Prologue
Brackenfur's point of view.
The three cats trudged along, their pelts fluffed out and their breath coming out in clouds of mist. In the lead was a golden tomcat, behind him a fluffy white tom, and, trailing at the end, a dark-cream she-cat.
Leaf-bare had just begun and snow had already started to fall.
"Why is Firestar making us do this? It's freezing." The white warrior grumbled behind him. Brackenfur turned to face Cloudtail, but before he could speak, the dark cream she-cat answered for him.
"To make sure there are no foxes or badgers," she said, "Thornclaw's patrol spotted a fox along here before." Brackenfur nodded. "Thank you Rosepetal, this is a side of the territory we don't usually check, and we need to make sure ThunderClan is guarded from all angles."
"But," he said, "Cloudtail I do agree, it's cold."
Satisfied, the three cats continued on.
Brackenfur inhaled, and motioned for the two other cats to do the same thing.
Rosepetal's head popped up. "I can't smell anything." She reported. "Me neither." Brackenfur said. "Cloudtail?" he called "anything?" "No." Came the flat reply.
"Come on, let's keep moving." Brackenfur called to his warriors.
A few fox-lengths away, with Cloudtail and Rosepetal sniffing the ground, he jumped on to the low branches of a beech tree, to see if he could see anything.
The sight that met his eyes was a vast, low-lying plain covered with bushes and low scrub.
ThunderClan would hate hunting here, as there were now trees to provide cover. WindClan?
He pondered the possibility for a moment. No, he concluded, they couldn't run. "Hey! Brackenfur! I found a trace of fox!" Snapped out of his thoughts by Cloudtail's yowl, he forgot completely about the plain.
Spiderstar's point of view.
The starry cat dipped his head, "Well done Spiderfur, you have gained all nine lives and as a result, from now on will be known as Spiderstar." "Thank you." The black and brown tom choked out. "Thank you very much."
Then all of a sudden the cat's expression changed. "Beware Spiderstar," he said ominously
"A great evil will come, and will nearly destroy your clan." Spiderstar gasped. "What is the evil you speak of?" The other cat blinked at him. "Poison." He whispered.
"But," the cat said, "There is one thing that can save you." "What is that?" Spiderstar dared to ask.
"Come." The starry cat summoned Spiderstar with a flick of his tail. He led him into a clearing.
The clearing looked like a fire had just ripped through it. There was ash and cinder everywhere. For a moment Spiderstar was confused, but then he noticed something odd.
One of the cinders was shining.
"Wha..?" He murmured. Then all of a sudden there were voices calling. "The cinder will shine to save your clan, the cinder will shine to save your clan."
"What?" The black tom called. "What do you mean?"
He whipped around. The other cat was gone. The voices had stopped.
"What do you mean?" He whimpered desperately.