Stormfur opened his eyes and blinked in the strong sunshine. It was new-leaf, and prey was beginning to come back. "Hello, Stormfur," Hawkfrost mewed beside him.
"Good morning, Hawkfrost," he meowed back. He stood up, trying to shake off the dream that had attacked him.
"Thunder and River wll come to Fire, and release it from the Dark Forest's grasp."
Why would some cat go to fire and... what? Release it from the Dark Forest's grasp? Huh?
He had been in some kind of forest, one with unfamiliar scents and sights, and a tortoiseshell she-cat appeared.
"Hello? C'mon, we're on border patrol, y'know," Blackclaw said on his left.
"Yeah, c'mon, Stormfur, wake up," Swallowtail added.
"Sorry. Let's go."
They padded towards the RiverClan border closest to ShadowClan, and made their markers. A vole darted in front of Swallowtail, and she couldn't resist but chase it, and didn't notice that she was in ShadowClan territory, until she bit down hard into it's neck, and behind her, a cat mewed, "And just what do you think you are doing, hunting on ShadowClan territory?"
Swallowtail turned around. It was Cedarheart. Her eyes grew wide. "I-uh..I was chasing it.." She sighed in defeat, and pushed the vole towards him. "I'm sorry. You can have it."
"'Sorry' catches no prey," he mewed defiantly. "Just make sure you don't cross it again."
Swallowtail nodded, and hurried back to her territory. "You mousebrain!" Blackclaw scowled. "You were lucky you weren't killed. You could've gotten in real trouble. Next time pay attention to where you are going."
"Don't talk to her like that," Stormfur hissed. "It's not her fault." Blackclaw rolled his eyes.
The cats went on, and until they had marked them all, they went back home, and to the freshkill pile to get some food.
"Tonight is a Gathering," Mistystar yowled. "These are the warriors that shall go with me: Hawkfrost, Blackclaw, Mothwing, Heavystep, Copperpaw, Duskfur, and Stormfur."
"Okay, so I'm going to the Gathering. So are you, Stormfur, but not you, Swallowtail," Blackclaw said. "You know why?"
She nodded sadly.
"Sorry, Swallowtail," Stormfur tried to comfort her. She looked up and smiled at him.
"It's alright. I can always go the next moon."
Soon the chosen cats were bunched together, Mistystar leading them. Soon they arrived. WindClan and ShadowClan were already there.
Stormfur made his way through the crowd to find Tawnypelt. "Hey, Tawnypelt!"
"Hello, Stormfur! How is your clan?" She twitched her whiskers and blinked caringly at him.
"Great! There are lots of fish in the river. How about you?"
Just then ThunderClan arrived. Sorreltail padded over. "Hello, Tawnypelt and Stormfur. How is hunting?"
"Great," they synchronized.
"Hey..um...did you guys have any strange dreams lately?" she asked uncertainly.
"No," Tawnypelt mewed.
"Erm...well...I would be lying if I said no," Stormfur stammered.
"Oh..." Sorreltail paused. "Tell me."
"Well, I was in a forest.."
Sorreltail payed close attention while Tawnypelt walked away. "And she said it was a prophecy," he finished. When he had ended, Sorreltail's eyes were as wide as an owl's. "What?"
"I had that same dream!"
Just then the leaders sounded the call for the gathering to begin. Tallstar of WindClan stepped up and mewed, "Our Clan is doing well. We have apprenticed two kits, and we now have another warrior. We are well-fed and no disturbance of Twolegs." He went back as Blackstar of ShadowClan stepped forward.
"Many of our prey is being chased into WindClan. We apologize," but he didn't sound like he really meant it.
"WindClan accepts your apology," Tallstar meowed.
"We are a little low on prey, and we have 3 new kits and 2 new warriors." He stepped back.
Mistystar padded up. "There are many fish in the river. We invite ShadowClan to catch a few fish for a quarter moon on our territory. We have more than enough."
"ShadowClan appreciates your offer, but we are doing fine," Blackstar said proudly.
"Alright. We have 3 new warriors."
Firestar padded up. "One of our warriors have been captured by Twolegs, but otherwise we are doing fine."
Yowls of defiance rose up. "Stupid Twolegs! What do they want cats for?" one mewed loudly.
The crowd fell silent as Blackstar flicked his tail.
"This Gathering is over," Firestar meowed.
Never had there been such a short Gathering. But nevertheless, the RiverClan cats walked on home. Stormfur shared the news with Swallowtail.
Back in the ThunderClan camp, Sorreltail couldn't fall asleep. She kept thinking, "Thunder and River will come to Fire, and release it from the Dark Forest's grasp."
She got up and padded silently toward Cinderpelt's den. "Cinderpelt?" she called softly into the darkness.
"Yes?" a sleepy voice echoed. Cinderpelt walked out of the shadows.
"I...I had a dream yesterday."
"What was it about?"
"Well, a tortoiseshell cat came to me and said, "Thunder and River will come to Fire, and release it from the Dark Forest's grasp."
"ThunderClan and RiverClan are both Clans, but FireClan?" Cinderpelt wondered. "Hmm...it could be possible if Firestar found SkyClan.."
"So perhaps FireClan is in trouble...and a cat from RiverClan and ThunderClan will come to FireClan and help it?"
"Yes. Do you know if any other cat has had that dream?"
"Well...Stormfur from RiverClan."
"Hmm...you and Stormfur might have to go to FireClan... we'll have to wait for another sign from StarClan."
"Alright. Thanks, Cinderpelt." She padded off to the warriors den and went to sleep, feeling more comforted than she had minutes ago.
