Prologue

xxx

It was no suprise that Venomstar's life would come to a terrible end, all cats knew it would happen sooner or later. Why, medicine cats had even warned the reckless young leader! Such was life in the forest, beginnings, ends, and new stories every day. But for FireClan, one particular beginning would change the forest forever...

"Ginger..." The voice called, an eerie echo through the night peace. The she-cat froze, her claws sinking into the moist ground. Her tail swished back and forth and her amber eyes widened, "Who is there?" she asked, her ears flattened, and she prepared to meet any foe that would come from the forest. But the cat that came out of the bushes was unlike any she had ever seen, it's green eyes glowed like the forest on fire, and with each step, the winds of the coldest leaf-bare and the steam that came straight from Fireplace.

"Ginger, a fate worse then any cat can imagine is coming to the forest...you must go to the FireClan, help them..." The cat said in the same eerie voice. The young brown she-cat had heard of the clans from some of her fellow loner friends, though she had never crossed territory with any of them. She lived in the Silver Valley, just below the MountainClan territory, most loners lived there.

She looked to the cat and sighed, "The FireClan? What am I supposed to do to help the FireClan?"

"StarClan will guide your steps, young one..." The cat whispered before fading into the morning fog. Ginger jerked awake to find herself in the hedges where she had gone to sleep the night before. She blinked, the dawn light seeped through the leaves above her. She laid back as she remembered her dream.

She yawned and streched out, looking around to see if any of the other loners were about. A young cat called Frog was batting at a piece of new-prey he had killed for himself. Ginger and Frog were about the same age, and had grown up together. They had developed almost a brother and sister bond with each other.

"Hey Frog," muttered Ginger as she stood some streching steps towards her best friend. He snickered and replied, "Hey Sleepyhead," this put a smile on the tan muzzle of the brown she-cat. The loners had a pretty easy life, they lived together in small colonies that were composed of no more then four members or so. They would hunt together, and do things together, it was almost like a family. Frog, Ginger, and their friend Hawk were in the same coloney together.

Ginger then remembered her dream and sat down, running her paw across her forehead quickly. "I had a dream last night, with a StarClan cat, remember StarClan? Father taught me about them...before..." She almost choked up at the thought of her father who had been killed in a battle against WaterClan. Frog noticed this and nodded, "I know, just go on..."

"Well, the StarClan cat said I must go to the FireClan and help them," she was cut off here by Frog's meowrr of laughter. "You don't actually believe that? Come now, it was probobly only something you ate last night, perhaps a vole that didn't agree with you."

Ginger sighed, it could be that. Most loners didn't believe in StarClan anyway, so why should a cat from the celestial place come down to visit one. She chuckled, "I suppose you are right. But it was a mouse I ate last night, not a vole."