Prolouge-

"With this life, I give you the strength to lead your clan even in the harshest of times." A deep voice ricocheted across the clearing, writhing through the air as if it contained the strength it spoke of. A sharp, rasping gasp followed, resonating pain. "Now rise, Leopardclaw as Leopardstar, leader of Thunderclan." A mighty golden shape bowed his broad head, thick neck fur rippling as he stepped away from a creamy she-cat with dark tabby points.

"Thank you, Barkstar," she breathed, her tail erect proudly. "I will lead your clan well!" Amber eyes glinting, she turned to the other eight cats who stood poised at the front of the rows of Starclan Warriors. "Thank you all. I will make you proud." Her eyes fell on a stocky grey tom for a moment, her heart aching with pain. "All of you."

"I know, dear Leopardstar," he murmured. "I am watching over you and our kits. "

"Leopardstar, you must remain here for a few moments." Barkstar's voice tore her focus away from the grey tom. "I must speak with you. Alone." At the final word, the light in the clearing dimmed till it was nearly shrouded in darkness. Under-paw, the grass felt rough, lacking the comforting softness that usually came with it.

Unnerved, the newly appointed leader paced back anxiously, the tip of her tail twitching. Beneath her paws, the grass's texture became ever more rough against her paws, until it felt as though tiny teeth were embedding themselves into her pads.

A choking note erupted from her throat as a snaking shape slid around her paws, arching over the pool before her, until it hung like a fog. "Barkstar!" She wailed, pressing her pale belly to the ground, eyes slitted in terror. "Slatepelt!"

"Darkness looms over all the clans, Leopardstar. It will come, in more ways than one. The fire and ice are your only hope."

Jerking her head, Leopardstar desperately searched for her deceased leader. "Fire? Ice? What does that even mean!" As she cried into the choking black, a blast of startling orange and blue-white cut through the fog. Heat mingled with searing cold as the two lights sliced through the darkness, once again igniting the clearing in a blinding light-

"Leopardstar!" Anxious blue eyes met Leopardstar's own amber eyes. "You were shaking all over, that's not supposed to happen in the ceremony... Did you...?"

"I got my lives. Barkstar gave me my last, and Slatepelt my first." The smaller cat nodded, blue eyes still worried. "Don't worry, Smalltail, I'm okay!" She forced herself to sound calm before her medicine cat. She was a leader now. And now, she had a prophecy. The Fire and Frost would come. What that meant for her clan, for all the clans, she did not know.

(*)

Chapter 1

"Move over Coalkit!"

"Stop shoving Palekit!"

"Sparkkit, get your paw off my tail or by Starclan I will bite it!"

Small bodies falling against frozen mud vibrated over the ground, causing a crowd of tightly knotted reeds to quiver. Beneath it, three shapes writhed in a conjoined heap of limbs and tails, entangled in a seemingly endless mess.

"Coalkit, move!" A grunt of effort erupted from the heap as one of the three was flung from under the cover of the bush, rolling across the dirt.

"Sparkkit! That wasn't nice!" It wailed, scrambling to shaky paws. She glared as a second shape followed, skidding across the ground to halt in front of the little black she-cat.

Snickering, Sparkkit retorted; "I did tell you to move, and Palekit was going to eat my tail if we didn't get out!" Flicking her ringed tail towards the bush, the two turned to survey the third kit as it left the cover of the brambles. "Come on Palekit, you're such a slow-slug!" Sparkpaw shook her mottled brown fur as their companion reached them.

"There is no way we will get the first pick of the prey now." Disappointed, Palekit turned to watch the crowd of their clan mates gather around a pile of fish, voles, and a rather old looking squirrel. "It's the best haul we've had in ages!" Sparkkit nodded gravely, her stomach snarling with hunger.

"Perhaps you would have been faster getting out of the nursery by waiting to go through the entrance like your mother told you."

At once, the three littermates spun to face a broad shouldered tom, whose white paws shone starkly against the pale ground under-paw. His green eyes were narrowed, mouth tipped in a frown. "I heard your mother tell you to stay put, and you did not listen. A wise warrior listens to their clan mates."

Sparkkit ducked her head, cheeks hot. Why did their father have to be so intrusive all the time? He always seemed to appear when they were not doing what they were supposed to do. Just yesterday, he had caught them throwing moss at each other just after they finished helping Otterpaw with cleaning the nursery.

"Come now, Ringtail." A white tom nudged his shoulder as he passed, a sorry looking minnow in his jaws. "Let them be. They're kits. And they will be apprentices in a moon!" Sparkkit and her sisters nodded eagerly.

Ringtail snorted. "The sooner they're apprenticed, the better. I hear you might take one on Whitesurge. Starclan knows they're a handful, and as deputy you can definitely manage!"

Sparkkit perked up her ears. To be mentored by the clan deputy? What an honour! He was one of the best fighters, able to take on a Thunderclan patrol single pawed. His ear had been lost in one such fight; a patrol has cornered him as he defended Sunningrocks, and he had sent them flying across the boulders, blood half blinding him as it ran down his mighty face.

Whitesurge chuckled and twitched his single ear. "Yes. I would like to take a second apprentice. It's been a long time since I mentored Smudgepelt – I would gladly mentor one of her kits." He nodded warmly at the three of them and ducked into the nursery, mewing a welcome to his mate Foxchest.

Ringtail flicked the kits of their heads softly with his winding tail. "Can you three behave? I want you on your best behaviour this next moon." Sparkkit nodded earnestly alongside her sisters. "Very good. And Palekit. I have spoken to Brookstar and Carpclaw. They have agreed you can train as a medicine cat."

"Oh yes! Thank you! I'll go see Carpclaw now! He always lets me help out in his den." With a delighted swish of her tail, the pale brown she-cat galloped towards the medicine den, her hunger forgotten.

"I can't believe she wants to be a medicine cat. Can you imagine?" Coalkit muttered out of the corner of her mouth as Ringtail sauntered away to join the other warriors.

"I know. Who would want to chew up icky herbs all day?" Sparkkit could hardly believe that Palekit wanted to train as a medicine cat. Wouldn't she rather learn how to fish for carp, how to fight her enemies, how to defend her clan?

"At least she's doing it so we don't have to. And she knows who her mentor will be. What about us?" Coalkit murmured.

"Oh, I hope I get Whitesurge." Wistfully, Sparkkit thought of her mother. "Smudgepelt is a great warrior! She's one of the best in the clan!"

Coalkit gave her sister a sideways glance. "But I want Whitesurge. We can't both have him – can we?" The two gazed at each other anxiously.

"Well," Sparkkit nodded slowly, "I guess we'll know in a half moon."