Tailchaser’s Song

"Later, Pouncequick," snorted Fritti. "Later. First I want to hear the rest of your song, little cu'nre."

"Oh, yes. Well, I was trying to make up ground on you-hoping you would stop to sleep, or something- when I heard the most awful noise. It was a huge group of birds, and they were all twittering and shrieking at the same time. I looked up, and there were hundreds of them-a whole cloud of fla-fa'az- all flying like mad around this tree, and making a terrible fuss.

"I went to the base of the tree, naturally, to see what was going on.

"It must have been horrible up top. There were piles of dead fla-fa'az, ripped and bitten, and feathers everywhere, floating down from the upper branches. And when I looked up, I could see eyes!"

"What do you mean, "eyes'?" Fritti questioned.

"Eyes. Big, pale-yellow ones-like nothing I've ever seen. There were too many branches in the way for me to see anything else, but I know I wasn't mistaken. Then whatever it was made a hissing noise at me, and I ran. I think it came down the tree after me, Tailchaser, because the birds stopped making that terrible ruckus-but I didn't look back to find out. I just ran." Pouncequick paused for a moment with his eyes closed, then continued.

"I think that there might have been more than one, from the sounds I heard. They were fast, and if I wasn't small-able to get under bushes and such- they would have caught me. I have never been so frightened-not even when a Growler was after me.

"Finally, I could barely run anymore. I was slowing down. I couldn't hear anything behind me, though, so I stopped to listen more carefully.

"I was standing there with my ears up, and something reached out from under a rock and grabbed me!"

"From under a rock?" said Tailchaser incredulously.

"I swear by the First! It grabbed my leg! Here, see these scratches!" Pouncequick displayed his wounds. "You won't believe this either, Tailchaser, but the thing that grabbed me, whatever it was… it had red claws!"

"Well, you said that something was killing the birds you saw. It was probably blood."

"After half an Hour of chasing me over dirt and brambles? It would have come clean. Besides, this wasn't dried blood. This was bright-red."

Puzzled, Fritti gestured for the young one to continue.

"I shrieked like a jay, of course, and managed somehow to pull away. I went into a tangle bush as deep as I could, hoping they were too big to come in after me. I couldn't run any farther. They didn't make any noise, then, but I could sense they were still there.

"Then I smelled fox, and suddenly they were off. After I'd waited awhile, I staggered out from the bush and found the den-burrow. I supposed I'd go down just inside, where I'd have some defense if they came back for me. Then the Visl returned. I guess you know the rest."

Fritti leaned forward and gave the youngster a nose-rub on his forehead. "You were very brave, Pouncequick. Very brave. So you never saw what it was that chased you?"

"Not quite, no. But I shall never forget those eyes. And those red claws! Phoof!" Pouncequick shook himself from nose to tail, then turned to Tailchaser, anxiety melted away. "All that talk of fla-fa'az has made me ravenous. Did I mention that I was hungry?"

"I think you did," laughed Tailchaser.

They rested through the afternoon, and set out again at twilight.

Tailchaser had some misgivings about keeping young Pouncequick with him, but decided that he really had no other choice: he couldn't send the little cat away-back through the dangerous woods-and he himself could not give up his quest for Hushpad.

They made a fairly good pace. Pouncequick tended to trot ahead for a while, then lag behind-fascinated by a butterfly or a shiny stone. It seemed to even out, more or less, and their progress was steady. Pouncequick even managed to curb his squeaking a little, and the hunting improved.

Several days passed. They fell into a routine of alternating walks and rests-a long sleep at midday, when the sun was high, and another at Final Dancing, lasting until sunrise. They hunted as they traveled, catching the odd beede or small bird hidden in the brush, and hunted bigger game only before the lying-in time of Smaller Shadows.

One afternoon, Pouncequick caught a Squeaker all by himself. It was a young mouse, and a very stupid one at that, but Pouncequick caught it without help and was justifiably proud. Moreover, Fritti decided, it tasted just as good as the cleverer sort.

Their companionship eased the tedium of the journey for both cats, and the days flew swiftly by. Although Pouncequick's incessant bounding and capering occasionally drove Fritti to snarling and swatting, he was still very glad to have the little cat for company. As for Pouncequick, he was delighted to be adventuring with an admired elder. The shadow of his first night in the wild seemed to have vanished, leaving no trace.

The forest seemed to change around them as they traveled-now thick and knotted, choked as tangle-bush, then open and airy as Edge Copse. Then, at the end of their fifth day in the woods, the trees began to appear successively smaller and farther apart.

Topping a jutting rock that stood out among the treetops like a fela above her kittens, Tailchaser and Pouncequick stood and watched the sun of their sixth day rise. The forest below them stretched away another league or two, becoming steadily sparser, then dwindled to an end. Beyond it lay rolling green downs; clusters of trees sat in the hollows between their rounded sides.

The downs stretched on into the distance, their farthest reaches shrouded in early-morning fog. Beyond that might lie more hill land, or forests… or anything. No one Tailchaser knew had ever spoken of what lay beyond the Old Woods.

The two companions scented the breeze, drinking up the smells rising on the warming air. Pouncequick looked down, then butted Fritti's side.

Below them, on a subordinate peak of the outcropping, stood another cat. It was a strange sight, all muddy, with tangled fur and wild eyes. As Tailchaser and Pouncequick stared the unknown cat looked up at them with a strange, unfocused gaze. They had only a moment more to wonder at its ragged pelt and crooked tail; then the stranger leaped down from the rock, landing unsteadily on a wide limb, and vanished into the foliage. Where it had passed, the leaves bobbed for a moment, then were still.

CHAPTER 7

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

–Lewis Carroll

Tailchaser was doing a lot of thinking. The long days of walking had given him time to do that, and he was adding up facts in a very careful way.

Pouncequick's story of pursuit fit in with the other things he had heard: the disappearance of some of the Folk; the Rikchikchik's tales of cat raids.

Lord Snap had mentioned four cats: the number alone made Fritti believe someone other than Folk was responsible for the raids on the squirrel-nests. And Karthwine the fox had said that the beasts had smelled part badger, part cat. Perhaps the creatures just looked enough like cats to lead small animals like the Rikchikchik to a false conclusion.

Even Stretchslow had said that something strange was in the air. A new kind of marauding beast? Pouncequick's descriptions of eyes and claws came back to him, and he shuddered.

With a sudden start, he thought of Hushpad-could those things have gotten her? But no, he had smelled no fear at her empty nesting place. They might have caught her in the forest, though! Poor Hushpad! Such a big world, and so full of dangers…