Read Warriors: Omen of the Stars #6: The Last Hope Online
Authors: Erin Hunter
Warriors: Omen of the Stars #6: The Last Hope (2 page)
ONTENTS
ROLOGUE
A jagged ridge sliced across the
horizon, piercing the black sky with its peaks. Four shapes, their pelts flecked by starlight, crouched on the silvered granite where the highest summit pushed into ice-cold wind.
“We have come.” The white she-cat hunched down harder against the chill reaching for her bones. “Just as you asked us to.”
Her companion dipped his head to the cats who had been waiting for them. “Greetings, Owl Feather, Broken Shadow.”
“Greetings, Slant.” Broken Shadow spiked her thick fur, muffling the stone-cold air. Her eyes reflected the rushing stars as she met the white cat’s gaze. “It is good to meet you again, Half Moon.” As she spoke, two more pelts moved like shadow over the stone.
“Bluestar, Spottedleaf, I’m glad to see you.” Half Moon welcomed the StarClan warriors as they settled beside the four Ancients.
Bluestar curled her tail over her paws. “We have come to prepare for the end,” she meowed solemnly.
Owl Feather narrowed her yellow eyes. “And to believe what we have to tell you?”
Spottedleaf let out a low growl. “Bluestar has always believed! It is the others we need to convince.”
“We’re running out of time!” Slant snapped.
The sky spun around them, its stars racing until they blurred into silver streaks—but the mountaintop seemed caught in stillness, like a warrior before the final pounce.
Bluestar’s eyes glistened. “The Clans will make their own choices. I can do no more.”
Slant leaned closer. “But the prophecies helped, didn’t they?”
“Yes.” Bluestar glanced at her medicine cat. “Spottedleaf recognized the flaming star that led me to Firestar.”
Owl Feather acknowledged Spottedleaf with a blink. “She used her gift well. All along, it has been Firestar’s kin who hold the last hope of the Clans in their paws.”
“What about the fourth?” Slant leaned forward, anxiety pricking his gaze. “When will they find the fourth cat?”
“The fourth must be found soon,” fretted Broken Shadow. “There is so little time left.”
Owl Feather’s tail twitched. “Are you sure we’ve done enough?”
“We have done everything we could.” Half Moon’s amber gaze flicked toward two figures clambering over the rocks toward them. “Midnight, is that you?”
“I come with Rock.” The great she-badger lumbered onto the smooth granite. Rock stepped out behind her, his furless body pale in the moonlight.
Broken Shadow shifted her paws. “Greetings, Midnight. I … I didn’t realize that you knew Rock.”
“Since the dawn of your time, we have known each other,” Midnight rumbled, turning her wide, striped head. “Since first cat put paw beside water.”
Rock sat down on the cold stone. His blind blue eyes were round and white as moons. “We watched the first sunrise over the lake.”
“It burst water into flame,” Midnight recalled. “And in fiery reflection we see future of all cats: Tribe of Rushing Water, five Clan, four Clan, forest, and lake.”
“We saw your whole journey, from lake to forest and back.” Rock tipped his head as if watching the cats process in front of him. “The prophecies all came from that first reflected sunrise—the cat with a pelt of flame that would save the Clans, the silver cat who would save the Tribe of Rushing Water, and finally the four who would carry the last hope, not just of the Clans, but of light itself.”
Midnight’s claws scratched the granite. “Now we fear we see a final sunset that ends your story.”
Half Moon stepped forward. “But the four? They will save us, surely?”
“They came as we saw they would and, when they came, they lit the darkest fires.” Midnight gazed at the Ancient cats, her beady black eyes intent. “So you and all long-dead cats burn like stars once more.”
“But evil is coming,” Rock warned.
Midnight cut in. “Darkness we saw born like littermate alongside the light. Now all must stand and fight.”
As the other cats shivered, Rock moved his blind gaze over them. “Thank you for safeguarding the prophecies for so long, and for passing them down from cats forgotten now and vanished.”
Broken Shadow sighed. “So many lives lost.”
“All lives are brief,” Rock reminded her.
“My son’s was too brief!” Her eyes flashed accusingly. “Why couldn’t you save Fallen Leaves?”
“It was never my duty to save anyone!” Rock flashed back at her. “What is the point of a life held in the paws of another? There must be choice. There must be freedom. I can point the way but every cat walks on its own paws.”
Slant narrowed his eyes. “Do the Clans walk alone into the final battle?”
Half Moon flattened her ears. “Never alone!” She lifted her chin. “I will fight alongside Jayfeather.”
Broken Shadow unsheathed her claws. “And I will fight alongside my son.”
“I will fight beside Jagged Lightning and my kits to defeat this darkness.” Owl Feather’s eyes sparked.
Bluestar thrashed her tail. “And I will die a tenth time to defend ThunderClan!”
“These cats will never stand alone,” Half Moon declared. “We are with them just as we have always been.”
“Light against dark,” Midnight growled. “This is the end of all things—this is the last sunrise.”
Rock touched her flank lightly with the tip of his tail. “It is what we have been waiting for, my friend.”
HAPTER
1
Someone’s bleeding!
Ivypool stiffened as the memory of Antpelt’s death flooded her mind, just as it always did when the scent of blood hit her. She could still feel his flesh tearing beneath her claws, still see his final agonized spasm before he stopped moving forever. She’d been forced to kill the WindClan warrior to convince Tigerstar of her loyalty. It had earned her the grim honor of training Dark Forest warriors, but she knew she would never wash the scent of his blood from her paws.
“Stop!” she yowled.
Birchfall froze mid-lunge and stared at her. “What’s wrong?”