installment: Warrior's Refuge! As with the  last manga installment, I'll be redrawing a  

comic page for the drawing in this episode, and  for Warrior's Refuge, that will be this page.  

I'm going to say upfront that I *really* like  this book, for different reasons than I would  

cite for liking any other book in the series. So  many of the elements in character relationships  

and expressions are just too adorable in a way  that really speaks to the species they are.  

These aren't just cute kits or a nice family,  they're kittens, puppies, and a human family  

all learning to get along and love each other,  and those particular relationships are much more  

viscerally real as a human myself who  has my own cats, who were once kittens,  

and who also loves and takes care of dogs. This  might well be the most accurate book in the  

series to describe as a cat book, because the fact  that they are cats has never been more relevant.  

That said, it is also still part of a story  that includes a couple of well-known and  

sometimes-beloved characters, so I'll  try to remember that side of it as well.

Warrior's Refuge came out on December 26th of  2007, 8 months after The Lost Warrior and the  

same day as Dark River. Considering the mangas  were a very new and different type of material,  

and especially considering the  author and illustrator for them,  

Dan Jolley and James L. Barry, weren't working on  the main series, it does make sense to me that the  

manga sections were given the same deadlines  and release dates as the main series entries.  

Like the last manga, this one also begins with  a note from an anonymous Erin Hunter as she  

effectively refreshes us on where the last  book left Graystripe off, explains how far he  

has to go with the clans being driven from the  forest, and teases an arc about Millie and the  

usefulness of her skills as a kittypet, which will  be very interesting to see play out in this book.

Warrior's Refuge has a distinct cast of 16  cats, the exact number that The Lost Warrior  

had but spread across a different bunch  of characters. However, not everything is  

the same between these two entries. Where The  Lost Warrior's top 5 cast had 93% of the lines,  

only 85% of the lines are from the top 5  characters in Warrior's Refuge. That's still a  

lot, but it's a significant decrease. Graystripe  also got less lines here and Millie got more  

so there is a slightly more even balance, and  another character manages to hit 50 lines,  

so all in all we have a slightly wider  and more stable cast than before,  

made mostly of completely new characters. Now  without further ado, onto the story itself.

Where we last left off, Millie committed to  journeying with Graystripe to find Thunderclan  

again, even after learning about his previous  mate, Silverstream. This time, we open up  

with them a short way into their journey, having  located highstones a ways out of the twolegplace.  

After crossing a very large Thunderpath, where  Millie froze up and had to be shoved into the  

second road, they stop for the night, and  Graystripe considers how lucky he is to have  

her with him to realize when he is exhausted.  Millie catches her first vole, Graystripe fails  

to catch a fish, they lie and watch the stars  while Graystripe tells Millie about Starclan,  

and eventually they have to cross another  Thunderpath. Graystripe pulls Millie  

physically off of this one, and both of  them end up falling into a corn field,  

almost getting hit by a giant monster cutting down  the corn, and getting separated from each other.  

Graystripe finds his way to a barn where he is  confronted by a family: Husker, his mate Moss,  

her little brother Splash, and Husker and Moss's  kits: Birdy, Pad, Raindrop and Little Mew.  

Graystripe pleads for their help and, although  it is dangerous, Husker agrees to help to save  

Millie's life, and Splash comes with them. Both  of them are taking the danger very seriously, but  

they soon find Millie who, to their display, has  injured her eyes on some of the sharp corn leaves.  

