Mapleshade’s Vengeance

Chapter 4

By the time they reached the path leading down to the ravine, the kits were dragging their paws with weariness. “Nearly there, little ones!” Mapleshade mewed encouragingly. She hoped she would be able to settle them in the nursery and give them a feed before Ravenwing came looking for her.

Patchkit stumbled on the pebbly slope so Mapleshade let him lean against her shoulder and took almost all of his weight as they descended to the gorse tunnel. Petalkit let out a huge yawn. “I’m so sleepy!” she murmured.

“I’m hungry,” Larchkit squeaked. “My belly is rumbling louder than a badger!”

They pushed through the gorse tunnel, ducking their heads to keep the sharp twigs out of their eyes. Mapleshade followed, nudging Patchkit in front of her. When she emerged, Larchkit and Petalkit had stopped dead at the entrance. “Come on,” Mapleshade urged, her attention on Patchkit as he swayed on his feet.

“I think something’s happening,” Petalkit whispered.

Mapleshade looked up. The clearing was ringed with cats, all staring at them. Oakstar stood on Highrock, silhouetted against the trees. Ravenwing was crouched below him, his gaze fierce. The deputy Beetail was next to the medicine cat, his striped coat ruffled as if he had been interrupted mid-groom. Mapleshade started to tremble.

Patchkit pressed himself against her. “What’s wrong?” he whimpered.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Mapleshade told him. “Go stand over there.” She pointed with her tail to a clump of bracken at the edge of the clearing. The three kits trotted over in silence and huddled together.

“Come here, Mapleshade,” Oakstar commanded.

On legs that seemed to be made of stone, Mapleshade walked forward until she was standing in the center of the clearing. “What is it, Oakstar?”

The dark brown tom twitched the tip of his tail. “Who is the father of your kits?” he asked. “Tell the truth!”

Before Mapleshade could speak, there was a flurry of ginger fur beside her. Frecklewish pushed past a cluster of warriors and joined Mapleshade below Highrock. “We know it’s Birchface!” she called up to Oakstar. “Why are you asking this?”

“I want Mapleshade to tell us herself,” Oakstar mewed, his voice soft with menace. “She let me believe that my son Birchface was their father. I cannot imagine that one of my warriors would dare to tell such a lie.”

Mapleshade shifted her weight onto her hind paws so she could hold the leader’s gaze. “Any Clan would be proud to have these kits grow up to serve them,” she declared.

“Even if they knew the kits were half-Clan?” Ravenwing meowed. “We deserve to know the truth, Mapleshade. Appledusk is their father, isn’t he?”

For a moment, the whole forest seemed to hold its breath. Then there was a screech of pure horror and Frecklewish launched herself at Mapleshade. “Is this true?” she yowled, clawing at Mapleshade’s face. “What have you done?”

Mapleshade stumbled backward. “Stop!” she gasped. She tried to raise her front paws to shield herself but Frecklewish had pinned her down.

Suddenly the weight was lifted from Mapleshade’s belly and she opened her eyes to see the she-cat being hauled away by Bloomheart and Seedpelt. Mapleshade staggered to her paws. Blood pooled in her eye from a torn eyelid, and her cheek stung from a well-aimed blow. All around her, the cats hissed and muttered.

Frecklewish shook off the warriors and glared at Mapleshade. “You have betrayed my brother’s name!” she spat. “You have betrayed us all with your lies and your disloyalty. You don’t deserve to be called a warrior and nor do those… those half-Clan creatures.” She curled her lip toward the three kits, who cowered beneath the ferns. “Their father killed Birchface and Flowerpaw! Get them out of here!”

Mapleshade shook scarlet droplets onto the grass. “Why does it matter who their father is?” she demanded furiously. “I have given ThunderClan three fine kits. I am a queen and I should be treated with respect. StarClan knows we need more warriors, and here they are!” Have my Clanmates gone mad, that they would turn against me like this?

Oakstar bounded down from Highrock and stood in front of her. His yellow eyes gleamed with hatred and he thrust his head forward until his breath blew hotly on Mapleshade’s muzzle. “Have you forgotten that Appledusk murdered my son and Flowerpaw? Of all the cats, why did you have to choose him? You cannot possibly expect my forgiveness.” He stepped back and raised his head.

