by Erin Hunter
“Hi.” A gentle mew made him stop. He looked toward the Twoleg nest where the voice had sounded. A pale cream she-cat was crouched on a wide wooden ledge jutting from the front. She glanced down at him, her fluffy tail twitching at the tip. “You’re not from around here. Are you lost?”
Tigerheart eyed the kittypet and saw softness in her gaze. “I’m looking for someone.” He padded toward the ledge and blinked at her hopefully. “A gray cat called Dovewing. Have you seen her? She might have passed this way a few days ago. She was looking for a den with spikes on the roof like gorse spines.”
The kittypet looked puzzled. “Spikes?”
“It’s in a Twolegplace where the nests reach into the sky,” Tigerheart explained.
The kittypet glanced at the low Twoleg nests surrounding hers. “It won’t be here, then,” she mewed apologetically.
“Perhaps you saw Dovewing?” Tigerheart’s belly ached with hope as he searched the kittypet’s face for recognition.
“Fight!” An excited yowl sounded behind him, and he turned to see the ginger tabby rushing toward him once more.
Frustration spiked Tigerheart’s pelt. Not you again! He reared to meet the tom’s attack, flipped the kittypet’s hind paws from beneath him with a swipe of one paw, and knocked him to the ground with another. He pinned him there, his claws sheathed, his paws buried deep in the tabby’s fluffy pelt. The kittypet was so soft it was like pressing into moss.
“Hey!” the kittypet wailed indignantly, trying to wriggle free of Tigerheart’s grip.
“I don’t have time to fight,” Tigerheart meowed firmly. “I’m looking for someone. If I let you up, will you back off?”
The kittypet squirmed. “But why? I’m having fun!”
“Just back off,” Tigerheart growled.
The kittypet stopped squirming. “Okay.”
Tigerheart let him go.
The kittypet leaped to his paws and backed away, his eyes bright. “That was an awesome move,” he mewed. “Can you show me how you did it?”
“I said I don’t have time.” Tigerheart’s pelt prickled with irritation. Every moment that passed, Dovewing was getting further away.
“Do you need to get back to your Twolegs?” the kittypet tom asked.
“I don’t have Twolegs,” Tigerheart told him. “I’m a warrior.”
“A warrior!” The kittypet’s eyes widened in wonder. “That’s why you fight so good. I’ve heard about warriors. Have you been one for long?”
“Since I was born.” Tigerheart supposed that was a bit inaccurate—he’d been a kit and an apprentice first—but that didn’t seem worth explaining to this kittypet, whose eyes widened with interest.
“Do you live in the wild?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Tigerheart paused. What a mouse-brained question. “Why do you live with Twolegs?”
But the kittypet seemed more interested in Tigerheart’s life than his own. “Don’t you get cold and hungry?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you really fight foxes and badgers?”
“When we have to.” Tigerheart’s pelt rippled along his spine. This was taking too long.
“Fuzzball,” the she-cat cut in gently, clearly sensing Tigerheart’s impatience. “Give him a break.”
“Fuzzball?” Tigerheart’s whiskers twitched in surprise. “Is that your name?”
Fuzzball blinked at him. “Of course.”
Didn’t this kittypet mind having such a dumb name? Tigerheart stared at him. “I’ve never heard of a cat called Fuzzball before.”
“What’s your name?” Fuzzball asked.
“Tigerheart.”
The ginger tabby’s eyes widened, impressed. “That’s a great name!” He blinked at the she-cat. “Tigerheart.” Saying the name seemed to please him, and he purred. “I want to be called Tigerheart.”
The she-cat blinked at him fondly. “I think Fuzzball suits you better.”
“Not as much as Tigerheart would!”
As Fuzzball puffed out his chest, the she-cat dipped her head to Tigerheart. “My name is Rose. I’m sorry we can’t help you find your friend, but you said that she was looking for a place with nests that reach the sky.” She turned to Fuzzball. “Do you know where that is?”
Fuzzball looked pleased to be asked. “No.” He blinked at Tigerheart. “But Ajax might. He told me that he and his Twolegs once lived in a den so high he could look down at the birds.”
Tigerheart pressed back a shudder. Why would anything without wings want to live in the sky?
