Spirit of Hope: A Warriors/ Wolves of the Beyond crossover fanfic

Four figures, their pelts glistened with starlight, crouched on a jagged ridge. High on the silvery granite summit the ice-cold wind could be felt; its ridges seemed to slice the horizon of the black night sky.
The white she-cat hunched down harder against the chill that seemed to reach her bones, as she spoke. “We have come…As you asked us to.”
Her companion dipped his head to the other cats that had been waiting for them. “Greetings, Owl Feather, Broken Shadow.”
“Greetings. Slant.” Broken Shadow spiked her thick fur, muffling out the stone-cold air. Her eyes reflected the rushing stars as she gazed at the white she-cat. “It is good to meet you again Half Moon.” As she spoke, two more pelts moved over the stone like shadows.
“Bluestar, Spottedleaf, I’m so glad to see you.” Half Moon welcomed the StarClan warriors as they settled beside the four Ancients.
Bluestar meowed solemnly as she curled her tail over her paws. “We have come to prepare for the end.”
“And to believe what we have told you?” Owl Feather’s yellow eyes narrowed.
“Bluestar has always believed!” Spottedleaf let out a low growl. “It’s the others we need to convince.”
“We’re running out of time!” Slant snapped.
The sky spun around them, its stars racing until they became silvery streaks – but the mountain top seemed caught in stillness. Like a warrior before the final pounce. A hauntingly melodic howl echoed across the air surrounding the ridge. The pelts of the six cats rose up with each note. When it ended, the group seemed to be as one with the mountain top. The sound of rocks clattering below broke the silence as two gigantic figures emerged on the summit.
A dark gray wolf, with green eyes that shone brightly from the reflecting stars circled around a spot on the smooth granite before lying down. He was soon followed by a female grizzly bear, whose massive body seemed to take half of the ridge. Even when she sat on her rump and hind legs her presence still towered over the others, her brown eyes gazed upon them.
The cats eyes were widened and their pelts standing at the tips. In all their lives they had never been so close to such powerful creatures. Finally the silence was broken as Half Moon’s amber eyes meet the wolf’s green ones. “Greetings…Duncan MacDuncan I assume.”
Duncan MacDuncan’s great head nodded slightly in response. “I come as Midnight said I would.”
“Midnight, not far behind.” The female grizzly added in rumbling thick bear-accented cat.
“And who are you?” Slant meowed looking at the bear and then the wolf. “Midnight made it seem you were coming alone.”
“Her reason for being here will be known soon enough.” The former chieftain of the MacDuncan clan growled. He did not even need to stand up to make himself dominant to the tom. “As for who she is,” he turned to the others. “You may refer to her as Thunderheart.”
Bluestar gazed up at Thunderheart and mewed. “Greetings Thunderheart…A very interesting name…” She turned her attention back to the other cats. “The Clans will make their own decisions. I can do no more.”
“But the prophecies helped didn’t they?” Slant leaned closer.
Bluestar glanced at her medicine cat. “Spottedleaf recognized the flaming star that brought me to Firestar.”
Owl Feather acknowledged Spottedleaf with a blink. “She used her gift well. All along, it has been Firestar’s kin who hold the last hope of the Clans in their paws.”
“But what about the fourth?” Slant leaned forward, anxiety pricking him, and the presence of the two bigger animals clearly not helping him.
“That’s why we are here.” Duncan MacDuncan’s voice boomed. Having the cats’ attention, he glanced up at Thunderheart before continuing. “We may know who the fourth is.”
“Who is it?” Broken Shadow mewed with fret. “The fourth cat must find the other three soon. Time is running out!”
“Who said anything about the fourth being a cat?!” MacDuncan growled. The cats backed away slightly.
Half Moon flecked her gaze towards three more figures clambered over the rocks. “Midnight is that you?”
“Urskadmus.” Thunderheart grumbled. “Course is Midnight. How cats not smell her coming? I said she not far behind.”
“I come with Rock and Rabbit.” The great she-badger lumbered onto the smooth granite. Rock stepped out from behind her, his furless body pale in the moonlight. A rabbit appeared opposite of Midnight. Despite being surrounded by so many carnivores, it did not show any real signs of fear.
Broken Shadow shifted her paws. “Greetings Midnight. I…I didn’t realize that you knew Rock.”
“Or the web-reading rabbit, by my marrow.” Duncan MacDuncan added.
“The three of us have known each other since the dawn of your time.” Midnight rumbled, turning her wide striped head. “Since first cat put paw beside water and first wolf came to fire ring.”
“But how does this have to do with wolves, bears, and even owls?” Owl Feather interrupted.
“Everything!” Rock replied, his blue blind eyes round and white as moons. “We watched the first sunrise over the lake.”
“And the water burst to flame, revealing the future.” Midnight added in.
