"Ravenpaw! Sparrowpaw! Crowpaw!" The clan cheered as the new apprentices earned their names. Nightstar jumped off the meeting tree. He was a old cat, and was ready for Starclan soon. After all, he only had one life left. Yes, he had lost his eighth life, so he only had one left. Nightstar was very careful with his actions. He knew when he died, Beesting would be a great leader. Nightstar padded up to his mate, Bluewhisper, and nuzzled her. "We are very old. I can hear my bones creaking! Our kit's kits are apprentices now." Nightstar said. Bluewhisper purred. "I will join the elders soon." She said. Nightstar sighed. "At least we know we will have another medicine cat since Crowpaw is a medicine apprentice." Bluewhisper nodded. Then, she padded off

toward the warrior's den. Nightstar looked at Firestorm, Shadowmist, and Skyflight. They were his kits, but they were warriors now. Nightstar decided to hunt. He asked the young warriors to go with him. "Sure!" Firestorm and Skyflight said, but Shadowmist shook his head. "Sorry, Nightstar. I told Eagleheart that I would border patrol with him." Nightstar nodded. "That's okay, Shadowmist. Have fun!" He said as the tom ran off. Then, the father and his kits walked out of camp, ready to hunt. They caught a couple mice and started home, when Nightstar smelled something. Kittypet? Or Mistclan? Skyflight stopped too. "What is that smell?" She asked. Suddenly, from out of the bushes, something tackled Nightstar and everything went black............................

Nightstar woke up in a big den that smelled like Mistclan and kittypets. "Where am I?" Nightstar wondered out loud. "Silence." Said a voice. A orange tom stepped out of the darkness, with another cat following. "Grass!?" Nightstar hissed, surprised. Grass was one of Chloe and Stone's kits. His sister, Moss, had joined the clan along with the other kits in the loner group. Grass hissed at Nightstar. "It's Bobby now." Nightstar muffled laughter and Bobby hissed. "But, you will call me Blood if you want to live." The orange tom rolled his eyes and flicked his tail in annoyance. "I am Dewclaw of Mistclan." The orange tom said. "Why are you doing this?" Nightstar asked Dewclaw. "For revenge." He hissed and slashed Nightstar across the face. "When I found out

you were mates with Bluewhisper, I wanted to kill you. She said she loved ME! AND ONLY ME! But no, she went and joined Dawnclan so she could be with you. I loved her, but she went with you and broke my heart!" Nightstar was stunned. Bluewhisper was a backstabber to him? Well, I guess I understand why she didn't want to be with him... He is very unpleasant. "I'm sorry that she didn't want to be with you, but it's not your choice. It's hers." Dewclaw bristled and hit Nightstar's muzzle. Then he flicked his orange tail three times and six more cats came out. "This is Peachfur, Redclaw, Fluffy, Ziggy, Tali, and Mangle." Dewclaw said, pointing to each cat. Nightstar recognized Mangle and knew he probably joined Dewclaw for revenge on his face, which Nightstar had ruined

with a big, bloody scar. "I forced Redclaw to join me, but Peachfur joined voluntarily." Dewclaw said. Nightstar growled. "Does Minnowstar know about this?" Nightstar asked. Minnowstar was the leader of Mistclan because Waterstar, the former leader, had lost his final life to greencough. Dewclaw paused for a moment, then replied. "No, she doesn't know about this, but it will be worth getting in trouble. Peachfur will probably kill you because Bluewhisper was his friend, too." Peachfur, a white tom, snarled at Nightstar while Redclaw looked uncomfortable. Dewclaw suddenly stiffened and looked up. "Our Snowclan and Rockclan warriors are coming." He said. He then looked evilly at Nightstar. "Yes, I forced them to join me, too."

Nightstar shuddered, uncomfortable. Suddenly, two cats walked into the cave. Nightstar knew them. Mudswipe from Rockclan and Littlepaw from Snowclan! Littlepaw looked sadly at Dewclaw. "Why do we have to do this?" He asked. "Because, runt, revenge is everything." Dewclaw snarled. "There is always a reason why I force cats to do something. Now that we have Nightstar for ransom, we can get anything we want!" A evil smile was slowly playing across his face. He hissed at Nightstar once, then turned to the loners. "Tali, Fluffy, Mangle, and Ziggy. Guard Nightstar. The rest of you, go on patrol and hunt or something." Then Dewclaw padded away. Dewclaw doesn't trust the clan cats! Maybe I can use that to my advantage... Nightstar thought. After all of the clan

cats left, the loners started to whisper. "I wonder what the reward will be...Dewclaw promised he would give us some of it if we helped him." A calico said. "Tali, of course he will give us our reward! We are helping him!" Said Mangle. Nightstar hissed and all the cats looked at him, glaring intensely. Worry spread through Nightstar's body. "You shouldn't trust Dewclaw. He is a cheater and a liar." Nightstar spat. Mangle snorted. "Yeah, right. You just wanna be free. And anyway, all I want is revenge on you for doing this to my face." Mangle spat, pointing with her tail to the big scar over his eye. Tali looked worried, while Fluffy, Ziggy, and Mangle looked like they didn't believe Nightstar. That night, after eating a small vole, Nightstar tried to sleep, but he couldn't. Tali was the

only cat awake. She paced the cave, staring at Nightstar. Dewclaw and the other clan cats had to go back to their clans, so only the loners remained to guard him. Suddenly, Tali padded toward Nightstar. "Quick! I'm gonna get you outta here. It's wrong to keep cats locked up like this." She said. Nightstar nodded gratefully. The cats quickly fled the cave and ran into the forest. They heard yowls and Nightstar glanced behind him. The loners were following them! But something was wrong.... Mangle wasn't there! "Tali! Run! They're gaining on us! And Mangle has gone to get Dewclaw!" Nightstar yowled. They reached camp, and burst in with a yowl. "THEY ARE COMING! WARRIORS! FIGHT!" Nighstar yowled as the loners and Dewclaw with Peachfur