It's never quiet in the camp anymore, with all the rival leaders dropping in and out. This morning, Moonstar comes in with Lavenderfur, her deputy, along with half of her senior warriors. They pad in like a patrol headed to war, and their annoyed glances around the clan tell me they don't like working with DragonClan. Most of them are still hanging onto the bitter rivalry which has kept us in fear of each other since we first met, many moons ago.

"Moonstar. It's nice to see you and your warriors. This is my deputy, Icestorm. I'm going to assume you two know each other." Mothstar says, bringing me towards them.

"No, but the pleasure is all mine." Lavenderfur says, fur bristling, eyes alert and slightly squinted.

"So who did you bring and may I ask why you've come?"

Moonstar steps past her deputy, and lists off the names by heart. "Myself, Lavenderfur, Pinefrost, Owlflight, and Stormpaw." She nods her head towards all the foreign cats in camp, ending with the young tom.

Stormpaw seems out of all of them, the least happy to be here, but he's taken up talking to Leafkit, one of our youngest clan members. Her eyes, barely opened, stare up at the huge tom.

The other kits are hissing at him, some biting his tail, and others just being kits. That might be why he's so annoyed.

"We came to check how the plans are going. Have you decided when we attack?"

"Possibly at night around the full moon. We'll have messengers sent out to ForestClan and FrostClan before the attack."

Moonstar nods.

The two continue talking, and I look over at Pinefrost. He does look suspiciously like Pinepaw...

"What's with the face?" hisses Lavenderfrost.

"Oh. Pinefrost reminds me of an old friend... he was killed in battle."

Lavenderfrost glares. "Him. The battle was DragonClan's fault, you know. They had been crossing over the boundary lines one to many times. We all know the history your clan has."

"My clan doesn't kill others in battle. We're too noble for that."

"Pretentiousness gets you nowhere in this world. Neither does lying." she adds.

I resist the urge to pounce on her.

Mothstar and Moonstar stop talking, and Moonstar leads her warriors out of camp.

"Why are we allying with them again?" I ask, annoyed.

"We need all the help we can get. You know as well as I do how strong FrostClan is."

"All too well." The bile in my tone is obviously not well covered, because Mothstar whips me with her tail.

I go off to hunt, bringing a nicely sized patrol with me. Everpaw is among them, and since Rabbitfoot was busy, Sunshadow is watching him for the day. Lilyfrost joins us, and together we race through the cold forest.

I hear the sweet trill of a tiny bird, most likely a sparrow, which has stopped by the river. Pouncing on it, I bite it and kill it cleanly and quickly. Purring, I bring the catch back to camp. Lilyfrost has a mouse and Sunshadow has a huge weasel, dangling from her mouth. I've never had weasel, but I'm still hungry and willing to try it.

I end up eating just a few bites, as it's not very tasty and the sinews are very hard, and leaving the rest for the hungry horde of kits.

Leafkit, who was found in the forest, is treated like a little queen herself, with no other family to care for her. The whole clan has fallen in love with the precocious little kit.

"Is the big cat coming back?" she asks Foxfang, her adopted father.

"No, he's going back to FrostClan."

    "I like the big cat. Bring him back." She demands.

He laughs gently, and then licks her to warm her up. "Don't worry. You'll see him soon."

"Foxfang, we're going to do some battle training!" Cobrastrike yells to his brother. "We need to prepare for the big battle!"

Foxfang's ears prick. "Coming!"

I follow them into the forest, hoping to learn a few things myself. Shadows cross my mind and I feel almost depressed as the darkness closes in around me.

This place is no longer my home, and the bonds I have made have been cut by the claws of death.