Chapter 1
Whitestorm awoke, blinking away sleep. Maybe I should wake the dawn patrol, he thought. "Shadowclaw! Mooncloud! Dawn patrol! Take your apprentices with you," he whispered into the darkness of the warriors' den.
"I'll go get the apprentices," said Shadowclaw. "Mooncloud, you wait for us at the entrance of our camp." Mooncloud left. Shadowclaw started toward the apprentices' den.
"Flashfur, you and I can go on the hunting patrol. Bring Lionpaw and I'll bring Blizzardpaw," whispered Whitestorm.
"I'll be right with you. I need to stretch y legs," said Flashfur eagerly. It was only her second day being a warrior. She still acts like an apprentice, Whitestorm thought. How could Icefur tell Riverstar that Flashfur was ready? Flasfur keeps all of us waiting!
"Is something wrong, Father?"
"Oh, hello, Brightkit. Why are you up this early?" said Whitestorm awkwardly.
"Today's Mistykit and my naming ceremony!" Brightkit blurted out.
"Oh," he said, with the same awkward voice. "Well, I have to go on hunting patrol. Where's Morningflower?"
"Nursing." Brightkit left.
"A mouse!" Blizzardpaw exclaimed. She ran after it. A little while later, Blizzardpaw came back with the mouse dangling from her mouse, smiling proudly.
"Good job," said Lionpaw, licking her affectionately. There was no mistake that Lionpaw was very fond of Blizzardpaw.
"Stealing prey again, I believe? That was a MistClan mouse." It was Darkclaw, a MistClan warrior.
"It ran from FireClan to MistClan," said Flashfur angrily. "How can you say that it's a MistClan mouse?"
"A likely story!" Darkclaw said sarcastically. "Don't-ever-steal-prey-from-MistClan-again! I can't stop you from stealing prey from other Clans, but you will never ever steal prey from MistClan, understand? I'll make sure that stealing prey from MistClan is the last thing you ever do!" He padded away.
"What's with him?" Lionpaw asked, rather rudely.
"Well, it's a long story," said Whitestorm intelligently. "MistClan's first leader, Blackstar, was very greedy and ambitious. He wanted to have everything his way. He was very power-hungry and hated all she-cats except his own kin. He ordered all she-cats to be executed. His first kit was Clinktail, one of MistClan's elders.You see, Clinktail has a similar personality as Blackstar, and his first and only kits were Stonestar and Bluetail. Unfortunately, Blackstar was growing old and n his last life, so when Raggedtail, his deputy, becomes leader, Bluetail would be executed."
"But she wasn't killed until she was a warrior, right?" asked Flashfur.
"Correct. Flowerpelt, Stonestar's mother, died not long after her kits were born, so Mosscloud had to nurse the kits. Stonestar hated every cat except his own kin, so he ran away from camp. He came back six moons later and became an apprentice. Blackstar died and Raggedstar was leader. He didn't kill Stonestar or Bluetail, however, because Mosstail was his mate. Mosstail loved the kits very much, and didn't want them dead, so she lied and said that they were her own kits. Raggedstar lost eight of his lives in a battle. Not long after Stonestar became a warrior, Raggedstar died and got replaced by Brokenstar. Brokenstar hated all she-cats, even his own kin. He was Raggedstar's kin and also believed that Bluetail and Stonestar were Mosstail's kits. He didn't kill Mosstail because she was still nursing and he wanted more warriors. He killed Bluetail and the she-cats that Mosstail was nursing. He thought that all those she-cats were worthless."
"But he thought wrong," said Blizzardpaw.
"Well, yes. Stonestar became MistClan deputy. After Bluetail died, Stonestar wanted to kill Brokenstar, not for revenge, however, but to become leader."
"And he did become leader," Lionpaw interrupted.
"Yes, but he almost didn't become leader."
"Why?"
"He almost got killed by a badger during hunting patrol. He made it back in time. Specklepelt managed to heal his wounds. When his wounds were healed, Stonestar took away Brokenstar's last life and became leader."
"A deputy who killed his own leader to become leader? Did StarClan even accept him?" asked Blizzardpaw in shock.
"Of course they did! They only thought about his good qualities and they didn't have time to reconsider! StarClan regrets that."
"So why can't we just kill him at a gathering?"
"First of all, cats in a gathering come and go at peace. Second of all, Stonestar is too strong. Just one of his lives would cost destruction of the whole clan."
