WARRIORS: Sign of the Stars: The Chosen Star

Prologue

Jagged rocks cast long shadows across the forest floor. Nighttime covered the environment in a sheet of darkness. A thick blanket of black clouds shielded the moon and stars. Only a pale fog of light shone through a small area of cloud. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance as a light rain fell from the sky. The storm sent a chilling wind through the territory that forebode danger.

Terror seized the kit as caterwauls of pain and fear echoed around him in the darkness. His eyes gaped wide in the pitch-black night yet he could only catch the flashes of pelts and glinting tooth and claw in the faint moonlight. He pricked his ears and strained to find the familiar shape of a cat.

"Help! Where am I?" He yowled fearfully into the darkness, yet there was no reply back except for the screams of terror from other nearby cats.

The kit swiveled his head to and fro, barely able to make out the soft outlines of trees around him as the rain began to fall more steadily. He took a step back, trying to gain his bearings. The kit cried in shock when he stepped directly back into something warm and sticky. Screaming in blind panic, he raced forward, fighting his way through brambles and occasionally knocking roughly against a tree or stumbling over a tree root. As the kit pelted through the forest he stumbled over a tree root and toppled down a steep, rocky slope.

Out of breath, the pale tabby kit gazed around and staggered back to his paws. His pads were bleeding now and his head ached from banging against the rock hill. The shrieks of battle had faded to a quiet echo yet he knew the danger was not over. He looked down at his paws to see what he had stepped in moments ago only to recognize the hot reek of blood. Was it his own or had he stepped into another cat's blood? He could hear the crunch of leaves close by as something approached him rapidly.

"Leave me alone!" The tom squeaked in a voice too small to sound menacing. He bared his teeth and fluffed his fur out to look twice his size. "Stay away from me! I'm going to be the fiercest IceClan warrior the Clans have ever seen!"

The kit still could hardly make out his surroundings. He parted his jaws in an attempt to scent out the enemy. "Good luck with that," a gruff voice sneered behind him and before the kit could move he was swept off his paws, being carried by the scruff.

Screeching in anger and fear the kit thrashed until he was able to swivel around and claw at the mysterious cat's eyes. Landing a blow across the sturdy tom's left eye, the massive cat snarled and bit down harder on the kit's scruff causing him to cry out as he broke the skin. The kit froze, feeling paralyzed by the pressure in his scruff.

The muscular gray tabby carried the small kit back up the steep slope where he had come from. As they headed back the kit could notice that the wails of horror had gone quiet and the forest was now silent. There were still heavy shadows that enveloped the entire forest, yet the powerful tom seemed to stride confidently back the way they had come. After some time, the strange cat paused and set the exhausted kit on the ground. The rain was pounding down on the earth now, soaking both cats through their pelts to the skin.

"I want to go home," the kitten mewled miserably.

"Quiet little one. You are home. StarClan have laid out a great destiny for you that no other Clan cat could ever be capable of."

The kitten's ears twitched in interest yet his response was guarded. "What do you know about StarClan? You're not a medicine cat!"

The huge tom's voice rumbled in amusement, "No, I am not. However, I am a leader. Tell me little one. Don't you want to lead a Clan and have any cat at your command with no questions asked?"

The kitten's eyes glittered with a hint of interest. "Well-," he stammered then leveled out his voice, "I want to be the leader of my Clan. IceClan! Not wherever you come from, rogue!" The kitten spat defiantly.

For a moment the tom seemed uncertain of what to say next. His tail tip twitched as he asked, "What is your name, young one?"

"Tornkit."

"Well that's not very nice," the tom grunted and looked pointedly at the kit's ear which had a slight gash on the tip.

Uncomfortable, Tornkit changed the subject, "Who were the cats in trouble back there?"

"No one important. You're so frightened you must be imagining things. No one is in trouble."

Uncertainty caused Tornkit to shift nervously. He said nothing as he stared into the massive tom's icy blue eyes. Was that true? Had he truly been so afraid of the dark that he had imagined cats crying out for help? The tom swept his tail around the kit to draw him closer. "StarClan has chosen you to follow a difficult path. Only the strongest warrior could follow this destiny. Tell me Tornkit, are you ready to follow StarClan's orders and create something that will benefit all of the Clans in the end?"

Tornkit was dumbfounded, "How can you promise that?" He squeaked in fear. "You took me from my camp! I want to go home, please! Don't tell me StarClan want me to be a rogue!"

"No, no! StarClan are always with you Tornkit. You must believe that. I would not dare lie about StarClan's wishes. I had to take you secretly. It was the will of StarClan. You are not going back to IceClan. You must train with me, for something unavoidable is coming."

Tornkit's ears flattened to his head. He would not dare go against the will of StarClan. He was only two moons old yet he had visited the elders' den plenty of times by now to understand that StarClan were to be respected. The starry warriors watched over him and protected his clanmates. Was it really the will of StarClan for him to leave his Clan behind to join this strange tom? "What about my mother and my siblings and my Clan?" Tornkit's words poured out, "They'll look for me and they'll be so angry when they find out what happened to me!"

The tom had a puzzled expression on his face, "Tornkit! I am surprised a rising warrior such as yourself would doubt your own Clan's loyalty. You must abide by the warrior code if you are ever going to make it out here!" There was a glint of ferocity and eagerness behind the gray tom's eyes.

Tornkit was not sure why but he felt a burst of pride as this mysterious tom called him a rising warrior. Sudden energy prickled his paws and he flexed his claws in and out into the earth. "I would do anything to protect my Clan!" He declared triumphantly.

"Yes, yes! See now you understand. This is not a bad place Tornkit. I will personally teach you what StarClan want from you. We will work as a team and once you are big and strong, you will have everything you have dreamt of and more." The tom puffed out his chest to stand taller, "Come with me willingly, Tornkit. Do this and you will have all I have promised you and more. We will create something none of the Clans have ever dreamt of in all of the seasons of the Clans!"

Forgetting his fears, Tornkit bounced on his paws, tail sticking straight up, "I'm going to save my Clan! I'm going to save my Clan!"

The gray tabby purred in delight. "I am very proud of you, Tornkit."

Tornkit twitched his little tail, not really caring about what the tom was saying now. He was fulfilling StarClan's prophecy that they had laid out for him! Nothing would get in his way now.