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Sablepaw yawned widely as the tip of the sun rose fast in the East. She sat up groggily and gave her bedraggled pelt a quick washing. Flicking bits of moss and dried bracken out with her tongue, she realized Bearpaw was already out of his nest.

The molly paused, twitching her dark tail-tip, and remembering with a flash of resentment and sadness the way he had spoken to her the previous day.

Continuing to lap at her short chest fur as best she could, Bearpaw's scent filled her nose and she glanced up suspiciously to see him entering the den.

Or maybe skipping would be a better word.

"There are going to be new apprentices!" the brown tomcat announced excitedly. Sablepaw felt anger slowly fill her claws, making them feel white-hot and ready to bat and his ears. How could he act so normal? Sighing inwardly, she sniffed in disdain at his pelt instead. It was speckled with mud, and his paws were dirty, a sign he had trekked a bit somewhere.

Then her brother seemed to deflate, remembering their fight. Better named his fault.

"Where did you go?" she asked sharply, her eyes lighting with even more pronounced suspicion.

"I was just taking a walk," Bearpaw mewed carefully, shuffling his paws. "Then I came back into camp, and there were these two cats. Both about six moons old, both starved. And, they both are toms."

Sablepaw rolled her eyes. "Great, another couple of tomcats in the den. Don't you snore loud enough? Imagine the ruckus the whole camp is going to have to deal with." She was half-joking, but Bearpaw seemed too tentative to her being angry at him to realize it.

"They are in the medicine den right now. But that's not what I came back in for - not the whole reason, anyway." He looked down at his brown paws, shuffling them as he seemed to decide on what to say next. Finally, with a flourish of his tail, he started to speak. "I was dreaming, right? Last night. And then I woke up, in my nest, but in the middle of hills that seem to go on forever."

"Hold up," Sablepaw interrupted. "You woke up?"

"I dreamed that I woke up," Bearpaw meowed, rolling his eyes. The irises were a dark green. Very dark. It reminded Sablepaw of something she just couldn't place. Giving her head a quick shake, she waved her tail at her brother to motion he should go on with the story.

Bearpaw swallowed. "Then this cat, she looked exactly like you, just older, came and started talking to me. She was from StarClan, and her name was Martineye. She said we were her kin. And when I said I would go tell Valleystar about this, she said not to. But I'm going to," he added at Sablepaw's furrowed brow.

Uh-huh, Sablepaw thought sarcastically. And go against a StarClan warrior's wishes? As if. . . .

"Then she told me that she was from another Clan, but she ran away. She was sad and angry." Those words sparked something in Sablepaw. Sad and angry . . . she was feeling that just a few moments ago. "Then she told me to - to talk to you. I said you hated me. Then she was crying because I told her that she was a liar and that I hated her because she didn't want StarClan to help our Clan, and that ValleyClan was supposed to not survive, and that she wanted to have StarClan disappear forever." The words were tumbling out of his mouth now, faster than the Star Falls, the meeting place with StarClan -

Expect now, they wouldn't be able to go like Valleystar said every apprentice would originally. Bristleburn couldn't go either. . . .

"And," Bearpaw continued, learning a little closer to Sablepaw, just by a mouse-length, and at the same time, lowering his voice, "Martineye said StarClan couldn't see the Clan if the Clan didn't believe in them. Bristleburn's faith wasn't enough, she said. That means we're in real trouble. One last thing: I heard battle sounds all around, in the distant. It seemed like one battle with sounds echoing off the large hills. I think StarClan might be at war."

"At war with who?"

"StarClan."

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Bearpaw's POV:
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Bearpaw saw the disbelief in Sablepaw's eyes, but he didn't care. "I know what I heard," he meowed stubbornly as she followed him out of the den. "And it can't be the Dark Forest, I remember before StarClan was banned, Bristleburn told us about how they had all kinds of guards stationed to keep the evil cats inside the Dark Forest."

"You never know," Sablepaw murmured. Her paws seemed to be working of their own accord. Her eyes were fixed on Bearpaw's pelt. The lighter brown was now shaded with darker brown, as well as a few stripes that weren't there before. It stirred something else indistinguishable in her. The lines was smooth.

Not unlike a bengal's markings.

"Where are we going?" Sablepaw mewed, forcing herself to stop. They had halted in front of the leaders' den. "No." She pivoted on her foot to glare defiantly at her brother. "When a StarClan warrior says not to do something, you abide with their wishes."

"I don't care," Bearpaw growled. He slipped past Sablepaw's sleek form and into the den. It was a large branch den, but with ferns covering the outside and large leaves at the roof. There were large pieces of bark as supports.

