Forgotten Whispers: Silent Echoes

Prologue

A/N This is the first official chapter of this new story. I don't know if this is going to be a bit intense for a prologue but I hope you guys enjoy it. Also, the prophecy in this deals with images instead of words. I'm not sure if it's a good idea if you guys like it then it'll stay but if you don't I might make a traditional prophecy from the images.

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   The small starlit clearing was silent. The full moon shown overhead turned the small droplets of newly formed dew into small silver droplets.

   A tall white she-cat streaks forward her crisp black stripes rippled with her silver starlit pelt as she stopped at the center of the clearing. She stared directly at the moon as another starlit she-cat appears at the other end of the clearing and steps forward.

   "Hello, Birchstar it's been a while since you've come to this part of Starclan at this hour," the other she-cat sat a few pawsteps away before looking up at the moon as well.

   "Same goes for you Valleystar. I mean, it's been a few moons hasn't it," Birchstar mewed sitting next to the black and ginger she-cat.

   "How many cats have faded since then?" Valleystar murmured her amber eyes now settling on a lone patch of grass. The tabby snapped her dark green eyes at her before lowering her own with a sad glint in them.

   "Quite a few actually and I can't say who'll be next," Birchstar mewed before raising her head slightly. Valleystar's eyes flicked towards a few places before she responded.

   "Do you think she'll be back?" The dark she-cat's eyes finally rested anxiously on the dark forest ahead of them. The ginger tabby fur on the back of her neck rose. The white tabby gave a pointed glare at the forest ahead. Her black ears were pinned to the back of her head.

   "If she does let's send a message for them to be ready," Birchstar growled.

   Valleystar wavered her gaze at the moon, " I don't think that would be the clans' best interest Birchstar. We are losing members in our ranks is because of our long history. The only reason we're still speaking to each other is that we're their first leaders. That also goes for Hummockstar and Nightstar."

   The white tabby she-cat finally broke her gaze from the shadowy woods before pricking her ear to the sound of a cat in agony tearing through the night. She looked at Valleystar before replying, "I know, but...can we continue this later I think Dawnstar's here."

   Valleystar dipped her head, " of course, this may give us time for us to give them a sign." The ginger patched she-cat watched as the pale tabby raced out of the clearing the stars on her pelt stuck to her stark fur like glittering cobwebs.

   As she neared the patch of birches near the river she could already see the cream tabby Birchclan leader with her belly swollen with kits. She was already on her side yowling in agony as she bounded up to her others were drifting around the birches. Dawnstar still in the throws of kitting had her shoulder pinned by Birchstar before brushing her muzzle against her forehead.

   The cream-tabby she-cat vanished the only trace of her was the flattened grass where she had collapsed. At that moment she realized she had her sign in front of her as she could only sense two more kits inside her. She leaned down, pressed her muzzle to where the she-cat once was, and she was in the Birchclan nursery. Brightwave and Flamethistle were trying to save the kits while Rosepetal tried her best to calm down Dawnstar.

   A wet bundle then slipped out and was quickly cleaned by Brightwave. The creamy brown wet fur was almost bleached white from the full moon creeping through the hanging moss. Otterleap helped to keep the she-kit warm along with the other brown she-kit born more than a few heartbeats ago due to how dry the she-kit's fur was.

   Seeing as time wasn't on her side she knelt near the creamy brown tabby kit and brushed her nose in-between the kit's closed ears and was on her paws. With that, she bolted towards the cream tabby tom and brushed her muzzle against his shoulder. He stiffened as she is appalled at what she's found in his head.

   A flock of partridges with a Kestrel among them circles around the startree which was withering and a leopard stalking through the branches. The next the same flock of partridges without the kestrel leads cats towards the highstones and where the sun drowns in the evening. The last image was in a meadow where a partridge sits on a stone with a light-brown leaf in its beak and a kestrel dead a few pawsteps away with yellow primroses with damaged petals growing out of it.

   A solemn look is plastered on Birchstar's face as she didn't expect Sleetstar to work so quickly. Then confusion comes like a splash of water as she was back in Starclan. "Why wasn't I informed of this," Birchstar inquired as she whipped around staring at her son who stared her back in the eye.

   "Because the other times you or the others tried giving them the message it led to pointless squabbles and had their faith in us tested. If we want there to be a warning then it should be blatantly clear instead of dressing it up with mallow." There was a gasp as the glare between the leaders was making everyone more than a little wary.

   "Sleetstar, I never asked for your opinion on the matter because I knew it would result in this. What you call 'unnecessary squabbling' even though you never saw what was coming as I did," Birchstar mewed as thoughts of battles and blood-soaked battlefields came to mind.

   "And ripping the cobwebs off the issue is the only way we're going to be able to deal with this matter. Another thing, just because we don't say her name doesn't mean she isn't remembered..."

   "Don't you dare," Birchstar growled her claws slipping out and puncturing the ground beneath her.

   "...Kestrelclaw," Sleetstar growled out as his ice-blue eyes turned to slits.

   From in the Shadowy forest at the edge of Starclan, a battle-scarred dark gray flecked she-cat with amber eyes looks through the dense wood. A small smile seems to curl on her face as she purs to herself, "We'll see Birchstar...we'll see," her purring getting louder.