Prologue
Bayblade woke up in an unfamiliar part of the forest; full of reeds and willows like the ones in RiverClan territory, but he wasn't by the lake. He looked around, scanning for clues betraying his whereabouts as he spotted two cats beginning to converse. The younger she-cat was a tortoiseshell with white chest and paws, her green gaze enlightened with curiosity. The much older cat was a thick-furred gray she-cat with a flattened muzzle. Though he could see them very clearly, the two she-cats didn't take any notice of Bayblade, standing only a few tail-lengths away from them.
This is a dream. Bayblade realized. But it can't be, it feels so real… It's a vision!
Reflecting his own thoughts, the older cat opened her mouth "Monkeystar, I've had a vision." She meowed. "It may bear heavy importance to our clan."
Monkeystar lowered her muzzle while keeping her gaze fixed on the older she-cat, willing her to go on.
"We were in our camp, the entirety of WarriorClan, and there were blades of fire swirling around us, burning golden and white through the air." She bagan. "At first I thought we were cowering from the fire, but I soon understood that the fire was actually defending us from foreign forces. As I watched the fire calm and leave as fast as it came, I heard a voice whispering 'Fire alone will save your clan.'"
At her final words, Bayblade blinked awake in his usual nest in the warriors' den. He went out of the den, thinking about his vision. Why me? Why now? Bayblade wondered. Tonight will be the night of the half moon medicine cat gathering, maybe that has something to do with it.
He remembered the tales Graystripe told ThunderClan, when Bayblade was nearly a warrior, about the clan of former kittypets living in RiverClan's old forest territory, calling themselves WarriorClan, and he knew he had to travel alone to meet them and save their clan from the danger they're facing.
While pondering, his paws led him to the Highledge where Mousewhisker, ThunderClan's deputy, was organizing patrols with Lionstar, the clan leader, by his side.
"Brichfall," Mousewhisker called to the light brown tabby. "Lead the dawn patrol to the WindClan border and refresh the scent markers, take Finleap, Bayblade, and Flipclaw with you".
"Aye aye captain" Birchfall responded. Why did Mousewhisker tell everyone to respond like that? That's weird.
Birchfall rounded up his patrol and they headed out of the stone hollow in the direction of the WindClan border stream. On their way there, Bayblade made sure to rub against as many trees as he could. He'll be retracing his way later today so leaving a strong scent trail now would ease suspicion of him leaving through this direction.
As his patrol came back to camp, Bayblade spotted the black coat of his friend Flameclaw. If there's anyone I can trust with this, it's him.
"Flameclaw," Bayblade hissed quietly and beckoned to his friend with his tail. "I need you to pass a message for me. Yesterday I had a vision, it sent a mission for me to do alone. I want you to know that I'm leaving the lake for some time, at least a moon. Please tell this to Sunbeam, I don't want her to worry about me."
"Leaving the lake? You can't! Why?" The black tom retorted. "And why do you want me to tell Sunbeam? She's your mate"
"I'm sorry Flameclaw, I can't tell you why," Bayblade whispered. "I can't have anyone following me, but I need to leave as soon as I can, so next time you see her please tell her I won't be too long. I'll be fine, really. You don't have to worry."
"Alright," Flameclaw sighed in acknowledgement. "I'll pass her the message and try to take suspicion off you, but as soon as I feel worried, I'm telling Lionstar what you told me."
"Thanks, I knew I could trust you." Bayblade meowed as quietly as he could. After taking a glance in every direction, he continued. "I'm going to ask Mousewhisker to let me lead a hunting patrol, if you want to join just stay close to me."
Without waiting for an answer, Bayblade trotted over to where Mousewhisker was standing near the entrance to the camp, waiting for the first hunting patrol to come back.
"Hey Mousewhisker," the ThunderClan warrior yowled to his clan's deputy and former mentor. "I've noticed some prey trails while on the dawn patrol near the WindClan border," He bagan. "may I lead a hunting patrol there? It felt wasteful leaving all that prey, especially in this long Leaf-Bare."
"You don't need to give me a reason for enlarging the fresh-kill pile." Mousewhisker meowed, his belly rumbling in agreement. "Take Flameclaw and Molewhisker with you. if my brother's kit starts talking to you about his own kit, change the subject as quickly as you can, you'd thank me later." Mousewhisker nodded to Bayblade and Flameclaw, flicking his tail in the general direction of Molewhisker, signaling them to leave.
