| abstract | - "Get off me," groaned Rainkit. A heavy dark brown tom was laying on her, and she shoved him off. "Mosskit!" Mosskit woke with a start. His head brushed the bramble bush under which was the nursery, and he glared at his younger denmate before rolling over in his nest of moss and bracken, snuggling closer to his mother, Orchidtail, and his sister, Littlekit, before falling back asleep with his paw over his ears. Now that she was awake, Rainkit peered out of the nursery and saw warriors trotting back and forth, and a large tortoiseshell she-cat sitting on top of the Highledge, grooming her paws, while a dark gray tom paced beneath her, giving her a report. The tortoiseshell she-cat leaped down into the hollow of the camp, and called to the tom. "Pebblecloud, assemble a border patrol, if you will, make sure all's quiet on the ShadowClan border. I'm going to lead a hunting patrol. Weaselnose! Get Scorchpaw. You're going to come on a hunting patrol with Firepaw and myself!" A dark ginger tom, who was washing himself next to the warriors' den, looked up and nodded to his leader. "Will do, Twilightstar." He poked his head into a crevice in the tall cliff rising up around the camp, and called, "Scorchpaw! Get up! We're going on a hunting patrol!" Moments later a dark red she-cat came padding out, blearily blinking sleep from her tired eyes, but brightened when she saw her her denmate, a ginger she-cat, standing next to the leader. "Firepaw!" "You're up early," purred Firepaw, nuzzling her younger denmate. She looked up at Twilightstar, who was also her mentor. "Where are we going to go?" "How about the abandoned Twoleg Nest?" ventured Weaselnose. "That's always rich in prey." "Great idea," mewed Twilightstar. "Come on." Rainkit drew her head back into the nursery. Her mother, Stormflight, was still snoring loud as a badger, so Rainkit settled down and began to wash her paws. Even though it was almost sunhigh, the queens and the kits were still asleep, though Littlekit appeared to be stirring, her cream-colored pelt gleaming slightly in the sunlight that cascaded through the arms of the bramble bush. "Rainkit!" Rainkit jerked around towards the camp when she heard a cat call her name, but no cat was looking towards the nursery. She went back to washing her paws. "Rainkit!" The voice again. Rainkit poked her head out of the nursery, and glanced both ways, but again, saw no cat. "Rainkit!" Rainkit looked up to see a light gray she-cat with starry fur sitting in the nursery next to a darker gray cat and a strong, golden-brown cat. "Rainkit." Rainkit began to tremble, but the she-cat smiled kindly. "It's okay, little one. We have come to you to tell you something." "About the Great Battle," interrupted the darker gray tom, whose blue eyes glinted sightlessly. "The Dark Forest and some bitter, neglected, left out cats against the rest of us and StarClan." "The battle in which all three of us died," mewed the golden cat. "I am Lionblaze, Rainkit. I couldn't be injured in battle, but that battle was one in which I was destined to get hurt...and I died." "I am Jayfeather. I was a medicine cat, and I could see in my dreams. I also had a special connection with cats of the past..." "And I am Dovewing. My senses are stronger than other cats', I can extend them far away, I can see things at the edge of the forest, hear conversations in other camps," meowed the pale silver-gray she-cat. "Together," chorused all three. "We are the Three." Jayfeather turned to Lionblaze, and Dovewing settled down beside Stormflight, licking her gently between the ears. "This is my great granddaughter," Dovewing mewed. She turned her pale golden gaze on Rainkit. "You are my great-great-granddaughter. My daughter's son's daughter is Stormflight. My sister is Ivypool." "Ivypool?" Rainkit gasped. Ivypool was one of the elders, the oldest in the Clan. She was virtually blind, and half deaf. "Yes, Ivypool," mewed Dovewing, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "She is one of the only survivors of the Great Battle." "How come she survived?" breathed Rainkit, her green eyes wide. "Because she was a traitor, at the beginning," growled Jayfeather, and Dovewing whipped around, her neck fur beginning to bristle. "She was not a traitor!" hissed Dovewing. "She didn't know." She turned to Rainkit. "My sister had joined the Dark Forest at the beginning, not knowing what they were planning because she felt neglected. She didn't know why I was receiving special attention, and it made her feel terrible. I didn't know why, and we frequently fought about it. In the end, I told her, and Lionblaze and Jayfeather convinced her to spy for us on the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest believed she was on their side for the whole battle. They never realized that she was killing the Dark Forest cats, because none of them ever lived to tell the others." "Wow." "And then, of course, we were killed as well," interjected Jayfeather. "By Tigerstar, no less." "You were killed by Tigerstar. Brokenstar has vanished out of the Dark Forest for good. He's faded. But we were both killed in the end," Lionblaze said with a sigh. "If only we had lived." "You might have been dead by now," reminded Dovewing. Rainkit just stared at the Three fearfully. "So why are you....why did you come to me?" "You have a great destiny, Rainkit," said Jayfeather, turning his blind gaze on the kit, who flinched. "But fire, yes, fire, will be your destruction. Be warned." "Like Firepaw?" echoed Rainkit, but the three cats were already fading, as Stormflight sat up. "Rainkit, just who are you talking to?" "StarClan," muttered Rainkit, too low for her mother to hear. And then she realized: She had forgotten to ask the Three who had won the battle.
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