***

That night, Jaire slept in on the easternmost side of the rendezvous, whilst Starlight was curled up, still awake, at the western side. Jaire's sleep wasn't peaceful, however, full of dreams of seeing her family killed again one by one in the most brutal ways by monstrous Clan animals.

One of the animals was a humongous wolf, larger than any could realistically be, which seemed to be made out of shadow and wisps of mist. It laughed maniacally as it lodged its jaws into Big's throat and started ripping, before its dagger-like claws started tearing open his stomach, his innards spilling out.

Jaire felt sick and wanted to run away, but her paws seemed to be stuck to the inky-black forest ground. The shadow-wolf now approached her, laughing once more, before it spoke. "Jaire!" Its voice was loud and booming.

"Jaire. Jaire! Jaire!" slowly but surely, its more genderless-sounding voice started to morph into a rough feminine one. Starlight?

"Wah!" Jaire woke up with a snap, her hackles raised and her pads sweating. She was surprised to see Starlight standing beside her, her tail high and her eyes wide.

Jaire quickly recovered herself. It was a dream. "What's going on?"

"I smell foxes!" Starlight said in a hushed but urgent whisper.

"Foxes? We can handle those."

"No, not just one or two! A whole skulk of them! At least seven!"

Jaire frowned. "What could they possibly want?"

"I don't know, but I don't feel like finding out. They smell like trouble!" Starlight bayed anxiously.

Jaire stretched herself. "Come, let's track them. If we can stay downwind, that is."

Starlight gave a nervous nod and then followed as they left the rendezvous.

Jaire quickly realized that Starlight was right; their territory was bursting with sharp fox-like scents, many different ones. There really was an entire skulk here!

The foxes seemed to be weaving carelessly through their woods and marking everywhere they could. Jaire felt anger grip her. I've just gotten used to this place as my new home, and now a bunch of foxes are infiltrating already? They're not even subtle about it!

"Er, Jaire?" Starlight's voice made her look up. Behind them stood two foxes, red coated with sharp slit eyes.

Jaire knew that she and Starlight would be able to handle these two. Foxes were small and not particularly strong. Jaire was slightly bigger than your average red fox, and Starlight was a decent portion larger than even her. However, with so many in the territory, she didn't want to cause harm to these foxes. Who knows what the others will do if they find out we've tried to chase out their skulkmates! Instead, she tried to go for the civil approach, whilst Starlight seemed to be too nervous to speak.

"Greetings, fellow canines," she spoke, trying not to sound awkward and muster the courage to keep going. "What brings you to our territory?"

The left fox snickered. "Not your territory for much longer!"

The one on the right let out an agreeing noise. "As of tonight, this territory belongs to the Red Skulk."

Red Skulk? Never heard of them. Are they like a pack, or a larger organization like the Clan? She swallowed her fears and forced herself to remain polite. "I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding! Surely we could talk this out?"

"No talking out, only chasing out!" the first fox said sharply. "And by that, we mean you."

The right fox seemed in a bit of a more diplomatic mood, however. "We could bring you to our leader to talk."

Jaire faked a smile. "That'd be lovely, thank you."

"But no funny business!" the first fox argued.

Jaire nudged Starlight, who was still staring ahead fearfully. The right fox went first, with the left fox joining in the rear behind the dog and wolfdog.

As they made their way back in the direction of the rendezvous, more and more foxes joined them. Jaire was surprised. She'd never seen this many together, as they were usually very individualistic animals who lived either by themselves or in pairs with a few young. There had to be at least six full grown red foxes escorting them now.

Jaire and Starlight were guided back onto their rendezvous, and much to Jaire's dismay there was another bunch of red foxes waiting for them there. The largest of them, a vixen, was as big as Jaire, with a long coat and an elegant busy tail. Her eyes were a bright yellow color.

Jaire heard Starlight swallow nervously as she stepped forward. The foxes that had escorted them now entered the rendezvous as well. In total there were thirteen, the one who was seemingly the leader included.

Okay, stay diplomatic. Nobody has to get hurt and Starlight and I can keep our land. I can do this.

The large fox made a gesture which Jaire guessed meant that she should sit down. Starlight joined her right flank a moment later.

"Greetings, madame..." Jaire's voice was barely more than a whisper. She cleared her throat and tried again. She knew very well that, if they wanted to, these thirteen foxes could easily rip both her and Starlight apart. There was no winning against this many of them.

Jaire tried again. "Greetings, madame."

The large fox chuckled. "Madame?"

Jaire felt the need to tuck her tail, but couldn't because of her sitting position and the ground being in the way. "Is that not correct?" she anxiously bayed.

