-Warriors-
Prologue:
The forest was a frozen wonderland, filled with frost and ice as if it had been painted that way. The sky was covered in clouds with a threat to cover the woods with a layer of snow, thick as goose-down, and cold as the Artic. The soft padding of pawsteps grew louder, as the ebony tom slunk towards. The camp seemed to be pure white itself, glistening with the light from the cold crystals that settled themselves on the surrounding hedge. The pine and hedges grew thick together in a circled clump, and to enter, one had to slink down to one's belly and crawl through a small opening in the trees. The tom squeezed himself threw the narrow entrance, into a place where a canopy of branches grew overhead, shading and protecting the clan from the sleet that fell. A blue-gray cat stood just in front of the entrance, and with a meow of delight, he announced the visitor.
"Darktail is back, everyone!" he yowled with joy.
The black tom, Darktail, had been gone recently. No cat knew why, he had just had a meeting with Vinestar, then left the camp. He hadn't been seen for at least a season, and worry had come over the clan. Darktail was the IceClan deputy, a brave dark tom with silver markings, and a strong build. They had begun to think that he had been killed by a enemy patrol, or hit by a monster on the Tarpath.
At the blue cat's call, a large dark brown tabby came out of the Leader's den, a hollow in the ground covered in vines and brush. He purred with delight, flicking his tail, beckoning for the ebony deputy to come to him. Darktail pranced over, his eyes dancing with delight. Vinestar showed the deputy to his den.
"Darktail, what have you found?" asked Vinestar once they were safe in the secrecy of the Leader's den.
Darktail tilted his head, as if trying to remember it all. After a rather long and strange pause, he spoke:
"Well, I've discovered a new clan," he meowed, almost in whisper, "StoneClan, they call themselves. And I don't like the looks of them."
"Another clan besides, ours, FireClan, and EarthClan!" hissed Vinestar.
"MoonClan knows why they've come." Darktail meowed, flicking his tail.
A low growl came from the leader. He mumbled something beneath his breath, deep and guttural. Vinestar lashed his tail angerly. Silence filled the air for a few breif moments.
"Where have they camped?" he finally muttered.
"That's the worst of it," hissed Darktail, "They've camped on Dayrock."
This seemed to make Vinestar madder then ever. His tail lashed back and forth like a snake. Dayrock was the mesa that sat atop the sacred lands of MoonClan, where the Sky Stone sat inside of it's caverns.
"How dare they defile MoonClan's grounds!" he hissed, flexing his claws. He walked towards the exit of the den, pushing back the ivy that covered it.
He jumped on top of a large rock in the center of the camp, Flat Rock, it was called. Still standing from the days of ThunderClan, many years before.
"All cats old enoughto catch their own prey, come to the circle of the Flat Rock!" Vinestar yowled.
The warriors, elders, queens, and apprintices began to gather in the circle of stone beneath the Flat Rock.
"A new clan, StoneClan, has entered the terras!" he hissed, baring his teeth. "And what's worse, Darktail brings news that they have settled their claims on Day Rock!"
Snarls and growls came from the cats below the rock. How dare this new clan come and commit such an act of treachory?
"We attack in two dawns, and drive them from the lands!"
One of the elders whispered to another, "Great StarClan! How could they?"
MoonClan was the term used by the new clans, instead of StarClan. For after the two-legs had come and gone, the forest grew back, lush and full, and a new rise of clans from far North had come. StarClan was MoonClan, MoonClan was StarClan to them.
And in two nights and two dawns from that day, the forest would know a fury like no other. A pure rise in the forest. This were the Clans of Time.