Goldenperch curled up in her nest, ready for peaceful dreams and good sleep. Thank StarClan, she had announced the patrols for the next day before the cats went to their dens; she had been on night watch. It had been a moon since she had seen Luckystar going into the camp at a late hour. Somehow, she suspected her sister of doing something she wasn't supposed to.

Slipping into sleep, she opened her eyes to see a meadow with several cats clearly waiting for her.

"Greetings, Goldenperch," a gray-blue furred she-cat mewed. "I am Bluestar. I led ThunderClan before Firestar."

Movement sounded behind her and she turned to see three cats walking to her side. She recognized Redflame from WindClan, well known for his red-brown tabby coat and fiery amber eyes, Cloudfrost from RiverClan with her white fur and gentle blue eyes and Pebblebreeze from ShadowClan.

"Greetings, Goldenperch, Cloudfrost, Redflame and Pebblebreeze," Bluestar purred. "We have waited a long time for this. My name is Bluestar and this is Tallstar, Runningnose and Mudfur."

"We have a message for you," Mudfur rasped.

"You must each go to your Clans and tell them that DarkClan will attack you in three sunrises to now." Tallstar meowed sternly.

"You must stand together to defeat DarkClan, not unlike how you defeated the Dark Forest, many seasons ago." Bluestar added.

"Why us?" Pebblebreeze stammered.

"Because you four are peaceful and curious." Runningnose replied simply.

"I will tell Luckystar as soon as I wake up." Goldenperch promised.

"I'll tell Mistystar as soon as I can." Cloudfrost agreed.

"Redflame, Pebblebreeze?" Tallstar questioned.

"You are StarClan. I'll do anything StarClan says. I agree." Pebblebreeze said quietly.

"Redflame?" Mudfur prompted.

"How can I trust you?" Redflame blurted.

"We are StarClan, Redflame. But we will also be sending this dream to your medicine cats. You may ask them, but you must support them when they go to tell your leaders." Mudfur reassured him.

Goldenperch and the others nodded. The StarClan cats soon begun to fade.

"Tell them to meet on the Gathering island! We'll send another sign soon!" Bluestar called faintly. Then they were gone.

Goldenperch woke suddenly, breathless. It was dawn. She dashed out of her nest and bolted straight to the medicine den. "Jayfeather! Larkleaf!" she announced herself. "Did you have the dream?" she whispered as soon as they were awake.

Jayfeather met her amber eyes with his sightless eyes. "I did. Larkleaf did as well. We must tell Luckystar."

"What?" Luckystar seemed out of her mind with shock and worry. "No! DarkClan's attacking now? This can't be happening!"

Goldenperch and Larkleaf exchanged confused looks. Then, Larkleaf stepped forwards. "Luckystar, may I inspect you?" she mewed politely.

"Of course. Sure." Luckystar mewed distractedly.

Larkleaf moved forward and started sniffing along Luckystar's belly. "You're expecting kits." Larkleaf proclaimed.

"What?" Goldenperch gasped.

"Leave me to do this, Goldenperch." Larkleaf told her. "I'll be fine."

Goldenperch reluctantly backed out of the den.

"What did she say?" Jayfeather was there in an instant.

"She was kind of grumpy, then Larkleaf inspected her. She's expecting kits." Goldenperch reported.

"I noticed, Goldenperch. I'm a medicine cat, for StarClan's sake!" Jayfeather snapped.

"Y-you knew?" Goldenperch raised her voice slightly.

"Knew what?" Cinderheart peered down at her daughter.

"That Luckystar's expecting more kits!" Goldenperch frowned. Who was the father?

"Who's the father?" Lionblaze appeared at their side, nuzzling his mate happily. "More grandkits are always a good thing."

I don't have all the answers!

"Ask her yourself!" Goldenperch growled.

"Don't take that tone with your father!" Cinderheart scolded. "Lionblaze has done nothing but support you from the beginning. How could you quarrel with him?"

"Sorry." Goldenperch forced the words out.

