The Third Verse

[{:Moonchaser:}]

Froggy's read this story before, haven't you Froggeh? It's alright, not the greatest and not my favorite story that I've ever written.
Below are the allegiances and then I will start with the prologue and the first chapter.
smilz

---

LakeColony

Leader- Riverheart- Long-haired white tom with one bright blue eye
Apprentice: Fishpelt

Lead-she-cat- Runningfoot- Swift white she-cat with black spots and bright green eyes
Apprentice: Snowshadow

Herb-cat- Bluestorm- Dark brown tom with dark blue eyes

Males
Mudfang- Aging tortoiseshell tom with long legs
Apprentice: Sandclaw
Goldenthroat- Handsome light brown tom with a golden chest & distinctive golden eyes
Icetalon- Huge long-haired white tom with a dark gray tail-tip
Apprentice: Flowercreek
Blackfur- Elderly tom with a long, sleek black pelt; oldest cat in LakeColony

Females
Amberfoot- Golden/brown she-cat with white paws and dark green eyes
Apprentice: Nighthawk
Dimflower- Young white she-cat with gray tabby spots
Rowanwhisker- Flame-colored she-cat with unusual dark ginger spots
Thunderfrost- Once-pretty black she-cat with a small white diamond on her chest
Spottedclaw- Long-haired she-cat with black and orange spots
Apprentice: Bearfur
Drizzleclaw- Pale gray tabby she-cat with white paws and silver eyes
Shadowflower- Long-haired black she-cat with big yellowish-green eyes

Apprentices
Fishpelt- Slender silver/blue she-cat with green eyes
Snowshadow- Smoky white, almost gray tom with striking amber eyes
Sandclaw- Fierce pale ginger she-cat
Flowercreek- Beautiful tortoiseshell and white she-cat
Nighthawk- Dark tabby tom with yellow-green eyes
Bearfur- Large black tom with a brown muzzle









GreenColony

Leader- Tawnyclaw- Old tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes

Lead-she-cat- Yellowstripe- Aging yellow tabby tom

Herb-cat- Raintail- Pale blue/gray she-cat with icy silver eyes

Males
Shadowfur- Smokey black tom with stony colored eyes
Apprentice: Rushtail
Lionpelt- Long-haired golden tom with a darker chest and underbelly
Apprentice: Crowtail
Brackenfrost- Light brown/golden tom with large ears
Apprentice: Gingerflower
Brambletalon- Red/brown and black tabby tom
Apprentice: Smokeshadow

Females
Silvercloud- Beautiful silver/gray tabby she-cat with pretty blue eyes
Whiteface- Dark brown she-cat with a white face and amber eyes
Apprentice: Rabbitclaw
Lightpelt- Pale gray she-cat with a gray muzzle
Mistflower- Pretty, young gray/blue she-cat
Apprentice: Wolftail

Apprentices
Rushtail- Long-haired dark brown tabby tom
Crowtail- Small black tom with a noticeably shiny pelt
Gingerflower- Beautiful ginger she-cat with bright green eyes
Smokeshadow- Gray tom with a dark gray tail-tip
Rabbitclaw- Small unusually spotted gray she-cat with one white foot
Wolftail- Black she-cat with piercing yellow eyes












HighColony
Leader- Startail- Dark gray she-cat with a lighter tail and fierce green eyes

Lead-tom- Barkfoot- Long-haired dark brown tom with bright green eyes
Apprentice: Snowleaf

Herb-cat- Darktail- Small long-haired black tom with large ears

Males
Tigerfang- Dark brown tabby tom with broad shoulders and sharp fangs
Apprentice: Gorsetooth
Thornfang- Dark brown tom with large, darker paws and bright eyes
Tangleclaw- Gentle-hearted golden/brown tabby tom with a short tail
Apprentice: Oakfoot
Nightfur- Old black tom with no front claws
Longfur- Long-haired ginger tom with a flat face
Brokenfang- Dark gray tom with cream cheeks, feet, and underbelly

