Prologue
"She's beautiful, Brightheart."
Brightheart. That name. The name that he loved so dearly. Brightheart.
The black-and-white apprentice rolled over on his side and rested his chin on his paws. He gazed sadly into the Moonpool, staring at the scars that covered the ginger-and-white she-cat's face. The ear on that side was shredded, and there was only and empty socket where her eye should have been.
And they were all because of him.
He, Swiftpaw, son of Goldenflower and Patchpelt. Former apprentice of ThunderClan. Yes, former. He was dead now. He died the same way Brightheart had got her scars, in the jaws of a dog. And it was all because of him.
It was when Bluestar was still leader, and she had recently learned Tigerclaw was a traitor. Because of that, she believed the whole Clan were traitors. Especially Darkstripe and Longtail, Tigerclaw's closest followers. And because Swiftpaw was Longtail's apprentice, Bluestar refused to make him a warrior. But she did however make Cloudtail a warrior, just because he didn't believe in StarClan. So Swiftpaw, Brightpaw, and Thornpaw were left apprentices. But Swiftpaw, being the impatient hot-headed mousebrain he was, decided that if they wanted to become warriors, they needed to do something to really impress Bluestar. Recently patrols had reported rabbit bones and corpses at Snakerocks, so he said they should go find out who or what was stealing them, and teach them a lesson. Thornpaw and the other two apprentices at the time, Ashpaw and Fernpaw, disagreed, but Brightpaw thought they should, but was wary. So they set off the next day. As they arrived at Snakerocks, Swiftpaw complained and said that there wasn't even anything there, when suddenly four humongous dogs appeared from the old badger set. Steel muscle pressed against their thin fur and their eyes screamed bloody murder. The razor-sharp teeth glistened ominously in the pale sunlight and saliva dripped from their jowls.
Without warning, they lunged. Instinctively, Swiftpaw spun around and dashed up a tree with speed that gave him his name. But poor Brightpaw wasn't as quick. The smallest dog grabbed her by the tail and flung her into the air. She screeched in pain, only to smash into the ground. She jumped to her paws and gave the dog a mighty slash to the nose, splitting it in half. The dog howled, and their fight continued.
But the largest dog had its sights on the black-and-white tom in the tree. It lunged forward and leaped onto the base of the tree, snapping its wicked teeth onto his black-tipped tail. He yowled in rage and pain as the dog dragged him against his will. When he was near enough for the other dogs two dogs to join in, they yelped and howled in delight and one snapped onto Swiftpaw's hindleg. But the other dog quickly ripped the apprentice away from the other two, claiming him as its own. The world was slowly becoming darker, and the sounds around him were becoming muffled. He did however here Brightpaw scream out in rage and felt him being dropped to the ground. Then he heard Brightpaw scream again but this time in pain and terror. Struggling to get over his fading senses, Swiftpaw staggered to his paws to see the giant dog carrying the ginger-and-white she-cat by the head and blood spurting from its jaws. Fiery hatred burned inside him and he charged forward, dashing past the other three dogs. He took a flying leap and landed on the dog's back and sinking his claws into its fur, then taking its right ear into a vice grip. Before he knew it, he was flying through the air and smashing into the boulders. He heard his spine crack, and immediately his world grew ten times darker. The last thing he heard was his own voice saying, "I'm sorry Brightpaw."
The black-and-white apprentice felt tears running down his face as he relived his death. They dripped from his whiskers, landing in the starry pool. He gazed down at his one and only love, reveling over her first kit with her mate Cloudtail.
He sat watching the happy family until his eyes slowly began to close. Just before he drifted off, a final thought struck his mind:
What if Brightheart had died instead of me?