"The smell. It's back again, but stronger." Hope frowned, looking around with ears pricked.
"What is it?" Sun gazed off into the forest. "Nothing scary, I hope."
Hope nodded in agreement, and that's when she picked up a faint but low growling noise. She turned to Sun.
"Do you hear that?" She said in a hushed mew.
Sun nodded, ears flat against her head.
"Are we trespassing on someone's land?"
"That's no cat scent, Sun." Hope stalked forward, hoping to figure out where the noise had come from.
A flash of russet fur caught Hope's eye. Her head swiveled towards it, and she approached cautiously. She wrinkled her snout at the vile scent.
Hope screeched as a lithe body flew out of the bushes, crashing down on her. She was bowled over, the strange animal hitting her muzzle with unsheathed claws.
She flailed wildly at it, before remembering her training. She slipped out of its grasp, panting heavily and bleeding around her face and upper chest. She winced but leapt at the evil russet creature, flinging herself at its legs, knocking it to the ground as it raked her flank.
"Hope! It's a fox!" Sun cried, rushing to her friend's aid.
Sun knows of these creatures? Hope took a deep breath and scrambled to her paws. "What in the moons are foxes?!"
Sun huffed. "That!" She said, jumping at it as it got up. She got up on her hind paws and swatted at its face, biting down hard on its ear as it raked her shoulders with powerful forepaws.
Hope quickly rushed into the battle, climbing nimbly onto the back of the fox, biting down at the back of its neck, unable to reach in for the killing blow before it shook the two tenderfeet off.
A flash of russet fur went by and Hope saw the fox leap at Sun, pinning her. Sun pummeled its belly with unsheathed hind paws, though the fox managed to rake its claws some way across her belly. She yelped in pain.
"Sun!" Hope hissed in a panic, running over. She snarled at the fox and scratched at its chest, biting down on one of its forepaws to dodge a blow coming at her from above.
Hope backed off momentarily to check on Sun once the fox seemed to be stunned. Sun was curling up around some leaves to soak up the blood before standing up on shaky paws. Her golden underbelly was stained an ugly red.
A large body slammed into Hope and she was winded, cursing herself for getting distracted. She could feel two painful sets of claws dug into her back, pinning her down. As she twisted, all she could see was a long snout coming to deliver the killing bite to her neck and a flash of yellow, before feeling a weight suddenly lifted off her body.
Hope shot to her paws and whipped around just in time to see the fox strike Sun with a powerful paw, sending her flying and crashing into a tree. Her eyes widened.
"Sun!" She wailed, turning on the fox. She gave a low growl as it whipped its head towards her.
With that, the two leapt, locked in battle. The fox was easily overpowering Hope, but she managed to dive under its chest and twist around to rake her claws across its underbelly. It yelped, and she couldn't dodge in time as it scratched her hind leg, drawing blood.
Sun gave a shill battle cry and leapt at the fox, but she had probably miscalculated her jump, her course uneasy as she fought to keep her eyes open.
The fox caught her scruff neatly in its jaws as she flew towards it, though she managed to claw at its snout before it shook her violently, and when it let go, she skidded across the ground until she lay unmoving.
Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Hope leapt at the fox, jaws snapping down hard on its neck before it had the chance to react. It struggled and kicked and clawed at Hope, before ultimately collapsing in defeat as it bled out.
Not wasting a heartbeat, Hope sprinted towards Sun and examined her body. Her flanks were rising and falling in a breathing motion, though not quickly. She refused to let her closest friend die.
Too numb and shocked to feel pain or sorrow at the moment, Hope grabbed Sun's scruff and started dragging her to the stoneplace, hoping they could find something to help there.
Hope struggled to walk across the moor- dragging another cat with her, no less- and she was barely able to stand up. Finally, her paws touched stone and she could only go a few steps before collapsing. As her flanks heaved, she curled closer to Sun as the world went dark.