Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors or any of the characters, settings, or plotlines in this book, and this work is not intended to be sold or make profit in any way.
An unknown Twolegplace. Newleaf.
"The stars shine, Stony. And so does-"
Bite's hacking mew faded as a monster sloshed past. Stony leapt back, scratching his claws on the roar-path, but the splash still froze his bones, blackening the gray fur of the tiny kit. He shook, but the chill remained after the splatter. So did the yellow lights flashing from the nests around him. And the darkness of the alley. And the thumping of his heart.
"You can't run." Bite's rising meow followed him, and his scent overpowered the stink of the roar-path.
"Wh-I'm only four moons…"
"Old enough to bring us freedom." Bite cut Stony off.
It's not fair. He doesn't listen. I can't do this! I'm too young. I'm too-
He quivered under his brown-pelted "father"'s glare. Bite lashed his tail.
"You un...grate...ful whelp." The drawl was slower now. Calmer. And those yellow eyes pierced him. "I found you when your parents left you on the street. I raised you, protected you from everyone! I kept your freedom from Tyrant, kept you a rogue. Now he...now Tyrant's up on that wall alone. His forces distracted by a few of ours. He has a soft spot for kits. All you need to do is talk to him. Just talk. We'll take care of the rest."
Tyrant. Leader of the Upwalker-alleys. His cats were everywhere, killing, stealing...at least that was what Bite said. All he'd ever seen was them giving out food, or asking people to join. But Bite wouldn't lie.
I can't face Tyrant. His heart fluttered. How could he? How could anyone face that?
"I-"
"No more argument." snarled Biter.
Stony stepped back. "O-ok."
"Then get to it. We'll be waiting."
Bite's teeth flashed in the darkness before he disappeared into the night.
A walltop above a Twoleg garden.
Stony's claws scuffed the stone. The massive cat-shadow ahead of him jerked, then kept muttering.
It's Tyrant. He's here. It's real - it's real, it's real, it's real, it's-
"I give them food, I make them strong, I make them cats instead of pets, and this is how they repay me?"
A monster thundered past below, its whine cutting off Tyrant's whispers. The light gleamed across the darkened street - so far below. So far below.
I can do this. Bite believed in me.
They were going to kill Tyrant. They hadn't told him that, but he knew. It was just what had to happen.
A gust of chilled wind nearly knocked him off his feet. He stumbled, fluttering his freezing tail, then caught himself. Panting, he stared into the rain-glowing garden below. So far below...
"We must unite, like that Sol said. We can't let the dogs or the Upwalkers defeat us. But they won't listen. Robbing no matter how much I tell them to stop. Fighting with each other. Egging on Bite and his fools. We'll all die."
Tyrant's gruff mew pounded his ears with his scent. Yet...the scent was normal. No blood, or tears, or anything like he'd thought. Just a stale, usual catscent. That wasn't-
"What's this?" The meow softened, and Tyrant's blue pools gazed into Stony's. He trembled - everything shook - but held still. That look was odd - so calm. With Bite it was always a glare and a snarl, and shouldn't Tyrant be worse? Well, he did have a soft-
"Where do you come from, little one?"
So calm...remember! Remember what to do.
"I...I don't know where my parents are. The Upwalkers-" He coughed intentionally, coursing spit through his body, writhing on the ground. The world spun. The stars...the garden...the street...the wind...
"What's wrong?" Tyrant's mew was panicked. "I'll get help!" A nose nudged Stony, and Tyrant's blue stare fired into his, his blue-gray face covering the sky.
So worried. I'd almost feel-
Tyrant's mouth curled into a snarl. Something pulled on him. Then he jerked away.
Stony jumped up. Everything rang. Everything pounded.
A broken blue-gray body lay on the roar-path.
"You did well." Bite's mew jerked him away. "You freed us."
I...killed…
His breaths fired out of his body. In-out. In-out. In-out.
"Come." snarled Biter. "There's something more for you to-"
"No!" Stony's scream crashed louder than he'd ever thought it could, and he ran.
He ran across the wall, through the wind, down the alley, leaving Biter's yowls in the distance, charging from his home.
Leaping under the roofs, and through the Up-nests.
Slinking through the gardens, and squirming on the streets.
Hours and hours, sprinting, out of breath, out of time, out of-
Finally, he stood on a solid ground, some brown square that rose in the middle of the roar-path. A monster lay beside it, thrumming with its breath, its stench pummeling his nostrils, yet he was too tired to care. The sun rose, and its flower spread blood across the street. In-out. The breath puffed. Bite couldn't find him here. He wouldn't have to kill anyone again. He wouldn't-
The ground moved.
It's not attached to the monster. It's part of the monster.
He tensed to spring off - then froze.
Would leaving be so bad?
Bite would never find him if he left. But it's my home. But not anymore. I killed Tyrant. I'm marked.
There's nothing for me here.
He kept his haunches on the trembling wood. And the monster puffed a few roars, then left, trundling out of Twolegplace. Dragging him into the unknown and the horizon. Taking him on the wind and the stone.
Charging into that bloodstained sunrise.
The ThunderClan Camp. Morning
"There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws."
"I don't understand," Firestar meowed. "Kin of my kin? Why are you telling me this?"
The old warrior blinked, his gaze fixed once more on Firestar.
And he continued.
"From the wild will come another, son of stone, unwanted, unloved, outcast. And he will hold that power too."
Firestar jerked awake, his belly tight with fear. He gazed out from his den at the waking camp below. His deputy, Brambleclaw, was stretching in the center of the clearing, flexing his powerful shoulders as he clawed at the ground. His daughter, Squirrelflight, padded toward her mate, greeting him with a purr.
I pray that I am wrong, Firestar thought. And yet his heart felt hollow; he feared the prophecy was about to reveal itself.
The three have come…
But where is the other?