A flash of blue and cream flew through the air so fast Nightpaw nearly missed it.

    With a terrifying screech, Dawnstar landed on the prisoner's back just as he reached Spiderthorn. In a wild tangle of limbs they fell to the ground, throwing up dust and snow in their wake.

    Then, everything went still. Nightpaw blinked his white-rimmed eyes once, twice, waiting for the dust to settle. It moved slowly, as if on purpose, shrouding the three battling cats in mystery. The entire Clan shuffled impatiently, eager to discover the results.

    The gasps of various cats rose into the air as Dawnstar came into view, a grim expression on her face. At her paws lay the still twitching body of the prisoner, his eyes wide as his blood, and his life with it, seeped slowly from his throat into the half-frozen ground beneath him. Under the grey tom's weight lay the still form of Spiderthorn.

    Dawnstar stepped back, eyes blank. Only a small flick of her tail and the slight bow of her head let Nightpaw know that the events of Spiderthorn's battle round were troubling her.

    A groan. The prisoner had ceased his movements, eyes staring blankly up at the sky.

    Then, Spiderthorn moved subtly.

    The kits at Nightpaw's paws shifted, squeaking in relief as the deputy candidate hauled himself out from underneath the prisoner. He coughed, a mixture of saliva and blood falling from his jaws, and only managed to limp a couple of steps away before collapsing to the ground.

    With a nod from Dawnstar, Birchfrost and Lionmask rushed to collect the tom, carrying him to the healer's den immediately. At its entrance, Mothpaw waited with wide eyes, Cedarheart impassive beside her.

    "Spiderthorn fought bravely," Dawnstar announced. "He will still be considered for the post of deputy."

    Something deep within Nightpaw twanged at her words, but he remained silent. He knew no one would oppose the pale she-cat; the dignified tilt of her head and still unsheathed bloody claws prevented it. Only Hailwatcher, who looked impossibly small sitting atop the Speaking Rock, let his disagreement be known through the tiniest flick of his spotted tail.

    "Now, it is our final candidate's turn to be tested," the pale tortoiseshell continued. "Sprucetail."

    Dawnstar melted back into the crowd as the black warrior stepped forward. As during her interview, her eyes darted about nervously and her ears swivelled back and forth. When her eyes grew wide, Nightpaw knew she had caught the scent of her opponent.

    He waited, breath withheld, as two of the guardians pushed Sedgecloud forward.

    This time, a shocked gasp swept the Clan and all eyes turned to Nightpaw. The black tom ignored them even as his fur bristled. He set his own eyes on Sprucetail, who returned his gaze with a strange mixture of sadness, anger and relief.

    Surprised by her reaction, the apprentice looked instead at Sedgecloud, who sat crouched on the ground, entire body shaking. The sounds coming from his jaws would have put even newborn kits to shame - a pitiful mewing that caused some of the warriors to snicker.

    "Silence," Sprucetail said, raising her head. Though her ears continued to swivel, the rest of her body remained still, her eyes focused only on her opponent. The entire clearing went quiet at her command. Out of the corner of his eye, Nightpaw saw Hailwatcher shift in interest.

    The black she-cat padded up to the former caretaker, each step slow and purposeful. Though Sedgecloud continued to quiver, he did not utter a single sound. She halted right before the tip of his nose.

    "Mercy," he whimpered. "Please. Please don't kill me. I don't deserve this."

    Sprucetail's tail lashed. "You attacked the truth-teller's apprentice and were thrown into the prisoner cave as a result. You should have known the time would come for revenge."

    Sedgecloud shook his head, covering his eyes with his paws.

    "Stand up and fight." Sprucetail's tone held authority, but not enough to prompt the tabby to obey.

    She circled him once, keeping the same purposeful stride. "I said stand." This time, he rose shakily to his paws.

    The two faced each other, harsh green against fearful amber. Nightpaw marvelled at Sprucetail's control, the way she had every cat's attention focused on her.

    "Will you fight?" she asked, more quietly this time, as if she were asking an apprentice during training. Sedgecloud hesitated, his eyes flicking first to Dawnstar, then Nightpaw, then back to the she-cat before him. His paws kneaded the ground, claws sliding in and out of their sheathes. Muscles tensed beneath his tabby fur and he lowered himself slightly.

    Finally, his head fell in defeat. The answer was no.

