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Moons had passed since the river disappeared, and while most of nature chased after it, a group of wild cats clung stubbornly to their mountain home. Farther and farther their hunters had to search until they stopped returning at all. Before they had been nearly forty strong. Now, they were barely half that. And with scents of sickness and starvation hanging heavy in the air, the Sunseer was unsure if they would survive the upcoming leaf-bare.

The aging tom spent most of his days in the Cave of Visions, begging, pleading with his warrior ancestors for an answer to their blight. His mismatched eyes gazed upward, reflecting back the dwindling beams of sunlight that drifted through the cracks in the stone ceiling above him. But he saw nothing. Had the cats of the sun abandoned them as the river had?

"Please, they're dying..."

Tears stung his eyes, his sorrow more painful than the bright, unblinking light. Thoughts of his strongest warriors who had died trying to find the lost river. To their medicine cat who helped every cat but herself until she withered away with her herbs. To his children who never got the chance to see anything but suffering. His mate who died giving their last kit what little life she had left.

"Sunclan, please, if you truly have not forgotten us, tell me... Tell me what to do to save them."

And at that moment, the sun went white.

Suddenly, he could see as though there were not feet of solid rock between him and the sky. The blue had been drained, bleached by a sun so impossibly large and close that the Sunseer could feel its heat rippling off his fur. But it wasn't a sun. No. Looking back at him were an unknowable number of cat's eyes, each reflecting their light back at him.

In one voice, they spoke;

"Go. Chase the stolen river and split as it does. Only in pieces will your clan survive."

Duskwing snorted coming awake, she had been curled up next to her brother and sisters. "Wha...Whatssss Goooinng" her slurred words broke for a yawn. "on, its before the early birds have even thought of singing. She scrambled to stand stepping on at least three cats tails and accidentally bumping a cat in the nose. She didn't bother to look at who the cats were just that they were in her path to wake up.

"Sunseer? What set a sparrow on your hide this.... Morning? Night?" Her mind finally started to clear the sleepy fog and she listened to his words. "Tall Stone? Has something happened?" She made her way towards the Tall Stone thankfully sparing others tails from being stepped on.







Deadeye watched as their leader stumbled into sight, she didn't like that, something was wrong he went running to wake the clan. She silently moved closer as he yelled for the clan and connected with an obvious outcrop. Something was certainly wrong with him. She was missing an eye, but even still she never ran into the mountain side at full blast. "Tall Stone? Did Sunclan finally speak?"

She immediately moved towards the Tall Stone. She wasn't sure what Sunclan told her leader, but she would follow his lead. She looked around at all of the waking cats as she moved silently leaving a pleasant floral scent in her wake. She watched as Duskwing trampled other cats and had a silent huff of a laugh at that. She sat close enough to the Tall Stone hear the meeting, yet far enough to not be in anyone's path.

Dawnbreak lifted her head from her nest at the frantic call. Was there foxes attacking camp?! Letting out a hiss as her sister stepped on her tail, she picked her way out. She was trying to avoid crashing into anyone in the mad rush out of the den, not that it worked but it was a thought. She stepped out shaking her rumpled fur and moved to sit next to her sister, though as sleep cleared from her eyes she looked up to their leader. Something big must have happened. They hadnt had a clan meeting in a long time, well... not one so frantically pulled together. She fixed her eyes up and waited for what would hopefully be good news.





Bloodoath heard the cammotion and looked up to see Sunseer check his shoulder on the side of the wall. Narrowing his eyes he looked over the leader, trying to see if there was something visibly wrong. But looking at his leader he couldn't see any short comings or weaknesses... so he let it go and signed it off to it must be excitement? Worry maybe? He didnt bother moving, he was close enough to be considered 'gathered', at least not until he saw Goldenleaf. She was round and too pregnant for this moment in time. While he couldnt regret having kits on the way, he made silent prayers to Sunclan that she would survive the famine and drought... and his kits, at the moment... he barely held much hope. He wanted to hope for them... but he had seen the queens waste away and the kits starve... He walked over and gave Goldenleaf's ear a lick before sitting down. No one would have a hard time guessing who the kits father was. He flicked his ear in greeting to Littlepaw, happy to have the small apprentice. While it was a long shot having her increased the chance of survival. He did notice that the small she cat was fixated on her father, scrutinizing... not just interested.... but dissecting him to see what was wrong. Was he right? Was something off more than excitement? He perked his ears looking over sunseer again carefully but he was more interested in what the leader would say.





