"So let me get this straight," I asked Brambleclaw. "You had some dream about a cat from this StarClan or whatever you called it, and they told you what?" Me and Brambleclaw, the new leader of this group named ThunderClan, were discussing some distant dream he had a moon or so ago. Apparently, by the way he acted, it was pretty important. There were three other clans in the forest: ShadowClan, WindClan, and StreamClan, or something to that effect. They all hunted in their own territory. Kittens and older cats were cared for by their warriors and the apprentices. They were all healed by the Clan healer, or the medicine cat, which also sometimes had an apprentice. There was a fifth and special Clan called StarClan, where all the dead cats go, and on occasions like this, give out mysterious prophecies. The warrior code told of all this and more, which helped all the cats of the Clans be loyal and fair. Battles were fought over food and shelter, and the only time they met in peace was at the full moon, on the gathering island. Brambleclaw said the Clans once lived in another forest, but he wasn't going to explain that to me right now. What he was going to explain to me was that there was just a Great Battle, where the Clans, including dead Clan members, who somehow battled against real flesh-and-bone cats, fought against the Dark Forest, where the bad cats go. They had somehow managed to train cats in their own dreams and tried to make them turn against their own Clans. I had arrived through the tunnel into the camp, the heart of ThunderClan, just as it ended by the great leader Firestar killing the evil Tigerstar. Firestar, sad as it was, was killed by lightning, after his Clan name, ThunderClan.

Or something like that.

Even though I didn't really think of all this "important", Brambleclaw insisted I knew it was, or else the Clan would not accept me.

Right now, I was in the leaders' den discussing the prophecy Brambleclaw received. "On this occasion, I had not told Firestar, who was the previous leader of Thunderclan before he died, that I had had a dream. Rarely do non-medicine cats receive dreams or prophecies from StarClan."

I thought about this for a while. "So what was this dream from StarClan about?"

A yowl sounded behind me.

"Sorry I have got to go and help the clan recover. Stay here and rest," Brambleclaw glanced down at my wrapped paw. "And go and see the medicine cat Jayfeather, he is that blue-gray tabby," He pointed with his tail to a blue tabby weaving among the injured cats. Brambleclaw gave me a shrug and pelted away, leaving me alone.

I sighed. "Well, I'd better go and see this medicine cat." I padded into the crowded clearing.

So it turns out that this Healer cat turns out to be blind. It really creeped me outs when I first saw him.

After a long and awkward silence, I slowly meowed, "Umm.. So you are a medicine cat...?" I gulped as his sightless blue eyes studied me.

Jayfeather didn't answer.

I figured I was being accepted, being a non-clan cat and all because the clan still seems to be getting over the death of this 'Firestar' character (these cats seem pretty sensitive to my type). Brambleclaw seemed fairly nice, so I padded over to him. "I'll be leaving now I suppose." I meowed slowly.

"Why don't you stay the night? I don't want you wandering over any other clan borders."

"Why not?"

"ThunderClan is the only clan that will take in rogues or kittypets for a few nights."

"What is a kittypet or a rogue?"

"Go to Jayfeather's den and get some sleep." Brambleclaw seemed like he wouldn't argue. I didn't protest, but I got the creeps when I thought about sleeping in the same room as that medicine cat. But my paws felt like they were going to drop off.

As I entered the Healer cat's den it was empty. Probably healing some of those cats. All of the cats he had met seemed very tired or gloomy. As my eyes adjusted to the gloomy light, I saw a little patch of moss that Jayfeather had made me sit down in. Many other injured cats were dozing on the moss beds too. A big flurry of scents hit me. The bed of moss was nice, I thought. I circled around many times, then finally let the massive black paw of sleep grab me and pull me under.

I woke to see dawn light filtering through the medicine cat's den, and Jayfeather muttering under his breath while mixing his herbs. Most of the cats around me were still snoring loudly, but a couple were awake. Creeping a little closer, I tried to make out what the blind cat was saying.

"...stupid prophecies always come at the worst times..." He stopped mixing and meowed loudly, "I know you're there Curl; just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm stupid." I ducked my head in embarrassment. I crawled a little closer to him.

"So what's it like? Being blind, I mean."

Jayfeather didn't answer my question immediately, but queried, "Brambleclaw told you about the prophecy, didn't he?" A tricky switch of subjects.

I hesitated. "He told me about it, but not what it said." Suddenly Jayfeather looked up at me, his blind and sightless blue eyes staring straight into mine. "Then it is not time yet." He told me. "Brambleclaw will tell you when the time is right." I backed out of the den, still shivering from the sightless cat. Something about him...

"Hey! You over there!" I turned to see a white she-cat with orange patches. I shied away at the sight of her face. One side of it was completely torn away, revealing soft pink flesh. No eye was to be found. First the creepy blind medicine cat, the a one-sided faced she-cat? What kind of Clan was this? But the cat looked sympathetic, and meowed "Oh, sorry, my friend and I were mauled by a pack of huge and giant bloodthirsty dogs but they're not here anymore. My name is Brightheart. What's yours?"

"Curl," I told her slowly.

Her eyes lit up in amusement as she stared at my curled ears. "And I see why they named you that! Did anyone else in your family have those ears?"

By now, I was starting to recover from the initial shock and answered her question. "Yes, my brother had them, but not my sister. She. . . . She died in a fire. With my mother." I lowered my head in grief, and Brightheart did the same.

Brightheart still looked curious. "We don't get your type of visitors usually. What happened to your brother and father? I thought that they would be with you." She narrowed her eyes. "Or did they. . . ."

"Yes," I meowed. "They died. . . . Well let's just say it was a bit windy when they died."

By now, a small crowd of cats had gathered around me.

"Where are you from?"

"What is your name?"

"What Clan are you from?"

I tried to answer their questions, but it was starting to overwhelm me. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" The words of Brambleclaw sent the rest of ThunderClan flowing out of their dens, abandoning their hard work on the rebuild of the camp. Once all the cats had settled below the Highledge, which was a ledge that jutted out from the leaders' den, Brambleclaw began to speak.

"As you know, last night there was a great battle between the Dark Forest and the Clans. The Clans, we won!" His words were greeted by cheers of happiness and victory. "But that is the end of the good news. The Dark Forest has left devastating effects on all the Clans and they may come back again. To prevent this, we must now be prepared for battle at all times, day and night. Jayfeather," Brambleclaw whipped his dark head toward the crowd and his eyes focused on a cat.

"Yes?"

"I know you won't like it Jayfeather, but you will need to take on an apprentice. We will need all the help we can get from the medicine cats." I peered over the cats to see Jayfeather nodding his head, eyes narrowed in concentration. "I will be going to the Moonpool to receive my nine lives tonight, with Squirrelflight and Lionblaze." The two cats nodded in agreement.

"One last thing," Brambleclaw meowed. "A loner has strayed into our territory, and we have taken him in. He will be staying in my den until I decide if he can join the Clan. That will be all up to you though," he added looking at me. "We will need all the help we can, so I won't turn down the opportunity for more warriors. I would like to now speak with Curl in my den privately please." Brambleclaw stalked towards his den. I followed.

"Curl, I need to tell you what the prophecy said, whether you think it's true or not. Thunderstar, the founder of ThunderClan, told me, 'Battles will rage, cats will die, but in the end curled silence will rise. I think that means. . . . I think he means that you will have to save the Clans.