Starlight

Prologue

Moonlight washed over the hillside, casting heavy shadows around a thick wall of thornbushes. The bushes surrounded a hollow with rocky sides that sloped down steeply to a pool in the shape of a full moon. Halfway up the side of the hollow, a trickle of water bubbled up between two moss-covered stones, glimmering like liquid starshine as it fell into the pool below.

The branches rustled and parted as cats emerged at the top of the hollow and began to pick their way down to the water's edge. Their pelts shone with a soft, pale light, and their pawsteps left a frosty glitter on the moss behind them.

A white she-cat with gray-tipped ears was the first to reach the pool. She looked down at it with glowing eyes. "Yes," she purred. "This is our home."

"You're right, Snowfur. When we chose the four cats to lead the Clans out of the forest, we chose well." The reply came from a blue-gray warrior who was approaching from the other side of the hollow. She leaped down from a jutting rock to face the white she-cat across the moonlit water. "But the Clans still have a hard task ahead of them."

Snowfur dipped her head in agreement. "Yes, Bluestar. Their courage and faith will be tried to their limits. But they have come this far—they will not give up."

More starry cats joined them, clustering around the water until the hollow was lined with their sleek, shining shapes.

"Our journey was hard, too," one cat meowed.

"We felt the pain of leaving the paths we had walked for so long," added another.

"Now we must learn to walk in new skies." Snowfur's voice was full of confidence. She sat on a rock near the tumbling stream and wrapped her tail around her paws. "We must guide our Clans to this new meeting place, where we can speak to the leaders and medicine cats. Then this will truly be the home for all five Clans."

A murmur of agreement rose, and a gleam of hope shone in the eyes of the cats around her.

"They will catch fish from the lake," one cat meowed.

"And prey is running in the hills and beside the water," another put in. "All the Clans will find food, even in leaf-bare."

The blue-gray warrior still seemed uneasy. "There's more to life than fresh-kill," she mewed.

A bracken-colored tom thrust his way to the front of the crowd. "They're not kits," he pointed out impatiently. "They know how to avoid Twolegs and their dogs. Foxes and badgers, too."

"Not all trouble comes from Twolegs," Bluestar snapped. She swiveled her head to glare into the tom's eyes. "And not from foxes or badgers either, Oakheart. You know that as well as I do. The Clans bring trouble within themselves."

The warriors glanced uneasily at one another, but Oakheart dipped his head. "Of course. And they always will. That is part of what it means to be a warrior."

"Trouble from within greatest danger brings." A new voice spoke, deep and gravelly.

Bluestar whipped around, her neck fur rising, and stared at the newcomer standing at the top of the hollow. It was too big and solid to be a cat. Instead, it seemed as if a clot of darkness had entered the circle of thornbushes, in which the watching cats could just make out broad, muscular limbs and the gleam of small, bright eyes.

After a few heartbeats, Bluestar relaxed. "Welcome, friend," she meowed. "StarClan owes you thanks. You have done well."

"By me is little done," the newcomer replied. "These cats their destiny have faced with courage."

"The Clans have traveled far and suffered a great deal of sadness that we were powerless to ease," Snowfur agreed. "They kept going even when we lost sight and hearing of them among the mountains, when they walked the paths of a different Tribe. Now they must learn to be four Clans again." She looked solemn. "There will be much pain, especially for those who traveled together to the sun-drown water. They won't find it easy to forget their friendship."