“The evil that is about to arise.” Rabbit spoke softly, yet seemed to hold everyone’s attention. “Shall spread across the world like poison traveling from the veins to the heart, and engulf it in darkness.”
Half Moon stepped forward. “But the four… Surely they will save us right?”
“We saw them as they would, and when they came, they lit the darkest fires.” Midnight gazed at the Ancient cats, wolf and bear. “So that all you and all long-dead creatures would burn like stars again.”
Broken Shadow glanced towards Duncan MacDuncan. “But we must know first who the fourth is.”
The dark gray wolf got up and gazed up at the sky and down at the animals around him. “Now the time has come for me and Thunderheart to share our last piece of the prophecy. Of the one who’s spirit is of one world, his heart another. Bound together they give him the power of the stars on his silver pelt. Brought by the river he carries a spark of hope, that with the three shall create the fire to save all.”

Despite the cold lashing winds from the Bittersea, Faolan felt warmth inside of him as he read the bones his sisters had carved. They had been working all night gnawing out their stories to place on the Morag’s drumlyn. Mhairie and Dearlea never really knew who their First Milk Giver had been since they were taken from her as newborn pups and were raised by another she-wolf named Caila. Only when Caila was overcome with the Famine Sickness did she reveal to them that she was not their real mother.
As he read the carvings, Faolan recalled when he was reunited with Morag just before she died. He knew that she would be in peace now to see her three pups together again.
“So how are they Faolan?” Mharie asked when he was finally done.
“I think our mum will be very proud and happy.” He replied warmly.
“Do you suppose she is watching over us now?” Dearlea looked at Morag’s beautiful bones and then up at grey-cloud covered sky.
Faolan looked up as well and nodded his head. “She will be watching us until we join her in the Cave of Souls.”
After they had placed the new bones on the drumlyn, the three wolves started back to the camp of the MacNamara clan. This was the clan Morag had joined before she died. It was also close to where her drumlyn lay. Here Mharie and Dearlea would be following their mum’s pawprints.

Sitting on his cairn, Faolan looked towards Broken Talon Point thinking about his two sisters and their mum’s drumlyn. The night was clear, but colder than it should have been for early fall. Faolan started recalling the dream he had the night when he had shown Mharie and Dearlea Morag’s bones.
“Hey Faolan, you’re still awake over there or what?” A voice snapped him from his concentration of thought. He looked towards his best friend Edme. Edme had just returned the other day from her mission to find other starving wolves in the Beyond.
“You’ve being awfully quiet tonight.”
“Oh, well I was just thinking.”
“Okay. Just try to stay more alert, or else Banja might notice, and we’ll never hear the end of it.” Edme chuckled softly to him.
“If she shows up that is.” No one had seen the red she-wolf with one-eye for a few days. Faolan wondered if she had gone by-lang, ‘deeply away’, or something else. When he told that to Edme, she simply snorted back.
“If she has, she can stay that way. I’ve just started to enjoy the peace and quiet here in the Ring.”
Banja was known for being nasty towards others, especially with Faolan and Edme most of all. Even though Edme and Banja both had only one-eye, the similarities ended there. Perhaps it was because of that similarity that made Banja more spiteful and jealous towards her.
“But just in case if she does come back, we might as well enjoy her absence while we still can.”
Both wolves started laughing more loudly together this time. They stopped when they heard the sound of a third voice joining them.
“It’s always nice to find something good to laugh about. Especially when there has been so much to shed tears for instead.”
Faolan recognized the voice coming from Twist, his taiga who had taught him how to be a Watch Wolf of the Ring of Sacred Volcanoes. The wolf with a twisted front paw was carrying two caribou pelts on his back while climbing up towards the cairns Faolan and Edme were on. He tossed a pelt to each of them and looked to sky.
“I thought you might need these tonight later on. Don’t know about Banja showing up, but there is supposed to be a blizzard coming this way.”
“Thanks.” Faolan and Edme both called out gratefully to him.
“Anytime you two. Try and keep having a good watch.”
As Twist started descending back down, a rumble could be felt from the volcanoes. He glanced over to the volcano H’rathghar.
“The old girl seems to be acting up lately I tell you. They all have- All five of them. Very peculiar…but then these are peculiar times.”
Peculiar times it had been. For more than twelve moons the wolves had endured the most desperate of times in the long history of the Beyond. The caribou herds had disappeared, the wolves’ main food source, causing a great famine. The seasons of spring and summer seemed to have vanished along with the herds, leaving behind only snow and ice. Many wolves had died from this, and to make it worse a false prophet had shown up amidst the chaos. He wore the helmet of a heroic warrior owl, Gwyndor, and under the guise of helping the starving wolves, had led many to there deaths. Faolan and Edme captured the Prophet, but the damaged he caused could not be undone. Faolan did not want to think how things could get worse than they already had.
