Warriors.

Power of Three.

Sunrise.

Erin Hunter.

To Lynn and Steve Wiman, with heartfelt thanks.

PROLOGUE.

Moonlight washed over the stone hollow, bright as day, but beneath the bushes and at the edges under the cliffs, dark shadows seemed to uncoil like claws.

Leafpool crouched over Ashfur's limp body. The pale light turned his gray fur to silver as she groomed it for his burial. Beside her, Jayfeather helped, smoothing Ashfur's tail and fluffing it up as it dried.

Leafpool raised her head to gaze up at the icy glitter cast by her warrior ancestors. "May StarClan light your path, Ashfur." She let her voice fal softly into the cold air as she repeated the words used by medicine cats for more seasons than any cat could count, whenever a Clanmate died. "May you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter when you sleep."

The words that should have comforted her, promising a long and happy life for the fal en warrior, instead hurt her, sharper than thorns. Her mind fil ed with the moment she had discovered the neat teethmarks in Ashfur's neck. Too smal for a dog, too clean for a fox, too sharp for a badger. Only a cat could have left them. But which cat? Who hated Ashfur enough to kil him in cold blood, leaving no signs of a struggle? Had it been an honest clash over borders or stolen prey? Could it have been a WindClan cat, or a passing rogue? Please, StarClan, let it be that!

The thought that a ThunderClan cat might have murdered Ashfur made Leafpool cold to her bones.

Ashfur had been outspoken and strong-wil ed, yes, but a loyal and respected warrior as wel . Surely none of his Clanmates had any reason to want him dead?

Bending over his body again, Leafpool began to clean earth and grit out of the dead warrior's pads.

Something soft and light fluttered against her muzzle; she drew back to see a tuft of fur snagged in Ashfur's claws.

No! This can't be true! Leaning closer, Leafpool sniffed the fur. I know that scent!

Desperately she tried to convince herself that the clump of fur had come from one of the cats who had carried Ashfur back to the camp from where he had been found, floating in the stream on the WindClan border. But the smel of river water was too strong to have come from a cat with dry fur, and besides, Ashfur's claws were soft and limp now. They would flex rather than pul out a tuft of hair if they brushed against another cat.

The only cat this tuft of fur could have come from was Ashfur's kil er.

Breathless and shaking, Leafpool gently teased out the fur and carried it into her den. She forced her trembling paws to place the tuft on a leaf, which she folded into a tight wrap. Then she pushed it right to the back of her store, deep into the cleft in the rock, behind the last bundle of herbs. The truth about Ashfur's death must never come out.

In more pain than she had ever imagined she could feel without dying, she asked herself: Was all this my fault?

With a snarl, Yel owfang leaped on Bluestar, bowling her over and pinning her down in the lush grass of the forest where StarClan walked. "This is al your fault!" she spat. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't left that wretched secret to fester in ThunderClan."

Bluestar battered at Yel owfang's bel y with her hind paws, but couldn't dislodge the former medicine cat's grip. "What's wrong with you?" she hissed.

"Don't forget that I was your Clan leader."

Al the respect that Yel owfang had once felt for the former ThunderClan leader had vanished. Their shared history crumbled to dust in the face of the terrible future she foresaw for the Clan she had made her own.

"Your secret has been like a maggot eating away inside an apple," Yel owfang growled, her bared fangs close to Bluestar's ear. "ThunderClan is rotten to the core-and more blood wil be shed before the truth comes out."

"You can't know that," Bluestar protested, straining to throw off her opponent.

"A blind rabbit could see it! The truth will come out. Midnight told Sol everything. And we both know that Sol wil return to ThunderClan."

Summoning her trained warrior reflexes, Bluestar butted her head into Yel owfang's chest and managed to slip to one side. Suddenly giving up, Yel owfang sprang away. She stood shaking her ruffled gray pelt.

Bluestar scrambled to her paws and stood, panting. "What's the point of fighting?" she rasped when she had caught her breath. "The damage has been done-and whatever you say, this is not my fault."

Yel owfang grunted.

"I stil can't believe Midnight betrayed us," Bluestar went on. "I trusted her to watch over the Clans."

