Dreamcloud opened her eyes and stretched as the first rays of sunlight shined through a hole in the roof of the barn, panic surging through Dreamcloud when she realized she wasn't in her cozy moss nest in the warriors' den.

Dreamcloud spotted Apple slipping down from a big pile of straw gracefully.

"Of course I'm not in the warriors den," Dreamcloud mewed, "I'm in Apple's weird twoleg cages."

Apple padded over to a pile of prey.

"I guess that is the fresh-kill pile," Dreamcloud mewed, peering at the pile of mice, voles, and rats.

"Hi! You're up!" Apple mewed nastily, nodding to an orange she-cat and a white tom, "Coral, Drift, go guard the cats in the cages while I give them fresh-kill."

The cage door opened, and Dreamcloud felt a desperate urge to overpower the rogue cats, and then drag all of her clanmates out and run back to the camp, but Dreamcloud knew that was impossible. Sighing, Dreamcloud sat down as Apple tossed a scrawny mouse in the cage, and Coral and Drift leaned against the cage.

"So, these are the cats whose responsibilities are guarding me and my clanmates," Dreamcloud thought indignantly.

Dreamcloud lay down and found that Whitepaw was waking up. Whitepaw jumped up excitedly, straw flying everywhere, and faced Dreamcloud excitedly.

"What are we doing today, Dreamcloud?" Whitepaw asked.

"Oh yeah," Whitepaw mewed gloomily, "We are in those twoleg shiny things called gaces, right?"

"Cages," Dreamcloud corrected.

"Oh yeah, nages," Whitepaw mewed.

Dreamcloud didn't bother to correct Whitepaw this time.

"Whitepaw, you're so noisy with all of your chattering," Snowfall grumbled, "I suppose no cat can sleep with you around."

Bristlefrost yawned and sat up.

Acornfall was still snoring gently. Dreamcloud licked him gently. Acornfall stirred, and sat up.

"I'm hungry," Whitepaw complained.

"We have this mouse," Dreamcloud mewed, nodding at the tiny, brown, furry body.

"How are all five of of us going to eat that?" Whitepaw mewed, his eyes wide.

"You guys can have it," Dreamcloud mewed, ignoring the hunger that tugged at her stomach.

"Are you sure?" Acornfall asked, his eyes wide and anxious, "You look half-starved!"

"Yeah, your belly is rumbling so loud I would think a badger broke in," Whitepaw teased.

"Yes," Snowfall observed, "You look like you haven't eaten in one hundred moons."

"I'll be fine," Dreamcloud insisted, though her belly seemed to be protesting what she was mewing.

"Do you think we would let you skip eating fresh-kill that we are eating and you're not?" Bristlefrost mewed.

Dreamcloud sighed and took a small bite of the scrawny mouse. She chewed the flesh and swallowed.

Although it was only one bite of the mouse, the bloody, delicious flavor seemed to comfort her stomach like a queen comforting her or a sad kit.

Dreamcloud pushed the mouse aside.

"You can have the rest," Dreamcloud mewed.

"But it was only one bite," Whitepaw protested.

"I'm full," Dreamcloud replied, although she felt only halfway full.

Whitepaw, Acornfall, Snowfall, and Bristlefrost each took a small bite.

There was still a tiny chunk of mouse meat. Dreamcloud's mouth watered at the smell.

"I think Bristlefrost should have it," Whitepaw announced.

"Yes, she's the oldest warrior in the hunting patrol, or the group that's locked up in a cage," Snowfall agreed.

"Which makes her our group elder," Acornfall added, turning to Dreamcloud, "What do you think?"

"What?" Dreamcloud asked, paralyzed by the smell of the tiny chunk of mouse, "Oh yeah, Bristlefrost should have it."

Bristlefrost shifted her paws, the light in her eyes half uneasy, half embarrassed.

"Why waste a good piece of mouse on me?" Bristlefrost asked.

"Just eat the chunk of mouse," Snowfall urged.

"Okay," Bristlefrost mewed, picking the chunk of mouse up, chewing it, and swallowing it.

"Now what do we do?" Whitepaw asked, kneading the straw with unsheathed claws, his eyes a wild light that showed he wanted to bust out of the cage and run as fast as his paws could take him, Snowfall, Dreamcloud, Acornfall, and Bristlefrost by his side.