Unseen and Unsensed Emberkit walked through his old home, His eyes were taking in the ragged and warn cats. Were they going to make it? Were they going to be able to follow the river? His ghostly paws trotted past the pregnant queen. He sniffed her over interested in her and how she would fair. He left the Queen and rubbed against his sister in a ghostly embrace his little tail running over her flank. He remembered the hunger. He wished for his sister to be able to be full fed and live a long healthy life... He wished he could grant that to her. He set himself there to watch his father deliver the news, Just a ghostly member in a clan of skeletons.

MountainClan was dying. That much was more than obvious. What Silverstreak had decided when her mother and father had died, however, was that even if she died, she would see that Dawnbreak and Duskwing survived. Silverstreak herself was young. She was no senior warrior, but she was still an older sister and she was determined to do right and see that her younger sisters made it through. Whatever food she had, she would pass to Dawnbreak or Duskwing, nevermind what they had to say about it.

But food was getting harder for them to find and Silverstreak began to despair. If there wasn't anything that she could pass onto her sisters, then she would have to see them waste away to nothing, just like her parents had. Meanwhile, Sunseer just secluded himself in his den, looking for answers from SunClan, which Silverstreak had decided long ago, weren't going to come.

You can imagine her surprise when they abruptly did. The call was enough to wake her, but she didn't get up as fast as she would have when she was an apprentice herself. She felt hollow and light-headed. She got to her paws, but stumbled out of the den. She tried to straighten up when she saw Dawnbreak and Duskwing. She purred a quiet greeting to her sisters and looked up expectantly at Sunseer. Had he finally come to his senses and decided to go on without their warrior ancestors?



With the prey all, but completely vanished, it was the loyalty to his Clanmates that pushed Dustfeather forward. He couldn't possible consider dying himself. Not only would it stunt his prospects for the future, but he didn't want to put another death on MountainClan, when they had already lost so much.

When he emerged from the den, he spotted Goldenleaf first. She was the only one that didn't look skinny, thanks to that round belly of hers, but he suspected that unless something changed, like Twolegs deciding that taking their river was a cruel notion and returning it, that her round belly wouldn't remain long after her kits were born. He glanced to Bloodoath who approached the queen and Dustfeather flicked his ears. What an unlikely couple, he thought, but he padded towards the Tall Stone. He sat himself beside Duskwing and smiled at the younger she-cat.

"Good morning, Duskwing." He mewed. He had a fondness for her, and her odd bird phrases. He had realized such after he'd gone hunting with her. For her sake, and all of MountainClan's, he prayed that Sunseer finally had some good news.


Blazekit had wandered along with his brother, Emberkit. He both saw and didn't see, for while his eyes were closed, gone even, he could still look on his old home and gaze upon all the cats that were there. He tumbled after Emberkit, his legs as ungraceful as they had been when she was born. They would never grow, he had been told, but he was not bitter about this.

"Emberkit!" He squeaked. "Did you hear the news? Littlepaw is going to be Dovetail's apprentice! I just heard about it! Imagine when she's older and a full medicine cat! Then we could talk to her whenever we wanted!" He mewed, his eyes shining.

Sleep had fled Thorncoat sometime past moonhigh. Rather than lay there and muse in the warriors den, cozy as it may be, he had taken to making a round of the territory to see if any prey had also found sleep scarce. Being as close to camp as he was, Thorncoat hadn't expected much though, so was not so disappointed when nothing turned up. No the prey rested well tonight didn't it, much like his clanmates. So little of the prey was left too, fled or died out, as would the clan. But while they would depart this world to walk with SunClan, where did the prey go? who offered them words of wisdom to guide their paws and claws?

Having finished his solo patrol, Thorncoat as settled just within the edges of camp, watching the sunrise, pondering the mystery of afterlife for the other creatures of the mountain.

It would seem sleep has crawled back into his fur and laid him to rest at some point.

Dreams of vicious mice and squirrels gathering preybeasts at the base of the mountain to launch an assault on MountainClan fled him as he awoke to loud cries.

Little ghostly forms chittering angrily still danced in his vision as he twisted his head to look for the commotion. Clamoring prey wove among the gathering cats. Why were they not being hunted? A fest had found it's way to their den opening and-ah. Ah no, there was nothing there. Well, there was. There was no prey for sure, but it was his clanmates, beginning to rouse and call out.

