Allegiances
Thunderclan
Leader
Deadstar - massive white tom with partially sightless pale green eyes
Deputy
Swiftheart - dark grey tabby she-cat with brown eyes
Apprentice, Onepaw
Medicine Cat
Pebblestep - fluffy calico she cat with brown eyes
Warriors
Stonejaw - big long furred light grey tom with a dark grey jaw
Apprentice, Hawkpaw
Mosspool - light grey she cat with green eyes
Apprentice, Acornpaw
Sunsplash - golden ginger tabby she cat with blue eyes
Spidertail - brown tom with green eyes
Apprentice, Daisypaw
Amberfur - white she cat with bright ginger patches
Thistlejaw - big broad shouldered dark grey tom with a slightly twisted jaw
Apprentice, Fogpaw
Stormclaw - big broad shouldered dark grey tom with unusual pale blue eyes
Apprentice, Rainpaw
Mintfur - handsome light grey tom with mint green eyes
Apprentice, Splashpaw
Thornfur - scruffy golden brown tom
Owlwing - light brown speckled tom
Sparrowfeather - brown tabby she cat
Apprentice, Honeypaw
Wrenflight - small dark brown she cat
Apprentices
Fogpaw - dark grey almost black tom
Rainpaw - dark grey she cat
Splashpaw - calico she cat
Daisypaw - light grey almost white she cat
Onepaw - black tom with one white spot on his right shoulder
Hawkpaw - dark grey brown tabby tom with one green eye and one blue eye
Acornpaw - dark red brown tabby tom with green eyes
Honeypaw - golden brown tabby she cat with dark blue eyes
Queens
Eeltail - dark mottled grey she cat with green eyes
Elders
Rockfang - dark grey tom
Nettletail - black she cat
Shadowclan
Leader
Duskstar - dusky black she cat with pale yellow eyes
Apprentice, Pinepaw
Deputy
Robinflight - dark tortoiseshell she cat with a splash of ginger on her chest
Medicine Cat
Mousefang - sandy coloured tom
Apprentice, Finchpaw
Warriors
Goldash - long furred pale grey speckled she cat with golden eyes
Apprentice, Maplepaw
Marshclaw - broad shouldered dark grey speckled tom
Sparkfur - bright ginger tom
Apprentice, Oakpaw
Kinktail - dark red she cat with wild fur
Ivyclaw - dark grey tom
Gorsefur - sandy coloured she cat
Apprentice, Birchpaw
Crookedtail - black tom with a broken tail
Queens
Berrytail - white she cat with a faded dark ginger tail
Elders
Brackenfoot - light ginger tom with darker ginger paws
Riverclan
Leader
Silverstar - silver tabby tom with dark silver rings on his tail
Deputy
Cloudclaw - light grey tom with pale blue eyes
Apprentice, Mistypaw
Medicine Cat
Wisptail - pale grey tom
Warriors
Otterclaw - light brown tabby tom
Apprentice, Sharppaw
Mudclaw - dark brown she cat
Apprentice, Echopaw
Shiverstream - pale light grey tom
Spotfeather - brown tom with white flecks
Queens
Dappleflower - tortoiseshell she cat
Elders
Mantisclaw - dark grey tom with an ageing muzzle
Windclan
Leader
Smokestar - dark smokey grey tom with a flat muzzle
Deputy
Scorchclaw - huge broad shouldered dark ginger tom
Medicine Cat
Applefoot - white she cat with red paws
Apprentice, Mallowpaw
Warriors
Tatteredfur - ragged dark grey tom with dark yellow eyes
Apprentice, Slatepaw
Stagtooth - dark brown speckled tom
Apprentice, Quickpaw
Hookclaw - dark grey tabby tom
Flintfang - dark grey tom with blue eyes
Mistclaw - light grey she cat
Poppydawn - tortoiseshell and white she cat
Apprentice, Lilypaw
Burrpelt - light brown she cat
Russetfoot - russet she cat
Apprentice, Ferretpaw
Flamefur - bright orange she cat
Queens
Leaftail - light brown tabby she cat
Elders
Sootstreak - silver tom with darker silver flecks
Mistlefoot - russet tom
Cats outside the clans
Blitz - dark grey tabby tom
Riley - white she cat with splashes of browny grey and odd coloured eyes
Skip - white she cat with a dark greyish brown striped tail
Dash - ash blonde tom
Blade - black tom with a shredded left ear
Flick - dark brown tom with a twitchy tail
Prologue:
The Sky Has a New Star.
