Ghostface was awake before everyone else and blinked in surprise; everything was covered in a fluffy white layer. He shivered slightly and blinked. 'Am I in StarClan?' He thought, looking around until he realized that it was snow. The thick vegetation clearly wasn't enough to keep out the soft white flakes. The tom stood and shook his pelt. The sun was high above, just past sunhigh. He looked around at the white mounds. They were clustered together.
Nudging Fawnshadow beside him, he whispered gently, "Wake up, we have to continue."
The she-cat was awake instantly. She looked around, slightly surprised and then said, "Wow, it's beautiful, but the snow is going to slow us down."
Ghostface nodded, slightly worried. "I know, a lot of these cats coats are thin, we'll need to hunt first." He turned to the sleeping cats and let out a yowl, a cloud rising from his mouth. The mounds stirred and then rose, shedding their white blankets on the ground of the sandy hollow.
"You can hunt for a little bit. Go out in groups of threes or fours and don't get separated. We don't know the territory here." Ghostface watched the cats nodded and start to organize themselves.
After a few minutes Ghostface padded off to hunt for himself when a screeching came from the bushes just outside of the hollow. Ghostface dashed out to see two cats hissing and fighting. Ghostface yowled loudly, stepping in between them.
"What's going on here?" He hissed, looking at them angrily.
One of the cats, a brown tabby WoodClan she-cat hissed, "He tried to steal my group's prey!"
"You're a liar, Snaketail!" Hissed Reedstripe, a MarshClan cat. "I haven't tried to steal anything, you could see that we were hunting here first."
"Stop! This is no time to be fighting. You," He glared at Snaketail, "Take your group and head farther east a bit."
"Reedstripe, take your group and move north." The dark tom glared at Snaketail for a second, then slipped off, his group following him. Ghostface sighed and shivered slightly in the cold. His stomach ached with hunger. Head down, he padded off to hunt when a voice beside him said, "Unity, Ghostface, that's the only way we'll survive."
He whirled around to see Shadedpelt standing behind him, his coat thin and ribs showing. "I know, Shadedpelt. But these cats are difficult. I don't know if I can stop them from fighting."
Shadedpelt padded forward and touched Ghostface's shoulder with his tail. The pale tom was startled, Shadedpelt had never shown him such kindness before. "Before we left, Barkstar told me to watch out for you, but I can see you're strong. Many of these cats will die before we even get there." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"StarClan is watching over us." Ghostface said. After a moment Ghostface nodded to the black tom. "Go hunt, we'll be leaving soon." With that the pale tom padded off to hunt.
Ghostface returned to the hollow, his stomach full and a couple of mice in his jaws. He looked around and spotted a group of elders sitting together. He padded over and gave them the fresh-kill. He turned to see that all of the cats were in the hollow now. Clouds of their breath rose up and they were huddled together, eating or sharing tongues. Padding do the edge where he could see all he said, "Cats of all Clans," The many faces turned to him. He continued, "I've realized that we cannot and will not make it unless we have absolute unity." The cats were silent. "From now on we cannot be four clans, we must be one." Some of the cats glared up at him, looking confused. "We have far to go, hills to climb, rivers to cross and much, much more and we can't do this if we are four separate clans."
Fawnshadow padded up to him from the center of the hollow and nodded her agreement. The cats murmured their consent. "HopeClan!" A rasped voice called from the center.
"HopeClan! HopeClan!" More voices followed.
Ghostface smiled down at the many faces and said, "Now, we must go."
Ghostface padded down and stood to the northwest side of the hollow. The cats stood and Ghostface set off, glad that they had survived one night of travel, but knowing that there would be many more. They followed him quietly, though the many sets of paws could be heard crunching in the light layer of snow.
Looking up, Ghostface whispered, "StarClan, guide us."