Tailchaser’s Song

"Mre'fa-o," he said to the newcomer, with weak amiability. "I'm Tailchaser. I heard you…" He broke off in midphrase, whiskers twitching. This new cat looked very familiar, even in the near-darkness.

"Roofshadow!" he gasped. His mind whirled. Had she been here all along, working in the mound? Was it really her?

"Quiet!" hissed the fela.

Still marveling, he leaned forward and scented her nose, her flanks. Roofshadow! As he dreamily sniffed, she flicked him on the nose with her paw. Like an embarrassed kitten he straightened up, looking wildly from side to side. None of the other prisoners were paying the slightest attention. Nevertheless, he hunkered down so close that his whiskers tangled with Roofshadow's, and began ardently grooming her. Quietly, and with a tongue full of fur, he asked: "How did you get here?"

"I dug into one of the tu

It must have been terrible for her he thought-lost in this place; searching for one cat in the midst of countless others.

"How in the name of Meerclar did you find me?" he asked, still grooming.

"How did I what? Find you? I don't really know, Tailchaser, I just knew that I had to. I can't explain right now… I can't even think… Would you stop that?" She bristled, and he ceased cleaning her coat. "We don't have time!" she continued. "We have to get out of here-I think they're looking for me." She stood, and her legs trembled a little. Tailchaser did not comment, but rose also.

"We can't leave without Pouncequick," he said.

Suddenly, and unexpectedly, he thought of Hush-pad-the object of his quest, for whom he had left the Meeting Wall so long ago. Could she be here somewhere, also? Was she still alive? He thought of Hearteater's grisly throne, and felt suddenly small and helpless.

"Do you know where he's being kept?" asked Roofshadow. He turned to look at her. She was exhausted, and he was no better off.

"Pounce?" he said. "No, I haven't seen him since they separated us." He looked apprehensively up the shaft.

"I'm afraid we don't have the time to look for him, then," the gray fela said calmly. "We'll be lucky to get out ourselves." She started toward the shaft.

Tailchaser was shocked. "But we can't just desert him! I brought him here! He's just a kitten!"

Roofshadow looked back over her shoulder and snarled: "Tailchaser! Don't be stupid! It might take us days to find him. We have to get out and warn the Folk at Firsthome-otherwise it will be too late for all of us! We'll do him more good if we bring back help than if we're caught and killed ourselves. We have to tell Fencewalker and the others. Come on now!"

Fritti tried to object, but he knew he could never explain the truth to her: about Hearteater, or the Toothguard, or the leagues and leagues of tu

Roofshadow was not waiting to hear, anyway. She was slinking up the inclined tu

The mound was alive with activity. Clawguard bunched in groups, conferring in dull snarls, then broke apart to range down tu

They stayed away from the main thoroughfares, taking advantage of spur tu

Several times they were almost caught. Once, on hearing the pad of approaching footsteps, they had to force themselves into a shallow, unfinished tu

Finally, they began a last, steep ascent toward Roofshadow's entrance. Peering around a corner, they found the last tu

Then, the starlight disappeared.

At once something struck him, catching him completely unaware. Roofshadow's admonitory call became a yowl of fear. Something was on top of him-some snapping, biting thing.

"Nuzzledark! Don't allow the other one to essscape!" slashed a voice in the dark, and he heard Roofshadow cry out again. The thing atop him drove for his throat with spiny teeth, and as he twisted desperately he felt furless skin squirm beneath his claws. Tooth-guard! He struggled to pull loose from the grasping creature, and managed to sink his own teeth into flesh for a heartbeat. He was rewarded with a hissing squeal of pain from his attacker. He drove his back legs up and heard the gasp of lost air. In the moment's respite he pulled free, and then dashed back toward where he had last heard Roofshadow's voice. His eyes were finally adjusting to the profound darkness, and he saw another form rear up just in time to avoid the worst of the blow, which still sent him spi

"Ssssslitbelly! Help Nuzzledark with the prisssoners." Fritti could now make out the owner of the voice, its elongated, hairless body crouched beneath what was to have been their escape hole. Its eyeless head nodded approvingly.

"Sssso," it said. "Asss expected, you return to your point of entrance. How niccce. Ssssince you are ssso interested in traveling, now we shall take you to sssee our domain, yesss?"

The other two dark shapes now flanked Roof-shadow and Tailchaser, and one of them said: "Why do we not end their livesss here, Massster Hisssblood?"

The Toothguard lord let a long second of silence hang in the dark, damp air.

"You should know better than to quesssstion me, Sssslitbelly-esspecially since you yoursself have proved ssso inefficient. These creaturesss have causssed uss all great problemsss, and we shall have to work hard with them to repay the bargain. They will live awhile longer becaussse I wisssh to learn certain thingsss. However, I can learn nothing from you. Do you sssee my meaning?"

Slitbelly was gagging on his answer when a dark shape hurtled out of the tu

Time expanded into one dark and everlasting moment as Fritti and Roofshadow fled through the lightless outer halls. Away from the Toothguard, away from Roofshadow's tu