Spottedsky dodged and weaved through the trees, laughing as the wind blew through her whiskers. Elkheart raced after her, right on her paws, all the way from the hollow. Newfound energy fuelled her as she and her mate raced each other through the forest. She knew he was gaining on her, his night of sleep winning over her burst of adrenaline. Finally he pounced upon her, bowling her over, and they tumbled into a small clearing.

"Pinned you," he meowed matter-of-factly as he landed on top of her.

"Get off me! You're heavy!" She gasped the words as he pressed one of his paws into her stomach.

"Me? Heavy? You've cut me Spottedsky!" He stepped off her, feigning hurt as she scrambled up off the ground.

"Yeah. You might have to lay off the mice a bit," she teased, licking one spotted paw and drawing it over her ears.

"For a cat who's been looking after sick kits all night, you've got a bundle of energy and your wit is as sharp as anything," he replied, just as teasingly, giving his own tabby paw a lick.

"That's an understatement," she purred, "this is my first hunting session in 2 seasons! I can hardly imagine sleeping right now. Harewhisker is looking after Redkit and Lightningkit, and Petalfern said she'd make sure that Turtlekit would stay out of trouble, and they've never let me down before."

"Exactly, lets not stand here and chat, we came out to hunt, didn't we?"

"Mmhm!" She nodded in agreement, brightening and passing him. "I'll catch more than you!" She declared before stalking off into the bushes.

Almost as soon as they split up she could hear the heartbeat of a vole. She swivelled her ears toward the sound until she spotted the tiny creature. She pounced on it, dispatching it with a swift bite to the neck, feeling that long forgotten satisfaction of hunting once again. Returning back to the clearing, she hid the vole underneath a pile of leaves. Her luck must have been flourishing, because a pigeon flew down into the clearing, barely tail lengths in front of her, to peck at a seed on the ground. Great Starclan pigeons are stupid. She rolled her eyes and pounced once more, landing square on top of it and killing it instantly. She hid it next to her vole, and prowled back into the bushes.

At sunhigh she returned to the clearing with an additional crow and two mice to add to her stash. She felt for sure that she had, for the first time, lived up to her challenge against Elkheart. However, as she emerged from the bushes, all she saw was Elkheart sniffing in a pile of leaves with an overwhelming stench of fox in the air that she hadn't noticed before. Pigeon feathers and snapped bones, picked dry, were scattered around the clearing, making the ground look like something had dumped a load of bodies and left them for a million moons.

She dropped her prey, her mouth hanging open in shock as Elkheart turned to her, worry in his eyes. "We need to report this," he stated, picking up a rabbit and mouse he obviously caught.

"There's a fox in our territory?" Spottedsky's mind was racing through all the horrible possibilities, all of which involved something happening to her kits.

"It'll be alright, just grab your prey and hurry up," he mumbled around his own, but Spottedsky was pretty sure that was what he had said. So she did what he told her to do, she picked up her prey and ran after him.

"Together they entered the Thunderclan camp, dropping their freshkill on the pile before approaching their leader who was sitting with three other cats. Spottedsky overheard some of their conversation: "We have to tell the clan that snakerocks is unsafe. Springleap and I were patrolling over there before, the rocks are unstable."

"Ripplestar," Elkheart butted in, "sorry to interrupt."

"Yes Elkheart, what is it?" Ripplestar sighed. It was obvious that she was slightly annoyed at his intrusion but she piqued with interest and concern when he told her about the fox. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Leafcrackle," she turned to her deputy, "can you take Springleap, Elkheart and Bluestripe to hunt down the fox? Spottedsky, your anxious to get back to your kits, I know that look well. Go do so."

Spottedsky nodded to her leader as the cats around them moved off, "Thankyou Ripplestar," her formal sentence was followed by her padding swiftly toward the medicine den. She heard Ripplestar call a clan meeting behind her as she entered through the fern tunnel, presumably to tell the clan about the fox and snakerocks.

It was warm inside the den, and the fever radiated from her little ones. She made a beeline to them. When she found them sleeping peacefully in their nests she breathed a sigh of relief. She licked their heads in turn, Redkit letting out a small squeak in her sleep as she did so. "They're doing well," she heard Harewhisker speak behind her. She turned to see him curl his tail over his paws as he diverted his amber gaze from the kits to her green eyes.

"That's good," she sighed, "it's not a good feeling, having sick kits."

"I can only imagine. Do you know what the meeting is about?" He asked softly.

"There's a fox in the territory and snakerocks is unstable. It's just a warning, Ripplestar has sent out a patrol to get rid of it." He nodded in understanding. "Is Turtlekit with Petalfern?" Spottedsky asked.

