The Dawn of Moonclaws: Moon in the Darkness

'''A/N: Yay, second book! Okay, this one comes after The Rising Fog, so read that one first if you haven't already. Hope you enjoy! :D Oh, and also, Mistybird came up with the name, so she gets the credit :)'''

PROLOGUE
The ginger she-cat streaked along the hard paths, cats following her silently. She narrowed her eyes against the bitter wind, focused on only one thing: getting to the forest. Her daughter would pay for what she had done.

It had started out like such a little thing. Moon had promised to be a worthy leader one day, ruthless and sly. But then she grew rebellious, and stared disobeying orders, evantually going against the ginger cat's will in full view of all her followers.

So the ginger cat had had to teach her a lesson. It had been going well, until she said the wrong thing. Moon was horrified, and blindly attacked one of the rogues, making her get-away while every cat was destracted.

So now, the ginger cat only wanted one thing. Revenge. Cold, merciless revenge. And she would get it. She always got her way.

A scrawny black tom padded nervously up, eyes lowered. "Slash," he began, his mew faltering. "We have picked up your daughter's--"

He got now farther. Cold fire burned in Slash's eyes, and two sharp, gleaming claws scored down his throat. With a moan, he toppled down to the path below. Spinning around, Slash glared at all the other cats, waiting to see a single sign of disrespect.

When she saw none, she straightened, meowing pleasantly, "Can anyone tell me what this lump of dirt--" she kicked the black tom's limp body scornfully, "--did wrong?"

A tiny white cat mewed gingerly, "He called the Traitor your daughter, your ruthlessness."

She nodded, letting her gaze pass over the petrified cats. "Very good. The Traitor is not, nor every was, my daughter." She paused, making sure the message set in, then meowed casually, "What's your name?"

The white cat's eyes widened, and she barely managed to gasp out, "Flake."

"Flake," Slash mused, enjoying the tangent smell of fear in the air. "Continue remembering my rules, and you might just take his place." Without another word, she leapt to her paws and raced off, once more set on reaching her goal.

And she always got her way.

To be continued...