*I'm reading some other amazing Warriors stories, and I realized how much this sucks. Sorry guys, I'll do better next time; in the sequel. Yes I'm planning on a sequel, although I can't promise anything.*
Chapter 14
Autumneyes was dreaming.
She was in a clearing, surrounded by different elements. Thunder rumbled overhead, somewhat peacefully. A river flowed downstream, in no rush or hurry. Shadows flitted about, but they did not worry her. A cool wind stirred her fur. Everything was quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly, the river turned pitch black, the color of ebony, and churned wildly. Shadows turned into starlings and they called their wild call urgently. Where the wind was, a raging blue fire shot up. The thunder rumbled harder, and the autumn started into her, like eyes, watching her.
These elements grew wilder and wilder, until they finally stopped, and everything was normal. The river resumed its original path, flowing slowly. Thunder rumbled calmly, and the wind returned to its original state. But the river was still black, the blue fire still crackled, but more calmly, and the autumn was more relaxed.
But there was one problem.
There were still shadows, but they were not starlings, like they were before. The starling shadows were gone, replaced by unidentifiable shadows. Why did the shadows return to normal, and not the others?
"I see you have seen my metaphor of the Clans," a voice spoke behind her.
"Who's there?" Autumneyes jumped and turned around. There was a light gray she-cat with blue eyes behind her. She had darker points around her face, and a white belly. She smelled of ThunderClan, of stars, and of cool night air.
"I am Cloudedsky, Goldenstar's and Brightmask's mother," the she-cat said, gazing at her with love.
"You're my kin?" Autumneyes asked.
Cloudedsky nodded "There is great trouble ahead, something that will concern all four Clans," suddenly, the calm gaze left her, and her pupils slit, while a voice that was not hers spoke "The cold ice of evil will close it's deathly grip on the Clans,
Only four warriors will stand against the wild storm of death;
The eyes of autumn, bravery running through her veins,
The call of starling, the fierce fighter,
The blue fire, with the wind in her paws,
And the stream of ebony, who will save them all from the foot of rabbit."
"What? I don't understand!" Autumneyes said, desperately confused "Cloudedsky!" the she-cat was fading.
"Take heed to this warning, Autumneyes. One cat from each Clan has received one tonight. Find them," and with that, the gray she-cat faded away.
"Where is Nightrose?" Autumneyes paced the camp, frustrated.
"You're looking for Nightrose?" Grayblaze stopped beside her "I saw her and Shadewind leave a little while ago."
"Shadewind? Why would she want to go out with Shadewind? I'm her best friend!" Autumneyes said indignantly.
"Well, she is older than you," Grayblaze started.
"And? What does that mean?" Autumneyes looked at him confusedly.
"You haven't seen the way they look at each other?"
"Like what?"
"Like they're mooning over each other."
"WHOA! Nightrose and Shadewind? When did that happen? Where have I been?" Autumneyes exclaimed. With Starlingcall she confessed to herself.
"Well, cats our age are starting to take mates," Grayblaze said, beckoning with his tail to Iceshine and Shadow, sharing tongues, looking happy.
"As long as she doesn't forget me," Autumneyes snorted.
Suddenly, Nightrose appeared at the camp entrance, looking very happy, Shadewind followed her, said something to her, and then dropped some prey on to the fresh-kill pile.
"NIGHTROSE! You have some explaining to do!" Autumneyes said, bounding over to her.
"Explaining? About what?" the black she-cat asked, looking like she's on planet Shadewind.
"I was just talking to Grayblaze. He thinks you like Shadewind!" Autumneyes said.
"So? I think he likes me too."
"SO IT'S TRUE!" Autumneyes jumped up.
"What's wrong with that?" Nightrose asked, confused.
"Are you already thinking about having kits?" Autumneyes asked incredulously.
"Not kits! I just think… well, we'll see how it turns out," Nightrose paused "Wait, did you just say you were talking to Grayblaze?"
"Yeah," Autumneyes said.
Nightrose gave her a look.
"WHAT? Do you…" Autumneyes turned around to look at him. They had grown closer, more like good friends. But what about Starlingcall? She really liked him, too. She shook her head to clear it.
"Good, cause for a second, I thought you liked your little ShadowClan friend, Starling-whatever," Nightrose said, looking smug "I won't tell anyone," she said as she walked off, probably to see Shadewind.
Autumneyes stood in her spot for a second confused, was it really that obvious she was meeting Starlingcall? No, Nightrose thought she liked Grayblaze. Do I?
"Are we waiting on RiverClan and ShadowClan?" Bluefire asked from her spot beside Autumneyes. WindClan and ThunderClan were quietly sharing tongues at the Gathering place, waiting for the other two Clans.
"Yes," Autumneyes hesitated, debating whether or not to tell her friend about the dream. She decided that Bluefire was a medicine cat, so she would understand. "I…I had a strange dream…"
Bluefire looked at her with interest "Really? What kind of dream?"
