Greyshard paced around the mouth of the tunnel, flicking her tail with impatience. Not far behind her, Flamepelt and Skunkpaw were discussing group hunting strategies. Greyshard heard snippets of their conversation, "...keep it surrounded at all times..." and "...keep your eyes on the prey and the leader...". She sighed and stared down the twisting tunnel, the crevices and crags lining its walls at irregular intervals were inky black, as was the rock a few fox-lengths down.

She had always wondered how the tunnel had gotten there. The elders, or at least the Clan born ones, had told her as an apprentice that it was ancient Twolegs. That they came here to carve 'special rocks' out of the mountains. Or something like that anyway. They wriggled like moles and rabbits down here with giant rock claws and dug out the hollow and about half of the tunnels in the territory.

When Greyshard had asked why the tunnels were so small, Redsplodge had replied something like, "Oh, Grey, dearie, use your head, how should I know? The Twolegs are stupid and nothing they do makes sense." And then, Fireburst, her mate, had added, "I assume they wanted to hide the tunnels from other Twolegs, the selfish mouse-brains they are." The elders had laughed and Greyshard had sulkily padded out of the den.

Suddenly, something caught her eye in the shadowy depths of the tunnel. She stood up and stared into it. After a few moments, she called to Flamepelt and Skunkpaw, "We can go now." and as the figure in the tunnel was no more than two tail-lengths away, she added scornfully, "The amazing Rockpaw has decided to bless us with his presence."

The dull brownish shape hissed and Rockpaw stepped out of the rocky entrance. He looked out of breath and agitated, barely able to stop his tail from lashing and his ears from flattening. He glared at Greyshard with his pale orange eyes, in the same way Owlstar had glared at him. Greyshard smiled slightly and turned to beckon Flamepelt and his apprentice towards the tunnel.

Rockpaw stared at the passing cats blankly, until Greyshard asked silkily, "Well. Are you planning on joining this patrol or not?"

He just gazed at her and finally inquired, somewhat sarcastically, "Isn't Mousefoot going to slow us down if we take him along?"

She scoffed and replied, "Mousefoot isn't going. Obviously," she added, rolling her eyes. "I'm leading a hunting patrol around the South-Easter border. If you decided that you don't want to go, go tell Foxnose and Mousefoot. I'm sure Crystalwing would appreciate being disrupted by a moss-headed apprentice."

Flamepelt curled his tail nervously and nosed himself between them. He meowed gently, "Greyshard, calm yourself, Rockpaw was just a few minutes late, and he hasn't said anything about not wanting to come."

Rockpaw blinked at Flamepelt and shot a smug look over the tom's shoulder at Greyshard. Her blue-grey tail lashed, hitting Skunkpaw in the nose.

"Ouch!"

She rolled her eyes again and whipped around to face the tunnel. "Let's go then - we're wasting sunlight." she meowed, as she ducked underneath the sharp ridge of rock at the top of the entrance.

After about a minute of walking in the darkness, Greyshard came out of the tunnel and slid under the bramble bush at the mouth of it. She blinked a few times to get used to the bright, harsh sunlight. After waiting for the rest of the patrol to come out, she started walking through the forest, heading for the lower corner of their territory.

Not long after, she heard a rustle and a flash of brown fur like tiny lightning. She raised her tail as a signal for the rest of them to stop and crept up to a giant patch of golden-brown bracken. Greyshard nodded to Flamepelt and signalled to the tree just behind the bracken patch. He dipped his head and slowly slid up behind the tree.

In a heartbeat, he jumped into the bush and a rabbit fled out of it, stamping into the dust wildly. It skid to a stop right in front of Greyshard, just as she pinned it down and snapped its neck with one clean bite. It fell limply in her claws; its large black eyes open wide.

"Thanks Flamepelt," she smiled, feeling some of the anger melting off and down her pelt, as if she had just climbed out of a stream and was warming herself in the sun.

He nodded, smiling back and meowed to the two apprentices, "And there you have it - a perfect example of group hunting! I hope you learned something from that!"

Skunkpaw nodded vigorously, still staring at the rabbit, while Rockpaw yawned and made a noncommittal sound.

