"Corona, what are you doing," screamed Buttercup at Corona, who was snoozing in his burrow.

"What do you mean, what am I doing," snapped Corona, "can't I just get a little sleep for once!"

"No, you can't," said Buttercup angrily, "Corona, you were supposed to meet Ivy, Mallow, and Thistle an hour ago for a patrol, and they're not really that happy right now with you. They've been waiting out in the sun while you've been sleeping in. Get going."

"All right, all right, I'm going," growled Corona as he jumped out of his burrow and ran to meet his friends. Corona hadn't been having a great time since he became an official in the Owsla. Sure, it was fun being a corporal and being higher than most of the Owsla rabbits, but the Owsla never let him sleep in, or have a long silflay, or even just relax for a while. He was getting really tired of it.

As it turned out, Ivy and Thistle were rather angry about having to wait, but Mallow didn't really care at all. He knew how Corona felt. This particular patrol was the first one in which neither Winters Wrath, Buttercup, or Dogwood went on.

"Come on Ivy, pick up your fat body and move," Thistle yelled out to Ivy, who was rather far behind.

"Shut up, Thistle, stop being so mean," said Mallow calmly, "just because you managed to escape a weasel and nearly kill Waterfall and Perloo doesn't mean that you can go prancing through your life, giving other rabbits the same treatment that you got. This Owsla doesn't work that way."

"Yeah, Thistle," said Corona, "remember that Ivy managed to get away once that weasel got to you. He actually moved and you didn't. Here he comes right now, and I think he's going to get you back for making that comment."

Thistle didn't respond to the comment, but just said, "any sign of elil Mallow. Corona. Because I don't see anything. I think we can move on now. Let's just wait for Ivy to catch up."

"Yes, that's the spirit," said Corona loudly, "niceness, that's the key, but I think we should look for hraka or tracks. Mallow, check under that bush, Thistle, you check behind that tree over there, and I'll check in this little clearing."

"Why do I have to check under the bush," complained Mallow jokingly, "I'm a corporal to, remember that Corona?"

"All right, Thistle since you're smaller, you check the bush, Mallow, you check behind the tree, and I'll stick to my job," said Corona.

"You know, I wasn't being serious," said Mallow, but Corona didn't hear him, and the three were checking for any smell, dropping, or track of any elil when a panting Ivy dashed up to them.

"Catch your breath Ivy," said Mallow, "we'll be done in a second. There's no need for you to do anything right now."

"All right," said Ivy as he sat down on the ground to catch his breath, glad that he was actually able to rest for a few seconds.

"You know, Thistle's right," said Corona as he searched the ground, "you really do need to start getting into shape. We can't have you falling hrair yards behind on every patrol. That makes you an easy target for elil."

"All clear under this bush," said Thistle at he came out from under it, "how's the tree look, Mallow?"

"It's all clear behind this cedar," said Mallow, "Corona, how does the clearing look?"

"Uh, you guys better come have a look at this," said Corona, "we're going to have to report this." As Ivy, Thistle, and Mallow came up to Corona, they saw what he was talking about. The minute they came up into the clearing, they caught the strong smell of fox. Several large fox tracks also went through the clearing.

"I take it that this homba was very big," said Ivy quietly.

"I've never seen them this big," said Mallow, "in, fact these are huge, how old are they?"

"They look about a day old," said Corona, "Thistle, can you head back to the warren and report this, since you're the fastest one here. You know the way, right?" Thistle nodded and ran off in an instant.

"Mallow, Ivy, we'd better leave and get on with this patrol," said Corona, "it gives me the creeps just looking at these tracks." Ivy and Mallow nodded.

Even Ivy managed to keep up with the group this time. But Mallow, Corona and Ivy were scared out of their minds. As they went on through their patrol, they found more and more signs of the fox. These signs all were less than a day old. Mallow once came upon the tracks of a stoat. But this stoat's tracks were leading away from the warren.

Ivy eventually came upon the tracks of a different fox. Corona decided to follow them. It was not very long until they reached what they least expected. The tracks led to a scene where a battle had taken place. Then, they found the smaller fox lying dead on the ground. The huge fox they were following had killed it.

"Mallow," said Corona quietly as they stared at the dead fox, "go back to the home warren and alert Cowslip-rah about this. Make sure you tell him to keep a very close eye out for this fox. You got that?"

