Jeeze, I get good reception first chapters, then, boom, no reviews? I'm totally bummed out now... but, then again, it's Friday, and Friday's are always slow...

-O-

Ravenscorch followed behind Yellowstar, the guards assigned to him until his death flanking him. Despite the fizzle it had caused, Spitpaw had argued that he wanted to walk next to the Assassin to the Gathering. Everycat hated the idea, not that a 'paw would be walking next to a murderer, but rather that the other Clans would see it.

The gray tabby tom was terrified of what was to happen. His carefully laid lie, delicate as a spider's carefully spun web, was to be ripped through like a curious kit paw through the threads of a cobweb. To calm his nerves, he mumbled a barracks song under his breath. It spoke of an old tom, tired and disheveled. He had served his time, and served it well, and now it was time to die.

That old 'un, he fought long an' hard!

(yes sir!)

He battled foe after foe,

Until he was slow and low,

(low!)

He-uh, served his time, and he served it well... he was a really great guy...

But, now it was time to die.

Stand strait! Tail stiff! Ears up! Eyes forward!

Oh, our leader great and wise... came to lower his rank to the ground...

He slunk from the crowd...

To the forest he went, to the forest he went,

Where he his last days were spent...

As he lay dieing, he could see someone a-smiling,

Why it was his old mentor before him!

He had been low and slow!

(low and slow)

Battled foe after foe,

And he sure did serve his time...

But, then came his time. To. Die.

It wasn't really a cheery song, but it was something most older cats liked to sing, knowing their time of exile was near... and it reminded Ravenscorch that he had served his Clan, no matter what. Maybe... maybe he would go to the Ancestors, for a job well done?

"I liked that song, Ravenscorch, it made me feel strong," Spitpaw mumbled softly from his left.

He frowned, "It's the song of old cats, kit, not something you should be singing quite yet,"

"But what about you? You're still pretty young, compared to the elders, that is... I'm not a kit," Spitpaw snapped the last part.

Soon, they reached the pebbly shore of the lake, and far ahead, he could see a fallen tree crossing the water to an island.

"That's the tree bridge, the Island is where we have our Gatherings... at least that's what I've heard. I've never been before. I hope I meet someone interesting to talk to in one of the other Clans, everybody hates me here, and I don't want to hang out with the elders, because they're the only cats that like me," Spits fretted, twitching his tail.

Ravenscorch almost wanted to tell him that AssassinClan didn't have elders. Once you get old, you get tossed out to die, therefor keeping the Clan strong, "I'm sure you'll find someone to kit-chat with," he tried to reassure. Why was he even doing this? He knew it was a slight lie... amongst other ones, that is.

"Thanks Ravenscorch. Though, I know you're lying, but I like the vote of confidence. I'll just stick next to you until your trial time," Spitpaw mewed.

Ravenscorch was floored. How could he tell he was lying? "Are you sure I was lying?" he asked.

"Yup," Spitpaw said, kicking a few pebbles with a paw, "you kinda get this smooth look on your face, like you're trying to look normal and telling the truth. If you're from a group of assassins and stuff, you're strait face sucks,"

Ravenscorch couldn't believe that the kit had just did that, "It does not, you're imagining it," maybe... maybe this one had a bit of AssassinClan blood in him? Not many cats could see past his strait face, and those cats ended up dead... like Dawnshadow.

"You keep telling yourself that, maybe you can believe your own lie..." he trailed off, a conflicted look on his face, "Are you scared?"

Wind whistled down the shore, ruffling Ravenscorch's fur, stirring the blood in his ears, "No, there's no need to be afraid. We all die at one point, kid,"

"No, not of dieing, dummy. What happens if you're not found guilty, and you're not killed?" he asked, "I would be terrified, having to go back to a place that I'm hated... oh, wait, never mind, that's already happening to me," he hissed bitterly, fangs flashing in a snarl.

"I'll leave if I'm found innocent. Probably go rogue again," Ravenscorch said.

The Clan trotted up to the log bridge, and the guards nudged Ravenscorch up. He began to pad across when he heard Spitpaw whimper, "I can't swim... I don't want to go across!" Ravenscorch turned around. The little apprentice was halted at the base of the log, shivering. Singewhisker was right behind him, growling.

