Chapter 4

Brokenleg

It was barely dawn when Mosspaw woke the jet-black she-cat in alarm. Her ice-blue eyes lazily looking up at her, she was in the foragers den on the outskirts of the nests in front of the den's wilting opening. For a heartbeat she had forgotten she had began sleeping here rather than in the medicine den. It was nice to be isolated from the foragers, but to be with them and far from Mosspaw, her own apprentice, was making butterflies flutter around in her chest and stomach. Pale green eyes flashing with relief now that Brokenleg was getting up with an uneasy stretch. Her lame leg ached deep to the bone with pain, but she ignored it like a proper fighter-warrior. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the last of the sleepiness from her foggy mind.

"Hurry!" Mosspaw hissed in a whisper.

"Hold your mice." She scolded in half a yawn, revealing her sharp teeth before she limped out of her nest. "What's even going on?"

"I'll tell you when we leave the den." Fear laced her mew, bringing a quiver to her whiskers as she could pick up the fear-scent in the air. Mosspaw's fear-scent. She realized.

Feeling more awake and alarmed, Brokenleg quickly hobbled her way out of the den. "Tell me as we head to your den." She ordered sharply, concern filling her chest along with the burn of shame running through her. Six moons ago, that was her den, not Mosspaw's.

Mosspaw obeyed, keeping up with her. "Cloudspark came to the den before moonset. She woke up to Sparkkit feeling terribly ill and she was vomiting. She brought her to me to care for and no matter what I did-" she hesitated, sorrow filling her gaze. "Sparkkit died anyway. She was too sick for me to save."

"You should have gotten me." Brokenleg whispered. "Or at least let me know so I could ramble off remedies or at least keep Cloudspark busy."

"There wouldn't have been enough time. Cloudspark was so distraught she doesn't know how her daughter got so sick so fast." Mosspaw explained, quickly adding in, "I'm not saying you're slow or anything of that sort. Sparkkit was in dire need of care and there was no way I could have left without trying something to help her or even leaving Cloudspark with all the herbs that could make it worse for Sparkkit."

"Do you think some cat had done it?" She asked as they reached the quiet mewls of a mother who lost her kit.

The silver and white tabby shook her head. "I don't know. I investigated the nursery, but nothing has changed. There is no unknown cat scent. You and I go there occasionally to check on the kits to make sure they are strong for the Clan. So it's hard to tell if the herb-scent is new or not since we were there quite recently."

"So if a cat had done it, they must have disguised themselves with the smell of herbs." Brokenleg murmured, narrowing her eyes as they reached Cloudspark. "Cloudspark, I am so sorry to interrupt." She dipped her head apologetically.

The white she-cat looked to her, sorrow and grief sharp in her bright orange eyes. "It's quite alright." She breathed shakily. "Sparkkit was strong, I don't know how this could have happened is all."

"What do you remember from before you fell asleep?" Brokenleg asked, blinking softly. "Anything that comes to mind can help us let Birchstar and Ashfall know what to lookout for."

She glanced to the leaf-covered kit, whimpering softly with a self-comforting purr. "I had Sparkkit and Splashkit tucked into my belly, my tail over their bodies to keep them warm. I fell asleep and when I woke up, Sparkkit wasn't with Splashkit, she was by the nursery's entrance and was vomiting there. All I could smell was her sick and I buried it under some dirt to mask the stench of it before I brought her here."

"Perhaps someone gave her something awful to eat." Brokenleg looked to the leaf-covered kit. "Poor little scrap, she didn't deserve that at all. We'll get to the bottom of this Cloudspark, I promise. All of us Foragers will be keeping a closer eye on our store."

"I'll even educate the others on dangerous plants and to bring them here to check to never endanger a kit again." Mosspaw added in.

"You think Fadingember did this?!" Cloudspark gasped in horror, a flash of rage in her orange eyes at the thought.

"Now, now, we aren't saying he could have done it. Any warrior could have." Brokenleg reminded the grieving queen. "It could be a simple mistake. Yes, it cost a kit's life, but it's not like a fighter, hunter, or guardian would know a thing on plants like us foragers. Why, Mosspaw will be a fully fledged medicine cat soon enough. We have to be practical and consider every possibility."

"Fadingember would never harm his kits! Even if he didn't know, he would never bring some strange leaf for them to play with!" Cloudspark snapped, her rage now focused on Brokenleg.

"I understand that!" She snarled in return, taking the queen by surprise. "Nobody said he could or would. We just have to be logical and consider that some other dumb warrior did it without thinking twice, or even some other apprentice. Mosspaw and I are too well versed to even think of hurting an innocent kit. The foragers wouldn't step near a cat with herbs in their jaws or under their chins if there was a potential of them being dangerous to someone."

