Frostbite

 F rostbite

 B lade O f H ope

Prologue: Screen

From within the howling grasp of leaf-bare came an eerie, plaintive cry over the winds rampaging through the cave. Wind and snow swirled about in the dip between the mountains. The trees were coated with snow, creating a bleak, forbidding atmosphere. The cries of broken birds echoed between the stones as they plummeted over the mountains' cliffs to their doom in the deep valleys below. The snow kept falling, an endless whisper of white that blotted out the land in its entirety.

It was the loneliest thing I've ever encountered.

Three cats stood at the mouth of the cave, squinting against the blizzard and trying to see what was beyond their line of sight. They knew it was futile, but they had to try. It was their duty, as loyal members of FrostClan, to try. After all, if they failed, the rest of the Clan would quickly fall prey to the frost monsters. That was the one thing that Spiralstar could not condone.

Failing as a blizzard guard was punishable by death. In fact, that was the only punishment given out to those who were assigned to the blizzard watch and failed in even the slightest way.