"Move it, kit, or I'll toss you over," he snarled, threatening to shove the 'paw into the water.

"Spitpaw, come on. It's dry and easy to walk on," but it wasn't Ravenscorch who said it.

Budshell had pushed through the group, and was nudging the apprentice gently. Maybe he wasn't as hated as he thought, "Go on, look, Ravenscorch is up there, he'll catch you,"

Ravenscorch nodded, "I can swim," he said.

This seemed to add more confidence to the youngling, and he looked up, taking a few pawsteps, "You'll get me if I fall?" he asked.

"Yes, now get over here," Ravenscorch was getting impatient.

Spitpaw nodded, and walked forward carefully, much to the relief of his Clan, "It's okay, I can do this," he meowed quietly, voice cracking.

"Don't look down, Spits," Budshell said from right behind him.

Then, he padded right across, and tumbled onto the shore on the island, bumping into Ravenscorch's paws.

"I did it!" he said, tail curling over his back, and his chest puffing out, "Not that you helped much. You can't swim, dummy. I can see your lying face," he said casually as they sauntered away from the bridge.

"Go die in a hole,"

"Walk into a badger set, then," Spits shot back.

Ravenscorch sighed, and shook his head. His guards had surrounded him again, all two of them. They herded him along to a secluded section of the gathering area. Surrounded by a ring of pine trees, a large grassy clearing stretched before the cats, a huge oak tree growing in the center. There were already cats there, smelling of fish.

"I think that's RiverClan," Spits said in a hushed mew from Ravenscorch's side.

Another Clan was starting to file onto the island, smelling of open moors and hares.

"WindClan maybe?" Spits guessed.

"Maybe," Ravenscorch said. He knew it was WindClan. There would be no ThunderClan tonight.

A movement near the center of the island attracted his attention. Yellowstar was climbing up the branches of the oak, two other cats were already sitting in it.

"The leaders! Oh... um , I know that one, he came to our Camp once," Spits said excitedly, pointing his tail to a sleek brown tom to the left of Yellowstar, "That's Sneakstar. He's WindClan. And the other one on Yellowstar's right, that, I think, is RiverClan's leader, her name is Sparkstar. She's new, everybody was surprised when she told she was the leader at last Gathering. They said her name used to be Sparkbright, or at least that's what I was told," Spitpaw said, sitting down on his tail to wash his head.

"Spits, shouldn't you be going to sit with the other apprentices?" Ravenscorch said suddenly, wondering just how bad the youngling's image was getting for sitting next to a murderer.

"So I can be picked on? Please. I know my brothers already spread rumors about me, so why bother?" he grumped back.

Ravenscorch sighed. His pelt began to prickle, his Assassin training setting off warning bells. He turned his head. There were cats from RiverClan watching him. A young looking warrior walked up carefully to say hello, but was snarled back by one of the guards.

"Hey, what's your problem?" he snapped at the guard, pale green eyes flashing.

"Oh, don't go to close to him. That's the murderer," a ShadowClan tom called out.

"The Murderer? Why are you letting an apprentice so close to him?" the RiverClan tom gasped.

"'cause I'm not afraid of him," Spitpaw defended instantly, "It's not his fault he murdered- oof!" Ravenscorch pushed him with a paw. Spits stumbled into the grass.

"Shush, kit," he warned.

Something smacked into the back of Ravenscorch's head, and he hissed. Oh, so now his guards were going to do their job.

"Pipe down, murderer, or we'll silence you before trial time," the guard said angrily.

Ravenscorch glowered, and hunched down.

"Spits, why don't you come away from him," it was Budshell, that stupid, annoying she-cat. Where had she come from?

"No," Spitpaw said defiantly.

She gave Ravenscorch a look, as if he could do something about it, "Kit, why don't you go with Budshell," he said finally, pushing the 'paw away.

Spitpaw gave him a hurt look, "What? But, I wanna be with you, I don't want to sit with the other apprentices," he said softly, his eyes round.