Females
Mountainpelt- Dark gray she-cat with white ears and tail-tip
Squirrelwhisker- Dark ginger tabby she-cat
Owlpelt- Pale gray she-cat with darker gray tabby markings
Dapplepelt- Old she-cat with flecks of orange, black and brown on her back
Elmflower- Pretty, dark tabby she-cat with striking silver eyes
Brightshadow- White she-cat with large black spots and bright blue eyes

Apprentices
Snowleaf- White she cat with a gray face
Gorsetooth- Small white tom with black splotches
Oakfoot- Swift long-haired brown/red tom















LowColony
Leader- Blazefur- Long-haired red she-cat with a raspy meow

Lead-tom- Grayfang- Dark gray tom with very sharp teeth

Herb-cat- Duststripe- White tom with a long gray tabby spot on his back
Apprentice: Cloudpool

Males
Oakfur- Long-haired reddish/brown tom with a shorter tail
Snowfang- White/Silver tom with aqua-blue eyes
Apprentice: Tornfur
Lightfrost- Gray tom with small paws and long, furry tail
Apprentice: Deadeye
Grayfang- Dark gray tom with very sharp teeth
Duststripe- White tom with a long gray tabby spot on his back
Stonetalon- Young tom with a dark gray pelt and long tail
Granitefang- Dark gray tom with cold blue eyes

Females
Willowstream- Young pale gray she-cat
Apprentice: Roseheart
Cindercreek- Pale gray tabby she-cat with pretty green eyes.
Frostear- Pretty silver/white she-cat with bright green eyes
Apprentice: Sunpelt
Morningfoot- Golden/yellow she-cat with white feet and tail-tip

Apprentices
Cloudpool- Small white she-cat with bright blue eyes
Tornfur- Cream colored tom with light brown splotches on his face, paws and tail
Deadeye- Long-haired yellow tom with one blind eye
Roseheart- Light brown/red tabby she-cat
Sunpelt- Bright golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes














DarkColony

Leader- Ashenfoot- Pale gray spotted she-cat with crystal blue eyes

Lead-tom- Flametail- White tom with flame-colored tabby spots
Apprentice: Cedarfang
Herb-cat- Smallclaw- Cream/tan tom with darker shaded areas

Males
Reedfoot- Handsome dark ginger tom
Battleface- Battle-scarred black tom with white paws
Darkstorm- Long-haired dark brown tom with long legs
Wet-tail- Young, silver/blue tom with icy blue eyes
Swiftclaw- White tom with dark ginger tabby splotches
Shadefoot- Huge long-haired dark gray tabby tom with broad shoulders
Apprentice: Windfur
Ashstripe- Mottled dark gray tabby tom

Females
Silverbrook- Young silver she-cat with icy blue eyes
Dawnthroat- Golden/Brown she-cat with a white throat
Apprentice: Mapleclaw
Speckleflower- Aging, once-pretty she-cat with a dappled coat
Fernheart- Pale tortoiseshell she-cat with distinctive ginger ears

Apprentices
Cedarfang- Dark brown tom with a long tail
Windfur- Very pale gray tabby she-cat
Mapleclaw- Light brown tabby she-cat

[{:Moonchaser:}]

now remember, this is a work in progress (well actually, it's finished, i just don't want to edit 70 pages [typed, yes it's long] of story) so if there is any mistakes or things that don't make sense, that's why.

