Frostpaw opened her eyes to a huge clearing with four tall and grand oaks towering over her. This must be Fourtrees! She recalled hearing tales of the place, and how the four Clans met in Fourtrees every moon to hold a peaceful Gathering. The next one isn't too far away.

She took note of the enormous rock that stood in the center of the clearing. The moon shone proudly above, still only half of its brilliance showing. Then she lowered her gaze and saw that there were now a great number of silver, foggy wisps streaking into the clearing. They soon formed into the silhouettes of cats. Stars adorned their pelts and their eyes glowed brightly.

Frostpaw gasped, taking them in. StarClan... She stared at them all in wonder. One cat in particular, a she-cat whose fur crackled with thunder and flashed like lightning occasionally, stepped forward and addressed her.

"Congratulations, Frostpaw," she meowed. "You have done well as the apprentice to your Clan's medicine cat so far." Then the starry cat turned away so Frostpaw could no longer see her face. The other StarClan cats had vanished now just as mysteriously as they had arrived.

Frostpaw felt delighted at first from being praised by a StarClan cat, but then she somehow got the sense that the atmosphere was…changing. Dark and ominous clouds were gathering in the night sky, eventually obscuring the moon. Now it was pitch-black, and her eyes just didn't seem to adjust. She couldn't see the starry cat anymore, let alone her own paws.

Then her ears pricked at the sudden sound of a snapping twig nearby. She turned her head in that direction, but she still couldn't see anything. A shrill and eerie giggle sounded from a different direction, still very close to her.

Frostpaw began to quiver with fear, slowly backing away. What's going on? Where's StarClan?! The giggles were now all around her, each one more frightening than the last. She could make out the dim glow of many, many eyes all trained on her. Tucking her tail between her legs, she tried to find a way to escape, but the eyes were everywhere. There was nowhere to run.

All of a sudden her night vision came to her. With huge eyes, she took in the sight before her. A great number of cats staggered towards her from all directions, a murderous gleam now revealed in their eyes. Saliva fell in streams from their gaping mouths, staining the ground below. Their fur hung in ragged clumps on their slim bodies. She saw a few of them roll back their eyes so only the whites were showing.

"H-h-help," she gasped as they advanced closer. The battered cats made her feel terribly sick and horrified. She was shaking uncontrollably now. Just before they came within reach of her, Frostpaw shut her eyes tight and cowered, waiting for them to strike. When nothing happened, she tentatively opened her eyes again to see, much to her relief, that the deathly cats were gone.

The StarClan cat towered over her crouching frame, eyes aglow. Frostpaw still felt too shaken to move. The she-cat then leaned down towards her and rested her chin on her forehead, a gesture which soothed Frostpaw greatly.

"Frostpaw," rumbled the great cat, pulling back to look the medicine cat apprentice in the eye. "A wave of darkness is coming. It shall seize the Clans, and turn them against one another. There will be slaughter, there will be rage, there will be grief, there will be insanity. This great terror is known only as…the Plague.

However, beyond the territories of the Clans, hidden within the unlikeliest of places, there lays a single herb that will cure this disease. The herb is pure and unique, and knows its destiny. The Thundering Cat of Medicine must find this cure, and bring it back to the Clans, for it is the only way to put a stop to the Plague before it consumes the Clans forever."

The Plague… Frostpaw felt a chill run up her spine as she tried to forget the cats that had been reaching for her only moments before.

"But, wait!" she called, for the StarClan cat had already started to pad away. "Why are you telling me this? I'm not ThunderClan's medicine cat!"

She never got a response. Frostpaw could feel herself beginning to wake, to lose her dream self. She just knew that the "Thundering Cat of Medicine" was Shadefur, not her. So her question continued to burn in her mind even she opened her eyes once more to see the Moonstone, now just a black stone again. A single shaft of weak morning light shone through the gap above her.

The others were stirring around her. Frostpaw leapt to her paws, deciding that her mentor desperately needed to know about this prophecy. She opened her mouth to speak to Shadefur, but he quickly glared at her, shaking his head. The words reluctantly died on her tongue as she silently followed him out of the cavern, the others close behind.

She reflected back on her dream with StarClan as a whole. How different it had been from what she had imagined. Still though, she felt pride that a true StarClan cat had praised her progress so far. But then…she shook her head, trying to clear the images. And yet the prophecy echoed through her head, not a word dared forgotten. The Plague is coming… Shadefur just had to know about this! The prophecy did concern him, after all.