As Bayblade turned to round up the rest of his patrol, he took a long, regretful look at the rustling camp. Looking at each den filled him with different sorrow for the lives lost in this late, but lasting Leaf-Bare, and in the events that happened since the last one, when StarClan was still lost for the clans of the lake.
Looking at the elders den reminded him of Thornclaw, who went down with greencough a moon ago, and of Graystripe, dying peacefully in his sleep after telling Bumblestripe's and Cherryfall's kits about his adventure with WarriorClan.
The apprentice den reminded him of Myrtlepaw, his sister, who drowned after falling in the river that sets the border between ThunderClan and WindClan only a few sunrises before their warrior cermony.
A final look at the nursery turned his mind towards his ShadowClan mate, Sunbeam, and their relationship, that became possible when StarClan came back and the leaders removed the part of the code restricting taking a mate from another clan.
Bayblade felt wrong about leaving his clan during a rough time like this, But StarClan told me to do this, after not hearing them for moons, we must listen to what they tell us.
Bayblade reached to where Molewhisker was sitting near the entrance to the nursery and tapped his tail lightly on the brown-and-cream tom's shoulder to get his attention.
"I'm leading a hunting patrol," Bayblade meowed, in a relatively quiet tone. "Mousewhisker told me to take you."
"Aye aye cpatain," Molewhisker replied with a chuckle in his voice. "Just let me tell Leafshade I'll be bringing her something to eat later." Molewhisker poked his head through the entrance to the nursery, whispered something Bayblade couldn't catch, and took his head out, following Bayblade and Flameclaw towards the camp's entrance.
After making some great catches, Molewhisker began to gossip about Sandkit, his and Leafshade's kit.
"Leafshade and I decided that we'll start teaching Sandkit battle moves today." the brown-and-cream cat meowed proudly. "He's only a moon old but he's growing so quickly. Have you seen how high he can jump?"
I need to change the subject! Uh… I've got one! it will help me later as well. "Hey Molewhisker," Bayblade began. "Do you remember the journey to the gorge you made seasons ago to find SkyClan?" He asked. "The one where Alderheart found Twigbranch."
"Yes," Molewhisker answered, without a bit of suspicion clouding his gaze. "Why did you ask?"
"Well," Bayblade started answering, putting together a question that will give him as much information as he needs. "I was wondering, however did you manage to find the river that led to the old forest and to the SkyClan gorge? It must have been hard."
"Oh that wasn't so tough," Molewhisker replied. "We started near the horseplace, you know, the one Daisy came from, and from there we just went in the direction where the sun rises from and a bit in the direction where it stays at sunhigh."
"Thanks for the story Molewhisker." Bayblade thanked his clanmate, giving silent thanks to StarClan for this vital information. Now all I need is to send them back without me. "Why don't you take the prey we've caught and head back to camp." He meowed while starting to turn his tail towards the direction of WindClan territory. "I think I've noticed something strange over there so I'll go check it out. Don't wait for me, I want to stay outside of camp for a bit."
Flameclaw gave him a saddened look but answered without a trace of it in his voice "Aye aye captain."
Bayblade trotted over to the WindClan border watching his patrol heading back to camp without him. As he was nearing the river separating the two territories, he located a patch of watermint, and rolled in it in order to disguise his scent. I heard it can even disguise the scent of death.
After checking there isn't any WindClan patrol nearby, Bayblade crossed the river and border and headed towards the horseplace that stands between the WindClan and RiverClan territories, his journey's starting point, staying low on the stretch of area three tail-lengths from the lake, hoping its subtle inclination would hide him.
Nearing the horseplace that set the border with RiverClan, Bayblade spotted a patch of catmint and wondered whether he should hide his scent again. No, this time I want to be scented. Bayblade decided to venture into RiverClan territory in order to fool and halt any cat trying to track his steps. A WindClan cat won't follow a weak ThunderClan scent into RiverClan territory.
He walked the rest of his way to the horseplace on RiverClan territory, crossing back to WindClan territory one last time in order to finally leave clan territory and start his journey to save WarriorClan. If StarClan sent me on this journey then it must be important. When I return, I'll be a hero.