Mapleshade dropped down the steep slope into the hollow, paused briefly to look up at the four gigantic oaks, then carried on, scrambling up the other side and plunging into the trees that bordered WindClan’s territory. There was a strong smell of fox, which made her fur prickle, but it was stale rather than fresh, and would hide her own scent from curious border patrols.
She felt rather than heard the thrumming of terrified paws over the ground; peeping out of the bracken, she saw a rabbit hurtling across the moor toward her, pursued by a patrol of WindClan cats. Mapleshade hardly had time to think before the rabbit ran straight into her in a tumble of paws and fur. She bit down hard on its neck and it went limp. The warriors were still racing toward her so Mapleshade grasped the rabbit in her jaws and hauled it up the nearest tree. Her claws tore on the smooth bark and the rabbit dragged at her teeth but at last she reached the lowest branch and crawled onto it with her fresh-kill. She heard the WindClan cats scramble to a halt below.
“Where did that rabbit go?” asked one of them.
Another was circling the trunk, sniffing the ground. “The trail ends here, but that’s impossible. Rabbits don’t climb trees.”
“I don’t know how you can smell anything,” grumbled an old tom with patchy brown fur. Mapleshade thought his name was Midgepelt. “It stinks of fox around here.”
Mapleshade held her breath, waiting for one of the cats to look up and see her. There was little leaf cover this far down the trunk, and she couldn’t climb higher without making a noise. But the patrol sniffed around for a moment more, then headed back to the open moor, grumbling about vanishing prey. Fools! Mapleshade thought as she bit into the rabbit.
She spent the night under a clump of ferns a little deeper into the forest. She woke shivering beneath a light coat of frost, missing the warmth of her kits. Wherever you are, I hope you are warm, she thought through chattering teeth. Her belly was still full from the rabbit so she headed straight into the open, hoping it was too early for the WindClan dawn patrol. She had traveled to the Moonstone once before, as an apprentice. Mapleshade remembered her excitement at being inside WindClan’s territory with impunity; how she had longed to be seen by a patrol and challenged! But now she darted from rock to clump of gorse, cursing the lack of cover on the empty moor.
At last she reached the foot of the slope and crouched beside the Thunderpath. The stench of monsters caught in her throat and made her eyes water, but there were few of the noisy beasts around this early. She only had to wait a few moments before silence fell heavily in the valley and she was able to dart across the hard black stone. On the other side, she plunged through the long soft grass and into a hedge. She recalled passing a Twoleg den with cows and a dark, hay-scented barn where she and the other apprentices had paused to hunt. She decided to stay well clear this time, in case she ran into any of the other medicine cats traveling early to the Moonstone.
After crossing a broad expanse of grass and pushing through another hedge, Mapleshade saw the dark brown tops of some Twoleg dens that looked like the barn. She swerved to the far side of the next stretch of grass and trotted through a row of trees to where the ground started to slope steeply up. Tilting back her head, she stared at the jagged rocks that marked the top of the ridge. The sun was striking them, turning them rosy and warm-looking, but their outlines still looked like teeth against the pale sky.
Mapleshade’s belly rumbled and she realized that if she didn’t eat now, she would be hungry for the rest of the day up on the hillside. She ducked back under the trees and quickly picked up the scent of a mole snuffling in the sunshine. Not her favorite fresh-kill but too easy to miss. She struck the flattened black body with her front paw and tucked in for a meal. Afterward she felt stronger, clearer-headed. She bounded up the side of the ridge, scattering loose pebbles under her paws. As the weak sun set the jagged stones ablaze, Mapleshade leaped onto a boulder and opened her jaws to screech at the valley below.
I am ready for you, Ravenwing! You will pay for what you have done!
The life that she had known was over; if she couldn’t be a warrior, then she would dedicate every beat of her heart to avenging the deaths of her kits.
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!
CHAPTER 7
Mapleshade trekked back to the forest, skirting the edge of WindClan under cover of darkness and heading for ThunderClan’s border with Twolegplace. She knew she would have to wait for Frecklewish to pass by on patrol; even then, Mapleshade would need the luck of StarClan to get the she-cat alone. She plunged into the lush green grass at the foot of the Twoleg fences, then scrambled up and over the wooden barrier, dropping down into the small, strongly scented enclosure on the other side.
Almost at once, a fat gray-and-white tom heaved himself through a tiny flap in the side of the Twoleg den and lumbered toward her, mewling.
“Get out of here! You’re one of those stinking forest cats, aren’t you? My housefolk don’t want you in their backyard! Shoo!”
Mapleshade waited until the kittypet was a mouse-length away, then shot out one paw and raked his face. The kittypet leaped backward, screeching. Blood dripped from his blunt muzzle. “Ow!” he wailed.
