Hailclaw lifted her muzzle to scent the air, tasting the faint scent of fox. Hesitating, she pulled to a halt and her apprentice nearly ran into her.

"Sorry!" he gasped, before eyeing her questioningly. "What's wrong?"

The grey warrior opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly Kestrelpaw's voice interrupted her from behind.

"Mintcloud and Dawnfur aren't here!" he exclaimed and Hailclaw immediately turned, pushing her way down the line until she reached the rear.

She found the ThunderClan apprentice was right and tasting the air, she realised they hadn't been following for quite some time. Hissing with frustration, she waved her tail, indicating for the patrol to follow her as she retraced their tracks.

"We don't have time for this," she growled under her breath, only Nettlepaw hearing her.

They reached the clearing they had passed and as Hailclaw crossed the open space, she pricked up her ears to hear Dawnfur's mew in the distance. She strained her ears, but the she-cat was still too far away to be heard clearly. Hailclaw resumed walking and just as she was about to push her way back into the undergrowth, a shriek split the air. Whirling around, Hailclaw's fur rose and instantly recognised Breezepaw's voice. She was about to reprimand the she-cat for the noise, when she spotted a flash of thick ginger fur. Fox! Before she could process what she saw, the canine lunged for the apprentice, sinking its fangs into her front leg, eliciting another yowl from her, this time laced with pain as much as fear.

Without thinking, Hailclaw let out a furious screech and launched herself at the fox, bowling into its flank and forcing it away from the apprentice. She sank her teeth into its throat, but all she got was a mouthful of fur. Instead, she pushed her shoulder into the fox, bunching her thick muscles to throw the fox. The fox yelped and skidded away from the group of cats, clearly surprised by her burst of strength. Hailclaw planted her body between the fox and the cats.

"Is Breezepaw alright?" she demanded without taking her eyes off the fox.

A low moan came from behind. "She's bleeding heavily," she heard Whisperheart reply fretfully.

"We need to get her to Mintcloud!" she said sharply. "Kestrelpaw, go find her."

But before the tabby apprentice could leave the clearing, two shadows suddenly emerged from behind the first fox; it was two more foxes. Hailclaw felt her heart sink, her breath coming out in short and harsh intervals. StarClan help us! She pleaded, but she couldn't let her fear show. Taking a step forward, she threw her head up boldly, snarling at the foxes. She heard a rustle from behind and a gasp.

"Foxes!" gasped Dawnfur with shock. "Oh, Breezepaw!"

"Is Mintcloud with you?" asked Whisperheart, his voice pleading. Another rustle came from behind, signalling the medicine cat's arrival.

"What's going on?" she gasped in shock, just has one of the three foxes launched itself at Hailclaw.

She immediately dropped into a roll, snagging her paws around the fox's neck and bringing its body down with her. She used her entire weight to drag the fox to the ground and just as they hit the ground, Hailclaw rolled again, this time away from the fox. She quickly jumped to her paws and pounced, swinging her unsheathed claws down and swiping them across the fox's nose. It yelped with pain and struggled to roll back onto its feet, but Moonflight and Nettlepaw were already upon it.

Hailclaw immediately turned her attention to the other two foxes, which were circling Dawnfur and Kestrelpaw. One was eyeing Breezepaw and Mintcloud; it had clearly realised they were the easiest prey. Mintcloud was crouching next to the apprentice, her green eyes filled with fear. She grabbed at a nearby fern and pressing it desperately into her shoulder, but blood seeped through the fronds.

Hailclaw dashed across the clearing and let out a fury-filled yowl. She leaped into the air, landing onto the back of the fox eyeing the two she-cats. Meanwhile, Dawnfur and Kestrelpaw separated and launched themselves at the other fox from two different directions. Hailclaw raked her hind legs down the fox's back, digging her front claws into its pelt to keep it from flinging her off.

"Go help Dawnfur," she heard Mintcloud shout at Whisperheart. "Kestrelpaw! Let Whisperheart take over and come help me!"

Whisperheart glanced at Breezepaw, hesitating. The apprentice was losing consciousness, her breath coming out shallow. His face twisted in grief, before turning and hurling himself at the fox. He raked his claws down its face while Kestrelpaw ducked away and raced to join Mintcloud. Hailclaw hissed as the fox she fought suddenly rolled over, pressing her into the ground. She released her hold on the fox's pelt, scrabbling to get out from underneath it when she felt its fangs sink into her hind leg. Screeching, she wretched her leg free and ignoring the flaring pain, she twisted around to drive her claws at the fox's face, managing to catch its eye. It yowled and blinded by its own blood, it missed when it tried to snap its jaws at Hailclaw again.

