Rise of Legends

## Prologue

*Five cats were sitting in front* of a pool of water. The water shimmered with starlight, so bright that a cat would have to squint when they saw it.

"So, Nightstar, have you chosen the cat to represent NightClan on the quest?" a dark ginger tom asked, his blue eyes glowing.
"Indeed I have, Blazestar, brother," a black and white tom with amber eyes replied.

Suddenly, a young pale ginger she-cat appeared in the pool of water.

A white she-cat stared at her. "Shrewpaw?"

"Yes, Shrewpaw, Cloudstar," Nightstar replied.

"I will pick next," a brown tabby tom meowed.

"Pick wisely, Hawkstar," Cloudstar mewed.

"I will," Hawkstar replied. Suddenly, a brown tom appeared.

"Houndstep. Good choice," Blazestar mewed.

A ginger tom with a massive tail stepped forward. "I will choose now," he meowed.

A young tortoiseshell she-cat appeared. "I choose Voletail," the tom meowed.

"Good choice, Squirrelstar." Cloudstar dipped her head. "Now I will choose."

A young brown tabby tom appeared.

"What! Tigerpaw? He can't go on the quest! He'll attack the other cats!" Squirrelstar cried.

"No, he won't." Cloudstar glared at her littermate. "Tigerpaw is going on this quest."

Squirrelstar grunted, and his brother Blazestar spoke. "I will choose now."

A dark grey she-cat appeared. "I choose Hollyfern."

"Good choice," Nightstar meowed.

"But-" another voice
meowed. "-I want to know why the cats are going on a quest." Everyone
turned to stare at the ginger tabby she-cat.

Blazestar lay his tail on her back. "Tigerstar, my daughter, how do you not know why?"

Tigerstar shrugged. "I was never told."

"Well, an enemy we never expected to return has returned. You know him well," Blazestar meowed, his eyes dark.

Tigerstar looked thoughtful for a moment, then stared at her father. "Crowstripe! He betrayed me!"

"Yes, your former deputy. He is back to destroy the Clans and get revenge," Blazestar replied.

"But I still don't see the reason why we have to send them on a *quest*," Tigerstar replied.

"They will find a cat who knows how to defeat Crowstripe," Cloudstar told her niece.

Tigerstar nodded. "Who is this cat?" she asked.

"His name is Bramble," Blazestar replied.

Tigerstar nodded. "How will he help the Clans?"

"He has four cats with
him. One will go to each Clan. They all have special knowledge. They
will defeat Crowstripe," her father meowed.

"May StarClan light your path," Tigerstar whispered to the cats they had chosen.

## Chapter 1

*Hollyfern sniffed the piece of prey* she'd caught. *Not bad. But with leafbare getting colder, and prey being more scarce, we need as much as we can get.*

BlazeClan had been facing a harsh leafbare, and their leader, Slatestar, was getting weaker.
"I'll bring this to Slatestar," she mewed to her sister, Greyflower.

"Good idea," the pale grey she-cat mewed. "Let's hunt a bit more, than we can go back to camp."

This leafbare had been
tough for all the Clans, not just for BlazeClan. Just three sunrises
ago, the new CloudClan leader Dapplestar had come to camp to tell
Slatestar that their leader, Silverstar, had died.

After the sisters dug up
 the prey that they had caught earlier, they made their way back to
camp. Their father, Redstone, who was also Slatestar's deputy, came to
greet them.

"You caught a fair bit their," he mewed, eyeing his daughters' catch, his amber eyes approving.
"Yeah," Greyflower replied, her green eyes glowing with relief.

"Any trouble from the other Clans?" the reddish-brown tom asked.

"Nope," Hollyfern replied. "They were probably too busy worrying about leafbare. Thank StarClan for that."

A pinkish-grey she-cat padded up. "Good job on your catch, my daughters," she meowed.

"Heatherflower!" Hollyfern greeted her mother.

"My dears, it's getting dark. Go have something to eat," their mother told them.

"Come on, let's get something to eat," Hollyfern mewed, nudging her sister.

"Okay. Hey, do you want to share this rabbit with me?" Greyflower replied.

"Okay. I'll call
Redstone and Heatherflower. There's enough for them too," she meowed.
She went off to find her parents. Then she saw them in the warriors den.

"Hey, Redstone and Heatherflower," she greeted as she slid inside.

They turned to look at her. "Yes, Hollyfern?"

"Do you want to share a rabbit with us?" she asked.

Redstone and Heatherflower exchanged glances, then nodded.