"You can sit with me, Spitpaw, you don't need to sit with the other apprentices," Budshell said.

"I guess..." Spits said, his voice heavy.

"Good, come on, the Gathering's about to start,"

Right when she spoke, Yellowstar called the meeting to a start.

"Where in Dark Forest is ThunderClan?" she yowled.

All the gathered cats began to mumble, and whisper amongst themselves, "I don't know," the RiverClan leader, Sparkstar, said anxiously, "Their borders were still fresh, but we haven't bumped into and patrols,"

"We can't possibly think of getting going without ThunderClan here! It's preposterous!" Sneakstar, the WindClan leader, said, his voice haughty and regal.

"Pff," Yellowstar scoffed, "ThunderClan is what's preposterous. They've lost their way in not coming to the Gathering, big deal, let's just get moving!"

"If we must," Sparkstar mewed tensely, "All is well in RiverClan, the river is bursting with fish and bank voles. I have nothing more to report," she said, bowing her head in thanks for both the cats listening, and for StarClan that her Clan was still prosperous.

"WindClan is strong, despite the recent outbreak of whitecough. A border patrol was attacked by a fox a few sunrises ago, and, sadly, one of our older apprentices, Shalepaw, was killed while defending a younger apprentice. May StarClan light his way," Sneakstar said, his tone grievous.

"May they light his way indeed," Yellowstar said.

Ravenscorch couldn't help mumbling a few choice words under his breath, praying to the Ancestors that the young one didn't get lost on the way.

"But, I have other news to discuss," she went on, staring pointedly at the tabby tom.

"Ah, yes, the outsider," Sneakstar said, "The apprentices of your Clan are very loud when it comes to drama. Shall we know the point of it? No cat has been relaying news that makes sense," he kneaded at the tree branch.

"Yes, but who can blame them? They're all angry with this one. Ravenscorch, come forward," Yellowstar beckoned with her tail.

"Oh, you actually brought him here? My, my, my..." Sparkstar said, looking down as the guards brought Ravenscorch up, "Are the henchcats really necessary? He doesn't look too strong,"

Ravenscorch felt his ears burning. How little they all truly knew.

"Yes, I brought him here. For a trial,"

There were gasps from all the Clans.

"My own Clan is still wrapped in their own grief, and cannot think strait for his punishment at the moment, due to his actions... or rather, the actions WindClan forced upon him," Yellowstar snarled, looking at Sneakstar.

"Wha-?" he said, absolutely baffled, "WindClan? What did this cat do that you blame us for?"

"You sent him and a band of four others to our Camp. You knew we had just had a battle with ThunderClan, and thought we were weak! But, no, you didn't send this cat and his squad of petty assassins after warriors! You sent him after kits!"

Ravenscorch began to wish he could just sink into the ground, and disappear from all this.

Sneakstar stood up, hackles raised, "We did no such thing! Why would we?!"

"Oh, StarClan, you two, don't start fighting..." Sparkstar mumbled from her branch.

"The assassin says he met a border patrol for the orders, your deputy, Snapjaw, gave him his task himself!"

"I did not!" the indignant cry from the WindClan deputy ripped the air.

"That's enough!" Sparkstar yowled angrily, her patient, gentle side finally snapping, "This is a trial for this cat, not a session of claw pointing like kits! Let's get on with the sentencing!" she hissed, glaring at the other two leaders.

Yellowstar mumbled under her breath, "Fine. Cat, up on the lowest branch so you can be seen at least,"

Ravenscorch dipped his head, and leaped easily to the lowest branch of the oak, just below Yellowstar's.

"Tell them what you and your cats did, start to finish," she commanded.

"Yes, ma'am. It started several mornings ago, really, me and my squad, four other cats-"

"Their names," Yellowstar snapped at him.

He sighed, "Siege-ear, Biteswift, Gorseshiver an-" he took a deep breath, "and my mate Dawnshadow. We were heading from just above the ShadowClan territory after... another mission we had dealt with much farther along those reaches. We were looking for something to do, maybe get food and a night's shelter from it, when we met the WindClan border patrol. They were suspicious, but the leading cat, who I'm now told is named Snapjaw, wanted our services,"

Gasps of shock rippled through the audience, and whatever cats that were near WindClan suddenly separated, like water and oil does.

