Chapter 1

Briarleaf's ears pricked. The hunting patrol was just returning. Finally, she thought. She had been out collecting herbs all morning and was starving.
Selecting a shrew from the pile, Briarleaf returned to her den for some peace and quiet to eat. Most cats would want to sit in the clearing, sharing tongues with their clanmates, but Briarleaf did not enjoy talking to her clanmates as other cats would. Briarleaf hung her head as an image popped into her head. No, she thought.  Stardust is gone now. Briarleaf sadly took a bite of her shrew as she remembered her friend.

It was five moons after Stardust's death and Briarleaf was still not over it. Stardust had died in an accident climbing trees. Briarleaf shook with grief as she remembered it. Stardust lay in her den, unmoving, while Briarleaf prayed to StarClan that she was okay. She died the next day, and Briarleaf had sat vigil all night, the last of her energy sucked out of her.

Stardust was not a Clanborn cat. Her mother was a rogue named Emily, who brought her to the clan as a kit. She had slept in the nursery beside Briarleaf. She had become an apprentice with Briarleaf. She had become a warrior and Briarleaf had never left her side. And she was gone now. All gone. Briarleaf tore up her shrew with her teeth. I'll never have another best friend, she thought. Not after Stardust.

Suddenly, a head poked into her den. It was Shalepaw, the apprentice who was an exeptionally good hunter. Brairleaf had seen him while out collecting herbs.

Shalepaw limped into the den. "I have a thorn in my pad," he groaned. Briarleaf padded over to him.

"Let me have a look at it," she mewed quietly.

Carefully concentrating, Briarleaf puled out the throrn and gave him a marigold pulp to treat it.

"Thanks," he said happily and ran off with a slight bounce in his step. Briarleaf felt a slow smile creeping onto her face at the sight of the small apprentice in so much joy.

********



"Stardust!" Briarleaf called. "Stardust, are you here?" A black cat stepped out of the shadows.

"Stardust!" Briarleaf cried happily. She ran up to her friend and pressed her muzzle into her flank. "I missed you so much!" Stardust purred at the sight of her friend. Then her face turned serious.

"Briarleaf," she mewed. "Great danger is coming to the forest." Briarleaf stared back at her in shock.

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

"StarClan have sensed an evil lurking in the presence of the clans," Stardust whispered. Her voice was getting fainter and it seemed she was getting farther and farther away from Briarleaf.

"Wait!" Briarleaf cried. "You have to tell me what you mean!" Stardust faded away into the stars but her voice still rang in her ears.

"Beware, Briarleaf. Danger will come in the face of the sun's cloud."