“Stay out of the way,” Crag replied, as Swoop and Splash raced around the eagle. “You’re not trained in this sort of fighting.”

Dovewing and Foxleap stood close together in the shelter of a boulder, watching the eagle as it flung the intruding cats away. One of them, a young tortoiseshell no bigger than an apprentice, was hurled against a rock, where she lay stunned and bleeding from one ear.

“Now!” Crag yowled.

As he leaped at one of the eagle’s wings, Swoop and Splash sprang at the other, trying to hold the bird down between them. It let out a raucous screech of fury, and Dovewing imagined that its talons were gripping Flora even more tightly. She shivered with terror as she stared at the eagle’s glaring yellow eyes. Is this how prey feels?

The other two intruders, a black tom and a skinny brown tom with big ears, threw themselves back into the battle, clawing at the eagle’s legs, but they were already hurt and exhausted from the struggle, and their blows were feeble. The eagle was big and determined, almost managing to take off with the little she-cat, in spite of the Tribe cats weighing down its wings.

There are only three of them, Dovewing thought, fear flooding through her. They can’t do this on their own.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Foxleap muttered. “I’m not standing here like a useless lump of fur!”

He sprang forward and latched his claws into the eagle’s wing, just as it shook off Crag with a screech. Crag twisted in midair and attacked the eagle’s naked, gnarly legs, clawing first at one and then the other. With a shriek of rage the eagle let go of Flora; she hit the ground and lay still. Swoop and Splash leaped gracefully to the ground.

“Okay, Foxleap!” Crag meowed. “You can let go!”

But Foxleap didn’t release his grip. Dovewing’s heart began to thud as she realized that her Clanmate was stuck. He dangled from the eagle’s wing by his claws, twisting and wrenching to free himself as the bird battled into the air.

Before any other cat could move, Swoop let out a furious screech. “No!” She leaped up again, grabbing at the eagle’s wing with one forepaw, while with the other she batted at Foxleap. His claws dislodged, Foxleap crashed to the ground, where he lay winded.

But just as Swoop began to drop to the ground again, the eagle whirled around in a storm of wings. Blood-splashed talons shot out and sank into her back.

“Swoop!” Splash shrieked. She tried to jump into the air, but the eagle was already climbing higher.

“No!” Swoop screamed, battering the air with her paws. “Help! Crag! Splash…”

Dovewing could still hear her as the eagle’s wings beat more strongly and carried him off, vanishing over a distant peak. The sound of Swoop’s terror filled her head until she thought she would never hear anything else again.

Trembling, Dovewing blocked her ears with her paws. “I’m sorry, Swoop,” she whispered. “There’s nothing I can do….”