It was a luxury den, and the soft moss and fern nest was complete with feathers and some sheepswool that Valleystar had gathered in the field outside the valley they lived in.

Valleystar was sitting in the nest, his paws and tail tucked neatly away and his eyes unfocused. He looked up warily. "Oh," he meowed faintly when he saw the pair of them. He looked distant, and Sablepaw took the time to throw a begging look towards her brother.

"Valleystar, I have something to say about StarClan," Bearpaw started tensely, ignoring the persistent molly.

Valleystar leapt to his paws, his large white pelt bristling. "What is this nonsense?! StarClan is gone! You could not have had any visions or dreams about them, because of all cats, why contact a little apprentice?" he hissed, his lips pulled back in a sneer.

It was like an evil feline had replaced the normal Valleystar.

Bearpaw's heart pounded in his throat as he tried to speak, but Valleystar suddenly looked so lifeless. His face had drooped like a wilted flower and the anger was replaced with . . . regret? "Go." It was a command. They had no choice.

Scrambling out of the den with their heads low and tails dragging through the dust, Bearpaw felt discouraged. "Martineye was right," he whispered, blinking back tears. "And I don't see how we'll ever get them to have faith again."

Biting her tongue so she wouldn't let slip an I told ya so - that could be saved for later when Bearpaw wasn't so distraught - Sablepaw draped her tail over his shoulders. "We mind as well go and see if our mentors could take us out hunting. We've only been out to hunt once." She seems to hope it would cheer him up.

Even thought she still felt a prickle of annoyance at him, she couldn't stand seeing him so depressed.

They were already heading towards the warriors' den when a loud call broke through their sullen silence.

"Cats of the valley, come together!" Valleystar's voice rang through the camp, and cats slowly began to creep into the camp, a couple from their dens, and some from the camp entrance.

"Whitebark, Ashenpoppy, and Acornrustle still haven't returned from their patrol," a grey tomcat with raccoon-like markings called out.

"It's alright, Raccoonscramble," Valleystar meowed. He still looked a little distracted and tired, but his voice was stronger now. His eyes travelled over the assembled cats, though he was careful not to slip a glance at Sablepaw and Bearpaw.

"Old coward," Sablepaw growled under her breath.

"Wha - ?" Bearpaw started, hearing her say something, but Sablepaw shook her head. Valleystar was glancing at the medicine den and the camp entrance in turn.

Two of the most skinniest cats Bearpaw had ever seen edged their way to underneath where Valleystar was perched on a branch.

"Pumpkin and Snail were found starving to death on our border, and are still weak, though they are being tended to by Bristleburn," Valleystar announced. The medicine cat hurried out behind the two tomcats.

Bearpaw squinted at the new cats. He and Sablepaw quickly sat down and watched with narrowed eyes.

The first cat, the one who looked a bit stronger, was a bright ginger, his eyes a green that shifted to hazel, or maybe it was the way it glinted in the sunlight. His pelt seemed rough, and his eyes were puffy and swollen, like he had not gotten sleep for a long time.

The second cat was a scrawny, more weak-looking tomcat. He had a pale sandy-coloured pelt that seemed to be a bit of fur draped over a skeleton. He had huge hazel eyes that gazed around in astonishment, his mouth hanging open slightly to take in all the new scents, while the ginger tomcat was stiff and seemed to be breathing heavily through his nose.

"And now you will be Pumpkinpaw and Snailpaw. Pumpkinpaw will go to Mousescramble." Valleystar was now dipping his head at the soft grey and light brown she-cat, thought Bearpaw's attention was wandering. "And Snailpaw will become Bristleburn's apprentice and train in the ways of a medicine cat, to heal cats." Both of the mentors and apprentices touched noses, while the small Clan cheered.

Bristleburn winced at the last comment, but oddly, Valleystar didn't seem bothered by it. He must have been talking about the connection to StarClan, Bearpaw thought hopelessly, staring at the ground.

"Pumpkinpaw! Snailpaw! Pumpkinpaw! Snailpaw!" Bearpaw and Sablepaw cheered half-heartedly, their minds still elsewhere.

A murmuring swept around the Clan as screeches drew nearer and nearer to the camp. There was a scuffling at the ginormous ferns that created the entrance to camp, and Ashenpoppy burst in, Whitebark on her heels.

Ashenpoppy gasped for breath, sobbing at the same time. "They've got him!" she yowled in anguish, crumpling to the ground in a pile of tears. "They took Acornrustle!"