Allegiances
Thunderclan
Leader: Larkstar- light brown she-cat with a white chest and paws.
Deputy: Ivyheart- silver tabby she-cat with a white spot on her chest.
Medicine Cat: Beetletail- black tom with a stumpy tail and yellow eyes.
Warriors
Shadestorm: dark gray tom with blue eyes.
Cloudclaw: white tom with piercing yellow eyes and long claws.
Apprentice: Icepaw
Moleclaw: light brown tom with cream paws and yellow eyes.
Apprentice: Silverpaw
Fawnheart: dusky brown she-cat with a white underbelly.
Apprentice: Redpaw
Owlfeather: tall brown tabby tom with big yellow eyes.
Stonestep: muscular gray tom with amber eyes.
Oakpelt: fluffy red-brown tabby tom with yellow eyes.
Flamepelt: dark ginger tabby tom with amber eyes.
Apprentice: Badgerpaw
Hazelpool: white she-cat with small ginger patches and green eyes.
Foxflight: flame-colored tabby with black paws and green eyes.
Sharpfang: sandy colored tabby tom with usually long teeth and blue eyes.
Seedwhisker: pale ginger she-cat with yellow eyes.
Birdflower: long silky furred gray tabby she-cat with pale green eyes.
Duskfall: Fluffy gray she-cat with amber eyes.
Apprentices
Icepaw: fluffy white she-cat.
Silverpaw: pretty silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes.
Redpaw: fluffy red brown tom.
Badgerpaw: big black and white tom.
Queens
Snowflower: white she-cat with green eyes. (Mother to Pinekit)
Lilyheart: fluffy silver she-cat with green eyes. (Mother to Flamepelt's kits Brackenkit, Frostkit and Sweetkit)
Roseberry: pale tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes. (Expecting Stonestep's kits)
Elders
Halfwhisker: golden brown tabby tom with short whiskers.
Goldenleaf: tortoiseshell she-cat.
Cedarfur: dark brown tabby tom.
Shadowclan
Leader: Spiderstar- black tom with brown paws.
Deputy: Whitethorn- white tom with amber eyes.
Apprentice, Dapplepaw
Medicine Cat: Briarleaf- brown tabby she-cat with green eyes.
Warriors
Antfall: Dark brown tom.
Creekshade: black she-cat with dark green eyes.
Toadleap: dusky brown tom with yellow eyes.
Apprentice, Ferretpaw
Applefall: white tom with ginger patches and blue eyes.
Grassheart: light brown she-cat with green eyes.
Plumberry: black she-cat with a striking pink nose.
Apprentice, Vixenpaw
Bravepelt: golden-brown broad shouldered tabby tom.
Finchheart: pale ginger tom.
Firewillow: Dark ginger she-cat with amber eyes.
Lakefrost: fluffy silver she-cat.
Pricklefur: gray she-cat with fur that sticks up all over.
Rainpelt: gray and white mottled tom with blue eyes.
Apprentice,Wolfpaw
Fuzzyclaw: cream colored tom with fur bunched around his claws.
Apprentices
Dapplepaw: tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes.
Ferretpaw: brown tabby tom.
Vixenpaw: black she-cat with yellow eyes.
Wolfpaw: shaggy gray tom with yellow eyes.
Queens
Hollyspots: gray she-cat with darker flecks. (Mother to Spiderstar's kit Darkkit)
Sunleaf: golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes. (Mother to Fuzzyclaw's kits Beechkit and Dovekit)
Elders
Oaktail: tabby she-cat with a long tail.
Dustclaw: sandy brown tom with yellow eyes.
Duckfoot: dark brown tom with three feet.
Mistycloud: pale gray she-cat with blue eyes.
Windclan
Leader: Dapplestar: tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes.
Deputy: Runningtail: dusky brown tom with a long striped tail.
Medicine Cat: Feathersong: long furred silver she-cat.
Apprentice, Milkpelt
Warriors
Amberstrike: dark ginger she-cat with amber eyes.
