Erin Hunter - Twilight

“Sootfur, no!” Squirrelflight staggered over to him. There was a new gash in his throat and his eyes gazed sightlessly into the sky.

“Great StarClan!” Squirrelflight yowled. “Why are you letting this happen?”

But there was no time to grieve for her Clanmate. She had to get back to the nursery. Instead of returning the way she had come, she risked a dash across the middle of the clearing, skidding around screeching bundles of fur and claws.

We can’t win ! a voice shrieked inside her head. There are too many of them !

Refusing to listen, she slashed at the eyes of a badger that tried to block her way, spitting fiercely until it backed off.

When she reached the nursery, she found Brackenfur crouched in the entrance, his lips drawn back in a snarl as he challenged a young badger. The creature hesitated, as if it thought there might be easier prey.

A couple of fox-lengths away, Ashfur was fighting with an older, bigger badger; Squirrelflight watched in dismay as it caught the gray warrior with a blow to the side of his head, throwing him to the ground.

Squirrelflight let out a screech. Springing forward, she hurtled into the badger’s flank, forcing it off balance. It lurched sideways, leaving its underbelly exposed; Squirrelflight dived between its paws and raked it with her foreclaws. The badger let out a growl of fury. Pain flooded through Squirrelflight as she felt long claws sink into her shoulder and flip her onto her back. The weight of the badger forced all the breath from her chest as it landed on top of her.

She felt as if it were pushing her into the ground; she could imagine her bones cracking. She choked on a mouthful of hot fur and fought for air as her senses spun away.

Suddenly the weight lifted and she could breathe again.

Gasping, she staggered to her paws to see Ashfur gripping the badger’s foreleg with his teeth, his body whipping from side to side as the badger tried to shake him off. With a yowl of fury Squirrelflight dashed in on the other side. The badger swung its head around, jaws snapping for her. She ducked away from it, slashing at its throat and dodging out of range before it could swat her with a paw.

Meanwhile Ashfur had dropped to the ground and darted forward, distracting the creature’s attention from Squirrelflight long enough for her to dash in again and rake her claws over its shoulder. The badger wove back and forth, never managing to land a blow. Its growls rose to a roar of frustration and it turned tail, fleeing toward the entrance.

Squirrelflight exchanged a triumphant glance with Ashfur, then spun around to check the nursery. Brackenfur was still tussling with the young badger. His teeth were fastened in its ear; before Squirrelflight or Ashfur could move, it dislodged the ginger warrior with one swat from its blunt claws, then thrust its way into the nursery.

Squirrelflight froze as a terrible shriek rose from the bramble thicket.

“StarClan, help me!”

Leafpool and Crowfeather paused beside the stepping stones that led across the stream into ThunderClan territory. Night had fallen, and a thin crescent moon rode high in the sky. They had traveled all day, only stopping at sunhigh long enough to devour a rabbit Crowfeather had caught on the moorland.

Now Leafpool’s paws were sore and her heart pounded with mounting fear.

“Good-bye,” she murmured, pushing her nose into Crowfeather’s fur. “I’ll see you again when all this is over.”

“What do you mean, ‘good-bye’?” Crowfeather demanded.

“I’m not leaving you when there are hostile badgers around.”

“But you need to warn WindClan.”

“I know, and I will. But I’ll see you to your camp first. It won’t take long.”

Seeing the stubborn light in his eyes, Leafpool knew she would only waste time by arguing. Leaping swiftly from one stepping-stone to the next, she led the way down the slope and into the shelter of the trees.

It was a relief to enter the woods after traveling for so long under the open sky, but Leafpool’s feeling of homecoming didn’t last long. Almost at once a rank scent drifted around them, masking all the other scents of the forest.

“Badgers,” Crowfeather growled.

Leafpool was too terrified to speak. Although she was exhausted from the long trek over the moors, she picked up her pace until she was racing through the trees, the gray-black warrior at her shoulder. As they drew closer to the ThunderClan camp, she heard the sound from her dream she had been dreading every pawstep of the journey: the yowls of fighting cats mingled with the deeper roars of her enemies.

Badgers had broken into the camp!

When she reached the edge of the hollow, she heard a rustling among the ferns and a cat wailing, “Not more of them! Oh, help!”

Whipping around, Leafpool saw Ferncloud and Daisy peering out from under a clump of bracken. It was Daisy who had cried out.

“Leafpool!” Ferncloud exclaimed. “What—” She broke off and added, “No, don’t stop. Go and help the Clan.”

Leafpool and Crowfeather ran on, down the slope that led to the entrance. The thorn barrier that was supposed to protect the camp had been utterly destroyed, trampled down by monstrous paws. Beyond the scattered branches, badgers filled the hollow, their thick-furred shoulders heaving as they pounced and fought. Leafpool caught a glimpse of her father, a wild light in his green eyes as he rallied his Clan with sweeping gestures of his tail.

“Follow me! Drive them out!” he yowled as he leapt at the nearest badger, a huge male with a scarred muzzle.

Dustpelt and Brambleclaw were hard on his paws.

Dustpelt hurled himself at the badger’s shoulder, scoring its pelt with outstretched claws. Brambleclaw flung himself at another creature that stood growling a tail-length away, springing up as it lowered its head and fastening his teeth in its ear.

Around the edge of the clearing, the dens that were barely two moons old were torn, their branches scattered so that Leafpool scarcely recognized her home. One massive badger was crashing through the warriors’ den in pursuit of Rainwhisker. Another rolled around a tail-length from Leafpool, locked into combat with Spiderleg while Sandstorm sank her teeth into its hind leg.

I’m too late ! Leafpool thought in dismay. She couldn’t see Midnight anywhere among the badgers. Perhaps her vengeful kin had caught her on her way to ThunderClan and stopped her from warning the cats. Maybe they’d even killed her!

Throwing off the horror that froze her paws, Leafpool tore through the trampled thorns into the clearing. There must be something she could do to help her Clanmates, something more than just die at their side. She was about to hurl herself into battle when an eerie shriek rose above the rest of the clamor. It came from the nursery, the only clump of thorns that remained standing.

“Cinderpelt!” she gasped to Crowfeather.

As if her paws had wings, she streaked across the clearing, barely aware of a badger that lunged for her, only to fall back as Crowfeather flew at it, spitting and clawing. He was hard on her paws as she raced up to the nursery.

Just outside, a ginger cat was lying in the dust, a badger looming over her.

“Squirrelflight!” Leafpool yowled.

Her claws sank into the badger’s leg. Its head swung around, jaws snapping. Crowfeather thrust himself in front of Leafpool, his claws raking at the badger’s eyes. With a bellow of pain it reared back and lurched away.

Leafpool flung herself down beside her sister. Only the link that still connected them told her that her sister wasn’t dead. Relief swept through her from ears to tail-tip as Squirrelflight raised her head, blinking confusedly. “Leafpool… you came back!”