Dreamcloud actually agreed with Whitepaw for once about running. Her paws itched to feel it dash around bushes and trees. She felt like an unretired elder who doesn't even get ticks taken off of her, and a pile of straw for her bed that doesn't even have any feathers for lining the tips of the straw.

"We think about what Apple said," Snowfall mewed grimly, "Which I

will just say I will not tell him where the camp is."

"I couldn't agree more," Whitepaw mewed.

Dreamcloud saw Acornfall staring at the roof of the barn solemnly.

"I get it now," Acornfall mewed, "I am the cat from the prophecy."

"Acornfall?" Dreamcloud mewed, waving her tail in front of Acornfall's eyes.

"Acornfall?" Dreamcloud repeated.

"Dreamcloud, I'm the cat from the prophecy!" Acornfall exclaimed, "The prey is a squirrel, and the food is acorns, and what the acorns mean is me!"

Dreamcloud stared at Acornfall in terror.

"You can't be!" Dreamcloud yowled, "Our kits need you, I need you, the Clan needs you, and you just can't, my love!"

Acornfall shook his head sadly.

"Come on, tell our Clanmates that we will trick the rogues," Acornfall mewed, "Tell them to say yes and I will say no, I will warn Rosebreeze and Alderheart in their dreams, There will be an emergency Gathering, and all of the Clans will stand together and fight off the DeathClan cats, and I overheard that Apple died, but the Dark Forest cats gave half of their spirit to save Apple's, so when Apple dies, all the Dark Forest cats disappear, so some cat will have to kill Apple at the battle."

"Hey!" Apple greeted hastily, "Time for the second meal of the day!"

"How many meals are there?" Dreamcloud asked curiously.

"Three," Apple replied.

Coral and Drift stepped aside, and the cage door opened.

Apple tossed in a plump vole.

Dreamcloud felt a bit more satisfied with the vole than the scrawny mouse.

"At least we will have more than one bite," Dreamcloud thought.

Coral and Drift leaned back on the cage after Apple used his nose to lift it up.

Dreamcloud saw another chance to escape, but her Clanmates' backs were turned on her and Acornfall was so sure that he was the cat from the prophecy, he didn't even notice the cage door open and close.

"Hey, I'm hungry again!" Whitepaw whined.

"You sound like a kit," Snowfall teased, cuffing Whitepaw's ear playfully, "Perhaps you should go back to the nursery if we make it back to camp while Icepaw becomes a warrior."

"No way!" Whitepaw snarled.

"I was just teasing," Snowfall mewed, annoyed, "You don't have to be so serious about what I just said!"

"Whitepaw is right about something," Bristlefrost mewed, "I'm famished!"

"Dreamcloud?" Whitepaw rasped, "Why don't we have fresh-kill yet?"

"We do," Dreamcloud replied.

Whitepaw heaved himself to his paws, his ribs showing beneath his fur.

"Where is it?" Whitepaw asked eagerly.

Dreamcloud pushed the plump vole over to Whitepaw.

"You can have the first bite of vole," Dreamcloud mewed kindly.

"Yes!" Whitepaw exclaimed, "I mean, thank you!"

"No problem," Dreamcloud purred.

Whitepaw chewed the piece of vole thoughtfully.

"You can have the second bite of the vole," Whitepaw mewed to Snowfall.

Snowfall dipped her head gratefully and tore off a piece of vole, munching on it hungrily.

"Bristlefrost," Snowfall called, "Ready for the third bite of the vole?"

Bristlefrost nodded.

"You know it!" Bristlefrost mewed, tearing off a chunk of vole.

"Acornfall, you should eat next," Bristlefrost mewed.

"What?" Acornfall asked.

"Bristlefrost mewed that you should eat next," Dreamcloud whispered in Acornfall's ear.

"Oh, okay," Acornfall mewed, tearing off a mouthful of vole chewing it, and swallowing it.

Acornfall sat down and stared at the roof of the barn again.

Dreamcloud took a bite of vole and swallowed.

"Hey, look!" Whitepaw yowled, "Two more mouthfuls of vole!"

Snowfall turned to Bristlefrost, nodding at her.

Dreamcloud guessed what Snowfall meant.

