Broken Honor

Chapter 17

As Rushpaw was too weary and numb to explain what had happened to her beside the creek, Dapplewing ordered her to rest for a while until she was ready. Although her body was tired, she could not simply close her eyes and fall asleep. From inside the den, she watched everything unfold.

"And who might you two be?" Gentlebreeze softly asked the two rogues. It was the first time Rushpaw had heard the old tom speak in a while.

"I am Brooklyn. I come from the Cats of the Sand," Brooklyn replied plainly.

Does she always introduce herself like that? Rushpaw wondered. Who are the Cats of the Sand, and why isn't she with them anymore? 

"And my name's Cinnamon!" Cinnamon told them cheerfully. "Y'know, Rushpaw mentioned she used to be an IvyClan cat. Can the same be said for all of you?"

"Ah..yes, we all come from IvyClan," Diamondfrost admitted, shifting her paws. "What do you two know about the Clans?"

Brook blinked. "Cinnamon and I stumbled onto BriarClan's land the other day. Seeing that we were having a difficult time finding prey, they took us in for a few days and fed us. We're quite knowledgable about how the Clans function because of that. Our stay ended after Cinnamon got sick. Their medicine cat said he was running short on herbs and wasn't willing to waste them on her, so we had to leave," she explained, her expression neutral and unreadable.

"Cinnamon got sick?" Dapplewing repeated, taking a step back.

"I feel just fine now!" The pale-brown she-cat exclaimed reassuringly. "Really, I just had a common cold! I think the Clans know it as 'whitecough'...?"

"Eh..?" Autumnfire smiled nervously. "That's not good. Whitecough spreads easily, and without proper treatment it can turn into greencough..."

Brook's ears flattened and her pupils grew small. "A-and how severe is greencough?" she demanded anxiously.

Diamondfrost swallowed, and averted her eyes from Brook. "It's not good, that's for sure!"

"Ugh!" Brook stumbled a little. "Certainly you all can tell me how to treat her, then!" Her gaze was desperate, and nothing like the calm, unreadable expression she had just moments before.

Sunbright cleared her throat and spoke as a leader would. "None of us are medicine cats, but it's common knowledge that the best remedy for greencough is catmint. However..." She lowered her voice and went quiet for a moment, then continued her explanation. "Seeing as leaf-bare has already begun, it's very unlikely we'd be able to find any of that."

The siamese lashed her tail. "Useless!" she yelled. "You Clan cats are absolutely useless!"

"Please, don't get your tail in a twist!" Cinnamon pleaded, stepping towards Brook. "I'll be fine, I'm sure!"

"H-hey!" Diamondfrost shouted, her eyes wide with urgency. It was unusual for the blue-furred warrior to raise her voice. "Catmint's not the only treatment for greencough! Chickweed can work, too! I know because I used to train as a medicine cat apprentice before I decided I wanted to be a warrior instead, remember? I'm no expert of course, b-but! I think I can try to help her if I have chickweed!"

"I think you're all taking this too far," Cinnamon added politely. "Really, it was only a cold! And I think I'm bet-" her words were cut off as she was thrown into a fit of loud coughing, which went on for several seconds.

"Agh!" Brook hurried over to her friend worriedly.

Sunbright flicked her tail and stood up tall. "I've got a deal for you two!" she announced suddenly.

Dapplewing tilted her head and stared at the younger warrior in confusion, but stayed silent.

The golden tabby she-cat lowered her head to meet Cinnamon and Brooklyn in the eyes. "We will allow you to stay with us until at least the end of winter. With Diamondfrost acting as medicine cat, we will cure both of you of any sicknesses you may have. We will feed you, and shelter you. This is a generous offer, you must understand. You two won't survive long around these parts all on you own in the winter. But under our care, you'll make it. In exchange, you'll help us accomplish something," she explained.

Sunbright's always been a serious cat, but she's speaking in such an unusually professional manner... Rushpaw observed.

Brook and Cinnamon nodded understandingly with narrowed eyes. Sunbright went quiet for a moment, then continued.

"It's quite a long story, but in short, we all used to be IvyClan warriors until not very long ago. We left because a very dangerous cat took over the Clan, and we refused to be lead by her. Her name is Viperstar."

"Where are you going with this, Sunny?" Gentlebreeze asked, in a harsher tone than usual.

Sunbright went on, not acknowledging him. "Our loyalty to IvyClan itself is not so easily broken, you see. Many of our friends and family still live there. So we intend to eventually return. Still, we refuse to rejoin under Viperstar's rule. What we must do is get rid of her."

"Hey now, stop with this!" Dapplewing interrupted. "Sunbright, you can't just say all these things to them without even discussing it with us first! We haven't decided what we'll do next! These decisions aren't yours alone to make!" Her eyes were wide with urgency.

And again, Sunbright continued speaking with blunt ignorance. The two rogues listened to her curiously. 

"That being said, we cannot defeat her at this size. Your arrival happened at the perfect time. I request that you join us in driving out Viperstar. Or killing her, if we must." Her green eyes were filled with blazing determination.

Dapplewing doesn't seem happy with Sunbright taking charge, but maybe she'll agree with her ideas? She's very convincing... Rushpaw was shocked at all these possible changes, but at the same time she almost admired the golden warrior's ability to get things moving. 

Well, do you agree with Sunbright's ideas? It was that strange voice. It hadn't spoken to Rushpaw in a while.

Um...

This question struck her as difficult to answer. Rushpaw averted her attention from Sunbright and the others to focus. Viperstar was a dangerous cat, wasn't she? She had broken the promise made with Iceshard to not attempt to start violence with MossClan, all because she was so determined to believe that they were the ones behind Palecloud's death and Ebonystar's disappearance. Then, when she became IvyClan's leader, she declared war on MossClan despite how risky and unreasonable it was. 

But if Viperstar's really no more than a violent troublemaker with a thirst for power... why did she save me?

Frostedfang was going to kill me, no doubt about it. But Viperstar stopped him. She was furious about what he did, too. Even though she sees the Runaways as traitors to IvyClan. 

That kind of makes me wonder just what her intentions are. When she declared battle with MossClan after becoming leader, was she really only doing it for the sake of fighting? Or does she genuinely believe they're responsible for what happened to Palecloud and Ebonystar? 

Does Viperstar really deserve to die?