(above) and other locales in England and Scotland.
Into the Wild follows the integration of a house cat named Rusty into a group of feral cats living in a fictional setting inspired by the
New Forest, the woods about
Loch Lomond, the
Forest of Dean, and the
Scottish Highlands. The group of cats are called ThunderClan, and share the fictional forest with three other groups of feral cats called RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. The novel opens with a battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan over a territorial dispute. ThunderClan is outnumbered and forced to retreat. In the aftermath, ThunderClan's medicine cat Spottedleaf receives a prophecy from StarClan, the spirits of the cats' deceased ancestors, telling her that "fire will save our Clan", which she shares with ThunderClan's leader Bluestar. When he ventures into the forest near his home, Rusty, a flame-coloured housecat, encounters Bluestar, ThunderClan apprentice Graypaw, and ThunderClan warrior Lionheart. They invite Rusty to join ThunderClan. However, due to Rusty's domesticated past, some members of the Clan are hostile towards Rusty upon his arrival in ThunderClan's camp. The hostility culminates in Rusty fighting one of ThunderClan's warriors, Longtail, losing his collar in the process. Bluestar then halts the fight and announces that Rusty has earned his apprentice name, Firepaw. Shortly after, ThunderClan's deputy Redtail is revealed to have died, and Bluestar names Lionheart the new deputy of ThunderClan. Firepaw forms a strong friendship with Graypaw and Ravenpaw, the latter of whom is the apprentice of Tigerclaw, an ambitious ThunderClan warrior who wishes to become Clan leader. Firepaw is assigned his first solo hunting mission, on which he encounters Yellowfang, the exiled ShadowClan medicine cat. They initially fight, but after Firepaw emerges victorious, he realizes that Yellowfang is starving, and quickly finds prey for her, eating some of what he caught himself after Yellowfang encourages him to do so. However, the two are discovered by a patrol led by Bluestar. Bluestar questions Firepaw and scolds him for feeding himself before his Clan. As punishment, Firepaw is tasked with taking care of Yellowfang, who becomes a prisoner of ThunderClan. As Firepaw continues to train, he and Graypaw are invited to attend the Gathering, a peaceful meeting every full moon between all four Clans. When the Gathering begins, Brokenstar, the leader of ShadowClan, informs everyone that ShadowClan has driven out a Clan member who had murdered kittens. ThunderClan quickly returns to camp and confronts Yellowfang, but Bluestar orders that Yellowfang should not be harmed due to a lack of solid evidence. A few days later, Bluestar, Tigerclaw, Ravenpaw, Firepaw, and Graypaw travel to the Moonstone, a sacred site. While they are gone, ShadowClan cats attack ThunderClan's camp, killing Lionheart. Tigerclaw is subsequently named deputy in his place. Shortly afterwards, Spottedleaf is murdered, and several ThunderClan kittens are abducted by ShadowClan. With the exception of Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw, all of ThunderClan suspects the perpetrator of these events to be Yellowfang. Firepaw learns from Ravenpaw that Tigerclaw is a traitor to ThunderClan, having murdered Redtail in hopes of becoming deputy in his place. Firepaw and Graypaw lead Ravenpaw to a new home in a
barn away from ThunderClan territory in order to protect him from being killed by Tigerclaw for knowing too much incriminating information. Firepaw then successfully leads a rescue party with Yellowfang to rescue the abducted kittens from ShadowClan, which culminates in a battle where Brokenstar and his followers are exiled from ShadowClan. For their heroism in rescuing the kittens, Firepaw and Graypaw are promoted to warriors by Bluestar, who gives them their warrior names, Fireheart and Graystripe. Having proven that she is not helping ShadowClan, Yellowfang is accepted as ThunderClan's medicine cat, replacing the murdered Spottedleaf. == Style ==