Later that night the winds started to pick up with large flakes of snow flying against Faolan’s back. He was really glad that Twist had given him and Edme the pelts to wrap themselves up with. Under the moon’s light, the snow flakes seemed to resemble countless shooting stars, then schools of fish, caribou herds and finally many owls flying.
“It’s like they’re part of a byrrgis, doesn’t it?” Edme spoke as she watched the snow flakes passing them by.
“Yes it does,” Faolan agreed.
Suddenly he felt a strange chill in his marrow that had nothing to do with the weather. His splayed paw picked up vibrations from his cairn. Some were the rumbles of the volcanoes, but also short softer ones. These vibrations seemed to be coming from the Hot Gates, and then split towards the five different volcanoes. To Faolan they were like the steps of many small soft paws. A stone rolled and tumbled down Morgan, the volcano Faolan and Edme were watching. He looked towards the location where the stone had rolled from.
“Did you see that too?” Edme called out softly to Faolan.
Faolan turned to her and saw that she too seemed to be sensing something strange. Her one green eye seemed to scan along the Ring.
“I did not see anything, but I did feel something…or rather some-things.”
“I thought it was maybe just a trick of the snow and moonlight, but then I noticed a small shape move from one shadow to another. Then I thought it was Myrr out of his den. I tried looking closer and my eye, my ‘inner-eye’, revealed the shape or maybe shadow of what looked like a mountain lion. But I started seeing more, but they seemed to vanish just as the clouds started covering the moon.”
“You think it could be a graymalkin?” Faolan tried to scan the rocks around them.
“But Faolan,” Edme looked at him with her head tilted to one side. “Graymalkins are supposed to be owls, not…little mountain lions.”
“My marrow tells me otherwise Edme, and I can tell yours does too. We need to sound the alarm.”
A big deep rumble came from all the volcanoes, and tall slim flames burst from their tops. At first they were bright gold-amber but then turned to blood-red. The blowing snow around them turned to sparks of gold and scarlet rain. The wind slowed and started shifting to the opposite direction. As the flakes slashed passed Faolan like swarms of angry insects, his nose picked up smells he had not been able to detect earlier. There were scents faintly like mountain lions’ but also of unfamiliar places, yet all had what seemed to have a strong odour of death…death that occurred long ago. The fur on his hackles rose high as the feeling in his marrow was now burning like the very flames on the volcanoes.
“Faolan, I can see them now again!!!” Edme howled so he could hear her over the wind. “They’re climbing the volcanoes and are near the flames. They must be after the Ember like you said.” She tried raising the alarm howl, and so did Faolan, but with the blizzard’s wind against them was making it impossible for anyone to hear.
Despite the rumbles from the volcanoes, Faolan felt the small vibrations from behind him. Turning around he could just make out the small silhouettes or possibly transparent outlines of the creatures near the flame from Morgan. With a tremendous leap, and using the wind to push him forward, he felt himself be like an owl making a kill dive towards the graymalkins. With surprising accuracy, he landed overtop one of them, and pinned it with his splayed paw.
The creature began clawing and biting fiercely at him. As Faolan was about to press harder on its neck, another one jumped on his back. He howled with pain and rage as he felt long sharp claws dig into him.
“Faolan!” Edme howled out to him as she rushed over to help.
Another rumble occurred, this one bigger than before. Faolan had to release the one creature in his paw, or risk losing his balance and tumble down the volcano. The air was suddenly filled with howls, screams, yowls, and snarls across the Ring.
“Let’s go!” One of the creatures called to the other and started running down.
Faolan tried to follow after them, but was finding it hard with the wind against him and the volcano shaking. Edme was right behind him as they pursued the creatures. When they reached the bottom at last they could see the brief shadows of many more creatures running down the volcanoes and back to the Hot Gate.
“Faolan look over there!” Edme howled.
Faolan turned to see on the opposite side of the Ring one of the creatures carrying something in its mouth; a green ember with a lick of blue in the center.
“The Ember of Hoole!!!!” Both wolves exclaimed at once and began running faster.
The flames of the volcanoes were now becoming larger and more intense. Dust and embers mingled with the thick flying snowflakes, while rushing rivers of lava could be seen flowing from all sides. It seemed as if the whole Ring was on fire.

Despite the chaos going on around them, Edme and Faolan kept their sights on the creature with the Ember. They were only paces from catching up to its flank when Edme’s ears picked up a high pitched yelp of a wolf pup in distress. A sudden sense of fear pierced inside Edme’s marrow as she realized the yelp came from the only pup in the Ring- Myrrglosch! She turned around to see Myrr lying on the ground with scratch marks along his face. Without thinking about it she dashed off towards him.
“Myrr, Myrr!” She called out to the pup. “Myrrglosch are you alright?” Oh Lupus please let him be alright.
