Chapter 7

Brokenleg

Shadows covered her mind as she limped into the camp. Her icy-blue eyes scanned the clearing while she carried leaf wraps in her mouth. She had been working hard all day and it was her turn to venture into the main SunClan camp. With soft and gentle steps she walked into the nursery to assess the kits once more to ensure they still showed no signs of the sickness that Mosspaw was worried about. The queens were silent, their eyes simple glints of shadowed color as she tried to focus on the kits. Her paws worked deftly to assess each kit, hoping each one was as healthy as any kit should be.

"Where did Sparkkit go?" A young voice meowed out, causing her paws to freeze.

"They got sick, terribly so." Brokenleg murmured, "We have to make sure you are all healthy and not growing sick."

"What made her sick? Was it contagious?" Another one spoke up.

Her heart sank as she heard the words. Her claws itched to hook into their pelts and silence them before they could ask any more questions. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to steady herself. She opened them and the nursery didn't seem so dark and shadowed anymore. A concerned mother's gaze was on her, sharp with judgment for her injury. Their names escaped her mind as she set her paws down.

"We are working to find out." She answered honestly, her mew turning warm and kind. "So don't worry, little ones. Besides, you're all healthy kits from what I can tell."

"Then hurry up and go." A queen snarled, her brown tabby pelt spiked with distrust and pale amber eyes boring holes into the back of Brokenleg's head to the point she could feel it.

The jet-black she-cat looked over her shoulder. "Gladly." She replied icily, rising to her paws and padding back out of the den.

The shadows were back and they cloaked everything she could see. SunClan was a name of light, yet she couldn't see it at all. Where was the light if everywhere she looked was a look of pity, of woes for what she could have been? Did they look at all Foragers this way or was it only her? Anger pulsed through her pelt as she turned her attention to the Foragers who blindly did their duties despite the dung-poor conditions they had to accept as normal. Nothing about it was and it boiled her blood in her veins. They deserved better, they didn't deserve this life. They weren't living to their fullest potential and were treated worse than their very enemies. Those enemies at least became well-looked after the elders and accompanied the Clan to gatherings that had never happened for them as Mosspaw and Brokenleg were the only Foragers to go.

She left the SunClan camp, her heart pounding as blood roared in her ears. Her lungs heaved from the pure rage that filled her body. She crossed the tiny path to the Forager's camp. If any cat spoke to her, she didn't hear them or see them. Only the Foragers truly spoke to one another and even then, they were snappy from hunger. None of them truly hunted, those who used to no longer could for one reason or another. While SunClan was mainly well-fed, the Foragers were left to rot with the scraps. It was hardly fair and Brokenleg was tired of it. Everything she tried to keep them healthy and for what? For a rabbit haunch with very little meat left? For a mouse that was unfinished because some kit refused to eat the tail?

Kits were growing older every day. The Foragers were of different ages, but the starvation left them vulnerable. With not enough weight, a sickness could destroy them. It was no wonder the healer before Mosspaw and herself had passed away. Yet, even she knew what the rest did not. Fireweed, the old Head Forager, didn't die from a sickness. Brokenleg had been sworn to secrecy and now she could understand why it happened. No one misses a Forager and with how weak they have become, it wouldn't be hard to use any means to bring fatal harm to another cat. Which meant it had escalated to test on a kit after testing on a healthy forager of high standing.

Brokenleg narrowed her eyes as she slowed to a stop. Perhaps those berries she and Mosspaw had to hide were a cause of concern after all. They hadn't been seen before now, or had they? She turned her head towards the heart of the forager's camp, her heart thudding in her chest. Was it all connected? It had to be. So, which one of them could be behind it? anger pulsed through her veins as she swiftly limped into the camp and into its center. Raising her head high, she knew what she must do. She needed to make it clear that they could be in danger.

"Cats gather around!" Brokenleg yowled, gathering the attention of the formerly wounded. "Mosspaw and I have been doing secret investigations. We didn't want to alarm anyone, but with the death of a kit on some cat's paws, I'm going to put it out there that I believe some cat could have caused it. We Foragers know what herbs can do, the rest of SunClan knows too little. I fear that some cat in the main camp could be behind it, or worse, one of the cats we have in charge of leaf wraps for check-ups for the kits could be putting harmful things in for the kits."