"I'm sorry." Cloudspark mewed tightly. "I just find it hard to believe that any warrior or apprentice of SunClan would be that mouse-brained."

"Well, what do you know of herbs, Cloudspark?" Brokenleg challenged her back darkly. "I know for a fact I knew nothing about herbs until I was learning to be a forager and closest to the previous medicine cat. That just isn't taught to warrior apprentices or kits."

Cloudspark looked away, deflated with grief. "I apologize. You are right, only plant-gatherers know if something is dangerous."

Brokenleg winced as though she was struck by the queen, her ice-blue eyes narrowing in anger as her fur fluffed up in indignation. "We are called foragers." She snarled, pushing her way passed Mosspaw to confront the queen. "If you don't want to show a lick of respect than why did you bother bringing Sparkkit here?"

"Mosspaw is a healer in training, she could have saved her." She replied coldly.

"And why does that matter?" Brokenleg grumbled. "What if she lived, but was with a sickness that couldn't be healed? You would dump her with us, wouldn't you? That's why you brought her here and covered up the vomit that could have told us what caused it. So nobody knew that Sparkkit was sick at all." Contempt filled her from the tips of her claws, seeing the shocked horror on the white she-cats face. Of course that's why. No one comes to this den unless they were dying or in the dark. She thought sourly as he snorted and padded to Sparkkit's deceased body.

"If it was like that, I wouldn't want her to go far." Cloudspark mewed softly.

"What would her name have changed to." Brokenleg murmured darkly. "Vomitkit? Sickkit? Or would she get a full-foragers name like Sicknight?" She dug her claws into the den's floor with a growl. "You deserved better than this place Sparkkit. No one will sit vigil for you, you didn't even fight like a warrior."

"I will sit vigil for her!" Cloudspark shouted harshly. "I love her! Even if she is no longer here in the living, I know she is in StarClan watching over us. So stop talking like she is no longer here! Give her respect!"

"Respect?" She looked over her shoulder, her voice colder than ever before. "You know as well as I do that SunClan honors the deeds an able warrior is able to provide. Sparkkit hasn't even made it far enough in life to get there. I speak like she is here with us, not because she is dead. Only StarClan can welcome her and treat her right. No cat besides you could have, but if she was too sick to be a regular apprentice would you even visit her here?"

The white she-cat looked away in shame, her delicate ears drooping while her tail was listless. "It wouldn't be the way of SunClan to allow me to." It was an admission that Brokenleg had known since she had been trapped into forager-hood.

"I may not be a true medicine cat," Brokenleg started, trying to sound sympathetic despite the chill in her mew. "But even I know my mother had never visited me here. No one thanked me for breaking my leg for her life to be spared. Nobody sees me as a hero for saving a valuable warrior's life. No, they see me as the reason to leave behind their Clan-mates. I know it and you know it too, Cloudspark. Sparkkit deserves better than SunClan and StarClan can provide it. She may never grow up there, but at least she will be with those who see her as for who she is and not just another useless mouth to feed like the rest of us foragers."

Cloudspark looked to her, jaws parted to speak and yet no sound came. The white she-cat knew she was right, she had known it from the start. No matter what happened, it was in a mother to look after her kit. Yet, Blackfeather, Brokenleg's own mother, never bothered to see how she was doing when she was healing or thanked her. No cat did. If she never did it, no one would have thought of her as heartless except her. Pain flashed in her chest at the realization that, no matter what she had done that day, she would still be thinking cruelly of herself.

"You can sit vigil Cloudspark, but you should do that in the nursery. I'm sure Splashkit is wondering where you have been by now." Mosspaw had mewed, bringing the jet-black she-cat back into the present.

"Right. Please bury her carefully." Cloudspark mewed softly. Her orange eyes glancing to Brokenleg as she added in. "And I am very sorry. I'll think twice before I open my jaws around you."

The jab didn't hurt or sting, it only pooled coldly in the jet-black cat's belly. With a shake of her fur, she began to slink away with a twitch of her tail. Loudly, she called over her shoulder. "I'll find a spot for Sparkkit to be buried. Investigate the body for any traces of what could have made her sick if you can."

She didn't wait for a response, letting the she-cats have their good-byes while she did some extra work to lighten Mosspaw's paws. Her heart pounded in her chest, unease filling her at how sudden it was for Sparkkit to get so ill and die soon after. Kits were fragile and at two moons of age, she was too little to be eating anything she shouldn't. Still, she paused her limp to the gravesite of SunClan, to look back over to the foragers den. A dark and curious thought began to cross her mind. Whatever it was, a deadly plant, berry or overdose of an herb; would it be enough to kill a forager? Would it be strong enough to kill a healthy warrior?

