Prologue

She had left her, that day by the stream. Left her so she could run back the way she had come, tail between her legs, to find help to save her own life.

Her own miserable, worthless life.

It was said some wounds cannot be healed by all the herbs of the greatest medicine cat. Regardless of her Worth, regardless of the compassion and courage that would earn her more herbs and greater levels of care that would all but guarantee her survival.

What good were they all? What good were the herbs that had failed her, of what use was the high Worth that had earned her a cautious treatment of her dead body?

It all seemed so flawless, as they dragged a particular lump of dull gray-white fur into the burial clearing. So perfectly wrong that it had to be her of the countless cats who had all survived, all blessed by their natural heroism that earned them high enough a Worth to be saved each time?

She had gazed in hollow silence as the body was lowered to the ground, allowing them to bury the last of her own spirit beneath the dust.


He always broke into sadistic, throaty purrs as he tormented the other apprentices. He twitched his whiskers every time he noted their pathetic attempts to put on brave faces to conceal their welling tears, and never bothered to hide his smirks when they flinched.

No one could see that there was no conviction behind his scorn, no mirth behind his purrs.

And he wouldn't have had it any other way.

His Worth lowered each time he bared his teeth at a kit and taunted another apprentice. He had watched, uncaring, as it dwindled from 230 to 205 to 150 to a mere 95 - one of the lowest known. It was almost amusing to see the clan flare up over the mockeries he made, the atrocities he committed that scattered the cats in his path and made him feel strong.

Because his Worth would only ever matter if he was on the verge of death, if he needed a savior. But he was never going to need one, never in his lifetime. He was going to survive - not by a medicine cat's miracle, but by his sheer power and will.

Because he was tough and strong: he would survive when the others hadn't.


Allegiances

ThunderClan

LEADER

Ravenstar - small, sleek black tom with green eyes and lighter flecks across his pelt

DEPUTY

Ambercloud - mottled tortoiseshell she-cat with pale gray eyes and a twisted paw

MEDICINE CAT

Cloudsong - white-furred she-cat with gray patches and clear blue eyes (Apprentice: Honeypaw)

WARRIORS

Cinderfang - pale gray tom with darker flecks (Apprentice: Bluepaw)

Whiteflower - light brown tabby she-cat with distinctive white ears and paws

Sedgefire - long-haired gray tabby she-cat with brilliant green eyes (Apprentice: Ashpaw)

Mossystripe - silver-white she-cat with dark ears and tail

Rainclaw - dark gray tom with a long tail and paler underbelly and tail-tip

Russetwing - dark red-brown she-cat with large amber eyes (Apprentice: Tigerpaw)

Emberfur - muscular ginger tom with a plumy tail and green eyes (Apprentice: Hollypaw)

Flameheart - spirited dusky brown she-cat with amber eyes

Leafstorm - handsome white-furred tom with light brown patches (Apprentice: Brackenpaw)

Wolfstrike - quiet dark gray tom with white paws and clear blue eyes (Apprentice: Smokepaw)

QUEENS

Larkfur - dark brown mottled she-cat with amber eyes

Poppyheart - light tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes (mother to Rosekit and Foxkit)

APPRENTICES

Honeypaw - pretty golden-brown she-cat with amber eyes and white ear-tufts

Bluepaw - powerful blue-gray tom with long claws

Ashpaw - small gray-furred she-cat with blue eyes and a plumy tail

Tigerpaw - muscular dark brown tabby tom with piercing amber eyes

Hollypaw - dark gray, almost black, she-cat with green eyes

Brackenpaw - light ginger tom with white paws and tail-tip and amber eyes

Smokepaw - thick-furred gray she-cat with deep blue eyes and lighter paws, underbelly, and tail-tip

ELDERS

Lionfur - long-haired golden tom with amber eyes


Okay, well, that's the prologue. The actual chapters will be longer, and not as dramatic (or whatever you might call it).

Please review!

~ Of Moonlight And Shadows