Kitetail heard a noise at the entrance of his den and turned, expecting Alderthorn to be there. Instead, he saw Limekit, the small white tom's fur fluffed up against the cold. Limekit met his eyes silently and Kitetail felt a churning in his belly.

That was strange.

And then, from up above and all around him, the terrible, terrible noise, and when he darted outside, he saw the silvery wings of the Twoleg beast as it flew through the air, a trail of smoke follow behind it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Wow. I never imagined I'd be sitting here, almost three years later, putting the final touches on this story. It's been a very long journey of days of frantic writing and months of inactivity, but I did it, and I owe it to everyone who has stuck with the story, constantly reviewing and encouraging me! Your support has been so instrumental to my success and I can't express my appreciation enough!

Knight of the Shadows pretty much turned out like I planned it, though Grainstar was a spur-of-the-moment write-in. I really like how Fogpaw ended up, and how Dawnpaw's growth went as well! Writing her now is so much different than it was at the beginning, though I barely even notice the difference because it just feels so natural.

Also, in Chapter 1 of PotS, Elm reminds Dawn that she was always the one kit poking her nose where it didn't belong. In Chapter 29 of this book, Nettle reminds Thickfur of the same thing! Does it mean anything? Have I been planning this for four years? Probably not! But Thickfur has a messy past and it is coming out in the next book, I am so excited.

I guess it's time to talk about the next book, Queen of the Thunder. I have the prologue and first chapter done, but am hesitant to upload it because I don't know how often I will be able to update. I will get it done though, I promise, even if it takes another three years (here's hoping that it doesn't). Whenever I get uninspired or don't feel like writing, I just picture the final scene of QotT in my head and think about how I can't wait to write it. The last chapter and then the epilogue, aahhh, it's literally the most exciting thing ever.

For QotT, I wish I could say I was lowering the number of POVs (well, there will be one less) but I will be trying to get it to flow better. Less of "Dawnpaw stuck in the Dark Forest" over and over again! We will get a POV for Lime as well as for Elmheart (I know, I'm so excited!).

I'm not really sure what else to put here! Umm... I currently have 299 reviews, so next one will make it 300 and that would be pretty cool, I guess? I can't complain, I do still have a pretty good number of reviews considering that it took me three years to write this! Just hoping people want to stick around and keep reading the next one, so please do drop me a note (even if you don't want to review the other chapters) if you liked this book and are excited to read the next one!

I guess I have to finish QotT, I have so many other ideas to write but I can't start another story until it's done (and let's be honest, I should never start stories again. Starting is easy, finishing is hard.) I will probably dedicate my next NaNoWriMos (camps in April/July and then the real one in Nov) to finish QotT. It will probably be around the same length as this - more chapters but I'll try to keep them a bit shorter!

Thanks for everything guys!

- PV :)