Winter's Awakening

Prologue

"Dappledfur, please stop... Everything is just fine." Lilyclaw tried to consult the beautiful queen who's dappled fur was becoming soggy with tears. "ALL of my kits died Lilyclaw! Everyone... everything.. Seems to just die." Lilyclaw tried to fight back the tears , but what she said was true. "Lilyclaw, our clan is not going to survive without warriors." Lilyclaw stopped, her eyes cold. "Dappledfur, you try to make everyone else happy except yourself.. just tell Coldstar the-shush!" Dappledfur interrupted."Coldstar has already been through enough." Lilyclaw looked puzzled. "What? He is our leader, he must be alerted about this." Lilyclaw softened her eyes, she looked  sympatheticly at Dappledfur. "Look, you know that this is not a clan issue...for now.. Dappledfur, it is about you. I'm really worried about your mental health Dappledfur. Whatever is going on with Coldstar, he needs to keep it together." Lilyclaw could not believe what she just said but she kept going on. "He is our leader and he needs to help us, the clan, get through Leaf-bare if we want to get to Newleaf. Listen, you're going to have to tell Coldstar about this." Cloudtail walked in the den and shot a glance at Lilyclaw. Cloudtail walked towards Dappledfur, and sat herself down gently by her. "Dappledfur um...I am
going to fetch you some fresh kill from the pile-wait Lilyclaw, thank you." Dappledfur looked gratefully at Lilyclaw, while Lilyclaw gave a respectful nod. Soon, the three queens were sharing tongues."OK like I said, I'm going to go grab some fresh kill from the pile." Lilyclaw ran past the den, letting the bright winter light fall on her. Once she got to the pile on the icy stump, she grabbed three of the plumpest mice on there. As she walked back to her den, she thought about her lovely kits and then with sorrow, Dapplefur's. But there was a couple of thoughts that clouded her mind: What actually happened to Dapplefur's kits? What is going on between Dappledfur and the clan leader, Coldstar? And what did Dappledfur mean when she said, "Coldstar has been through enough."? Lilyclaw forced out these thoughts that were creeping up on her mind. When she arrived at the den, she saw Cloudtail cuddled up with her kits. Lilyclaw thought she should do the same. Lilyclaw spotted her lovely golden kits, who were snuggled up by a patch of ferns. Lilyclaw placed the fresh kill in front of each queen. Then, she went down to settle herself by her beautiful kits which were all fast asleep by now.  But then,  something strange  happened. Dappledfur was crying in her sleep,  murmuring something..  Lilyclaw tried to make out the words . And then she realized what Dappledfur was saying: "Coldstar.. No Coldstar." Lilyclaw felt a chill run through her spine.  Dappledfur woke up,  trying to cover her face with her paw. "Thanks for the fresh kill Lilyclaw." Lilyclaw  wanted to speak, but instead she found herself paralyzed, speechless. With little action, Lilyclaw dragged her kits towards her,  fear lurking in her eyes.