Chapter 10: Look Down
Nine Moons Later…
ThunderClan was in complete chaos. Kestrelstar was frail and only left his den to attend gatherings, forcing Stoneheart to try as hard as he could to keep his Clan together. Cats came and went as they pleased, and many warriors were disobedient and weak fighters.
Inevitably, the whole Clan was itching for change.
. . .
"Look down, and see the crowfood at your feet! Look down, and show some mercy if you can!"
Stoneheart muttered a quick apology to the RiverClan warrior beside him on the Highrock. The brown tom sniffed and bounded off swiftly, not even bothering to finish his negotiation.
Stoneheart sighed while the warriors continued yowling.
"Look down and see the crowfood of the forest! Look down, look down, upon your fellow cat."
Just as the RiverClan warrior was about to slink out the gorse tunnel, a tiny black-and-white apprentice cornered him.
"How do you do?" he meowed. "My name's Cloverpaw! This is my Clan. Here's my patch. Not much to look at, nothing posh, nothing that you'd call up to scratch!"
The RiverClan cat growled impatiently but Cloverpaw went on anyway.
"This is my spot, my high society, here in the woods of ThunderClan. We live on scraps of Kestrelstar, tough on the teeth, but who cares?" Cloverpaw turned his Clanmates.
"If you're poor," he yowled, "if you're free, follow me, follow me!"
"Look down, and show some mercy if you can!" chanted the ThunderClan warriors. "Look down, look down, upon your fellow cat."
"See our kits fed!" yowled a ginger queen. "Help us in our shame! Anything for a mouse in StarClan's name!"
"When's it gonna end?" cried an underweight ginger tabby. "When we gonna live?"
"Something's gotta happen now or something's gotta give," answered a scrawny russet furred tom beside him.
"It'll come, it'll come, it'll come…" they both muttered.
"Where is the leader of the Clan?" roared a pale ginger tabby to a small crowd. "Where is the furball who runs this camp?"
"Only one cat," yowled his golden brown tabby friend, "and that's Mossfur, speaks for the warriors down below!" These two cats wanted Mossfur as their leader instead of Kestrelstar.
"Mossfur is ill and fading fast!" warned the tabby. "Won't last a quarter moon, so they say!"
"With all the anger in the Clan," meowed the ginger tom, "how long before the judgment day?" His piercing green eyes burned into the cats before him. "…Before we cut the fat one down to size?"
The two toms exchanged a glance. "Before the barricades arise?" they both roared, before being driven off to a border patrol by Stoneheart.
"Watch out for that old Sootclaw!" Cloverpaw warned a warrior. "All of his gang is on the way. Once ran a barn down the Thunderpath! He's got a gang now, the fox-hearted furball!"
Just then, a slim, sleek, blue-gray she-cat slinked nonchalantly through the gorse tunnel.
"Even his daughter does her share," whispered Cloverpaw, gesturing towards the blue-gray she-cat. "That's Rainsong, she knows her way about! Barely a warrior, but hard to scare!"
A fierce cry came from the Highrock. Stoneheart was trying to call all of the warriors together for a Clan meeting.
"Do we care?" yowled the tiny black-and-white apprentice. "Not a mousetail! Long live us, long live us!"
"Look down, and show some mercy if you can," the warriors roared to Stoneheart. "Look down, look down, upon your fellow cats!"
Stoneheart sighed wearily. He needed a break.
Author Note: Now that was short. Longer chapter later...