Prologue

Wind whipped across the southern plains, long stalks of grass swaying, the sun barricaded by a thin layer of mist. The fine golden hairs which covered the crouching she-cat quivered as if stirred by a breeze and not a storm. Despite the slight ruffling of her spotted coat, she remained the steadiest thing in sight as her brown-tipped tail flicked back and forth, her pale pink nose but a sneeze away from the hardened red earth. A young hawk scraped at the compacted dust with his sharp beak. The feathers of his maple-colored wings were spread apart as he pressed himself close to the ground in a combined attempt to hunt for food and hide from the wind.

The she-cat shifted her weight onto her back haunches as she prepared to pounce. The young hawk paused and lifted his beak from the ground as a spark of wariness flashed in the beady eyes which scanned the surrounding stalks of wheat. There was a sound-soft but unlike the whistling of the wind rushing through the grasses, and the tense hatchling drew back his wings and pushed himself up out of the dust and into the sky.

The she-cat's body jerked violently as she whipped her head around to confront the thing which had startled her prey. "What do you want?" her hiss dripped with venom as she spun around, her tail batting a stalk of wheat. "I...erm, I was… sent by the elders…they, um need you to, uh-"

"To what?" she questioned, her meow escalating to a demanding shriek, "TO WHAT? You sniveling-"

"Athena!" The she-cat froze mid-insult, her mouth hanging open for a brief moment as if she were testing the air. The voice which had called her name was soothing and strong, and Athena's rage began to ebb as a sleek black tom approached her, lightly brushing past the tall grasses to stand beside the cowering tawny tom that had the great misfortune of fetching his clan's hostile guest.

"What's the meaning of this Muse?" she all but spat.

Muse flicked his tail in amusement, but his golden eyes blazed with a kind of sagacious solemnity as he beckoned his comrade closer. The uneasy tabby tom's green-flecked eyes darted between Muse and Athena, with paws trembling with fear. Muse swept his tail along the tabby's shoulder and reassured him with a gentle meow, "Shrewpaw I think it would be best if you were to show us the way."

The quivering apprentice nodded and tentatively padded through the grasses in the same direction from which he'd came. The black tom turned back to his golden-dappled companion and with an air of amusement replied, "The cats of the stars are ready to know our true purpose in their skies."

Athena closed the distance between she and Muse with two quick bounds, her icy gaze fixed upon the tabby apprentice ahead of them, whose thin coat rippled with starry undertones. "Good," she meowed smugly with a roll of her eyes, "I'm tired of this boring place."

The youngest cat swiveled through the grass at a surprising pace, and even the Athena found it increasingly difficult to find her footing in the grasses as they raced against the wind. They darted up along the hill side, completely concealed, until the wheat stalks and wild flowers of the vast meadow began to taper off into a rocky mountain peak. The wind was more subdued at the top of the incline but the mist had thickened and the jagged sandstones were nothing more the muted shapes shrouded by the fog. Athena squinted through the moisture as the three cats slowed to a trot. She could make out a gap between the speckled boulders-a small opening that was hardly big enough for a cat to slip through, or maybe a small fox.

"Thank you, Shrewpaw," Muse meowed with a slight dip of his head, "we'll take it from here."

"…but, the elders…err…"

Athena nudged her way past the young tom with an exasperated sigh. She could hear Muse's mentor-like meow as she slipped past the sandstone and into the mouth of the tunnel, "why don't you guard the opening? Make sure nothing goes wrong?"

The tabby replied with some kind of shaky affirmative and Athena slowed her pace as Muse caught up behind her. "Shrewpaw," she muttered beneath her breath, "how fitting."

"Try to be a little respectful, would you?" her companion sighed, "these cats are somebody's ancestors."

"That cowardly thing is an accident, not an ancestor," Athena scoffed, slightly pulling back her head as Muse flicked her on the nose with a flick of his tail. Grimly, she clamped her jaws shut and followed the stealthy black tom into the cave at the end of the tunnel. The den of rock was small with a sharp, icy scent that stung Athena's nostrils. A group of cats huddled in the center of the cave around what appeared to be a pool of water. It was clear and incandescent and reflected an ethereal light off of the faces of the cats who gathered around it.

