Skywing awoke to find her newly-made apprentice already muching happily on a shrew in front of her.
"One rule about Clans: Apprentices eat last" she said, standing and stretching the stiffness out of her body.
"I left a squirell for you. It's right there" Sharp-paw meowed in reply. Skywing looked to her right; a plump grey squirell lay just beyond the corner of the crag in the rock. Skywing gulped it down, and took a long drink from the stream that ran down the face of the mountain. Suddenly, the unmistakable wail of a kittypet broke the early-morning silence, and Kisa came skidding to an alarmingly close halt in front of her.
"Sky! It's terrible! Ryker... he... he was just so tired and... those apprentices... they... come quick!" she turned and dashed off in the opposite direction. Skywing had little time to think. She shoved Sharp-paw from his spot and followed. She looked behind her to see her apprentice quickly bringing up the rear. As soon as the trio arrived at Kisa and Ryker's home, Kisa leaped onto Steelpaw and hissed in his face.
"YOU!" she spat cruely, "YOU! killed him! Get out! NOW!" Steelpaw looked absolutely terrified. Meanwhile, Sharp-paw already had Copperpaw pinned under him, despite being much younger.
"NO! I didn't kill Ryker! It was Copperpaw! I didn't do it!" he yowled. Kisa was an emotional mix of dispair and rage. She gave him a painful slash across his shoulder, and backed away. She turned to Copperpaw.
"Well?" she hissed. Copperpaw looked at her with an evil grin spreading across his muzzle.
"Yes Kisa, I killed him. I was tire of him telling my brother and I what to do, when to do it and why. Steelpaw would agree, but he is a coward. He is not strong" Kisa had had enough. She gave Sharp-paw a menacing look, and he nodded. Sharp-paw raised his paw and unsheathed his claws. Copperpaw closed his eyes calmly. To Skywing's astonishment, Sharp-paw slashed Copperpaw's belly. Copperpaw cringed and stood up, and looked at Kisa.
"Get out" she said. She didn't move a muscle. Copperpaw nodded in submission, turned around, squeeze through the fence and walked straight into the forest. Skywing nudged Sharp-paw with her shoulder. She watched as Kisa placed her head on Ryker's body and lay down next to him. She turned and clambered over the fence, Sharp-paw following.
Making their way back to their home, the two remained silent. It was sunhigh by now, but neither cat wanted to hunt. The rest of the day, they didn't speak. They simply lay around and waited for the night to come, when they would have a chance to see Ryker off into StarClan in their dreams.
