A/N: This story is a sequel to Time to Kill. If you have not yet read Time to Kill, you will probably not understand most of the events going on in this story. Thank you for taking time to read this story, and please review!
Prologue
The air was tainted with the acrid stench of death. The sheer stone walls of the gorge jolted into the sky like a cat's unsheathed claws. Down below, the world was still and silent, as though all time had stopped. Blood was splattered across the stone floors, and upon the walls, as though it was rising out of the ground itself. Rotting corpses and skeletal remains of warriors were scattered about, maggots and birds of prey eating away at their decaying flesh. The sunset colors washed around the canyon, illuminating the gory sight with pastel colors and filling the twilight with an unsettling sense of magic and darkness.
It was at that moment the dusk shadows of the massacred cats sprung up from their sides, where they had been trapped for a lifetime. They danced around like falling snow, scaling the walls and appearing in places in the blink of an eye. This was no trick of the light, as anyone watching would have thought. This was the deepest evil come to life, the embodiment of malice and hatred now living within the silhouettes of slain Clan members. Their very souls had mingled with the shadows, creating an unholy creature; something unnatural and strange.
Eyes and tails, claws and fangs; those who pass here will be slain. Magic marked with malice gives malice where due, and when the dark covers the dead become you.
High atop the jagged stone walls was a cat, black as those that came from the shadows, with burning amber eyes that burned like the setting sun. Her pace was unsteady, and her balance awry, but she managed to reach the bottom of the gorge. Her ever-unsheathed claws clicked against the ground, and her wild eyes darted back and forth, taking in the sight of what her curses and powers had done. The shadows still swirled around, blurred and transparent as they moved at fantastic speeds. "Cats from the stones," she began, her voice loud and sinister, "shadows of warriors slain, I have come for you. The time of the Gloaming comes soon, and you must be ready."
In an instant, the shadows lined up, standing side by side in positions that looked as though they were ready for fierce battle. The black she-cat dipped her head, and continued on. "A third of you to the living," she meowed. At that instant, a group of the shadow cats turned back into the forms they had had when they were still living. "You will be granted with immortality, and will live out your eternity here, guarding the stones forever."
She looked to the sky, and back down to the silhouette cats. "A third to the dead," was her command this time. In an instant, another group of shadow cats vanished. "You will prowl the dark forests, and the places without stars forever. You will create fear and terror in the living cats, and exploit it."
"And a third of you to the masquerade," the she-cat meowed with a grin. The remaining group of cats turned into cats of all kind, in every shape, size, and color. "You are the deceivers and tricksters of your kind. You will live among the traitor kin, but you will not remember who you are or where you come from. You will be my eyes, and you will keep the secrets." With that, the group of silhouette cats vanished, gone to live out their lives in another place.
She turned to the remaining cats, the guardians of the territory. "You will worship me, and me alone," she hissed. "I am Newmoon, your maker and your guide. You, cats of stone and shadow, are all mine."
Out of the crowd of cats stepped a lithe silver tabby tom, with eyes like ice and a dark aura surrounding him. "I am Ice," he meowed. "Ice of the Stone, and I am your servant and the command of my Clan."
From behind Ice stepped a ginger tabby she-cat, a mystical sparkle in her pale green eyes. "I am the Seer of Dawn," she announced. "I am your servant, and the dreamseeker of my Clan."
"You have given us life again," Ice meowed. "We are truly grateful to you. In this, we can take our revenge upon the traitor kin."
Dawn let out a vengeful hiss. "Yes, they will pay for their treachery and massacre of our kind."
Newmoon gazed at the two outspoken cats, knowing that they had been the Leader and Healer of the Clan that lived in the gorge. They were valuable and wondrous cats, both of them possessing the Inner Gift. Ice was also a tactical mastermind; cunning and swift, and Dawn had fury, intelligence and skill far beyond what other cats of her Clan possessed. "You are both blessed cats," Newmoon meowed. "You will remain in your positions, and I will keep in contact with you directly."
"Please," Ice cut in suddenly, "Dawn was heavy with kits when the traitor kin attacked, yet I do not see them here, and I did not see them before. What have you done with them?"