"It's not Midnight who was the traitor," Yel owfang pointed out, her pelt bristling. "The betrayal began with the first lies, with the secret that you have kept for al these moons. ThunderClan has been living a lie! If these three cats are as powerful as the prophecy says they are, they would have been able to cope with the truth. Unless you think we've been wrong about them al along."

"Never!" Bluestar retorted. "Who else could the Three be? I didn't want to lie!" she added, her voice rising to a wail. "But when could I have told them?

They have been happy.

Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are good parents. What good would it have done to tel them what real y happened?"

"We'l find out soon enough," Yel owfang growled.

"Old secrets can't stay buried forever." She lashed her tail and began to stalk away; then she paused, glancing back over her shoulder. "And if these three cats are not strong enough to deal with the truth," she added, "then you, Bluestar, wil have destroyed the Clan you love so much...."

CHAPTER 1.

Dead bracken rustled beneath Lionblaze's paws as he stalked through the forest. Above the leafless trees, the sky was dark and empty. Terror raised the hairs on the young warrior's neck, and he shivered from ears to tail-tip.

This is a place that has never known the light of StarClan.

He padded on, skirting clumps of fern and nosing under bushes, but he found no sight or scent of other cats. I've had enough of this, he thought, tugging his tail free from a trailing bramble. Panic sparked in his mind as he stared at the darkness that stretched away between the trees. What if I never find my way out of here?

"Looking for me?"

Lionblaze jumped and spun around. "Tigerstar!"

The massive warrior had appeared around the edge of a bramble thicket. His tabby pelt shone with a strange light that reminded Lionblaze of the sickly glow of fungus on dead trees.

"You've missed a lot of training," Tigerstar meowed, padding forward until he stood a tail-length from the ThunderClan warrior. "You should have come back sooner."

"No, I shouldn't!" Lionblaze blurted out. "I shouldn't have come here at al , and you never should have trained me. Brambleclaw isn't my father! You're not my kin!"

Tigerstar blinked once, but he showed no surprise, not even a flick of his ears. His amber eyes narrowed to slits, and he seemed to be waiting for Lionblaze to say more.

"You...you knew!" Lionblaze whispered. The trees seemed to spin around him. Squirrelflight isn't the only cat who kept secrets!

"Of course I knew." Tigerstar shrugged. "It's not important. You were wil ing enough to learn from me, weren't you?"

"But-"

"Blood isn't everything," Tigerstar snarled. His lip curled, showing the glint of sharp fangs. "Just ask Firestar."

Lionblaze felt his neck fur begin to bristle as fury coursed through him. "Firestar's a finer warrior than you ever were."

"Don't forget that he's not your kin, either,"

Tigerstar hissed softly. "There's no point defending him now."

Lionblaze stared at the dusk-lit warrior. Does he know who my real father is? "You knew al along that I wasn't Firestar's kin," he growled. "You let me believe a lie!"

Tigerstar twitched one ear. "So?"

Rage and frustration overwhelmed Lionblaze.

Leaping into the air, he threw himself at Tigerstar and tried to push him over. He battered at the tabby warrior's head and shoulders, his claws unsheathed, tearing out huge clumps of fur. But the red haze of fury that fil ed his head made him clumsy, unfocused.

His blows landed at random, barely scratching Tigerstar's skin.

The huge tabby tom went limp, letting himself drop to one side and hooking one paw around Lionblaze's leg to unbalance him. Lionblaze landed among the bracken with a jolt that drove the breath from his body. A heartbeat later he felt a huge paw clamp down on his shoulders, pinning him to the ground.

"I've taught you better than that, little warrior,"

Tigerstar taunted him. "You're out of practice."

Taking a deep breath, Lionblaze heaved himself upward. Tigerstar leaped back and crouched a fox-length away, his amber eyes burning.

"I'l show you who's out of practice," Lionblaze panted.

He forced his anger down, summoning a cold determination-al the fighting moves he had ever learned were at the tips of his claws. When Tigerstar sprang at him, he was prepared; he dived forward and hurled himself underneath his opponent's bel y.

As soon as Tigerstar's paws hit the ground, Lionblaze whipped around and landed a couple of blows on the tabby tom's hindquarters before blows on the tabby tom's hindquarters before leaping out of range.

Tigerstar spun to face him. "Better," he meowed, mockery stil in his voice. "I have mentored you wel ."

Before Lionblaze could reply, the huge tabby darted toward him, veering aside at the last moment and lashing out with one forepaw as he passed.