Husker reluctantly takes them back instead  of kicking them out immediately and Millie,  

with difficulty, manages to climb the ladder  into the loft of the barn where she'll be safe  

and can heal. Husker still wants them out by  nightfall but Moss steps in on her behalf,  

saying that she wouldn't want anyone to feel as  helpless as they once were. The barn cats finally  

introduce themselves after setting Millie down  to rest and explain that they once lived in the  

house rather than the barn. However, both of their  elderly owners died, and the new twolegs that came  

didn't like them, and brought mean dogs to chase  them away. Graystripe doesn't believe it could  

be that bad at first, since Ravenpaw and Barley  get along fine with their twolegs, but the next  

morning when he tries to hunt a bird the twoleg  man sprays him with a hose and sends the two dogs  

to hunt him down, so he quickly gets the message.  Millie and Graystripe talk about how sorry they  

feel for the barn cats and their kits, but since  even Graystripe is unable to escape the twolegs  

or dogs right now, they're not sure what they can  do. This pessimism doesn't last forever though,  

as Millie comes to Graystripe's aid when he's  being chased and orders the dogs, in their own  

language, to go away. Adorably, they plead for her  to maybe consider running away, and she says no,  

so they just leave. Resulting in another very cute  quote, where Graystripe says he doesn't think he  

would be more surprised “if Firestar floated down  from the sky and licked [him] on the nose.” They  

return and Graystripe sings Millie's praises,  getting her some serious respect from the barn  

cats and leading to Millie teaching all of them  to speak dog enough to order them to run away too.  

Even the kits get to try, and they are very cute  about it. Like so cute. Seriously go read this  

book for the adorable moments alone. Anyway, the  next time the dogs come to the barn, Splash tells  

them to go away and it works, so all of the cats  start relaxing more. Their only remaining concern  

is the twolegs, but Millie doesn't know what to  do about a mean twoleg, since she's never met one.  

While out hunting, though, they come across one  of the twoleg kits following a frog as they hop  

towards a river. Graystripe and Millie get  worried seeing that she's alone, without  

the older twolegs, and even more worried as she  gets closer to falling into the river herself.  

Graystripe decides to save her… by essentially  being a kittypet. He mews and does big puppy  

dog eyes and leads her away from the water.  The older twolegs are initially shocked, but  

seeing how the cats saved their child, they  are extremely thankful and go to pet them.  

Millie accepts the touch, but Graystripe still  isn't comfortable with that and runs away himself.  

He knows he belongs in the forest, not in the  barn. Graystripe sees Millie lit by moonlight that  

night and goes to comfort her, as the encounter  that day made her miss her own housefolk. But when  

pressed, she says she doesn't want to go back. She  wants to be with Graystripe, wherever that is. The  

next day, they both encounter the twolegs again,  who welcome them and actually scold their older  

kit for being mean to them. Seeing how much they  have changed, Graystripe and Millie lead them back  

to the barn and introduce them to Husker, Moss,  Splash, and the kits. They get along…*really*  

well. It is so sweet. My goodness it is so sweet.  The twolegs, Husker's family, and even the dogs  

all get along now and are playing together, so  Graystripe and Millie decide they're ready to go.  

Before they leave though, one of the older  twolegs stops to thank them and wish them well.  

After that, the pair set off once more and almost  immediately timeskip a few days to being drenched  

in the rain and in the middle of nowhere. But…it's  not nowhere. Graystripe begins to recognize it,  

going forward through the urban twoleg areas with  lots of pipes and cut down trees, longing to find  

something from his home, and eventually he finds  it. He finds the Great Sycamore, seemingly the  

only tree left in Thunderclan's territory. He is  home. But his home is gone, and so is his clan.

So I have a few things to point out here  on the character side. First of all,  

Millie continues to be amazing, more so than in  The Lost Warrior even. When she got her eyes cut  

on the corn leaves it looked for a short while  like she would turn into a damsel in distress,  

but the reality is that her infection cleared up  quickly, and when it did she saved Graystripe,  

and all of the barn cats, right back. She is  capable of speaking dog for Starclan's sake,  

a very useful fact that I can imagine would  have plenty of utility over in the main series  

where she now exists as a permanent part of  Thunderclan. I sure can't wait to see how  

they'll apply this amazing skill of hers to more  situations. Additionally, she once again shows  

her attachment to her twolegs and yet her care  for Graystripe from the last manga in this one,  

as the close encounter here reminded  her of what she was leaving behind.  

She's a genuinely strong and likable character  in these mangas. It's really nice to see.