Her eyes fluttered open what seemed like only a moment after she had closed them. She blinked around her new surroundings, the soft silvery light seemingly coming from nowhere and yet somewhere at the same time but still reflecting unnaturally off of the lush grass that seemed to spread on forever underneath the starry night sky. She looked down confusedly at the blue tinted green grass that glowed almost radiantly, and suddenly it dawned on her. She fluidly pushed herself up, feeling light and airy and like her limbs could run forever without rest, and looked around. The same soft, blue tinted grass stretched on for as far as she could see, a gentle warm breeze ruffling both her fur and the idyllic grass below her. She sat down, scanning her eyes back and forth across the plane of grass, waiting. When no cat appeared for more than a few seconds she frowned. Usually they are here before or just as I wake, what is keeping them? She had barely finished that thought when the air started to shimmer and almost hum, crackling with energy, setting her fur on end. As quickly as it had started it faded and someone to her left said, "Greetings."
She started, quickly turning to face the shimmering, translucent tortoiseshell she-cat who smiled at her pleasantly and purred in further greeting. Upon realising who it was her hackles settled and instead she leaned in, pressing her nose to a spot of orange on the she-cat's shoulder for a brief moment before pulling back.
"Brambleleaf," she said by way of greeting, feeling a sense of foreboding settle in her chest. "What have you come to show me?" she asked with little preamble. Brambleleaf's smile turned to one of sadness, before she turned her head back to look out on the grass swaying gently in the breeze.
"You know that I bring back bad news without me even uttering a word, Pebblestep."
"Visits like these never bode well," she said like it was obvious, her head cocked to the side.
Brambleleaf sighed, staring at the starry grass that poked through her shimmering paws, as if she wasn't even there. She made a small huffing noise, before looking back up at Pebblestep. "You always could understand cats well, tell what they're thinking with just a mere glance, you seemed to look into their souls and see what is hidden underneath, at all the ugly scars they wish to hide." She looked back out onto the horizon and Pebblestep followed the motion. The moon seemed so radiantly beautiful that Pebblestep had to stop for a second, even though she had seen it like that many times on her visits. "Although in some cases it is both a curse and a gift," she continued pointedly, a dark look coming over her green eyes as she turned back to face Pebblestep, and Pebblestep couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as she looked away in shame. Brambleleaf sighed somewhat angrily, at whom Pebblestep could not tell. "Look at me, I did not come here to fight and yet that is what I always seem to do." She let out an angry yet defeated huff before looking down shamefully again at her paws. "My anger is misplaced, I know it was not your fault." Then she said plainly: "I should never have brought it up."
She looked Pebblestep in the eye again, regret shadowing her features. "I suppose you want to hear the message StarClan has for you now, don't you?" she asked, turning her eyes down.
"I'm sorry, Brambleleaf," she couldn't help but say. Brambleleaf, however, paid her no mind as she continued on as if she hadn't even heard her. Her voice took on an ominous yet commanding tone as if StarClan were channeling their knowledge and power through her.
"There will be three cats that will help defeat a great evil, but the greatest evil always comes from within." As soon as the words had left her mouth she seemed to deflate, her imposing presence washing away as StarClan's will was delivered. Pebblestep frowned as Brambleleaf finished her message, mulling over her words. Brambleleaf looked across over to Pebblestep, sorrow shining in her eyes, as she sighed again. She was doing that a lot recently. "This is where I go." She pressed her nose quickly to Pebblestep's forehead. "Farewell, my apprentice."
"Goodbye, Brambleleaf, may StarClan light your path." A short humourless laugh escaped Brambleleaf, before she followed suit.
"May StarClan light yours too," she said, an undetectable emotion clouding her voice. "Be careful now, there are tough times ahead for all the clans."
"Aren't there always?" The last thing she saw was Brambleleaf exasperatedly shaking her head in amusement before her entire vision winked out and went dark.
She woke slowly, taking in her surroundings and the moonlight streaming in through the crack in the rock above her, the moss nest beneath her although soft was nothing compared to the fleeting feeling of softness of the grass in her dream. Her dream. She needed to tell Deadstar about it. And what it meant for the clan. Well, I mean, I can take my time, it's not like he's going to go anywhere if I stay here for a minute. At that she rolled over and stretched, her jaw flexing wide as she yawned, before shaking her head and hopefully any sleepiness from her eyes. She waited a heartbeat and blinked. No such luck. With that she made her way to her feet, missing the seemingly endless energy she had had in her dream, wishing for it to come back. Trying to shake some energy back into her paws she padded out of the secluded back part of the medicine den that made her private nest and into the main area filled with thankfully empty nests. She didn't like them being filled, and did everything in her power to make sure that if they were that they were soon empty again. The constant gentle shush shush of the pool always managing to calm her as she thought about how she was going to tell Deadstar about the prophecy and the implications for her clan. She blinked again. She was too tired to try and plan what she was going to say to him, she was just going to tell him. Having made up her mind she raised her chin and made her way out of the rocky crevasse that made the entrance to the medicine den and out into the cool night.