"Of course, Bristlefrost will eat the last two mouthfuls of vole," Dreamcloud thought, feeling a twinge of envy rising up in her that Bristlefrost will eat the most again.

Bristlefrost looked uncomfortable.

"Why don't Acornfall and Dreamcloud eat?" Bristlefrost suggested.

Dreamcloud brightened up a little.

"Thank you," Dreamcloud mewed, biting into the vole and chewing the mouthful. Dreamcloud gulped, and brought the last piece of vole over to Acornfall.

Acornfall didn't even glimpse at the fresh-kill.

Dreamcloud glared at Apple with contempt and unmistakable hatred shining in her eyes.

"How do you know about the Clans?" Dreamcloud asked, suspicion pricking at her at every word she uttered.

Apple replied, "I met some cats, they were rogues and they told the story of Darktail, who their father and mother were loyal to, and their group was called The Kin, which I led for a while, I gathered plenty of rogues that followed me, I found The Dark Forest cats, and we became great allies, After a while, I changed our name to DeathClan, The Dark Forest cats gave even more rogues the power to come here when they go to sleep, just like in the brutal training sessions they used to hold in the Dark Forest where when the clan cats sleep, they wake up in the Dark Forest, Plus, there are even more rogues with the Dark Forest cats that are guarding the other Starclan cats, and other rogues that are working on ideas to convince you ThunderClan cats to join DeathClan!"

Dreamcloud's jaws dropped in shock.

"More rogues!" Dreamcloud echoed, disbelief washing over her.

"Yes," Apple mewed calmly.

Dreamcloud sighed and squeezed her way over to her pile of hay for her bed and sat down, her neck craning over a little bit so she wouldn't hit the top of the cage.

"Let me out of this nage!" Whitepaw wailed, slamming his paws against the cage.

Dreamcloud sighed. She looked miserable as she began to speak.

"So," Dreamcloud mewed.

All the ThunderClan prisoners raised their muzzles and fixed their gaze on Dreamcloud.

"I will say yes, I will tell them where the camp is," Dreamcloud mewed.

"Traitor!" Bristlefrost hissed, leaping at Dreamcloud when she hit herself on the top of the cage.

"Please, let me explain," Dreamcloud mewed.

Bristlefrost narrowed her eyes. Then, she nodded reluctantly.

"This better be good for betraying ThunderClan," Bristlefrost growled.

Dreamcloud knew that Bristlefrost was fiercely loyal to ThunderClan, and she hated traitors to it.

"I would never betray ThunderClan," Dreamcloud promised.

"So," Dreamcloud continued softly so Coral and Drift wouldn't hear her meowing.

"You all will say yes at the end of the moon, except Acornfall," Dreamcloud mewed, glancing at the horrified, wide eyes of Whitepaw, the bristling fur of Snowfall, Bristlefrost, who was baring her fangs at Dreamcloud, and Acornfall, who gave Dreamcloud a small nod.

"Why?" Whitepaw asked, "You've always been so loyal to ThunderClan, Dreamcloud."

"Ahh, but we will trick them," Dreamcloud explained.

Dreamcloud sighed in relief when she saw her Clanmates relax.

"Then what do we do?" Whitepaw asked eagerly.

Dreamcloud felt grief stabbing at her like every part of her was torn apart, worse than any injury could ever hurt, even if a gash in her belly was ripped open, or plenty of thorns were stabbing at her paws as she spoke.

"Acornfall plans to tell the rogues that he will never tell them where the camp is after his last meal for his life," Dreamcloud murmured, half to herself, and her gaze clouding with sadness as if she was a blind elder, "He will visit Alderheart and Rosebreeze in their dreams and tell them to hold an emergency Gathering for all the clans, they will practice battle skills against the Dark Forest and then when the day comes, me and Whitepaw will volunteer to come, but we will fight against the rogues, not with them, Bristlefrost will free the trapped StarClan cats in the Dark Forest since her mother was Ivystar, who trained in the Dark Forest when she was still Ivypaw and Ivypool, Snowfall will free the trapped StarClan cats here by tricking the rogues somehow, you too Bristlefrost, and then both of you lead them to ThunderClan territory, while all of the clan cats are fighting there, have the StarClan cats fight too, and some cat will have to kill Apple, and then there will be no more trouble from the Dark Forest because the Dark Forest cats gave half their spirit to save Apple's, then all of this horrible things will end and StaClan can return to StarClan's Hunting Grounds, while we will have no more trouble from DeathClan."

