Chapter 10

Ashwinter awoke to loud voices. She blinked and shook her head, clearing away any remaining grogginess. She padded up to Bluefire.
"What have I missed this time?" she asked sharply.
Bluefire hesitated before answering. "Crookedstar is dead!" she wailed in distraught.
Ashwinter felt the overwhelming calmness settle over her conscious again. She had had a feeling Crookedstar would go soon...
"How did it happen?" she asked quietly.
"He just slipped away in his sleep like Yellowstar did." her friend sobbed.
Finally, Ashwinter felt the sheer shock and horror everyone else was feeling. She turned her head away from Crookedstar's body. Honeymallow sat sullenly on Ashwinter's other side. Leopardfur stared with half-closed eyes at the ground. Dustrise padded over to his sister and denmates.
"I can't believe it." he meowed, shaking his head slowly.
"Me neither," she agreed quietly.
The Clan, still in distraught, sobbed and shook around Crookedstar's body. Equinoxrise looked expectantly at Leopardfur.
"Leopardfur. You are RiverClan's leader now. Please be strong for the weak and lead our Clanmates out of sorrow?" he addressed her.
Leopardfur glanced up at him, acknowledging what he had said.
"Cats of RiverClan," she began, " Crookedstar's death is indeed a tragedy. But we have seen more cats come and go over the seasons than there is fish in the river. We must get over his passing as quickly as we can. I will travel to the Moonstone today to receive my nine lives. Stonefur," the gray tom held his new leader's gaze, " will be our new deputy." Leopardfur turned briskly away and headed out of the camp.
"She's not taking travelling herbs?" Winterfury asked. No cat answered. No cat was ready to argue with a cat like Leopardfur. The elders prepared Crookedstar's body for burial. Ashwinter turned away and padded out of the camp. She needed fresh air, to be away from all the grief. Suddenly, a strange scent caught in her throat. It was a cat's scent, she realized, but not a Clan cat. A rouge? No, there was twoleg scent mingled with it! It was faint but it was there. Ashwinter shrugged. Probably just a kittypet that passed by earlier today. She would report it later. Ashwinter trudged on. What she did not notice was a pair of pale yellow eyes following her from the high branch of a tree, their body hidden in the dense leaves of autumn.