Shade and Shadow

=== Prolouge=== A pale silver she-cat, her fur striking against the dark muddy ground, lay on her side under the boughs of a pine tree. Her golden eyes were large and pleading as she stared desperately up at the elderly she-cat standing over her.

"Please," she whispered. "See that they get to the clans." She nuzzled the three tiny bundles at her side. Only one of them, the smallest tom, stirred, his little pink mouth opening wide as he breathed in his mother's scent. It was his last glimpse of her, for her neck fell back and her breathing ceased then.

The old she-cat set her jaw, her eyes grim and determined. "I will. If it kills me, I promise you I will get them to the clans."