A/N: This is it folks! No, it's not the ending. That's still a long way off. No, it's the reason I was inspired to write this story. ShadowClan's history! It's also my longest chapter in the story so far! THREE PAGES! Dundundun! Enjoy!

Shadow Ascension

By Catgirl the Crazy

Chapter 3: Littlecloud's Story

Brambleclaw had a hard time falling asleep that night for two reasons. For one thing, he couldn't stop thinking about his dream, or the mysterious RiverClan cat that had had the dream. He wished her companion had mentioned her name at least once. Also, he was worried about Firestar, and the other cats that had gone to the Gathering. They should've been back by now, but they weren't. No cat knew why.

A few fox-lengths away, he heard Sorreltail mewing quietly with one of her brothers, Rainwhisker, and an apprentice, Spiderpaw.

"Do you think we should send a patrol, to see if something's happened?" Spiderpaw mewed worriedly.

"I don't know," Rainwhisker replied uneasily. "We're supposed to stay here and guard the camp."

"I think we should send someone," Sorreltail disagreed, "Just to make sure they're not in trouble or anything."

"I'm sure we could spare one or two warriors," Spiderpaw added, "Just to check up on them."

"What if they're fine and Firestar punishes us for leaving too few warriors behind?" Rainwhisker asked.

"We'll do it quietly, then," Sorreltail replied steadily, "If they're fine, Firestar never need know we left camp. If they're in trouble, one of us can go back to get help."

"Oh all right," Rainwhisker mewed in defeat, "You two can go. But I'm not getting blamed for this if you're wrong." Sorreltail and Spiderpaw said nothing as they turned and stalked out of the camp towards Fourtrees.
Only a few moments after the two had left, Brambleclaw scented ShadowClan right outside the camp. He yowled out a warning, and the other warriors remaining (Rainwhisker, Cloudtail and Mousefur) all came to where Brambleclaw was standing. A heartbeat later, Littlecloud and Tawnypelt emerged from the gorse tunnel, panting like they had a whole pack of dogs on their trail. Both looked the worse for wear. Tawnypelt was limping on her front left foot and had several nasty looking scratches. Littlecloud had a large gash on his shoulder, a smaller one on his face, and, like Tawnypelt, several nasty looking scratches.

"Tawnypelt," Brambleclaw asked, concerned, "What happened? What're you doing here?"

"We-" Tawnypelt began, but Rainwhisker cut her off.

"They're here to spy, no doubt," he spat, "Or to get us off our guard while ShadowClan prepares to ambush us."

"No," Littlecloud shook his head. "We're not here to do any of that. I swear it on StarClan," he added, when he saw that Rainwhisker as well as others still looked doubtful.

"Then why are you here?" Goldenflower asked quietly. Brambleclaw looked behind him, seeing that Goldenflower, along with the elders, Frostfur, Longtail, Speckletail and Dappletail, had come out of their dens to see what the commotion was. Ferncloud sat just outside the nursery a few fox-lengths away with her tail wrapped protectively around her kits. The kits, Hollykit, Birchkit and Larchkit, were watching wide-eyed with fascination. It's not that surprising, Brambleclaw thought. After all, they've never seen anyone who wasn't a ThunderClan cat before. Not even Ravenpaw.

He turned his attention back to Littlecloud as he gave his answer. "You all had better sit down. It'll take some telling."

Brambleclaw stood there for a heartbeat, unsure of what to do. He looked at Tawnypelt who nodded slightly. He sat down and slowly, the others, somewhat reluctantly, followed suit.

Littlecloud took a deep breath and began. "It starts with an old elder's tale, known by all ShadowClan cats. For a long time now, we-"

"Wait a minute," Cloudtail cut him off. "What does some old elder's tale have anything to do with this?" Brambleclaw had been wondering the same thing, but he'd figured Littlecloud would get that eventually.

"Everything," the small tabby tom replied. "And I'll to that. Be patient. Anyways, the tale starts goes like this: ShadowClan has not always lived in this forest. Hundreds of thousands of moons ago, we lived farther north. It was much colder, and the prey was scarcer. We had no name back then. We weren't really even a Clan. We were a lot like BloodClan, but we had no leader. Then the Dark Shadows came."

