Prologue

I stand right in the middle of the clearing. I see countless of cats staring at me with bright shining eyes. Eyes blazing of anger. Madness. They yell at me, countless of insults, curses, and one word they keep repeating. “Die...” I exclude the voices. I don't want to hear them. I look aside of me. I see a black cat, shaking on her paws, tears appearing on the surface of her eyes. My sister. I want to say soothing words to her, make her feel better. The only problem is, this is precisely how I feel, at the edge of madness, teared apart by sadness and fear. But, unlike my sister, I don't show it to the cats around me. I stand up straight, ears pricked, my tail neatly wrapped around my paws. I look forward, to the big rock in front of me, then, I raise my head, so I can see the dark silhouette of the leader of these cats. My leader. I look up to the sky, above my leader. The stars of Silverpelt are shining like nothing happened and the black night sky is clear as if this is just a normal evening. Why aren't they sending clouds to cover the moon and stars? Do they agree to this... treachery? That must be it. I look down at my paws. Claws unsheathed. StarClan has abandoned us.
The cat on top of the High Rock silenced the cats on the clearing with a flick of her tail. Majesticly she looked down on the gathered cats, her glittering eyes pierced in mine.
“You have committed one of the most horrible of crimes in existence!” the blue-silver she-cat yelled.
“I am so disappointed in you. I never thought that you, two of my finest warriors would ever betray your own Clan, your family! Doesn't blood mean anything to you?” She looked down at us. Eyes blazing with flaming anger, but also, a flicker of sadness.
“I... I don't know what to d-”
“Kill them!” a dark-brown tom yelled. That was the beginning of a whole choir of growling and hissing voices.
“Throw them in enemy territory!” another one shouted.
“Tear their eyes out and blind them!” a she-cat hissed, her tail carefully protecting her kits.
“None of this will happen!” the leader spit, thereby silencing the furious cats.
“We are not as barbarian as them! I refuse to lower myself to such cruel deeds.”
The leader let her furious gaze rest on me and my sister.
“Nightshadow and Blackfur... I banish you. If you ever show yourselves on ThunderClan territory after sunset of this day, you will be killed.”
The words of my former leader echoed in my ears. “Banish you... You will be... Killed...” The leader flicked with her tail again and suddenly to big toms appeared. They grabbed us by our scruff and forced us to walk toward the gorse tunnel, which is the entrance to the ThunderClan camp. After a few steps all my frustration that had been building up the past few minutes seemed to explode. I kicked the forepaws of the tom who was pulling me forward with my back claws, and shook him of me. I walked further alone. He did not make any attempts to grab me again. I looked back over my shoulder, and there I saw the most terrifying cat of them all. A huge gray tabby tom. He stared at me with a cold gaze, a grin of madness on his face. With big eyes I looked at him. Then, he turned around and vanished in the crowd. Deep inside me I knew that this was the last thing that I'd saw of my brother. I looked in front of me again and padded on toward the gorse tunnel.
“My kits! Don't leave them alone!” yelled my sister, Blackfur with a voice full of sorrow. I turned around, my hair standing on an end. “Cloudkit! Winterkit! No...” she whispered. I couldn't take this anymore. I felt my sister's horrible pain, the pain of a she-cat who knew she would never see her kits again. The tom who had been walking behind her growled and bit her hind legs, forcing her to walk on. Finally I reached the tunnel. I ran trough it, determined to get out of ThunderClan territory before dusk was falling. I ran on trough the forest, leaping over rocks and tree stumps, avoiding trees, forcing my way trough the undergrowth. I heard my sister running behind me. Then, suddenly, I reached the border of the forest and so the border of the territory. My sister skidded to a halt next to me. I looked behind me, with a feeling that this would be the last thing that I'd see of my former home.