Newmoon's eyes flashed, but then softened. "Your kits serve an important role in my plan," she informed them. "I have sent them as masquerade. They have the Inner Gift, as you do, and they will usher in the Great Night. They are key to vengeance upon the traitor kin."
"Tell me what they look like," pleaded Dawn. "I want to know!"
"There are three," Newmoon began, "two tom-kits and one she-kit. The eldest is a tom much like his father, Ice. He is gray like ashes after a fire."
"Then I will call him Ash," meowed Dawn. "Ash of the Fire, that will be his name." Ice nodded in approval, and they both sat together, waiting for Newmoon to continue.
"The second resembles you, Dawn, with fire-fur and thorny stripes," Newmoon meowed. "Also a tom, like the first."
It was Ice who spoke up this time. "I will call him Blaze in the Nettles," he announced. "It sounds perfect, doesn't it? For his fire-fur and his thorny stripes, I mean."
Newmoon was slightly bothered by the behavior of the two cats she had chosen to continue to lead the cats of the stones, though she wasn't about to remove them from their positions as she knew of their skills. She let them continue to talk amongst themselves about their offspring. "The last is the she-kit, brown like a cave and with stripes across her fur," she finished.
"More stripes?" Dawn said thoughtfully. "Brown like a cave... She will be Echo of the Caves!" Her voice was confident. "Because caves echo, and her stripes are like an echo of her brother's stripes."
Ice stared at Dawn for a moment. "But Dawn, Ash was named for his ash-like fur, Blaze was named for his fire-fur... Shouldn't Echo be called Dirt or Mud?"
"No! Those are horrible names! Echoes are wonderful and beautiful, dirt and mud is disgusting and takes forever to wash off of your pelt!" spat Dawn. "Her name is Echo, and that's the end of it!"
"But names should be what the kit looks like, not what they sound like!" Ice argued.
"Since when did that become a rule?" Dawn growled.
Newmoon narrowed her eyes. "Silence, both of you! You're acting like kits, arguing over the names of your children. Ash, Blaze, and Echo – those are fine names, and that is what they shall be, or at least to you. There is no guarantee that they will keep these names through their lives."
"And why not?" Dawn asked. "If we spent so much trouble over naming them, I think their names should stay that way."
"And I agree," Ice meowed with a nod.
Newmoon's patience was wearing thin. There was no pleasing these headstrong cats. Silently, she cursed them both, though not with her powers, simply with her thoughts. "I will manipulate their names as best as I can," she hissed. "But remember, they will be living with the traitor kin, and their names and ways are different." Her voice began to grow darker and lower. "Now, I want to warn you all. If you leave your territory before the Great Night, you will be turned to stone as soon as you set paw outside your border." Frightened looks came from the members of the Clan.
"There are more rules," she continued. "If any outsider enters your territory, you are to capture them, and make them a sacrifice to me, Newmoon the Mystic. For every time you fail to do this, I will turn a member of your Clan into stone." There were more frightened looks, and murmuring from everyone.
A shy-looking tabby-and-white she-cat spoke up softly. "Will we mothers still be able to have kits," she asked quietly. "And will they grow, or will they stay young forever?"
Newmoon bared her teeth at the shy she-cat, sending her scrambling back into the ranks. "Yes, the Mothers of the Clan will still be able to have kits. They will grow, but upon being assigned their Clan rank, they will be turned immortal like the rest of you."
This time, a smoky gray tom spoke up. "Immortal, you say? But not invincible, I suppose," he meowed.
"Yes, you can live forever, but if you're killed in battle against an outsider or other cat, you will either be sent to the darker forests to live with the other shadows, or you will be turned to stone," Newmoon answered. "And you'd better hope it's the former, rather than the latter. Those who are sent to live in the dark forest are those who are loyal to me, while those who are turned to stone are the traitors."
"We understand," Ice meowed, his immature attitude gone and replaced with collected deadliness. "We will do as you ask."
The sky was now growing black, and Newmoon turned away. "I'm going to leave you all now," she hissed quietly. "And I will not be back until the Gloaming and the Great Night. But remember, I will always be watching you..."
She vanished in a swirl of black smoke-like darkness rising from the ground, leaving the undead Clan of cats behind. The plan had been set in motion, and soon judgment would come to the traitor kin... And there would be a great darkness like none ever seen before...