The harvest moon glowed in the black night sky. The hollow was bathed in red light, washing the green grass in blood. A large number of cats sat on the bloody ground, muttering to themselves and casting worried glances at the sky. Three cats sat on a large boulder clawing it's way up out of the ground--a small black she-cat with red eyes, a large tabby she-cat with amber eyes, and a large gray-and-white tom with blue eyes. They watched over the warriors gathered in the clearing, none of them talking nor moving from their spots. Suddenly, a voice yowled from the center of the clearing, "I smell ThunderClan!"

As if on cue, even more cats began pouring into the clearing from the west side. Their pelts changed from black and silver to red and pink as they raced from the shade of the forest to the open hollow below. They began mingling with the other cats, mewing happily with old friends and new acquaintances.

Three cats out of the new group began pushing their way to the front. Most of the cats moved out of the way, and those that didn't were stepped on as a large black tom led a black and orange tom and tortoiseshell she-cat to the boulder. The tom, once at the foot of the boulder, bunched his muscles beneath him and leaped up onto the top in one bound. The black and orange tom joined three other cats seated to the right of the boulder, his head lifted with dignity and his gray eyes betraying no emotion. The tortoiseshell sat with three other cats to the left of the rock, her amber eyes glowing with happiness as she touched noses with the other cats.

The black tom at the top of the rock sat on the very edge, towering over the cats in the clearing. His red eyes were narrowed as he raked his gaze across all the warriors. Finally, he mewed, "All of you are probably wondering why I called you here on this terrible night." His gaze flicked to the harvest moon and back down to the cats. "It is a very serious issue that I felt could not wait until the next Gathering, but must be taken care of now. As you can see, Flamespirit has taken Jumpfoot's place as deputy for this mock meeting. Jumpfoot is well, but was injured in a border skirmish with ShadowClan and cannot come tonight."

Many cats in the crowd meowed their consent for the injured ThunderClan deputy. The brown tabby was kind and generous, and most of the Clans liked him very much.

"That being said, I would like to address all of you as a whole. ThunderClan isn't the biggest Clan in the forest. However, we are far from the weakest." The black tom turned his head to the side and gazed at the black she-cat sitting beside him on the rock. "ThunderClan has found proof of WindClan's hunting on our territory. Hollystar, you do realize that your Clan is breaking the warrior code right beneath your nose?"

Cats in the clearing began leaping to their paws at the ThunderClan leader's accusation. They began howling out angry threats and denials as the ThunderClan warriors hissed at them from the shadows. Hollystar, the leader of WindClan, narrowed her eyes at the black tom on the rock.

"Hollowstar, my Clanmates are loyal warriors. They would never steal from another Clan's territory!"

Hollowstar lifted his head defiantly. "Are you saying my warriors are lying?"

"Are you saying my warriors are traitors?" Hollystar retorted.

One of the cats in the clearing, a dark tabby tom with red eyes, reared up on his hind legs and yowled to the cats on the rock, "You call all the Clans here on the night of the Redmoon, and accuse WindClan of such terrible things! How dare you? Just who do you ThunderClan cats think you are?"

Now it was ThunderClan's turn to be outraged. Shouts began to spring up all around the hollow:

"Traitor!"

"Acknowledge your mistake and give ThunderClan it's prey back!"

"All WindClanners are the same! Get out of the forest, you flea-bags!"

A yowl of terror interrupted the insults. On one end of the hollow a dark ginger tabby had pinned a small dark gray she-cat to the ground, his long claws dug deep into her shoulders. His teeth were inches from her ear as she howled at him to let her go. Hollowstar lifted his head and watched as the tabby raked his claws down her back, spilling the crimson blood on the grassy turf. Cats gasped in terror. But not a single one moved.

Satisfied with his accomplishment, the tabby wiped his stained paws on the grass before padding away to sit next to a large red-brown tom with amber eyes. The tom bent down and whispered something in the tabby's ear, who shrugged and murmured something back. As he did so, the dark gray she-cat forced herself to her paws, shaking droplets of blood from her pelt. She gazed around the hollow, her eyes wide with fright, before limping away to a tortoiseshell she-cat and pressing her pelt against the older warrior for comfort.

Hollystar whipped her head around, glaring at Hollowstar with eyes burning with pure hatred. "Hollowstar, this has gone far enough!" She raised her voice so all cats could hear. "This Gathering is over! And Hollowstar…" she pressed her face against his, her eyes cold slits, "this is far from over. WindClan and ThunderClan are enemies. For your sake, I hope you don't have to go to Mothermouth anytime soon."