"I thought you would give your life to save Acornfall's, "Whitepaw mewed.

"Yes," Snowfall remarked.

Dreamcloud sighed, "I would, but Acornfall's destiny is to end up in StarClan, He is the cat from the prophecy, The prey is a squirrel, and the food is acorns, which is referring to him, This is the only way to solve this,"

"I wouldn't give a mousetail to these rogues, and I'll never let myself and you guys stay here," Bristlefrost agreed grudgingly, "I can't believe I would let a clanmate die without doing anything about it though.

"Last meal!" Apple announced, beckoning to Coral and Drift to step aside, their eyes burning on Dreamcloud and her clanmates as if they would try to escape.

Apple tossed in a rat and nosed his way under the cage and made it rise a bit so that Coral and Drift could lean on it again.

Dreamcloud fought the urge that told her to scamper away and let her Clanmates stay here, but her instinct told her to stay and help her Clanmates.

Dreamcloud spun around to see Snowfall nosing Whitepaw gently, who was staggering to his paws unsteadily. Bristlefrost was bunching her muscles to spring on the two members of Deathclan, which would surprise them while she and her clanmates would run back to Thunderclan. Acornfall was just staring at his paws.

Dreamcloud felt a rush of frustration.

"Couldn't Acornfall see that we could escape right now?" Dreamcloud thought indignantly.

Then Dreamcloud remembered that the Starclan cats were still trapped.

A yowl sent Dreamcloud's fur bristling in alarm when she realized it was Whitepaw.

"Eww! I'm not eating that!" Whitepaw screamed, "That's crowfood!"

Dreamcloud knew what he meant when she spotted a rat in the cage.

"Hush, dear," Snowfall scolded sternly, "It's what we have."

Dreamcloud took a cautious step forward and sniffed the rat warily.

"It's fresh, so it will be okay to eat," Dreamcloud mewed reluctantly, taking a bite of rat.

Every cat took a bite of rat. The rat was big, so every cat got three bites of rat.

Dreamcloud leaned against Acornfall and stared at him lovingly, who nuzzled Dreamcloud's cheek and purred.

"Don't worry, I will always be with you, even in StarClan." Acornfall reassured Dreamcloud.

"I will never tell you where our camp is!" Acornfall exclaimed.

"Are you sure you don't want any more time to think?" Apple asked.

"No," Acornfall replied confidently.

"Eagle!" Apple called, "Go kill Acornfall, or I guess that's his name!"

A black and white tom bounded over and dipped his head.

"With pleasure," Eagle replied.

Acornfall was escorted out of the cage by Coral and Drift and Eagle loomed over Acornfall.

Eagle stayed there for a moment and then he stepped aside, revealing Acornfall lying in a pool of blood, his throat slashed, his head lolling, and his sightless amber eyes locking with Dreamcloud's eyes.

Dreamcloud let out a low wail of grief. In her sadness, she tripped over her paws and slumped down onto the straw.

Whitepaw bowed his head solemnly while Snowfall gave Acornfall a few licks on his shoulder.

"You have been a great clanmate, Acornfall," Bristlefrost began.

"We will never forget you," Snowfall added.

"May you find swift running, good hunting, and shelter where you sleep in Starclan, Acornfall," Whitepaw squeaked, though he looked uneasy as if he wasn't sure if what he mewed was right.

Dreamcloud glanced at Whitepaw.

"This is the first time he ever experienced a death," Dreamcloud sympathized, "And medicine cats usually speak those words."

Dreamcloud blinked at her clanmates, grateful they had paid their respects to Acornfall.

"Can I make dirt?" Dreamcloud asked.

Apple narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Dreamcloud's eyes were an innocent gleam of surprise.

After a few heartbeats, Apple nodded.

"Guard her," Apple mewed, facing an orange she-cat with black paws, a black tail, black ears, and a black patch on her eye and back, and nodding to Acornfall's body, "And go throw this body out for the eagles and hawks to eat."

"I'll never join you if you do that," Dreamcloud threatened.

