Chapter Text
“Mapleshade!” Stormstar called. How could such a simple promise cause so many problems? Willowbreeze was dead. So was Rainflower and Hailstar. Oakheart had betrayed his Clan and Blueflower had been forced to give up her children. Stone and Misty didn’t even know their real parents. His promise had been a rock thrown into the river, creating never ending waves that toppled over tiny trees.
The Dark Forest surrounded him, the trees looming up like giants.
“Mapleshade!” he called again. He was ending this once and for all.
“Stormstar.” Mapleshade’s voice ooze like poisoned honey.
Rage scorched through him. He jumped on her, wrapping his hands around her throat.
She wrestled away from him, pleasure lighting up her eyes. “You can’t beat me.” She darted forward and slammed her fist into his jaw.
He stumbled back, falling onto the ground. He dove away just in time to avoid another blow. He grabbed her dappled cloak and threw her backward. She was up again in a split second, throwing herself at him. Stormstar ducked beneath her, knocking out her legs. Then he turned and dove on her, shoving her face into the mud.
She pushed up with so much strength it shocked him. He staggered away and suddenly she was on top.
“Kill me!” he shouted. “It’s not like I have anything to live for.”
Mapleshade laughed. “Oh, I don’t think I will. Keeping you alive will be much sweeter revenge.”
“Revenge?” Stormstar echoed. “What did I do to you?”
Mapleshade stared at him, her eyes flaming. “You were always destined to become leader of RiverClan. It had nothing to do with me. Your path was marked by the stars thousands of years before I was even born. But only fools care about destiny. I wanted to be leader of ThunderClan! But they banished me when I had children with a RiverClan man. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Oakheart isn’t the first RiverClan fool led astray by ThunderClan beauty. And I’ll make sure he’s not the last!”
As she pushed him into the mud, Stormstar stared at her. “You influenced Oakheart to be with Blueflower?”
“That’s right!” Mapleshade grinned crookedly. “Oh, it was hard, but I made sure they crossed each other’s paths. I made sure they made the same mistakes I made all those years ago. I wanted Blueflower to be cast out, just as I had, but she’s smarter than I’d given her credit for. She chose to give up her children, stopping both my plans and Silverhawk’s by becoming deputy. I wanted ThunderClan to banish her, so her children would die just as mine had. When I left ThunderClan, I tried to take my triplets across the river so they could be with their father, but a flash flood came and drowned them!”
Stormstar tried to push her off.
“Then their father blamed me! RiverClan casted me out as well. Can you imagine how much that hurt? I was rejected twice! All I did was fall in love. But I made sure everyone who’d wronged me paid. I killed a healer, for StarClan’s sake! That’s how I ended up here. I earned my place in the Dark Forest. But the worst part is that the father of my children had taken a wife in RiverClan! After he’d promised he’d loved me and only me. Then, they had a daughter, and that daughter had a son. Do you know what his name was?”
Stormstar was still trying to keep up with her story.
“Your precious father, Shellheart.” Her hands were trembling. “Do you understand now? Do you see why I hurt you and your brother?”
“No!” Stormstar growled. “I’m sorry if my ancestor hurt you, but this has nothing to do with me!”
“You fool!” she snapped. “My great grandson should be leader of RiverClan, not you! If ThunderClan hadn’t driven me across the river, my children wouldn’t have died. If RiverClan hadn’t rejected me, maybe Shellheart would be my grandson. Everyone was out to get me! Everyone wanted me to suffer, just because I didn’t love who they’d wanted me to love! Then you came alone, destined for greatness, when you should never have been born!” She shoved off of him. “I wanted to test your loyalty. I wanted to see if you were weak and disloyal, just like Appledusk. I wanted to see if you’d betray me. And you were! With the power of your promise, I took everything from you, just as everything had been taken from me! Your mother, your brother, your wife. Now, I’ll take your pretty little daughter.”
“If you touch her, I will spread your guts through the Dark Forest!” Stormstar was seething with anger. “Do you hear me, Mapleshade? I’ll kill you!”
He blinked his eyes open, gasping for air. He was back in his hut, laying in his bed.
“Silver!” He stood up and raced out of his hut toward the nursery. Sunfish and the children had moved back into the nursery now that the sickness had been cleared away.
Sunfish was asleep with Grass and Silver at her sides. They curled against her. Every day, Silver had been asking about her mother, wondering where they’d taken her and when she’d been back. They’d tried to explain that she wasn’t coming back, but she never seemed to believe them.
Stormstar sat down carefully and nudged Silver closer to him.
The tiny girl yawned, blinking open her blue eyes. “Daddy?” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, crawling into his lap. “Is mama back yet?”
Stormstar winced. “No, dear. Not yet. But I’m here. I’m all you need.”
“Okay.” She leaned her head against his chest, closing her eyes. “Why are you here?”
“I needed to see you,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just in case, dear.” Stormstar ran his fingers through her dark hair. Willowbreeze had once been this small, marching around the nursery with her sister, asking him to come play with them. “I’ll always be here to protect you, Silver. You know that, don’t you? If anything happens, you can always come to me.”
“Do you promise?” Silver yawned.
“I promise.” Stormstar’s heart ached. This was the one promise he’d keep, no matter how much it hurt him.