PROLOGUE

THE MOON SHONE THROUGH A BREAK in the clouds, turning the thick fog into a silver blanket, warming the forest on the cold winter night. A brown and black tabby tom padded gingerly over the layer of ice on the snow-covered ground. As he reached the edge of the trees, a light with a comforting pale yellow glow flicked on above the large wooden door. He began to knead the wood with his paws but quickly gave up as he lost feeling in his tail. Skittering swiftly to the barn, he gracefully curled into a ball on the sweet-smelling tawny hay and closed his eyes. A sour smell entered the barn and the tabby winced at the scent and stood up, his hackles rising as he unsheathed his claws. After turning around in a circle, a white tom unexpectedly whirled at him from behind. He viciously tore at the Tame’s back with his thorn-sharp claws. Soon, the tabby fell limply to the ground; dead.
The attacker grinned maliciously and flicked his tail to two other toms and a young she-cat watching intently from the shadow of the barn. They followed the snow-white tom out, the she-cat step with him.
“Did you learn something tonight?” the tom growled coldly.
“Yes,” she gulped nervously; lowering her head under her prime’s icy blue gaze. He nodded to her and bounded ahead.
The five passed a lake before reaching their camp: a large open area, protected by a fencing of trees. A long-haired black she-cat with a swollen belly trotted up to the group. The apprentice slinked away to her den as the she-cat asked the white tom,
“Did Timber make it to his barn?”
“I’m very sorry, Shadowflower,” he replied sadly. “When we reached his…home after patrolling the area, we found his body slaughtered.”
Shadowflower’s bright chartreuse eyes glazed with grief as she looked into the other cat’s one eye for the truth, but didn’t find the one she was looking for. The other three toms followed her slowly as she ran to the den. The murderer smiled and sauntered to his bed.

CHAPTER ONE

AN UNUSUALLY SPOTTED PALE GRAY SHE-CAT sat alone in the tall sagebrush as a light rain began to fall from the darkening sky. In front of her on a large foothill, six trees stood closely together, swaying in the forceful wind. Each of the sycamores represented one of the six colonies of cats. On the night of the new moon, the leader of every colony met under the protective branches when the trees glittered blue.
Her crystal blue eyes flickered with curiosity as a large white tom with seven other cats following approached her.
“Riverheart?” she called, standing up and shaking the moisture out of her sleek fur. Ashenfoot had known Riverheart since her first Uniting when they had met as apprentices.
“Yes, Ashenfoot,” the tom replied, blinking his one eye respectively in the presence of the leader. “I am here to represent LakeColony.”
The she-cat was very curious as to why Riverheart was here and not the leader of LakeColony; Brackenheart, but she held her tongue. It wouldn’t be proper to talk of such matters except under Blue Trees.
“Ah, this is Flametail,” Ashenfoot added as a young orange spotted white tom appeared by her flank, “My lead-tom.”
The two toms touched noses in greeting as a gust of wind roughly ruffled their fur.
“This weather isn’t even for the birds. We should wait for the others in Blue Trees,” Flametail suggested loudly.
Ashenfoot flicked her slim, silver tail in agreement and the ten cats scrambled through the small gap between two trees into the dark opening.
“You have had quite a journey from LakeColony territory, Riverheart. You and your companions should rest before the Uniting. I will wake you up when it starts,” the she-leader growled kindly.
Riverheart bowed his head thankfully and curled up in a corner and, the other cats following his lead, laid down around him. Wrapping his white, plumed tail in front of his nose, Riverheart closed his eye and fell asleep.

