Leafshade's Revenge

Chapter Twelve

The sky in the Dark Forest was almost always the same: gray or black, with no stars and no moon. It was hard to tell how much time passed, and Leafshade wondered every day when her beautiful kits—now apprentices—would be made warriors. With other alert apprentices in the same den as them, it was a lot harder to visit them and talk without waking the others.

She stretched, her fur brushing Flamestripe's. He stirred for a moment, yawning, and then drifted back to sleep, pressing against her. She blinked up at the sky. Splotchpaw, I wish you were here with me. I did everything I could to help reveal your death...but Skystar ruined it. What did he have against us?

Recently she learned of her father's sudden death. Skystar had told BirchClan that he had been attacked by a badger, but she knew better. He targeted Splotchpaw. Then he made me attack him, so he could call me a traitor and have the others kill me. And now he's killed Darkfang. She gulped. And Cloud and Bramble. She was tense with anger. And I can't do anything about it.

No one loved her. No one now, except her kits and Flamestripe. Even Thornfrost, who had been her best friend, who had cared for her when she was at her lowest, who had done his best as father while she was alive...he didn't love her. Maybe he never had.

I'll never have kits again. It was a strange thought. Strange in that she had never wanted them in the first place, and that of all the things she could be thinking of, she thought of having more kits. She glanced at Flamestripe. If only he was there when I was alive...in my same clan. But he was from MistClan, and he was alive before I was an apprentice. We would never have met each other, or been able to be mates. It would've been against the warrior code.

The sky was a pale gray, and dark clouds drifted through the cold sky. She hoisted herself onto her paws, stretching and giving her fur a few good licks. Flamestripe looked up from the spot where he was curled up, and he got up, standing beside her. "I visited the clans while you were sleeping yesterday," he told her in a sleepy mew. His gaze was unfocused and tired. "BreezeClan and StreamClan are allying and thinking about attacking MistClan. A queen from BirchClan just had her kits...and I think Bluestar of BreezeClan died. Their new leader is Moonstar."

They did reports like this, every so often, to keep themselves up to date with everything happening in the clans. Leafshade's eyes glowed in the dark. "A BirchClan queen had her kits," she repeated slowly. Waspsting.

+++

Leafshade looked side to side, then dashed over to Tawnypaw who was sitting by the edge of the BirchClan camp eating a shrew. Her daughter looked up, eyes lighting up excitedly. "Where is Willowpaw and Nightpaw?" she whispered, her low voice. Leafshade had found that Brightpaw and Wolfpaw were just too good to do anything Leafshade wanted...so she could only trust Willowpaw, Nightpaw, and Tawnypaw to get the job done.

Tawnypaw peeked over Leafshade's shoulder, and then flicked her tail towards Nightpaw and Willowpaw, who were coming back from a patrol of some sort. They hurried over, dropping pieces of prey into a pile and then coming over to join them. Leafshade turned and led them deeper into the forest, where they wouldn't have to worry about other cats seeing them talking to "no one".

When they were deeper into the forest, Leafshade stopped and looked at them seriously. "Has Waspsting had her kits yet?" she asked, her voice rough. She sat down, curling her tail over her paws and sniffing.

"Yes," Tawnypaw replied ruefully. "Two toms and a she-kit." Her gaze hardened, and her claws slid out. Good. She hates them. This is just what I need.

Nightpaw nodded. "She calls them Honeykit, Littlekit, and Thornkit. After Thornfrost." He frowned, tensing up. His tail flicked back and forth.

Leafshade nodded. "Ok," she mewed. "I need you to do something important for me. It determines the future and what will happen to you...after death."

Tawnypaw nodded. "Anything, Leafshade."

Leafshade went on, her voice quiet and serious. "I need you three each to kill one of her kits." As hurt and angry as they were with Thornfrost, and as much as they disliked Waspsting and her kits, they all flinched, glancing at each other nervously. Leafshade growled. "If you don't, you will never, ever see me again. At death, you would join StarClan, the enemy to my new home." She paused, breathing in a ragged breath. "Will you do this for me?"

Tawnypaw nodded, still looking unsure. "Y-yes, mother. Of course. All I want to do is be with you." She swallowed, trying to look more confident and failing.

Nightpaw and Willowpaw nodded too. "But how do we kill them without her noticing?" Willowpaw asked, her tail twitching nervously. Her flame-colored pelt shone in the sunlight.

Leafshade narrowed her eyes. "Find a way." She let herself fade, erasing any thoughts of her kits, or of BirchClan, before letting herself return to the Dark Forest, where Flamestripe was waiting for her patiently by the pool.

He blinked at her. "Your kits are something to be proud of," he told her. "I would be honored if I could call them my own." His face was thoughtful, wanting. The tip of his tail twitched. "You deserve more than what Thornfrost brought you."

Leafshade growled. "He is nothing to me now," she told him icily.

Flamestripe nodded. "When his kits die, he will feel the pain you've felt many times over. And he can do nothing." The thought of that, the evil, she relished it. Vengeance. I'll finally get it...and he will feel the pain I've gone through. All of BirchClan will. They should've known better than to let me die...and now they will pay.

She sighed, her tail twining with his. "I wish things could have been different," she murmured in his ear. "I would've killed anyone to start over, to have been in your clan and to have had kits with you." I would. My life was so wrong...is so wrong. I should never have had to go through any of this.

Flamestripe looked at her. "Me too."