Disclaimer: This is an original story based off the series Warriors by Erin Hunter. I do not own Warriors, but this fanfic, its plot, and any original characters or locations I add in I do own.

Fire of the Sky by Snowwolf28

Prologue: Marked

Two she-cats rested under the light of an almost-full moon. They each carried a kit in their mouth. The light drew shadows in the rocky mountain landscape. The first cat, a tabby named Dolphin set down the bundle of kit that she carried. The kit's pelt was silvery gray under the mud that had caked on and its eyes blue as ice. On its forehead white fur formed a mark shaped like a star. The kit's brother was gold-furred with striking amber eyes, and on his forehead was a white mark like his sister's only his was the shape of a flame. It was these marks, combined with a prophecy from the now-dead medicine cat, that had driven these kits, their mother and their aunt from OceanClan and into the wild beyond Sun-Drown-Place.

At first Blueshell, the second she-cat, had gone to the sea cave where, it was rumored, a badger that spoke cat lived. She had met this badger, named Midnight, and Midnight had told her to take the kits, named Star and Sun, far away. She hadn't said more than that. Dolphin had been reluctant to take her only kits into unknown territory, but a change of leadership forced that. OceanClan had been taken over by the cats that were conquering all the Clans around Sun-Drown-Place, RainClan. Their leader had given orders to have Sun and Star killed because of their marks and Dolphin had fled with Blueshell and the kits. They'd been running from RainClan for almost a moon when they came to the farm and had been taken in by the two cats there, Barley and Ravenpaw.

Ravenpaw was traveling with them now; with Barley…Barley was dead. That was why they had left the barn where Blueshell and Dolphin had hoped to live. RainClan had followed them they had fought, with Barley and Blueshell fighting the RainClan cats while Ravenpaw helped Dolphin escape across the Thunderpath to the old quarry he called Highstones. The patrol had killed Barley and Blueshell had fled when the Twolegs who owned the nearby nest had come running drawn by the yowls of the fighting cats. Now she had a long gash down her right side and was limping badly.

"Dolphin? Ravenpaw?" she called.

"Yes?" Ravenpaw answered around a mouthful of kit.

"We'll have to split up."

"What?"

"We should split up. The kits will both have a better chance of surviving if they don't travel together and they don't grow up together." As much as Dolphin hated the idea of the kits not knowing each other, it would be safest.

"I agree. I'll take Star to a tribe of cats I've heard lived in the mountains. And Ravenpaw…"

"I'll take Sun to the Clans. I'll track them to where they've settled and my old friend Firestar will take care of him and train him as a warrior."

They fell asleep beneath a rock overhang. The next morning when Dolphin woke, Blueshell wasn't breathing. She had died of blood loss during the night. She pressed her nose into her sister's fur one last time, then woke Ravenpaw. He took Sun in his mouth and Dolphin picked up Star. She set off for the pass farther into the mountains, to search for the tribe. Ravenpaw waited behind with the second kit. He would leave for ThunderClan later and by a different route.

He looked again at the flame-shaped mark on Sun's forehead. What did those marks mean, and what about them have RainClan so scared?

A/N: So, this is my first Warriors fanfiction. This takes place as if the third series never happened and never will, and deals with the question about why Stormfur and Brook left the Tribe. There'll be more clues as to exactly when it takes place in the next chapters. As always, reviews are accepted and appreciated.