Gray Skies - Book One

Prologue

The winds were calm as they pushed the clouds through the light blue sky. Breezes from those winds ruffled the lush green grass, sending ripples across the sea of green warmed by the dawn sun. Tree leaves and branches touched each other, ruffling slightly and scattering their healthy green leaves into the sky along with small brown acorns into the grass.

One of the leaves drifted away from a clump of leaves blown from their home and toward a hill. The hill was tall enough to look directly over the field and see the rabbits and mice scurrying down below as cats joyfully turned them to prey. A cat sat atop of the hill, his gray fur sparkling with tiny white dots of light. He had his tail curled neatly over his white paws, and he stuck a paw in the air as the singular leaf drifted toward him. 

The cat swiftly unsheathed his claws and brought the leaf down to the ground without moving the rest of his body. He held the leaf underneath his paw as he examined it. Its green veins gave it texture beneath his paw, its stem perfectly stiff and straight. The grass ruffled behind him as another cat padded to his side to sit next to him.

The second cat sat beside the first one and watched over the field in silence for quite a bit before turning to the gray tom. "Is there anything new to share with the Clans?" It was a chocolate tortoiseshell she-cat with glimmering amber eyes. She watched as the gray tom lifted his paw, sending the leaf off into the sky.

"There is, actually," he replied with a deep meow. 

"Oh?" The she-cat nodded and looked back across the field. "What would that be?"

The gray tom didn't turn his light green gaze to look at the tortoiseshell. "An eagle's talon will tear the Clan apart. Night and star will soar above the rest to fight the everlasting darkness approaching,"

"An eagle's talon will tear the Clan apart. Night and star will soar above the rest to fight the everlasting darkness approaching," the she-cat repeated after the tom. "What does it mean?"

"Only time will tell, Briarspots," the tom murmured. "You shall see." 

The two cats remained silent for a while as they stared out across the field from their seat on the hill. Briarspots's gaze redirected to the fallen acorns that had left the shelter of their trees to lay on the ground. Squirrels had come to feast on them as the winds slowed and cats crept up on their prey. Briarspots looked from the acorns to the trees as she tried to figure out what the gray tom had told her.

"You better be going," the gray tom meowed, staying seated as he spoke. "The sun will be fully awake soon."

Briarspots nodded and got to her paws. She cast a look at the gray tom whose green eyes finally turned to meet hers. "Should I tell Spiderstar what you've told me?"

The tom simply replied with speech. "That is up to you. All I can do is deliver messages to your Clans as I sit upon this hill." He pressed his claws into the earth below them before turning back to watch over the field. 

Briarspots nodded. "Thank you, Mintfeather," she mewed as the peaceful scene around her began to fade.