Mapleshade’s Vengeance

Chapter 6

The sun dragged slowly across the sky. Mapleshade’s belly was still full from the mole; besides, she was too tense to eat. Her claws were blunt after her long day of walking, so she sharpened them on a stone. A hawk swooped overhead and Mapleshade imagined it feasting on Ravenwing’s body after she had finished with him. He would bleed a river of blood, every drop spilled for her helpless kits…

At last the sky faded and the shadows between the rocks grew thicker. Mapleshade fluffed up her fur against the chill and crouched on top of a boulder, watching for any sign of movement at the foot of the hill. Suddenly a darker shadow flitted across the grass. Ravenwing was here! Alone and early, as he usually was. Mapleshade unsheathed her claws and let them scratch against the stone. She stayed very still, hardly breathing, as Ravenwing climbed the slope toward her. Mapleshade tensed her hindquarters, ready to leap down onto the medicine cat, but then she paused. If she attacked him out here, she might be seen by the other medicine cats. And where was the satisfaction in a simple ambush? She should follow Ravenwing down to the Moonstone and tackle him there, at the source of his precious omens.

Mapleshade pictured the long, stifling tunnel from her visit as an apprentice. Her pelt pricked at the thought of entering that darkness again, but then the wails of her kits echoed in her ears and she slid soundlessly off the boulder just a heartbeat before Ravenwing padded past. Mapleshade could hear him breathing heavily after the climb. She waited until he vanished into the gaping maw of Mothermouth before slipping out and trotting after him.

The hole swallowed her up at once, thick black shadows pressing around her until there was no glimpse of moonlight when she looked back at the entrance. Mapleshade padded over the stone floor, trying to keep her steps as light as possible. But Ravenwing must have heard something because he stopped, invisible in the dark ahead of her, and called out. “Who’s there?”

Mapleshade froze, convinced that her heart was thudding loud enough for the medicine cat to hear.

But after a moment Ravenwing carried on, his paw steps the softest whisper in the silence. Faint gray light appeared ahead, silhouetting the medicine cat’s ears. The Moonstone! Mapleshade realized she had dropped into the hunting crouch and was stalking forward once step at a time, her tail flattened behind her. She reached the opening to the cave and almost gasped out loud at the sight of the Moonstone glittering in the silver light. Ravenwing knelt in front of it, his head bowed.

With a hiss, Mapleshade sprang forward, claws extended. She landed on his back, sending him rolling onto the smooth cold stone. She caught a glimpse of his eyes, bright in the reflected moonlight.

“Mapleshade!” Ravenwing choked. “What are you doing here?”

Mapleshade let her claws sink into the fur around his throat. “Avenging the death of my kits,” she snarled. “If I could kill you three times over, I would!” She knew she had nothing to say to the medicine cat. Nothing would bring back her kits. He simply did not deserve to live when they were dead. She bit down on Ravenwing’s neck and the black cat went limp beneath her.

There was the sound of paw steps approaching down the tunnel. Mapleshade let Ravenwing fall to the floor and slipped behind the crystal.

“Great StarClan!” she heard Larkwing, the WindClan medicine cat, hiss. “Ravenwing! What happened?”

There was a grunt from his companion—peeking around the edge of the Moonstone, Mapleshade saw Sloefur, the ShadowClan medicine cat, sniff at Ravenwing’s unmoving body. “He’s dead,” Sloefur announced in horror. He looked around and Mapleshade ducked behind the crystal.

“We can’t leave him here,” meowed Larkwing. “Come on, help me get him back to the surface.”

Mapleshade listened to the sound of them dragging Ravenwing up the tunnel. She waited until the rays of the moon had slid past the hole in the roof and the cave was plunged into darkness.

Mapleshade’s heart pounded, but she reminded herself that she had nothing to be afraid of. The only dangerous thing in the shadows was her. She wondered if the medicine cats would continue with their gathering, but they did not come back to the cave. Mapleshade figured they had returned to their Clans to deliver the terrible news.

When the tiny patch of sky above the hole turned white with dawn, Mapleshade stretched her cold, stiff legs and padded back up the tunnel. Outside Mothermouth stood a heap of small stones that had not been there before. A tuft of black fur poked through a gap in the pile. Mapleshade sniffed and recognized Ravenwing’s scent. Rather than carry him all the way back to the forest, his fellow medicine cats had decided to bury him here, marking his final nest with a careful mountain of rocks.

Mapleshade curled her lip. What memorial was there to her kits? Nothing but the cold wet dirt inside RiverClan’s territory. She struck out at the pile of stones, knocking them to the ground. Her claws caught on the rocks and her pads stung but she kept flailing until the heap was destroyed and Ravenwing’s body was exposed to the gray dawn. Mapleshade looked up and caught sight of a hawk circling overhead. Here’s your next piece of fresh-kill, she thought with satisfaction.

The hawk swept down closer, and Mapleshade bounded away from the scattered stones. She bounded down the hillside without looking back. She had avenged her kits! Were you watching, my precious kits? I killed him for you! I hope you never see Ravenwing in StarClan. He should be in the Place of No Stars for all eternity.

She reached a hedge at the edge of a stretch of thick soft grass and crawled under the branches.

Suddenly she was too tired to walk another step. Ignoring the rumbling in her belly, she closed her eyes.

“Mama!”

“Help me!”

Two drenched faces appeared in front of Mapleshade, eyes huge and pleading, mouths open in tiny wails. The sound of the flooded river roared in Mapleshade’s ears.

“Patchkit! Petalkit!” she screeched. She thrashed with her front legs, trying to reach them as the water sucked them away, but her paws thudded against cold hard earth.

Mapleshade opened her eyes. She was lying under the hedge beneath Highstones. Why had she dreamed of her kits? Where was Larchkit?

“Mama! Save us!” Two voices echoed again.

Mapleshade shook herself and sat up. Ravenwing had died—did that mean only one kit had been avenged?

StarClan, why are you doing this to me? I fell in love, that’s all! And now I am made to suffer more than any cat has before.

An image drifted into her mind of a pale brown cat sitting among ferns, looking out at a churning black river as it swept three little shapes away. Frecklewish! According to Nettlepaw, she had seen the kits struggling, but had done nothing to save them. They may not have been Frecklewish’s kin, but the warrior code said that no kit should be left in danger, regardless of Clan.

Frecklewish needed to pay for the lost kits, just as Ravenwing had done.

Mapleshade stood up, shaking on exhausted paws. This would be harder to achieve because

Frecklewish only left ThunderClan to go to Gatherings, when she would be surrounded by her Clanmates. And even inside the border she was rarely alone. Mapleshade needed to find a way to attack her within the territory, the safest place for a warrior to be. Thinking hard, she started to pad along the bottom of the hedge. A tendril of ivy caught at her foot and almost tripped her. Hissing, Mapleshade snatched her paw away. The ivy lay on the ground, quivering like a glossy green snake.

Snakerocks! Mapleshade pictured the nest of adders that had been blocked in with stones.

Perhaps there was something deadly inside ThunderClan’s borders after all!