Mapleshade's Loyalty (Warriors Short Story)

Chapter 3

Mapleshade woke to someone brushing through the entrance. Mapleshade looked up and spotted Appledusk's pale ginger face peering at her, holding a vole. When he saw she was awake he purred. "I brought you forest prey, you'd probably prefer that rather than fish..." his tail swished in awkwardness.

"It's fine," purred Mapleshade, then paused. "Actually, I'd prefer if you brought me a fish. Just to get used to it." Appledusk's eyes brightened, and he hurried off. Mapleshade purred. Looking down at her sleeping kits, she saw that all of them looked healthy and content, showing no signs of yesterday's struggle. Mapleshade sighed in relief. A rustle in at the entrance distracted her. She expected Appledusk, coming back with the fish, but instead it was Reedshine. Oh, right. Mapleshade thought, disappointed. She's gonna be sharing my den. A low growl came from her throat. The other queen stopped and backed to the other corner of the den, obviously taking Mapleshade's threat seriously. A few moments later Appledusk returned. He ignored Reedshine, instead turning to Mapleshade. "Here's your fish." He purred, placing a scaly, wet creature on the den floor. Mapleshade forced herself not to cringe and sniffed it cautiously. To her surprise, the taste was not as bad as she anticipated and without much difficulty the hungry queen was gulping down her meal enthusiastically.
"Do you like it?" Asked Appledusk hopefully.
"Not bad," concluded Mapleshade.
The whole while they were conversing, Reedshine was staring at her with something like greed. When Appledusk finally left, her gaze switched to Mapleshade's kits. Mapleshade stiffened, and she drew the three furballs closer to her, all the while staring at Reedshine furiously. The red queen snorted, then promptly turned her back.

When Mapleshade woke the second time, predawn light was filtering into the woven reed den. Patchkit stirred before yawning and getting up, disturbing his siblings. Petalkit blinked open wide blue eyes and sniffed, blinking twice more before standing up. Larchkit rolled onto his back and mewed happily. Patchkit turned his gaze to his mother.

"Can we go play outside?" He squeaked. Mapleshade heaved herself to her paws.

"Of course, dear," Patchkit scrambled out of the den happily, with his two siblings following. Mapleshade watched them, an amused gleam in her eyes, before following her three kits. When she was outside, the three littermates were tussling while Splashfoot, on watch next to the den, watched blankly, though Mapleshade swore she saw a hint of affection in his gaze as he stared at the kits. Mapleshade glanced around for a second, watching as warriors slowly emerged from their woven reed den. Appledusk, who had just emerged, yawning, into the clearing, trotted towards her.

"Hey, Mapleshade. I thought we could go for a walk near the river," He said when he got close enough for her to hear him. Mapleshade glanced at her kits. "They'll be fine with Splashfoot for a while," he added.

"Ok, sure." I nodded. "Kits, I'm going out for a bit, be good!" Patchkit turned to her with a small nod before resuming to play with his littermates. Mapleshade headed out with Appledusk at her side.

Once they reached the river, Appledusk sat down, watching the ripples of the now less-swollen boundary with ThunderClan.

"So, how's life in RiverClan?" He asked after a moment. Mapleshade paused.

"Better than I thought it would be," She admitted, "It is very pleasant here, maybe even better than ThunderClan, I dare say." Appledusk purred.

"I hoped it would be so." his tail rose in happiness.