Well, hopefully you weren't scared off by last chapter. Thanks for continuing to read. Gah, I finished this at around midnight. Sorry if the wording gets a bit confusing down the bottom; boy I was tired.

"The deaths of both the leader, Ghoststar, and deputy, Russetflight, are being treated as linked," announced the bold medicine of ThunderClan, Ocelotfur. His thick, golden spotted fur shone pink and yellow in the evening light as he addressed the cats of all four clans at the gathering.

"What are you going to do now?" piped up Clawstar, the young leader of WindClan, "I mean, both your leader and deputy are dead!"

"Hush, Clawstar" said the wise leader of ShadowClan, Pebblestar, she glared the younger tom in the eye until he backed down in embarrassment, "I hardly think it's your turn to speak"

I observed this scene with a tilted head. My whiskers twitched in amusement at Pebblestar's retort, but mainly my expressions remained grim. Like the rest of my ThunderClan members, I was shocked by the sudden, gory deaths of both the leader and deputy of our clan.

Ocelotfur speaks again. The golden tom cat has an amazing stage presence, his entire voice fills the large area and everyone can hear him very clearly. "I am going to consult StarClan tonight," he said, "I will see what wisdom they inflict upon me to give to our clan"

I knew those words by heart. Ocelotfur had been practicing this all day around the clearing. Even as I looked around at my fellow ThunderClan members, a few of them were mouthing Ocelotfur's words right as he said them. I had not seen the bodies of Ghoststar and Russetflight, but those who had said it was the worst thing they had ever laid eyes on, gleaming entrails spurting out of Ghoststar's throat and glistening in the moonlight, Russetflight's spine broken and sticking through her neck like a needle through thread … I had stopped listening then. It got all too grotesque.

Shuddering as I pictured the disquieting scene, I looked back up at Ocelotfur to try to get the entire event out of my mind. The clan was filled with worry, but tonight it would all be resolved. Ocelotfur had inspected the bodies of the two cats, and said that both the leader and the deputy had been killed by a cat, not by a badger or dog as was first thought.

At the end of the gathering, the four clans went their separate directions. I followed, the thick silence of the night oozing into my eardrums. My good friend Stormheart was flanked beside me, his thick grey fur pressed against my long calico coat. Everyone in the clan looked frightened or wary to a degree, as they all knew very well that the forest wasn't safe at night.

Back at the camp, the entirety of ThunderClan breathed a sigh of relief, including those who didn't come on the trip. Several cats rushed up to the party who had gone, asking if they were okay, if we had seen anything suspicious or anything like that. We could do nothing but collaboratively mew "No" and shake our heads.

There was not much on the food pile to satisfy my growling stomach. We lived in lean times, and both Stormheart and I had to share one scrawny mouse. It did little to satisfy both our hunger.

We retired to our nests early, as there was an electric storm brewing on the horizon. The night was filled with bursts of lightning, claps of thunder and a pattering of rain. The bony bodies of the rest of the ThunderClan cats shivered violently with every fresh burst of wind and rain that flew into the south facing den.

The morning bought no better weather with it. The wind howled through the trees, making the branches groan. The sky was overcast and light misty rain drizzled from the heavens, so that every cat's fur had thin drops of rain clinging to their pelts. Not many kits had survived this year; the lack of food had killed them. The few that had survived were as thin as sticks, with very visible rib cages. In fact, every ThunderClan cat was not much more than a skeleton and a fur coat.

Ocelotfur stepped on top of high rock. He had taken over the role as leader until he was to consult StarClan tomorrow. He didn't even have to command the cats toward him, as soon as they saw him they began to amble toward high rock. They knew the drill.

"I would ask the close friends and family of Ghoststar and Russetflight to please step forward." he said, "We would ask them to bury the cats and share their last goodbyes with them before the rest of the clan mourns the loss" A few cats looked confused; this wasn't the usual tradition, but the friends and family of the deceased stepped forward none the less.

I recognised the she cat, Flamingpelt. Her fiery ginger tabby fur stood out amongst the rest of the dull pelts of the other cats. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. She had barely stopped crying ever since her sister had died. Stormheart and I watched as the small party of cats walked away and cringed as we heard them gasp, scream and sob upon seeing the grotesque and lifeless bodies of their kin.

Stormheart turned away to look at me with those big, stormy blue eyes of his. He shook his fur free of the tiny little dew drops of water, a few of them splattered onto me.

"Fishfeather" I cringed when the grey tom addressed me

I always loathed my name; Fishfeather. Every cat knows that fish don't have feathers, I mean, what was Ghoststar thinking? And mum, naming me after a stinky, sloppy, slimy, wet creature ... why couldn't she have named me after something gallant, gracious and brave, like a wolf or a stag? Fish are dumb. Dumb and smelly.

I shuddered and looked at him, an annoyed gleam in my yellow eyes. "Yes, Stormheart?" I said, a growl in my annoyingly high voice. I wish it would hurry up and break, it's pretty hard for fellow clan members to take me seriously when I sound like a mouse on helium.

"Did you notice how plump the other cats looked at the gathering?" he whispered at me

"Personally, I don't take my time looking at how fat other cats are," I said, envious at Stormheart's beautiful, rich, low voice. I was in a bad mood from lack of sleep. The freezing rain had kept me awake all night.

He chose to ignore my angry outburst. "This means that only ThunderClan cats are suffering from this famine"

"So?"

"So," he says, a cunning gleam in his sky blue eyes, "Tonight, my friend, we steal"

It wasn't the stealing bit that got me worried. When we were apprentices, Stormheart and I caused great trouble with the other clans, stealing toads from ShadowClan to see what they tasted like, trying to catch hares and failing miserably, falling into RiverClan's river ... The bit that worried me was the tonight part.

"Night?" I squeaked, "You want us to go out there," I jerked my head toward the howling trees, "At night?"

He nodded, smiling.

"Stormheart, are you off your rocker? The last cats who ventured out of the clan at night were Ghoststar and Russetflight, and look what happened to them!"

"But imagine the look on the clans faces when we return with bountiful amounts of prey ..." Stormheart had a dreamy look on his face

"I'm sure it would be great, but aren't you scared?"

"Scared? I'm not scared of anything"