Tear the Trees Apart: Mapleshade's Vengeance

Chapter 7: The Moonstone

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 Darkfrost's body after she had finished with that unworthy deputy. Darkfrost would bleed a river of blood, every drop spilled for Birchface...

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. Darkfrost was here! Mapleshade unsheathed her claws and let them scratch against the stone. She stayed very still, hardly breathing, as Darkfrost climbed the slope toward her. Mapleshade tensed her hindquarters, ready to leap down onto the RiverClan cat, but then she paused. Two more shapes appeared out of the darkness: Cloudberry and Echosnout. The three began speaking in low, soft tones. Mapleshade bit her tongue to keep herself from yelling at the healers to leave. If she attacked Darkfrost out here, she would be seen by the healers. And where was the satisfaction in a simple ambush? As she listened, she heard Darkfrost tell the healers to wait outside. Mapleshade felt a smile creep onto her face. She should follow Darkfrost down to the Moonstone and tackle her there, at the source of her precious Warrior Code.

Cloudberry and Echosnout sat down, silently watching over the landscape they'd just traverced. Turning away from them, 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 Birchface being pushed into the river echoed in her ears and she slid soundlessly off the boulder just a heartbeat before Darkfrost padded past. Mapleshade could hear the deputy breathing heavily after the climb. Mapleshade waited until Darkfrost vanished into the gaping maw of Mothermouth before slipping out and trotting after the black cat.

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 Darkfrost must have heard something because she stopped, invisible in the dark ahead of Mapleshade, and called out. "Who's there? Cloudberry? I told you I want to be alone."

Mapleshade froze, convinced that her heart was thudding loud enough for the deputy to hear. But after a moment Darkfrost carried on, her paw steps the softest whisper in the silence. Faint gray light appeared ahead, silhouetting the deputy'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. Darkfrost knelt in front of it, her head bowed.

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

"Mapleshade!" Darkfrost choked. "What are you doing here?"

Mapleshade let her claws sink into the fur around Darkfrost's throat. "Avenging the death of Birchface," she snarled. "If I could kill you three times over, I would!" She knew she had nothing to say to the deputy. Nothing would bring back her love. But Darkfrost simply did not deserve to live when Birchface was dead. She bit down on Darkfrost's neck and the black cat went limp beneath her.

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

"Great StarClan!" she heard Cloudberry hiss. "Darkfrost! What happened?"

There was a grunt from Cloudberry's companion—peeking around the edge of the Moonstone, Mapleshade saw Echosnout gently touch Darkfrost's body. Echosnout looked back at Cloudberry and shook her head slowly.

"The wrath of StarClan, I suppose," meowed Echosnout coldly. "Come on, help me get her back to the surface."

Mapleshade listened to the sound of them dragging Darkfrost 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 healers would return to investigate, but they did not come back to the cave. Mapleshade figured they had returned to their Clan 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 Darkfrost's scent. Rather than carry her all the way back to the forest, her healers had decided to bury her here, marking her final nest with a careful mountain of rocks.

Mapleshade curled her lip. What memorial was there to Birchface? There was none! 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 Darkfrost'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 Birchface!

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.

An image drifted into her mind of a pale brown cat sitting among ferns, holding a kit in its mouth, and looking out at a churning black river as it swept Mapleshade away. Frecklenose! She had stolen Mapleshade's kits. Without her, Mapleshade would still have been in ThunderClan!

Frecklenose needed to pay, just as Darkfrost had.

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