“You have betrayed the warrior code and lied to your Clanmates. We will not raise these kits within the walls of our camp, nor the boundaries of our territory. Take them and leave. You are no longer a warrior of ThunderClan.”

Mapleshade stumbled backward. “You can’t mean that! These kits belong to ThunderClan! You have to let us stay!”

Oakstar shook his head. “No, I do not.” He gazed around at the Clan. “Ravenwing told me about an omen he received, a mysterious stream of water that washed three pieces of reed into his den.

Reeds don’t belong in our territory, and certainly not in the heart of our camp. These kits will bring nothing but danger!”

“Get rid of them!” screeched Frecklewish. “Drive them out!”

“Oakstar’s right, they don’t belong here,” growled Bloomheart.

Mapleshade stared at the gray tabby in horror. “You were my mentor, Bloomheart! You know I would never betray my Clan!”

“You already have,” he replied gruffly. “I am ashamed of you.” He turned away, and Mapleshade felt her heart break into pieces.

“I will never forget this,” she hissed, slowly turning to glare at each one of her Clanmates. “You have betrayed me and my kits. You will live to regret this day forever, ThunderClan, and that is a promise.” She stalked over to her kits and swept her tail around them. “This is no longer our home,” she told them. “Come.”

She prodded them back through the gorse tunnel and up the path. Petalkit fell over and grazed her nose on a stone, but was too tired to protest. She simply picked herself up and stumbled on as if she knew there was no point in complaining. Mapleshade felt her heart break a little more.

“Why don’t they like us anymore?” whimpered Patchkit as they headed into the trees. It had started to rain, and fat drops thudded onto the ferns around them.

“Because they’re mouse-brained, bat-blind, and fox-hearted,” Mapleshade hissed.

“Those are bad words!” Larchkit mewed. “You’re not supposed to say them!”

“It’s the truth,” Mapleshade answered grimly.

“What were they saying about our father?” Petalkit asked. “Don’t they like Birchface either?”

Mapleshade felt an overwhelming urge to lie down and slip into the darkness of sleep. “I’ll tell you everything later,” she promised. “First we must get across the river.”

“We’re going swimming again?” chirped Patchkit. “But that RiverClan cat said we had to stay away from the water.”

“Everything is different now,” Mapleshade murmured.

When they emerged from the shelter of the trees, the rain was pelting so hard that Mapleshade could hardly keep her eyes open.

“I don’t want to go swimming anymore,” Larchkit moaned. “I want to go home.”

“I wish we were in the nursery.” Petalkit sniffed. “It’s too wet to be outside.”

“We have no home!” Mapleshade snapped. She had to raise her voice over the pounding of raindrops on the shore. “Forget about ThunderClan and the nursery.” She stared at the river. The tops of the stepping-stones were just visible among the wind-stirred waves. “We don’t have to swim all the way,” she told the kits. “Do you see those rocks? We just have to swim from one to the next until we get to the other side.”

“But then we’ll be in RiverClan!” Patchkit squeaked. “We’re not supposed to go there!”

“It’s all right,” Mapleshade mewed, trying to sound calm. “Your father will be pleased to see us.”

Larchkit tipped his head on one side. “I thought our father was dead!”

Mapleshade took a deep breath. “Remember that nice RiverClan cat who helped Patchkit today?

He is your father. Not Birchface.”

Larchkit wrinkled his nose. “But that doesn’t make sense. Our father can’t be from RiverClan.

We’re ThunderClan cats!”

“You’re half RiverClan,” Mapleshade told him. “That’s why you liked the water so much today.”

The three kits’ eyes stretched wider until they were like moons. “Is that why our Clanmates are mad at us?” asked Petalkit.

“Yes,” mewed Mapleshade. She felt the hackles rise along her spine. “But they are wrong,” she growled. “They’ll change their minds soon and until then, we’ll live in RiverClan. Everything will be okay.” She nudged Petalkit closer to the river. “Come on, we need to cross before it gets dark.”

The little brown kit hung back. “I don’t want to!” she wailed. “There’s too much water!”