    "Then I'm sorry," Sprucetail said, closing her eyes for a moment. "I have to do this."

    With one clean swipe, Sedgecloud lay dead.

    Overhead, the clouds suddenly parted, and sunlight filled the camp with its warmth. Nightpaw shook the cold out of his pelt, not having realized how deathly the DarkClan camp seemed.

    "A great example has been set before us today." Hailwatcher's voice floated over the camp, drawing the Clan's attention away from the body as it was dragged away. "Mercy will only come back to haunt you."

    Sprucetail, still standing in the centre of the camp, tilted her head in confusion at the words.

    "Poplarheart was put in charge of dragging the bodies away during a certain deputy race. Two of the opponents she dragged away dead, but the third prisoner was still breathing. Red, a loner, managed to beg his way out of Poplarheart's killing blow. Not only that, but instead of leaving him to fend for himself, she decided to help him.

    "She nursed him back to health over the course of the next few moons, even stealing herbs from the Clan to do so. She would slip away stealthily during hunting patrols, covering her trail so well no one ever followed her.

    "When Red was healthy once more, she let him go, thinking the ordeal was over. But the tom came back, begging Firestar, the leader at the time, to let him join DarkClan."

    Nightpaw flicked an ear. Why would a cat condemned to death by DarkClan want to join that very same group?

    "He had seen the strength of DarkClan and knew there was no other way to continue living his life," Hailwatcher continued, as if hearing the question. "So, he told Firestar of Poplarheart's treachery. Firestar struck a deal with the loner - if he killed the traitor within DarkClan, he would get to take her place.

    "Red did just that, ambushing Poplarheart while she was out on a hunting patrol. They found her body mangled beyond recognition, as if he had tortured her before taking her life. He admitted to the deed proudly before the Clan, expecting their gratitude.

    "Only Firestar and Willowear, the truth-teller at the time, knew of Poplarheart's treachery. Before the Clan, Firestar condemned the loner to death for taking the life of a DarkClan member, setting the entire Clan on him at once.

    "Poplarheart learned that mercy has no place when the loner returned to kill her. Red, torn to shreds by the Clan, learned that counting on the mercy of a DarkClan cat was a mistake. Let Sprucetail's lack of it be a lesson to everyone here."

    The Clan bowed their heads in gratitude for the lesson from their truth-teller; Nightpaw, following their lead, realized Hailwatcher hadn't shared a story with the Clan for quite some time. Despite his mentor's treatment of him in the most recent moon, he felt a bit of that admiration he still remembered from when he was a kit.

    When he raised his head, the apprentice half-expected his mentor to be watching him. Instead, he found the spotted tom watching the leader of DarkClan, eyes filled with something Nightpaw could have only described as loathing.

    "Very well done," Dawnstar said, stepping into the clearing and startling Sprucetail. "But whatever did you mean by your final words?" She wrapped her speckled tail over her paws, tilting her head expectantly.

    The threatening undertone was not lost on the deputy candidate. "Sedgecloud wasn't intelligent enough to realize he had no choice but to fight," she replied coolly. "A cat like that has no place in DarkClan."

    Dawnstar searched Sprucetail's face for a moment before giving a slight nod. Leaping up onto the Speaking Rock, she called for the Clan's attention, though it had never left the proceedings.

    "The deputy of DarkClan will be Spiderthorn."

    And the entire clearing erupted into chaos.

    //

    "I can't believe he got the deputy position!"

    Even a half moon later, disbelief reigned in the apprentice den. Hardly a night passed without Bramblepaw entering and voicing his complaint. The she-cats, for the most part, remained silent, though their subtle nods and murmurs signalled their agreement.

    "Like I said before, Sprucetail should have won," Flamepaw replied, picking the meat off of a small bird as he spoke.

    "She was fearless," Shadepaw added. The small tom was quickly becoming Flamepaw's shadow.

    Nightpaw only watched, twitching his whiskers. Though he did not want to say it out loud, he agreed with Flamepaw. Sprucetail's authority had surprised him during the battle round, especially when compared to the nervousness she displayed in Dawnstar's den during the interview, but it showed that she would have made a capable deputy; perhaps even a capable leader. Yet, remembering the mixture of emotion he saw in her when she first faced Sedgecloud, he wondered if he was the only one who had noticed.

