The dark brown cat slipped through the night. His Clan trailed behind him.

"What will we do, Pinestar?" his mate whispered fearfully.

"The Clans surely heard the stones thunder," the small cat on the other side of Pinestar replied. "Surely they will understand."

"I don't know, Birdstep," Pinetsar sighed to his deputy. "I do certainly hope so."

"We always have hope," his mate agreed, nuzzling him. They fell silent again as they neared the Rocks.

"DarkClan is approaching!" yowled a voice.

"Good. Then maybe we can begin," said another haughtily. Pinestar rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the remark as they stepped into the spacious riverside clearing. A large pile of boulders dominated the center. The apprentices were playing around the base, while the deputies sat on some of the lower rocks. Four of the leaders sat on the highest boulder, looking down on the clearing, chatting amongst themselves. Pinestar bounded up to join them.

"Welcome," Goldenstar of ValleyClan said. All four cats looked at least remotely concerned, some more so than others.

Dawnstar, leader of LedgeClan, stepped forward. "We heard the stones thunder down Darkstone. Are you alright?"

Pinestar thrashed his tail. "Does what you see below you look alright?" Indeed, there were only a few DarkClan cats below, and all looked shaken.

"In that case, you can go first," said Plainstar of HillClan. Climbstar of PeakClan nodded agreement, obviously itching with curiosity.

"Thank you," said Pinestar. He stepped forward and yowled. A silence fell in the clearing below. "Cats of all Clans," he began. "A great tragedy has befallen DarkClan. Three days ago many stones thundered down our mountain, crushing part of our camp and killing many of our cats. My kits are among some of the dead." Gasps of horror racked the clearing. Softeyes, Pinestar's mate, nodded tearfully as the cats around her began offering their consolation.

"We cannot be sure that this will not happen again. I ask you, friends, that you give us at least a small portion of your territory, at least until we can find someplace else."

He looked around pleadingly. Goldenstar was first to speak. "I apologize, old friend. But we can hardly feed ourselves in the territory we have." He stepped back and looked away.

Plainstar was next. "I apologize, too. But we as well have difficulty feeding our Clan. Times will not permit us."

Climbstar nodded agreement. "I'm sorry," was all he could offer.

Pinestar looked at Dawnstar with desperate eyes. "Please, Dawnstar. We would not need much what with the current size of our Clan."

"No!" a cat from below yowled. "Perhaps StarClan wants them gone! Why else would they have made the rocks thunder?"

Dawnstar hissed wildly at him. Most of the cats looked outraged, but a few nodded their heads slowly.

Dawnstar looked up at the stars, then back at Pinestar. "Pinestar, I..."

There was a long silence.

Then Dawnstar slowly shook her head.

Pinestar's face turned to outrage. "Then we leave," he snarled. He leapt from the boulder. "DarkClan! To me!" His cats hurried over. "Snowfall?" he asked a pregnant queen. "Will you be coming with us?"

"My faith is to my Clan, not to any of these scumbags," Snowfall replied disdainfully. "I'm not that far gone yet. I'm coming," she said firmly. Pinestar nodded, relieved. He turned and started off so fast that Birdstep and Softeyes had to run to reach their places on either side of him. At the edge of the clearing, he turned back, motioning his cats on. When they had all passed him, he spoke.

"StarClan will punish you!"

Then he disappeared into the night.