"We've done no such thing!" Peckedeye snarled, baring his fangs in a hostile hiss. "We're innocent!"

"I am not accusing anyone here." Brokenleg snapped, silencing the one-eyed forager. "I'm simply stating what I believe SunClan's main camp could be thinking. We need to tread carefully. It won't take much for them to turn on us. Keep an eye on one another the best you can, not for evidence, but to help prove their innocence."

"Didn't Mosspaw already tell us this information?" Noeyes pointed out.

Brokenleg nodded her head. "She has, but she hasn't considered how cruel SunClan is. Think about it, we are so underfed that MoonClan and EarthClan medicine cats question whether SunClan will allow me or Mosspaw to eat. I haven't given them the information that we are given pitiful scraps. By the stars, even their elders get to go to the gathering! I wouldn't be surprised if someone at the main SunClan camp is trying to get us all removed for good!"

"Never!" Noclaw spoke up, eyes stretched wide. "How could they? We can still provide them with kits!"

Brokenleg stiffened at those words. Noclaw was the mother of Mosspaw and Stormpaw as it was, her mate was Fogfur before she lost her claws in a struggle. Ever since Fogfur hasn't visited and Noclaw was only allowed into the nursery and, when her kits were apprenticed she was forced to live among them far from the others. She was still blind and naive, not seeing that she would never have kits again. None of them were healthy enough for that. A chill ran through her as she bared her teeth, looking at Noclaw's gray splashed face and letting out the harsh truth.

"To have kits you need to be well fed. We are all starving and given just enough to keep gathering herbs, Noclaw. If they want kits, they have the main Clan to do that. We are nothing!" She snarled, seeing the look of horror in those green eyes.

Anger and hatred for SunClan grew only stronger in her heart and mind. "SunClan is unlike the other Clans in a lot of ways, but no one will know the darker side of it because SunClan won't let anyone outside of our Clan see it. Like the sun itself, it is blinding the others with the excellence of its strength, but we live in a no-moon night of its shadow. MoonClan still finds a light within itself to shine bright like the moon, but also like it they have a dark side and choose to be black, white, and gray pelted. How do you think they got that way?" Silence greeted her words, so she swept on harshly. "Even EarthClan has its troubles I'm sure, but compared to us and MoonClan they are at least equal in some way. Are we really SunClan cats if SunClan refuses to treat us as one of them?"

No cat spoke, they shared knowing glances and pained ones. Brokenleg knew she had overstepped, but seeing them act like they were still part of SunClan hurt her heart more than anything. They needed to stick together and fight for a freedom that could never be theirs. Fight for a future that seemed so bleak and meaningless to the rest of their Clan. They were not SunClan and soon, if none of them were careful, they would be turned on and possibly slaughtered by the healthier cats.

"The half-moon is coming." Brokenleg suddenly started, "I will no longer be your Head Forager. But I promise, just as I have been doing before, I will do everything I can to ensure that we are all safe. Those who were once hunters, I suggest checking if you still have those skills, if being driven out is the worst they will do to us, then we will depend on you far more than before. I will stand beside you all, I apologize for being harsh; but we need to be realistic here. SunClan will always be this cruel and I can't let it destroy what I have left: all of you."

.

Evening shadows crept through the camp when Brokenleg had finished gathering herbs and berries. Whether the others listened to her plight and worries, it didn't matter to her. Feeling utterly defeated, she turned her icy-blue gaze to the young medicine cat apprentice, Mosspaw. The gray-and-white tabby she-cat checks the others for any injuries from gathering herbs and quelling the fears she had thrown at them. She saw those pale green eyes sharply glare into her direction, a soft pang of defeat pricked her heart like a tip of a claw.

