Troublekit strode out of the nursery like he owned the place, looking from side to side proudly and in a slightly stuck-up manner. After a few moments he dropped it and glanced over at a clump of bushes to his side, his tail twitching and eyes wide. "How was I that time?" He asked excitedly, speaking to the small ginger kit in front of the brush.
Runtkit tilted her head, tail raised high. "I dunno. Little snobby there, Troublestar." She scrunched up her face, barely holding back laughter at the title. The black tomkit sitting next to her didn't fare as well, falling over himself as he snorted. Troublekit hissed at his brother just as Spiderpaw strode by.
"Aw, the little mouse-brained traitor is practicing for when he takes over," the black tom mocked. "Give it up, Trouble. We're onto you." Troublekit crouched, his tail lashing from side to side, and snarled, "You wouldn't know loyalty if it clawed your pelt off!" As he pounced on the dark apprentice. Spiderpaw was caught off guard, stumbling back as the small tabby dug his claws in. Runtkit and Rascalkit were right there with him, Rascalkit diving under the apprentice and clawing at his belly as Runtkit reared up, clawing the air in front of her threateningly.
"Why you little —" Spiderpaw reached for Runtkit, the most easily accessible, but she dove out of the way and jumped onto his face, clinging there. The apprentice's screechings were muffled, but it was probably a lot of things Troublekit wasn't allowed to say. Their victim (if the word could ever be applied to Spiderpaw) dropped suddenly onto his belly, throwing down all of his weight and squishing Rascalkit. There was a crack.
The kit's screams were probably heard by WindClan in their camp, even muffled by Spiderpaw's fur.
Immediately Snowpetal was there, Stoneblossom close behind. Their mother shoved the black cat aside, none too gently. Luckily, her other kits had jumped off already. Rascalkit was curled up, whimpering slightly. Stoneblossom gently stretched him out and he opened his eyes, staring up at her. "It's okay," she murmured. "It's okay." She turned to Spiderpaw and snapped, "Make yourself useful for once in your life and find two small, sturdy sticks. Now."
"You can't talk to me like that," Spiderpaw muttered as he stood up and shook himself. But he scampered off to a small sapling growing in the camp and thrust himself into the branches, breaking off two small ones and bringing them to Stoneblossom. She didn't thank him, instead slowly and carefully stretching out one of her patient's hind legs, triggering a small squeal of pain. "It's okay," she said again, and he took a deep breath as she splinted his leg and picked him up, carrying him to the medicine den.
Snowpetal watched them go and then whirled on Spiderpaw, who had been subtly edging away. "WHAT were you THINKING?" She barked. Spiderpaw bared his teeth but the enraged queen went on. "They're just KITS! WHAT in STARCLAN'S NAME would make you BREAK HIS LEG?" Any Clan members who hadn't turned to watch at the screams did now, including the deputy, Rainleaf, who was Spiderpaw's father. Rainleaf started to rise, opening his mouth indignantly to defend his son, but Brownstar, his mate, pulled him down, saying, "No, wait, I want to hear this too."
Snowpetal stood in front of Spiderpaw, trembling with rage as she waited for an answer.
"They attacked me," he finally mumbled after a tension-filled moment of silence.
"THEY'RE JUST KITS!" Snowpetal screamed again. "THEY WEREN'T HURTING YOU, AND I KNOW MY KITS, I KNOW THEY WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT A REASON!" Now she turned to the two littermates, hunched together less than a tail-length away, appealing to them. Troublekit gulped. "He called me a mouse-brained traitor," he whispered. "He said I was gonna try to take over the Clan, but Mama, we were just playing,"
Snowpetal turned back to Spiderpaw, suddenly calm. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
Spiderpaw drew himself up, speaking loudly and clearly for all of ThunderClan to hear. "Well, he is. He must be. He's even worse than his half-clan father!" With that, he turned around and stalked off to the apprentice's den. Bluepaw scrambled out of his way.
Taking deep, shuddering breaths, Snowpetal drew her kits in with her tail. "He didn't mean that," she said softly, but he had. Heatclaw, their father and the last deputy, had been half ShadowClan. His father was Snakestrike. Heatclaw had died stopping Snakestrike from killing Rainleaf, who had taken it as stopping Rainleaf from killing Snakestrike. No one knew for sure who started the talk about Heatclaw being a ShadowClan spy.
Everyone knew it was Rainleaf.
But no one said that out loud.