"All right," said Mallow quietly, he had never heard of a fox killing another fox over what appeared to be nothing. This was no mating fight. The dead fox had been mauled and half eaten.

"Mallow, please try to hurry," said Corona, "this is urgent."

Mallow nodded and took off as fast as he could. He wasn't running as fast as his legs would carry him just to sound the alarm, but because he expected the fox to be on his tail at any moment. All Mallow wanted to do at the moment was reach the safety and warmth of his burrow.

Corona and Ivy continued on the patrol in silence. They barely tracked for signs of elil anymore. They knew that it would probably point to the fox. Corona called off the patrol about three fourths of the way through the patrol. Thy wanted to head home as fast as possible and be far away from the fox as they possibly could. They didn't know that they were farther away from it then anyone else in the warren.

************************************************************************

Thistle ran as fast as he could into his home warren. He ran right past several rabbits, including Perloo and his little gang. He ran strait to Cowslip's burrow. Inside, Dogwood, Silverweed, and Cowslip were al talking about something when Thistle came flying in.

"Thistle, is something wrong," asked Dogwood worriedly.

"Not yet, there isn't," replied Thistle, "but I think there will be soon."

"How so," asked Silverweed intently, "did Corona send you back to bring us the news of something you spotted?"

"Actually, he did," said Thistle, now regaining his breath, "where's Winters Wrath?"

"She's out on a garden raid with Buttercup, Hawkweed, and Pimpernel," said Dogwood, "she'll be back by nightfall, I'm in charge of the Owsla until she comes back. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Yes," said Thistle, "something distinctly horrible."

"What," said Cowslip, "does this thing by any chance trouble my warren?"

"It might," said Thistle, "Corona spotted the tracks of a fox on a close patrol of our warren. But these weren't the tracks of an ordinary homba. These tracks were a little bit bigger. Apparently this homba was pretty large, and I think it was at our warren outskirts a couple days ago."

"That doesn't seem to be too bad," said Cowslip, "but we might need to put the warren on alert for a couple days just in case. Dogwood, it's your call."

"I think we should," said Dogwood, "Thistle, do you mind fetching me Poppy, I think she's in her burrow getting a little rest."

Thistle nodded and took off. Dogwood then turned to Silverweed and said, "I don't think it's that big of a deal, but our rabbits might need to know about this."

"Maybe," said Cowslip, "but it's an interesting topic for a story, a homba bigger than any other, Silverweed, maybe you could put together something like that for your story tonight."

"I already picked a story, but good idea," said Silverweed. He paused for a couple seconds, and then said, "but the warren really does need to know about this. The fox might not present any problems for us now, but it might later on, we might need to send out more patrols."

"Silverweed, we only have thirteen patrol ready rabbits as it is," said Dogwood, "and the one's we do have are getting really lazy and tired from lack of sleep. I think we should give them some afternoons off."

Silverweed was about to reply, when Thistle returned to the burrow with Poppy, who still looked tired.

"What do you want me to do, sir," said Poppy to Dogwood.

"Get word of a second degree alert out to all the rabbits in the warren," said Dogwood, "Corona is coming back from the patrol he's on now, so when he comes back, have him help you." Poppy nodded and took off.

Walnut, Perloo, Waterfall, Redwood, and Willow all lay out on the sunny grass and ate the clovers. They were all talking abut various things when Thistle came charging past them and ran across the field. He eventually disappeared into Cowslip's burrow.

"I wonder what Thistle has on his mind right now," wondered Willow out loud.

"Who knows," grumbled Perloo, "hopefully Corona, Ivy, and Mallow all died on that patrol, I can't stand any of them."

At this, Redwood laughed. "Is there anyone here in this warren that you do like," said Redwood, "because it seems like you can't stand anyone except for us"

"You know," said Waterfall, completely changing the subject, "I wish I could have been born in that warren that Mallow once lived in, it seemed so nice."

"Why would you want to live in a place where Mallow came from," said Perloo, "that warren is probably another word for hell."

"I don't why you don't like Mallow, Perloo," said Waterfall, "he hasn't done anything to you. But anyway, that warren seemed so nice."

"Yeah, and any warren that can survive the white blindness and drive off a fox must be great," said Walnut. All the rabbits agreed, and went back to eating clovers when a stinking smell suddenly filled the air.