Everything was heading somewhere, the following moon was coming to begin and Stormpaw would get his warrior name, then Mosspaw would be given her true medicine cat name. Her claws dug into the earth as deep as she would let them. She was fighting a battle and it seemed she was losing. As soon as the apprentice was done, she walked to her. Eyes searching hers for any sign of... something that Brokenleg had no idea of.

"You did fear mongering while I was out gathering leaves for future leaf wraps, haven't you?" She asked, her tone somewhat accusatory.

Brokenleg glanced away in shame. "I wasn't trying to. I just needed to tell someone what I was concerned most about."

"I'm positive SunClan won't turn on us." the apprentice mewed.

The jet-black she-cat turned her eyes back onto the gray-and-white tabby. "How can you be so certain?"

"They still care enough to bring prey."

"It's pieces of prey that no cat wants."

"It's still food."

"It's leftovers."

The apprentice wasn't looking at her. Mosspaw was just facing ahead with her eyes closed as she sat with her tail curled neatly around her paws. "I see it as food." She replied simply.

"Food is what you had as a kit." Brokenleg reminded her bitterly, watching her intently. "Freshly caught prey, untouched by any other cat than the one who caught it."

"You cannot change my mind." She whispered softly, her pale green eyes opening just a crack.

The jet-black feline narrowed her eyes into slits, rising to her paws with a huff. "Then enjoy your crow-food. Enjoy the freedom no other forager here can never have."

"You cannot guilt trip me." Mosspaw looked at her, puzzled. "Why would you even want to guilt trip me?"

Brokenleg stood stock still, her eyes never once leaving Mosspaw's own. "You can bring the news of the Clans all you like, but it will never replace the jealousy that they can never go to a gathering on their own because SunClan decided to let their weak stay here in this clearing as prisoners to gather herbs for the rest of their lives and fight over measly scraps."

"Is that what happened when Fireweed was a medicine cat?" Mosspaw asked.

She hesitated, memories rushing back on how cruel and harsh it was. "Yes." She breathed.

"It won't be like that. It hasn't been since you were Head Forager, has it not?"

"Only because I had to find a way and beg my own brother to break the rules to tear up a rabbit he catches so we can all have something to eat." Brokenleg growled, "But it ended soon after Birchstar found out and now he isn't allowed anywhere near us."

"Out of all the cats here, you are the most well-fed." Mosspaw pointed out.

She hesitated, knowing what she was getting at. "I am far from it." She looked away. "If I happen across a mouse, like any forager I'm going to catch it even if it's not my best skill to do."

"I see, so you encouraged them to eat whatever prey they can manage while gathering herbs."

"In a way, yes." She confessed softly. "Noclaw has it harder as she has no claws to do it herself. We have all cared for ourselves, but not all of us are taught to be hunters. Not to mention, we aren't allowed to be hunted at all by SunClan."

"So it's against the rules?"

"See how cruel SunClan are now?" Brokenleg looked at Mosspaw, sorrow in her tone. "They don't want us to eat, they don't want us to survive comfortably. If a cat is behind this, they started with Fireweed and moved to Sparkkit. So I won't be surprised if it was to make it look like a Forager had done it."

"You're being too suspicious about our Clan." She pointed out.

However, Brokenleg looked away to the clearing. She said nothing, but that was okay. She didn't have to know that everything was off of her chest. Perhaps Mosspaw was right, or perhaps her intuition was as well. A flicker of doubt wormed its way into her head, a thought crossed her mind, one that she didn't want at all. One of them was behind it and that was what worried her. Why have they harmed an innocent kit and what did this mean for the foragers?

Author Note:

As Brokenleg begins to bring up the problems of SunClan and her concerns, the mystery surrounding Sparkkits death is haunting her. No matter how hard she tries, it seems the shadows in her heart and mind are infiltrating to the surface.

Is Brokenleg only worried about the future and proving her innocence?

Or is her suspicions about SunClan isolating and rejecting the foragers on to something?

By the way, I am fully aware of how short and late this chapter is. I hyper-fixated on things happening in my life for too long and missed the update days. Will keep up on it for June though.

Either way, thank you for reading, have a wonderful morning, day, evening or night. -NightSky