Prologue
There was never any hope for a sickly, starving cat without the will or ability to lift herself to hunt. If you were out alone in the woods and you collapsed from exhaustion and hunger, it would be ages before a patrol would find you, and by then it would be too late. This was the fate of my mother, Emberstorm. They said she was slightly mad from the lack of prey. Her body didn't have enough nutrition. They found her three days after she left the camp, her body half-eaten by birds and foxes. I was devastated by this, as I had only just been made an apprentice of my Clan.
My father, Pinefall, did not feel the same as I. He had already found another mate anyway. Her name was Sedgeheart, and she gave birth to Thornkit and Meadowkit, my half-siblings, on the day that my mother died. That's how it was. No commitment between mates, except for the rare occasion where a tom and she-cat would made for life. That wasn't the case for anyone in my Clan right now. We just needed new kits, new kits who would grow into warriors and provide food and protection for our dying Clan
All the foliage in the forest was dying out. It was all a sickly brown color, and brittle enough to break off with a breeze. There was a thick layer of frost on the hard ground. It wasn't just our Clan that was withering and fading, it was all the territories by the lake as well. Ever since the lake had been drained by the Twolegs, nothing grew quite as well as it should have. RiverClan didn't have any fish to eat, either. WindClan was feeling the bitter chill of the harsh leafbare. ShadowClan hadn't been heard from in moons, not even turning up at gatherings.
On a harsh winter's night is when my friend Mintpaw received a prophecy in her dreams. She wasn't the medicine cat apprentice, though Firetooth had always tried to convince her to change paths. She wanted to be a warrior more than anything. Even if she did a special connection with StarClan, she wasn't about to change for destiny's sake.
She told me the prophecy moments after she woke up from her dreams. She said, "No flowers will grow until red stains the silver snow."
Mintpaw didn't know what this meant, and neither did I.
She wasn't about to tell Firetooth about the prophecy either. She didn't want the Clan to pressure her into becoming a medicine cat. So she kept it a secret, and asked me to do the same. I promised her that no matter what I wouldn't tell anyone about the prophecy.
Today I broke that promise.
Today I will die.