-1Prologue
A pool, glowing in the moonlight and sparkling with stars. It was devoid of life…but not for long.
A handsome tom stepped lightly down the well worn path to the pools edge. His flame colored pelt rippling silver under the moon's bright glow. A pale ginger she-cat padded softly next to him, the fur on their shoulders brushing with each step. When they reached the shimmering pool, they sat down and waited for the other cats of StarClan to come.
"Firestar?" the she-cat murmured, looking into the pool.
"Yes Sandstorm?" the tom answered equally soft.
"Do you think ThunderClan will survive what is to come?"
Firestar was silent for a bit, then he let out a sigh. He twined his tail with hers and turned to face her, his eyes shone with sadness. "I don't know." he admitted, "We can only hope."
Just then, another she-cat slid smoothly into place around the pool.
"Bluestar." Firestar said, and dipped his head in greeting.
"Firestar, Sandstorm." she replied, looking to each cat in turn. "I hope you have chosen wisely, Firestar. The fate of the forest lies in your decision." the silver cat spoke to the dark ginger tom in a low, serious voice. "not that I doubt you," she told him as he bristled, "but it is near impossible to tell if a cat will turn out good or bad when faced with responsibility. When given power."
"I have faith in my choice." replied Firestar.
"And I have faith in you." murmured Sandstorm, licking his cheek affectionately.
"As do I." a voice was heard from the top of the ridge.
"And I." came another.
The three already present cats looked up to see two more cats coming down the slope. A beautiful tortoise shell she-cat and a tall black and white tom stepped down to join them.
"You saved the forest, old and new, countless times before. Now the time has come once again." the tall cat said.
"Thank you Tallstar, for your kind words. But it will not be me this time." Firestar replied. His voice heavy with sorrow of having to warn the clans of the terrible danger. "I only have the unfortunate task of telling the clans of a horrible future."
"It is most unfortunate…" a new voice joined the small crowd, agreeing with Firestar.
"It is good to see you Oakheart." Bluestar purred.
"Though unfortunate, it is necessary." a huge white cat with great black paws put in as he too joined the small circle of cats.
"We've had peace for many moons. Unless there is trouble, our warriors will grow fat and lazy." came yet another voice, purring with amusement.
"Graystripe!" Firestar called to his old friend.
"Now that we're all here, can we get on with the discussion?" growled the large white cat.
"Keep your fur on Blackstar. We're getting there." said Bluestar calmly.
"You have been called here because of the new danger that threatens the forest." Bluestar mewed to the surrounding cats, "Firestar has been given the responsibility of choosing he cat to warn the clans." the silver-blue cat stepped back, a clear indication to Firestar to come forward and show his choice. He stepped up to the pool, and gently touched his muzzle to it. An image shimmered onto it's surface of a light brown kit with a chest and paws so white, they gleamed like sunshine on snow. She couldn't have been more then five moons of age, playing with her litter mates.
"A kit Firestar!" gasped the tortoise shell cat, "Is that wise?"
"Yes Spottedleaf." the flame pelted tom replied, "I believe so."
"She will not have been tainted by the lust for power." said Bluestar. Firestar nodded at her, thanking her for the support.
"Very well," growled Blackstar. "if you think it's such a good idea, ShadowClan agrees."
"WindClan will support your choice Firestar." said Tallstar.
"As will RiverClan." said Oakheart. Both Bluestar and Firestar were well respected in the other clans.
After hearing that every clan agreed, Firestar bent down and lapped at the pool. He fell into a dream-like trance as he sent the kit the terrifying omen. His eyes jerked open and a shiver went through his entire body, 'what was that?…probably nothing.' he thought to himself. "I only wish we could be of more help." he murmured as he sat up, shaking droplets of water from his whiskers..
"As do we all Firestar." said Graystripe, "but we don't even know what it is that will cause this."
"StarClan cannot see everything Graystripe." said Spottedleaf softly.
"I know, but it's frustrating. It pretty much goes against everything I thought I knew growing up." the air around the cats was filled with the purrs of amused cats, all thankful to have Graystripe there to ease the tension.
"This is all very well, but what if the clans do not agree with us? When all's said and done, it's up to them. We can't make them listen to this kit." pointed out Tallstar.
"What you say is true Tallstar, but we must have faith in that they can either avoid this all together, or be ready for it if it comes to pass." replied Sandstorm. Firestar blinked warmly at her, thankful that she was there with him. For had he not asked himself the very same question hundreds of times over? All they could do was hope. Hope that the clans understand the warning sent to them. Hope that they could come together and defeat this new enemy.