After a few moments of hesitation, Apple nodded.

"Go cover the body with straw," Apple ordered, "Don't pay the usual respects as one of our warriors die to join the Dark Forest though."

"Will we go capture Acornfall's spirit?" the orange she-cat with black paws, a black tail, black ears, and a black patch on her eye and back asked.

"No, Frilly," Apple replied, although his gaze was full of regret, "We don't have enough cats to bring his spirit here right now."

Frilly bowed her head and mewed curtly to Dreamcloud, "Come on, are you going to stay there all night?"

Dreamcloud followed Frilly out of the barn, breathing in the fresh air of new-leaf.

"Done?" Frilly growled.

"Yes," Dreamcloud replied, digging a hole.

Dreamcloud stared at the starless sky. Then she froze.

"What if he doesn't get to StarClan?" Dreamcloud wondered in horror.

Dreamcloud looked at her paws. Then, a bright light shined on Dreamcloud other than the moon.

"Acornfall!" Dreamcloud thought, staring at the one star in the sky, joy seeping through her pelt, "He made it!"

"How does DeathClan life go?" Dreamcloud asked, determined to have a chance to gather information she could use against her enemies.

"We start as our name and add kit to the end, after we become an apprentice, we add paw to the end of our name," Frilly began, "When I became a warrior, I was Frillytail."

"Why are you Frilly now, then?" Dreamcloud asked.

"Wait a second, why should I be telling you these things?" Frilly snarled.

"You can trust me," Dreamcloud replied, her heart sinking.

Dreamcloud didn't like lying, but it was the only way to gain more information about DeathClan.

"Apple got frustrated coming up with names for us with the Dark Forest cats," Frilly explained, "He decided to just strip out the last part of our name."

"He held a ceremony," Frilly continued, "He stripped out the last part of our names, I was so proud of my warrior name, But then, my warrior name turned into plain old Frilly."

"Kits suckle at their mother's belly," Frilly mewed, "Apple wants a lot of warriors so lots of enemies are dead, but he doesn't want kits to die at a really young age, so he apprentice's them when they become four and a half moon old."

"Better than Brokenstar I suppose," Dreamcloud muttered under her breath.

"He gives them two and a half moons of training as an apprentice," Frilly mewed, "They pick out the elders' ticks, and they don't tell them stories like you clan cats do, just inform them of their life and teach them how to give enemies a slow painful death, They bring in hawk feathers to put on their straw beds to make it comfortable, Again they teach them how to fight mercilessly and how to kill, Apprentices also learn to fight, We learn to kill, We let the elders, queens, and kits eat first, We have our own code called Code of Death and it has rules, The first rule is if we betray DeathClan, then our body will be ripped to shreds after the DeathClan leader kills the cat, The DeathClan leader puts the body outside the barn so hawks and eagles to eat."

"Go on," Dreamcloud encouraged.

"Rule number two is that you must kill any cat that comes within the barn and two more tree-lengths," Frilly mewed, "We could still hunt wherever we want and any cat that challenges us is dead."

"Rule number three is you must never try to reason with a cat during battle," Frilly mewed.

"Rule number four is kits can't play with food," Frilly continued, "If they do, they will lose the privilege to eat first for one moon because we can't have future warriors starving to death before they become one, but they wasted food we could have eaten."

"Rule number five is y-" Frilly mewed.

"That took really long," Apple interrupted, "Are you going to sit there gossiping until dawn?"

"Come on," Apple growled.

"Our code has ten rules," Frilly mewed, "Our strengths are killing cats and spilling blood."

"You can do it Acornfall," Dreamcloud whispered, "Visit Alderheart and Rosebreeze in their dreams."

She felt Frilly watching her and she padded her way into the barn.

Coral used her paw to lift the cage door open while Dreamcloud slid into the cage as Coral put her paw down.

"During the battle, I will have to make the DeathClan cats kill their clanmates," Dreamcloud murmured uneasily.

Dreamcloud didn't like it when the death of a cat lay in her paws. The warrior code said to never kill unless absolutely necessary, but Dreamcloud knew that this was necessary. If she didn't make the DeathClan cats kill each other, the clans might lose. It would ruin everything-the Clans' reputation, their mercy, and their honor.

Dreamcloud sighed and drifted off to sleep.