Gaining Height - WARRIOR CATS

Prologue

Prologue

Falconstar's tail twitched to and fro as he stood over the starlit pool. Beside him, Cometstar and Aquastar watched the water, eyes narrowed with concentration. After several more heartbeats, Falconstar let out a sigh.

"We have to do something."

Cometstar let out a low throated growl as she turned her sharp green gaze to stare into Falconstar's heart. She had always been the first one to be provoked out of the three of them, but she had also been the one to defend the other clans from rogues.

"The poison is spreading from within. So many cats have joined our ranks, all far " Cometstar spat, slashing one starry black paw through the pool. "And the clans will die altogether if it can't be stopped. We will die."

Falconstar knew it was true; the clans were changing, becoming more ravenous, more bloodthirsty, more and more distant from them. When he had been young, he had always dreamed of the day that he would take flight and be a warrior of his clan. Now cats took their lives for granted, fighting out their boredom, killing other warriors. He even remembered hearing of a kit that had been murdered by a clan deputy.

"We should never have let them grow apart from us and their ways," Aquastar mewed softly. The large, sleek white tom shuffled his massive paws. "It will be their end. And the end of us, their warrior ancestors."

Cometstar nodded in grudging agreement, and for the first time, Falconstar thought he saw the stars in her fur flicker, their light briefly dimming. He fluffed out his pelt against the chill that now seemed to be probing StarClan's grounds, trying to remain calm. Some great hero who survived the Long Cold, he chastised himself. These restful moons have turned you as naive as a kit.

"There is one solution."

Falconstar straightened as he saw a voice boom from somewhere around him. He looked around, but saw only the outlines of trees in StarClan's hunting grounds. Cometstar and Aquastar looked around, equally bewildered.

Then, the three of them turned to the pool. A faint image of a face came across it. Ripples in the water forming a face and whiskers. He let out a gasp, remembering the shape from his early days as a kit, this cat watching him, Cometstar, and Aquastar fondly.

"Great Mother?"

Cometstar and Aquastar looked at each other in bewilderment, but both of them glanced down at the shape once more, ears twitching in awe. The cat in the pool blinked at each of the former clan leaders fondly in turn.

"Come with me, my kits," she murmured, and around him, Falconstar felt the world shift.

A sudden cold sent a shiver straight into the heart of Falconstar. He looked around, trying to figure out where he had been transported to. Aquastar and Cometstar were still beside him, but all three of them were on a snow-covered cliff.

A small white cat was beside them, her fur glowing so much that Falconstar wouldn't have been sure what colour she truly was, if not for him growing up right beside this cat. She turned to him, and gestured silently for him to watch what was going on in the valley below.

Cometstar let out a screech of fury as she watched the scene, and gradually, Falconstar allowed his gaze to travel to whatever Great Mother wanted to show him. His jaw hinged open, and he could hardly suppress his fury.

Cats were locked in battle on a snow-covered plane, claws unsheathed, teeth bared in horrendous snarls. Even from here, the smell of blood and unnecessary cruelty was evident.

"This is AquaClan and CometClan," Great Mother mewed. "The clans you formed after the Long Chill left the original clans gone."

"And they will be gone too if they keep going like this," Aquastar mewed softly.

Falconstar narrowed his eyes, and sure enough, he could see the super-speed that gave CometClan cats their mark. They zigzagged and twisted, giving horrendous gashes to the AquaClan cats with less thick pelts.

Two cats were locked in battle. A silver tom, and a black she-cat. They matched one another, blow for blow, until the black she-cat caught the ginger tom on the neck. He crumpled to the ground, motionless.

"No," Aquastar breathed. "Silverhaze... he was supposed to be the cat that would stop this cruelty. Now Streamstar will only pick a more fierce deputy so that they don't die in the next battle..."

Falconstar felt his brother's grief and horror as though it were his own. He had known how much time Aquastar had spent with that cat, desperately trying to build him up, make him believe in StarClan, show him the right way to lead... The hero they had chosen was gone.

Cometstar whirled around on Great Mother. "Why did you show us this if the hero was going to die?!" She spat. "Now we're for sure doomed."

Great Mother turned away, and Falconstar realised how faded she was. She shook her head in sadness. "There is only one more way," she mewed.

Falconstar saw exactly what she meant, although his other two littermates enchanted glances of bewilderment. He couldn't help but shake his dark ginger head in disbelief.

"Her?" He muttered. "We can't, Great Mother. You know the cost-"

Great Mother cut him off with a slight raise of her tail. She shook her head. "We must," she mewed. "And we must hope it is enough to save us all."

"We won't be able to contact her," Falconstar reasoned. "Even if we deliver the message to the Medicine cat, we," he shivered in desperation. "We don't even know what this future path leads to."

"What path?" Cometstar padded up to Falconstar.

Great Mother eyed her warningly. "Only those with your brother's heart know what is happening. I fear it would break others just to even know."

Falconstar was shaking his head, and yet, he knew it was the only answer. She would have to be enough. They wouldn't be able to know what would happen, they wouldn't be able to control what could happen; they could only hope.

"So we tell the Medicine Cat?" he asked.

Great Mother nodded solemnly. "And we hope that it is enough. We can only hope that the clans survive. It is up to her to decide what happens next."