Chapter 3 - Honesty

Nightpaw stared into his pleading golden eyes, the rest of the small battle sounds dimmed behind her. She felt anger pulsing through her, but she couldn’t hurt the apprentice, instead, she brought her head down, fast and close to his neck, making it look like she bit him.
She growled into his ear, “Run now! Before I lose it.” she scratched his back lightly, as he got up and ran, his tail waving to her in thanks. She ignored it and sprang back into the fray. Silentstar had Burntpaw by the scruff and was rattling him around. Nightpaw flung herself onto the leader’s back, and bit down hard into her ear while scoring deep cuts into her back.
Silentstar screeched in pain and let go of Burntpaw, throwing Nightpaw off and backing away. “You have won this, but beware you mountainous fools!” she spat, and turned to run, but as she did so, she lashed out ferociously catching Bleedingheart, who was nearby, on the neck, cutting deep in, and dispersing a small red fountain.
Nightpaw stared in horror as Bleedingheart sank to the ground, gurgling in pain, and the red fountain turning to a gush of blood. She let loose a cry of pain and anger. This was how Thrustpaw repaid her; this was how they were treated for doing no wrongs. She picked up Bleedingheart’s body with the help of Shadestar and Burntpaw, his eyes clouded with grief.
The bore his body into camp, his sister, Snowdrop, a black she-cat with a white splash on her head, stood rigid at the sight of her dead brother. She wailed her sorrows and as he was set down gently on the stone floor, she rushed over and began grooming his fur and mourning. Burntpaw padded up next to her, and prepared to say farewell to his noble mentor. Other cats gathered around, their eyes downcast, and their tails dragging. Nightpaw stood next to Burntpaw, her eyes icy cold but filled with hurt.
She bent low to Bleedingheart and whispered in his ear as she prepared to say goodbye, “Don’t worry, I’ll make Oceanclan pay.” she licked his fur down, and padded over to her own mentor, and buried her face in his fur.
The elders, Stripemuzzle, a ginger tabby tom, and Smokepool, a gray she-cat, picked the apprentice’s body up and carried him out into the clearing, there they dug a deep hole and gracefully placed his body within it. Nightpaw looked away, unable to bear his death, she raced out of camp, passing the saddened elders. She ran blindly towards the training forest, her paws blundering their way to the stream. She pushed her face into the water, relishing the sharp cold that greeted her.
Pulling her face from the water, she glanced around. A sharp crack of a twig made her jump slightly. She froze and narrowed her eyes. Then, a scent wafted towards her and she felt fury tingling in her paws. She pinpointed the intruder with her ears and pounced, her claws outstretched.
The intruder whirled around in time, and bobbed out of the way. “Hey watch it Nightpaw, it’s me, Thrustpaw!” his golden eyes sparkled with happiness. Nightpaw snarled at him, and tried to rake her pointed claws across his smug little face.
“Traitor! Your leader killed our deputy!” she hissed maliciously, the apprentice still dodged all her half-hearted blows. He shook his head bewildered.
“I didn’t know! Silentstar only said that the squirrel was ours because we only chased it up close to your camp, we didn’t mean it honest!” He shrank back in fear, and Nightpaw sheathed her claws.
She looked away crossly, her heart pounding. “Look, just get off our land before I claw your mouse-brained head off.” she snarled and flexed her claws. She didn’t care if she never saw Thrustpaw again, she had made Oceanclan her enemy the moment Bleedingheart died. Thrustpaw scuffled his paws hesitantly.
“Go NOW!” she growled sharply and launched her lithe black body towards him. Thrustpaw squeaked, and turned tail and ran. Nightpaw watched his small black form race away with delight. She felt pure power rush to her ears to the tip of her tail. She turned with a smirk and padded back to camp, her electric blue eyes ablaze.

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