Ravenshadow's Gift - A Warriors Fanfiction

Prologue

A bright, crescent moon shone onto the forest, bathing it in a brilliant, silvery hue. The moonlight shone off of the cliffs of the hollow, turning them silver. Dark shapes could be seen pacing around in the clearing below, their tails flicking nervously to and fro, while agonized shrieks ripped through the night. Inside a hollowed out bramble bush, a small dark gray she-cat was clawing at the earth as contractions pulsed through her body. Another cat sat near her rump, his orange pelt turned dark in the dim light of the tightly-woven bush. He watched as a large, dark bundle tumbled out of the she-cat, then took hold of it to nip the sack that surrounded it. The kit was fairly large for a newborn, with dusky brown fur like that of his father.
The cat then placed a golden paw on the she-cat’s belly and felt another contraction ripple through her. It was much smaller, and the weak she-cat only groaned as a second bundle, this one jet black, slid onto the moss beneath her body. The tom was alarmed at the size of the kit. A runt? He wondered if it would survive as he nipped the sack around it and it took its first true breath of air. Then he proceeded to paw the she-cat’s belly again, making sure that was the last one to come. As he placed the newborns by their mother’s belly to suckle, she opened her eyes and purred, “Thank you, Flameriver.”
“Congratulations, Darkwater,” the tom purred in reply.
A head poked into the nursery. “Are they here?”
Flameriver chuckled at the new father. Darkwater and Duststorm were a young couple. He stepped aside to allow him to see his new children. “Congratulations, Duststorm. One tom and a she-cat.”
Duststorm sniffed them as they suckled. His eyes darkened a little with worry. “The she-cat is so much smaller than her brother.”
Flameriver nodded. “She may need extra attention and care to grow strong. Be sure to keep a watchful eye on her, and if you see anything alarming, come get me right away.”
Duststorm nodded back at him, determination and love for his new family glowing in his golden eyes. “She’ll make it on my watch.” He turned his head to look back down at his new family members. “Welcome to ThunderClan, little ones.” The warrior ran his tail along his mate’s flank. “What shall we name them, Darkwater?”
The queen purred and lifted her head to rest her gaze on her children. “The tom will be Thistlekit,” She confirmed. “And the she-cat’s fur is as black as a raven’s. Her name will be Ravenkit.”
Despite his best efforts, Flameriver couldn’t hold back a pang of jealousy that he would never have a life such as this. As a medicine cat, his duty was to treat the whole clan as equals and keep his mind focused on his relationship with their warrior ancestors. The medicine cat code stated that falling in love, mating and having kits was forbidden. He would never become a father, would never experience anything like this. But he had known this, ever since he had begged the former medicine cat, Rainpool, to take him on as her apprentice when he was finally old enough to train.
But I get to help bring new life into the world, he thought to himself. And that should be enough. I chose this when I made my decision to enter medicine cat training, and devote my life to the care of the Clan equally.
Flameriver left the nursery and slid out into the open to give the Clan the good news. Purrs of delight and relief at the successful birth were followed by yawns and retreating pawsteps as everycat retired to their dens for the night. Before long it was just Flameriver in the clearing, gazing up at the stars and the cliffs that surrounded their hollow camp. He could hear the wind in the cliffs and the rustle of the leaves nearby. He wondered if his former mentor had left the ranks of StarClan to watch his first time assisting with a birth without her help.
After a while of sitting in the clearing, watching the stars and praying to StarClan that the tiny, newest Clan member would survive the night, Flameriver too retired to his nest, which was within a hollowed out cave at the edge of the camp. Inside was a small pool, which came in handy for fetching water for his Clanmates while they were under his care. A large crack within the cave served well for storing herbs after they had been sorted.
Flameriver’s nest was near the outside of his cave, where he could keep an eye on the rest of the camp, and easily awoken if something was wrong. He was exhausted from the relief that he had successfully aided one of his Clanmates into bringing new life into the camp. New kits that would one day make warriors, or perhaps even a future medicine cat apprentice – not that the Clan was in need of one right now. He planned to serve ThunderClan for many, many moons. These were his last thoughts as he curled his tail over his nose and fell into a wave of sleep.
However, the next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by somecat. He opened his eyes in a panic; surely it was Duststorm, coming to him about the undersized, black kit, as he had instructed him to do should anything be wrong.
However, to his surprise, the cat that stood before him was not Duststorm. It wasn’t any Clan cat that was alive today. His flame-colored pelt shone with stars, and his leaf-green eyes were alight with wisdom. Flameriver had never seen him before, but he recognized him from stories the elders had told him, since he’d been a kit in the nursery.
“Y-you’re Firestar!” he murmured in shocked disbelief. What could the legendary ThunderClan leader need him for?
Firestar purred in amusement. “That’s me.” Then his expression changed. “Walk with me, Flameriver. I have something to show you.”
Flameriver stood, then looked back and saw himself, still sleeping. “So this is a dream,” he commented.
The flame-colored tom nodded. “I know you’ve only been ThunderClan’s sole medicine cat for a short time. You’re probably not as used to being sent dreams as your mentor was.”
Flameriver nodded sadly. Rainpool, the medicine cat before him, had been a kind and patient mentor, teaching him everything he now knew. When a badger attack near the WindClan border had taken her life while she’d been out collecting herbs, Flameriver didn’t think he was ready to take over on his own as ThunderClan’s sole medicine cat. But a couple moons had passed, and he had grown more confident in his skills. Even so, he missed his mentor dearly, and hoped she had found peace in StarClan with their warrior ancestors.
“How is Rainpool? Did she send you to me?”
Firestar nodded. “She did, in fact.”
“But why?” Why hadn’t Rainpool come to him herself?
Firestar brushed his tail along Flameriver’s side. “Don’t worry. She hasn’t come because she has other business to attend to tonight.”
The two cats had stopped at the entrance to the nursery. Firestar entered. For a heartbeat, Flameriver thought he was going to wake the sleeping cats inside, before he remembered that this was a dream, and that they weren’t really here, at least not in corporeal form.
He followed the former Clan leader into the nursery. Firestar was standing over the newborn kits that Flameriver had aided in delivering. Nearby, Streakfur was sleeping with her kits, Hawkkit and Phoenixkit. They had been born four moons before, and he had assisted in the birth with Rainpool. Flameriver had been terrified when Darkwater had gone into labor, and relieved when everything had gone smoothly.
Firestar’s attention was focused on the runt of Darkwater’s litter. Flameriver grew concerned. “What is it? Is it about Ravenkit? Will she make it?”
The flame-colored tom nodded. “You need not worry about that, Flameriver. She will survive. Her place in StarClan won’t be filled for a long, long time.”
Flameriver felt relief flow through his body, but then Firestar’s green eyes were burning into his own, with an intensity that washed a new fear through him. “But StarClan has seen a troubling time ahead for ThunderClan. You will need to be strong, and wary of who you trust. Not everycat is a friend.” He then turned his gaze on the new kit, sleeping in the curve of her mother’s belly.
“There will come five, each unique in their own way. They alone will light the way…”
Flameriver didn’t understand. Was this a prophecy?
Firestar turned back to the confused medicine cat. “The birth of these cats marks only the beginning. The future of ThunderClan, and the other Clans, rests in their paws!”
Before Flameriver could open his mouth to voice one of his many questions, the flame-colored tom had vanished.

