Chapter 9

Graypaw's eyes widened. It was going to attack Dawnpaw! "Run, Dawnpaw! Run!" He yowled. But Dawnpaw was frozen with fear as she stared at the giant owl hovering over her. The owl let out a shriek before crashing it's talons on Dawnpaw's lithe body, blood flowing onto the owl's talons. No cat could survive that! "Dawnpaw!" He screeched. Dawnpaw's body slid off the branch, and smacked onto the forest floor.

Graypaw back away, backing up until his fur pressed onto the tree trunk. As if the owl just knew he was there, the owl was moving towards him, it's bloody talons clanking on the branch. Graypaw looked at the forest floor, and back to the owl. He was going to have to jump.

Graypaw bunched his muscles, and fell. The breath was knocked out of him as he fell for what seemed like hours. Flapping came from above, and Graypaw craned his neck to see the owl fluttering away, it's dark shape standing out against the waxing moon.

"Graypaw…" A voice cracked. Dawnpaw was lying a few feet from him, Dawnpaw's dark cream coat was stained with scarlet. Graypaw strained to stand up, he had probably dislocated it. He limped awkwardly to Dawnpaw, and settled beside her, feeling the warmth leaving her body.

"Dawnpaw…" He whispered stuffing his face into her dark cream fur. "You can't leave, what am I going to tell you're family?" He asked.

Graypaw felt Dawnpaw shift, and he looked up to see her shifting to face him. "Tell them… Tell them that I'll watch over them, even in StarClan.. Good-bye Graypaw." She whispered, the sparkly, optimistic light leaving her green eyes as she departed to StarClan. Graypaw let out a wail, the first droplets of rain pattering down on his face. The trail of blood that Dawnpaw had left was drizzling away in the rain, vanishing into the soil.

Scents wavered around him, and he looked to see Brackenfur, Briarclaw, and Lionblaze running to see what was wrong.

"Graypaw! What's…" Briarclaw began, her face tailing in the rain as she saw Dawnpaw's body.

"Dawnpaw, she's dead…" Lionblaze whispered sadly, trotting to sit next to Graypaw.

"Let's get you back to camp." Brackenfur meowed, flicking his tail for him to start going back to ThunderClan. Graypaw turned, Brackenfur was picking up Dawnpaw's dead body in his jaws, trying his best to make sure her paws, or tail weren't dragging into the wet soil.

As they walked into ThunderClan, cats were running out into the rain, their eyes dropping as they saw who Brackenfur was holding in his jaws.

"Dawnpaw!" Icefall shrieked, the white she-cat's pelt stained with mud as she ran up to her daughters dead body. "What happened, what did you do to my kit?" Icefall pestered, her teeth glittering as she bared them menacingly at Graypaw.

Bramblestar pushed to the front of the crowd, his amber eyes standing out from the dark surroundings. "What happened? This isn't the first time you've-"

"I sent Dawnpaw and Graypaw to go and fetch me some moss for my nest." Sandstorm meowed from behind Bramblestar. The pale ginger she-cat shoved her way to the front of the crowd to face Bramblestar.

"You did?" Icefall screeched.

Sandstorm wasn't shocked by the yowls of outrage, and complete utter disgust. "I did, but I never expected this to happen though."

"What attacked you?" A voice asked, but Graypaw didn't know who, nor did he care. His mother was covering for him.

"A owl. A giant owl, bigger than any cat." He mewed to the crowd. Out of the corner of Graypaw's eye, he saw Cinderheart order Blazekit and Silverkit into the nursery.

"Sandstorm is exiled from ThunderClan!" Bramblestar decreed. "If she is seen on our territory, she must be killed." Bramblestar ordered.

Cheers broke out from groups of cats who agreed with Bramblestar. Sandstorm didn't flinch as Berrynose and Icefall spat in disgust at her. Sandstorm left quickly, running through the gorse tunnels. Graypaw ran after, managing to escape Lionblaze's claw's as he tried to hold him back. He ran after his mother, not completely caring if he looked like a newborn kit.

"Sandstorm! Wait! Please!" He screeched to his mother disappearing shape. He turned around a beech tree, before seeing his mother pad into the moors, leaving ThunderClan just as she was ordered.

"Please, don't leave me…" He whispered, crashing onto the floor.