The whole camp of the Sentinels of Mossflower was in suspense. It had been days when Goldtail the eagle spotted a horde of foxes gathering in a cave. No one knew whether those were good or bad and they were not seen of again for a fortnight. After that time, Forthom, the scout leader, ran into the Sentinel camp panting breathlessly. "Lilac," he said, "I saw the foxes again. I think they�re planin� an attack!" Lilac walked up to him and asked calmly, "What did you see?" Forthom replied, "The foxes were gathering together inside a cave. I saw one of them [I think he�s the leader] and noticed that he had a map of the countryside, and one of the locations was our camp. Anyway, they all shouted that they were goin� t�take over the Sentinels of Mossflower." After that astonishing bit of news, all the Sentinels (except for the healers and minstrels) prepared for open war. Toughscar and Stoutjaw the warrior leader helped the green recruits to get ready and showed them all the warrior tricks they knew while the archers sharpened up their archery skills. The first skirmish came early morning when the scouts Chubb and Studfur went out to spy on the foxes and see what they were up to. They glided swiftly through the forest and swerved to come behind the mountain where the vermin were. Climbing up the hill, they managed to sneak right up to the cave entrance. Studfur, who had keen hearing, heard the voice of a fox, which he recognized as the leader of the hoard. "The main attack begins tonight," he said, addressing his officers. "I want all of my horde ready to fight by sundown. The enemy will think we�ll fight on open plains, in broad daylight. They must be caught by surprise." After Studdfur related to Chubb about what he heard, they both sped swiftly to the Sentinel camp. Coming to Lilac�s tree, they briefed her of what happened. Lilac called a meeting of her officers. Lilac, Rivertail, Stoutjaw and Forthom all hunched around the small map that Chubb made of the area. It was Stoutjaw who spoke first. "I think if we laid an ambush for the ambushers. Now, here is my plan�" The others listened to him, nodding and adding things on now and then.
It was evening, and the army of the foxes surged forth. They met no resistance. The captains became puzzled. "What �ave we come for, anyway, a tea party?" said one of them. Then it was made clear to them. In a small clearing, there was a score or so archers and warriors grouped together. "So they�ve come for a stand, have they!" hissed the horde leader. "I�ll just have to teach them who we are!" As the foxes charged, the resistors broke and ran for their lives. Then when the whole army rushed deep into the woods behind the clearing, Stoutjaw�s plan was put into action. Arrows flew from everywhere and hit the vermin. Gutclaw, a lieutenant in the horde, threw a spear upward and was rewarded by a scream and the sight of a falling squirrel. "There in the trees!" he yelled. "Shoot up!" The situation began to look grim for the Sentinel archers but just then the scouts charged and distracted the enemy. When the foxes tried to reach them warriors appeared around the whole area, and all the while they were losing their strength from the constant sniping of the archers. Finally, after the horde was down to half strength, the leader gave in. He surrendered the entire horde. After making them all swear an oath never to fight again, the vermin left Mossflower for good.
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