Myrr opened his eyes and looked at her. “Edme, what’s happening? Did you see any of those little mountain lion lochins too?” As he got up he whimpered a bit with pain from the scratches. “One of them tried to attack me.”
“Oh Myrr,” Edme sighed with relief as she licked the pup’s face. “It’s not safe here right now. We need to catch up with Faolan.” She picked Myrr up the same way a mother would and started running for the Hot Gates.

Faolan glanced towards the direction where Myrr had yelped for a brief moment, causing him to lose the chance of catching the mountain lion-like graymalkin. Although the creature managed to escape, it was clearly beginning to tire out already. Just when Faolan was about to close in on it another creature, the one he had caught earlier, met up with the one he was now pursuing and took the Ember. He tried to go after his new target, but found that this creature’s nearly faded pelt blended so well with the surrounding snow, embers and shadows. Out of nowhere Edme, with Myrr dangling from her jaws, appeared by his side once again. Finding new strength in being with her again, Faolan pressed on further towards the Ring’s main entrance.
A sudden gust of wind and snow pushed them all back with great force. The creature nearly flew towards them, but grabbed hold to a rocky ledge and seemed to disappear into the snow and darkness. Faolan tried to get up again, but the blizzard made it difficult to move beyond a crawl. Looking downwind his heart nearly stopped at the sight before him. Forming right in the centre of the Ring was a giant swirling column of cloud picking up everything nearby, and was now heading towards Faolan, Edme and Myrr.
“Edme!” he called out to her above the roaring storms of wind, fire, and snow. “We need to find cover quickly!”
“I can see a den behind you!” she called back while Myrr was wrapped between her front paws.
Turning around he could just barely make the outline of a den along the foot of the ledge. Faolan began crawling his way towards it, glancing back to check if Edme was following him. With the cloud column twisting and swirling closer to them, the two wolves had to drag themselves by their claws, including their dewclaws. When Faolan reached inside the den, he waited by the entrance for Edme and the pup she carried.
“Come on, you’re almost there!” he barked encouragingly to her.
Edme was having trouble gripping her claws to the ground with the wind nearly picking her up. A surge of terror struck his marrow as he watched her become airborne. Lunging forward he grabbed Edme by the hip with his forelegs and fangs, while anchoring to the ground with his hindlegs. Slowly Faolan started pulling them back to the den, every step becoming harder to do with the growing wind. He kept holding tight to Edme even when he could taste her blood in his mouth. I can not lose her! Even if the wind pulls me up as well, I will not let go. He could faintly hear Edme cry out to Myrr as they neared the den.
“Hang on to my paw Myrrglosch with all your might! Don’t even loosen your grip, no matter what!”
Once Faolan was inside the den, he pulled Edme as far from the entrance as he could. The walls of the den were filled with roaring howls of the approaching cloud column.
“We need to go further in!” he called to Edme.
“Help me get Myrrglosch in first.” Edme called back.
The pup was still clinging onto her paw. Faolan walked up to pick him up just as a burst of wind pulled them towards the entrance. In a flash Myrr was swept out of the den and started tumbling in the air.
“Edme!” Was all that could be heard from him before vanishing into the swirling cloud.
“MYRRGLOSCH!!!!!!!!” Edme screamed; her one eye wide with shock.
Faolan held on to Edme and tried to pull her back in. Soon the entire den was engulfed with darkness.


Myrrglosch did not know how long he had been up in the air or lying unconscious in the snow. The blizzard was still blowing hard, and he could barely see beyond a few paw-steps away. When it started to die down at last he ventured out and saw a large snowy mound nearby. Walking towards the mound he decided to climb up and hope to get a better view of his surroundings. As the moon’s light began to re-appear, Myrr could tell he was far away from the Ring. The fires from the sacred volcanoes were nothing but faint glows in the distance.
“Oh Lupus,” he breathed. How did I end up way out here? Am I a Lochin now? He licked his paw and he could feel. Or was he teasing himself? He placed his paw on his face where it had been scratched.
“Ouch!” he winced from the stinging pain, and noticed the blood on his paw. “I guess I am alive,” he muttered and began to weep enormous tears. He couldn’t help it. Too much had happened to him in his short lifetime. His parents had abandoned him after they had fallen under the spell of the Prophet. It was Faolan and Edme who had brought him directly into the gadderheal at the Ring, and to the Fengo. Finbar had looked at him kindly and called him “a bit of a miracle,” using an Old Wolf term meaning small miracle, myrr glosch. Somehow the best part of it had stuck- Myrr for miracle. Everyone at the Ring had been so nice to him, especially Edme when Faolan had gone off with his sisters. Now he was all alone.
