Five and a Half Moons Ago…
Windbreath sighed as she washed her paws off in a puddle outside of her den. She had just delivered two kits to an ecstatic Flowerfoot. The birth had been difficult from the start, the first kit, a little russet tom, had been turned backwards so she had had to turn him around. He had fought to come out, and when he had he had wailed in a high-pitched keen, but she had never heard a more gratifying sound.
The second kit, a tiny golden she-kit with unusual spots above her eyes, was another story. She was so small that at first Windbreath couldn't even tell Flowerfoot was still in labor until she had started pushing again. It was a surprise when the little she-kit had come out so quickly, at first Windbreath had started to give the tiny kit to Flowerfoot to clean, but then she realized the kit wasn't breathing.
Windbreath remembered calling a twitching Shadepath, Flowerfoot's mate, into the birthing den. Now she could laugh freely about how anxious Shadepath had been. She told him that he needed to lick the kit to warm her up, while she rubbed the kits neck to get her to through up any birthing fluids. Luckily after a few rubs the kit had coughed up the liquid, and let out a pitiful mew. After that things had gone smoothly.
Windbreath stepped out of the puddle and lifted her head to gaze at the sky, where Starclan watched over her. She was glad Fireclan was growing stronger after an outbreak of whitecough. Three warriors and an elder had died and gone to join Starclan. Her leader, Applestar, had grieved in silence by their side as one by one they passed away.
Applestar had been great friends with Dawncloud and Mousestep, two of the warriors that had died. She had grown up with them and become a warrior with them, and now she grieved for them.
It was times like these, after all of the trouble was gone, that Windbreath was truly glad to be a Fireclan medicine cat. She was proud of her new apprentice, Longpaw, in helping with the birth. She had just become his mentor the day before, and she hadn't been able to teach him much in that short amount of time. Now she had a strict teaching plan laid out for him, no more slacking on her part!
She sighed as she looked down at her paws. She wondered what Starclan had in store for Fireclan. She hadn't received a message from them in moons, and she wondered why they were so distant. She shook her head and quickly swiped her paw over her face, now wasn't the time to think of that.
She stretched her legs and stood up carefully. Windbreath looked out at the wide berth of land that was Fireclan's home. Brambles and long vines with thorns shielded them from all sides, and from all points of attack. Tall trees cast shadows over the warrior's den, which was a small cave. Across from the warriors den was the nursery, which lay in a giant bush that was hollowed out, the entrance was covered with gorse and thick vines that made it almost impossible to get in unless you knew just the right place to enter. The elder's den was under a fallen tree covered in moss. She could see Blackfoot lying on her mossy bed in the center of the small clearing. Her den was right next to the warrior's cave, in another smaller adjoining cave. Her leaders den was placed in a high cave above them all, if one wanted to go up to Applestar's den they had to climb up small stones placed one after another.
She glanced one last time around the clearing and then stepped into her den. She sighed when she saw the pile of herbs lying in front of a natural rock shelf, she must have forgotten to put them up when Flowerfoot started to give birth. She stepped over to the shelf and lightly picked up the herbs in her mouth, immediately a musky scent shot into her nose and she fought back a sneeze. Windbreath quickly placed the herbs in their correct locations. She gave one last cursory glance at the shelf, nodded in satisfaction, and moved tiredly over to her mossy bed.
With a sigh she lay down and instantly fell asleep.
Windbreath slowly opened her eyes as the scent of many cats filled her nose. Her breath whooshed out of her in an alarmed gasp as she looked down to see that she was standing on a thin branch at the very top of a large tree. Her claws dug sharply into the hard bark, as she hissed in alarm.
"Look." It was a single voice, yet it sounded like many cats all speaking at the same time. The voice of Starclan.
Windbreath looked down again, but this time she looked past the tree branch and to the forest floor. On the forest floor two cats wrestled ferociously, claws unsheathed and teeth glinting, they slashed and bit at each other, each one trying to gain the upper hand. She could tell there were other cats around them, but they seemed like dim shadows compared to the bright glow surrounding the two fighting cats.
The smaller of the two cats jumped from side to side, belly low, trying to confuse the bigger cat. As the bigger cat slashed at the small cat with a blow that would surely kill it, a bright golden light erupted from the middle of the mass of cats. Windbreath crouched low on the tree branch as she tried to see what had happened to the smaller cat.
When the glow receded she saw that the ground looked like it had never been touched by dozens of paws, it looked like a huge fight had never taken place there at all.
Windbreath blinked in confusion. She lifted her head and inhaled the scents around her, a sweet scent drifted to her on the breeze. She looked up, trying to see where the scent was coming from, and her gaze was drawn reluctantly to the moon. She gasped when she saw that the moon shown with an eerie faint red light.
Abruptly everything went black and she shivered as a cold wind blew through her fur.
" When the crescent moon burns red and a leader loses a life, fire will need an Eagle to take flight…" The monotone voice drifted like mist across the black expanse to her ears. Images flashed before her eyes: the scene of the two fighting cats, golden fur, a warrior naming ceremony, and a she-cat in labor.
" Be not afraid, all will be right in the end." A kind voice spoke softly into her ear, she jumped at how close the voice was.
Windbreath whipped around quickly, the jumped back with a shocked hiss when a light grew brighter from where the figure of a cat stood. The light moved toward her, and even though she tried to move she couldn't. She had to watch as the light slowly engulfed her.
Windbreath jolted awake. She lay gasping on her bed, as the dream from Starclan played over and over again in her head.
The forest had a new and confusing prophecy, and it sounded like it spelled doom for Fireclan.