Cloudstar stands with the other leaders on the Great Rock. He lies, and tells them things are going great in his clan. He says the twolegs and their monsters are on the edge of his territory, but they will leave. As the gathering breaks up Fawnstep tells him that the other medicine cats have had visions of SkyClan's destruction.
Cloudstar lay with the elder Petalfall, who is dying. He leaves to go survey the damage that the twolegs have done, only to discover they are building nests. He returns to camp to find out Petalfall has died while he was gone. Later on Buzzardtail sends out a hunting patrol near the twoleg border. Oakpaw fell into a hole while chasing a squirrel. Cloudstar tells Buzzardtail they must not risk hunting there anymore as it is no longer safe for the SkyClan cats.
Cloudstar has Buzzardtail focus on fighting instead of hunting. He has decided they must take the territory back from ThunderClan or they will all starve to death. After a day spent training they attack ThunderClan, but they are so weak from hunger that ThunderClan easily overpowers them. Cloudstar is forced to call a retreat.
Back at camp Cloudstar tells his warriors that ThunderClan wanted the land more than they did and next time they must try harder. He feels guilty for laying the blame on his starving clan, but he hopes that by doing this next time they will win. That night while he sleeps Fawnstep wakes him. She has had a dream that at the next gathering their territory will be completely destroyed and the other clans will drive them from the forest.
Birdflight gives birth to their kits. Cloudstar feels this should be the happiest day of his life, but it is not. Their territory is completely destroyed. All that is left is their camp. He dreams of StarClan but no cat will speak to him. He takes his entire clan to the next Gathering, to the shock of everyone as even kits and sickly elders show up. He begs the leaders for territory but they turn him away. Redstar and Swiftstar (the WindClan leader) tell them to leave, and even Molepelt (ShadowClan's medicine cat) sides with them. Other medicine cats speak out against this, but since the leaders will not change their stance Cloudstar has no choice. Birdflight tells Cloudstar that their kits will not make the journey. Cloudstar feels despair as Kestrelwing, the ThunderClan medicine cat, says his clan will take them. Cloudstar realizes that if he wasn't the leader he could abandon his clan to be with Birdflight as loners. Having lost his home, his mate, and his kits Cloudstar leads the remained of his clan away. Redstar calls out for StarClan to go with them, but Cloudstar feels StarClan and the warrior code has betrayed them, and vows his cats will have nothing to do with StarClan anymore.
Even though I knew how this story would end it was still so sad. Cloudstar lost everything, even his faith in the warrior code and StarClan. The only thing he has left is being leader of a dying clan. Reading his story it is easy to see why the other clans were ashamed of their part in this story and chose to pretend that SkyClan never existed.
I feel like I already read this story, but the other stories were not familiar to me. I did find an excerpt from it in Battles of the Clans, so maybe it is that. But I wonder if maybe when I bought the book over a year ago if I skimmed the ending. Short of rereading the field guides I guess I won't know.
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