The large vixen let out another brief chuckle. "Madame is fine by me. However, you may know my name. I am Stella, and I am the matriarch of the Red Skulk."

Jaire looked around them. Each fox's expression was as hostile as the last.

Stella pricked her ears. "I see that name doesn't ring a bell for you. Well, let me tell you, we are the most successful group of red foxes on this mountain range! Me and my children are many, and we have looked far and wide for the ideal territory to support us, and now we have found it." She smiled slyly.

Jaire bit her lower lip. "Um, yes, that may be the case, madame Stella, but it appears your skulk is, er, trying to take our territory."

"Oh, it's no longer yours," Stella said simply. "We've marked it everywhere and there's no way you two can win against us. You can leave now peacefully and never come back or face the fury of my skulk."

"But that's not fair!" Starlight finally seemed to have found her tongue. "We've been living here for a while now and we know that the territories around ours aren't taken! You can have any of those lands, no problem!"

Jaire gave an agreeing nod as her friend spoke.

Stella gave a swish of her plumy tail. "Correction, our territory. And we know. There's plenty of unclaimed land here where the Clan, Lone Ones, wolf packs and others aren't taking everything for themselves. But we don't want just any land. We want this land."

Starlight let out a deep growl, seeming to have regained her confidence somewhat.

Jaire looked at the matriarch. "Surely we can talk about this?"

The vixen got up and shook her head. "I'm afraid not, dears. But I'm not a monster. Say, I'll give you a day's time to say goodbye to your dear land. Tomorrow evening we come back to collect."

"That's not fair!" Starlight repeated.

"That's not how I see it," Stella retorted. "You are just two canines. We are with many, and we require this land to thrive. You'll find someplace else you'll like."

"But we were here first!" pressed Starlight.

"I don't do 'first come, first serve'. Simple as that. Now, me and my skulk will be taking our leave, but tomorrow night around this time we'll be here to claim our land or chase you out permanently, should you choose to stay. Understood?"

Starlight got up, hackles raised, but Jaire quickly stepped between her and the matriarch. "Understood, madame."

"Good. See you tomorrow night, dears." She left quietly with all of her skulk following behind her in single file.

Jaire stared them down until the last fox was gone. "What do we do?" she asked afterwards.

Starlight let out an annoyed snarl. "You should've let me kill that Stella."

Jaire shifted uncomfortably. "That wouldn't have solved our problem, Starlight. Do you think the rest of the skulk would've just sat idly by while you did so? They'd have attacked us and they'd have won."

"Then what do you suppose we do? Give up our land?" Starlight exhaled loudly through her nostrils.

"No. I don't want to leave here. It's safe and it feels like home. But we should consider our options if we want ourselves to be safe as well. Maybe we can think of a way to persuade Stella to let us keep our land."

"How? She seemed pretty dead-set on claiming it!"

"I don't know. Surely we'll think of something."

Starlight let out a frustrated sigh before sitting down close to Jaire, tears blinking in her eyes. "We can't lose everything all over again. We've only just gotten started anew."

Jaire sighed before leaning into her to comfort her. "We'll find a way, Starlight. We have to."

***

The next night came painfully fast. Jaire and Starlight had tried desperately to think of a way to get rid of the Red Skulk, but there was simply no way they knew that could work. Finally, they decided that it would be best to just admit defeat and pack up their stuff. Starlight had gone on a few successful hunts in order to create a small backlog of prey, while Jaire had gone and wrapped her most important herbs into leaf bundles for her and Starlight to carry in their mouths. Unlike the Clan, which had gathered many human artifacts throughout the years, she and Starlight would have to do things the old-fashioned way using their jaws, and wouldn't be able to bring much.

Time went by, and soon Stella showed up with her skulk once more. Jaire was once more amazed by the size of the Red Skulk's leader. The red fox's eyes seemed to glow in the eerie light of the moon. She entered the clearing they'd made their rendezvous and sat down once more, her foxes fanning out beside her, teeth showing.

Jaire and Starlight sat directly opposite of them, side by side, their herbs at the ready.

Stella began. "Well, I see you haven't left yet."

Jaire shot the vixen a pleading look. "Is there really no changing your mind?"

"Afraid not," the large fox responded. "From now on, this territory belongs to the Red Skulk. What say you to that?"

Jaire was about to respond when Starlight suddenly got up, her hackles raised. "To that I say take this!" Without a moment's warning she launched herself at the vixen matriarch. Jaire's eyes widened as it all happened, and the Red Skulk sprang into action, viciously attacking the black wolfdog. A moment later they were upon Jaire as well.