Back at Riverheart’s colony, a beautiful young white she-cat with pale gray tabby splotches was sitting alone by the lake, scuffing the sand with a paw. She had become a warrior not even five suns ago under the watchful training of Rowanwhisker.
Sandclaw! She growled to herself. Sandclaw was an older apprentice who was the nuisance of the colony. Dimflower had been told to take Sandclaw out on a patrol while Sandclaw’s prime; Mudfang, was at the Uniting. Now the she-cat was waiting for the apprentice by the border.
As the wind picked up, casting large whitecaps over the lake, Dimflower picked up the strong scent of LowColony. Dimflower jumped to her feet, her heart racing and claws unsheathed as the bushes to her left rustled.
“Where have you been?” the she-cat scolded, running over to a young pale ginger she-cat and cuffing her on the ear.
Sandclaw shrugged, sitting down and licking a paw, bringing it over her face. Dimflower groaned inwardly, her whiskers twitching angrily. She snorted in frustration and turned around; calling over her shoulder, “Follow me.”
“Not yet,” Sandclaw replied. Dimflower stopped, slowly turned around, her eyes blazing with fury.
“What?” She spat, biting her tongue to try to keep herself from clawing the apprentice’s ears off. Sandclaw was really trying her best to lose her whiskers by ignoring a warrior.
“We have to wait for Snowshadow; I invited him to join us,” the she-cat replied simply.
Snowshadow was Sandclaw’s brother. The siblings had been the second surviving litter of Redheart, a hero to all of the colonies. Redheart had been a warrior for three months when he found the courage to bring the five colonies together to defeat a threat that would’ve killed them all. Their father had been murdered a few moons before their birth.
Moments after the she-cats lay down to wait; Snowshadow appeared through the same part in the bushes his sister had come through.
“I tracked her!” The young tom announced joyfully.
“Good for you,” Sandclaw snorted in a bored tone.
“But Sandclaw-”
“Can we please get going now?” Dimflower hissed, interrupting the disgruntled tom.
Sandclaw followed behind the young warrior and Snowshadow took the end, his long, furry tail dragging on the dusty ground and his ears flat against his head.

Riverheart bounded swiftly along the shore, his paws sinking deep into the wet sand with each long stride. Riverheart was young again, and, seeing through two eyes, he felt a powerful vigor flowing through his body.
As he neared the sandbar to the east of camp, a dog from a Two-foot place jumped onto him and suddenly, his young age disappeared and he was sent flying into the water. When the icy wetness receded from his face, the white tom opened only one eye. Another whitecap crashed over him, sending Riverheart sprawling back into the water. His strength seeped out of Riverheart’s fur as his older age returned and he felt soft, yet reassuring ground under his paws. The cat scrambled onto dry sand, and fell down, panting and choking out lake water. As Riverheart looked up, his mother and father, Frozenpelt and Slateclaw, stood before him.
“This can’t be true,” he whispered, a bit dazed by the whole matter. “You died.” The cats hissed angrily at their son, their eyes turning blood red before they disappeared.
“Wait - don’t leave me again!” Riverheart meowed desperately, “Not that I’ve found you once more!”
As if to answer his call another pair of cats appeared on the low cliff above the shore, but Riverheart could not recognize them. They were standing close together in bond and he could only tell very faintly that their pelts were different in color, for his vision was fading.
Suddenly they began to speak together in one voice, chanting:

“Kin they were,
Pale ginger and white.
Born near the fir,
Rose to fight.

But this destiny was not foreseen,
For they would take different paths.
Sacrifice was one’s mean,
And a forbidden love the other’s wrath.

After love, anger and fear,
The truth was told.
A battle was near,
And the power in one’s hold.”

“What does it mean,” Riverheart panted frantically.
“Remember the Third Verse, Riverheart,” they replied, as if ignoring the agitated cat.
With a twitch of the larger one’s ears, they disappeared, and Riverheart faded out of consciousness.

A soft paw gently prodded the tom’s shoulder. Riverheart shivered and shifted to see the cat. It was Ashenfoot. Riverheart grunted as he sat up and licked the she-cat’s ear warmly.
Soon. He thought fiendishly. Very soon.
The seven cats that came to the Uniting with him were already assembled around the other three leaders. Blackfur and Icetalon moved aside to let he and Ashenfoot to the other representatives. A red she-cat nodded as they joined in the center and began to speak with a raspy meow.
“Cats of the six colonies,” she paused, raising her noble muzzle to the sliver of the moon. “We gather tonight in the name of LastColony beneath the fur of Blue Trees. Our warrior ancestors command us to begin!” She finished fearlessly as the light from the moon overhead illuminated the center cats’ fur. A thick fog rolled out from between the trees and for an instant, the cats saw ghostly shapes appear around the opening, their diversely colored eyes flashing intensely against their unearthly pale gray pelts. The specters followed the leaders’ gaze to the moon then evaporated away with the fog.
The apprentices around the ring began to quiver with terror and Reedfoot, Mapleclaw and Cedarfang - siblings from DarkColony - huddled together beneath the mist.
“Hush!” Tawnyclaw, the elderly leader of GreenColony, yowled above the quiet chattering of the colony cats. Her gentle amber eyes filled with sympathy to her friends under the kind gaze of LastColony during the stormy night.

