Briarpaw hopped out of the apprentices den ready for the dawn hunting patrol. There was no prey on the prey pile so they would have to stay out until sunhigh. Lilycloud and Cherrygaze were already waiting. Her mother decided to do a lot for her adopted clan. As they set off Briarpaw instantly smelled something she had never smelled before. "Fox maybe?" She thought but the scent went away too soon.

By the time it was sunhigh she had caught two squirrels and a mouse. She had missed a thrush but other than that she did good. "You are becoming a fine hunter like your father." She commented. Just then Cherrygaze appeared with a sparrow, a vole, and a squirrel. "Let's get back to camp." Lilycloud suggested. "I could settle for a nice meal and a rest." Cherrygaze agreed. As they neared camp rouges were everywhere in camp they dropped their catch and jumped in to help. She saw her sister Sparkpaw with a large mangy tom twice her size. Hitting her with blow after blow. Briarpaw jumped on his back raking her claws down the tom's spine. She felt him collapsing from under her, and knew that he was dead. She looked at her sister's tattered ginger pelt, but her eyes still had the fire of battle. Had Sparkpaw killed him? Or was he just hungry and weak? Suddenly she felt claws hit her and turned to face her attacker an old grey she cat. "You killed my mate!" She spat. "Now it is your turn!" Briarpaw couldn't see as blood washed into her eyes. She flung her claws they met fur and her attacker stopped moving. "I didn't mean to..." she started. "It's okay what's done is done." the soothing words of her father came from behind her. The yowled of the rouges as they ran away. The two mates on the ground blood soaked, but at least they were together wherever they went when they died. She picked up the prey her patrol had caught and put it on the prey pile. "Skypaw, Sparkpaw, Briarpaw!" Sunstar yowled. "Go bury those rouges!" Then Briarpaw heard a little voice "nooo mommy, daddy!" Four kits pushed their way through the crowd of cats. The first one was grey like his mother with green eyes. The second was like her father brown with blue eyes. The third was black with green eyes. The fourth a brown tabby with black stripes and green eyes. "What are your names little ones?" Sunstar asked. The grey one answered for all of them, "I'm River, that brown one is Fox, the black one is Badger, and the last one is Tiger." They all nodded when their names were called. "We can't keep them!" Yowled Whitecloud. Many others murmured agreement, when others wanted to keep the kits and make them warriors. "Mintflower do you have any leftover milk?" Sunstar asked. "Not enough to feed all four, but we could help Silverclaw's milk come and we could each feed two until they can have prey." Meowed Mintflower. "Then it is settled these kits are Riverkit, Foxkit, Badgerkit, and Tigerkit." Sunstar meowed. The clan had their wounds treated, and got on with the days patrols. Briarpaw took her mouse to the queens and Cherrygaze's sparrow to the elders. She took a squirrel for Skypaw and her to share. Sparkpaw was sharing a meal with Dovesplash. Briarpaw couldn't shake the feeling of her sister killing the mangy brown tom, when she could just let him run away. "I wonder what's going on in her head?" She thought.