Flicking his ears and stretching, Thorncoat lightly bounded to join his clanmates, slotting himself into the throng belatedly, but he was there nonetheless.

Thorncoat's ears pricked, much like other's in the gathering. Word from Sunclan had finally come? But why now, why after such a long drought, why send so many of their own to join Sunclan before answers were given?

"The dead work in mysterious ways," Thorncoat mused, just loud enough for his neighbors to hear, but not a loud call for answers like others had done. Sunseer had surely not delivered the news that a message had been given without plans to followup in some way. Mmm, though Sunseer's gaze was rather odd wasn't it? as though he was looking through them all, looking at the rocks and then cats as he called for attention. "So do the living, I guess."

'At last.' the older she-cat thought, closing her eyes a moment, 'Thank you SunClan, I knew you would answer him eventually.' Skysong sent her silent prayer up to the still dark sky. She opened her eyes and rested her tail neatly over her paws wondering if she should have thanked them just yet. What if the news was terrible? It probably was, the way Sunseer was acting. She flicked the doubt from her mind with a flick of her ears. SunClan knew what they were doing. Faith and loyalty, that were the traits with which she was raised.

And so, she waited patiently for Sunseer to wait for the voices and exclaimations to die down. He too would explain when ready.



The MountainClan leader stood over his charge, listening to the many voices below. 'Only in pieces will your clan survive,' What did that mean? Was he sending them to their deaths? No, no, he had to have faith! They said that they would survive and that was all the mattered. Because right now, as it was, the yowling cats below smelled of hunger and death. He stepped forward, "I--" His paw slipped, sending a bit of sand and a few pebbles down. Damn this blindness! He returned his paws to their position, kneading the stone beneath him, he continued, "I have received a prophecy! SunClan came to me and gave me this as their answer." He cleared his throat and spoke the words of SunClan, just was dawn pulled itself over the mountain pass.

"Chase the river! Only in pieces may your clan survive!"

Silverstreak was properly surprised to hear that SunClan had given them a prophecy. Even then, it was pretty straight forward. SunClan was telling them to leave their home and while she knew that her heart would ache outside of the territory she grew up in, she couldn't deny that she'd been thinking of leaving for quite some time. If that's what they had to do, so be it.

However, it was the second part of the prophecy that bothered her. She was opening her maw, when she heard it echoed nearby. She turned to spy Dawnstride and blinked at the tomcat. Indeed, it was a concerning notion. She supposed they would have to find out what SunClan meant, but she'd ignore them outright if they were implying any one of her siblings be in pieces by the time the journey was done.

The journey... She thought and steadying herself, before raising her muzzle to the Tall Stone and yowling up to Sunseer.

"So? When are we leaving?"



Dustfeather wasn't sure what to make of the announcement. All he really knew was what he felt, which was the urge to run back to his den and sink his claws into his moss nest. It seemed as though SunClan wanted them to leave, to follow their river, but did that mean they would march into Twoleg territory and demand it back? Or would they follow the river bed and hope that it went beyond the Twolegs and led them somewhere where the Twolegs didn't control it any longer and there was water again?

And that "in pieces" that he heard in muttering around the gathered cats... that didn't sound too appealing either, not really. He flicked his tail anxiously and stared at Sunseer for answers, but the longer he stared at their leader, the more time he had to come to a startling conclusion. He wasn't certain that Sunseer was staring back at them! His tail fluffed out and he looked to Duskwing, seeking solace in her bird-words.

"Duskwing?" He asked. "What do you think about this?" He asked.

Eclipsepaw didn't sleep well, her stomach gnawed at her insides, almost painfully, she always let her sisters eat first whenever fresh kill, or even crowfood was found, ignoring her own needs, for others. She was trying to sleep again when Sunseer's voice ran through the clan, she emerged behind Greypaw, purring and rubbing her small, thin body against her sister in greeting.

She listened to her Clan Leader announce a new prophecy .."no!" she squeaked, "we're already in pieces" she mewed sadly. She understood the need to leave, kits were lucky to survive.. or were those that didn't the lucky ones? She sighed and flopped to the ground, she didn't even have an official mentor to look towards for guidance... yet anyway. She was always too eager, always rushing into things, trust the one thing she decided to actually think about, was a final blow for Mountain Clan. They couldn't split, surely? She was Mountain Clan born, the Clan was her whole reason for struggling on. Whatever the choice, she would follow Sunseer, she was sure in her heart.