He stopped crying when the snow mound suddenly began to move. Jumping off, he turned around to see the mound become a bear, but not just any bear. Except for the nose and eyes, which were both black, it was completely white as the snow around it. A white grizzly! He had heard of a skreeleen story about such a beast that appeared to stomp and chew up whatever was in its way.
The bear started to let out a loud moaning-growl that set the fur on Myrr’s hackles rising. It began lifting a massive paw up to rub its head, while looking around as if it were too lost.

Jayfeather closed his eyes, crouched by the Moonpool, and touched his nose on the water. It wasn’t long before he heard a voice, or possibly several voices. When he opened his eyes again, instead of being at the warm meadows of StarClan, or even still at the hollow of the Moonpool, he found himself in some kind of cave. His vision showed that this was clearly not a cave he had ever seen before. The cave walls showed images of many different animals. Voices echoed along the cave again, this time Jayfeather was able to pick up what was being said.
Come with me, I’ll take you now.
To a place that you feel.
For no reason why,
Your heart has turned
Away from me.
And I will make you
Understand.
As soon as he called out “Understand what?!” a sudden breeze gusted past him. The air became filled with the refreshing scents of icy rivers, blooming heather, leaf-fall earth and pine forests after a greenleaf rain-fall. Jayfeather could not help but purr as he closed his eyes and inhaled.
Bursts of many colours of light rippled and danced along the cave walls, which turned to walls of light instead of stone. The animal images took a life of their own, making sounds and moving along the walls like silhouettes over reflecting water or burning flame. Jayfeather was completely stunned; he tried to call out but seemed unable to. He did not know who or what was giving him this strange vision, but he felt a powerful presence around him. He was now both terrified and mesmerized by the strange lights. The voices continued, now louder and clearer, as if they too were using the light walls of the cave to travel, drawing him further in.
Everything will become clear to you,
When you see things through
Another’s eyes.
Everything will become clear to you,
Whatever’s meant for you
You will find.
Strange spiral shapes on the wall, that Jayfeather hadn’t noticed until now, also began moving. To his surprise though, they actually seemed to ‘surface’ out of the walls, and proceeded to fly around, in front and above him. The spirals then all joined together, until they formed into a cat, a large silver tabby tom with green eyes that looked at Jayfeather, and turned to dash off into the cave tunnels.
“Hey wait!” Jayfeather called out irritatingly as he chased after the strange cat along the light cave. He was now annoyed that the first cat he had seen so far, was now running away from. And not even explaining anything about all the weird things going on around him. I need to know who he is, and why I’m even here.
Just then the voices could be heard again, as if they were answering the questions in his thoughts.
Come with me, I’ll take you there.
To a place where you’ll see,
Everything you need,
To be the one
You need to be.
And all of those things,
Oh that you fear.
Will disappear
From you
In time.
The strange cat stopped at what seemed to be a dead end in the cave.
“Hey! Who are you?” Jayfeather growled as he finally caught up with him. “Where am I?! What’s all of this suppose to mean?”
The tom silently glanced over at Jayfeather before leaping into the wall of light. The voices seemed to be coming from the other side of the wall, and Jayfeather was now very irritated and afraid. He walked over towards the spot where the cat had been and began to spat.
“Foxdung! Why in StarClan’s name won’t that cat say something to me?! Even Yellowfang’s annoying visits make more sense than this!”
Then he noticed some movement on the other side, and the silhouette of a large animal. It stood up on its hind-legs and seemed to look at him. Every hair in Jayfeather’s pelt rose at this sight, and started backing away from the cave wall. He had never heard of any other creature besides Twolegs that could do that. The figure walked closer, still on only two legs, and lifted a paw towards him.
A large splayed paw emerged from the wall of light, and Jayfeather could see it had a mark that was shaped like the spirals he had seen earlier. The rest of the animal now came out of the wall to reveal a silvery dog or fox-like creature. In its other front paw it carried a stick with strange markings on it. Placing the stick in front of Jayfeather, the creature got back down on all fours, and stared at him with familiar green eyes. The voices now repeated a verse they had said before.
Everything will become clear to you,
When you see things through
Another’s eyes.
Everything will become clear to you,
Whatever’s meant for you
You will find.
In a flash the lights surrounding them were gone, and the cave walls returned to stone again. Jayfeather and the wolf stood where they were looking at one another. He remembered long ago from his first time to the Tribe about creatures called wolves, and he figured this matched the descriptions. He could smell his own fear scent as his eyes bulged widely and his fur stood up. This whole experience was just becoming too much for him. He prayed to StarClan that it would be over soon.

Faolan stared at the strange animal. It looked like a small mountain lion, except its fur was gray and stripped, and its eyes were blue! Faolan had never seen an animal with blue eyes before. As he moved closer, it started hissing at him, and realized that it must be terrified of him, judging by the fur rising and the fear scent around it.
