"Do you hear that?"

Laurel sneezed as more dirt fell on top of her head. "Of course we hear it," she growled at Quake. "I can feel it!"

The faint sounds of snarls and howls could be heard from above, accompanying the shaking of the tunnel roof. "I don't know why we're still surprised," Pepper sighed, shaking some soil off of her own coat. "We've been hearing this all along the south side for the past two weeks."

"I certainly hope this won't be the new normal," Lacie said, her brow creased with worry as she looked upwards. "Despite what the packs said, these wolves don't look to be going away any time soon."

"Why do they want our territory so bad?" Quake asked. "Can't they just go somewhere else?"

"Something about them being led to this land," Pepper said. "I don't know who the big one was talking about, but it wasn't the Hunter Dog, that's for sure."

"Well, I wouldn't think so," Lacie sniffed. "How would these wolves even know of him?"

"Wait, what do you mean by 'the big one?'" Laurel asked. "Aren't they all big?"

"Yes, but this was the biggest," Pepper replied. "He had long legs. And a nasty scar on his face. Songan, I think they said his name was."

"That's a funny name," Quake said before flinching as the ground shook again.

"It was rather appropriate," Lacie commented. "He had a strangely musical voice. If the circumstances had been different, then perhaps I would have even said it was beautif--"

Laurel jumped backwards as the roof of the tunnel caved in, sending an avalanche of soil in between her and her patrolmates. A blaze of light from above blinded her as the sound of the battle above hit her ears in full force. She caught a glimpse of two sets of legs as two dogs struggled to scramble up out of the new hole. One she recognized as the skinny, feathered legs of a Wind-dog, but the other set looked more like a Frost-dog. She gulped as she realized it had to be a wolf.

"Fall back!" shouted a voice with an unfamiliar accent. "Fall back!"

More dirt fell as Laurel felt the ground rumble under the pounding of paws in retreat. The Wind-dogs yelled a few jeers or threats after them, and then also appeared to depart. Laurel gasped and shook her head as she came back to her senses.

"Quake!" she shouted, running towards the new wall of dirt. "Pepper! Lacie! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

No response came. Laurel hesitated for a moment, wondering if she shouldn't just try to dig them out herself, but she knew it would be better if she got other dogs who were stronger than she was. Sending a quick prayer to the Hunter Dog that they weren't already suffocating, she took off down the tunnels, calling, "Help! Somebody! Cave in!"

Her voice echoed off of the walls and she prayed it would reach someone soon. Serena had run all of the trainees through the proper protocol for a cave in over and over, but Laurel hadn't really expected that she would be carrying it out only three months into her training.

"Laurel?"

She let out a gasp of relief as she heard a response. "River!" she barked, skidding to a halt as a hunting party, consisting of River, Rangval, Saxtus, and Spark, emerged from around the corner. "There--there was a cave in," she panted. "Quake, Lacie, and Pepper, I think they're trapped under."

River's eyes widened when she heard Quake's name. "All right, we need to move fast," she said. "Spark, you go back and tell the others, get the healers out here. Laurel, get the rest of us there."

Laurel nodded and spun around, charging back the way she came. She still didn't fully know her way around all of the tunnels, but she hadn't made any turns during her search, so leading the others back to where the trapped dogs were was easy.

When they had arrived, she turned to face the others again. "They didn't answer when I called to them," she said. "They might be unconscious."

"Well, let's not waste any time," Rangval said. "Get digging!"

Saxtus jumped above ground to begin digging from the top while the other three dug from the front. Laurel dug as fast as her tiny paws could go, unable to bear the thought of kind dogs like Pepper and Lacie drowning in soil. And if Quake hauls off and dies on me, then I'll... I'll kill him.

"I've got one!" Saxtus declared, diving down to grab a mouthful of fur that had become exposed beneath the dirt. The golden color indicated that it was Lacie, and with Rangval's assistance, the two of them pulled the old Dachshund up out of tunnel onto the ground above. Rangval carefully forced her muzzle open and began scooping dirt out of her mouth, soon causing her to start coughing and moving again. Relief washed over Laurel; if she was breathing, then she would be all right.

"Don't just stand there, Laurel," River growled. "We've still got two more!"

Laurel quickly nodded and busied herself again with digging. Her paw soon made contact with a warm body and they quickly dragged Pepper out. She wasn't entirely unconscious, still struggling faintly, and Rangval and Saxtus quickly began to work on getting the dirt out of her as well.

"Laurel!"

She whipped around at the sound of Cordan's voice, while River single-mindedly continued to dig. "Dad!" Laurel called back. "We're over here!"

Soon Cordan came into view, followed by Spark, Mortimer, and Lycian. "Quake is still under," Laurel said, "but we got Pepper and Lacie out."

The healers quickly attended to the two unearthed dogs, and with Cordan and Spark assisting, Quake was soon dug out as well. He was unconscious as Lacie was, but River quickly began to empty the soil out of her son's mouth, and Laurel let out a sigh of relief as he started gasping for air again. Lycian soon came over, sniffing him up and down carefully.

"Will they be all right?" Cordan asked.

Lycian nodded. "They'll need some rest, but after a day they should be fine. They weren't without air for too long. Right now they could use some water."

"I'll get some," Spark volunteered, taking off again. Laurel wondered how she still had so much energy after all the running she had already done.

"Well, I'm very glad," Cordan said. "Are you okay, Laurel?"

She nodded. "I was standing a little further back, and I jumped out of the way."

"What happened? Do you know what caused it?"

"There was another fight, between Wind Pack and the wolves, I guess. We felt the ground trembling but then it suddenly caved in."

Cordan nodded slowly. "I've been worried about something like this happening," he murmured. "Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt."

"But it could happen again," River said. "I think a lot of the tunnels on this side have started to be compromised."

"Yes, I know," Cordan said. "Serena and I will talk about putting more reinforcements in this area."

"Blasted wolves," growled Rangval. "It doesn't seem like they take no for an answer."

"I don't think so," Cordan said with a shake of his head. "The Hunter's Moon is in just a few days. Perhaps I'll bring this up to the other alphas. I'm sure they're being affected much worse than we are."