Apprentice, Tawnypaw
Honeybriar: golden tabby she-cat.
Rockstep: bulky dark gray tom with a limp.
Hawkfeather: brown tabby tom with yellow eyes.
Aspenleaf: long furred gray and white she-cat.
Apprentice, Snowpaw
Brownflight: well-muscled brown tom with strong hindquarters.
Scorchfoot: dark ginger tom with four white paws.
Apprentice, Lightningpaw
Ravenleap: black she-cat with yellow eyes.
Acornheart: chestnut-brown tom with amber eyes.
Tallstorm: long limbed gray tom with blue eyes.
Eaglestrike: dark brown tabby tom with yellow eyes.
Quickpool: sleek brown tabby she-cat.
Redbird: small red-brown she-cat.
Haycloud: ginger and white she-cat with yellow eyes.
Apprentices
Milkpelt: cream colored tom, medicine cats apprentice.
Tawnypaw: pale tortoiseshell she-cat.
Snowpaw: fluffy white tom.
Lightningpaw: pale gray tom with yellow eyes.
Queens
Mintpool: pale gray tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes. (Mother to Runningtail's kits Rabbitkit, Wrenkit, and Heatherkit)
Littlefern: tortoiseshell she-cat (Mother to Brownflight's kits Nightkit and Bramblekit)
Swiftwind: slender white she-cat. (Expecting Rockstep's kits)
Elders
Brackentail: golden-brown she-cat with amber eyes.
Leopardpelt: black she-cat with a gray spots.
Riverclan
Leader: Graystar- bulky long-furred gray tom.
Deputy: Eelfang- sleek black tom with green eyes.
Medicine Cat: Duskdrop: blue-gray she-cat with white flecks around her muzzle.
Apprentice, Brightpaw
Warriors
Frogtail: brown tom with a stumpy tail and yellow eyes.
Splashface: light gray she-cat with a long scar across her face.
Birchtail: light brown tabby tom.
Apprentice, Webpaw
Minnowsplash: small ginger she-cat with white paws.
Goosefur: light gray long-furred tom.
Willowleaf: gray tabby she-cat with black stripes and green eyes.
Apprentice, Otterpaw
Pebbleclaw: cream tom with dark ginger patches.
Apprentice, Reedpaw
Stormpelt: dark gray tom with blue eyes.
Thrushtail: light gray tom with darker flecks.
Foxtail: bright ginger she-cat with a white tail tip.
Nettlepool: light brown she-cat with blue eyes.
Leafbriar: pale brown tabby she-cat.
Breezeclaw: black tom with one white foot.
Pikepelt: big ginger tom with long claws.
Apprentices
Brightpaw: pale ginger she-cat with green eyes.
Webpaw: dark gray tom with white flecks.
Otterpaw: sleek brown she-cat.
Reedpaw: light brown tabby tom.
Queens
Mistmask: pale blue-gray she-cat with a white face. (Mother to Thushtail's kits Flowerkit, and Heronkit)
Petalpool: fluffy white she-cat with blue-eyes. (Mother to Frogtail's kit Dustkit)
Elders
Daisypelt: light brown she-cat with ginger patches.
Perchleap: tabby tom.
Primroseheart: light brown she-cat.
Cherryleaf: ginger she-cat with green eyes.
Prologue
The air is crisp and cold, the complete opposite of what it should be. By now new-leaf should be here, the green shoots of plants springing up through the snow, the tiny buds of leaves appearing on the branches of trees, but instead snow a fox-length deep covers the ground. The forest is now still compared to the raging blizzard that swept its way through a few moments ago leaving a blanket of snow. The light of stars shines upon the forest floor making the terrain seem slightly sparkly. If it wasn't for the cold it would have been beautiful…magical even.
A glimmer of movement can be seen pushing through the snow. It's hard to spot because of the white pelt that clings to this being's body but once you catch his eyes its easy to spot him. It's a big white tomcat with piercing yellow eyes that seem to stare ahead with fierce determination. He pushes on to reach the end of the forest. It takes him longer than it should for his long fury coat drags him down as snow clings to his pelt making him so cold he's numb, but he doesn't care, he has somewhere to go.