Mapleshade stayed where she was. The kittypet glared at her through screwed-up eyes before turning and shuffling back to the den. When the flap banged shut behind his plump haunches, Mapleshade studied the enclosure. A tree grew beside the fence with broad enough branches to support her, and dense leaves to hide her from view. She would wait there for Frecklewish. She scrambled up the tree and settled on a bough that looked out over the forest. She had caught a squirrel at Fourtrees and drunk from a stream so her belly was comfortably full. Resting her chin on her paws, she let herself doze, one ear pricked for any sounds from below.
At dusk four ThunderClan warriors came past, creeping along the bottom of the fence as if they feared the kittypets were about to attack. Mapleshade curled her lip in scorn. She had thought her Clanmates were braver than that. Frecklewish was not among them, though. As night fell, Mapleshade dropped down from her branch into the long grass, hoping to hunt. ThunderClan scent surrounded her and for a moment she felt a pang of longing; then she pictured her Clanmates driving her and her kits away, and she thought of Frecklewish watching her kits drown, and her fury returned. She quickly caught a blackbird that was wrestling with a worm and carried it back to the tree. Behind her, the gray-and-white tom was bundled out of the den by a cross-sounding Twoleg. Mapleshade watched the kittypet squat on the grass, its eyes huge with fear, then race back inside. Ha! He knows this territory is mine now!
Mapleshade slept fitfully, the bark digging into her belly fur and sending a damp chill through her bones. She woke with the first glimmer of dawn, feeling pangs of hunger. The blackbird had been old and scrawny. Mapleshade scanned the forest for signs of movement. All was still beneath the trees. She jumped down and padded into the ferns, scanning for prey. A tiny rustle alerted her to a mouse scrabbling at the foot of a sycamore tree. Mapleshade stalked forward, hoping her flashes of white fur wouldn’t startle her prey. The mouse was intent on nibbling a seed so Mapleshade was able to pounce unseen, killing the creature with a single blow to its neck.
Then she froze. She heard voices! Bloomheart was among them, directing his patrol to split up and hunt before meeting again at the lightning-struck elm. There wasn’t time to get back to the Twoleg fence, so Mapleshade crouched beneath a clump of bracken with her fresh-kill. Paw steps came closer, then a glimpse of pale brown fur through the green stems. Frecklewish! StarClan had brought her right to Mapleshade. But she couldn’t attack her here, not when the others were so close by.
Mapleshade backed carefully out of the bracken, dragging the mouse. Its body was still warm so the scent it left would seem fresh. Sure enough, she heard Frecklewish sniffing the air and uttering a low growl that suggested she had picked up the trail. Mapleshade let the mouse scrape along the ground a little more before daring to pick it up and move forward with it dangling from her jaws. She couldn’t risk being seen by Frecklewish before she had reached Snakerocks.
Mapleshade deliberately pushed her way through the thickest undergrowth so that the mouse left a generous trail of scent. She hoped that her own scent would be lost among general ThunderClan odors; she didn’t think she had been out of the Clan long enough to smell unfamiliar. She could only just hear Frecklewish stalking her; the she-cat was one of the best hunters in the Clan and moved as lightly as a butterfly’s wing over the leaf-strewn
ground.
Suddenly dark gray stones loomed over the stems of bracken. Mapleshade swerved, still carrying the mouse, which felt heavier and heavier in her jaws. She padded around the base of the rocks and emerged into the clearing on the other side. There was hardly any trace of cat scent; clearly the warriors were concerned that the adders might escape from their prison. Mapleshade hoped the snakes were still there, but had no time to check. She left the mouse on the ground and raced to the heap of smaller stones that had been piled in front of the adders’ nest. She pushed aside as many as she could, leaving a gaping black hole, then ducked behind a boulder.
Frecklewish emerged cautiously from the bushes, her jaws parted to scent the air and her fur bristling. She looked puzzled when she saw the dead mouse. Mapleshade sprang out from behind the rock and snarled at her.
“You let my kits die!”
Frecklewish stumbled backward in shock. “Mapleshade! You shouldn’t be here!” She arched her back. “Leave or I’ll call the rest of the patrol.”
Mapleshade lashed her tail. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tiny flicker of movement from the pile of stones. Was that a snake slithering into the light? Mapleshade took a step closer to the rocks. “Too scared to fight me yourself, Frecklewish?” she hissed. “You prefer watching helpless kits drown, don’t you?”
The brown she-cat stiffened. “I thought your kits would be saved,” she rasped. “I never meant for them to die.”
Mapleshade sniffed. “I don’t believe you! You’re a fox-hearted coward. I bet you’re glad they are dead!”
Frecklewish bounded toward Mapleshade, her eyes flashing with anger. “I wish you were dead!” she spat. “You betrayed my brother’s name!”
Mapleshade dodged sideways just as Frecklewish lunged at her. With a yelp, the she-cat stumbled into the pile of stones. Before she could find her footing, there was a hiss and a sleek dark green head darted forward, tongue flicking.