They must have faith.
Chapter One
It was just past sunrise, and already, Snowkit and Greykit were in trouble.
"why would you do something like that?!" cried their sister Pinekit. "now you have to clean it all up, that could take all day! And the apprentices have to go out to get more moss for the elders because you two decided to play with the stuff they gathered!"
"Great StarClan, Pinekit, you're sure getting worked up over this." said the ever adventurous tom Greykit, who had been the one to suggest playing with the moss.
"yeah Pinekit. It's not like they're not going to let us be apprentices just because we scattered some moss around the camp." said Snowkit softly, she was always soft-spoken and polite. She was loved by everyone in camp, even the old grump, Dustpelt; the oldest cat in ThunderClan. (Also, he was the worst tempered cat in all of ThunderClan.)
He would say sadly "she reminds me of Ferncloud." if someone asked why he tolerated her just coming in to talk. Snowkit's brother could always make her do things to get them in trouble.
"You two!" a voice called to them from near the warriors den. "less talking, more picking up that moss!" one of the warriors, Berrytail, walked up with his apprentice Silverpaw, a pretty she-cat with long gray fur. He looked down at the kits with a good natured gleam in his eyes. "You got yourselves into this mess, so you have to clean it up. That's what Bramblestar would say. But kits will be kits. I remember when I was a kit with Mouseclaw and Hazelfur. We actually raided Jaypelt's den and messed up everything. Got a stern talking to for that one!"
"Wow. You messed up Jaypelt's den?" Greykit asked incredulously. Besides Bramblestar, Dustpelt, and Whitewing (their mother), the kits couldn't think of a worse cat to mess with then the short tempered medicine cat. Even though he was blind, Jaypelt always knew what was going on and found some way to get mad. He was the scariest cat the kits could think of.
"well, not really."
"huh? What do you mean 'not really'?" asked Greykit.
"Jaypelt wasn't the medicine cat then. Actually, he wasn't even born then! It was another, almost as scary, cat named Leafpool."
"Leafpool? I think I've heard that name before…" Snowkit trailed off.
"well, you can ask the elders about it later. Or better yet, Squirrelflight! She was Leafpool's sister. Well, I think I'll take my leave here, don't want to get in trouble for distracting you kits." he said getting up, "that mouse looks pretty good, nice and plump and oh, mouse dung! I was too slow, I'm getting too old for this." he mumbled to himself as he walked over to the fresh-kill pile.
"That's probably going to take a long time." said Silverpaw, looking around at all moss still needing to be picked up, "perhaps I could help?"
"That would be great," admitted Snowkit, "but, like Berrytail said, we got ourselves into this. It would be wrong to ask you for help."
"What are you talking about?!" Greykit almost shrieked, "of course we could use her help! It'll take forever to get this all up!"
"You should have thought of that before you threw the moss at me." growled Snowkit. Why didn't Greykit get it? This was their fault, asking Silverpaw to help would be wrong!
"Well, you can help him if you want, but I don't think you should and I wont accept your help. I'll attack you while you're collecting the moss so it'll go flying everywhere." Silverpaw purred in amusement at the small brown kit defending her honor so fiercely.
"Very well. But if you're not done before sun high, I'm coming back to help you two." she promised before padding away to the apprentices den.
"Geez Snowkit! What was that all about?!" demanded Pinekit, "you could have been done before sun high, but no! why didn't you accept her help?"
"it's wrong!" exclaimed Snowkit, surprised that her brother did not realize this..
"no it's not! We should have let her help!" cried Greykit.
"it's not like I was never going to let her help." said Snowkit softly, "I would have let her if she came back."
"but still! She's gone now! We should have let her help."
"oh?" a voice came from behind them, Bramblestar had walked up during their conversation and had been sitting behind them, listening to most of it.
"Bramblestar!" the kits squeaked.
"Greykit, Snowkit is right. It would be wrong to accept help for a punishment." he said.
"figures he'd take her side…" Greykit mumbled while looking away rebelliously.
"what was that?" asked Snowkit.
"nothing!" Greykit said quickly.
"that isn't to say you should never accept help. It has been said, 'pride comes before a fall'. If Silverpaw comes back, I think you should let her help." the kits nodded enthusiastically, both praying to StarClan that Silverpaw would come back.
I forgot to write this for the first chapter and this is the only time I will write this so pay attention…ahem, I DO NOT OWN WARRIORS. I barely even own my characters. T.T (Partial credit goes to Adderstar of ValorClan.)
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