"What the hell is that," said Redwood, "whatever it is, it smells horrible."

"I know," said Perloo, "Walnut, what is that smell, I know that you learned about these things in the Owsla."

Waterfall pulled himself to his feet and said, "it smells like something's decaying, Walnut, please tell us that it's not dangerous."

Walnut, like Waterfall, had gotten to his feet, and started sniffing at the smell. For a few seconds, he had no idea what the smell came from, but then suddenly realization dawned on him.

"Homba," screamed Walnut as loud as he possibly could. The fox was there instantly, and it was huge. Before Walnut had even turned to run, the fox was already springing into the air and diving at Waterfall, Redwood, Perloo, Willow, and himself.

Before the fox could land on them, Walnut managed to take off as fast as he could, with Waterfall close behind. Before the others could even make it fully to their feet, the fox landed, and a loud squealing could be heard. The fox had gotten either Perloo, Willow, or Redwood. Walnut didn't know which one had met his fate. Walnut didn't even think of stopping to help his friend that had perished. Walnut probably knew that he was already dead. All Walnut could think of was getting away from the horrible fox.

Walnut and Waterfall dashed into the first burrow they could find, and lay on the ground and panted not so much with tiredness, but with terror. After a minute, Waterfall said, "I wonder who died, I think Perloo did."

Walnut didn't answer. He was to busy panting and trying to get the message that one of his childhood friends was actually dead into his head. Waterfall and Walnut lay on the ground of another rabbit's burrow for a long time after that.

Two minutes after the attack, Dogwoods loud call came out, "all rabbits to their burrows, all rabbits to their burrows immediately. Danger is abroad. Danger is abroad."

Mallow came dashing through the trees just in time to hear a high- pitched squealing, and see the huge fox that he, Corona, and Ivy were tracking make a kill. Mallow came to a complete stop. The fox, while holding a dead rabbit in his mouth, turned and looked Mallow strait in the eye. Since the fox had made a kill, Mallow thought he was safe. But before the rabbit knew it, the fox turned and charged him.

Mallow was already tired from his long run from the area of the killed fox to the warren. As Mallow turned and ran to his burrow, he knew that he probably wouldn't make it. His burrow was 50 yards away, and the fox looked like it could outrun a hrududu.

Nevertheless, Mallow let out a high-pitched squeal and bolted as the fox charged him. For around ten bounds, Mallow wanted to run in a strait line to his burrow, but he knew that the fox would catch him that way. He started bounding in different directions, crisscrossing, and doing all kinds of little rabbit tricks, but the fox knew where he was heading, and ran not so much after Mallow, but to his burrow. So Mallow ran in a strait line again.

Mallow looked behind him when he covered half the distance, and saw that the fox was only about three and one half yards behind him. So Mallow just bowed his head and ran all out, at every second expecting the fox to drop onto him.

But apparently Mallow was running faster than he thought. The fox was barely gaining on him. With five yards to go however, the fox boosted up and came within less than a foot of Mallow. The fox prepared to spring. Mallow let out a squeal and sprung the same second the fox did, and just escaped the fox's claws. The fox sprang again within a yard of the burrow, and so did Mallow.

Mallow sprang high in the air, and flew the yard strait into his burrow. He dropped five inches into the burrow before he hit the side of the entrance, and went cartwheeling down the next foot of the entrance and landed in a heap on the main burrow floor. Mallow lay back and panted for a minute before he picked himself up and looked around. His mother, sister, and his two brothers were all staring at him. Mallow ignored them and climbed out into the entrance of the burrow. The fox glared at him for a moment before it walked away. The fox had dropped the dead rabbit it was caring. When the fox picked it up again, Mallow managed to see who it was.

It was Redwood. Mallow thought for a moment, 'damn, I wish it had gotten Perloo,' before he realized something.

Redwood hadn't done anything wrong. He had just been relaxing on the ground, eating clovers, and living the life of a normal rabbit when the fox had dropped down and robbed him of his future years.

Mallow also thought that Willow and Perloo were also injured. After all, the fox had dropped on them to; Redwood had just gotten the fox's teeth on his neck by chance. If Perloo and Willow were injured and knew that the danger was still in the warren, than they were probably dragging themselves off to the nearest burrow in search of safety.

But if they think that the danger is gone, and they are just lying out on the grass and retrieving their strength, thought Mallow, then they are dead meat.