Summary & Chapters Summary: The four clans around the lake now live in peace, with an acception of SkyClan, who still lives in the gorge. What would happen if a sixth clan was hiding in the midst?
Chapters:
Chapter 1 {The Strange Meeting}
Chapter 1[]
The moonlight shone faintly in the night, mistily shining onto Tiger's fur. The small cream tabby she-cat padded along the grassy, shining path. She had no idea why she was here, but she had a bad feeling. She tried to convince herself that it was just a bad dream. A large shape weaved through the grass blindlessly, lean and lithe. Two more shapes-- no, three-- followed closly behind. They disappeared behind the bushes, their scents of confusement drifting away. The only thing Tiger could do was follow them; it was in her nature. Tiger here was a rogue.
She followed the smell, coming to an open clearing with cats who all had different scents. One was a ginger tabby she-cat, and the one next to her was a dark brown tabby tom. There was a grey tom, and a silver tabby she-cat. There was a tortiseshell she-cat, and a lithe dark gray tom.
"Crowfeather? Stormfur? Tawnypelt? What's going on?" The ginger tabby stammered as she gazed around the cats, first the dark gray, then the gray, and then tortiseshell. The first cat to stand up was a silver tabby she-cat.
"Feathertail! What are you doing here?" The gray cat bounded to his sister, touching noses with her. The rest of the cats watched in astonishment as they reunited with each other. But Tiger was still really confused.
Suddenly, the celebration stopped. Every cat stared at the bracken Tiger was hiding in.
No one stirred until Crowfeather leaped at her. He hooked his claws into her pelt in furiosity. They could obviouly tell she was a rogue. Tiger shook him off, challenging the other cats.
"I don't know why I'm here..." She whispered as she all caught their attention. "I was just minding my own buisness until I fell asleep and I ended up here..."
"Maybe StarClan wants to reunite the cats who made the journey to the sun-drown place... but for what purpose?" The dark brown tabby, Bramblestar, got to his paws. "And if it is another prophecy about the sun-drown place, what about my clan? I am leader after all... and if my deputy's coming with me--"
He was cut off by the ginger tabby, Squirrelflight. "Don't worry, we'll put Graystripe in charge if that ever happens. He has expeariance." Squirrelflight rested her tail on Bramblestar's shoulder. "Don't worry Bramblestar; it'll be fine."
"But this cat wasn't one of the cats who made the journey!" Stormfur reminded them, flicking his tail toward the strange cat. Every cat nodded, staring at the small cream tabby. Tiger glanced around wildly, unsure about what to do. The tabby decided to act nice so they wouldn't attack her.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tiger, nice to meet you." Tiger smiled back at them. She was trying so hard to get their trust. After all, she didn't know them, and their time together was short.
Bramblestar's fur bristled at the sound of "Tiger", but his fur lie flat and greeted the rogue. "I am Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan, and this is Squirrelflight, my deputy, and my mate." Tiger saw Squirrelflight smile as her name was mentioned.
"I'm Stormfur, and this is Feathertail, my sister." The gray cat meowed, flicking his tail to the silver tabby she-cat. Feathertail nodded back in greeting.
"I'm Crowfeather," The dark gray tom meowed in greeting, while the tortiseshell stepped forward.
"And I'm Tawnypelt, Bramblestar's si-" The tortiseshell named Tawnypelt was cut off by a faint sound of water trickling down into a pool. Curious but cautious, the cats, even Tiger, padded side by side until they reached a pool of sparkling water.
"The Moonpool! We're dreaming, but we are not in StarClan's hunting grounds..." Tawnypelt sounded puzzled at the pool of water, but Feathertail pushed everyone aside and crouched at the edge of the water, lapping at the cold, refreshing pool.
The others slowly joined her, and the last ones to drink the water was Tiger of course. The cream tabby she-cat causiously bent down her flat face. Her tongue shot out from her mouth, gulping down laps of water.
Suddenly, the small tabby was plundged out of the dream world.
Chapter 2[]
Tiger yowled herself awake, her flanks heaving. She had no idea what had just happened, and who she had just met. Just then, words of a cat rang in her ears: "Follow the biggest star in the sky at night."
The cream tabby she-cat sighed, licking her ruffled belly fur. She stretched her legs and flexed her claws, lightly pulling her mucles. Tiger rose to her aching paws and peeked out of the split entrance of the tree she usally slept in. She flinched, blinking at the bright sun. On heavy paws, Tiger bounded down the slope and to the river.
The gentle flow of the river made everything peaceful. The water was cold and fresh, and it felt good on Tiger's tongue, and she purred as it slithered down her throat. Her paws skidded on the slippery pebbles on the bank. Claws of frustration swiped at her belly as she remembered the weird dream she had.
"What does it mean?" She cursed under her breath as her claws sunk into the muddy dirt. The small she-cat hissed in aggitation as she licked the mud off her unsheathed claws, spitting dried dirt out of her mouth. She lashed her tail, her amber-brown eyes shining in the broad sunlight. With a sleek fluffy pelt, she raced up the slope and climbed the trunk, hooking her claws into the branches and gazing into the sky.
