Crowtalon's Madness/Prologue

The relentless rain had slicked back a tom's fur as he sat, ever so still, on the fence lining his housefolk's garden. A cat new to the Twolegplace might ask what he was doing. He could have stayed warm and dry inside his housefolk's nest. Why would he want to get drenched? He wasn't a wild cat.

The tom drew his lips back in a snarl as he thought of wild cats. ''They have meddled in our affairs for too long. The ones who call themselves ShadowClan chased off some of our finest fighters into the unknown, left for their wounds to fester, and themselves to die. Now, I shall show these wild cats that I am the true king of the Twolegplace. ''The tom got to his paws and stared down at the congregation of kittypets below his perch.

"I am sure that you all know why I called you here," The tom began.

The cats below nodded, their eyes bright in the gloom, shining through the sheets of rain.

The tom smiled. It made him look even more insane. "We will start the ambush tonight. ThunderClan will be weakened after the first patrol, then the second will certainly bring them down. That will certainly eliminate one of our threats as swiftly as the falling rain."

A reddish brown she-cat, her glistening amber eyes brimming with love and affection, climbed the fence the tom was perched on and with effortless skill that could only prove she did this often, she sat right beside the tom and twined her tail with his. The tom returned the affectionate gesture by rubbing his muzzle along her jaw.

"You're always so clever, Jackal," she breathed into Jackal's ear, her warm breath stirring his fur. "You know just how to achieve what you want."

Jackal gave a rumbling purr as he mewed gently back, "And you are ever so perfect, my love. But I must assign the battle patrols now. We can talk later."

The she-cat nodded and jumped down the fence, landing neatly and settling herself back into the space she left among the throng of cats. Jackal spoke again. "Rose, Hawthorn, Fang, Niami, Chase, Tiramisu, Lightning, Luna and Anastasia, you will join the first battle patrol that I lead. Andromeda, Blackberry, Cleopatra, Edgar, Fox, Wolf, Gingersnap, Hana, Jaden and Jared, you will join the second battle patrol that Diablo will lead. We outnumber ThunderClan by a far cry, according to our scouts. We should be able to easily put them down."

Rose, the reddish brown she-cat, raised her voice in a piercing yowl, with the others joining in, until their screams and yowls split the sky with sound.

"Death to ThunderClan! Death to ThunderClan!"