"She was in here a little while ago actually. She told me Yewleaf was complaining about his aching joints again, so I let her take some poppy seeds to him. They'll all be apprenticed soon so I thought it would be a good idea to get her used to some apprentice tasks."

Spottedsky purred in pride at her daughter, "Anything to keep her occupied," she meowed quietly, "I'll go and find her. Thanks so much Harewhisker."

"Anything for you, sister." He turned back to his herbs as Spottedsky stroked her tail over her kits before exiting the den.

By the time she exited, the clan meeting had ended, so she headed to the elder's den. "Turtlekit? Did you have fun while-" She started talking before she saw what was inside, or rather lack of thus. Petalfern and Yewleaf were asleep, but Turtlekit was not in there. Anxiety prickled in her pelt and she immediately went to Petalfern and nudged the elder awake.

"Wha-?" The dazed elder mumbled in sleepy confusion.

"Where is Turtlekit?" Spottedsky asked as calmly as she could.

I thought she was with you?" The old she-cat blinked groggily. "She gave me this mouse, it was so delicious, I ate it and felt really sleepy afterwards. She told me you were back and she was going to greet you, and then I fell asleep."

Spottedsky stared in confusion at the elder for a second, not quite understanding, when it suddenly clicked. She turned to Yewleaf and shook him awake. This time, the elder was not groggy when he awoke. "What'a'ya doing!? Get off o' me!" Yewleaf battered her away with only half-sheathed claws.

"Did Turtlekit give you any poppy seeds for your aching joints?" Spottedsky demanded.

"My aching... What? No. I've never felt better today."

Did her daughter seriously just drug an elder?! She backed out of the den without another word, Yewleaf calling after her in annoyance.

She went straight to Ripplestar, the she-cat looked up as she approached. She had been talking to Nightkit, her sister's only kit. "Ripplestar, sorry to interrupt you again, but have you seen Turtlekit?"

"Uh... No. Is she missing?"

"Yes, I can't find her anywhere, I have no idea where she's gone." That was only partially true, she had sneaking suspicions, none of which were good. All the while however, Nightkit was shuffling her paws uncomfortably and looking at the ground. At least you can always count on kits and their brutal honestly. "Nightkit... Do you know?" She soothed the kit with a gentle voice, despite the worry that gnawed in her stomach.

"Yes." She had such a small voice, she could hardly be heard.

Ripplestar leaned toward her, asking softly, "can you tell us where she is?"

"Yes. She went that way. I saw her, she snuck out at sunhigh."

"Oh no... She's going to get eaten by that fox!" Spottedsky legs nearly gave way. They must have only just missed each other. She ran toward the bracken entrance without another word. She began climbing the ravine when Ripplestar caught up to her.

"I'm going to help you find her!" Ripplestar called up, following her and jumping from rock to rock.

As soon as they reached the top Spottedsky caught Turtlekit's scent. She had definitely come this way. She raced along the scent trail, Ripplestar following in her pawsteps. Turtlekit had no idea where she was going, her scent trail ran in circles, but the kit had had a relatively large head start and Spottedsky realised that they were heading in the general direction of snakerocks. Of course. Of course Turtlekit would just happen to go there of all places! Spottedsky ran faster, her heart thumping so loudly she was sure starclan could hear it.

It was inevitable now, they were treelengths from snakerocks and Spottedsky heard wailing.

And smelled fox.

It drowned out the scent of her daughter, and very soon so did snarling drown out the sound of wailing. She and Ripplestar burst from the tree-line at the very same time as the fox hunting party did. They were both in the right place after all.

Turtlekit was backed under a huge rock, the fox advancing on her slowly. The painting of fear on her daughter's face caused Spottedsky's heart to stop in her chest and she felt like throwing up. Faintly, she heard Ripplestar's call. "Do not move! Look at the rock!"

She did so. Grit showered onto the fox's pelt as the rock slowly inched its way down a shallow slope. Yet the fox was so close to her daughter. Without thought, fear for her daughter her only driving force, Spottedsky ran forward.

Ripplestar tried to grab her tail but she was too late. She raced past the fox and grabbed her daughter by the scruff and threw her as far as she could away from the rock and away from the fox.

"Get out of there Spottedsky!" Elkheart's frantic yowl was the last thing she heard.

It was so full of pain.

So full of fear.

The fox raced forward with a snarl, and then, just before she felt only a split second of excruciating pain, like all the bones in her body broke at once, and like her skin had been mauled by a thousand dogs, she saw it crushed before her. Then, she felt nothing.

But she had saved her clan, and she had saved her daughter.