Nightstar's Crown

Prologue

|| Prologue ||
❅

Snow fell from the stars on a cool, crisp night. Pine trees towered far above from behind, and an iced over stream trickled out into nothing. Four shadowed figures had collected off the main territories, three of which hovered around the one figure laid out and panting. "Keep pushing, there's one more left..." One murmured, a paw resting on the belly of the grunting queen.

"If you three would quit— nngh," the she-cat started and then grunted as she clenched her teeth as another tremor passed through her. Moments later, the medicine cat was vigorously licking away at the small kitten.

"R-...Redmoon, this one's breathing!"

A tom jerked his head up and rushed over to examine the small dark kitten. Sniffing the little thing over posessively, the auburn tabby began to perk up. "Oh, thank StarClan," he breathed and began to lap at the kit, desperate to warm it up.

The medicine cat purred gently. "It's a she-kit."

The worn out queen huffed quietly. "Fantastic..."

Another dark brown tabby tom with a tan underbelly frowned down at her. "You don't sound too pleased, Thornthroat..."

The ebony she-cat bared her teeth and hissed at him. "Why should I be?"

Redmoon flattened his ears and growled under his breath at her outburst. The sleek warrior began mumbling to the medicine cat, choosing to ignore the other two, "Powderbelly, why's she so quiet?"

The white feline began to examine the newborn kit at his paws again while the tabby and dark queen were bickering heatedly. "That kit is your kin, new life – you should be grateful StarClan's been so kind that one survived."

Thornthroat bristled as she still remained on her side, recovering. Her clear colored eyes reflected the icy, silver glow of the snow lit up by the moonlight on her left and the dark, frigid shadows on her right. "Better they all didn't make it than one survive and sully my name!"

The tom hissed back at her and spat, "You've already done that, Thornthroat! Besides, you've brought this on yourself, half-Clan or not, that kit is your responsibility now!"

"If you don't want to deal with motherhood, I'll take her," Redmoon spoke up with a growl, lifting his head up and angling his nose to the two infuriated cats. "I'm proud to be her father, and RiverClan will get over her ShadowClan blood."

"No!" Thornthroat interjected as she turned to the tom, eyes ablaze. "If I'm going to hear it all day of me 'betraying my clan,' I'd rather have a kit to train into a fighter to make up for it."

Redmoon's eyes widened and his claws unsheathed as one side of his nose bunched up. "What? If that's the only reason, I'm not letting you have her—"

"I had to birth the little vermin out along with four other dead kits, I'd say I should be the one who gets to decide!" Thornthroat snapped with a vicious snarl, her tone revealing how she felt about the trembling bundle at Redmoon's paws. Even so, the ShadowClan warrior's crude nature and harsh demeanor still made him duck his head a bit. "If you want a kit to smother and coddle, then take your pick," the dark cat pointed with a careless paw to the lifeless forms close by who were to be buried.

The tabby tom bristled and glowered at the she-cat, lost on how he had once thought he actually loved this cat. He once thought she was only so mean because of how she was raised, treatment she may have received, or perhaps that it was just the way of the pine forest cats. He thought he might show her a better life, and be able to lead her into a good line of light. But it was only so much more clear to him now that everything she did or said before, the things he had liked about her – it'd all been false. A façade, on her end. She'd taken advantage of the warrior and now she wanted to take everything away from him. But Redmoon also knew something else now: Thornthroat was dark, truly fox-hearted like her clan's reputation although he couldn't speak on their true nature. She was ruthless in a fight, and heartless to most; everything she did, was purely for the sake of seeking power.