Finally the forest opens up to the rolling hills of the moors, a small stream separating the two terrains, and the tom stands tall watching the frozen stream all the way down to the frozen over lake. Everything is so still, an unusual contrast to the usually bubbling flow of the stream. He then turns and begins to head uphill. He passes the large stone hollow which marks the border between his world and the world of his ancestors. Whispers seem to flow from the pool of water at the center beckoning him to their home, they want to help him, give him some clarity, they would understand, but he thinks not. He looks away, shame littering his gaze, he thinks they would not be happy with him tonight.
He continues his trek, his teeth chattering as he goes. His pelt normally keeps him warm if he was dry but now it was like he was the snow itself, so much of it was on his pelt it seemed that he almost was. After what seemed to be moons of walking or it could have been just a moment, he didn't know anymore, a small hill came into view. To any normal cat it would be a just a hill, just another obstacle to get over or around, but he knew better. He picked up the pace, and then he realized he was running through the thick snow, by the grace of Starclan, for any other cat would have dropped dead from exhaustion, running in snow was hard.
The tom padded over to the bottom of the hill on the left side where a dead holly bush stood. He pushed his way through the barely visible opening in the branches where a hole into the hill was. He squeezes himself into the small tunnel and then stands up straight as the tunnel opens into a small one-room cavern dug out long ago by some animal. He scans the room and spots his mate, a slender black she-cat with short glossy fur. She was in the back of the cavern. Her back faces him and she seems to be curled as close to herself as she could. The tom sighs and pads over to her, he nudges her gently and a moment passes before she opens her eyes, piercing blue floods his gaze and he purrs, he loved nothing more in this world than her eyes.
The she-cat smiles softly and slowly turns her body around so her belly was visible to the tom. He lets out a gasp as he spots two tiny bundles of fur clinging to the she-cat, soft speaks can be heard as they prod at their mother for food. The bigger one is a she-cat, white with splotches of gray tabby fur along her body. The other was much smaller and he is completely black like his mother. The tom taps them lightly with his nose, taking in each of their scents, he would not forget those scents for the rest of his life.
The tom raises his head to meet the she-cat's eyes which were sparkling with love and content yet another emotion seemed to flash through her blue depths before he could decipher it.
"I'm sorry about getting here so late," he states. "The snow is so deep and I had to make sure The Shadows weren't watching, Moleclaw seemed to be the one patrolling Thunderclan tonight." The tom snorts and began to pace the cavern his eyes trained on the floor.
"I can't believe my own brother supports those monsters! What a piece of fox-dung he is, why can't he see how much they hurt people?" He stops as he realizes he was rambling again. His mate stares at him with sympathy and the tom sighs.
"I'm sorry Raven, I just don't want them to hurt you." He walks back over to her and lays down curling himself around her slender frame. "Or the kits," he pauses and stares at his children for a moment. "They killed a half Riverclan/half Windclan cat the other day, and he didn't even know about his heritage. It was ridiculous."
"Cloudclaw, I know how much you want to help, but there is nothing you can do yet." Raven's voice is nothing above a whisper and Cloudclaw can barely pick it up. "The Embers are not-" Raven pauses mid sentence to let out a sickening cough that lasts for a while. Her body shakes and the kits let out a meow of protest as they are unattached from their mother.
Cloudclaw watches as she catches her breath again and for the first time since he got here he realizes how sick Raven looked. Her eyes were glazed over and her pelt was unruly and unwashed. Heat radiated off of her in waves. Cloudclaw presses his muzzle to her cheek and it seems hotter than sun-high in greenleaf.
Raven says nothing as Cloudclaw stares at her with worry and dread covering his face. Cloudclaw could tell, she knew that she was sick, she had accepted her fate. Greencough runs rampant through cats during leaf-bare, it was especially cruel now since it had lasted so long. Raven breaks his gaze and looks down at her kits. A lone tear escapes her eyes and he has the sudden urge to wipe it away, to do anything to make her feel better. Raven takes a deep raspy breath and looks up at Cloudclaw once more.
