Prologue

It was leaf-bare in the forest. Snow covered the ground and trees, leaving everything a bright white color. Icy wind gripped the fur of four cats as they walked through the leg-high snow. One was an orange tabby she-cat with green eyes, the other was a golden tabby tom with amber eyes, the other was a brown tabby tom with a long tail, and the last cat was a white she-cat with icy blue eyes, almost blending in perfect with the whiteness around them.

"This is hare-brained!" the brown tabby hissed, shutting his eyes tightly as another gust of wind blew snow into his face. He drew his lips back in a snarl, showing his teeth. "Why would Shockstar send us out in this type of snow storm! Only hare-brained fools would be out in this!"

"Like us, Tigertail?" the white she-cat asked, a hint of assumement was in her voice, though he took no part of catching it.

He turned his amber gaze on her and growled, "This is not the time for jokes, Moonshadow!"

"You worry too much," the orange tabby she-cat muttered. "Lighten up, will you? Shockstar wouldn't send us out if he didn't think there was a need to do so."

"And what need is there, Brightfire?" Tigertail snarled, his amber gaze now resting on her.

She shrugged her shoulders in reply to the darker warrior. "I don't know. But there must be a good reason."

"It's going to get us killed," Tigertail muttered under his breath, though he didn't push the matter any further, much to every cat's relief.

The four cats continued their way through ElectricClan's territory, heading towards the boarder line between their and DarkClan's. The DarkClan cats had been starting to start a bit of trouble as of late for them, and they wanted to make sure that it didn't go any further. The four cats figured that was the reason why they had been sent out in such bad weather. It was quiet, no other cat was out on the other side of the scent markings that showed their side and DarkClan's. Tigertail snorted, his amber eyes bright.

"See? Even DarkClan is smart enough not to send their soldiers out in this snowstorm!"

"Again, he wouldn't send us out in this if there wasn't a need to," Brightfire pointed out, her green eyes scanning the whitened forest around them.

The brown tabby snorted, once more rolling his amber eyes. What need was there to be out in a storm like this? The snow had begun to fall harder now, and the wind had picked up, blowing the snow in the cats' faces, making it hard to see. They had to use their earing and smell to tell where each other was at. Snow had also began to line their pelts. If they didn't get back to ElectricClan's camp soon...

"Come on, let's get going before we freeze to death," the golden tabby tom meowed.

"Wait!" Moonshadow hissed, stopping the other three cats in their tracks, their eyes on her.

"What is it?" Brightfire asked the younger she-cat. "What's the matter?"

"Don't you hear it?" the white solider meowed, her blue eyes wide in shock. "A kit! There's a kit meowing!"

Tigertail, Brightfire, and Lionclaw stared at her for a moment. They perked their ears, trying to listen for the cries of the kit that Moonshadow had spoken of. The sound of the howling wind drowned out anything for miles; they had to yell just to hear each other over it now.

"A kit? Are you sure?" the orange tabby asked.

"Yes!" The white she-cat bounced off into the blizzard, trying to find the kit before it was too late. "Meow again little one! Please!"

Moonshadow waited for the cry again, her heart pounding in her chest. She prayed to DreamClan that the kit was okay.. That it hadn't went to join them. Not yet. Relief flooded over her as she heard the meowing again. The white warrior darted towards it, and stopped at a small form in the snow. It was a small kitten no older than a few weeks. The kit had gray fur with darker gray paws, tips of her ears, tail-tip, and stripes lining her tail. A few paw-steps away from the fallen kit, was another cat, only larger. The large cat was a tabby, a she-cat from the smell of her. The white she-cat picked up the kit and went over to the still form of the cat she thought to be the kit's mother.

Placing a paw on the still cat's shoulder, she frowned in sadness. The other she-cat's body was cold, not just from the snow. A trail of blood dripped from a wound around the she-cat's neck, staining the white snow red. The other she-cat didn't have the scent of a Clan on her, a loner or rogue possibly then. Yet, why was she out here in a blizzard? From the look of it, she had been injured by something. Another cat from the claw marks on her neck. Yet, the cat had left the mother to die, and not had taken or killed the kit? The ElectricClan solider shuddered at the thought.

"Moonshadow!" Brightfire's meow reached her ears, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Did you find the kit?"

The other three cats appeared and when they saw the dead body of the she-cat, they frowned, knowing what had happened. Lionclaw bowed his head in respect for the dead cat that lay before them. The golden tabby murmured a few words, before looking up at DreamClan, his amber eyes shining with sadness. Tigertail dropped his head as well, as did Brightfire. They did not know the cat that had died, but they knew to show respect and horror to a fallen cat, and hoped that the cats that ran in their dreams and the sky had welcomed the she-cat to their ranks, allowing her to watch over her kit from above.

"Come," Brightfire meowed swiftly. "We must get this kit back to the Clan before it-and all of us-freeze to death!"

The other three cats agreed and they raced back to ElectricClan's camp, wishing that they could have buried the dead she-cat. Yet, they knew that the snow would do it for them.

The four ElectricClan warriors finally made it back to their camp. The camp was in the middle of their part of the forest that they owned. It was surrounded by trees and bushes that led out into the forest of their territory. It broke into a clearing that held many dens for the cats, as well as the High Rock, where Shockstar addressed the Clan from. Under the gray stone, was a large hole that held his den that was covered in brambles.

"Yellowstone!" Brightfire yowled. "Shockstar! Speckledfern!"

The ElectricClan leader appeared out of his den, his white fur flattened against the roaring wind, and his yellow speckles shined light gold in the little sunlight that shined through the gray clouds. A gray she-cat with black specks and a gold-and-white she-cat appeared at the other she-cat's call. Other cats poked their heads out of their warm dens to see what was going on.

"What's going on?" Shockstar asked. "Why is there a kit with you?"

"Moonshadow found her on our territory, just a bit from the DarkClan border. There was another cat with the kit, a she-cat. We think that it could be the kit's mother," Lionclaw replied.

"Is she.." Yellowstone started, only to trail off as the golden tabby tom nodded his head.

"Yes. We found her body with a wound to her neck, blood covering it around her."

Shockstar nodded at his and turned his amber gaze onto Yellowstone. "Will you look after the kit?"

The gold-and-white she-cat nodded, her green eyes bright as she looked down at the cat in the white she-cat's mouth. "Yes. I'll care for her as if she were my own."

Yellowstone's kits had died of greencough a moon after they were born. She still had milk inside her however, as she allowed some of the other kits to drink from, since there were so many in the den at the moment. The queen took the tiny ball of gray fur, who was mewling and shivering from the cold winds that blew. She headed into the den the queens shared.

"What will you name her?" Shockstar asked, following the she-cat into the den. The scent of milk filed the air around them.

The queen laid down and pushed the small ball of fur towards her, wrapping her tail around her, allowing her to become warm and drink the milk. The older she-cat watched, her eyes shining bright. "I will name her Cinderkit."

And that's the prologue everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the start of the story so far! I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did typing it for you all!

With that said, I think it's time I end this here before it gets too long. I'll see you all soon!

~Cinderlight.