She stepped outside, a gentle chill nipping at the air, making her calico fur fluff up. On nights like these she really wished she had thicker fur, but then again in Green-leaf she would regret having it so she supposed the fur she had wasn't that bad, no matter how fluffy it was. She looked around the eerily quiet camp, the only sound was the leaves gently brushing against each other in the trees above her. She was so used to seeing it full of life and noise during the day that it was a very sharp comparison to now. She made her way across the clearing, nodding to Mintfur who was on guard duty for the night. He nodded back to her before resuming his watch. She carried on going across the clearing, chuckling to herself when she could hear Rockfang snoring his muzzle off in the elders den. How Nettletail ever put up with him was a wonder. But she only had a few moments to chuckle to herself before the looming presence of Highrock signified she was just outside Deadstar's den. She was about to push the lichen aside and go in when she heard a cat talking from inside.
"They've been stealing our prey, I just know it," a she-cat vehemently said, whom she instantly recognised as Swiftheart. She'd heard that voice too many times to mistake it for anyone else. Pebblestep's breath stilled in an attempt to hide.
"You have no basis for this argument and no substantial evidence." There was Deadstar, what was he talking to his deputy about? She hadn't heard anyone complaining about prey stealing, and she figured she would have been told, considering how much Wrenflight liked to gossip whenever she got hurt, which was quite often.
"So then are you going to completely disregard what Stonejaw smelt?" she snapped.
" Might have smelt," Deadstar interjected. "He admitted to me he couldn't have been sure, as he said their possible scent was being masked by the Thunderpath."
"I think we are making a mistake letting this go unchallenged," Swiftheart warned. Deadstar's responses were becoming curter as the conversation went on.
"I am not making this clan go to war over what Stonejaw may or may not have smelt." She could hear Swiftheart about to argue again before he cut her off with a simple: "That is final."
She could hear a sigh come from Swiftheart before a grumbled "Yes, Deadstar," filtered through the lichen. Deadstar let out a short sigh before saying to entrance of his den, "You can come in now, Pebblestep." Pebblestep froze, oh fox-dung .
She could feel her fur get hot and prickly as she stood there, rooted to the spot, her eyes wide, staring at where Deadstar's voice had just come from. She felt shame at how Deadstar never failed to make her feel like an apprentice caught eating prey before giving some to the elders. At that thought she felt her paws unfreeze enough to stagger past the lichen and into his den. It was a little crowded with all three of them in there what with Deadstar lying down and Swiftheart sitting to his left, looking surprised to see Pebblestep there.
"Uh-uh, Deadstar I can explain-" she immediately started to ramble, Deadstar letting her go on for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and flicked his tail at her, interrupting and silencing her. "You do not need to explain, I would have told you about Swiftheart's suspicions soon anyway, although I am disappointed that you thought sneaking around was an answer to your question. I thought Brambleleaf would have taught you not to get caught?" he said with a small mirthful smile, at her continued silence his mirthful smile fell, "Ah," he said glancing off to the side, his cloudy eyes half focusing on the smooth wall beside him, "I take it you were meeting me because of her?" Pebblestep nodded. He nodded to himself.
"And?" he asked. "What has she told you?"
Pebblestep frowned before reciting what Brambleleaf had told her. Deadstar's eyes narrowed as he mulled it over, similarly to how she had.
"Do you have any idea what or who this might be about?" Swiftheart spoke up. Pebblestep shook her head truthfully: she had no idea.
"She did also say that there would be tough times ahead-" she looked at Deadstar "-for all the clans." He gave a small chuckle.
"That's not much of a warning, is it?" Swiftheart looked over to Deadstar, nodding her agreement while Pebblestep hummed hers.
"Perhaps it could be abo-" but before Swiftheart could finish her sentence Spidertail burst in, fur on end, frantically looking around with a wild look in his eyes before his glazed over eyes landed on Pebblestep. Then, if it was even possible, the franticness seemed to ramp up a notch.
"Pebblestep!" he said, more than a little out of breath. She frowned, a million different horrible scenarios running through her head. Is someone injured? Is the camp being attacked? Has one of the warriors run into trouble? Spidertail immediately launched into a fast, half jumbled ramble, his words blending into one another.
"I looked for you in your den but you weren't there and then I asked Mintfur and he said you were in here and so I went in here and here you are-" Deadstar had grown exasperated and interrupted him.
"What did you need, Spidertail?" He snapped out of his haze long enough to look at them all pleadingly before saying:
"It's Sunsplash, the kits, it's happening." Pebblestep looked at Deadstar who nodded.
"We'll finish this conversation later," he said dismissing her, letting her follow Spidertail's hysterical sprinting form out of the den and into the frosty night air.
After Pebblestep rushed out after Spidertail, Deadstar looked to Swiftheart.
"You know, I think Spidertail is handling his first time being a father well."
Swiftheart amusedly huffed, before replying, deadpan, "He's doing fantastic." Deadstar looked at her for a moment before a low chuckle rumbled in his throat as he smiled.
"I agree."