Chapter 2 - A nice day training...or is it?

Diamondfur awoke in the warriors den. She pushed herself to her paws and shook the clumps of moss from her silver pelt. The other warriors around her were fast asleep and so she silently padded out into the clearing. The sun was hidden behind the trees and a dim morning light came shining through the branches. She gazed at the scene, not knowing that those trees would save her life later that day.
“Diamondfur!” a voice called.
Diamondfur turned around to see her apprentice, Rosepaw, dashing towards her across the camp. With a small yowl of shock, Diamondfur felt Rosepaw barrel into her side and push her over. “What was that for?” Diamondfur spat with humour blazing in her dazzling blue eyes.
“Sorry Diamondfur.” The small russet red apprentice mewed “I didn’t mean to push you over.”
“That’s ok.” Diamondfur replied “At least it woke me up. Do you want to go out and train? I haven’t seen you hunt in a while. Rosepaw jumped up immediately and mewed “Of coarse! I think I’ve really improved my technique!”
The two cats left the camp and padded into the depths of the forest. “Ok, go! I’ll be keeping an eye on you to see how you do, so no messing about.” Diamondfur teased.
Rosepaw gave Diamondfur a short nod and quietly ran off.
Diamondfur watched as the apprentice stalked a mouse that was sitting at the bottom of an old tree. She prepared herself to pounce, but the gently morning breeze had carried Rosepaw’s scent forward and the mouse scampered off in fear.
“Nice try,” Diamondfur mewed, walking up to Rosepaw’s side. “But next time try to move a little faster. Also, check which way the wind is going and approach the prey from another angle.”
Rosepaw continued to hunt and Diamondfur caught a few pieces of fresh-kill when she wasn’t watching Rosepaw. As Diamondfur swiftly killed a starling he heard a high-pitched yowl of terror. It was Rosepaw! Running through the forest, Diamondfur felt the undergrowth whipping at her legs, but that didn’t slow her down at all.
She finally approached the place where the yowl had come from and her heart skipped a beat as she saw what the problem was. Just over a fox-length away from Rosepaw was a huge badger. It thrashed its black and white head from side to side and took another step towards Rosepaw. The apprentice turned her head and spotted Diamondfur. “Help me! Please!” she begged, her eyes filling with tears. Diamondfur didn’t know what to do. Then as soon as an idea came into her head she acted without thinking of the consequences. She darted in front of the badger and quickly circled it. “Get into a tree! Now!” she panted to Rosepaw.
The huge enemy snapped its ferocious jaws at Diamondfur and closed its teeth on her hind leg. Diamondfur screeched in pain and kicked out at her attacker with her free leg. Lashing her claws madly at the beast, she broke loose and scrambled up the nearest tree. Her leg was bleeding very heavily but she didn’t stop until she was safe in the strong branches. Looking to her left, Diamondfur saw Rosepaw on a different branch on the tree. She was staring with wide eyes of fear at Diamondfur’s leg and she was shaking uncontrollably. “D-Diamondfur…Y-Your leg!” she wailed.
Diamondfur looked down at her leg. It was completely covered in blood and she became dizzy with shock. The badger was still at the bottom of the tree, snapping its horrible jaws at the two cats. It was starting to tire, but it was still scraping at the bark with its strong claws.
“What do we do?” Rosepaw mewed with her voice shaking.
“Just wait. That piece of fox-dung should give up soon. Diamondfur answered whilst attempting to flatten her fur with gently rasps of her tongue.

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