“This is hopeless,” Blossomheart mewed. “Let’s go back.”
Pebbleshine had slipped farther into the bushes, and now she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming. “Come look at this!”
Hawkwing slid through the branches to her side, and saw a wide stretch of ground in front of him, covered with the same hard black surface as a Thunderpath. Several monsters crouched there, and at one side a Thunderpath led away. Beyond the monsters loomed the gray walls of a Twoleg den.
“It’s a kind of monster camp!” Pebbleshine whispered.
Waspwhisker poked his head through the branches just behind them. “What are you playing at?” he demanded. “Get away from there.”
“It’s okay,” Pebbleshine responded. “All the monsters are asleep. And there’s a really interesting smell coming from that one.”
She angled her ears toward a monster at the edge of the camp. It had a big platform jutting out of its back, with low sides, and something shiny resting inside it.
Hawkwing drew air over his scent glands and realized what Pebbleshine meant. The smell coming from the monster was rich and appetizing. It smells like prey… but how can it be, on the back of a monster?
Waspwhisker had scented it, too. “Okay, let’s take a look,” he meowed. “But keep watch for Twolegs. And if the monsters start to wake up, get out of here, fast.”
He took the lead as the three cats ventured into the open.
Blossomheart and Curlypaw followed a few paces behind them.
Curlypaw’s eyes stretched wide, half excited and half afraid; Hawkwing realized that she had never been so close to monsters before.
As he drew nearer, Hawkwing could hear clucking noises coming from the back of the monster. The shiny things he had seen from the bushes were some kind of weird nests.
“There are birds in there!” he gasped.
“And they’re trapped,” Pebbleshine added. “They must be some kind of Twoleg prey.”
“That’s just what they are,” Waspwhisker told the younger cats. “They’re called chickens. Some Twolegs near the gorge used to keep them.”
“Are they good to eat?” Curlypaw asked.
Waspwhisker swiped his tongue around his jaws. “Oh, yes,” he mewed.
For a few heartbeats the cats stood still, staring at the clucking, feathery mass of chickens. Hawkwing felt even hungrier as the succulent smell flowed over him.
“You know,” Pebbleshine meowed, glancing warily around, “the monster is asleep, and there aren’t any Twolegs around. Why don’t we—”
“You’re not suggesting we climb onto a monster’s back?”
Blossomheart interrupted, half intrigued and half scared.
“Why not?” Hawkwing asked, with an admiring glance at Pebbleshine. She’s so brave! “We could get enough fresh-kill to feed the whole Clan.”
Curlypaw gave an excited little bounce. “Just think of their faces when we get back!”
“We could do it.” Hawkwing turned to the Clan deputy. “What do you think, Waspwhisker?”
For a moment Waspwhisker still gazed thoughtfully at the monster. Then he nodded slowly. “Let’s go for it. Hawkwing, you and Curlypaw keep watch. The rest of you, follow me.”
“I can climb up, too,” Hawkwing mewed before any cat could move.
“No, I can tell your leg is hurting,” Waspwhisker responded.
“You’re more use here on the ground.”
“Then Pebbleshine should stay here, too,” Hawkwing meowed.
“Yes, Pebbleshine, you have to be careful,” Blossomheart agreed, while Waspwhisker nodded.
Pebbleshine twitched the tip of her tail. “I’m not big enough yet for it to make any difference,” she protested. “I can still run just as fast as the rest of you. And it was my idea.”
“Okay,” Waspwhisker sighed. “Let’s just get on with it before we all die of starvation.”
Hawkwing and Curlypaw watched anxiously as their three
Clanmates clambered onto the back of the monster. The harsh sound of their claws scraping against the monster’s pelt made
Hawkwing’s neck fur rise with the strangeness of it. The gentle clucking of the chickens rose to an alarmed squawking, but to Hawkwing’s relief the monster didn’t wake up.
“It’s amazing up here!” Pebbleshine yowled. “There are so many of these fat birds, and they’re all just trapped here. If we can work out how to open the nests, we can feed the whole Clan!”
Hawkwing crouched on the ground beside his apprentice, his heart pounding as the moments slid past. What’s taking so long? he wondered, expecting at any moment to see his Clanmates’ heads pop back up. He tried to make sense of the sounds that were coming from the monster; the chickens’ squawks had risen to a terrified clamor, but he couldn’t hear the cats at all.
Then Hawkwing heard another noise, coming from the Twoleg den beyond the monster camp. A moment later a Twoleg came into view, heading toward the monsters.
“Don’t move!” Hawkwing called out. “A Twoleg!”
“M aybe the Twoleg will go to one of the other monsters, and he won’t notice us,” Curlypaw whispered.
“Let’s hope so.”
But Hawkwing realized his hope was in vain as the Twoleg strode purposefully toward the monster with the chickens. “He’s coming right toward us!” he yowled. “Get out of there now!”
At first there was no response from the cats inside the monster.
The Twoleg will wake it up, Hawkwing thought, agonized. Then they’ll know we were trying to steal their prey! “Hurry!” he urged.
Waspwhisker’s head popped up from behind the low barrier at the back of the monster, and Blossomheart appeared a heartbeat later. “Fox dung!” Waspwhisker exclaimed, looking furiously disappointed as he and Blossomheart scrambled over the barrier and leaped down to join Hawkwing and Curlypaw.
“Where’s Pebbleshine?” Hawkwing asked as they landed beside him.
“I’m still here!” Pebbleshine replied from inside the monster, her words almost drowned out by louder squawking. “I’ve managed to open one of the nests. I’ve got a chicken!”
“Then get down here, fast!” Hawkwing responded.
His gaze was fixed on the Twoleg, who tramped across the hard surface of the monster camp, opened up the monster, and climbed into its belly. He didn’t seem to have noticed the cats crouching a few tail-lengths away from the monster’s round black paws.
“Pebbleshine, now!” Waspwhisker screeched.
“I’m coming!” Pebbleshine sounded frustrated. “But this stupid bird is fighting!”
“Then let it go!” Hawkwing yowled.
“But the Clan needs it!” Pebbleshine protested.
M ore loud squawking followed, then Pebbleshine’s forepaws appeared on the side of the monster. Hawkwing could see her face.
At the same moment the monster woke up with a deep-throated growl.
“Jump! Pebbleshine, jump!” Blossomheart shrieked as she and Waspwhisker backed away.
Hawkwing shoved Curlypaw after them, then ran toward the monster. But just then the monster lurched into motion. Shock jolted through Hawkwing as its huge black paws rolled backward, threatening to crush him. The others scattered. Trembling, Hawkwing stood his ground.
I won’t run away while Pebbleshine is in danger!
When the monster was a tail-length away from Hawkwing, it halted. He crouched, ready to leap up beside Pebbleshine. With a louder roar and the belch of a stinking cloud from its hindquarters, the monster began to move forward, heading for the Thunderpath.
Hawkwing was too late.
“Pebbleshine!” he screeched.
He pushed off in an enormous leap, but he fell short, landing with a thump on the hard ground. His last sight of his mate was her scrabbling at the side of the monster, only for the big brute to stumble and lurch, making Pebbleshine lose her grip and fall back down. She stared, wide-eyed, at Hawkwing, her mouth moving as if she was yowling something to him.