"He wanted us to attack ShadowClan, to repay them for driving them out many generations ago, at a place they called The Old Territories. We were to attack the nursery, and kill whom ever was inside. We planned for a few days, then struck. We killed the kits and a queen inside, but were discovered..." he trailed off, the images playing in his mind... "We ran, but soon, my mate Dawnshadow tired, for she was going to have kits of her own, and she ran out of breath. Her brother, Gorseshiver, tried to get her up, but she couldn't move, so we all stayed to fight and keep her safe..." the images played fast, rippling along in his mind like water on a lake.

"But, there were too many ShadowClan cats. They killed little Siege-ear first, he'd only been an As- erm, Warrior for a moon-"

"Warrior?" some cat cried, "What Clan do you hail from?!"

"We didn't come from one. My mother liked the Clan names, because she stayed in the barn nearby for a night during a storm, and met a few barn cats there that worshiped the Clan cats, so she named me in the Clan way, moving me up from kit, to 'paw, to warrior. I did the same with Siege-ear, and Dawnshadow, her brother, and Biteswift, after I met them, decided to take Warrior names too," he said, glad to be off topic for a moment.

"Continue with the story, Assassin," Yellowstar growled.

Ravenscorch settled himself down on the branch a little more comfortably, not excited for the next part of the story, "Biteswift went down right after Siege-ear, and then, Gorseshiver, the big lump of a cat, had his throat torn out. It was just me and Dawnshadow,"

He closed his eyes, hearing her voice in his head "Ravenscorch! Help me!" "Dawnshadow!"

"Yellowstar told them to kill one of us, and I got picked up by my scruff. I was glad, because I thought I was going to die... then, a tom grabbed Dawnshadow's hind leg, and pulled her back. I knew then that she was going to die. Some cat in the crowd told the tom to snap her leg, a- and he did..."

"DAWNSHADOW, NO!" his own voice echoed in his mind. His eyes saw her writhing on the ground all over again.

"I couldn't move, some one was holding me down, raking my sides every few moments," he turned a little to allow the cats to see the long scratches, the moon turning them silver, "And... then, someone told the cat to kill her, and be done with it. I looked at her, and..."

"No, Dawnshadow! Fight them!" "I'm sorry love, I'm so sorry,"

"She told me she loved me," his voice cracked, and he was sure a teardrop actually escaped his eye.

"So let it be,"

"So let it be,"

"The tom crushed her throat, and that was the end of it. The ShadowClan cats took me back to their Camp, where I got these," he flicked his ear, and showed his face, "I look upon all you cats now, and I tell you a story, it may not be a good story, but a story nonetheless. I do not plead innocent, for I know I'm not. I learned long ago that the claws can be blamed just as much as the cat. I can only pray you will decide swiftly, and have it done, so I may reunite with Dawnshadow, and be rid of this twisted world, in which cats like myself prowl," he ended.

Ravenscorch's head hung. He was shivering, his eyes wide, bobbed tail pressed tight against his side. Another teardrop leaked down his fur, running onto his nose and stinging the cut Singewhisker had given him.

"Hah, and there it is. A pathetic story from a pathetic cat," Yellowstar sneered, "We all know he's guilty, but, I still wanted a fair trial. Sparkstar, seeing as how you can handle these things better..." Yellowstar said, nodding down at the assembled cats.

Sparkstar sighed, "Alright, you lot. Those who find him guilty, over there, those who find him innocent, there," she pointed with her tail, "I hope you know how much I hate having to do this," she muttered to Yellowstar as the cats slowly made their decisions.

"They listen better to your plans,"

"This can't be a fair trial," a cat yowled from near the base of the tree, "I mean, really, with out ThunderClan here..."

Ravenscorch was very glad that they weren't.

When the cats had chosen their sides, Ravenscorch was confused. One cat stood undecided. And that cat was Budshell.

-O-

Cliff hanger. I love 'em. Stay tuned, and I may update yet again today!