Maybe StarClan told him in his dream as well, she thought to herself. This seemed reasonable to her. Then she might be able to accompany him on his quest to find the cure. Now wouldn't that be fun!

At last they had left the dark tunnel. Frostpaw tried to talk to Shadefur again, but he interrupted her one more, this time by simply saying, "What StarClan shared with you is meant for you alone, Frostpaw. You mustn't tell me about it."

But this didn't satisfy her. Why was he preventing her? He was being so bothersome! "This is incredibly important though! You see, StarClan-"

"No, Frostpaw," Shadefur spat, leaning in close. The look in his eye got her frightened all over again. Frostpaw avoided his gaze until he seemed to calm down a bit, much to her relief. "I'm sorry. You just can't tell me. I didn't make that up; it's a rule set in stone."

Frostpaw sighed and nodded. Then, for one brief moment, their gazes locked, and she got the feeling that one of her latest thoughts just might be true; that he had seen something similar to what she had seen in her dream.

Do you know? her eyes pleaded. Do you know about the prophecy? But he turned away, his features entirely unfathomable, and padded ahead to catch up with the other medicine cats.

"Well I enjoyed that meeting, how about you guys?" asked the gray tom casually. Frostpaw was walking quietly at the end of the group, once again deep in her thoughts. Therefore she didn't bother to try and listen to the responses.

Gradually the other medicine cats left the party to go back to their Clans, until it was just Frostpaw and her mentor. Nothing more passed between them until they got back to camp.

She arrived just in time to see her brother, Pinepaw, heading out with a hunting patrol. He was busy chatting with Jaggeddust, but when he caught her eye, he waved his tail in recognition before disappearing.

Shadefur had already vanished into his den. Frostpaw, suddenly feeling famished, padded to the fresh kill pile and grabbed a thrush. She finished it off quickly, and spent several calming moments grooming her messy pelt. She would have liked the relish in this peaceful time and nap in the sun, but she likely had duties to attend to. So she pushed herself to her paws, which were sore from the long journey to Highstones and back, and entered the medicine cat den.

Her mentor was busying himself by meticulously organizing the herbs in storage. She figured he was just doing this to avoid talking with her. Frostpaw shuffled further in, not sure of what she should be doing. She stood in silence for a few heartbeats, waiting for an instruction. When it didn't come, she decided that a nap really would do her some good. She had just started to leave when she got a sudden impulse to look back at her mentor.

He was facing her now, some herbs still hanging from his jaws. When he dropped them with a soft thud, she saw that he was smiling ever so slightly at her. "Go get some rest, Frostpaw. You've earned it." With that he turned away again.

Frostpaw was puzzled by his peculiar mood changes. She guessed that was he trying to make it up to her after being so stubborn. Yes, a nap sounded real nice; she felt terribly tired. She glanced at the moss bed for her on her way out, but she still felt as though she wanted to sleep outside in the fresh air that night. She left the den and lay down at the edge of the clearing. The sun was just starting to set in the horizon. The sky was a unique shade of pinks, oranges, and yellows, and a few stars were out already. Frostpaw closed her eyes, savoring the view, and soon drifted off to sleep.

...

"Well I think we've caught enough for the day, don't you?" Fallowclaw concluded, surveying their hard work. Three mice, a shrew, and a water vole. Pretty good for the middle of leaf-fall. The ThunderClan deputy turned to the rest of the hunting patrol, who nodded their agreement.

Pinepaw, the new apprentice, seemed especially pleased. "Did I do well, did I, did I?" he kept demanding to his mentor, who always praised his promising skills. Fallowclaw was amused by his behavior; he would make quite the warrior. Already his hunting crouch was near-perfection, and he could stalk any type of prey effectively. She had yet to see him battle training, but she was planning to do so soon.

"Let's head back then. I think the Clan will appreciate all this." Jaggeddust picked up her prey, as did her apprentice. Then Rootwind grasped his, and Fallowclaw got hers. She signaled with her tail to start moving, and started in the direction of the camp, the others following.

She observed that the sun had begun to set, and picked up the pace a little. She never liked being out of camp at night. The vole in her mouth was starting to feel heavy, and its tail was dragging in the dirt. She lifted her chin, trying to raise the tail-

-And stared straight into the deadly eyes of a fox.