Prologue
A drop, beautiful and clear, twirled down from a dark blue endless night sky. It glistened in the bright starlight, as it abruptly came to a stop when it hit a dark, mystical pool. Ripples spread over it as more droplets fell from the sky, echoing eerily as if in a cave.
Suddenly, the peaceful rippling was interrupted by a splash in the water. "Noooo!" a pure white tom whose fur glowed blindingly yowled.
"You're no good at this game, Featherkit!" mewed his sibling, Cricketkit, with blue- grey fur that shone like a river. "That's the fourth time I've caught you today. I'll go and play with Treekit instead."
Featherkit was about to reply when a light brown tabby she with white speckles and golden- brown eyes plucked the soaked kit from the pool. "Kits!" she scolded. "Can't you play nicely for once? I-"
A disturbance from the pool caught her attention. An eerie amber light glowed from the surface instead of its usual calming blue. The water then evaporated in a matter of seconds, and the hole where it had been burst into flames.
The queen peered into the hole once the fire mysteriously vanished into a puff of cinders, ash and soot, slowly floating to the ground. Embers still remained, burning brightly in the darkness and drawing starlight in. It was a strange thing to see for the Starclan residents.
Rainfur, mother of the mischievous kits, gasped, her eyes glazing over. "Embers," she said. "When the fire burns its dominance, the embers below will secure its blaze."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Bluestar sat, trying to process what Spottedleaf had just told her. "Fire?" she asked. "But fire is feared by all the clans! How can it save us?"
"I do not know. This is the message Starclan has chosen to share with me," the ThunderClan medicine cat replied.
The ThunderClan leader sniffed the air. She wasn't sure, but... was that smoke she could smell? She glanced over her shoulder, and saw that Spottedleaf also seemed very unsure. Both cats were sure now. Somewhere, somehow, in their territory, a fire was burning its way towards them. Out of the blue, the flames suddenly erupted from the bushes behind them, setting the log they were carefully balanced on ablaze. Before they could react, the fire had encircled them. They were trapped.
"ThunderClan, evacuate camp!" the blue she yowled as loudly as she could. No shapes emerged from the gorse or bracken, though, and she wondered if her clan couldn't hear her, or they had already escaped. "Is anyone here? Help!"
"Great StarClan!" Bluestar yowled desperately at Spottedleaf. But the tortoiseshell seemed to be in another world, staring sightlessly at the embers drifting off the blaze. "Are you out of your mind!? Get away from the flames before you're burned!"
However, no matter how much she pleaded and tried to drag her friend away from death, she stayed as still as stone, her mind in a trance. Just when the heat became unbearable, Spottedleaf jolted awake, and as soon as her eyes returned to their normal soothing amber, any trace of fire immediately vanished.
Bluestar looked around. It was like the near- death incident had never even happened- her fur somehow was no longer scorched or stunk of ash.
A sudden movement from Spottedleaf made her look round.
"When the fire burns its dominance, the embers below will secure its blaze."