A Riverclan Story

Prologue

It was a calm, lazy summer afternoon. The sun shone brightly in the sky above. All was quiet…..or was it? To humans, it seemed like a peaceful, ordinary day. But in one forest, no day is ordinary. And peace hardly ever seems to last.

Deep within the heart of Riverclan territory, a battle raged on. Thunderclan had attacked Riverclan, trying to win back sunningrocks. It had proved to be a fierce battle. A Thunderclan warrior by the name of Pineclaw was fighting Riverclan's leader, an old white tom called Thornstar. As Thornstar was aging, he was starting to get slower and slower. As he prepared to pounce onto Pineclaw, he felt sharp claws dig into his back. Another warrior, a cat called Stoutpelt, had pounced on him from behind. Thornstar felt a familiar pain: the pain of death. And he knew that this would the last time he would feel that pain, or any pain for that matter. His nine lives where up. He had lost his last life.

Meanwhile, back in the camp, Nightshadow was searching for an herb. He currently had no apprentice, so he had to go back for it himself. As he padded out of his den, his jaws full, he looked up in awe. Some twolegs nearby had been having a fire and the billowing smoke above formed a perfect shape.

A star. A gray star.

How could this be? Nightshadow asked himself, We still have a leader…unless…no..it can't be….but he was on his last life….

And then, he thought of their deputy, who had been ill, and died earlier that morning. There was no time to name a new deputy before they had been attacked. Nightshadow rushed to the battle field. Sure enough, he found a white cat lying on the ground. He was still alive. Just barely. " Thornstar…not you…" he whispered.

"Goodbye, my friend, my life is up. I am on my way to Starclan. I only wish I knew if my clan would fare well…"

" Thornstar, I received a sign from Starclan. I know who the new leader will be. It's Graypelt."

"But she's a queen…"

"Yes, but you where going to apprentice her kits tonight. She'll be free to take up the position of leader."

"I am glad. I am sure the clan will be well taken care of. Now, I must leave this world…goodbye, old friend…"

"Goodbye, Thornstar. You served your clan well…" With that, Thornstar gave a small shudder. He was gone. The battle was ending. Thunderclan cats where slowly leaving. They had defeated Riverclan. Sunningrocks was theirs once again. As the Riverclan cats got back to camp, the wounded waiting to be seen by the medicine cat, they found his den empty. He was actually in the nursery.

"Graypelt?"

"Yes? What's going on?"

"The battle's over…but there's something I must tell you…"

"Did we lose?"

"Yes…but…that's not the worse of it…"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Well….Thornstar was killed in battle."

"That's horrible! Whatever shall we do without him? He was a great leader."

"He died the way he would have wanted to go. Fighting for his clan. And, Starclan has shown me who the new leader is to be."

"Really? Who?"

"You are."

(Note: I have two very similar versions of this plot. although neither have been fully written. The other focuses on my made up clan, Waveclan)