“Come on.” Fuzzball headed around the side of the Twoleg nest. “I’ll take you to Ajax.”
Tigerheart nodded quickly to Rose. “Thanks for your help.”
She tipped her head. “Good luck!” she called as he followed Fuzzball. “I hope you find your friend.”
Fuzzball wasn’t a good fighter, but he did know how to travel through Twoleg territory. Tigerheart hurried to keep up as the ginger kittypet led him through a maze of paths and tracks that wove between Twoleg nests, over grassy clearings, and around fences. The tom showed no fear as he dodged beneath monsters sleeping in front of nests and slid between them as they dozed beside Thunderpaths.
“Here,” he meowed, stopping at last on the grassy square behind a yellow Twoleg nest. While Tigerheart caught his breath, overwhelmed by the countless new scents that filled his nose and distracted by noises he didn’t recognize, Fuzzball lifted his muzzle and yowled. “Ajax!” He looked expectantly at the nest.
A moment later, a clear flap clattered open near the bottom and a burly black-and-white tom squeezed out. He lifted his tail as he saw Fuzzball. “Hey, Fuzz! Are you looking for a fight?” His eyes sparked warmly.
“Not today,” Fuzzball purred back. “Although this cat could teach you a thing or two about fighting. He totally beat me.”
“Rose could beat you in a fight,” Ajax teased.
Fuzzball flicked his tail. “One day I’m going to be the best fighter in the neighborhood.”
Ajax wove around him, brushing pelts with the fluffy tom. “Perhaps,” he conceded. “But you need to spend less time at your food dish and more time patrolling your territory.”
Tigerheart’s ears pricked in surprise. “Do kittypets patrol territory too?”
Ajax swung his wide head toward Tigerheart and narrowed his eyes. “Of course. If we have territory to patrol.”
“But you’re not warriors,” Tigerheart pointed out.
“What’s a warrior?” Ajax poked his muzzle forward and sniffed Tigerheart.
“Haven’t you heard of warriors?” Fuzzball whisked his tail. He seemed happy to know more than his friend. “They’re strays that live in the wild.”
Ajax blinked sympathetically at Tigerheart. “Couldn’t you find a Twoleg to take you in?”
Tigerheart’s pelt bristled. “I wouldn’t want a Twoleg to take me in.”
Fuzzball lifted his muzzle. “He likes being a stray.”
“A warrior,” Tigerheart corrected.
“Well, whatever you are . . .” Ajax circled him slowly. “You look lost.”
Tigerheart warily eyed the Twoleg den behind Ajax. What if a Twoleg came out? “I’m traveling somewhere to find a friend,” he explained.
“His friend was heading for a place with nests that reach to the sky, like the one you used to live in,” Fuzzball told Ajax.
“She had a dream that told her there was a den there with a spiky roof,” Tigerheart added.
“She?” Ajax exchanged meaningful looks with Fuzzball. “Is this a romantic quest?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “If you’re looking for romance, there are plenty of she-cats here.”
“This one’s special.” Tigerheart’s pelt prickled hotly. Didn’t kittypets fall in love?
“Whatever.” Ajax shrugged. “If your friend was heading for a place with sky-high nests, she was probably looking for the Twolegplace I come from.” The black-and-white tom glanced at
his Twoleg nest disdainfully. “It’s way bigger than this place. I used to live in a huge den filled with Twoleg nests. From the window, the Thunderpaths below looked tiny. Everything looked tiny. Twolegs looked like prey from up there. Even the monsters looked like prey.”
Tigerheart swallowed. Dovewing was in a place where the dens reached so high that the monsters looked tiny. He had to get to her. “Is there a den there with big spikes like gorse thorns on the roof?”
Ajax narrowed his eyes. “Like gorse thorns?” He seemed to be thinking. “That sounds like a Twoleg gathering place.”
Tigerheart blinked at him confused.
“I could see a gathering place from my old home,” Ajax told him. “Every quarter moon, Twolegs would go there and yowl together.”
“Why?” Fuzzball asked.
“It’s something Twolegs do.” Ajax sniffed.
Tigerheart’s heart sparked with hope. Dovewing had been right. There was a gorse-spiked den. He was heading the right way. “How do I get to that Twolegplace?” he asked Ajax.