Flameriver shot up in his nest with a gasp. The stars were still shining overhead, but he couldn’t hesitate. Hopestar had to hear about this! He got up and shook out his bristling pelt before dashing up the Highledge towards Hopestar’s den. Once at the top, he paused for breath before calling into the cave.
“Hopestar? I must speak with you!”
A pair of eyes gleamed in the dark. “Flameriver? It’s past moonhigh!”
“I know, but I just had a dream!”
Flameriver approached his leader before telling her about Firestar and what he had said. “’There will come five, each unique in their own way. They alone will light the way…’ he said. And he was staring at one of Darkwater’s kits when he said it. Do you think he meant that she’s one of them? Could she be one of these five?”
Hopestar’s expression was grim. “The only thing we know for sure is there is trouble ahead for the Clans. If Firestar was sent, we know it’s serious. We’ll have to be careful and keep our eyes open for signs of invading Twolegs or other animals. For now, go back to your nest, Flameriver. We’ll discuss further in the morning.”
Flameriver nodded and turned away to go back to his den. But before he had left, Hopestar called back to him.
“Don’t tell any other cat about your dream, Flameriver. We don’t want to start a panic, not when we don’t know what this new prophecy means yet.”
Flameriver nodded in understanding before making his way back to his nest. Eventually, he was able to fall back into sleep, but not before spending a great deal of time thinking about his dream, and the ominous prophecy Firestar had delivered to him.