior's ceremony while she rests in the medicine cat den. Jaypaw becomes frustrated because Leafpool goes against what she had learned about treating leg injuries, and Cinderpaw becomes lazy and won't even stand up to drink her water. Eventually, Jaypaw comes up with an idea to teach Cinderpaw how to swim in the lake. The two apprentices sneak away, and they head to the lake. Cinderpaw learns that she can swim, and when Leafpool catches them, she is impressed with Jaypaw. Not much longer after that, a mysterious loner named Sol is found by a patrol and insists on being brought to the camp. Hollypaw figures out that Sol was the 'lion' that she had seen on the patrol that day. Sol takes Jaypaw and Leafpool into the woods to tell them the sun will disappear. That night, Lionpaw can't sleep, thinking it is Foxpaw and Icepaw whispering, but then he scents WindClan outside the apprentice den. He emerges from the den, and sees all of WindClan there. He yowls and the cats rush into battle. Firestar eventually yells to stop, and the cats in both Clans obey. Firestar walks up to Onestar, who tells Firestar that WindClan is fighting because ThunderClan "...will help cats once they beg for it," and that they ignore the warrior code. However, WindClan leaves the camp, and Firestar tells a patrol to follow them to make sure they leave the territory.

There, WindClan split into three groups. The patrol returns and tells Firestar, who sends out two more patrols, and orders another to stay at camp in case WindClan invade. All three of the patrols get ambushed, and a battle breaks out. Hollypaw's patrol is being defeated, so she is ordered by Brambleclaw to go to ShadowClan to ask Blackstar for help, while WindClan asks RiverClan for help, and soon all four Clans are fighting. Lionpaw finds Heatherpaw and Crowfeather and almost kills Crowfeather, trying to get to Heatherpaw because he believed that it was her who told WindClan about the tunnels from Dark River. Heatherpaw claims it was Sedgekit. That is when the sun falls into an eclipse and the Clans panic and retreat to their own territory.

Later, Jaypaw convinces Lionpaw and Hollypaw that they need to find Sol and ask about the prophecy. They find him outside of the territories in an abandoned Twoleg nest, different from the one on ThunderClan territory, and Sol tells them all he knows. Jaypaw convinces Sol to make a nest just outside ThunderClan's territory and become their 'mentor' for the prophecy. On the way back, they get caught by a ShadowClan patrol and Sol goes to Blackstar and tells the three apprentices that he was going to stay in ShadowClan. In the time between then and the next Gathering, it seems that Sol has convinced Blackstar and his clan to stop believing in StarClan. Sol and Blackstar arrive at the Gathering together and Blackstar announces he has lost faith in StarClan and won't attend Gatherings anymore.

At the end of the book, Cinderpaw, Hollypaw, and Lionpaw get their warrior names, Cinderheart, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze. Jaypaw watches the ceremony and feels happy for his siblings. He also detects a sense of pride coming from Leafpool and suspects that this is because Cinderpaw has finally fulfilled her destiny to be a warrior as she as always wanted to do as Cinderpelt. He then questions he and his siblings' destiny, whether their powers were meant to save or destroy the Clan.