Perhaps it might be easier if I changed back my pelt.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated and opened them again; he found himself in the form that he had taken earlier. The little mountain lion’s expression changed from fear to surprise, and then quickly to anger.
“You again?! Are you finally going to tell me now what’s going on? Who or what are you anyways?”
Faolan backed up a bit. This little mountain lion had a nasty temper, and seemed to have no idea what it was doing here. It also clearly thought Faolan had all the answers to its many questions.
“Urskadmus Tine Smyorfin Masch.” He muttered to himself, as he tried to think about what to say first, but soon found it hard to do when he felt something in his mind. Like as if someone was looking into his thoughts and memories.
Who are you? He heard a voice in his head speak. Realizing that the voice was from the little mountain lion he looked back at it. The creature’s unusual blue eyes seemed to bore past his own green ones.
“F-f-Faolan.” He finally managed to answer out loud. “Wolf of the Watch.”
The strange feeling in his head stopped and the little blue-eyed mountain lion looked at him with surprise and suspicion. “And who are you?” Faolan decided to ask.
It paused for a moment before replying. “My name is Jayfeather. ThunderClan’s medicine cat. But if you’re a wolf, how is it that you appear as a cat right now, and a while ago in these caves?”
A Cat…that’s what this Jayfeather called his kind. Faolan wasn’t sure how to explain that he had recently discovered he had the ability to shape-shift, and also that he had once been a bear named Ujurak in another life. Suddenly the strange feeling in his head happened again.
“Great StarClan…” The cat meowed more to himself than to Faolan. “This vision is just getting weirder.” Glancing back at Faolan he meowed. “Did you do all that stuff with the lights and voices and everything?”
“No…” Faolan spoke as he looked down at the stick of Ujurak. “I had never seen the Cave Before Time like that until I found…” He fell silent as he did not want to talk about the things he had experienced on the other side of the wall.
“I know how that can feel…Finding out that you had once been someone else long ago.”
Faolan looked up at Jayfeather in surprise. He realized now that this cat had somehow seen into his mind. “Yes, I looked into you.” Jayfeather admitted.
“But how did you do that?” Faolan asked the medicine cat.
“It’s a special power that I have same as with you.” Jayfeather examined the stick that lay between him and Faolan, moving his paw along its carvings.
Faolan noticed a changed expression in Jayfeather. He seemed entranced by it, as if he was recalling a distant memory. “Three must become four…” He murmured softly.
“What?” Faolan spoke up which caused Jayfeather to focus on him again.
“I think I now know my reason for being here. I’m supposed to find you.” He mewed in disbelief as his blue gaze met Faolan’s green eyes. “You are the fourth with the power of the stars to stop the darkness that is coming!”
“The fourth?” Faolan had no idea what he was talking about.
“Yes the fourth! “ Jayfeather replied irritatingly. “Along with me, my brother Lionblaze, and his former apprentice Dovewing. Like you, we have been given special powers to help save the clans from the Dark Forest. It seems that you must come to the Lake to help us-”
“Wait!” Faolan interrupted. “You mean cats have clans too? Dark Forest? Lake? How do I even find my way there from the Beyond? And it’s not like I can just get up and help. My kind is facing hard times as it is, and I can’t abandon my duties as a Watch wolf.”
“If you don’t help us, how long do you think before the Dark Forest is strong enough to destroy life on the Beyond as well?” Jayfeather’s pelt rose now as he growled. “How do you know that the things happening at the Lake and the Beyond aren’t connected?”
Faolan paused for a moment to think about this. Is he right? Could the Ember of Hoole being stolen have anything to do with this? Then he realized that they were no longer in the Cave Before Time, but in a small hollow near a pool. The rocks around the pool were smooth and seemed to have small depressions on them, like little paw-prints. He looked up and could see the stars and the half moon shinning its light on them.
“Welcome to the Moonpool Faolan.” A voice mewed softly at him.
Faolan turned around to see two she-cats approaching him and Jayfeather. One was white with black spots while the other was a silver tabby. Both seemed to have stars shimmering off their pelts and eyes. The silver tabby she-cat walked closer to him, she too had blue eyes.
“Greetings Faolan. My name is Feathertail, and this is Brambleberry.” She pointed with her tail towards the other she-cat. “We are cats of StarClan, the place where cats of the clans go to after death, and watch over and guide our Clanmates. But now all the clans including StarClan are under threat by the cats of the Dark Forest. They have been recruiting live clan cats, and training them to fight against us in the battle soon to come. The Dark Forest has become very powerful, and will destroy the clans unless you can help us.”
Faolan felt slightly overwhelmed. He had only found about his past life as a bear, and his new powers. Now being told that he needed to help some cat clans in a place he never knew about, was becoming hard to take in. Suddenly he felt his pelt being rubbed and nuzzled by Feathertail, and could not help but purr.