After all, who would stop at just harming kits? What if it was only the beginning? Steadying herself, Brokenleg pulled herself towards the SunClan gravesite and focused on the task ahead of her. She needed to do it, one way or another, someone was going to bury poor Sparkkit to let her body rest peacefully. If they were lucky, they wouldn't get sick from whatever had gotten Sparkkit so quickly. When Birchstar catches wind of what happened to Sparkkit, how long will it be until SunClan turns on their foragers? She thought as she began to dig into the soft earth with swift front paws, the sharp ache in her lame leg ignored completely for the first time in moons.

Satisfied with the depth of the hole, she turned to see Mosspaw with the leaf-covered kit. "I was about to go get you." She mewed solemnly.

"I wanted to wait, but it troubles me that some cat harmed a kit. Whoever had done it must be twisted." Her pale green eyes searching her ice-blue ones. "What forager or warrior would do such a thing? Could an apprentice have been cruel enough?"

"Only the stars know for certain." Brokenleg told her, "Even then, they might not tell you outright who had done it. I know that they speak in riddles, being in MoonClan after the flood taught me that."

The apprentice blinked, her gaze drifting to the hole in the earth. "Think that's deep enough?"

"I will have the other foragers help me put rocks over it like the others." She promised.

"Take the strongest cats you think we can be without while gathering herbs." Mosspaw advised.

Brokenleg felt touched, unlike any of the other able cats, she was so thoughtful and kind. "I promise I will." She saw the way those pale green eyes lit up with her answer. She was worried about the dead body and her foragers, even more so than any other cat in SunClan. Mosspaw truly treated her more like any other cat than anyone else and it hurt to know that a young she-cat had to be the one to show her kindness.

Together they pushed the kit's body into the hole and buried it. Their paws black with dirt when they had finished and, with a nod, they silently began their duties without heading into the main camp. Their tiny camp was mostly independent from the rest of the Clan, beginning the second a cat woke and giving orders to cats who woke up and lining them up with other cats to wait for. Even now, Brokenleg was waiting for the cats she had chosen after telling Mosspaw her choices so she can line up the foragers properly with a meeting at sun-high to address the stone-gathering and loss of Sparkkit.

Brokenleg perked up when the early-risers of the foragers began to come out to warm their bodies in the sunlight. One of them was young Noclaw, Mosspaw's mother, and close behind her were one of the two Brokenleg was looking for: Losteyes. The black tom's body was scored with countless scars marring his pelt and both of his eyes were scratched out and blinded. He had been a forager for many moons, never seeing any of his relatives again. She almost wished she was blinded, just so she wouldn't have to see the pity worn on everyone's faces when she was demoted to forager.

"Losteyes, please come to me, I require your assistance." Brokenleg spoke up as respectfully as she could.

His tattered ears flicked into her direction, followed by his scarred eyes and face. His eyes had long since gone missing, massive scars covering where they once had been. He was quite old, but on the younger side of all the foragers aside from Noclaw, herself, and Mosspaw. He stopped before her, his whiskers quivering as she remembered exactly why he was chosen. He was still a young warrior at heart, just like her.

"What is it?" His asked, his tail swaying as he sniffed the air. "I could have sworn I smelled some able-cat around or maybe it's just you like always."

Brokenleg felt flattered, he always knew what to say to make others feel better. "Your nose isn't wrong Losteyes. Cloudspark was here."

"Cloudspark? What happened to the kits?" He sounded alarmed, just as he should be.

She hesitated, before meowing. "It will be explained at sun-high and it is related to the job you and I will be taking on with Peckedeye. I need strong toms to help bring back some rocks for the burial-place."

Losteyes paused, looking away with a slight frown as his ears twitched to the smallest of sounds. "Very well. I'll keep my ears open for danger while we do so."

"I would expect nothing less of you." She told him warmly. "We have to do it all morning until the announcement."

"Would SunClan also have an announcement?" Losteyes inquired as he got comfortable.

Brokenleg looked back to the foragers den, her mew remaining light while her expression became dark. "Perhaps. Mosspaw is going to visit the SunClan camp to try and meet with Birchstar while we're gathering rocks."

"Think she'll do anything?"

"It will bring harm to the able-cats, so I don't see why not." She replied smoothly as Peckedeye and Shreddedface slipped out of their den at last. "Stay here, I'll get Peckedeye. I know how much he hates leaving Shreddedface's side."

"Very well, then." Losteyes mewed back, crouching down to wait patiently with a groan. "I sure miss having prey more than just in the evening if they can spare it."

Brokenleg opened her jaws to speak to the black tom, but she stopped herself. Losteyes was a guardian in the past and earned his warrior-ending scars from a vicious giant-pawed cat with a rabbit-tail. He was a powerful warrior taught to specifically protect his Clan-mates and their camp. Now, he had been reduced to a forager, no longer eating fresh-prey caught from the forest and given the smallest scraps like the rest of them. A bone here, a rabbit haunch that was mauled by kits starting solid foods. It was as though he was no longer the hero who prevented a strange bigger-cat to kill his Clan-mates and just a cat who shouldn't have survived it.

