The Lost Prophecy: Book 2: Broken Destinies

Chapter 1

The sound of paws pounding against the ground echoed like thunder. Within a deep forest, a sleek black cat was running. He crashed through a narrow path through the undergrowth, his white tipped tail fluffed out behind him.

Suddenly a gray blur flickered at the corner of his vision; the skinny black tom hurtled toward the nearest tree. He leaped at a point midway up its trunk, and digging his claws into the rough bark to push himself up, he hunkered down in the shadow between two larger branches. His pursuer wouldn't find him here.

Or would he? "Come out, come out, Ravenpaw," a voice called above his head. Ravenpaw immediately shot off from his hiding spot, descending the tree in long, swift bounds.

He set off on the path he'd started from again, but the familiar voice sounded from ahead of him now. "You know I'll find you eventually."

Panting, he spun on his paws and raced back in the direction from which he had come.

But the gray and black striped cat was still following; Ravenpaw could see his pelt through the gaps in the brambles. Ravenpaw whirled around again, this time to race deeper into the shadowy forest. "No- please- no." He kept running for what felt like moons, always aware that he was being watched, always knowing that his attacker was just a few pawsteps behind.

Suddenly Ravenpaw felt jaws clamp around his hind leg and he stumbled to the ground. Ravenpaw shrank back from the snarling striped tom, and in a swift movement jerked his leg away.

Once more, he bolted away. He thought he had finally lost the cat when the tom leaped out from the bushes ahead of him. "Hello, Ravenpaw. Miss me?"

Somehow the black striped tom had morphed into a larger, dark brown tabby.

"Tigerclaw!" Ravenpaw gasped. The huge dark tabby leaped at Ravenpaw and caught him in his massive paws. Tigerclaw raised a forepaw, his unusually large claws unsheathed as Ravenpaw frantically struggled to escape. "No, no!"

"Will you be quiet?!" The voice jerked Ravenpaw out of his nightmare. He opened his eyes blearily. A pale ginger she-cat was glaring at him. "I swear, I never get any sleep with all your mumbling."

Ravenpaw's eyes were still out of focus. "Oh. Sorry, Sandpaw," he mewed quietly.

"You should be," Sandpaw snapped. Ravenpaw shivered. He knew it had just been a dream, but he still had trouble shaking himself out of his panic. It had felt so real: Darkstripe's glare, the flashing claws, the sudden appearance of his mentor, Tigerclaw, ready to kill him. They were all his worst nightmares combined into one, terrifying dream.

Sandpaw sighed. "I don't even see why I'm still here. I know just as much as Dustpelt. I should be a warrior as well, not stuck here with you."

"I guess if we had been at the battle-" Ravenpaw put in.

"We should have been. Maybe if Dustpelt had said something instead of running off by himself all of us would be warriors by now." Ravenpaw watched silently as Sandpaw continued, lashing her tail. "Dustpelt," she growled under her breath. "He thinks he's the greatest cat to walk the forest now that he's a warrior."

Ravenpaw blinked. He was surprised to hear Sandpaw talking so negatively about the brown tabby tom. As apprentices the two had been friends, but now that Dustpelt had been named a warrior, it seemed that the two were drifting apart.

And it wasn't just Sandpaw. Ravenpaw had never been close with Dustpelt, but now the tom was actively avoiding him. He blinked sadly at the thought of his littermate, remembering his outrage at Ravenpaw's accusations of Tigerclaw. Although Dustpelt was his brother, they had never been close, but Ravenpaw had thought his littermate would have at least considered what he said. But the brown tabby warrior had dismissed him completely, unable to believe that Tigerclaw was capable of murdering another cat.