Warriors(the Fire Rises): Choises (English version)

Chapter 6

More and more sunhighs past, Nightpaw was almost ready to become a warrior, but Firepaw was still struggling a bit. Sure, he got the hang of hunting and battle techniques, but clan life was difficult. 'Why did Snowstar bring me here? I will never be a warrior, if Starclan did truly have something planned for me, they were wrong...

Almost a moon after Firepaw had joined the clan, he came back from a sundown border patrol. While his clanmates were going to rest in the dens, Firepaw wanted to go in the forest on his own for a while. He knew that apprentices weren't actually allowed out of camp alone, but he wouldn't go far and needed some time on his own. He stopped at the bottom of a hill and looked around. The sun had set, the last light had disappeared and darkness filled the forest. Firepaw tasted the air around him and sat down in the hunters crouch. He crept around until he noticed the smell of prey. He tried to find out what animal was near him. I hate rain.. It doesnt just hide our scent, but also the scent of prey. But i think its.. Mouse!!

Firepaw prepared himself, and then pounced on the small, thin mouse that was sniffing  through the leaves on the ground. But while he was flying towards his prey, a yowl sound through the forest, startling both Firepaw and the mouse.

"AAAAAAARGHHHH!!!!!"

Firepaw fell on the ground and looked around, startled. The mouse had fled. What was that? It sounded like someone was getting murdered or something...

Little did Firepaw now... He decided to check it out anyways, and ran to the top of the hill. When he looked down at the valley, however, he froze with shock....

Down the hillside, open in the field, lay Goldenpelt, the loyal deputy and brother of Snowstar. Firepaw could just see a flash of a large, long-haired tabby tom fleeing back into the woods. Goldenpelt looked terrible. Firepaw saw that his ear had been ripped off his head, there was a deep cut in his throat and a small stream of blood coming out of his mouth. His deep blue eyes had lost its spark and looked into the void of nothing.

"Goldenpelt..." Firepaw whispered. "Goldenpelt!!!"

He ran down the hill and skipped to a halt next to the goldfish brown tom cat. Carefully, he tapped his shoulder, but the deputy didn't respond. Firepaw didn't see any movement al all. He looked around, scared, before turning back to Goldenpelt. "No... you can't die! Snowstar can't handle you dead, and what do you think of Sandstripe and Tiger-"

Suddenly Firepaw realized who Goldenpelt's attacker was. A large, muscled tom... long haired... brown tabby.. Tigerstripe is the murderer! I have to warn Snowstar! He was sure.

So Firepaw ran back into the forest, on his way to the camp. He didn't stop running, he jumped over logs, he ran and ran and...

Suddenly he was laying on the ground, two large claws were holding him there. When he looked up, he looked into the angry, amber colored eyes of...

"Tigerstripe!" growled Firepaw. "I saw you! And I saw what you did to Goldenpelt!" But to Firepaw's surprise, Tigerstripe growled back: "Do you hear that, Snowstar? He's trying to blame me! While he himself is the murderer or our loyal deputy Goldenpelt.. What ever did he do to you to deserve this?!" Firepaw immediately stopped moving. What?!  Was Tigerstripe really blaming me?!

He was even more surprised when he saw Snowstar coming to stand next to Tigerstripe. But she didn't look at Firepaw. He could see that she had cried. Then Tigerclaw continued. "What should we do with him?" he asked Snowstar. The silver she-cat flicked her tail a few times, before finally starting to talk, with a shaking voice.

"He doesn't deserve to be called one of us. He murdered my deputy, my brother!! He deserves to be punished..."

"We should kill him!" Tigerclaw called out.

But Snowstar didn't agree. "No, I will let him live, so that he can think about what he took from all of us each and every second of his tiny, miserable life! Not just the most loyal deputy that Fireclan had ever known, but also a brother, friend and... father.."

Firepaw was scared. "But I didn't kill him! Why would I kill Goldenpelt? Tigerstripe did it! Not me! Tigerstripe murdered Goldenpelt!"

But Snowstar obviously didn't believe him. "Why would Tigerstripe want to kill his own father?! He is no murderer! No, you are just trying to shove the blame over to him, aren't you?! This was the most peaceful Newleaf in moons. Everything was just great and there were no problems, until you came to the forest. I should have listened to Sandstripe.. and Nightpaw." 

Firepaw looked from Snowstar to Tigerstripe, who clearly couldn't wait to rip Firepaw in a million bloodie shreds. "How long are we going to keep him here, Snowstar?! Just decide what to do already, so I can get it over with!"

Snowstar sighed. "Yes..." she said, before walking over to Firepaw, looking right in his amber eyes.

"Firepaw, from this moment on you will lose your apprentice name. You don't deserve to be called one of us. I'm banishing you. You aren't welcome on our territory anymore, instead: I will ask all of our warriors that if they see you, the have my personal permission to kill you. From now on, you are our enemy..

Now get out of my sight!!!"