Ajax looked over his shoulder at his Twoleg nest, then swished his tail. “Follow me. I’ll show you.”
As he headed across the patch of grass behind the nest, Fuzzball glanced nervously at Tigerheart. “Are you sure you want to go there?”
Tigerheart nodded. “I have to.”
Ajax called to them from across the grass. “Are you two coming?”
Tigerheart hurried toward him. He let the two kittypets take the lead. They were clearly more skillful at dodging Twolegs and monsters. They kept to shadowy gaps between nests, and when they needed to cross a Thunderpath, they knew exactly when to dart between the monsters. When they saw Twolegs on the pathways, they slipped around them, ducking nimbly if a Twoleg bent to touch them.
“If you can learn to dodge Twolegs and monsters like that,” Tigerheart puffed as they reached a clear stretch of grass on the outskirts of the Twolegplace, “you can learn to fight.”
Fuzzball blinked at him hopefully. “Do you really think so?”
“Sure.” Tigerheart looked back in relief at the dens and paths that cluttered the landscape behind him. “You just need to work out a few battle moves and practice them until you can do them without thinking.”
Fuzzball purred.
Ajax was padding on, crossing the scruffy grass. Tigerheart followed him. He could see two shiny tracks cutting across the scrubland ahead. A few tree-lengths away, a small nest sat on a wide stone ledge that edged the track squarely. Ajax stopped and nodded toward it. “That’s where Twolegs wait for the Thundersnake to arrive.”
“Thundersnake?” Tigerheart pelt prickled with unease. “What’s that?”
Ajax stared at him. “You don’t know? Are you kidding?”
Tigerheart fluffed out his fur self-consciously. “We don’t have Thundersnakes in the forest.”
Fuzzball padded between him and Ajax. “A Thundersnake is a huge monster that travels along the Silverpath.” He nodded toward the shiny tracks that lay a few tail-lengths in front of them.
“The Silverpath leads to the big Twolegplace.” Ajax added. “That’s why the Twolegs are waiting. When the Thundersnake arrives, they’ll climb into its belly and let it carry them there.”
Climb into its belly? Shuddering with horror, Tigerheart followed his gaze and saw Twolegs milling on the ledge now. Some were gazing eagerly along the track. Others hung back or paced. Tigerheart could sense impatience in the Twolegs’ restless movements. “How long till the Thundersnake comes?”
“Soon.” Ajax turned his head and looked expectantly along the shiny tracks.
Tigerheart watched the Twolegs on the ledge. One of them put down the heavy bundle it was carrying and crouched beside it. The Twoleg used its forepaws to open up the bundle, revealing colorful pelts crammed inside. “What’s that?” Tigerheart nudged Ajax.
Ajax turned to look. “It’s a shell,” he grunted. “Twolegs use them to carry their spare pelts around.” He stiffened and looked back along the track. “The Thundersnake’s coming.”
Tigerheart followed his gaze. His ears twitched as the tracks began to hum. He felt the air tremble around them as their vibration grew stronger. Suddenly a monster appeared where the tracks dipped behind a ridge. It rumbled toward them like a storm.
Tigerheart’s paws froze in fear. The Thundersnake was huge—far bigger than any monster he’d seen before. The earth shook as it pounded closer. Its paws carved a path along the tracks, which seemed to scream beneath its weight. He glanced at Ajax and Fuzzball. Why weren’t they running away? He held his ground beside them, fighting the urge to flee as the Thundersnake screamed closer. It roared past them like forest fire. Hot air blasted from its flanks, which flashed by, flank after flank, until Tigerheart wondered if the Thundersnake would ever end. He narrowed his eyes against its choking stench and dug his claws into the earth. Its wind tore at his pelt, and he flattened his ears against its deafening howl. Stiff with terror, he held his breath as the world seemed to explode around him. Was this really where Dovewing’s dream was supposed to lead?
CHAPTER 11
Tigerheart pressed himself against the earth, trying not to tremble as the Thundersnake’s long tail slowed a short distance in front of him. Finally its flanks drew level with the stone ledge, and the creature rumbled to a halt. The waiting Twolegs didn’t flinch as it growled to itself beside the ledge. How could they be so calm? Twolegs were even stranger than he thought. When gaps opened in the side, the Twolegs on the ledge shifted away as other Twolegs streamed out, then began to push past them and climb into the belly of the snake. Tigerheart’s pelt bristled with fear. Why were they so trusting? Did they really believe the Thundersnake would let them out of its belly when they reached the Twolegplace? What if it was hungry?
