Chapter 1


"Jayfeather! Jayfeather! Jayfeather!" a loud voice mewed as Jayfeather gritted his teeth and glanced over from sorting the herbs into piles. Seedkit and Lilykit came running over, then pulled to a stop in front of them.
"What is it?" Jayfeather asked as he could sense the kit's excitement flowing from their pelts. "We saw a dead fox in the forest and it was this big!" Lilykit said as Jayfeather heard her get up onto her hind legs.
"Yes well, what are you two kits doing in the forest anyways?" Jayfeather wondered as he quickly scooped the marigold leaves out of the way as Lilykit had narrowly missed falling into them.
"Sorreltail was asleep so we thought we'd go exploring. We didn't go too far" Seedkit piped up.  "But I thought you said to go as far we can without getting caught?" Lilykit said in confusion. "Shush! No we didn't!" Lilykit quickly squealed as Jayfeather heard her pin Seedkit down. "Watch out for the herbs!" Jayfeather snapped as he felt a dock leaf brush against his paws. Grumbling, he quickly sorted the dock leaves back together.
"You two kits should find something else to do. I don't think Jayfeather likes you two messing up his herbs" Briarlight spoke nicely as she pulled herself over and pushed a straying dock leaf over. Jayfeather felt a wave of gratitude as he stored the dock leaves back.
"Seedkit! Look at what we found!" squeaked even smaller voices as Jayfeather felt a wave of irritation as Juniperkit, one of Blossomfall's kits came running over. "What did you find?" wondered Seedkit. "Whitekit caught a straying mouse and it was so big!" Juniperkit spoke in pure excitement. "I want to see!" Lilykit said as immediately, the three kits came storming out of the medicine cat den.
"Might as well ask all the kits to come in" Jayfeather growled as he kicked at the herbs that lay messed up on the floor. "Don't worry, kits will be kits. I'll help sort them out for you" Briarlight said as the two of them got to work.
"Jayfeather?" Jayfeather heard Sorreltail call as she peeked her head in. "Have you seen Seedkit and Lilykit? I couldn't find them when I woke up" Sorreltail said in a frantic voice. "Just missed them" Jayfeather replied quickly as he continued to sort through his herbs. "Oh, alright, maybe they've gone to keep Dustpelt company, he's still sulking about in the elder's den" surmised Sorreltail. "They aren't with him; they've gone to see this huge mouse that Whitekit caught. But of course Dustpelt would be upset, he lost his mate" Jayfeather said, and then sighed as he realized that Sorreltail had already left. "What is the use saying anything if every cat is going to be so busy?' Jayfeather wondered as he finished up with the last pile of herbs. "I'll be back, going to tell one of the patrols about the dead fox, there are bound to more foxes" Jayfeather said as he headed out of the den.

****
Lionblaze stood by the camp entrance as he cleaned his fur up. Soon his ears flicked as he heard footsteps behind him. Lionblaze looked behind him to see Bumblestripe walking over.
"Hello Bumblestripe" Lionblaze greeted as Bumblestripe nodded in reply. "Are you going with the patrol to check out the area for foxes? One of the wondering kits had found one earlier" Lionblaze asked as Bumblestripe stood nearby.
"Maybe, but ah…" Bumblestripe had started. Lionblaze could sense the worry in his voice. "What is wrong?" wondered Lionblaze. "Have you seen Dovewing? She's almost ready to have her kits but she won't hold still" Bumblestripe finally said after a few seconds had passed.
"Don't worry; I'm sure she is just stretching her legs. I'll go fetch her if you want" Lionblaze offered as a relieved look appeared on Bumblestripe's face as he nodded and left. "Thanks Lionblaze!" Lionblaze heard Bumblestripe call out as he headed into the forest.
The warmth of the sun shone on his fur as Lionblaze padded through the forest as birds called. He found his thoughts back on the battle against the dark forest cats. How different it was walking through the forest. Now that the prophecy was fulfilled, they've all been adjusting to things in the forest now. There were no dangers, and the four clans were at peace with each other.
Lionblaze paused to sniff the air. Things were different, none the less, Crowfeather, Nightcloud and Breezepelt were not part of the clan for the moment. Breezepelt had run with his mother after the battle was over, and Crowfeather had gone to bring them back. They were living at rogues right now. Dustpelt had asked to join the elder ever since Ferncloud had died, and ThunderClan had no apprentices for the moment. "But there should be more apprentices along the way, especially since Sorreltail's kits are almost ready" Lionblaze spoke to himself.
There was a crack of a branch as Lionblaze quickly got down into a crouch and prowled towards the sound. "Intruders?" Lionblaze wondered as he looked towards the sound. Keeping his belly low, he got closer and closer, and then with a yowl, he pounced onto the intruder. The intruder let out a shriek and turned about to claw him back as Lionblaze let out a loud screech.

****

"What in Starclan's name is that?" Dovewing wondered as she looked up form drinking water at the lake. As fast as her bulging belly could let her, she ran towards the sound. She paused to stare at the scene before her as her whiskers twitched in amusement.
"Cinderheart! Wait! Stop! Sorry! It's me, Lionblaze!" Lionblaze yelped as he ducked as with a panicked look on her face, Cindeheart had pounced onto Lionblaze's back and dug her claws in, hissing angrily. Dovewing carefully leapt over and knocked Cinderheart to the side.
Moments pass as Cinderheart relaxed. Both she as Lionblaze blushed slightly as they gazed at each other. "You almost scared my fur off" Cinderheart said in an amused voice. "Sorry, I should have checked. I thought you had been an intruder" Lionblaze explained as Cinderheart purred and flicked her tail at Lionblaze. "I thought you might have been one of those Dark Forest cats" said Cinderheart.
"By his size, he could be" Dovewing joked. "Yeah well, the Dark Forest cats are gone. I doubt we'd be seeing them again soon" Lionblaze said. "Yes, but maybe they could come back. I mean, we only defeated them" Cinderheart wondered. "It was scary, fighting them" added Cinderheart. "You don't have to worry, I'll fight them off if they come again" soothed Lionblaze, then her turned to face Dovewing.
"Dovewing, Bumblestripe had been looking for you. He's worried about you and your unborn kits" informed Lionblaze as Dovewing rolled her eyes.
She can't even get a rest without having some cat worry over her. "I'm fine. No need to worry. Besides, I was heading back by now anyways" Dovewing explained. "Alright well, I guess I had better go and see if there are any foxes wandering where they shouldn't be. One of the kits had found a dead fox earlier." Lionblaze said as he turned to leave.  "I'll come with her" Cinderheart said as she followed Lionblaze.
Lionblaze paused to glance at Dovewing. "What is it?" wondered Dovewing. "Can you see if there are any other foxes? It would be easier if you can find them out" Lionblaze asked. Dovewing's whiskers twitched as she stared at Lionblaze, how could he forget again?
"I don't have my powers anymore, neither do you or Jayfeather, since the prophecy has been fulfilled" Dovewing said. "Oh, right, sorry, I guess I had better walk over and scent the foxes by myself" Lionblaze said as he turned to leave with Cinderheart.
Dovewing sighed, she felt like a newborn kit at times with the senses she had now. Although it had been several moons, neither of them had been able to quite get used to it. Shaking her head, Dovewing felt a kick in her belly. "Alright my kits, we will be heading back" Dovewing murmured quietly to her unborn kits as she headed back to camp.