“How much farther?” Shattered Ice complained, proving that Gray Wing wasn’t the only cat having problems. “I’ve got so many thorns in my paws I think I’m turning into a gorse bush!”
“Yes, and how can we hunt birds when we can’t see the sky?” Quick Water added.
“Stop behaving like kits!” Moon Shadow barged his way through the ferns. “Just smell the prey! We could eat just by keeping our mouths open and letting it fall in.”
“I want to go farther before we stop for the night,” Shaded Moss called back. “There’s no time to hunt yet.”
Moon Shadow let out an annoyed hiss.
“I think we should see how far these trees go,” Clear Sky said. “I’ll climb one.” Without waiting for a reply, he bounded to the nearest tree and leaped almost halfway up the trunk before digging his claws into the bark.
“Wow!” Turtle Tail stared after him. “I always knew he could jump, but that’s amazing!”
Only a few moments passed before Clear Sky scrambled back down again. “I couldn’t get high enough to see,” he meowed. “I need a taller tree.”
Padding onward, every cat examined the trees on either side until Shaded Moss halted in front of a huge one with gnarled roots and dense branches. “Try this one,” he suggested to Clear Sky. “I think it must be an oak… my mother used to tell me about the trees where the Tribe lived before.”
Clear Sky sprang into the tree with another mighty leap, and Tall Shadow followed, though she had to start climbing farther down the trunk.
“I want to go too!” Jagged Peak squealed excitedly. “I can climb!”
“Stay on the ground,” Shaded Moss ordered.
Jagged Peak’s tail-tip twitched irritably, but he didn’t argue.
Gray Wing tipped back his head to watch Clear Sky and Tall Shadow until they vanished among the dense, leafless branches. A moment later, a triumphant yowl sounded from high up in the tree.
“Clear Sky has reached the top,” Jagged Peak mewed, an envious look in his eyes.
Twigs tumbled to the ground as Clear Sky and Tall Shadow reappeared, jumping down and catching their breath.
“The trees end not far from here,” Clear Sky panted.
“Great!” Turtle Tail exclaimed, with a satisfied swish of her tail. “I want to see the sky again.”
“And what did you see beyond the trees?” Shaded Moss asked.
“Oh…” Clear Sky looked disconcerted. “I’m not sure. It looked a bit misty.”
Gray Wing saw his brother exchange a meaningful glance with Tall Shadow, and wondered what the two cats were keeping back. But he knew very well that there would be no point in pressing Clear Sky with more questions; their old ease and closeness was gone.
With Shaded Moss and Clear Sky in the lead, the cats padded on through the trees toward the brightening light that heralded the edge of the woods. But before they emerged into the open, Shaded Moss halted. Gray Wing pushed forward with the other cats to see what was going on.
A flat path wound through the trees, clear of undergrowth. Gray Wing tasted the air, and sniffed along the grass at the edge, but found no familiar smells.
His friends were looking just as bewildered. The scents didn’t seem to be prey; Gray Wing felt no prickle of instinct telling him to hunt. Instead, his neck fur bristled and his paws tingled as if he wanted to run.
“Which way should we—”
Hawk Swoop’s question was cut off by a loud volley of harsh noises from farther down the path, drowning out the sounds of the woods.
“A dog!” Shattered Ice exclaimed.
“What’s a dog?” Jagged Peak asked, gazing down the path in the direction of the noise.
“An animal you don’t want to meet,” Shaded Moss replied, drawing the group closer together with a wave of his tail. “We used to see them in the valleys sometimes in the warm season, but we always stayed out of their way.”
As he finished speaking, a huge brown animal bounded around a curve in the path and halted, its lips drawn back in a snarl.
Shaded Moss yowled, “Scatter!”
The cats fled, diving into clumps of fern or scrambling up trees. Gray Wing pushed Jagged Peak into a bramble thicket and followed him in, clawing desperately at the thorns to make a space where they could hide.
No! he thought a moment later. We should have kept running, but now we’re trapped.
He tugged helplessly at the tendrils that curled around him. A tail-length away, the dog snuffled along the edge of the thicket. Gray Wing knew it would find them at any moment.
Then he heard another sound: high-pitched, clear, and crisp, with a note of anger. The dog whined in response. Gray Wing peered out of the brambles and saw a tall, thin creature walking on its hind legs, with a loose, multicolored pelt and a strange, pink, hairless face.
Jagged Peak popped up his head behind Gray Wing. “Oh, wow!” he exclaimed. “Is that a Twoleg? It’s so weird!”
The Twoleg didn’t seem to notice the scent of the cats. It padded up to the dog, seeming to have no problem balancing on its two hind paws, then fastened a soft tendril to the dog’s neck and dragged it away.
The dog whined again. It didn’t want to leave, straining toward the clumps of fern where the other cats were crouching.
No cat moved for a moment after the Twoleg and the dog had vanished down the path. Then gradually they began to emerge from their hiding places.
“I’ve never seen anything so awful in my entire life!” Falling Feather was shaking so much she could hardly stand. “Did you see its teeth?”
“It’s okay.” Jackdaw’s Cry comforted her, giving her ear a gentle lick. “It’s gone now.”
Gray Wing could see that even Shaded Moss was struggling to stay calm. “We were bound to come across Twolegs and dogs sooner or later,” he meowed. “And we survived, so let’s keep going.”
All the cats were happy to plunge back into the deep woods, leaving behind the trail with its dog-stench. But they were tired of the struggle through the thick undergrowth, and the thorns that seemed to lie in wait to attack their paws and muzzles.
“I thought we’d never get here!” Gray Wing exclaimed, finally emerging at the edge of the trees.
But he realized that while they were in the woods a persistent cold drizzle had started to fall, soon soaking their fur as they stood under the outlying trees.
“This is even worse than snow!” Quick Water complained.
Gray Wing stared ahead, his heart beginning to pound as he gazed at what lay ahead. This is what Clear Sky saw from the top of the tree! A collection of square, hard-edged blocks of stone lay in front of them, some taller than trees, with shiny square holes in the sides. A wave of unfamiliar scents washed over him. Some were warm and tantalizing, making his belly growl, while others made him curl his lip in disgust. He recognized the scent of Twolegs that had clung around the earthen path behind them.
“These must be Twoleg dens,” Shaded Moss suggested.
“And this is a Twolegplace!” Shattered Ice added. “Misty Water told me about them, but I thought she was making it up.”
Gray Wing thought they must be right; he could see a few Twolegs, heads ducked against the rain, running between the blocks of stone.
“Now what do we do?” Cloud Spots asked. “I don’t want to go any nearer.”
“Neither do I,” Falling Feather agreed. “There might be more dogs!”
Shaded Moss pointed with his tail, beyond the dens, to where the sharp peaks they were heading for were barely visible through the low clouds and rain. “That’s where we’re heading,” he meowed. “To the place where the sun rises. But it’ll be dark soon. We should find shelter for the night among the dens, where it’s dry.”