Prologue
The she cat tossed and turned, the terror gripping her like the jaws of a rabid fox. "Fire...everything gone." She mumbled in her turbulent slumber. Russetpaw's ears raised in alarm as she passed by the medicine cat den while returning from an evening patrol. Nonetheless, her first instinct was to fetch help, the curiosity of what she could be saying in such a ghastly terror urged her to go inside.
"As the leaves fall… a great heat will sweep through the forest." Meowed the medicine cat, desperately pawing at the air, as if being tortured. "A fire of anger will unveil...a spark." She screeched the last word, startling Russetpaw. "Kin unmask kin, and a great menace will fall." The last words she spoke came out in a hoarse whisper, chilling Russetpaw to the bone as the medicine cat falls silent, as if at peace once more. Russetpaw backs out of the den, a mortified expression on her face as the words of the medicine cats omen ring in her head and haunt her dreams that night.