“You will not be facing this task alone Faolan. Your heart and spirit come from two different worlds, but together provide hope for all, and your pelt carries both the fate and the power of the stars. As long as you remember this, nothing can stop you.”
A heavy mist began to surround Faolan, he soon couldn’t even smell out Jayfeather or the two StarClan cats. Instead his nose was filled with that of a strange foul odour. His eyes finally noticed a light up ahead, so he moved towards it. A small fire burned in the clearing of a strange forest. Its light seemed to barely touch the surrounding trees. Faolan looked up to the sky and could not find a single star. His ears could pick up the sounds of screams, yowls and growls all around him out in the distance. His marrow stirred inside and his pelt rose high.
This must be the ‘Dark Forest’ the cats were talking about.
He looked back at the fire again and noticed something inside it. As he moved closer he realized that there was a small round object that seemed brighter than the fire itself. Faolan instantly knew it was the Ember of Hoole and was about rush over and see if he could somehow retrieve it. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted movement among the shadows. Just as he was about to turn around and face whatever was trying to flank him, he felt something land on top of him. Claws and teeth began to grip and tear his pelt.
Yowling in pain and rage he used his splayed paw to knock off his unseen attacker.
“An intruder, a would-be thief and a possible StarClan spy, you’ll soon regret stepping a paw in our forest.” A voice hissed near him.
Faolan growled back, but in a more wolf-like behaviour. “The only thieves I see here are you Cag Mag cats and Tine Smyorfin Masch you will all regret for laying a paw on the Ember!” With a tremendous leap in the starless air he changed back to a wolf. When he landed, the surrounding trees seemed filled with many glowing eyes glaring at him.
“Dark Forest warriors Attack!!!” A voice yowled loudly.
Faolan stood up on his hind legs and readied himself to battle. Letting out a grizzly roar he raised his splayed paw as the first shadowy wave of Dark Forest cats came towards him.
“Faolan! Faolan! Fa-Ow! Faolan wake up!!” A familiar voice suddenly cried out.
Faolan’s eyes opened up to the den he had been sleeping in. He felt his own heart pounding, and could smell blood and Dark Forest on him. Edme sat near by staring at him in pure fright as she was rubbing her nose with her paw.
“Faolan what happened?! I have never seen you dream like that before.” When she placed her paw down, she took another look at him with worry. “You smell horrible, you got scratches along your flank and back, and you seemed ready to tear the whole den apart.”
Faolan recalled what he had seen in his dream. He got up and said urgently.
“Edme, we need to talk to the Fengo! I saw it, and I know where it is and who has!!”
Edme turned her head to the side in confusion. “You don’t mean…”
“Yes!” He replied and went to a whisper. “I know what has become of the Ember of Hoole!”

The ferns rustled near the Ancient Oak and Lionblaze turned around to see Jayfeather and Dovewing bound out onto the path. In Jayfeather’s mouth was a strangely carved stick.
“I told you they were here.” Dovewing mewed.
“Okay big ears,” Jayfeather snapped after putting the stick down. His blind eyes drifted towards Hollyleaf. “We need to talk.”
Hollyleaf blinked. “With me?”
“Without you.” Jayfeather’s bluntness took Lionblaze by surprise. “I’m sorry Hollyleaf.” He shrugged. “But this is something only the Three can share.”
Hollyleaf dipped her head. “Okay.” She padded back down the trail. “I’ll hunt by the lake.” Her purr sounded forced. “I might be able to find something better than that limp sparrow you brought back earlier Lionblaze.” She was trying to tease but her eyes were saddened.
Lionblaze trailed his tail along her spine. “You always were the best hunter.”
“Thanks.” She headed off the path and disappeared into the ferns.
Lionblaze turned his attention to Jayfeather, and giving a quick glance at the stick lying near their paws. “So what is it?” Was the Dark Forest ready to attack? He unsheathed his claws.
“There is a lot I need to tell you both,” Jafeather announced. “I received a message from the Tribe of Endless Hunting when we were at the mountains.”
“The Tribe?” Dovewing weaved between them and sat down. “And you’re only telling us this now?” She mewed with surprise.
“Just listen okay.” Jafeather muttered back. “They said we had to find the fourth cat. And last night I found him.”
“The fourth cat?” Lionblaze tipped his head in confusion.
“In the prophecy.” Jayfeather meowed.
Dovewing shifted her paws. “But the prophecy says there will be three.”
“That was StarClan’s prophecy.” Jayfeather explained. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting told me something else: The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to challenge the darkness that lasts forever.”
Lionblaze felt his fur stand. “Do they think we can’t manage it ourselves?”
“Did we do something wrong?” Dovewing’s eyes clouded with worry.
Jayfeather flattened his ears. “Obviously not, and who cares?” He started pacing in front of them. “The fourth cat has been found…That is, I found him as a cat.”
