Lost Stars

Prologue

From a vast indigo sky, a warrior of StarClan gazed down at the lake and the Clan territories clustered around it. A half-moon floated in the darkness, its light turning the surface of the water to silver and glittering on the snow-covered land. The branches of the trees dipped gently under their weight of snow.

The starry warrior spotted movement at the edge of the trees where forest gave way to the steep slopes of the moor. Two tiny figures toiled upward, their shapes dark against the icy brightness. In the lead was a brown tom with white splotches, while close behind him a smaller tom, a gray tabby with darker stripes, was struggling to make headway, his belly fur brushing the snow. They were both unaware of being observed.

“Puddleshine,” the StarClan warrior murmured, recognizing the ShadowClan medicine cat. “And there’s his apprentice, Shadowpaw. They must be on their way to the Moonpool for the half-moon meeting.”

The spirit cat focused an intense gaze on the tabby apprentice, nodding appreciatively at his determination to keep up with his mentor, and at how his eyes shone with anticipation at the coming meeting, when he would share dreams with StarClan.

“There is no cat like you in all the five Clans, Shadowpaw,” the warrior continued. “Now great events are coming, and the Clans will experience far-reaching changes. And you, young apprentice—you will have an important part to play.”

The StarClan spirit went on watching as the two medicine cats trudged on up the moorland slope, their figures slowly dwindling into the distance until they crossed the crest of the hill and vanished.

“Yes.” The word was breathed out on a sigh of satisfaction. “Shadowpaw, your name will be remembered for as long as the Clans survive.”