Cinderheart curled her lip disapprovingly before storming off. Lionblaze gave Goldenperch an apologetic look before running after his mate.

Sighing, Goldenperch turned to Luckystar's den. She had insisted with Larkleaf and Jayfeather that she was to stay in her den while she was nursing. After all, her den wasn't crowded anyways.

Goldenperch viewed the camp for a few moments before deciding to plan the evening patrol. "Beetlenose, take Bumblestripe and..." Goldenperch called out to the warrior. "And Duskpelt on the evening patrol."

Beetlenose gave her a confident nod before striding away to gather the warriors.

"Rosepetal, you and Sunpaw can sit watch until moonhigh." Goldenperch ordered.

"I was going to take Sunpaw training tomorrow..." Rosepetal argued weakly.

"Fine, fine," Goldenperch snarled. "Foxleap and Frogpaw, you can do it then."

Foxleap agreed and ducked into the apprentices' den to grab Frogpaw and they sat at the camp entrance, exchanging words and sharing tongues with their ears pricked.

Goldenperch was on her way to the fresh-kill pile when she noticed Luckystar slipping out of the camp. Her sister dipped her head to Foxleap and Frogpaw and strode out into the wilderness.

Where is she going? She shouldn't be going out with kits. Goldenperch pondered. But there was no time to follow her. She'd assign someone else to.

"Echoflight!" Goldenperch called. "I have an important task for you."

The two moved to a shadowed part of camp and Goldenperch commanded Echoflight to follow Luckystar.

"Are you sure?" Echoflight mewed nervously. "She's the leader."

"And I'm your deputy and mother!" Goldenperch snapped. "Don't let her know you're there. Now go. If you don't come back without information, then don't bother to come back at all!"

Echoflight backed away with fear on her face. She took a few steps back nervously before running out of the entrance barrier.

Goldenperch felt guilt pierce her like a thorn. She had taken all her pent-up anger on her own kit. It was bad enough with Demonpaw- no, Demonclaw on Tigerstar's side. She didn't need to upset her other kit. "Echoflight- wait!" she yowled to her daughter.

But it was no use. Echoflight twitched her ears to signal that she had heard, but she purposely kept on running. Goldenperch let out a pain filled howl. Her kin were all turning on her. She gritted her teeth angrily and pawed the trunk of the Tall Tree. She remembered finding the mushrooms here, and when she looked down, yes, they were there. Tensing her muscles, she bounded up the tree. Once at the top, she viewed her Clan's territory. She knew that one day, she would be leader. But the question was; did she want all that responsibility? Did she want to be in charge of the Clan? Where they would hunt, when they would fight, what they would do?

Luckystar was a much better leader than her. While Goldenperch was content with the role of deputy, she didn't want to be leader. Ever. Then came the question of loyalty. Luckystar had been leaving camp a lot lately, Goldenperch noticed, and never came back with prey. Telling Echoflight to tail her was a good decision, but what would happen if Luckystar found out? Did Goldenperch really doubt her sister's loyalty to the Clan to challenge her?

No. She realized. She was only the Clan deputy. Goldenperch couldn't challenge her leader. She was brought out of her thoughts by a flash of orange. She narrowed her eyes and spotted a shape running along the edge of a ravine. A ravine on ThunderClan's territory. Goldenperch let out a yowl and urged her legs to run towards him.

"Stop right there, intruder!" Goldenperch hissed menacingly. At least, she thought she was looking very menacing, with her fur bushed up and lips drawn back in a snarl.

The cat sat back on his haunches and licked a forepaw idly. Goldenperch stopped, startled. Wasn't he scared? The intruder let out a purr and drew his forepaw over his ears to wash them. Goldenperch bristled. The nerve he had! "Leave our territory at once!" she commanded.

"Why?" he challenged.

Goldenperch was thrown into rage. She ran forward, the rogue standing up hesitantly to meet her. Goldenperch unsheathed her claws and they sliced through the air as she pummelled his flank. Goldenperch wriggled aside as the rogue prepared to bite her and his jaws landed on thin air. "Too slow!" she taunted.