Follow the biggest star in the sky at night... The words echoed in her mind as she enjoyed the soft winds. The flowers swayed and danced to the breeze.
Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the air. Tiger wrinkled her nose in disgust when something horrible wafted through the air. It was the scent of another cat. Claws gripped her flank in an instant. She flinched, growling in pain and irritation. Lashing her tail, she kicked her hind legs until she could feel the cat's grip slipping away.
Seizing the chance to wriggle free, she clawed her way down the trunk, feeling the cat breathing on her neck. Instead of slowly climbing down, she jumped for her life and ran down the slope. She leaped across the river, wadding through the muddy riverbank and to the other side. Quickly shaking mud off of her pelt, she headed down the hills and far away from her tree. Realizing that the cat wasn't behind her anymore, she whipped her head around, gazing back at the tree in horror.
Cats climbed the tree, turning their heads every heartbeat to look into the horizon. One cat yowled as it spotted Tiger slowly inching to the tree. The cats leapt off the tree and raced down the slopes, yowling in raged fury.
Tiger decided it was just the perfect time to flee.
Turning tail and running, Tiger bounded down the sloped hills, hoping to lose the other cats. Gladly, they were behind her, standing at the top of the tree Tiger used to live in. They yowled in triumph at their taking. These cats clearly didn't settle some where like Tiger did.
Growling in annoyance, she bounded sadly down the bumpy hills, surprised to see the big, rocky cliffs of The Highstones. Of course, Tiger had never seen Highstones before, but because she saw a big cave, she wanted to dive toward the chance to find a place to sleep.
She dragged her paws down the rocky slopes, the soft night winds attracting her to the cave. It felt as if the winds were calling her, as if the stars shined brighter than they ever had before. Yawning for sleep, she balanced herself on the prickly rocks until she reached the cave entrance.
The cream tabby she-cat gasped at the shining jewel standing tall in the middle of the cave. "Wow," She breathed, carefully placing each pawstep before the other. "This is... beautiful..." Tiger crept to it's side, prodding the moonstone with her paw. Finding it harmless, she sighed and curled up, snoring softly, her tail twitching.
Chapter 3[]
Tiger blinked her eyes awake, finding herself, yet again, in the small clearing in which she met with the other cats. She looked around, but no one was there. The small rogue scented cats, but they weren't the cats she had met before. The feeling of curiousity overwhelmed her as she sped through the moon-washed trees. Tiger could hear voices on the other side of the bushes. She rustled her way to the other side, seeing two cats curled up next to each other, grooming their ruffled fur. The two cats looked up, smiling back at Tiger.
"Well, you must be Tiger." A ginger tom meowed behind muffled fur. His green eyes glowed at the sight of Tiger. The cat next to him was a blue she-cat.
"I'm Bluestar, and this is Firestar. We've been trying to contact you for moons. CheetahClan is in danger." The blue she-cat smiled, swiping her tongue over her paw. Bluestar sat up, neatly curling her tail around her paws.
"CheetahClan? What's that?" Tiger quietly settled down in front of them.
"You must rebuild CheetahClan, Tiger." Firestar meowed, his eyes locking with Tigers. His glowing green eyes struggled away from Tiger's amber-brown eyes and stared at Bluestar, his ears flicking from side to side, as if saying, I like this cat, but are you sure she's... the right one?
Tiger hissed, as if she read Firestar's mind. She gasped, embarrassly tucking her tail in between her legs.
"Yes, Firestar. You're dismissed, Tiger." Bluestar nodded, leading Firestar into the bracken. Firestar glanced back, warily frowning. Tiger only growled, her paws thudding in the oppisite way. She lashed her tail, closing her eyes and curling up tightly, squeezing her eyes shut.
She was awakened by something prodding her side. Tiger jerked her head up, her neck fur on end and her heart throbbing. Something flashed in front her eyes just then. Tiger was in a den. She saw herself, tucked in a moss-filled nest. The walls were stone hard, and piles of leaves and flowers piled against them. There was another cat in the den. It was a white tom, sitting up in his own nest, his eyes glowing blue. On his head was a hat, and dangling around his neck was a necklace. His tail lashed and his fur jerked up in pain as he struggled not to lick his shoulder.
A rat bite was encarved on his white shoulder, and his fur was matted with red. The wound was flushed and swollen, and chewed, yellow flower petals stuck to it. He rustled in his nest, his eyes gleaming at the sight of something.
Tiger shook her head, gasping at the sudden image. She collected herself and yawned, padding out of the cave on heavy, shaky paws. The sun's head was peeking out over the roofs of twoleg houses, it's golden rays washing the horizion in vague. Pale violet light colored the sky, while golden light shimmied it's way up to it's place.
Tiger leaped, rock to rock, to the top of the hill. Her paws scrabbled helplessly on the falling pebbles as she gripped the side of a boulder. She could the boulder slipping away little by little as she struggled to stay on. With a great leap of pain, she thrust her way to the top of the Highstones, flinching at a loud crash from the bottom of the stones. Tiger only shrugged, treking on in the direction of the calling winds.
The grassy path recollected into a solid, black twoleg road. The road was awfully hot, and it ached to set her paws on it. Tiger decided to follow the twoleg thunderpath to see what lay ahead.