A New Horizon Book 4: A Fallen Star {COMPLETE}

Prologue

Shadows crossed the ground, the towering, dying trees above blocked out the starless sky. The dying flora gave off a musty, dank scent that Falconclaw had become some used to. He lifted his head, flicking his ears as he heard pawsteps. He padded through the forest, twitching his tail. He hoped that for once Thornstar would be on time for one of their meetings. He was always late. Constantly disappointing me, ever since he was an apprentice. The trees thinned out and Falconclaw kicked away a dead, fallen branch.

In a small clearing Falconclaw saw Thornstar, talking with his son Thrushclaw and Branchfur of LichenClan. There was another cat there, a cat by the name of Oakpelt. He was a former SunClan warrior who killed a former SunClan medicine cat and his kits for breaking the warrior code. Falconclaw had heard stories of the warrior and admired his duty to his Clan. Falconclaw and Oakpelt had made quick friends once Falconclaw entered the Dark Forest. Falconclaw twitched his ears and stepped into view, the other Dark Forest cats turned to see him.

"Welcome, Falconclaw." Oakpelt dipped his head, his brown tabby pelt was slightly faded. Falconclaw could see the trees through his body. Almost forgotten. Falconclaw thought. He sat down, facing Thornstar.

"How did Nightheart's training continue? Did she welcome you back?" Falconclaw questioned.

"It went well," Thornstar blinked. "She was hesitant at first, thinking that she no longer needed training since she was a warrior, but I convinced her otherwise."

"Good." Falconclaw looked up at the brownish-gray sky. "I'll be visiting with Falconheart for the first time tonight." He swayed his tail. "We need to get more done than training, if we want to make some decent progress with them."

"What do you mean?" Thrushclaw tilted his head.

"Training Falconheart and Nightheart will only get so far, they're dedicated to their Clans. Nightheart is incredibly loyal to her Clan, she won't turn against Riverstar easily."

"We need to turn them against the Clans?" Thrushclaw was still missing the point. Falconclaw couldn't believe that his own kin was so dense.

"Of course." Oakpelt spoke up. "You've convinced both Nightheart and Falconheart that you're training them to protect their Clans, but if we want any control over either AshClan or SunClan we need Falconheart and Nightheart to become their leaders. If Nightheart and Falconheart lead their Clans at our command, then not only can we rid the Clans of impure blood but we can get rid of Dawnstar and Riverstar."

"Exactly." Falconheart stood up. "Dawnstar made me sick, taking in a rogue. Not to mention the kittypet blood that still taints SunClan. All of Dovewish's kin must be eradicated." He turned around. "The same goes for AshClan, they also took in a rogue."

"Once these two are leaders we can modify the warrior code, so that any cat who mates with a cat who isn't from their Clan shall be killed." Oakfur growled. "No cats like Ravenwing will ever exist again."

"And what about Blackstorm and Honeyfrost?" Thornstar stepped forward. "We've all seen what's been going on between them." He curled his lip. "Could we really force them to kill their own siblings?"

"If not," Falconclaw flexed his claws. "Then we'll make Nightheart kill Honeyfrost and Falconheart kill Blackstorm. I don't care if Honeyfrost is my kin or not, she's a disgrace to SunClan."

"Blood doesn't matter," Thornstar mewed from across the clearing. "We need to teach that to them. It doesn't matter if we're related or not." Falconclaw and Thornstar locked gazes, they both knew the validity behind that statement.

"Can you really say that?" Falconclaw tilted his head slightly and narrowed his amber eyes. "You took a mate and had a kits. You fell in love and nearly threw everything away."