Moonrise

Chapter 3

"You lot stay here," Purdy ordered in an undertone. "Let me deal with this."

Stormfur stared in dismay as the old tom shuffled forward toward the foxes, his rumpled fur on end, his tail lashing back and forth. Frozen by shock, the others might have let Purdy attack and be torn to pieces if Stormfur had not stepped forward at the last moment and pushed him aside.

"Wha'?" Purdy protested. "Let me get at 'em. I've chased off more foxes than you've had mice, young fellow."

"Then give the rest of us a chance," Stormfur retorted grimly.

The two foxes were creeping slowly up the bank, their eyes flicking from one cat to the next. Too late Stormfur realized that he and his friends had been wrong to assume the woods held no danger for them.

He saw that Crowpaw and Swiftpaw had taken place in front of Feathertail, while Brambletuft tried to do the same for Squirrelpaw. But the ThunderClan apprentice slipped out from the shelter of his flank and stood beside him with her ears flattened and one paw extended threateningly.

"What are you doing, treading on my tail?" she growled. "I can take care of myself!"

"You did say you could eat a fox," Tawnypelt pointed out wryly. "Now's your chance."

The foxes crept nearer. Stormfur braced himself, his gaze fixed on their narrow snouts and coldly glittering eyes, trying to guess where they would attack first. Back home, foxes weren't much of a threat to cats who kept alert. They could be avoided, but these were obviously young and spoiling for a fight, eager to defend their territory. Stormfur was sure that the seven of them could drive the creatures off eventually, but not without serious injuries. And what would that mean for their journey? StarClan help us! he prayed desperately.

Crowpaw, who was nearest to the foxes, crouched to spring. There was barely a tail-length between him and the first of them when Stormfur heard a strange sound behind him, half growling and half barking. The leading fox abruptly lifted its head and stood very still.

Stormfur flicked a glance over his shoulder. Midnight had lumbered forward, thrusting her way between Purdy and Feathertail until she stood in front of the foxes. She said something else in the same mixture of barks and growls. Although Stormfur could not understand what she was saying, there was no mistaking the threat in the way her shoulders hunched, or the hostility in her black eyes.

Then his ears pricked in shock as the first fox barked what was obviously a reply. "I'd forgotten Midnight told us she could speak fox," he muttered, glancing at Feathertail. His sister offered a slight nod without taking her eyes off the foxes.

"They say this is their place," Midnight reported. "To come here is to be their prey."

"Fox dung to that!" Crowpaw burst out. "Tell them if they try anything, we'll rip their fur off."

Midnight shook her head. "No, small warrior. Cat fur be ripped also. Wait."

Crowpaw backed off a pace or two, still looking furious, and Feathertail pressed her nose against his flank.

Midnight said something else to the foxes. "I tell them you only pass through," she explained to the cats when she had finished. "I tell them much prey is here in woods, easier prey that does not rip fur."

The leading fox was looking confused now, perhaps out of surprise at hearing a badger speak fox, perhaps because it was taking her argument seriously. But the second—a lean dog fox with a scarred muzzle—was still glaring past Midnight at the group of cats, his teeth bared. He snarled out something that was a threat in any language.