Icepaw sank her teeth into a robin while beside her, her brother batted two more with his paw, stunning them. Two more apprentices waited by the tree that the birds struck, ready to deliver the killing bite.

The four apprentices thanked StarClan for their catch as their mentors approached.

"That was a good jump, Icepaw," Phoenixnight praised her apprentice. Icepaw raised her white-furred head with pride, her blue eyes shining from her mentor's words.

"And interesting teamwork," growled Tigerstrike, lightly cuffing his apprentice's ears.

"That was a cool hunting trick to hit two birds with one paw strike, Falconpaw," Icepaw commended. Her brother's blue eyes mirrored hers, shining with the praise. He dipped his brown-furred head in acknowledgement.

"Yes, I agree with Tigerstrike; I've never seen apprentices work so well together," Phoenixnight added. "Loonsong mentored you well, Glitterpaw."

The amber-eyed she-cat purred, and Icepaw rubbed her shoulder against her friend's speckled fur.

The fourth apprentice looked up at his mentor with nervous green eyes, his pale brown tabby fur prickling. "Sparrowheart? What did you think?"

Sparrowheart's purr sounded forced and his ears twitched. "It's great you were able to deliver on Falconpaw's setup, Raptorpaw, but I want you to learn to hunt on your own. You tend to rely on other cats too much."

"Good warriors work together, Sparrowheart," Phoenixnight reminded the younger warrior. "Dragonwing sends out hunting patrols, not individual warriors."

Tigerstrike didn't add on. He flicked his striped tail and ordered the apprentices to gather their prey to return to camp.

Icepaw set down her robin and mice and began arranging the bird's feathers, a habit she indulged when she added her catch to the fresh-kill pile, when Dragonwing bounded onto the High-ledge and called out, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the High-ledge for a Clan meeting!"

Icepaw wasn't finished smoothing out the robin's feathers. It made her fur prickle when her catch wasn't tidy among others, but she didn't want to miss the meeting. A black-furred apprentice beckoned for her to sit beside him.

"Hi, Nightpaw," Icepaw greeted her friend with a nudge.

Nightpaw licked a tuft of Icepaw's white fur that stuck out. "Your fur is all ruffled," he noted. With a teasing glint in his amber eyes, he asked, "Is your prey as ruffled as you?"

Icepaw nudged him again, a little harder. Before she could reply, Dragonwing spoke, his mew carrying an ominous note. "Flickerflame has been murdered."

His grave words incited a panic.

"Murdered?!"

"By whom?"

"We need her!"

"Who could have done this?"

Icepaw turned to Nightpaw. "How did only Dragonwing know about this? Wouldn't other warriors in camp have noticed?"

Nightpaw's amber eyes narrowed, and Icepaw followed his gaze to a dark gray apprentice who padded over to them. "Where is Flickerflame's body?"

"Do you know something, Ghostpaw?" Nightpaw prompted their friend in a less-than-kind mew.

Ghostpaw's pale green gaze was serene as he stared at the hostile apprentice. "I was on a border patrol. I know as much as you."

Dragonwing raised his tail for silence. Having a long tail came in handy, Icepaw noted. Her own bushy white tail was short and more useful for entertaining Leafkit and Grasskit. "Flickerflame's body is in the middle of the dead zone."

The pit was not very near SunClan territory; there was a long path littered with decaying frogs and suspicious critters, and fallen trees posed an obstacle to reach the dried-up lake. It was known as the dead zone because the debris and corpses, signs of death, indicated the area had once been teeming with life. Not even Angelfast could remember a time before the dead zone was a dead zone, and if Shrivelstar knew anything, he kept silent.

"We'll need a patrol of warriors to investigate," Dragonwing continued. "Crabclaw and Loonsong will bring Flickerflame's body back to camp. Tigerstrike and Clawfur will guard them. Phoenixnight will lead an investigation into the perpetrator. Rainfall and Sparrowheart will aid her, along with any other warrior Phoenixnight needs."

"All of our mentors are taking part in this," Icepaw remarked.

Ghostpaw stared at his mentor, Crabclaw, with unease. Crabclaw bowed his head in response to Dragonwing's orders, but he shifted on his large, crooked paws. Rainfall glanced at Nightpaw, whose dark tail sweeped over the ground.

Clawfur spoke up, drawing attention to the scars marring his white-furred face. "Is there a reason you chose all the mentors, Dragonwing? I'm the only cat you assigned who doesn't have an apprentice."

"Have patience, Clawfur, I'll explain in a heartbeat," Dragonwing assured the other warrior. "Before her sudden death, Flickerflame told me that StarClan has ordered a quest involving all of the Clan's apprentices. Such an undertaking concerned me, but she assured me that I would know what the quest would be for, without a message or messenger from StarClan. It seems obvious, now, what we need."

Icepaw, Nightpaw, and Ghostpaw exchanged looks mixed with excitement, tension, and worry. "We're going on a quest!" the small white she-cat exclaimed, her blue eyes shining, "for Flickerflame!"

Dragonwing nodded, his long tail curling. "Flickerflame was young and had no apprentice. No one in SunClan has her knowledge or insight to become a medicine cat. The six of you have trained hard to become warriors and have shown no interest in medicine or healing."

One of Icepaw's ears flicked. She had always been fascinated by Flickerflame's ability to treat all maladies and the mysticism behind their medicine cat's communication with their ancestors. Flickerflame, and perhaps Shrivelstar, were the only living cats who had a connection with cats who had been from different Clans. No one could imagine a time when instead of the one proud SunClan, five Clans lived by a lake.

Dragonwing continued, "And SunClan's kits, StarClan bless them, are old enough that if they were meant to be medicine cats, they would have shown the interest or abilities by now."

A pale brown kit piped up, "I'd be a great medicine cat!"

Her mother hushed her, and Icepaw and several other cats purred. Icepaw loved Grasskit; she loved all kits, though some were more difficult. Her gaze wandered toward a black tom-kit with white paws and intelligent amber eyes. His mother, Flowerpetal, met Icepaw's stare with anxious, blue-green eyes.

"Essentially," Dragonwing concluded, "the apprentices' quest will find another cat descended from one of the five ancient Clans, a cat who has chosen a life outside SunClan but has maintained a connection to StarClan. We need a healer; we need a new messenger for StarClan."