Briarlight's breathing was shallow and fast, though her heartbeat was racing like a squirrel's. Her body trembled and her eyes were dilated, switching frantically around.
"Get Millie," Jayfeather snapped, his blind blue eyes flashing unseeingly at his apprentice.
Briarlight sighed; her ears twitched. Her eye closed as Jayfeather pressed his ear against her chest, listening closely as her heartbeat slowed and her breathing fluttered. Jayfeather closed his eyes and searched into her mind, uncovering the haze of darkness and death quickly overshadowing it. Briarlight's mind was flashing through its memories: being a kit in the nursery, mewling and playing in a nest warmed by Millie's fluffy gray pelt, being made an apprentice, her warrior assessment, the crushing terror as the birch fell…
Jayfeather jerked away from Briarlight's memories as she hooked her claws into his neck, pulling him to her lips as she frantically whispered an array of sounds struggling to become words.
Millie and Graystripe burst into the medicine den, fear sparking off of Millie's pelt. "Briarlight?" she squeaked. "Briarlight? Jayfeather, do something!"
But Jayfeather was trapped in Briarlight's hold, even as he tried to lift his head, and slowly her words formed, echoed by the strong wave of prophecy entering her mind: "When the stars strike and fall, darkness will bloom in a time full and ripe with anger. For four will shatter as one rises below the stars."
Briarlight fell limp, releasing her grip on Jayfeather. Millie padded toward Briarlight's nest and sniffed her daughter, "Briarlight?" Her meow cracked.
Jayfeather shook his head and looked into Briarlight's glazed, amber gaze that was still locked on his. "It's too late," he meowed quietly.
Millie backed away from the nest. Her eyes widened in terror that quickly trembled into overwhelming sadness, and she wailed in sorrow. Jayfeather retreated, out of the den, as Graystripe crept forward and leaned against Millie, his eyes glistening sadly.
When the stars strike and fall, darkness will bloom in a time full and ripe with anger. For four will shatter as one rises below the stars.