“Then we’ll gather as much information as we can and report back to Firestar. Find somewhere to hide where you can see the mouth of the set.”
Squirrelflight returned to her vantage point in the clump of fern. The badger cubs were still scuffling in front of the pile of earth. The sun climbed higher, and Squirrelflight would have dozed off if hunger hadn’t gnawed at her belly. The squirrel she had shared with Ashfur seemed a long time ago, and she thought longingly of the heap of fresh-kill left under the oak tree.
Her jaws gaped in a yawn, and she clamped them shut again as an even stronger reek of badger flooded into her mouth. The undergrowth on the far side of the clearing rustled briefly before the ferns parted to reveal a powerful, broad-shouldered body and a long muzzle with a white stripe down the middle. The female badger lumbered into the clearing and her three cubs scampered up to her. She dropped a mouthful of beetles onto the ground and the cubs gulped them up with high-pitched cries of joy.
Brambleclaw sprang on top of the boulder and let out a challenging yowl. The female badger’s head shot up and she roared in defiance, showing two rows of sharp yellow teeth.
Brambleclaw yowled again. “Attack!” He leapt from the boulder, landing among the cubs who scurried out of the way, yelping with fear. They huddled together in the mouth of the set, staring at the warrior with wide, scared eyes.
Ashfur hurtled out of his hiding place further around the clearing, with Rainwhisker hard on his paws. Squirrelflight pelted forward to stand beside Brambleclaw. “Get out!” she hissed at the badgers, even though she knew they wouldn’t understand what she was saying. “This is our territory!”
Brambleclaw lashed at the badger’s muzzle with both forepaws. She reared backward, swiping at him with massive claws, but Brambleclaw dodged the blow.
Squirrelflight ran forward until she was close enough to rake her claws down the badger’s side; blood welled out of the clawmarks and she shook her paw fiercely to dislodge the trapped black fur. She ducked to avoid the snapping jaws, then darted back just as Ashfur dashed in from the other side. The badger swung her head from side to side as if she couldn’t decide which swift-moving target to attack first.
This is easy! Squirrelflight thought. She’s too slow and clumsy!
She let out a screech of alarm as a massive white-furred paw slammed down less than a mouse-length away from her haunches. If it had landed on her it would have snapped her spine. Startled and shaking, she rolled out of range in a tangle of paws and tail. She wanted to run all the way back to the camp, but she knew they couldn’t give up now. This ferocious creature could not be allowed to make a home in their territory, or no cat would be safe, from the youngest kits to the most battle-hardy warriors.
She scrambled to her feet in time to see Brambleclaw swipe his claws down the badger’s shoulder. Leaping up, he tried to fasten his teeth in her throat, but the badger shook him off. He flew through the air, landed with a loud thump, and lay motionless.
Squirrelflight raced to his side, her belly churning in fear. But before she reached him, he shook his head as if he were coming out of deep water, then he staggered to his paws. “I’m OK,” he rasped.
Squirrelflight veered away to meet the badger head-on. Rearing up on her hindlegs, she clawed her enemy’s nose while her other paw slashed for the tiny bright eyes. Ashfur battered at the creature’s haunches, angling his body to make room for Brambleclaw, who was biting down on the badger’s hindpaw. Rainwhisker had his front paws hooked in the badger’s rough pelt while his teeth clamped down on her ear.
The badger had had enough. Shaking off Brambleclaw and Rainwhisker, she let out a roar of fury and defeat and turned tail. Lumbering across to the mouth of the foxhole, she nudged her cubs to their paws and herded them in front of her as they fled the clearing.
“And don’t come back!” Ashfur yowled.
The badger wouldn’t understand his words, but the meaning was plain enough. All four cats stood shoulder to shoulder while the badger’s roars and the high-pitched cries of the cubs faded away through the trees.
“Well fought, all of you,” Brambleclaw panted. “Let’s hope that’s the last we see of them.”
“And that there aren’t any more,” Ashfur commented.
Brambleclaw nodded. “We’ll fill in the hole and keep watch to make sure they don’t come back.”
“What? Now?” Squirrelflight protested. “I’m worn out, and my belly’s yowling!”
“No, not now. We’ll go back to camp and get a couple of other warriors to deal with the set. The regular patrols can keep an eye on it after that.”
“Thank StarClan!” Squirrelflight sighed. “Let’s go and collect that fresh-kill.”
The four cats limped back through the forest. Squirrelflight felt the sting of new wounds on top of her scratches from the battle against Mudclaw. “I won’t have any fur left at this rate,” she muttered.
Ashfur padded to her side and drew his tongue gently across a clawmark on her shoulder. “You fought well,” he murmured.
“So did you.” Squirrelflight could see how battered he was, with blood seeping from a patch on his hindquarters where the fur had been clawed off. She touched her nose to his ear. “I bet that badger wishes she’d never set foot on our territory!” she mewed.
She pictured the huge creature crashing through the undergrowth with her cubs stumbling along behind. For a few heartbeats she shared their fear, and a pang of sympathy pierced her. She knew what it felt like to lose your home, and have to travel far to find a new one.
I hope she finds somewhere safe for her cubs, Squirrelflight thought. But a long, long way from ThunderClan.
“Leafpool! Leafpool, what’s the matter with you? That’s the third time I’ve called your name.”
The young medicine cat jumped. “Sorry, Cinderpelt.”
The grey she-cat bent her head to sniff at the seeds Leafpool was wrapping in a leaf. “What have you got here?”
“Poppy seed.”
Cinderpelt sighed. “No, it’s not. It’s nettle seed. Honestly, Leafpool, what’s the matter with you today?”
Leafpool stared down at the leaf. Cinderpelt had asked her to take some poppy seed to Firestar to soothe the pain in his wrenched shoulder. She had no idea how she had taken the wrong herb from the store inside Cinderpelt’s den, but the green, spiny seeds on the leaf in front of her were definitely nettle. They might have helped if Firestar had eaten something poisonous, but they wouldn’t do anything to help his shoulder.
“I’m really sorry, Cinderpelt.”
“I should think so. This morning I caught you trying to put yarrow on Mousefur’s ticks instead of mouse bile.” Cinderpelt’s tone softened. “Is everything all right, Leafpool? Were you hurt when those ShadowClan warriors chased you?”
Leafpool shook her head. “No … no, I’m fine.”
Her thoughts flew back to the night of the battle, when two ShadowClan warriors had chased her into the undergrowth at the top of the hollow, and plunged over the cliff to their deaths. Leafpool had almost fallen with them, her paws slipping on the rock as she tried to haul herself up. She could still feel the firm grasp on her scruff that had hauled her to safety, still see the intense gaze of her WindClan rescuer as he confessed that he loved her. Crowfeather! Every hair on her pelt tingled.
“Leafpool, you’re doing it again!”
Shaking her head to clear it, Leafpool carried the leaf back into Cinderpelt’s