Crowfeather's Trial/Main article

Crowfeather's Trial is the eleventh book in the Super Editions.

Dedication

 * Special thanks to Cherith Baldry

The blurb

 * A WARRIOR CAUGHT BETWEEN CLAN AND KIN.


 * WindClan warrior Crowfeather has always fought bravely to defend his Clan. But in the aftermath of the great battle with the Dark Forest, Crowfeather is struggling to forgive the Clanmates who betrayed them—including his own son, Breezepelt.


 * Onestar, WindClan's leader, is determined to put the battles of the past behind them, but tension is rising among Crowfeather's fellow warriors. Then an unusual threat strikes from within the heart of WindClan's own territory, putting the Clan in terrible danger.


 * The time for doubt is over. Crowfeather must balance his duty to his kin and his duty to his Clan—and retake his place as a true WindClan warrior.

Detailed plot description

 * In a flashback, Crowfeather, then Crowpaw, finds himself on a crevice. He cries in horror as he looks at Sharptooth, and is shocked that he would die like this, after all the journeying cats had been through. He hears Feathertail, who says she can hear voices, to his confusion. He and Stormfur watch in horror as Feathertail leaps at a pointed stone on the roof of the cave, which falls down with her, killing Sharptooth. They rush to her side, confirming she is alive. Crowpaw worries that her job was only to fulfill the prophecy and that she may die. He touches noses with Feathertail begging her to wake up. When she opens her eyes, she tells him to not to let her save him again, asking him whether he thought he had nine lives.


 * Prior to dying, she promises that she would never leave him. Crowpaw looks back at Sharptooth's body and lets out a wail. He then wakes up from the dream beneath a thornbush in the then-present with Leafpool. Crowfeather reflects on how he thought he would never love again after Feathertail's death, but managed to fall in love with her. Suddenly, Leafpool wakes up, saying that they needed to go back to the clans. Crowfeather agrees, thinking that they could never abandon the clans for real and races back with her, reflecting on how love only ended in pain and loss for him and vows to never love again.


 * Crowfeather is sitting in a circle with his Clanmates after the Great Battle, as Onestar lets the new deputy Harespring set down the last stone for Ashfoot on the memorial pile that represents all of WindClan 's fallen Clanmates. Crowfeather's gaze falls on Breezepelt, and he remembers having to stop him from killing his half-brother Lionblaze. Crowfeather feels slightly guilty that he didn't raise his son like he should have. He thinks of how Onestar forgave and even promoted the former Dark Forest warriors. After the ceremony, he overhears a couple of cats talking about the Dark Forest warriors and how they would be better off without Breezepelt.


 * Crowfeather goes on a hunting patrol with Harespring, Featherpaw, Slightpaw, Hootpaw and his former mate Nightcloud. They hunt near the ThunderClan border, where there have been reports of weird scents and scarce prey. The trip is successful, though Nightcloud ignores Crowfeather throughout. The cats then go to investigate the tunnels, where Hootpaw is scared by what he claims is a white ghost cat in the tunnels, though the others speculate it may be something else, with Crowfeather having seen a tail vanishing down the tunnel. They return to the camp and report to Onestar, who asks to talk to Crowfeather privately afterwards. He tells Crowfeather that he should be more friendly with Breezepelt, and that he did not choose him to be deputy partially because he wanted the clan to forgive the cats that trained in the Dark Forest, but also because he thinks Crowfeather cares more about his personal thoughts and feelings than what's for the better of WindClan.


 * Crowfeather snaps that he had to sacrifice so much to stay loyal to WindClan, but Onestar points that a truly loyal warrior wouldn't have let it happen in the first place and would be over it by now. Onestar then dismisses him and Crowfeather eats by himself. Crowfeather dreams of hunting, but a rabbit leads him into the tunnels and he loses it. He sees Ashfoot, and tries to follow her only to lose her in the tunnels. He hears her screech and wakes up in the warrior's den, wondering if what Hootpaw saw was Ashfoot's ghost before reasoning that it couldn't be her. During the early morning, Onestar calls a Clan meeting to discuss a vision Kestrelflight had had.


 * During the vision, Barkface came to him and showed him dark water gushing out of tunnel entrances, initially being kicked back by a wild wind, before it relented and the water swallowed everything with a second huge wave. As the Clan speculates what this could mean, Hootpaw reveals what he saw in the tunnels, which unnerves the Clan. Onestar decides to send a patrol to explore the tunnels comprising Breezepelt, Nightcloud, Crowfeather, Furzepelt, and Heathertail.


 * Once in the tunnels, the patrol splits into three groups. Two of the group's meet back up, having found nothing. Breezepelt suddenly comes racing out of a side tunnel, pursued by a large group of white stoats. The cats manage to fight off the stoats, but then they realize that Nightcloud is not among them. The patrol returns to camp, where they report the situation to Onestar. Shaken, Breezepelt explains he thought Nightcloud was behind him while he was fleeing from the tunnels. His Clanmates share suspicions on how truthful he is, believing he abandoned Nightcloud, but Onestar defends the warrior, and expects all of WindClan to agree. The cats attention shift to Harespring, who asks if they should warn ThunderClan, and Onestar answers they’ll keep the problem to themselves, they can solve it without ThunderClan getting involved.


 * The next day, a patrol being led by Crowfeather is sent to search the tunnels for Nightcloud. Despite their attempts, are ambushed by stoats, fail to find Nightcloud, and nearly lose Heathertail in the process. The patrol returns to camp, leaving Crowfeather and Breezepelt to search the tunnels together. They end up getting attacked by stoats on ThunderClan's side and are rescued by a patrol from the rival Clan.



Mistakes

 * A compiled list of the errors present in Crowfeather's Trial can be found here.

Publication history

 * Crowfeather's Trial (EN), HarperCollins (Hardcover), 4 September 2018
 * Crowfeather's Trial (EN), HarperCollins (Library), 4 September 2018
 * Crowfeather's Trial (EN), HarperCollins (e-book), 4 September 2018