Our second main character wasn't half-bad either.  He still isn't identical to main-series-Graystripe  

as we knew him but he's much less grumpy here and  he does have a few careless or, less cynically,  

carefree moments where he has to get himself  in trouble to believe in the dangers of his  

situation, or where he takes off on a plan he just  came up with without asking anyone else first.  

Mostly, though, he's a pretty compassionate and  extroverted cat who gets along with the barn  

cats and their kits along with quickly falling  for Millie in a realistic way, based on their  

mutual care for each other and each being able to  view the others' strengths. It's quite endearing.

Also on the endearing side is Husker's entire  family. Husker and Moss both have a remarkable  

about of personality and depth for how few pages  they get in this manga, each protective of each  

other and having different but complementary  views on what they can trust from the outside.  

Splash falls behind a little in this regard but  he's sweet too, and he does get some really sweet  

expressions. That said, Husker and Moss's kits  absolutely steal the show, and both Little Mew and  

Birdy deserve special mention for a truly adorable  scene where they're learning to speak dog and  

Little Mew doesn't listen to Birdy saying stop,  causing Birdy to say he isn't “being a dog right.”  

They are so darn cute. This whole book is  so darn cute. Have I mentioned that yet?

The twolegs that are much more prevalent in these  early mangas also continue to add tremendously to  

the stories they tell. The family that moved into  the farm is, again, remarkably developed. Each  

twoleg is very clearly given specific situations  they respond to and levels of anger towards the  

cats. And all of them, of course, develop so much  by the end as they see the value in the cats and  

commit to accepting them so much that they scold  their child for being mean to one and are sure to  

give a compassionate farewell to Graystripe  and Millie when they see the pair leaving.

Even the hecking dogs in this book are amazing.  They start out as aggressive and mindless as all  

Warriors dogs seem to be, but once Millie and  the others start talking to them they get these  

darling little faces of confusion and start  showing off other behaviors like pleading,  

resignation, and even sarcasm when they've heard  a cat say “no, go away” one too many times. It is  

so, *so* darn adorable guys please I'm  begging you go read this, or go read it again.

That said, I think it's time I actually discuss  the story. As you might have guessed by how short  

the summary was, it's not especially complex.  Essentially, it's a travel montage followed by a  

quick side story about the barn cats' relationship  with the twolegs, and then another quick travel  

montage to end us off with a cliffhanger  about the forest and Thunderclan being gone.  

If the story is overall “Graystripe gets from  the twolegplace to Thunderclan,” then this book  

didn't advance that story very much at all,  and especially didn't spend much actual page  

space rather than in-universe time on the  journey. However, that doesn't necessarily  

matter. Because there's a second story going  on about Graystripe and Millie's building  

relationship and each of their commitments  to each other and hard journey they are on,  

and *that* story was developed a lot. Both of  them were given a chance to choose a different,  

potentially safer in the end, life, and they  decided against it to keep going on their quest  

regardless, while making the world better along  the way rather than just helping themselves.  

It also did a fair bit to explore Millie  as a character, an important thing to do  

considering she is a new member of our present  Thunderclan's permanent cast, among dozens of  

cats that we've known far longer. She shows off  her worth as a cat, a friend, and as a kittypet.

Overall, I genuinely love this manga a lot. From  the cute expressions to the surprising depth of  

all the new characters in all different species  to the meaning and clarity this story provided  

to our main characters in deciding the course of  their journey, it felt like a worthwhile read.  

I've been keeping a running favorite books chart  for all of the books I've covered so far in Trip  

Through Time, and Warrior's Refuge sits in 4th  place now out of the 17 entries, if you'd like an  

idea of how far my love for this book goes. Please  go read it, in the old black and white or the new  

colored versions. It's worth your time. And for  my part, we still have one more main series entry  

to go through before I can conclude Graystripe's  adventure, so next time I'll dive into Outcast,  

a…divisive at best entry in the Power of  Three when I return, to our trip through time.