𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥𝗦ᶠᵃⁿᶠⁱᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ 一 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔷𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔱 [𝟑]

❆☾𑁍𓆱ᥴhᥲρtᥱr 𝟸𝟹𓆱𑁍☽❆

There is a prophecy about me.

Larkwing stood there petrified, forgetting even to breathe. An invisible paw seemed to be squeezing her lungs. Numerous thoughts whirled around in her head like foliage carried away by a leaf-fall breeze.

Cold fear crawled up her trembling legs and spread throughout her body. She wanted to object. You must be wrong! I am nothing special.

The silence between them since Sunray had spoken the meaningful words only fuelled Larkwing's panic. She forced herself to turn around. In the faces of her travelling companions she saw surprise, confusion, but also fear and horror, which secretly calmed her.

Full of despair, Larkwing searched for the right words. She felt like a mouse being chased by a hawk — small, vulnerable and with no chance of escaping the danger.

Then she recalled what Sunray had said. A cat with dissimilar eyes would come...

"You..." she began in a terribly croaky voice, "you think th-this prophecy is about m-me because of my eyes?" Suddenly meowing was so exhausting that she had to gasp after every word.

Sunray still didn't look away from the ground as she replied in an awed tone, "It must be. The last Guardian of the Ancient Stone died so long ago that her name and the memory of her have long since turned to dust. Since then, we have waited moon after moon, season after season, generation after generation, for the next prophecy cat to be born. She never came. We almost gave up hope."

"But maybe we've always just been looking in the wrong places," the black and white spotted tom added, also facing downwards.

There was a snort, and as Larkwing turned to look for the source of the sound, she discovered Crowshadow had stepped forward and was looking down at the skyden cats with narrowed eyes. It was truly a strange sight. As a native SnowClan she-cat, Crowshadow was blessed with a huge, bulky, muscular build. Larkwing had actually gotten used to the sight by now, but seeing the old, black warrior compared to the lanky skyden cats reminded her once again of the uncanny size of the SnowClan cats.

"And what does Larkwing have to do with it?" she enquired unfriendly.

Sunray gave her an astonished sideways glance, as if wondering why Crowshadow didn't know the reason. "Because the prophecy says so!" she claimed. "There isn't another cat with eyes like that for distances around. It just has to be her."

"That's all well and good." Redleaf sounded annoyed. "But what does that mean? Are you going to kidnap Larkwing?"

Hearing this filled Larkwing with warm pride. No matter what happened, she would always have her patrolmates with her. Even though they all came from different Clans, they had put aside their rivalries for this mission in order to be there for each other.

Suddenly, another's fur brushed against her own and she flinched, barely noticing. Lakepelt had pressed himself against her and licked her ear, blinking slowly. "Don't worry, if they want to hurt you, I'll be there to scratch some fur," he whispered more seriously than Larkwing was used to.