“I knocked the thing over,” she complained, “and now I’m covered with all this yucky stuff.”

Lionblaze padded across to help her. Clinging to her pelt were scraps of something that smelled like a plant, but they were cold and slimy, like herbs picked and left in the rain to rot. Cautiously he stretched out a paw to knock them off; Hollyleaf and Brambleclaw bounded up to help.

“They taste vile.” Hazeltail licked her shoulder and swiped her tongue around her lips as if she was trying to get rid of a disgusting taste. “I’d rather eat fox dung.”

Brackenfur padded up and stood at the edge of the Thunderpath, keeping watch for more monsters. His fur still hadn’t settled down; Lionblaze noticed that Brambleclaw looked just as ruffled as he helped Hazeltail clean her pelt.

Seeing the senior warriors’ confidence shaken made Lionblaze feel a bit braver. “There can’t have been dogs in the Twolegplace near the old forest,” he murmured to Hollyleaf. “Even Brambleclaw was surprised.”

“I wonder what else will surprise us,” Hollyleaf responded.

Meanwhile Birchfall had crossed the Thunderpath and was nosing around in the heap of debris that had fallen out of the shiny Twoleg thing. “Hey, look at this!” he meowed. “Brambleclaw, can we eat it?”

Lionblaze wasn’t sure at first what his Clanmate was dragging out of the pile of rubbish. It was smooth and pale and smelled a little like fresh-kill, though it was no kind of prey that he had ever seen before. The stink of Twolegs clung to it as well; Lionblaze knew he didn’t want to eat it, but at the same time his belly growled at the thought of food.

Brambleclaw sniffed the thing carefully and nibbled a bit from one side. “It tastes a bit like blackbird,” he reported after a moment. “I don’t think it will hurt us to eat it, and we need food.”

“I guess that means he doesn’t think we’ll catch much prey around here,” Hollyleaf whispered into Lionblaze’s ear.

Brambleclaw clawed the Twoleg prey into fair shares for each cat. Birchfall checked the rubbish again, but he didn’t find any more prey.

“This isn’t bad,” Lionblaze mumbled to Hollyleaf around a mouthful of the stuff, “if you ignore the scent of Twolegs.”

Hollyleaf was crouched over her share, eating it in neat, rapid bites. “Huh! Give me a good plump vole any day.”

With the edge taken off his hunger, Lionblaze felt stronger, but as Brambleclaw led them farther into the Twolegplace, he started to feel trapped. The red stone nests reared up on either side, closer than the walls of the hollow and higher than the trees in the forest. His pads ached from walking on the hard stone. How can any cat live here?

The orange glare from the stone trees cast the cats’ shadows huge and wavering on the wall beside them as they slunk along the edge of the Thunderpath. Suddenly Hollyleaf stiffened, flicking out her tail to touch Brambleclaw on the shoulder. “There’s something up ahead!” she hissed.