Hollyfern led them to where her sister was waiting.

Redstone dug in instantly. "Yum! I haven't tasted something this good in *ages*!"
Heatherflower looked at
him, amusement glinting in her eyes. "That's because you leave all the
good stuff for the rest of the Clan. I'd say you were the most underfed
cat in BlazeClan!"

Redstone grunted, and gulped down some more rabbit. "Yum."

Hollyfern looked at Greyflower, then started to eat. She had to admit, the rabbit *was* nice. It was delicious.

Greyflower sat up. "What's wrong?" Hollyfern asked her sister.

"Nothing. I'm full."

"Okay," Hollyfern replied.

Soon Hollyfern was full too, and she was off to her nest.

"Are you tired?" Greyflower asked.

"Yep," Hollyfern yawned.

"Good night."

"Good night."

Soon, Hollyfern drifted off to sleep. Suddenly, her eyes were open, and she was on a moor.

"Greetings, Hollyfern."

Hollyfern spun around to
 see two cats walking towards her. One was the elder Forestfoot, who had
 died two moons ago, and the other was a ginger tabby that Hollyfern
didn't recognize.

"Greetings," she replied, dipping her head. "Why am I here?"

The tabby chuckled. "You'll find out soon. Follow me."

As she followed the
tabby, who introduced himself as Blazestar, she moved closer to
Forestfoot. She had missed the elder so much since his death.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, thank you. You?"

"I'm good. The whole
Clan misses you. It's like you were forestborn." Forestfoot had come to
the Clan before Hollyfern was born when his Twoleg abandoned him. His
name then was Choc.

"I miss them too," the elder replied, his blue eyes glowing.

"Here we are." Blazestar
 stopped, and Hollyfern gasped as she saw a pool of water in front of
him, which looked like all the stars in the sky were in it.

Blazestar caught her eye, and meowed, "This is the Gazepool. We watch the Clans through it."

"Wow," Hollyfern murmured. "But why am I here?" She turned to Forestfoot. The ginger tabby looked at Blazestar.

"You are the chosen one from BlazeClan," Blazestar replied.

"What? Chosen one? What do you mean?" she asked.

"One cat from each Clan will go on a quest," Blazestar meowed.

"What quest?" she asked.

"You'll find out soon," Forestfoot replied.

Soon, four other cats
from other Clans arrived. Hollyfern recognized Tigerpaw of CloudClan,
Shrewpaw of NightClan, Voletail of SquirrelClan, and Houndstep of
HawkClan. They all looked like they had no idea why they were there.

Tigerpaw stepped forward. "Why are we all here?" he demanded.

Cloudstar and Lionclaw,
who was the former CloudClan deputy and Tigerpaw's dead father, cast a
irritated glance at the young tabby.

Voletail, the SquirrelClan medicine apprentice, spoke too. "Yes, why are we here?"

"You five are the chosen cats." Blazestar used the same answer as before.

"Chosen ones?" Houndstep, the HawkClan warrior asked.

"You will go on a quest to defeat an evil," Nightstar, this first leader of NightClan, replied.

"What is this evil?" Shrewpaw asked.
"Oh, we can't tell you
that yet, but when you go on this quest, follow the moon trail.
Eventually you will come across a cave, and you will find five cats with
 great knowledge. They will help the Clans get rid of the evil,"
Lionclaw replied.

"And on this quest,
Houndstep will lead you, with Hollyfern acting as deputy," Cloudstar
meowed. Hawkstar, Nightstar, Blazestar, and Squirrelstar nodded in
agreement.

"But when do we leave?" Tigerpaw asked.

"The Gathering is
tomorrow night, and when the leaders start talking, gather behind the
Newsrock and depart," Volestar, the former SquirrelClan leader,
directed.

The cats all nodded.

Squirrelstar turned to
Houndstep, who would lead the patrol. "You will be Tigerpaw's temporary
mentor," he meowed. Then he turned to Hollyfern. "You will be Shrewpaw's
 temporary mentor."

The two warriors dipped their head, and Tigerstar of BlazeClan turned to Voletail. "You will be the group's medicine."

Voletail dipped her head
 in agreement. Everything around Hollyfern went black, and she opened
her eyes. Greyflower was snoring softly in the nest next to her, and
Redstone and Heatherflower were further into the den.
*I'll go back to*
sleep. I need rest before the quest. But why would StarClan pick me?
There are loads of better cats in this Clan. Even Greyflower.

But she settled down to sleep, knowing that StarClan had made their choice, and she could do nothing change their minds.