Three young cats moved quickly through the sparse trees of their territory like the shadows of the flying hunters’ beating wings. Their paws were numb from the long patrol of their borders, fur dripping from the pouring rain and tails frozen. A white tom with pale gray shaded areas had two voles clamed in his jaws and his whiskers were drooping from heavy droplets of water resting on them.
“Come on,” growled the oldest she-cat, trotting faster. “We’re almost there now.”
“If LastColony were kind…” the other she-cat spat bitterly, dropping the sparrow from her cramped jaw. “We would be sleeping in a warm nest right now.”
“Sandclaw!” Snowshadow howled over the wind, grabbing her prey and stuffing it into his mouth. The hostile she-cat blinked gratefully at her brother and quickened her pace.
As they arrived at the LakeColony camp a beautiful tortoiseshell and white she-cat rushed toward them, her long fur sagging against her shivering skin; making her look underfed. Flowercreek took the bird from her brother and shoved it under a bush as Snowshadow put the other prey on the pile after her.
“Most of us are in here,” Flowercreek said warmly, pointing her muzzle to a hollow tree. She licked each of her colony mates’ face as they squeezed into the den. Inside it was dark and moist and all the other clan members’ eyes were shining bright emerald green in the gloom. The apprentices jumped up onto a large ledge inside the trunk, where their mother was laying on her side, grooming her fur while Runningfoot gently removed ticks from her tail.
“Thank you, Runningfoot,” she growled kindly, pressing her cheek against the other she-cat’s black and white fur. “Lie down next to me,” she meowed to the three trembling, wet cats standing next to her. The family lay snugly together in their mother’s soft nest, using each other’s heat to keep themselves warm.
“Where did Dimflower go?” Flowercreek purred over Snowshadow’s shoulder.
“Thunderfrost is telling stories down there, I think she joined her,” Spottedclaw replied.
“Sounds like fun,” Sandclaw murmured, leaping down to the small band of apprentices and young warriors surrounding the elderly black she-cat. Thunderfrost had a noticeable white diamond on her chest and was the oldest she-cat in LakeColony apart from Blackfur, her mate.
“So Eagleshade…and the Prophecy of the Deliverers?” Thunderfrost said, looking at the cats in front of her sternly. They nodded energetically. “Okay,” she sighed and began to whisper the first part of the Prophecy to her audience. Her voice seemed to change to LastColony itself; it flowed to their ears in a lucid, shining tone like a soft river brushing against the rushes;

“The shade beneath an eagle,
Began a life of untold.
In the land beyond the seagulls,
A prophecy unfolds.

With a fierce black pelt,
And piercing yellow eyes.
In the darkness, as soft as felt,
A she-cat cries.

In the land of ten colonies of cats,
The tomcat mends.
And the cats no longer attack,
Now five colonies fend.”