The rogue drew himself up to his full height. Goldenperch flinched, afraid that he'd attack, but he shot a venomous look to her before turning tail and fleeing. Goldenperch, surprised, flicked her tail. "Easy." She muttered to herself.

Striding back to camp purposefully, Goldenperch made up her mind to report the rogue to Luckystar. "Luckystar, may I come in?" she halted at her sister's den.

"Sure," was her absent-minded reply.

Goldenperch entered the den, surprised to see Luckystar staring at the wall with blank eyes.

"There was a rogue on our territory. Orange fur and blue eyes. What shall we do?" she reported.

Luckystar didn't reply.

"What should we do?" Goldenperch prompted.

"What?" Luckystar turned around, shock on her face. "Did you hurt the rogue?"

"Yes, I chased him off the territory."

"Yes- good."

"Luckystar, do you know that rogue?"

"Of course not!" Luckystar flashed defiantly, but a little too quickly to be sincere.

Liar. Goldenperch thought in her head, but mewed out loud, "Alright. Shall I organize a patrol to make sure she's gone?"

"He." Luckystar corrected.

"I never said it was a male. Luckystar, you do know him." Goldenperch accused.

"I don't!" she protested.

"Fine, keep your secrets!" Goldenperch snapped before turning out of the den. She saw Echoflight plucking feathers from a sparrow near the warriors' den and strode over to her.

"What did you see?" she demanded.

Echoflight swallowed her mouthful of feather and gazed at the ground, eyes downcast. "Luckystar met a rogue, an orange tom. He had blue eyes. They nuzzled each other. I think they were mates."

Mates? With a rogue? StarClan help us! "Thank you, Echoflight." Goldenperch dipped her head.

Echoflight glared at her. "That was a rogue task," she hissed. "I won't do it again." She picked up the sparrow and stalked off to join Rosepetal, Dawnpaw and Sunpaw near a tree stump.

"Thornclaw, Toadstep, Bushpelt. There was a rogue spotted in our territory. Go after the rogue. And don't be afraid to wound him seriously." Goldenperch ordered the most hostile warriors.

She paused at the fresh-kill pile and pawed around for something suitable to eat. Her options were a soggy blackbird, a thin screw or a baby rabbit. The pile was dangerously low.

"Hazeltail, lead a hunting patrol towards the Twolegplace. Hollyleaf, you lead another." Goldenperch looked up to issue more orders.

"Pineleaf, you, Molewhisker and Cinderheart can do a quick night patrol." The warriors quickly left the camp. "Dovewing and Duskpelt, you can relieve Foxleap and Frogpaw of their night watch. Icecloud and Cherryheart can take the next watch."

Glancing around, something cold landed on Goldenperch's nose. She tasted the air quickly. Leaf-bare was approaching, if it was already snowing. Leaf-fall would be over soon. But before she could assess the situation, Luckystar left her den and called, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!"

"Our medicine cats and Goldenperch have had a dream." Luckystar paused. "DarkClan will attack in three sunrises from now. We must prepare. We've already been preparing, but that won't be enough. On the third sunrise, I want all elders to stay in my den."

What about the queens and kits? Oh right. There are none.

"Will you fight, Luckystar?" Foxleap asked.

"I will. I still have all my lives. But I will be staying to defend the camp. Patrols will be made. There will be four patrols. Two battle patrols, to move around the camp. One messenger patrol, to send messages to the other Clans and patrols. And the fourth patrol will stay in camp to defend the elders." Luckystar announced.

"ThunderClan is strong. We can win!" Birchfall declared.

"ThunderClan! ThunderClan!" Goldenperch led the cheer.

In her den, Goldenperch bushed up her fur against the cold. A battle during leaf-bare would be hard. They would lose many warriors. Were they really ready for the battle? In three sunrises from now, the Clan would be fighting for their lives. It really was the Final Battle. Goldenperch clenched her teeth. She had to believe they would win. Because, they would.