Brokenwing's Tragedy

Chapter I

It was late at night, the light of the full moon illuminating Moorclan's camp. Adderstar slipped out of his den, gazing with shining eyes at the silence that surrounded him. He had woken up from yet another nightmare, and this time it had really gotten to him. Padding across the clearing, paws nearly silent as they brushed the grass, the brute made his way to the den of the medicine cat Brokenwing, a small thought in his mind.

Maybe she has some herbs that'll help me sleep... None of that poppy seed stuff this time, He thought to himself with a small, light snort before poking his head into the den, optics narrowed ever so slightly as he called out to see if she was awake. "Hey, Brokenwing...you sleeping?" He mewed a bit and frowned when there was no answer. Slithering into the den ever so carefully, he trotted lightly over to the she-cat's nest and began nudging her with his maw, grumbling slightly from his tiredness.

"Aye, Brokenwing. Wake up before I go through your herbs to find something that'll help me fall asleep myself." He threatened quietly, his meow clear yet soft as to be cautious and not wake up any other cats that may have been in the den as well.

Before he walked in, the she-cat had been murmuring in her sleep. She too, was having a nightmare, hers about all her family members dying awful deaths, and her not being able to save them.

When Adderstar nudged her shoulder, in her dream she was being shoved, forced from her Clan, banished. Brokenwing awoke with a start, eyes flying open wide, sitting up in her nest. "It wasn't my fault!" She squeaked loudly, eyes going pinpoint before she really noticed he was there.

"Oh, Adderstar, it's just you. Sorry if I startled you, I wasn't having a very pleasant dream." Brokenwing chucked nervously, gaze darting to her paws. "What was it that you needed?"

Jumping back slightly when she jolted upright, Adderstar stared at her funnily, eyes wider than before and shinning a bit more as he studied her. Dismissing what she had just said, he shook his head and cleared his throat.

"It's fine," He meowed slightly, frowning as she mentioned having an unpleasant dream as well. "Do you have any herbs to help me sleep? And perhaps for you as well, seeing how you aren't having the best of luck sleeping either. But none of that poppy seed stuff." He asked, sitting down carefully as his tail wrapped around his paws neatly.

The moonlight shone into the den through a crack in the rock wall, illuminating Brokenwing's tabby pelt as she listened to Adderstar speak. Her amber eyes flashed. So he had taken note of her odd crying out. "I have just the thing." The she-cat said and disappeared back into the confines of her herb storage through an opening that she, with her small body, had no trouble fitting through, but normal cats might. Brokenwing appeared a few moments later with some herbs in her jaws.

"Lap these up, they should do the trick." She set the small pile of herbs in front of him, smelling slightly of rosemary and honey. There was only one set there, none for her.

"I should be fine, really," her gaze looked up into his own, paled with the moonlight that caught them, "I have unpleasant dreams often, but that's a medicine cat's job. And they don't usually disturb my sleep too much." She smiled softly.

With a quiet huff, he waited patiently for her to return as she slipped away to fetch the herbs, his eyes grazing around the den in silence.

What was she dreaming about though? The thought to himself quietly, cranium turning to meet a small breeze that drifted into the den when she returned with the herbs, nose twitching at her hypnotizing scent,