"I want you to take them with you. Take them to Thunderclan. They will be safe and warm there. This den isn't sufficient enough for them and I'm too weak to travel."
"No! We will run away from here like we planned once the snow melts. We have it planned out, The Shadow's can't get us out there." Cloudclaw's voice is choked with emotion as he protests. His mate says nothing and she stares at him with certainty and sadness but surprisingly no fear. He whimpers and pushes his face into Raven's pelt ignoring the unhealthy heat that radiated out of her body. He knew how weak she is, and he didn't want to admit it, but he recognized the sight of a cat who was dying from greencough, he had witnessed that enough to last a lifetime. Sobs racked his body and he began to accept it, they would not run away together like they planned, she would die tonight in this cold drafty den and he would have to bring his offspring back into the danger, where if certain cats found out about where they came from they would die and so would he.
Cloudclaw doesn't move but stays buried in her fur staining it with his tears. He then feels Raven to draw her tongue over his ears lovingly, smoothing out his ruffled fur, showing her affection to the tom she loves. His sobs began to quiet down until they are only short ragged breaths.
"I have some names, would you like to hear them?" whispered Raven, her voice scratchy and weak.
Cloudclaw looked up and nods too choked up to speak, it felt as if a pit was lodged in his throat.
Raven touched the bigger kit with her nose, the white and gray she-cat. Her fur was sleek and short-haired she would be quick and fast when she grew up, she had the slender figure for it. "This one is Mosskit, after my mother Mossy." Raven stares at her daughter with a long wishful look in her eyes as if she was reliving memories.
Cloudclaw smiles, "That's a great name." He then looks at his son, he was completely black but he had long shaggy fur, like him. He may have his mother's pelt color but it was clear some of Cloudclaw was in him as well.
Cloudclaw opens his mouth to suggest a name but Raven beats him to it. "You're not naming him Ravenkit after me, I don't wish for my son to carry on my name. It dangerous, they could trace it back to you," she says sharply with some anger tinted within her voice, she then coughs as if speaking that loud causes her pain.
Cloudclaw slowly nods, after realizing the error he would have made in that name. "Ok, how about Blackkit then, not very original but his pelt is very interesting, not many black cats have long hair, at least from what I've seen."
"Yes, yes I like that name very much…" She trails off and lays her head down on the dirt floor, suddenly very tired.
Cloudclaw wraps himself more around Raven determined to kept her comfortable. He looks at the opening tunnel where streams of moonlight flicker in through the cavern, lighting it up. His mind is jumbled with to many thoughts, thoughts of fear and despair and for the first time in a while he prays to his warrior ancestors whom he believes he had failed. Keep her here please, I don't want to do this without her. As usual they do not answer, just the occasional howling of the wind, and it brings tears to his eyes. He lays his head upon his mate for the last time and drifts off into sleep, that unfortunately will not go undisturbed.
Cloudclaw peels his eyes open and gasps as he realizes he stands on the gathering island, not in the small drafty den where his family is. It's a clear night and the full moon shines brightly, bathing the clearing in a white light. It seems to be green leaf for all the snow is gone, and the low temperatures that usually chill him to the bone are replaced by a warm breeze.
Cloudclaw takes in his surroundings, weary of his circumstances. This must be a dream, there is no way its that warm right now. The wind rustles the pine trees encircling the clearing and it sends a cold chill up his spine, something is wrong. With a shiver Cloudclaw walks through the trees and to the edge of the lake where small waves pull at the stones on the shore. He begins to lap at the water trying to calm his nerves.
He pauses, water has a salty tang to it. He looks at the lake which has turned a blood red. Cloudclaw shouts and jumps back as the whole lake is taken over by the color. His stomach turns as the moon becomes black and the bright moonlight disappears from the island leaving everything dark. He can barely see and just to make it worse screams erupt from every direction and Cloudclaw drops himself to the ground in agony, trying to push them away.