Lionblaze felt Tigerstar's claws rake along his side, and blood begin trickling out of the scratches. Fear stabbed at him. What happens if he kills me here?

Will I be really dead?

His mind cleared. Tigerstar was hurtling toward him again. Lionblaze scrambled aside; he aimed a blow, but felt his claws slide harmlessly through the tabby's pelt.

"Too slow," Tigerstar spat. "You'l have to work harder, now you know that prophecy wasn't meant for you. That was for Firestar's kin, wasn't it?"

Lionblaze knew that the tabby tom was trying to make him too angry to fight. I won't listen! All I need to do is win this battle!

He sprang at Tigerstar again, twisting in the air as he had been taught during those long nighttime visits, and landed squarely on the massive tabby's broad shoulders. Digging in with his claws, he stretched forward and sank his teeth into Tigerstar's neck.

Tigerstar tried the same trick of going limp and pul ing Lionblaze down with him, but this time Lionblaze was ready. He wriggled out from underneath the heavy body, battering with his hind paws at Tigerstar's exposed stomach fur.

"I'm not fal ing for that trick twice!" he hissed.

Tigerstar struggled to get up, but blood was pouring from a gash in his bel y; he stumbled down again, rol ing onto his back. Lionblaze planted one forepaw on Tigerstar's chest and held the other, claws extended, against his neck.

The tabby glared up at him; for a heartbeat, fear flashed in his blazing amber eyes. "Do you real y think you could kil me?" he growled. "You'd never do it."

"No." Lionblaze sheathed his claws and stepped back. "You're already dead."

He turned and stalked away, his pelt stil bristling and al his senses alert in case Tigerstar fol owed and leaped on him again. But there was no sound from the dark warrior, and soon he was left behind among the endless trees.

Lionblaze's mind whirled. He had beaten Tigerstar! Maybe I do have power after all...but how can I, if I'm not one of the Three?

He paused, scarcely seeing the tangling undergrowth and the trees of the dark forest al around him. Do I want to know who my parents really are? he wondered. Does it even matter? Maybe it was best to let his Clanmates accept him for who they thought he was, so he could go on striving to improve his fighting skil s.

I'm already the best fighter in ThunderClan. I know I can be a great warrior.

"Ashfur is dead," he meowed out loud. "And Squirrelflight won't reveal her secret to any other cats. It would hurt her Clanmates far too much if they knew she'd been lying to them for so long. Why not let everything stay the same?"

Lionblaze woke to the sun on his face. Most of the cats had already left the den; Lionblaze spotted only the gray-and-white pelt of Mousewhisker, who had kept guard over the camp the night before.

Lionblaze's jaws stretched in a yawn. "Thank StarClan I wasn't on the dawn patrol," he muttered.

When he tried to get up, every muscle in his body shrieked a protest; he felt as if his body was one huge ache, from his head to his paws. Down one side, his golden tabby fur was matted with blood.

I hope no cat has noticed that! he thought as he bent his head and began cleaning up his pelt with swift, rhythmic licks.

The fight with Tigerstar had been a dream, hadn't it? Lionblaze didn't understand why he should feel just as much pain and exhaustion as if it had real y happened. And he had been cut, as if a living warrior had raked his claws across Lionblaze's flank.... He tried not to think about it. It doesn't matter, because I'll never go back to that place, he told himself. It's over.

He felt better after his grooming, with his fur fluffed up to hide the gash in his side. When he finished, he could hear the voices of several cats just outside the den, though not close enough for him to make out what they were saying. Curious, he rose to his paws, arched his back in a delicious stretch, and pushed his way through the branches into the clearing.

Thornclaw was standing a couple of fox-lengths away; Spiderleg sat close by, while Cloudtail paced up and down in front of them, the tip of his white tail twitching. Cloudtail's mate, Brightheart, watched him anxiously from where she sat with Ferncloud, Brackenfur, and Sorreltail. Honeyfern and Berrynose were crouched nearby, their eyes fixed on Thornclaw.

"Ashfur was kil ed by a WindClan cat!" the golden brown tom was declaring. "It's the only possible answer."

A few of his listeners nodded in agreement, though Lionblaze saw others exchanging doubtful glances.

"Firestar said he thought that one of us did it,"