The Lunar Eclipse

Prologue
A she-cat, pale scarlet like a sunset, lay panting in a tufty clump of grass. Her breath was ragged and shallow, her blood drying in the soil.

Beside her, a tom crouched down, eyes grief-stricken. "Don't worry, Amber," he whispered softly to the weak she-cat. "You're doing fine." He pressed one black paw to the she-cat's milky white belly.

"Wh-who...?" Amber whimpered.

"Amber...it's me," murmured the tom. "Fogshadow."

"F-f-fog....sh-sshhadow," Amber repeated, her blue eyes pale, her voice distant. "The...kits...they're c-c-comi--" She stopped abruptly, shrieking at the top of her lungs. A tiny kit slithered onto the ground and landed with a barely audible thud.

"Name her," whispered Fogshadow. "Right now."

"W-willow." The small white-and-gray she-cat writhed in the blood-clotted grass, squealed a pitiful mew, and splayed her body out. She lay completely still, without even a faint flutter of a heartbeat.

"No...no...no," Fogshadow felt helpless, and watched the next kit tumble onto the soil. This one didn't even get the joy of breathing. The handsome ginger tom was utterly still. Please, don't let another kit follow in his or Willow's pawsteps, Fogshadow prayed.

"How...are they?" Amber's voice held an echo, a lonely trace. She glanced down at her kits, and wailed. "No! No, this can't be happening! Why? Why..." Fogshadow closed his eyes, bent his head low, and nudged his mate. She was hardly breathing.

"No! StarClan, don't take her as well!" the pale gray tom gazed at his mate, and watched every dragging breath she took.

"F-fogshadow, I want to to promise me something," the scarlet she-cat purred weakly. "Should any kits s-survive..."--she drew a shaky breath and panted before continuing--"I-I'd like...I'd like you to raise them away from Twolegs. Away from the Clans. I...I don't want them to live the spoiled life of a kittypet, not knowing the joys of the forest. But I don't want them to be brought to the Clans, and made fun of for kittypet blood. Raise them as loners...and I'll be happy." As the words faded from her mouth, a tiny golden tabby she-kit fell into the grass. Fogshadow hardly noticed her--she was so still, so silent, and her pelt blended with her mother's.

"Amber...don't leave me," Fogshadow cried gently. "It's too early. You need to stay."

"Stardust." Amber's eyes went cloudy, their surface glassy, and she lay still.