Warriors: Blinded By Stardom

PROLOGUE

The half moon's lumination cast a pale glow on the wide stretch of the grassy heath. The cold winter wind blew through the hills. Two cats chased the breeze, their sides heaving as they cut through the heather. The taller cat, an old, skinny black tom halted and stared back at the shrouded forest long behind them. The second, a younger yellow tabby tom came to a stop as well, and gazed at the other, his light fur turned silver by moonlight.

"What is it, Nightstalk?" The yellow tom asked anxiously, fumbling on his paws and gazing at the sky. The moon was higher than it was before. Nightstalk's eyes glowed a dim green as he peered into the darkness, but when the other squinted into the dark, he saw nothing there. Nightstalk eventually shook himself from his trance. He turned to the other, disappointment in his eyes.

"Nothing, Toadflax." He snapped finally, shaking his head. "It was just a will-o-wisp. I was making sure. Let's keep running before we're late." Without another word, the slender black tom bounded off into the undergrowth, and Toadflax followed, casting a last glance toward the swamp before following Nightstalk through the fields.

Pressing through a bracken thicket, the two cats emerged and slid out into a clearing. A towering mountain could be seen not too far ahead in the distance, and dancing green snakelights stretched from there to its peak, casting a green glow on the forest. Toadflax stopped and watched in awe, and Nightstalk merely looked up at the lights with a worried glance. Snakelights only appeared during important events. Reluctantly, he padded on ahead. He met two other cats sitting there, looking rather impatient. One of them, an old silver tabby tom with bold stripes swished his tail in irritation. "It's hard to believe you're not even the latest of the bunch, Nightstalk." He grumbled crossly.

"Charmed to see you too, Creekstripe." Nightstalk mewed sarcastically in response, sitting down and giving his aching paws a wash. He picked a sprig of heather from his pad and spat it out into the shrubbery, mumbling. "I'm sure the Mountainclan cats will be here soon. It must be a hassle traveling down that old lump of rock anyway."

The other medicine cat, a tortoiseshell she-cat with a pink nose and white muzzle snorted, settling stubbornly in the heather. "How hard can it possibly be to travel down a mountain?" She grumbled. Toadflax, snapping from his starstruck state, padded away from the dazzling snakelights and joined the rest of the medicine cats, his eyes glowing with wonder.

"This is only the second time I've ever seen Snakelights!" He remarked happily, sitting down and curling his tail over his paws. As Nightstalk gave his old apprentice a warm, fond glance, the others stared blankly at him. Finally, the tortoiseshell cat heaved herself up and kicked her hind leg against her ear in a scratch. "I wish I had your enthusiasm, Toadflax." She grunted half-heartedly, sitting up and swishing her tufted tail across the dusty earth.

A rustling in the undergrowth made all the medicine cats' heads turn. From the shrubbery, out slipped a lithe white tom, a small tabby she-cat tumbling shyly after him. "Finally!" Creekstripe exclaimed as he rose to his paws. "It took you two long enough."

"Creekstripe." The white tom greeted unenthusiastically as he pushed impatiently through the rest of the cats, his apprentice scrambling at his heels. He brushed harshly past the tortoiseshell she-cat, who turned after him, her hackles bristling. "Who made dirt in your fresh bedding?" She spat.

"Now's not the time to get upset, Yarrowtail." The white tom responded curtly without looking back. "We must get to the Moonpool as soon as possible. There are important matters to discuss. There is a kit in our clan, experiencing future-based visions, and we must know what this means." He whisked his apprentice to the front of the group, and she stood there, shifting awkwardly on her paws.

The white tom slipped inside, and the others followed. Toadflax pressed close to his old mentor, who's black pelt melded with the dark and turned him invisible. Behind them, the other medicine cats were discreetly murmuring to each other. "Can you believe Tallsummit?" Creekstripe's irritated mew was the first to be recognized.