They only seem to get louder, it felt as if his skull was broken open. His body wracked with pain Cloudclaw retches out the contents of his stomach until there is nothing left but the bitter taste of bile in his mouth, the screaming continues to escalate. He screws his eyes shut as visions pop into his head, dead cats everywhere, deep wounds carved into their corpses, no sane cat would kill like that. He saw kits huddled into corners their dead mother sprawled before them, they whimpered with fear before being cut off but the strike of a shadowy claw and a deep growl.
Then he saw lightning and it illuminated the moors of Windclan, two cats stood at the top of a hill, one black and one a slivery gray. They clashed with claws and teeth, fighting in an intense downpour, there was no mercy here, this was life and death. Just as the fight seemed to peak the visions stopped. The screaming ended and he opened his eyes to look upon the lake.
It was still red but it was deathly quiet. Cloudclaw looked around warily, waiting for more torments to be thrown his way. A soft crackling sound fell upon his ears and Cloudclaw spotted something white in the center of the lake, it began to spread rapidly across the surface of the lake and he noticed, it was freezing the lake. It was driving the blood out of the away, purifying it.
It reached the island and Cloudclaw looked more closely at it. No way, it was frost! Little patterns of frost covered the lake, it seemed to glow, and the sky became light again. No longer did the darkness cover the area. It was enveloped by a slivery light. A big whooshing sound came from the center of the lake where the frost originated and a huge flurry of frost began to erupt from beneath the surface, it curled and branched out with delicate, intricate designs, freezing in place leaving a beautiful column of ice.
Cloudclaw was speechless, he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life, anything so pure and cleansing. He stared at it for who knows how long before the column dissipated and flurries of frost drifted through the air covering the land in a blanket of crystals.
Then a whisper sounded through the land, it was soft and gentle different from the deafening screams before. Shadows and secrets, backwards betrayals, burdened by a silent darkness, freed by the burning freeze. It echoed in his mind continuously, he dwelled on the words, hungrily lapping up their meaning, trying to interpret them. What in the name of Starclan does that mean? How can a burning freeze save us?
He was thrown from his thoughts when a warm glow appeared in front of him, it was a young she-cat with soft silvery gray fur, she had bright orange eyes that seemed to dance with fire. Cloudclaw gasped, This was the cat from the moors, she was fighting the dark colored cat!
"Who are you?" he asked. "Why were you fighting that cat? Are you going to fight The Shadows? What's happening!" Cloudclaw cried out in anguish, he did not understand this dream, he didn't want any more worries than he already had.
The she-cat smiled and touched noses with him, leaving a warm tingling feeling to dissipate through his body. Cloudclaw closed his eyes as the warm feeling took over his body making him feel safe and reassured like he was a kit in the nursery again with nothing to worry about except whether his mother would let him play mossball.
He opened his eyes expecting to see the beautiful she-cat again but she was gone and the lake was back to normal. The lake was no longer frozen and the waves lapped softly at the shore, the air was back to the warm feel of green leaf and he could even hear a cicada in the distance. There were no more ominous warnings to come.
Despite the calm, Cloudcalw fell to the ground shaking, terrified of what he had seen, those images would haunt him forever. We are doomed, what is this burning freeze? Or the silent darkness? This is the end for all the clans, and who knows if we will be saved.
Hello everyone! After my failed attempt at this story before I decided to revamp it, rethink over the pollenand try again a ,littledifferently. Maybe this time I will actually do more than two chapters. Well anyway, I actually finished a chapter or prologue, or whatever you wanna call it. I'm proud of myself and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully I can get another chapter up. Get the momentum going you know? I want to get the story started so I have the motivation to write, I think it will help with my procrastination problem. Please review! I am open to constructive criticism I believe it helps with writing! Thanks for reading see you soon! (Hopefully)
I would also like to add that this story will contain some mature content as it
-Frost