Closing her jaws with a heavy sigh through her nose, she padded to the pair of mates. "Peckedeye, mind if you join us in stone-gathering for the morning?"

"Why would I do that?" the tom asked rudely, his golden eye watching her. "I would much rather gather plants with Shreddedface then gather rocks."

"It's not a request." Brokenleg mewed coldly, walking to the tom. "Mosspaw has already decided you are coming with me and Losteyes. We need all the paws we can get to bring the rocks back to the burial-place."

"Well I'm not going. You aren't a head-forager and neither is Mosspaw." he snarled.

"Just go with her, Peckedeye." Shreddedface interrupted. "If she took Halfstep, they wouldn't be able to all make it back with their rocks."

"There is Noclaw." Peckedeye argued. "She could help her instead."

Brokenleg felt her ears pin back against her skull, anger pulsing through her very veins as she stepped closer, her lame-leg not even touching the ground. "I have been the Head Forager when the former Medicine Cat had died, Peckedeye. Until Mosspaw has earned her Medicine Cat name, I am still the Head Forager. Now, you will come or I will be forced to make you against your will."

The tom stared, his golden eye glancing her over before snorting. "Fine, but I won't be doing it happily."

"I never expected you to do it happily." She snapped, taking the one-eyed tom by surprise. "No former Guardian-cat can out do a Fighter-cat."

"Even with that pathetic wound?" He nodded his head towards her lame leg.

She was seething, her ice-blue eyes hard and cold as she whispered, hardly loud enough to be heard. "This is why StarClan took moons to pick Mosspaw. They were looking for a cat who can handle the cruelty of SunClan." She turned and padded away, raising her voice more calmly despite it's icy tone. "Hurry up, Peckedeye. We have a kit to bury."

At that, the light brown tabby tom hurried after her with a horrified tone in his mew. "What do you mean a kit?"

"Exactly what it means." Brokenleg replied icily. "A kit has died to a sickness and we have to gather stones to prepare for the worst. Who knows where this sickness will strike next."

For the first time in moons, Peckedeye did exactly as he was ordered. Swiftly and with great urgency, they gathered the stones and worked their way back to the gravesite. Sparkkit's grave was buried in stones and earth as they continued their work. Their pile of stones had grown numerous, so many Brokenleg couldn't truly count them all. However, she felt satisfied with their sacrifice for half of the sunlight. She hoped, prayed even, that it would be enough stones for the lives that may be lost in this fight.

The cold stone-feeling in her belly remained, like a seed that was beginning to take root. A seed of darkness that hollowed out her heart, sapping something from her. Cracking her already disturbed vision of the world around her. This was a plight, a scream, but she knew that on this day no one would listen to it. She turned her head, seeing the silver and white tabby she-cat slip through the forager camp's entrance. Her pale green eyes darkened with defeat and hurt.

"We lost Sparkkit and now Birchstar is on the hunt for who had done it. She claims this cannot be a sickness nor could it have been a great mistake. No, she believes this was done on purpose." The apprentice's mew was quaking with the horror she could hardly contain. Her eyes wide as they searched every cat's expression and body language for a hint or a sign. "Someone, either one of the foragers who are sour about being forced out of SunClan camp; or another Clan-cat has done this. That is what Birchstar believes with her heart. We must prepare for the worst, the worst being war against EarthClan or MoonClan."

"Then we will prepare in advance of their training strategies." Brokenleg called out, lashing her tail. "We will gather all the supplies that we will need and check on SunClan for injuries or potential attacks. If we cannot fight or defend our Clan with our claws or energy like before, then we will with preparations!"

A great roaring cry came from the foragers, they may have been bested by old injuries and wounds, but they had the strength to move forward. However, even as they cheered and made their plans on how to prepare for injuries and the worst cases, Brokenleg's gaze met Mosspaw's she felt the cold feeling in her belly seem to grow with increasing horror. Those pale green eyes stared at her, almost knowingly. Anger broiled in her chest and veins as she came to a simple conclusion. Mosspaw, her own apprentice, suspected her of potentially murdering a kit. As kind as the apprentice healer was, she could see the sorrowful pity in those eyes.

The gall of that she-cat! Brokenleg mentally seethed, her muzzle curling into a soundless snarl. I'll prove my innocence! You'll see, Mosspaw! Just you wait!

Author Note:

Disaster strikes SunClan and Brokenleg isn't keeping her silence to let the foragers be blamed so far. However, that leaves one question unanswered: Who or what is behind the sickness that stole Sparkkit so soon?

Thank you for reading and have a fantastic morning, day, evening, or night. - NightSky