The Moon, the Sun, and the Star

by cats of golden moons

Three kits are born-to a mother who won't say who the father is. One clan learns the parentage-and prepares for a capture that, if successful, could destroy the clans-for these kits hold the future of the clans in their paws.

1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Prologue

The light brown tabby lept over a fallen tree stump, rushing to meet the one who must know the names of the kits. He must be the only one, she thought to herself, the only one who knows who they are. Her quick-witted mind felt as if she was forgetting something, something important. Oh yes, she thought, I must tell a tom. A tom to pretend to be the father of these kits. How about....... yes, he should do. I'll tell him when I get back. The cat raced on, on, to the ShadowClan border. Over tree roots and across a stream, she raced on.

He was there, at the border, standing, waiting. "How many?" "Three," she whispered.

"Their names?"

"I'm thinking of Moonkit, Sunkit, and Starkit."

"Good names," he replied. "I'll see you at the next Gathering. Let's meet over by the old pine on the island."

She looked at him, wondering why their love was forbidden. Some had broken that part of the warrior code before — Graystripe and Silverstream, Bluestar and Oakheart, and Leafpool and Crowfeather, to name a few. Their kits had not always been prosecuted, their love not always broken. Leafpool — a medicine cat — had broken the code even more by even having kits, as medicine cats were prohibited from having kits by the code.

"Until the Gathering, then," she purred, and then they both turned in unison and loped away from each other. Her feet pounded silently over the ground. I must get back to ThunderClan before they notice I'm missing, she thought. They will never know. Not the kits, nor the warriors, or the medicine cat. Not the elders, nor the leader, or the apprentices.

Our kits will never know, she thought as she ran. They will never know who their father is. They will never have the pain of being prosecuted for their parents, never will they be scorned for being half-clan. They must never know that they are half-clan, or that their blood comes from both ThunderClan and ShadowClan. They will never know.

But someone would know. Several, in fact. A whole clan would keep the secret of Moonkit, Sunkit, and Starkit's parentage................until the kits were old enough for the warriors to strike. A RiverClan apprentice ran out of the bushes and back to his clan, a terrible plan already forming in his evil mind.