Speckleflower was in the middle of training Yellowpaw the next day. Most of the snow was gone, and he'd decided to take his strong, young apprentice out for a day of hunting practice.

"Now what do you smell?" The tom asked.

"I smell..." he paused and his eyes grew wide. "ShadowClan and WindClan!"

"Are they fresh?" Speckleflower asked suspiciously.

"Yes!" Yellowpaw's eyes were wide. "I know what to do! I'll climb that tree for a look!" Speckleflower watched his apprentice skillfully climb the tree. We haven't had much practice, he thought proudly. Yet he climbs and fights like a warrior.

"See anything?" He mewed up at him.

Yellowpaw scratched his way down. "They're only a few foxlengths in our territory, but there's a lot of them! Speckleflower, I think they're plotting an attack!"

Speckleflower hesitated, "We have to warn the camp." He meowed it calmly, but innerly, he was twisted. They turned and sprinted toward the camp, entering the tunnel as quickly as possible.

"We're being attacked!" Yellowpaw and Speckleflower yowled. Every cat, including Heatherstar, froze for three seconds, silence filling the camp. Then they launched into action at once. The elders poured into the nursery, and Rainfur brought up the rear. At that moment, the attackers poured into the camp. They were obviously outnumbered by twice as much, but their foes had brought with them back-ups, not that they needed them.

"Take care of them!" Rainfur nosed Hedgekit and Lightkit into the nursery toward Blossomfur. She quickly reached up and closed the cover painfully- it was a sheet of blackberry bushes that Shadowstorm had gathered to protect the nursery before he had become deputy. It had cost him a scratched and bloody tongue and inability to taste food for moons, but it had saved lives many times. The thorns stung Rainfur's paws but she immediately began wrestling with a ShadowClan warrior.

Woodclaw had to protect her soft, swollen belly as she wrestled a ShadowClan warrior. She hissed and yowled and spat at her, but the warrior could tell she was pregnant, and took the advantage to swipe a claw at her ear. She cried out painfully as the tip her ear was sliced open. She slashed furiously at her tormentor, and with her luck she pinned her to the ground, the she-cat's belly exposed. Using her hind claws, she sent the warrior away yowling.

"Moonpaw!" She yelled as she tackled a WindClan warrior that was biting the apprentice's shoulder. "Go get ThunderClan! Tell them we need help!" Moonpaw bit open the WindClan tom's ear before he ran through the swirling frenzy of cats.

"Mousedung! I was sure I had that apprentice!" The tom's eyes flashed.

"You didn't! He's too strong for a pile of-" but she was cut off when he bit into her shoulder. She screamed as another enemy warrior bit into her back leg. She couldn't escape their grasps. She bit furiosuly, her wails ringing out.

"Woodclaw!" Hazeltail couldn't get away from the ShadowClan warrior he was fighting. "Woodclaw, no!" A second warrior had Hazeltail now.

"Help me, please!" She did her best to protect her neck and belly at the same time.

"Foolish cat! You think anyone would dare help you?" The WindClan warrior clawed furiously at her back and the ShadowClan warrior was now biting her tail and sinking his claws into her other leg. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a swirl of cats entering the battle zone- ThunderClan, RiverClan, and Moonpaw brought up the rear.

"Help me!" She yowled again. She managed to get her hind claws into the ShadowClan warrior's stomach and neck. She ran off yowling, but she was to weak to deal with the WindClan tom. "Help me!" A fiery red ThunderClan tom tackled the WindClan warrior off of her. She lay on her side, watching as he skillfully clawed at the warrior until it ran away.

"Are you alright?!" He asked her. "Why wouldn't anyone help you?"

"I don't know... my kits... are they safe?"

He looked at her swollen stomach. "You're near kitting!" He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and half-carried half-dragged her as she limped along until she was behind the nursery.

"Thank you," she meowed. "I am Woodclaw."

"I am Fireheart," he replied. He hurried out into the battle again. Woodclaw was unable to fight the sleep.

Rainfur tussled with a ShadowClan warrior, but moments later, she heard a familiar wail and yowling and spitting.

"My kits!" She shrieked. She and Fireheart ran toward the entrance, and Woodclaw leaped out from behind, limping badly. Seeing the hole in the side of the igloo-shape made from dried mud and leaves, her eyes grew wide. "No!" She tackled a ShadowClan tom that was... it didn't matter, because she was too late. She scratched and bit and kicked the much bigger tom mercilessly, and Woodclaw tried to help her, but Fireheart stopped her.

"No," he explained. "This is for her to overcome." So she stopped, and then Rainfur leaped off the dead ShadowClan warrior, killed from a severe bite he'd taken to the neck.

"No! Hedgekit! Lightkit!" The ShadowClan and WindClan warriors were now gone, and the elders had exited after Pantherpelt lifted the blackberry bush away from the nursery door. ThunderClan, RiverClan, and CloudClan warriors listened to her yowls as she stood over the bodies of her now-dead kits.

Fireheart came forward and pushed his nose into her flank for comfort. Woodclaw did the same but her yowls continued for several minutes. Hollypelt came forward and dragged the dead ShadowClan warrior out of the den.

"Rainfur," Heatherstar stepped forward with Bluestar at her side. "Come. They will be given a proper burial after Duskfur has attended to your wounds. Rainfur trudged after them miserably. Hazeltail came to stand beside Woodclaw and Fireheart.

"Thank you," he mumbled. He touched noses with his mate and the nursery was left, deserted other than the bodies of Rainfur's dead kits.