"This is wrong," Zenith growled, flicking blood from her paw.

"It is the will of the Ancestors," the dark-furred tom said.

"But why did you come to me?"

"Because you are strong," he replied, ignoring the thin, red slice through his fur. "You will make a great leader some day. Even more so than Imber."

"I am ready for any fight," Zenith said. "Why do we continue these useless -"

She didn't get to finish for the warrior suddenly lurched forward. He snatched her paws out from under her, sending her sprawling on the ground. Just as he was about to claw at her exposed belly, she rolled over and he landed on her back instead. Then she rolled again, crushing him beneath her, and she sprang to her paws.

"I am ready," she said.

"Perhaps you are," the tom said, getting to his feet in the Dark Forest. "And that is why you will not wait to fight."

"What?"

"It is not what the clan cats will expect," he said. "And now they are weakened by the loss of one of their own and by their own injuries. So now you will leave this place and when you do, you will take my message back to Imber. You will attack the clans tonight."

Zenith nodded. "Yes…Shadestar."


Mistyheart stood staring in shock. Thunderstar? But he was a legend! The first leader ever of ThunderClan. The cat who had worked with Riverstar, Windstar, and Shadowstar to create the clans and find this home for them in the forest.

"Uh…" was all Mistyheart, dumbfounded, could think of to say.

Thunderstar's eyes gleamed. "I have often watched you from the stars," he said. "Walk with me."

Mistyheart looked over her shoulder at her father, Stormheart. He nodded. She took a tentative step forward to follow the golden warrior.

"You've grown a lot since that curious loner you were in the barn," Thunderstar said. "So you are now here tonight."

"But…why?" Mistyheart stammered.

"The rogues will come in these dark times. But they are not all bad. They merely follow the will of their Ancestors, but it is Imber who is twisting the prophecy. He has turned his back on the Ancestors but pretends to interpret their words."

"Imber? But why?"

"He feels they should never have left their former home," Thunderstar replied. "He believes the Ancestors are mistaken. So when they sent a prophecy to their healer, Zephyr, he twisted their words."

"What does he want?" Mistyheart asked.

"He believes the forest should belong to the rogues."

"How can he think that?" said Mistyheart. "The forest has always belonged to the clans."

"To answer that, we must seek out an old friend of mine," Thunderstar said. "Well, sort of. You remember the words of the prophecy, Mistyheart? Ghosts of the past shall rise, the stars will fall, and the fate of the forest rests in paws beyond the sky."

Mistyheart nodded.

"Well," said Thunderstar. "We are going beyond the sky."

And so with a step forward, they past through the stars.

Everything was colorless, the air filled with a thick, gray fog. Mistyheart thought she saw stars behind it but she wasn't sure. Shapes flitted in and out of focus, the shapes of cats lost from memory. The exiles of StarClan. Faint streaks of Silverpelt dusted the fog, sparkling like dew.

When the fog thinned, green grass became visible beneath Mistyheart's paws. The shadows of trees were noticeable just out of the corner of her eye.

"What is this place?" Mistyheart asked, gazing around in awe.

"This is the woodland of the Ancestors."

They had left their own sky behind…and had entered another.

There were cats. Many cats wandering around or hunting or talking. They looked like any clan back in the forest.

"There," Thunderstar said. "Beneath that tree."

Mistyheart looked to where he gestured and saw a cat sitting there beneath the delicate fronds of a willow tree. Her fur was black and glossy, her eyes a deep, rich amber.

She looked up when the two approached.

"Dusk," Thunderstar said, nodding to the she-cat. "This is Mistyheart. We've come to talk to you."

"Have you?" the cat called Dusk said. She glanced at Mistyheart then back at Thunderstar. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the so-called rogues, would it?"

"Actually, yes," Thunderstar said. "As you know, they are mounting an attack on the forest."

"Yes, I do know," Dusk replied, a bit stiffly. "They want to retake what once was theirs."

Mistyheart couldn't help but blurt out, "What do you mean? The clans have always lived in the forest."

"Yes, that may be true," Dusk said. "But before them, the rogues lived there."

Mistyheart fell silent. She had never given much thought as to what the forest was like before the clans. She had assumed it had sprouted from the ground as soon as the first clan cats had arrived.

Seeing her stunned expression, Dusk spoke again, "The rogues lived in the forest when the trees were young. But their numbers were growing and they became uneasy as twolegs invaded their home. So by the time the clan cats first arrived, they left to seek a new home elsewhere. They settled in the vast woodlands just beyond the place you call Highstones.

"But that, too, began to shrink as more and more twolegs came. Now, they are barely living. Imber is intent on returning to the forest. He thinks it was a mistake to move into the woodlands beyond.

"When we foresaw the makings of a prophecy, we sent it to Zephyr and Imber twisted the words to suit his own purposes. To find a way back to the forest."

"What," Mistyheart said slowly. "What was the prophecy?"

Dusk looked at her, seeming to study her. Then she answered, "At the sign of the dying stars, two rivals shall come together. Imber always thought it meant 'two rivals shall come together in battle.' Never once did he consider it might be 'two rivals shall come together in peace.'"

"So…that's why they've been attacking our patrols? Why they stole those kits to create panic and confusion. It's a revenge thing, isn't it?" Mistyheart asked.

Dusk nodded. "Yes."

"Then I have to go back," Mistyheart said. "If there's going to be a battle…"

Dusk exchanged a look with Thunderstar. Thunderstar's expression was grave.

"Remember what I have said here," Dusk told Mistyheart. "It was not wrong for the rogues to leave the forest. I led them myself and I do not regret it. But they have become strong and if they attack…you must be ready."

Mistyheart nodded. "I will be."

"Good," said Dusk. "Thunderstar, you must take her back."

But at that moment, it felt as if something had forced all the air from Mistyheart's lungs and she was left to gasp for breath. Her pulse began to quicken.

"What's…happening?" she wheezed.

"This is not good," Thunderstar said. "Mistyheart, listen to me. You must warn your clan. An attack is coming. You must warn them. You must -"

"Mistyheart!"

She gasped, rolling over in her nest of moss in the warriors' den.

Flamepelt was staring down at her, his eyes wide. "Mistyheart, wake up!"

"What?" Mistyheart leaped to her feet, bits of moss still stuck in her fur.

"We're under attack!"