A lean solemn-looking tom sat on an elevated rock with his shoulders back and his eyes fixated on the glimmering pool. The stars on his pelt mirrored the rippling of the water, giving his dark ginger coat the appearance of a flame.

"Good, you have come." A she-cat, the color of the sandstone which surrounded them, commented quietly. The flame-colored tom blinked once and lifted his head find the silhouettes of the newcomers in the darkened cave.

"We fear that this will be too much to ask you, our guests, but it seems that we can no longer deny the increasing accuracy of your prediction," a golden dappled she-cat with a coat not unlike Athena's meowed. The she-cat was poised gracefully in the dust beside the ginger tom, with her tail neatly wrapped around her paws. Athena could not recall the names of the three cats, or the names of the any of the others-a lithe silver-blue she-cat, a scarred black tom…she frowned, knowing that although she had no names to match to the familiar faces Muse knew what to call each and every one of them.

"You can never ask too much of us, Leopardstar. Athena and I are here for the sake of your clans, just as our brothers and sisters are there for the other ancestors of the skies. What is to come is not isolated to these four clans…it is a darkness which will prey upon all cats," Muse meowed grimly.

The flame-colored tom beckoned them closer with a flick of his tail, "this is why we need you now. It is time to let our kin know of the dangers to come."

Athena found a spot next to two pale gray she-cats, both of their downy coats tinted with blue. She remembered the elder of the two-Bluestar, but the name of the she-cat's daughter escaped her. Athena had admired the former leader's courage upon hearing of the starry cat's tale of sacrifice. Muse settled down beside Athena, his golden gaze locked upon the shimmering pool.

Athena squinted, at first unable to see the scene which played out on the surface of the rippling waters. Plumes of smoke clouded the pool and the murmuring of the starry cats died down as cries of anguish echoed off of the cave walls. It was a fire, eating away at the trees of the river bank and thrusting heaps of bark and ash into the air. A group of cats scrambled to the safety of the river's muddy shores to escape the ravenous flames. Unlike the cats of the stars, whose names she could not remember Athena knew the soot-covered clan well.

She was watching Thunder Clan. She and Muse had watched the forest dwellers suffer through a bitter leaf-bare, just as the other three clans had suffered and she dug her claws into the rocky soil as anger flared within her. "Remember," Muse whispered in her ear, pressing his flank close to hers, "this is why we're here-to help."

She gave him a slight, reassuring nod of her head and forced her eyes to remain trained upon the panicked cats, which were wading across the river. The smoke rose and mixed in with the storm clouds, turning the sky an ominous shade of gray. The clouds were holding out, releasing a fine mist rather than the fat rain drops which could quench the flames. Athena leaned in closer, counting the cats to see if the entire clan had reached the opposite side of the river.

One of the starry cats gasped and it only took a moment for Athena to realize why. A beautiful she-cat with a swollen belly and a pale pelt coated with ash, collapsed on the river bank. She was kitting, and every cat gathered around the pool knew that she would never be able to make it across the stretch of water to join the rest of her clan. There was another cat with her. The cat's back was turned to the on-lookers and its coat plastered with soot and mud but based upon its size, Athena guessed the poor thing to be a newly apprenticed kit.

A barrier of smoke shielded the two Thunder Clan cats from being seen by the rest of their clan and the crackle and cries of the forest as it was devoured by the flames left no room for them to be heard. The flame-colored tom forced his gaze away from the terrible scene and blinked with concern at Athena and Muse. "It is time to warn them."

Athena exchanged a quick glance with her companion. She opened her mouth, ready to volunteer to walk among the clans when Muse spoke up. She clamped her jaw shut as the black tom straightened his shoulders and addressed the starry cats, meowing in a precarious tone,

"What shall I say?"