"The what?" Brambleclaw asked.

"The Dark Shadows. They're made up of the spirits of dead cats who were rejected by StarClan, as well as dead rogues, loners, BloodClan warriors and even a few kittypets."

"Kittypets!" Longtail mewed incredulously. "They take kittypets!"

"Not many," Littlecloud replied. "Kittypet spirits tend to refuse offers to join the Dark Shadows, mainly because most of them are too soft for that sort of life-after-death. But it not just those kinds of cats. Legends tell of other cat Clans who have their own warrior ancestors and warrior code. It's rumored the dead spirits of cats who were rejected by warrior ancestors other than StarClan also join the Dark Shadows."

"Warrior ancestors other than StarClan?" Frostfur mewed disbelievingly. Littlecloud nodded. "I don't believe it," the she-cat mewed.

Littlecloud shrugged. That part could just be a myth," he mewed. "We'll probably never know." He paused for a moment and then continued. "Anyway, The Dark Shadows attacked us. Some of them possessed our warriors and fought that way, while others just went ahead and attacked us. For many moons we fought, though we were losing badly.

"Then StarClan came to one of our warriors, Shadowfur, in a dream. They told him that if he could unite us and defeat the Dark Shadows, StarClan would lead us to a promised land with plentiful prey. Well, Shadowfur eventually convinced to unite, and, under his leadership, we defeated the Dark Shadows and managed to save some of the warriors who were possessed. When the battle was over, Shadowfur, with StarClan's guidance, led us to that promised land- the territory we live in now. Your Clan, as well as RiverClan and WindClan, were not very welcoming of us. You're Clan leaders at the time eventually gave us the territory we live on now, figuring we'd dislike it and go away. But it was far better than what we were coming from. We adopted you're ways, appointing Shadowfur as leader, and weed the warrior code. Shadowfur went to Highstones and received his nine lives and his leader's name, Shadowstar. We named our Clan ShadowClan, in honor of him. We have lived relatively happily - though not altogether peacefully- ever since," Littlecloud finished.

For a moment no one spoke. Then, "What does this have to do with why you're here?" Brambleclaw asked, though he thought he knew why.

"Because the Dark Shadows attacked us this morning," Tawnypelt mewed grimly. "We were the only ones to escape. We came here because we hoped you'd be able to help us." She glanced at Brambleclaw and he realized that she also figured, after ShadowClan, she'd be most welcome here, in the Clan of her birth.

Mousefur looked around at everyone. "Well?" she asked, "Should we believe them?"

"I say we let them stay until Firestar gets back from the Gathering," Brambleclaw replied. "Then he can decide. He is ThunderClan leader after all."

Rainwhisker looked doubtful. "For all we know," he pointed out, "They could just be keeping us distracted while a party of ShadowClan warriors plans to raid our camp."

Littlecloud and Tawnypelt visibly stiffened, but Brambleclaw replied "I doubt it. If there are ShadowClan warriors out there, they'd have attacked by now. Besides, Littlecloud swore on StarClan that that wasn't what they're here for." Rainwhisker open his mouth to reply, but Brambleclaw quickly cut him off. "However, just to be on the safe side, you can go and check for any sign of ShadowClan in our territory."

Rainwhisker considered this for a moment than nodded. Goldenflower sprang up. "I'll go with you," she offered immediately, but Ferncloud padded over and shook her head.

"No, Goldenflower," the queen mewed, "You're eyesight is getting to weak to be of much use on a patrol. I'll go instead, and you can watch my kits while I'm gone." Goldenflower looked like she'd refuse, but then she nodded her head in assent and padded over towards Ferncloud's kits.

Rainwhisker and Ferncloud were about to leave when Spiderpaw burst into the camp. "You've got to come to Fourtrees, quickly! ShadowClan and a bunch of translucent cats are attacking the Gathering!"

A/N: Some might say I need to go to a CA meeting (cliffie-holics anonymous). Well :-P to that. Just read and review!