Prologue

Crowfeather looked at Nightcloud, who was grabbing a mouse from the fresh-kill pile. The black she cat was heavily pregnant with their second litter, but it was only because Leafpool was pregnant, too.

He sighed, thinking of the light brown tabby. His heartbeat sped up a beat as he pictured her soft pelt, her perfect white paws, and her amber eyes that sparkled in the sunshine like sun on the surface of the lake.

Suddenly, Swallowpaw called out from a lookout post. "Invaders!" she yowled. "Invaders in our territory!"

Crowfeather snapped out of his trance. Onestar was putting together a battle party. "I'll take Owlwhisker, Weaselfur, Crowfeather, Seedpelt, Harespring, Sedgepaw, and Thistlepaw!" the leader meowed.

Crowfeather hurried to join the battle party, and the cats raced out of the WindClan camp. Coming to the top of a rise, Crowfeather spotted the invaders. It was a group of five cats, hurrying towards the far side of WindClan territory with prey dangling from their mouths. He opened his mouth to draw in their scent. "They're just rouges."

Onestar nodded. "WindClan, attack!" he yowled, and the warriors streamed down the hill. The rouges looked up at the noise, and turned tail to flee when they saw the strong cats coming to confront them. Crowfeather aimed a blow at the last one's tail, feeling a small satisfaction as his claws snagged the cat's flesh.

Onestar watched as the cats disappeared over the far hill of WindClan territory. He turned to his warriors. "That should teach them to stay out of our territory. Let's go patrol the ThunderClan border. I want to make sure that those yellow-bellied forest warriors haven't been stealing our prey," he hissed.

Crowfeather felt a small flash of anger. Leafpool wasn't yellow-bellied, and neither were Brambleclaw or Squirrelflight! He'd also seen his kits in ThunderClan- Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze- and they weren't cowards at all.

Sighing, Crowfeather followed the others along the border line, dutifully keeping a sharp eye out for other cats. Suddenly, he heard a quiet hiss. "Crowfeather!"

He stopped in his tracks. Peering under a bush in ThunderClan territory, Crowfeather was met by a familiar pair of amber eyes. Breathing out in relief, he called up to the patrol. "Onestar! I want to check something out real quick. You can go on ahead, I'll catch up."

His leader nodded. "Go ahead, but don't try to catch up to us. Just head back to camp."

Crowfeather nodded to the leader and then waited until the patrol was out of sight. He quickly jumped the stream into ThunderClan territory and then ducked under cover of a bush.

Leafpool sat up to greet him. "Crowfeather! I've been waiting all day for you to show up!"

Crowfeather touched his nose to hers. "Leafpool, you shouldn't have come all this way, especially while you are carrying kits! How long until they are born?"

The medicine cat glanced fondly at her mate. "Probably just one quarter moon!" she mewed happily.

Crowfeather nudged her to her feet. "You'd better get back to camp," he mewed, supporting her.

Suddenly Leafpool let out a gasp. Crowfeather laid her back down, pulling her back under the bush. "Leafpool, what's wrong?"

"The- the kits…" she mewed. "They're coming…" She trailed off. Slowly, her sides began to heave. Crowfeather watched, helpless, as his mate's blood poured into the earth. Something was wrong- he had watched kit-birthing before, and there was never this much blood!

"Leafpool! Leafpool, talk to me!"

Leafpool gasped for breath. "Crowfeather, something's gone wrong…"

Crowfeather nuzzled her and watched as, slowly, a kit emerged. He nose at it, and looked away in grief. The kit had been born dead.

Two more stillborn kits followed. Finally, the last kit emerged. Crowfeather held his breath, and then felt a rush of joy. It was alive!

He picked up the kit and nestled it into Leafpool's belly. He turned to his mate. "Leafpool, she's ali-" he broke off when he saw Leafpool. Her head was on the ground, and her breathing was shallow.

"Crowfeather…" she gasped. "Goodbye, my love."

Crowfeather stared at her in agony. "Leafpool, no! Don't leave me!"

"Take care of our kit, Crowfeather," Leafpool mewed. Then she heaved one last shuddering breath and lay still.

Crowfeather opened his jaws to wail, but no sound came out. He looked at the body before him. "No… Leafpool… don't leave me now!"

Leafpool, the love of his life, was gone. He turned to the kit, a tiny copy of Leafpool. She was all he had left. All his anger and grief welled up inside him. With a medicine cat, both the kit and her mother would be alive! Why does this always happen to me? First Feathertail… and now Leafpool? He wanted to wail to StarClan like a kit.

Picking up his kit, Crowfeather turned his paws in the direction of the WindClan camp. He would make sure that his little Leafkit had a perfect life in WindClan. And he would make sure that she had the right to love.