Lionblaze tried to ignore the uneasiness in his belly. “Who is he then?”
“He said his name is Faolan.” Jayfeather halted.
Dovewing mewed in confusion. “That doesn’t sound like a clan cat name.”
Jayfeather turned to face her. “That’s because he is not from the Clans, and not an actual cat.”
Both Lionblaze and Dovewing’s eyes widened. Lionblaze tried to take in the new information that was spinning in his mind. “But…You just said-“
“I said I found him ‘as’ a cat.” Jayfeather interrupted. “He is actually a wolf who took the form of a cat. That’s his special power.”
“But how a can a wolf be part of the prophecy!?” Lionblaze was having a hard time believing what he was hearing.
Jayfeather placed a paw on the stick. “The carvings on here explain how. They are the final piece to the prophecy: When the Spirits dance above the Lake and the Ring burns. One whose pelt carries the stars’ fate and Hoole’s Ember returns. Wolf in spirit and Bear by heart is he beneath his form. River’s gift of hope shall join three before the dark storm.”
Lionblaze stared at the many markings and carvings that seemed to be gnawed on to the stick. “So you got all of that from this stick?” He remembered the last time Jayfeather had been so attached to a special stick. He said it could connect him to the spirits of Ancient cats of the lake.
“No!” Jayfeather snapped. “I got it from Faolan, who got it from the stick.” He sat down again and quickly moved on before anyone could say anything. “Now I think we need to ready ourselves for when Faolan comes here.”
“But how will we know when he comes, or if he even comes at all?”
“Are you mousebrained?!” Jayfeather growled. “He will come! And the prophecy said When the Spirits dance above the Lake. So when that happens, it will probably mean Faolan is arriving.”
Dovewing looked at the stick and then mewed. “Some of parts of that prophecy doesn’t make sense. ‘Ring burns’, ‘Hoole’s Ember’, ‘Bear’…What are those things?”
“A bear is like a cross between a badger and a dog, about as big as a horse, and can stand on its hindlegs, and is powerfully strong. Does that help?”
Lionblaze’s fur rose up at the thought of such a creature. Would I be able to even fight something like that and survive?
“Wow…Can Faolan change into that too?” Dovewing mewed with awe and a bit of fear.
Lionblaze was a bit surprised when Jayfeather answered more softly than usual.
“Yes. He may be a wolf, but he was raised by a bear.”
Dovewing’s eyes suddenly became bright again. “Maybe this won’t be so bad having him around after all. We might actually have a chance at defeating the Dark Forest.”
“Let’s hope so,” Jayfeather agreed. “In the meantime keep your senses up for either the Spirits dancing, or when Faolan approaches the Clans.”
Lionblaze looked at his brother. “And how will we know when that happens?”
“Trust me…We’ll know.” Jayfeather picked up the stick and headed back.
Lionblaze watched him go as his pelt prickling with irritation. Why did Jayfeather have to always keep such important stuff to himself until later on? He could tell there was something else about this Faolan that his brother hadn’t told them.
“Should we go hunting then?” Dovewing’s mew broke the silence as she shuffled her paws.
Lionblaze closed his eyes. “Go without me. I’ll see you later.”
“Oh…Okay.” He could hear her trotting off into the forest.
The world around Lionblaze seemed to shift beneath his paws: Cinderheart wasn’t Cinderheart, the three were now four, and the fourth happened to be a shape-shifting wolf. Nothing made any sense to him anymore. How could they win the battle to come if everything kept changing? Did StarClan know about Faolan? Could Lionblaze really trust him with the fate of the Clans? Would he be able to find them in time?
He sighed heavily and laid himself down, with a hollow belly, an aching heart and a buzzing head.

Edme’s head buzzed with confusion as she listened to Faolan recounting what he had experienced in his dream last night to the Gadderheal. She already heard some of it when they were in the den, but that didn’t mean she was any less surprised than the other wolves present. All had their green eyes fixed on Faolan, and their ears forward. Some had tipped their heads to their side, while others had bristled fur. When Faolan had finally finished, all was silent.
“This is rather disturbing if what you are saying is true Faolan.” Finbar, Fengo of the Watch spoke at last. “Since the time when the Watch was made we had always thought a Graymalkin would be a living owl, not mists of evil cats. And if they are in possession of the Ember…It could mean the end of the world as we know it. Even the cold and Famine Sickness will be nothing compared to the darkness that lies ahead if we do not retrieve the Ember of Hoole.”
All the wolves looked at one another in fear and the settled down as the Fengo continued.
“Faolan, since you know where the Ember is, it will be your mission to find and return it. Edme will come along with you of course.” He turned to look at the one-eyed wolf. Edme nodded back respectfully to him in thanks. “Anyone else you want to come along let me know. But you must be on your way soon.”