“You’ll be fine,” Mapleshade insisted. She herded Larchkit and Patchkit alongside their sister.

“I’ll be right behind you.”

Patchkit looked over his shoulder. “Promise we’ll be okay?”

“I promise.”

The ginger-and-white tom stepped bravely into the waves. Almost at once the water washed over his head but he fought his way up, spluttering. His littermates followed him. Mapleshade watched the three small heads bob to the first stepping-stone. They scrambled out and stood belly-deep in water, shivering.

“Wait for me!” Mapleshade called. “I’m coming!” Gritting her teeth, she waded into the river.

The water sucked at her fur, chilling her to the bone. She forced herself to strike off from the shore and churn her paws, propelling herself toward the stepping-stones. I have to do this for my kits, she told herself, hating every moment.

Suddenly there was a roar from somewhere upstream. “Swim faster!” screeched Petalkit.

“Something’s coming!”

Mapleshade glanced sideways to see a wall of water bearing down on her, sweeping branches and debris ahead of it. She paddled furiously but the current was dragging her away from the stones, not toward them. “Hold on!” she screeched to the kits as the wave crashed over her head.

Mapleshade was thrust to the bottom of the river by the force of the flood. Branches thudded against her and when she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but bubbles and churned-up pebbles. With her chest screaming for air, she clawed her way to the surface and burst out, gasping. Her flailing front paws struck something hard; unsheathing her claws, she managed to haul herself onto the rock.

Somehow she had made it to the first stepping-stone. She looked around.

The kits had gone. Mapleshade stared into the water in horror. My kits! Where are you? Any hopes that they had struck out for the second stone vanished when she saw three tiny shapes being swept downstream.

“Help!” wailed Petalkit before a wave pushed her under.

Mapleshade launched herself off the stone and paddled furiously toward her kits. A pale shape bobbed in front of her. She reached out and managed to hook one claw into sodden fur. It was Patchkit. His eyes were closed.

“Wake up!” Mapleshade screeched. “You have to swim!”

A faint mew came from somewhere beside her. Mapleshade lifted her head and peered through the waves. Larchkit was clinging to a branch that hung into the river. Gripping Patchkit in her jaws, Mapleshade battled her way over to the tree. She tried to boost Patchkit out of the water but he was too heavy and he slipped out of her grasp.

“No!” Mapleshade yowled as he vanished into the black river.

Larchkit lost his grip on the branch and splashed into the water beside her. Mapleshade sank her teeth into his scruff but the pull of the current was too strong. Larchkit was ripped away from her and swept away with just one tiny cry.

“Mapleshade! Mapleshade! Grab hold of the branch!” There was a frantic shout from the shore.

Mapleshade saw Appledusk wading into the river, his fur fluffed up in alarm. He gestured with his tail to the overhanging tree. “Hold on and I’ll drag you out!”

Mapleshade was only dimly aware of hooking her claws into the branch beside her. She felt herself being dragged through the water, and then strong jaws were in her pelt, hauling her onto the stones. Appledusk loomed over her. “What in the name of StarClan are you doing? Where are the kits?”

Two more shapes appeared beside him. “What is a ThunderClan cat doing in the river?” asked one. Mapleshade recognized the voice of Splashfoot, a young tom.

“Is it Mapleshade?” asked his companion.

“I think so, Eeltail,” mewed Splashfoot. He peered closer, his pale gray fur glowing in the failing light.

“My kits,” Mapleshade rasped. “Save… my kits…”

Appledusk’s face appeared above her, his eyes huge with horror. “Are you telling me the kits are in the river?”

Mapleshade nodded, too weak to speak.

Eeltail was already bounding along the shore. “If kits are in there, they are going to be in big trouble!” she called over her shoulder. Splashfoot raced after her.

Appledusk crouched beside Mapleshade. “I will find them, I promise,” he whispered. Then he raced away from her.

Mapleshade closed her eyes. StarClan, help my kits, she prayed. None of this is their fault. Take me if you must, but please, spare them.

She lay still, feeling the water run off her fur, until she heard paw steps crunching over the stones.

She lifted her head and saw Appledusk approaching. In the darkness, she couldn’t see his expression.