    In the aftermath of Dawnstar's announcement, which quickly had to be stopped by the truth-teller and his guardians - some of whom looked disgruntled at the turn of events themselves - Nightpaw could only watch Sprucetail. Though Webkit and Crowkit squirmed at his paws, he saw the she-cat remain completely still, eyes flicking calmly over her Clanmates as they protested Spiderthorn's appointment, calling her name in place of his.

    He watched her turn to Thistleshade, who yowled her insults loudest of all; then she rounded on Oakshade and Jaystrike, who were crowing their displeasure; an infuriated Minkfur was her next target. And, one by one, the cats quieted. Nightpaw burned to know what she told them.

    He sighed, catching the attention of Cinderpaw.

    "Something on your mind?" she asked, sympathetic as always. After the events of the deputy race, Nightpaw felt his heart thump with affection for her and her gentle ways, so vastly different from the constant rigidity and bloodlust of the Clan.

    "Just the deputy race," he replied. She nodded, knowing of his involvement with choosing prisoners.

    What weighed down on Nightpaw's mind most was the fact that Hailwatcher refused to acknowledge any part of the deputy race. The day after, the apprentice hoped to speak with his mentor of the events - perhaps even gather some praise for his choice of opponents.

    But the truth-teller remained unmoving on the subject, never once mentioning it and ignoring all hints Nightpaw dropped. The spotted tom's eyes would gain a dangerous sheen whenever his apprentice mentioned the deputy candidates and prisoners so, slightly apprehensive, Nightpaw eventually dropped his advances. Still, he longed to know if his mentor found him more observant than before.

    Only three cats chose to say anything to him about the deputy race. Dawnstar, congratulating him on providing a fantastic show for the Clan, only made him want to vomit. Cedarheart made sure to chastise him for picking a prisoner that matched the candidate so well he nearly killed him. Wrenpaw consoled him, reminding him that he was just doing his duty to the Clan - something that would keep him from being killed himself.

    The mixture of disgust, displeasure, and guidance reminded him of Sootstar - someone he had not spoken to in nearly two moons. His disappearance made Nightpaw feel both guilty and nervous. After seeing the bloodshed of the deputy race with his own eyes, he wanted nothing more than to put a more solidified plan into action. He could only hope StarClan would contact him soon.

    But, before he could go through with any bigger plan, he had to do one other thing.

    //

    Nightpaw saw his chance during training a couple of days later.

    Worn out by a long day of practicing the leap-and-hold technique, which proved much more difficult than any of the apprentices had expected, the forest training hollow cleared much more quickly than usual. Only Flamepaw remained, hoping to perfect the manoeuvre before sundown.

    As the other apprentices gathered to leave, Wrenpaw turned to Nightpaw pointedly. It took a sharp jerk of her head in Flamepaw's direction to make the black tom understand her intentions, but Nightpaw eventually turned back to the training hollow, taking a deep breath.

    I think you could learn a lesson or two from him, is all. The she-cat's words about Acornpaw echoed in his head as he approached Flamepaw, careful to avoid the toms flailing claws. The ginger tom looked fearsome, if rather silly, practicing the technique on his own.

    "Flamepaw?" The tom turned swiftly, startled by Nightpaw.

    The ginger apprentice narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?" His tensed muscles told Nightpaw his littermate had not forgiven him for the scar that now graced his face.

    The black apprentice swallowed. "I... I was wondering if you would mind training with me."

    Flamepaw's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're joking, right? After you clawed me last time?"

    Nightpaw bowed his head in apology. "I know it's a stupid thing to ask. It's just that..." He gulped, hoping the words would come out. "I'm really bad at fighting. And hunting, for that matter. And you... You're always staying behind to practice more and usually it's moves that might be easier to practice in pairs. If we worked together, I would get better at fighting, and you... You might just be the best fighter DarkClan has ever seen."

    By the time he was finished, the words were streaming out.

    The ginger tom flicked an ear. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Nightpaw." He turned away, going back to his practice. Nightpaw watched for a moment longer before sighing and walking away.

    As he reached the edge of the training hollow, dragging his tail along the floor behind him in defeat, he suddenly stopped at Flamepaw's raised voice.

    "Meet me here at moonhigh."

    Nightpaw's jaws stretched wide in a grin.

// Because of the mid week update, you didn't have to wait quite as long for that cliffhanger's resolve! What do you think of the results of the deputy race? If you were a member of DarkClan, who would you have rooted for?