Prologue

Falcontail slid through the darkness like a wraith.

He had long since come to be comforted by this place, this cold, unnatural forest shrouded in perpetual shadow. Its twisting, turning, ever-changing paths no longer bothered him, as he knew he was always being taken to where he was meant to go, and the darkness brought on by the interwoven ceiling of leafless branches was almost like the dens in RiverClan where his body slept. How could that not feel like home?

As he followed his given path, Falcontail reflected on his first time here: He had been a kitten, not even out of the nursery. Mosspelt had punished him for something - he didn't remember what for - but he remembered how she looked at him. Like he was something filthy, something disgusting, something that shouldn't exist.

It was the same way his mother looked at him.

He had wandered these dark woods on small, unsteady paws, scared and confused until the forest had brought him to his salvation. He had learned so many things, and nearly every night since the first, he walked into the darkness with his eyes and heart wide open, just as he did tonight.

The path ended, the twisted trees and scrappy, leafless undergrowth unveiling a clearing full of gullies whose deepest parts were filled with thick, black, sludgy water. The trees here behaved strangely, their trunks twisting into strange shapes and their cagelike roots protecting the dark puddles. They were the only trees in the whole forest whose smooth, branchless trunks seemed to break through the barrier and into the unknown.

At the edge of one of these puddles, sitting between the tall, thin roots, was the pale shape of Bluestar, her gray-blue pelt reflecting the cold, pale color of the tree. Falcontail approached her with reverence, his muzzle lowered. When he drew close, he couldn't help but wonder what she was looking at, but the dark waters revealed nothing to him.

"There you are," Bluestar meowed, her voice quiet. "It has been some days since I have seen you, Falcontail."

"My apologies," Falcontail offered quickly, his muzzle still lowered. "I've needed rest." One of the few downsides to spending his nights here was that he got little sleep - it was a difficult balance.

"I know," Bluestar mewed, turning her muzzle. Her tail flicked - a signal for him to raise his chin. Her gaze was so blue, like the lake's depths, and just as easy to drown in. "You have been quite the busy bee..."

She flicked her ear, and Falcontail sat on his haunches. Though they were of an even height, Bluestar stared down at him, that tilt of her head always so sure and regal.

"Because of you, ThunderClan and WindClan are in a feud that will last for generations," Bluestar recounted, "and with RiverClan's leader wrapped around your paw, all that remains is ShadowClan."

Falcontail nodded and remarked, "Don't worry, ShadowClan will be handled soon."

Bluestar's brow tilted. "Oh? You sound quite sure."

Her skepticism stung, but it wasn't wholly unexpected. "I'm taking care of two birds with one leap, as it were," Falcontail assured her. "Preparing the paths beneath the ground has led me to a discovery which I intend to take full advantage of."

"And this discovery will affect ShadowClan?" Bluestar queried.

"Oh, it will," Falcontail purred, pride warming his chest. "And with very little effort, too. It won't be long before ShadowClan is doubting their own strength."

"Good," Bluestar meowed. Her gaze glittered with cold satisfaction, which sent a ripple of pleasure down Falcontail's spine. "Once all our pieces are in place, the Clans will be in the best positions possible for what's to come."

The Eclipse. The fur along Falcontail's spine rose with intrigue and awe. Bluestar had mentioned very little of the phenomenon to him, but he was aware of its coming - he could only guess what it would mean when it finally happened. A small part of him wondered if even Bluestar knew what it would fully mean.

"How are things proceeding with your kits?" Falcontail asked.

Bluestar glanced down at the dark puddle beside her. "They will be ready," she said simply.

Falcontail frowned. "Are you certain? Stoneheart has been difficult, and Mistyfoot is still loyal to Tinystar over all else." He lowered his muzzle again. "There are other cats in their Clans who might be easier to-"

Bluestar's eyes sharpened. "My kits are important to me and my plans for the Eclipse," she hissed. "They are a force for change in the Clans, just as you are, and they will be essential to taking advantage of the chaos you have created."

Falcontail lowered his muzzle further, almost to his paws, stung by her words. His heart thudded in his ears - he had come close to feeling her claws rake across his muzzle.

I would have deserved it, he thought, for questioning her! But still...

"Stoneheart can be persuaded eventually, I'm sure," Falcontail went on cautiously, "but Mistyfoot, I doubt. At every turn, she has denied you."

"She has taken the first step already," Bluestar reminded him. "She requires more guidance than her brother, for sure, but she has her weaknesses."

His heart thudded faster. "I have all the pieces I need to put her new position into question," he told Bluestar, daring to meet her glorious gaze with his own. "It wouldn't take much. Just a little suggestion to my friend in ThunderClan that she had something to do with Onewhisker's death, and..."

Bluestar's lip curled, exposing just the barest amount of fang that made Falcontail swallow his words like a tough hunk of prey. A faint growl touched her voice: "I know my children better than they know themselves, Falcontail. I have both of them well in paw, and I suggest that you focus on the tasks you have been given." Her whiskers twitched dangerously. "Suggesting too hard is what killed Emberstep, after all, and we've not yet found a replacement for her. We cannot risk losing our resources for your additional schemes - stick to the plan."

Falcontail felt a shot of fear run down his spine, cold as ice. "Yes, Bluestar," he said immediately, lowering his muzzle to look at his paws again.

"Regardless of whether or not my kits bend, I will proceed," she went on. "They can either stand beside me as you have or be swept away with all the others who deny my vision."

Falcontail dug his claws into the squidgy earth, her words stirring something inside him - reverence and something else, something that rankled in his belly like sour fresh-kill.

Then and there, he realized he didn't want anyone else to stand at Bluestar's side - he had done all the scheming, the plotting, the killing. Others had helped, but it was always him. Why shouldn't it be him and him alone who reaped the rewards for his lifelong loyalty and devotion to her, this cat who was more his mother than the one who had birthed him?

I will do whatever it takes to satisfy the one cat who gave me purpose, he told himself firmly. He looked up from his paws to find Bluestar staring at the dark puddle again, her elegant features shifting ever-so-slightly in thoughts that Falcontail wished he could understand.

His claws sank deeper into the ground. Whatever it takes.