Bloodflower

Prologue

A soft breeze created ripples in the small, clear pool at the center of the little clearing. The clumps of ferns shivered at the gust, the soft murmur seeming to echo in the eerie silence. But one bush was trembling much more visibly than the rest, and it parted to reveal a massive golden cat, his plumed tail swaying rhythmically as if it too was moved by the wind.

The cat trotted silently to the pool, crouching beside it and wrapping his tail neatly around his paws. His strikingly blue eyes gazed intently into the water.

His ear swiveled to catch the loud rustling of another approaching cat. He didn't have to look; the familiar scent of the newcomer wafted over him, and he flicked his tail in greeting.

"Hello, Willowstar," the golden tom meowed.

Willowstar stalked over to settle beside him. "Greetings," she replied.

Glancing sideways at her companion, she noticed his shape was even fainter than yesterday. She could see straight through his glittering pelt to the trees and undergrowth on his other side.

"You are becoming nothing more than a shadow, Sunstar," she murmured sadly. "All of StarClan will miss you greatly when you are gone forever."

Sunstar heaved a sigh. "I have watched over my Clan, and the other three, for more seasons than any cat can count. Perhaps it is good for me to finally fade; even in StarClan I feel old and frail."

"You must not speak like that!" Willowstar mewed in astonishment. "No cat can deny that you have lived in StarClan for such a long time. But you cannot just give up and let yourself fade. SunClan still needs their very first leader to watch over them."

"SunClan has hundreds more ancestors to guide their pawsteps," Sunstar rumbled calmly. "I can trust them to keep my cats safe for all the moons to come."

"Oh, Sunstar." Willowstar pressed herself to her old friend's flank, feeling his fur brush hers despite it being nearly invisible. "Your loyalty to your Clan has not faltered at all, even after all this time. You have the heart of a true warrior."

Sunstar rasped his tongue over Willowstar's ear in a friendly gesture. "As do you," he meowed. "You may not have been your Clan's first leader, but no cat could ever question your loyalty to MoonClan."

"Thank you," the pale gray she-cat responded, dipping her head humbly. "It is an honor to have known you in StarClan. I only wish Moonstar had stayed long enough for me to meet her. I have heard of how noble she was."

"Moonstar was indeed a great leader," Sunstar murmured, his eyes clouding with memories. "I still remember her, to this day. It was a sad day when she faded at last."

"And it will be a sad day when you fade away too," Willowstar replied.

"It happens to every spirit eventually. As the cat's name and deeds become fainter, so does the cat itself. But I am not offended that SunClan has forgotten me. It is only—"

Suddenly the golden tom sprang to his paws, his fur bristling and his eyes fixed on the water. Willowstar remained still and silent, knowing he was seeing the future for his Clan and that she should not interfere with the vision. Yet her pelt prickled like ants were crawling through it as she waited for Sunstar to come out of his trance.

"No, no..." he whispered hoarsely, his eyes like two blue moons. Willowstar could just barely hear him, and fear dropped like a cold stone in her belly.

But suddenly the old leader's stiff body relaxed, and he blinked slowly. "I see..."

"Sunstar?" Willowstar meowed hesitantly. "What have you foreseen?"

"There shall be great danger soon, and my Clan will have to face it," Sunstar growled. "But I have seen the future of one cat, young but undyingly loyal to SunClan all the same. It is this cat's destiny to save the Clan from the coming peril."

Straightening up determinedly, he padded toward the fern bush he had pushed through to enter the clearing before.

"I have one last duty to perform before I leave StarClan. One last message to pass on to the living SunClan, so that they are prepared for the danger that approaches."

Willowstar watched as he slipped through the ferns without making a sound, and the shadows of the forest beyond swallowed him up.