“Did you find them?”

“Yes,” he meowed. “We found them.”

Mapleshade hauled herself to her paws. “Where are they?”

Wordlessly, Appledusk turned and led her downstream. He pushed his way into a dense clump of reeds and beckoned Mapleshade forward with his tail. Eeltail and Splashfoot were standing over three small dark shapes. Eeltail looked up, her eyes brimming with pity. “I’m so sorry,” she mewed.

“We couldn’t save them.”

A ghastly shriek split the air. Mapleshade wondered where the noise was coming from until she realized that her mouth was wide open. She shut her jaws with a snap and took a step toward her kits.

Her legs buckled and suddenly she was lying beside them, desperately licking each one in turn.

“Wake up, little ones,” she urged. “We made it across the river. You are safe now!”

But the bodies rolled limply under the strokes of her tongue, and three pairs of eyes stayed closed.

Mapleshade pressed her muzzle against Patchkit’s cold cheek. “You promised you would never leave me,” she whispered. You promised you would keep me safe. His voice echoed inside her head.

“I’m sorry!” Mapleshade wailed. “I was trying to find us a new home. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“What are you talking about?” Appledusk sounded stunned. “Do you mean that you deliberately tried to cross the river? In the middle of a flood?”

Mapleshade twisted around to look at him. “ThunderClan threw us out,” she explained. “We had nowhere else to go.”

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but we need to take these kits to Darkstar,” meowed Eeltail.

“He needs to know about this.”

For a moment Appledusk looked as if he was going to disagree, then he nodded. “You’re right.

Come on, we’ll take one kit each. Mapleshade, follow us.”

The RiverClan warriors gently picked up the drenched little shapes and carried them slowly back along the shore. Mapleshade stumbled behind them, too numb to think clearly. Beside them, the river had calmed and lapped at the shore like a cat’s tongue, making soft, comforting noises in the still air.

Mapleshade waited for Appledusk to send the other warriors on ahead, to find some excuse to be alone with her so they could mourn their kits together before facing the rest of his Clan. But he didn’t turn back to look at her. He hasn’t even asked what I named them.

The warriors threaded between tall reeds on a narrow path of dense brown soil. It opened into a clearing which was raised up from the water by heaps of more soil on top of tightly woven branches, like a huge nest. Mapleshade caught the glint of many pairs of eyes watching from among the reeds and her wet fur bristled.

An orange she-cat ran up to Appledusk. Mapleshade recognized her at once; it was Reedshine, the warrior who had been fussing over Appledusk at the Gathering.

“Did someone fall in the river?” Reedshine gasped. “Are you okay?”

The RiverClan warrior set down Petalkit’s body as gently as if she were sleeping, and touched his tail to Reedshine’s flank. “I’m fine. I need to speak with Darkstar.”

Reedshine stayed where she was, her gaze flicking to Mapleshade and back again. “Why is she here? What’s going on, Appledusk?”

There was a stir of movement at the far end of the clearing, and Darkstar stepped out of the reeds.

All the cats fell silent.

Appledusk stepped forward. “Three kits have drowned in the river,” he announced.

Ask me their names! Mapleshade screeched silently.

Appledusk looked at his paws. “I… I am their father.”

Mapleshade held her breath. This was Appledusk’s chance to plead for mercy on her behalf, to explain that Mapleshade deserved to be given a place in RiverClan because she had borne his kits.

Darkstar’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “What do you mean, Appledusk? What are you talking about?”

“I’m so sorry, Reedshine,” Appledusk whispered. “Please forgive me.”

Reedshine twitched the tip of her tail. “Forgive you for what?”

Mapleshade looked at the concern in Reedshine’s eyes and felt something inside her turn to ice.

This was not just a Clanmate to Appledusk.

Appledusk bowed his head and went on. “Many moons ago, I met with Mapleshade in secret.”

There was a gasp from his Clanmates, and one of them, a rumpled old tabby, hissed, “Traitor!”

Mapleshade kept her gaze fixed on Darkstar. She has to take pity on me. I have lost my home and my kits. I have nothing left except Appledusk.