She dodged to one side, trying to keep on the fox's blind side. Her leg burned and her vision was turning red with rage. Pushing off from her good leg, she struck both her paws out, clinging onto the side of the fox's neck as she plunged her fangs into its ear. Ignoring its pained shriek, she clung on as tight as she could. The fox tried to turn to snap its jaws at her, but she quickly released her hold, making sure to tear a chunk from its ear to remember her by. Darting around again, Hailclaw raked her claws over its muzzle, hissing spitefully and it was with this parting wound did the fox turn tail and flee towards the line of trees. She watched it retreat, panting, before whirling around to help the others.

Whisperheart and Dawnfur were flitting back and forth and around their fox, battering it with bloodied claws and nipping its hind legs. They worked in surprising harmony and Hailclaw realised the WindClan warrior was shouting orders in between attacks.

"Aim for its shoulder! Now retreat and circle around!"

She allowed a moment to admire the tom's precision and calmness in the heat of battle before spinning around to where Moonflight and Nettlepaw were clawing the smallest fox. With a final powerful strike from Moonflight, it turned tail and raced after Hailclaw's fox. Realising it was now alone, Whisperheart and Dawnfur's fox quickly followed suit, and the cats yowled jeers as the foxes bounded away.

"It's over," gasped Dawnfur, her breath coming out in heaves.

Whisperheart immediately raced over to where Mintcloud was dressing Breezepaw's wound. Kestrelpaw stood next to her, his mouth full of cobwebs.

"Will she be okay?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," said Breezepaw weakly, rousing from her unconscious state. But her pale green eyes were glazed over and her head flopped back down as though the few words she had spoken had drained her of her remaining energy.

Hailclaw crept forward cautiously; she was shocked to see how much damage the fox had managed to do. The apprentice's entire foreleg was drenched in blood and a wide gash ran from her shoulder to mid-way down her leg. Mintcloud had wrapped her leg in cobwebs, but they had become soaked quickly and a pile of bloody discarded cobwebs now lay next to her.

"Hush," hissed Mintcloud, before turning to glance at the group. Her green eyes were now narrowed, her earlier fear now replaced with determination and concentration. "Anyone else hurt?"

Hailclaw hid her leg hastily, but Moonflight had already spotted her wound. "Hailclaw has a pretty nasty bite," he said.

"It's nothing," she growled in response, glaring at the tom. "It can wait until Breezepaw is looked after. We'll rest here for the day. Those foxes won't be coming back."

"Not after the beating we gave them," crowed Nettlepaw proudly. His ear was bleeding, but his green eyes were glowing from the battle and given by the way he turned his head to show off his wound, he was clearly proud of it. "Hailclaw was amazing! Taking on a fox single pawed!"

Hailclaw flicked her ear at her apprentice, warmth from his admiration spreading from her chest. "You did well too," she said with a purr, flicking her tail to his shoulder. "You'll make a very capable warrior."

Her younger brother dipped his head with thanks. Mintcloud straightened from her examination of Breezepaw. "I've done all that I can for now," she announced and padded straight for Hailclaw. "Now let me see that leg."

"The others were wounded too," protested Hailclaw, stepping away and unwittingly putting weight onto her wounded leg. She let out a sharp hiss of pain.

"Dawnfur and I only have a few scratches," said Whisperheart amicably.

"Same with me," added Moonflight, while Nettlepaw nodded.

Reluctantly, Hailclaw let Mintcloud push her down to inspect the wound. Kestrelpaw padded closer with cobwebs. Sniffing the wound, Mintcloud began licking the wound to clear away the trickling blood. Turning around, Hailclaw saw the fox had only managed to nip her leg and the gash was nothing as serious as Breezepaw's.

"Thanks, Kestrelpaw," murmured Mintcloud, taking the cobwebs and pressing them to the wound. "Can you find anymore marigold?"

"I can try," replied the apprentice. "But there wasn't anymore from the plant I found."

"Goldenrod works too," said Mintcloud, but Kestrelpaw frowned with confusion.

"I know what goldenrod looks like," offered Moonflight quickly. Hailclaw remembered vaguely that the ThunderClan medicine cat was his sister.

"Thanks, Moonflight," mewed Mintcloud with relief and as the silver tom bounded away, she called after him, "See if you can find any poppy seeds too. Breezepaw and Hailclaw might need them later."

"In the mean time, we might as well hunt," said Whisperheart stepping forward, nodding to Hailclaw. She flicked her tail at him, allowing him to organise the patrols. "Dawnfur and Kestrelpaw will hunt. Nettlepaw and I will stay here to build some nests." He glanced over to where Breezepaw was dozing fitfully. "If Hailclaw and Breezepaw are to recover quickly, they'll need to be comfortable."

Hailclaw snorted, but she didn't comment. As she rested her chin on her paws, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over her. Her lids grew heavier and she let the sounds of Whisperheart and Nettlepaw working lull her to sleep, the last thought flitting through her mind was, I'm glad I'm at least travelling with capable cats.