Maple's Tale: The Bird's Flight

Maple stared at Icetail's gray eyes as they stared blankly into the distance. Suddenly she noticed the scar acrossed his eyes. "What happened?" She yowled out, her voice full of worry. "Momma, who is that?" Leaf gazed up at the tom, her blue eyes shining. "Maple, are those your kits?" Maple nodded, blushing as she realized he couldn't see her. "Yes. Now I know what you mean about kits being lots of work." Olive bristled standing proudly between the two. "If anything, I behave perfectly." Sparrow purred, crouching down a small ways from his sister. "Sure you do. You have to be the worst of us all!" Sparrow quickly pounced, pinning his sister down underneath his surprisingly large weight. Leaf quickly leaped on top of both of them as the three tumbled around in the middle of the temple. Icetail purred, his eyes shining with joy as he heard the kits playing. "I better continue setting up the games. I hope to see you there." Icetail bounded off, stopping behind the others before they all bounded away together. Maple sighed, turning back to her kits. "You all wait with Flake. I'll be back soon." The kits payed her no attention as they fought over who would carve the best pumpkin.

Maple sat down next to Icetail, rubbing against the tom whilst letting out a soft purr. Suddenly she heard a cat hiss behind them. "Good to see that you can get over me so quickly!" Maple leaped to her paws, jolting around to see Crow, his eyes blazing with fury. Icetail turned his head towards Maple, his blind eyes full of confusion. "What's he talking about? I thought he was a medicine cat." Maple sighed, not wanting to explain the difference between the clan healers and the colony healers. "We even have kits, why won't you just take me back?" The tom dug his claws into the earth, his tail lashing with fury. "They're not your kits!" Crow padded around them, his paw steps strangely loud. "They have to be my kits, you don't know what you're talking about!" The Tom quickly leaped at Maple, clawing at her belly. Maple tried to kick him off, but something made him heavier than she could have ever imagined. Icetail leaped at Crow, his claws gashing Crow's side. Maple noticed a faint black figure standing beside them, holding Crow steady as he attacked. Maple finnaly recognized the creature she had heard from tales so many times. This was Noir. She yowled out in fury, clawing at Crow's belly. The tom's eyes widened with shock as he stumbled backwards, blood dripping from the large wounds on his belly.

The cats stared in shock at Maple, some of them bristled with fear and anger. Maple sighed, struggling to her paws. "Sparrow, come here!" The young tom bolted towards her, his eyes shining with joy. "Can you please patch up Crow? He needs it." Sparrow's eyes filled with disappointment as he stalked over towards the wounded cat. Maple groaned as pain burned in her stomach. She looked down to see a large wound in her belly. She sighed, licking the wound clean, tangling up her fur so it wouldn't be noticeable.

Maple padded back over beside Icetail, staring at the pumpkin carving contest as she waited for them to start back up. Sparrow padded back to his pumpkin. As he sat down, Coco yowled out for them to continue. She watched her kits as they clawed away at their pumpkins, wondering who to cheer for.