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| - I stared blankly ahead. Earthpaw was next to me, her thistle coloured eyes shining with fear. It was moonrise, and Silverpelt's stars glared down at me, offerin no help, no advice. 'What did you see, Earthpaw?' Waterpaw hissed. Earthpaw'd woken all of us up and said she needed to tell us something. 'It wasn't the future, was it?' I asked gently. Earthpaw shook her head. Airpaw twitched her ears. 'I saw something much worse,' Earthpaw whispered. She looked so scared, it was haunting. 'Deathstar. He was there, leaning over me....' She paused for effect. 'He said that he was coming......and by sunhigh one of the closest cats to me would be killed....' Earthpaw looked around at us, her large eyes troubled. Hearing this, Airpaw stiffened. I looked at her. 'What?' we all asked her. 'I know what it is,' she mewed. 'I know what's going to happen.' In the moonlight, her pelt was bathed in a shadowy white glow. She looked like a StarClan cat. She gazed at each one of us. 'At sunrise DarkClan's coming. They're coming to destroy StormClan.' 'Warn Featherstar,' I said instinctively. 'We must be prepared. I'll go.' And I bounded towards the leader's den. My thoughts were a whirlwind. I was scared for the future. This is your destiny..... 'Featherstar?' I called, poking my head into his den. 'Featherstar, are you there?' I looked round. Nothing. His nest was there, flattened slightly. He had slept, I knew that. But where was he? I scented the air delicatly. There was Featherstar's scent...mixed with something else. Something earthy, like honeysuckle. I sniffed again. I recognized the scent but I couldn't quite pinpoint who it was. I padded round to the back of the den. There was the passage me and Airpaw had discovered before. The leaves covering it had been shuffled slightly; they were scattered round the small entrance. 'Someone's come here,' I thought aloud. 'Someone's come and took Featherstar.' And in the heat of the night, I wriggled down the tunnel, following the scent. It was dark, dank in the passage. I remembered the last time I'd come here with Airpaw, and found Lonscar dead at the end. I wrinkled my nose at the thought and ran onwards. I muffled a scream when my foot landed on something squelchy. Just mud, I told myself. Just mud. But when I looked down at my paws, they were covered in something red. In this shallow dip on the tunnel floor, there was a pool of blood. Someone had bled down here. I looked ahead. In the dim light I could see a trail of dark red drops along the floor of dead leaves. Featherstar! He must've been taken down here in the middle of the night. Someone had hurt him. Suddenly, the strange scent in Featherstar's cave came back to me. I knew who had done this. Although he had taken up the identity of another cat, his scent hadn't changed. It was Echo. I dashed along the tunnel, my heart racing like the rhythum of my paws. Boom-boom. Boom-boom. I knew where Echo would take Featherstar. DarkClan. To Deathstar. I blinked as I re-entered the dark night, and adjusted my eyes. The sun was just above the horizon, the first of its silky rays fingering the forest. I had to be quick. I had a horrible feeling that something bad would happen to be leader. I sprinted like a mad hare to DarkClan camp. The tall bushes railed around the place like a massive twoleg thing, stopping me from getting in. I felt my way to the opening to the clearing, keeping close to the bushes. And then I ran in, screeching a cry at the top of my voice, wanting to wake everyone up. Unfortunatly, as soon as I entered, everyone was already up and ready. Deathstar stood on top of a boulder, looking every bit the evil leader. Next to him stood Feathstar, guarded by Echo (in Longscar's body) and Redpoison, looking upset. I felt sorry for Waterpaw's mother. It wasn't her fault she had been put through all of this. Deathstar smirked as I walked in. 'Just one of you?' he asked dismissively. 'Here to rescue your leader?' I kept my mouth shut and stayed still. Suddenly I heard the punding of paws behind me. I looked round. There was the whole of StormClan: Tornclaw, Snowstripe, Thunderblaze, Bluegaze, Ivyfleet, Lionstripe, Summerpaw, Spiderpaw, Icepaw, Secretwish, Vanillafrost. Appleblossom, Darkfoot, Waterpaw, Earthpaw, Airpaw......... Waterpaw waved cheerily at me with a kink of his tail. 'Thought we'd support you, Firepaw!' he yelled. 'Thanks to me and my power, (Here the Clan snorted. I gritted my teeth. They didn't know we were special) we came to help!' StormClan let out a bloodcurdling yowl, louder than mine just moments ago. Redpoison and Featherstar attempted to leap of the rock and join us, but were stopped by Deathstar's tail. 'You're staying with me.' He snarled, glaring at both of them. 'Never!' Redpoison howled, leaping over him. I was astonished. Redpoison had something in her, supporting us! She raced across to our Clan, Summerpaw and Waterpaw's eyes shining with delight, Bluegaze flicking her ear in approval. Suddenly, time stood still. There was StormClan, rejoicing in out moment of glory. Then, in what seemed like slow motion, Deathstar sprang off his boulder, landing right next to Redpoison. The onlookers gasped as Deathstar pinned Redpoison down with one paw. 'You 'ain't going anywhere,' he mewed, his voice silky smooth but edged with threat. 'Get back over here.' 'No,' Redpoison stuttered. 'No, don't touch them! Let me go.' Her eyes glared back at him, looking stronger than I had ever seen her before. 'Don't try,' Deathstar spat. He raised a paw, ready for the killing blow. Everything stopped. Waterpaw and Summerpaw screamed. Airpaw buried her face into my side. 'Can't look,' she whimpered. And Deathstar struck his mate with a blow, right down her throat, Blood seeped over her matted pelt like a river. Featherstar took his chance and ran over to StormClan. He looked scared, and he had long scratches down his side from Echo. Redpoison let out a cry of pain and her body jerked violently. I watched, grimacing. This was horrible. To this day, it has been one of the worst moments of my life. Watching someone being drained of life, watching someone die is cruel. It's like staring at a flower wilting right in front of you. Everyone was silent as Redpoison stopped jerking. She lay still. She would never see Tomorrow. 'No,' Waterpaw whispered. 'No, no. Not mother....' And then the sun rose above the rolling hills, red with the blood spilled today. 'The fight's begun.' Deathstar smiled.
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