"Well, I was standing in a clearing," Autumneyes started "There was a river, some thunder, some strange shadows, and there was a significant wind. All of a sudden, the river turned ebony-colored, the shadows turned into starling shadows, the wind was replaced by some blue fire, and," she hesitated "I don't know how to explain it, but it seemed like the autumn, you know, the season, was watching me."
"Really?" Bluefire looked overly interested, her blue eyes wide.
"And then, this is the craziest part, a StarClan cat came to me, it was my grandmother, Cloudedsky, and she said something kind of strange, and cryptic," Autumneyes continued.
"What was it?" Bluefire leaned in close to her friend.
"It was this: "The cold ice of evil will close it's deathly grip on the Clans,
Only four warriors will stand against the wild storm of death;
The eyes of autumn, bravery running through her veins,
The call of starling, the fierce fighter,
The blue fire, with the wind in her paws,
And the stream of ebony, who will save them all from the foot of rabbit."
Autumneyes looked at the WindClan medicine cat for help.
"I believe we just received ourselves a prophecy," Bluefire said excitedly.
"We?" Autumneyes asked disbelievingly.
"Yes! I had the same dream!" Bluefire whispered "Moonshine came to me with the same prophecy, predicting danger."
"Have you interpreted it yet?" Autumneyes asked, eyes wide.
"A little," Bluefire admitted. "Something really bad is going to happen, to all the Clans. Really bad. So bad, it will tear the Clans apart from within themselves," Bluefire leaned in closer, so no cat could hear them "And Rabbitfoot is going to cause it."
"Rabbitfoot?" Autumneyes asked, a little too loudly.
"Shh!" Bluefire said urgently "Yes, Rabbitfoot! Didn't you hear? The prophecy says clearly foot of rabbit! Foot of rabbit? Rabbitfoot?"
"Wait, does that mean…" Autumneyes trailed off "I get it now! The eyes of autumn, the blue fire, the stream of ebony, and the call of starling I'm the eyes of autumn, Autumneyes; you're the blue fire, Bluefire! And the call of starling is Starlingcall!"
"Who's the stream of ebony, though?" Bluefire asked.
"We have to look for a RiverClan warrior named Ebonystream!" Autumneyes said "Ebonystream… It will probably be a she-cat, and a black one, too."
"Maybe it will be an apprentice," Bluefire suggested "I've never seen any RiverClan cat named 'ebony'."
"Look! There's ShadowClan!" Autumneyes said as the ShadowClan cats bounded over the log "Let's look for Starlingcall!"
The two cats searched the crowd for a ginger pelt, but there were none. No Starlingcall. "That's alright, I'll just tell him when… I mean if I see him on the border," Autumneyes quickly changed her mistake. Bluefire may understand the dream, but she would not understand about her meetings with Starlingcall.
"Alright," Bluefire nodded "Hey look, there's RiverClan!"
"I see a black she-cat!" Autumneyes said. A small apprentice was padding behind Greenlily, dark blue eyes filled with wonder.
"Can I go see the other Clan cats?" the black apprentice squeaked.
"Not this moon, Ebonypaw," Greenlily turned a hard gaze on all the other cats. Looking disappointed, Ebonypaw followed her mentor into the group of RiverClan cats.
"What's her problem?" Bluefire snorted.
"Who cares? We found the fourth cat! It's Ebonypaw!" Autumneyes said excitedly "We have to talk to her!"
"We can't now," Bluefire said, as Dawnstar started the meeting "I'll talk to her on a visit to Lightningface, OK?"
Dawnstar had a similar look on her face to Greenlily, as she called the meeting and looked at all the other cats "Murderers!" she hissed.
Gasps of shock billowed through the Clans "What do you mean, Dawnstar?" Spottedstar asked calmly.
"You know exactly what I mean!" Dawnstar hissed at the WindClan leader, hackles raised "How dare you murder a kit in his own nest!"
"How do you know WindClan did it?" Runningrain asked from her spot below the tree.
"I smelled WindClan!" Dawnstar announced "Just admit it, you killed one of Icepool's kits, and right before they were apprenticed, too!"
"An elder in my Clan was killed, too," Spottedstar said, "I don't believe it was the work of a WindClan warrior!" she raised her chin "Still, do you wish to identify this cat?"
Dawnstar said nothing, just looked to her warriors. "I don't see the cat," a white she-cat, who must've been Icepool, said.
"Nope, not here," Ripplesplash, the father of the kits, said.
"I didn't see, I was asleep," Ebonypaw shrugged.
"Ebonypaw's littermate!" Autumneyes gasped.
"Do you think Rabbitfoot knows? Is he trying to kill all of the chosen cats?" Bluefire whispered.
"Sunlight?" Dawnstar looked towards the young warrior.
"I told you, I didn't see anything while on guard duty," Sunlight said, looking very guilty.
"It was not my doing, even if a WindClan warrior did murder your kit," Spottedstar said "But if a WindClan warrior is responsible, I'll have him or her banished."
"Bluefire?" Autumneyes whispered, "Do you think Rabbitfoot is the WindClan cat?"