Ice and Snow

Prologue
The silence in the camp was broken by the pounding of paws as the warriors burst into camp. “Flamestar! ThistleClan ambushed us at the border.” Tigerfoot, who was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, stepped forward. “There were too many of them for us to fight off. ThistleClan has taken more of our territory."

“What if they take all of our territory?” Cherrycloud wailed. “Will we have to leave?”

“They won’t take our territory,” Freezewhisker reassured her, resting his tail on her shoulder. “We’ll be ready next time.” Flamestar nodded. “We’ll send more warriors on the next patrols. Oceanbreeze,” he turned to the medicine cat. “Come with me.” He led the way out of camp until they came to a stop in a moonlit clearing. “Oceanbreeze,” he began, “This battle... It’s been going on for moons now, and I’m beginning to wonder when it will end.

“It will,” Oceanbreeze promised. “GoldenClan is watching over us.” As he spoke, the moon seemed to shine brighter. Flamestar looked up at the moon.

“You’re right, of course,” he sighed. “But sometimes—”

Flamestar never finished his sentence, because at that moment, a dark cloud passed over the moon, darkening the forest and bringing with it a sharp chill. A flake of snow drifted across the clearing and settled on Flamestar’s shoulder, and with that snowflake, more followed. An icy wind sent the snowflake flying again, and before he knew it, a heavy snowstorm was upon them, and the cloud was gone.

“It’s a sign,” Oceanbreeze murmured. “A dark cloud obscuring even GoldenClan... This isn’t going to end well.

“But the wind,” Flamestar protested. “The wind blew the cloud away!” “It did,” he agreed, “But we can be sure that there will be many deaths.” He bowed his head. “Only wind can save us from the coming storm. GoldenClan help us all.”

To be continued...