As she finished, the cats around her gaped in awe, their eyes twinkling with curiosity and wonder.
“What does that mean?” a dark tabby apprentice named Nighthawk breathed.
“It is about Eagleshade, of course,” Thunderfrost chuckled, inspired by the tom’s simple interest. “He was an apprentice when Poppyfur, the second leader of GreenColony, received this message from our ancestors. She kept it secret, even from Blueclaw, her mate and lead-tom. Until Eagleshade became a warrior, and saved her from SwampColony - one of the other ten colonies - then she knew he was the one.
“Eagleshade had led a small group of colony members all the way to SwampColony, which today would be past DarkColony.” The cats gasped. “On the way back to GreenColony, she pulled the black tom aside and told him the message from LastColony; of course, he thought she still believed him to be an apprentice.” Thunderfrost growled.
“As you all know, there were ten colonies in Eagleshade and Poppyfur’s time. And always the groups were fighting against each other. Then, days after a sacred meeting at Blue Trees, a great war started between them all. Many cats died and too much blood was shed, especially from GreenColony and StoneColony. Eagleshade had a very dear friend named Sunheart in StoneColony.
“Supposedly, rumor has it that Sunheart was going to give birth to Eagleshade’s kits, but the beautiful yellow tabby she-cat died in the war,” Thunderfrost growled sadly. Fishpelt, a slender silver/blue apprentice, laid her head sorrowfully on her paws, closing her eyes in sadness. Nighthawk, listening attentively beside her, pressed his crimson nose into her shoulder soothingly.
“This made Eagleshade very angry,” the elderly she-cat continued. “He began to bring the ten colonies together at the end of the war and mold them into five. StoneColony and GreenColony joined as one along with SunColony and LowColony, WindColony and DarkColony, BlackColony and LakeColony and SwampColony and HighColony. Not many know how he did it including me, but I’m glad he did.” Thunderfrost meowed. The others nodded silently in agreement.
“I have learned just recently that Eagleshade did still have kits after Sunheart died. Their mother was Gorseflower. They have long been with LastColony but their family line still continues, like our Redheart’s does in Snowshadow, Sandclaw -” Thunderfrost paused and nodded at the pale she-cat. Sandclaw’s fur grew hot as all eyes turned to look at her. “- Flowercreek and Rowanwhisker. Does everyone know Wolftail? The black she-apprentice from GreenColony?” The cats nodded. “She is a reflection of Eagleshade for she is one of his descendants.”
All of the listeners were silent now as she finished the story. After a few moments of silence, Bearfur, a large apprentice piped up,
“Tell us about Redheart, and the next verse.”
“No, no,” Thunderfrost meowed standing up and stretching. “It’s time for this old cat to go to bed. Run along now.”
Groaning, the young cats got up and left to their mothers or nests. By now and the rain and wind had gone down and the large tree was emptying. Apprentices were running through the drizzle to their hollowed log and the elders went along slowly to the large, thick bush where their nests were. Though tonight Thunderfrost would be the only one in the bush, Blackfur was at the Uniting.
When she reached her soft moss bed, she curled up, wrapping her tail under her chin. As the camp quieted down, the she-cat’s head perked up, her eyes clouded over with a white film - she was receiving a message from LastColony.

[{:Moonchaser:}]

hope you will like the rest!

[*~Froggy~*]

LUFFLY! SIMPLY LUFFLY!

[{:Moonchaser:}]

hehe

[{:Moonchaser:}]

r u planning on killing Hawthornfur anytime soon so i can make a new charrie?

[{:Moonchaser:}]

NOW PPLS WHO WANT TO READ THE NEXT TWO CHAPTERS, I HAVE TO GET SOME R&R...SO POST

[.:neptune<]

I still think that it must have been hard to write the prophecy. . .I could never write as good as that. . .*sighs*

[{:Moonchaser:}]

poor, poor neppy...
you probably could...i don't know though...
*eyes Neptune suspiciously*

[{:Moonchaser:}]

they were hard to write though, (i say were because there are three of them), all you have to be able to do is write poetry, basically

[.:neptune<]

Well I can write poetry ok. When I don't have to turn it in to some hurtfull poetry contest when I know that I labled them wrong and then I find out that they just threw the two poems that I worked really hard on in the trash and it's all my fault and I still don't like them because they're. . .hurtful. . . . Sorry, I started to rant there for a minute- but I'm okay now.