Greyshard held back a scoff. Instead, she announced, "Let's go farther down into the territory."

"Maybe near the Twoleg farm?" Flamepelt suggested, "Nobody's hunted there for days."

Nodding, Greyshard buried the rabbit in a spongy patch of moss and pine needles and led the patrol further down the territory. For a good amount of minutes, she followed an unused rabbit track through thick walls of ferns, before stopping in a small clearing, that positively over-flowed with prey.

She turned and murmured to the hunting patrol, "Let's split up. Flamepelt you go in that direction, towards the barley field." She pointed her tail South. "Rockpaw and Skunkpaw, can you stay in this area? And I'll go further East, towards the border. Is that fine with everyone?"

They all nodded and rumbled agreement, except for Rockpaw. He, for a change, didn't look rebellious and obnoxious, but rather, curious and half confused.

"Weren't we supposed to stick together? I thought Owlstar said that we have to keep each other in sight or something?" Rockpaw asked, flicking his ears.

Greyshard felt a sudden urge to claw at his ears. She took a deep breath and replied smoothly, "You'll be fine. I doubt any tunnels will be falling onto you from the trees." Flamepelt took a quick, whistling breath. "And if you do get into trouble, perhaps with a giant squirrel, then all you have to do, is yowl at the top of your lungs and hope by StarClan that we hear." She smiled, somewhat friendlily.

"Let's meet back here in... let's say... just past sunhigh?" Greyshard added.

The patrol nodded. Rockpaw dipped his head and led Skunkpaw into the clearing. The two warriors waited for a few moments, before they heard a quickly-cut-off bird call. Flamepelt smiled and meowed a farewell to Greyshard as he departed. She called back and started to trot in the other direction.

When she made sure that all of the patrol was at least two tree-lengths away from her, she started running. After another few tree-lengths, she stopped, panting slightly. Greyshard sniffed the air, opening her mouth to let the scents of prey enter it. Soon, she detected the scent of a rabbit.

Slowly, Greyshard looked around, scanning the undergrowth nearby for any signs of it.

I wonder how...? She though, still searching for the rabbit, How the ancient WindClan travellers survived in such territory. A frond of fern rustled nearby. I thought they were used to giant moorlands and rolling hills, not... this! Pine forests and Twoleg farms. Ha! That sounds like ShadowClan! Greyshard chuckled silently as she circle the ferns. I guess we've gotten used to it, but still. It's weird to think that AirClan is anything like ShadowClan, or NightClan. Greyshard peeked through the long, sharp-edged grass at the patch of ferns.

Suddenly, the rabbit stood up on its hind legs, its front paws lying on its chest in an almost adorable way. Greyshard tensed her muscles to leap but was momentarily frozen by the how the rabbit looked like. It's short fur was a light greyish-brown with surprising hints of blue-grey and weird white splotches on its under-body. Its large, glassy black eyes blinked slowly, and its huge nose wrinkled like crazy as a dandelion leaf disappeared into its mouth. It blinked a few more times, and hopped a couple of steps towards Greyshard, stopping no more than a tail-length or two away.

Stupid, dumb, adorable thing. Why does prey have to this cute sometimes?! Greyshard demanded silently.

She leaped and landed on the rabbit's back. It didn't struggle much, to Greyshard's surprise, but it flicked it paws around, batting Greyshard's legs. Then it feel flopped onto the grass, unmoving, as Greyshard bit down on its throat. She grabbed its scruff and started to pull it away.

Soon after, she saw a thick copse of out-of-place oaks, surrounded with elder bushes and bracken. She turned around, the easier to pull the rabbit past the bushes. Glancing behind her every so often, she backed through the undergrowth and into the clearing.

Greyshard straightened up on the other side, flexing her shoulders and neck. She shook out her pelt, and, with the rabbit lifted as high as she could, she turned around.

The sight that welcomed her was not a good one. Not at all.

With a dull thud, the rabbit fell to the ground, sprawled unnaturally on the ground. The grass around its pierced neck fur gleamed red with blood, just like the grass a fox-length away.

Word Count: 1523

Yes! I'm keeping my update streak!

Hope you like it!