Prologue
The full moon hung high over the forest, casting its pearly light on the clearing below. The heavy silence was accented by the occasional staccato chirps of crickets.
A massive stone stood off to one side of the clearing, towering over the clearing. Atop the stone, a figure and a small group of others stood, peering down below.
Beneath the stone, a large gathering of cats crouched below, tails lashing and fur on end. A large black tom glared up at the figures above, his teeth bared threateningly.
"What have you done," he snarled. From the stone, one of the figures, a ginger tabby, snorted with laughter. Silhouetted in silver, his muzzle and jaws were wet with blood.
"Absolutely nothing! Just had a little...snack," he purred innocently. He swiped his jaw with his tongue, visibly delighted by the taste.
"You lie," the black tom roared. "I can smell it from here. That's cat blood."
"And what of it?" The tabby's tail twitched playfully. He glanced back at his companions, each as gleeful and covered in blood as the next. They remained silent, but their excitement was overwhelming.
"A snack? A snack? You've been eating cats you monsters," a second tom, a larger brown tabby growled. "Is this just a game to you?"
"Not really," the tabby shrugged.
"Why would you do such a thing Rowanfur," another cat whispered from the crowd. "How could you do such a thing?"
"Sorry Cherrystar. That's not something I wish to divulge," Rowanfur meowed. His eyes lit up. "But we should probably go. This doesn't seem like a very welcoming environment." He and his group turned to leave. Cherrystar took a step forward.
"Get back here," she snapped.
"And what? Why do you think we'd listen to you? How very naive of you," he mused. He gracefully leapt down from the stone and disappeared swiftly through the surrounding bushes, quickly followed by the rest of his group.
The clearing remained silent for a heartbeat before erupting into chaos.
"Someone go after them!" A wave of cats surged forward, but were halted by a sharp meow.
"Not everyone has to go. Just a few from each Clan. Everyone else back to their camps," Cherrystar ordered.