A little more than a moon and half passed. Leafbare was fast approaching, and each day grew colder. Badgerpaw became increasingly jealous of her sister's thicker pelt. Prey was becoming less common, and there were some days when Badgerpaw and Thistlepaw would have to go to sleep after sharing only a scrawny mouse.

"I don't see why WindClan's still trying to cross the border," Thistlepaw complained. "That strip of land has hardly anything! It won't be helping them much."

Badgerpaw shook her head. "StarClan knows. WindClan is just greedy."

Thistlepaw stood and shook her pelt. "Do you want to see if Featherleg and Raventail are willing to do battle training today?" the gray she-cat asked.

Badgerpaw nodded. "I'd rather fight you than Berrypaw or Harepaw. Those two are getting way better than us."

Thistlepaw snorted. "That's the advantage of nearly being a warrior," she mewed. "I'm surprised they haven't had their assessments yet."

Badgerpaw couldn't help but nod her agreement. "I don't know what Redstar's waiting for."

"Well, let's go talk to our mentors then," Thistlepaw mewed, beginning to walk off. Badgerpaw stood and followed her to where the two cats were sharing tongues.

"Can we do battle training together today?" Thistlepaw asked.

Raventail glanced at Featherleg, then dipped his head. "I don't see why not," he meowed. "I sent Yarrowpelt off hunting with Palepaw, and Harepaw and Berrypaw are out with their mentors on a border patrol, so it will just be us."

Badgerpaw purred. "Excellent! Let's go!"

Featherleg chuckled and stood. "Glad you're so enthusiastic."

Raventail stood, too. "Alright," he meowed. "Let's go."

Once the group arrived at the training hollow, Featherleg and Ravenetail sparred. "We have to show you what a fight will truly be like," the deputy explained. "You need to be ready."

Badgerpaw and Thistlepaw watched with wide eyes. The toms were vicious. Badgerpaw swore that one of them would surely die if it had been a real fight. Eventually, Featherleg managed to pin his brother down, and he looked up, breathing hard.

"That is how a warrior fights," he meowed, his words short as he caught his breathe. He let Raventail up, who shook out his pelt.

"It's important that you understand how dangerous these fights can get," Raventail meowed. "While it is against the code to take the life of another warrior, it sometimes happens. And you don't want it happening to you."

"Today we will work on guarding yourself from the more dangerous tactics," Featherleg meowed. "Raventail and I will demonstrate, and then both of you will try."

Badgerpaw nodded solemnly, and saw her sister do the same out of the corner of her eye.

"Watch carefully," Featherleg meowed. He crouched on the floor, then swung his neck up like a snake and struck Raventail in the throat. If he had bit down, Badgerpaw could see easily that it would have been fatal.

"Now, Raventail will defend," Featherleg meowed. He prepared to do the same move again, but Raventail took his forepaws and pressed them down on Featherleg's head, pushing him out of the way.

Their mentors now turned to them. "Badgerpaw, you will strike first, and Thistlepaw you will defend. Once you have the hang of it, switch."

Badgerpaw nodded and crouched down in front of her sister. What if I do accidentally hurt her because she wasn't ready?

As it turned out, there was little need for worry. As Badgerpaw reared to strike, her sister immediately slammed her paws on her head.

"Ouch!" Badgerpaw mewled, shaking her head. "That hurt!"

"Be careful, Thistlepaw," Raventail meowed. "But that was very good. Switch now."

Thistlepaw crouched. Badgerpaw carefully watched her sister's muscles bunch. Just as they were about the spring forward, she took her paws and pushed down, but not hard enough. Her sister continued the lunch up and attached her teeth to her neck.

"Mouse-dung!" Badgerpaw cried.
"It's alright," Featherleg meowed. "Just try again."

Badgerpaw shook herself and watched her sister again. Instead, she imagined Flypaw, and she felt a lot less worried about accidentally hurting her opponent.

This time, she pushed Thistlepaw's head away easily.

"Perfect!" Featherleg purred. "Now, watch this…"

They trained for ages. Badgerpaw felt tired but grateful that she was learning all of this, as something told her that the climax of this animosity with WindClan was coming soon. The gatherings had been tense, short. No Clan gave away much. New queens, new apprentices, new warriors. No mention of anything more.

"What if you have cat pinned and they rake your belly with their hind claws?" Thistlepaw asked, tipping her head to the side. "How do you defend yourself?"

"You don't," Raventail mewed darkly. "You can't see it coming."

"It's a dirty tactic, though," Featherleg meowed quickly. "Very few warriors would ever try it. You don't need to worry about it."

Badgerpaw shuddered at the though of someone killing you when you were so certain you had won. And as much as she trusted her mentors words, she felt quite certain that some of those WindClan cats were willing to use dirty tactics to win.

"Anyway, we're done here," Featherleg continued. "Badgerpaw, go catch something. Don't come back to the hollow without at least a mouse."

"Same for you, Thistlepaw," Raventail added. "We can return to camp once you are done."

"Yes sir," Badgerpaw meowed, dipping her head and waving her tail. She turned and trotted out of the training hollow, trying to shake from her mind the bloody images that the suggestion of a belly rake had conjured in her mind.

It doesn't matter, she told herself. Featherleg's right. Surely no cat would kill another- not in the simple border skirmish that WindClan has been threatening for so long. She sniffed the are and began to stalk for prey.