“Quick!” Ajax hissed in Tigerheart’s ear. “If you run, you can get inside.”
Tigerheart stared at him in horror.
“Go on!” Ajax nudged him toward the ledge. “You have to get in before it closes back up. Then the Thundersnake will take you to the Twolegplace.”
“I’m not getting into the belly of a Thundersnake!” Tigerheart blinked at him.
“Twolegs do it all the time,” Ajax argued.
“But Twolegs are crazy,” Tigerheart pointed out.
“He’s right,” Fuzzball agreed.
“I’ve been inside a Thundersnake,” Ajax reminded them.
“And it let you out?”
“Of course.”
“What was it like inside?” Tigerheart couldn’t imagine it had been safe.
Ajax looked thoughtful for a moment. “It was loud and smelly and full of Twolegs. And my Twoleg carried me in a cage.” He shifted his paws. “Okay. It wasn’t the best day of my life, but I survived, and how else are you going to get to the Twolegplace?”
“I’ll walk.”
“It’ll take forever.” Ajax stared at him. The Thundersnake suddenly hooted and began to shudder. “Hurry!” He flicked his tail. “It’s about to leave.”
“Good.” Tigerheart glanced toward the Thundersnake, relieved as the gaps closed. He let his fur smooth as the great creature began to pull away from the ledge.
“You can’t walk all the way to where you’re going,” Ajax argued. “It’s too far.”
“I can walk anywhere,” he told Ajax. “My Clan once walked over a mountain range to find a new home.”
Ajax shrugged. “I don’t know who your Clan is, but they sound as crazy as Twolegs.”
“They sound awesome.” Fuzzball was staring at him, wide-eyed. “Are they your family?”
“Some of them.” A pang of loss jabbed Tigerheart’s belly as he thought of Rowanstar and Tawnypelt. He might never see them again. He changed the subject. “I’ll follow the Silverpath. It will take longer, but I trust my own paws more than I trust a Thundersnake.”
Ajax shrugged. “If that’s what you want.” The black-and-white tom looked at the sky. The sun was sliding toward the hilltop b
ehind them. “When will you leave?”
“You can stay with my Twolegs tonight,” Fuzzball offered. “They feed strays.” His tail twitched. “I’m always having to share my food.”
“Warriors can feed themselves.” Tigerheart meowed pointedly. He scanned the scrubland. The low-growing shrubs were bathed in golden light. Prey would be moving between them. He blinked at the two kittypets. He was grateful for their help, even if they did keep calling him a stray. “Thanks for the offer, Fuzzball, but I want to leave soon. I’ll eat here first, though.”
“How?” Fuzzball blinked at him. “There aren’t any food dishes here.”
“Who needs food dishes?” Tigerheart whisked his tail. “Let’s hunt.”
“Catch our own food?” Ajax looked unconvinced.
Fuzzball paced excitedly. “Hunt? I’d love to. I’ve chased the birds in my garden and tracked a mouse once, but I’ve never caught anything.”
“You will today.” Tigerheart dipped his head to the young tom.
“I guess it sounds interesting.” Ajax wandered over the Silverpath, his fur gleaming in the afternoon sun, and headed onto the scrub. “I’d like to stretch my legs before I go home.”
Tigerheart leaped over the Silverpath, careful not to touch it. It gleamed suspiciously, and stank of Thundersnake scent. Fuzzball followed him. On the other side, Tigerheart tasted the air. As the Thundersnake stench settled, he smelled the aroma of leaves and, breathing deeper, could just taste the musky scent of prey. He licked his lips. “Let’s go this way.” Keeping low, he pushed between two spiky bushes and followed a scuffed trail through the scrub. His nose twitched excitedly as the scent of prey grew stronger. He saw peck marks around the stems of the bushes and could smell that they were fresh. It must be a bird, a large one by the look of it.
Fuzzball and Ajax set the bushes rustling behind him as they followed.