“You knew about these kits?” Darkstar asked. The tip of her tail was twitching.

Appledusk nodded, and Reedshine let out a soft wail. “Mapleshade told me she would raise them in ThunderClan,” Appledusk meowed. “I… I knew I had made a mistake so I said nothing to my

Clanmates.”

A mistake? Mapleshade almost winced at the pain in Appledusk’s pale green eyes. Almost, but not quite. The ice was spreading through her faster than a leaf-bare frost. Soon I won’t be able to feel anything, she thought.

“I should never have betrayed my Clan by meeting with Mapleshade,” Appledusk went on. “I will regret it for the rest of my life, and I can only beg for your forgiveness.”

“What brought these kits here tonight?” Darkstar queried, looking down at the three pitiful shapes.

Mapleshade opened her mouth to explain but Appledusk spoke first. “Mapleshade’s Clanmates learned the truth and she had to leave. The river is flooded and the kits were too young to swim across.” His voice faltered. Mapleshade stared at him. You’re making it sound as if this was my fault!

Darkstar mewed, “The loss of any kits is a loss to all of us. But you broke the warrior code, Appledusk. How can I ever trust you again?”

Reedshine padded forward until she was standing alongside Appledusk with her fur brushing his.

“There is no cat more loyal to RiverClan than Appledusk,” she declared. “If I am willing to forgive him for his past mistakes, then so should you, Darkstar.”

There were murmurs from the cats at the edge of the clearing. They sounded impressed by Reedshine’s confidence.

Darkstar waited until the clearing was silent again, then nodded. “This is not the season for losing warriors. Appledusk, I believe that you are sorry for what you did, and that you have been punished enough by the death of your kits. I will allow you to remain in RiverClan—but know that I and the rest of the Clanmates will be watching you. You will have to earn back our trust.”

Appledusk dipped his head so low that his muzzle almost touched the reeds beneath his paws. “I will never forget your mercy, Darkstar,” he murmured. “Thank you. I promise my loyalty lies only with RiverClan, and my Clanmates.” He glanced sideways at Reedshine, who blinked at him.

Darkstar gestured with her tail. “Rainfall, help Splashfoot and Eeltail to bury these kits. The accident of their birth is not their fault. They may lie in peace in our territory now.”

Mapleshade struggled to find her voice. “What… what about me?” she croaked. “May I stay here with my kits?”

The RiverClan leader stared at her. “No, you may not. You will leave this territory at once and never set foot across the border again. Like Appledusk, I believe that the loss of your kits is punishment enough. Otherwise, rest assured my warriors would have clawed your fur off for what you have done.”

“But night is falling!” Mapleshade protested. “Where will I go? Appledusk, help me!”

The pale brown warrior shook his head. “Why should I? It’s your fault that these kits are dead. I never want to see you again.”

Reedshine pressed herself even closer to Appledusk’s flank. “Go away, Mapleshade,” she hissed.

“You have caused enough trouble tonight.”

Mapleshade looked down at her drowned kits. “I cannot leave them,” she whispered. “They are everything to me.”

“And now they are dead,” Appledusk growled. “Be thankful we have shown you some mercy, Mapleshade. Get out, before we make you leave.”

Mapleshade stared at the cat whose face had occupied her mind for so many moons. She thought she had known every swirl of his fur, the angle of every whisker, but now she didn’t recognize him at all. The coldness swelled inside her until she felt it burst out of her eyes, and there was a jolt of satisfaction as Appledusk flinched away from her gaze. “You told me you loved me!” Mapleshade hissed. “I went through the agony of bearing your kits! And now you treat me worse than prey. You will regret this, Appledusk. That is my last promise to you.”

She turned and stumbled out of the clearing, blindly following paths through the reeds until she reached scent markers that suggested she was at the RiverClan boundary. She was dimly aware of crossing hard gray stone, then a massive shape loomed out of the shadows, a sharp-edged Twoleg den of some sort. She found a hole in the wall and slipped through into a musty, hay-scented space.

Mapleshade slumped down on a clump of dusty dried stalks and shut her eyes. Sleep dragged her away, and her dreams were filled with the sight of her kits spiraling away from her in churning black water, screeching for help that never came.