Sootpaw's POV

My eyes flickered open, my nostrils filled with the stench of blood. I could barely lift my head off my paws and look around for the source of the vile scent, my body felt so battered and bruised. My muscles screamed in protest as I shifted onto my other side, glancing around the unfamiliar den. As my gaze fell on Cinderpaw's forepaw, covered with red, I stretched my hind legs behind me. At first, it felt like my muscles were tearing apart, but then they loosened and I was able to crawl forward and begin licking at Cinderpaw's foot.

Cinderpaw, apparently roused by my washing, opened her eyes with a yawn and looked blearily around, wincing slightly. "Where – where are we?" she asked in a croaky sort of voice.

"No idea," I replied, barely pausing between licks.

"Where's Rainpaw? I thought he would be here?"

"No idea."

Cinderpaw looked amused. "Is that all you can say?"

"No!" I said indignantly, lifting my head to glare at her. She took the chance to lift her bloody forepaw to her nose and sniff it.

"I think I tore out a claw on the rock," she said, growling slightly as she put her paw back down. "Fox dung! Now I won't be able to protect you as well!"

"Hey, it's okay," I meowed reassuringly. Cinderpaw prided herself on her unbeatable fighting skills; it must be almost heartbreaking for her to be missing one of her carefully sharpened claws. "Rainpaw and I can fend for ourselves."

"You, sure," Cinderpaw snorted. "Rainpaw? No."

"What was that about me?" Both Cinderpaw and I jumped as we spotted Rainpaw's fluffy face poking under the bush. He slipped inside the den and crouched beside us, looking from one to the other, waiting for an answer.

"Um… we were just wondering where you were," I said quickly.

Cinderpaw nodded. "Yeah."

Rainpaw looked satisfied with our explanation. "To answer your question, I was out hunting."

Cinderpaw exaggerated a glance around. "So… did you catch anything?"

Rainpaw looked at the ground, scuffing one paw through the dirt. "Well… no," he confessed. "There wasn't a hint of anything out there."

He looked so dejected that I stood and padded the few pawsteps to his side, speaking loudly to cover the loud rumbling of my stomach. "That's fine. I'm sure we'll find something later."

Rainpaw looked up at me with a despairing, miserable sort of expression. "But that's just the thing!" he half-wailed. "I scouted ahead a little while you two were unconscious and I think I know what's ahead! A Twolegplace!"

Cinderpaw looked surprised. "A Twolegplace? Are you sure? But – but – what does that have to do with finding food? And why would there be a Twolegplace in the middle of nowhere out here?"

Rainpaw shrugged. "I remember a story Lightwing used to tell us about the Twolegplace."

"I remember it too," I said suddenly. "She used to tell it to us when we were about six moons old."

Lightwing smiled down at her kits. "Who wants to hear a story before bedtime?"

"Me!" I cried, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Me too!" Rainkit put in, smiling his widest smile.

"Eh, I guess I could sit through one story," Cinderkit muttered, but her eyes gleamed with excitement anyway.

"Then sit down and be quiet," Lightwing purred. "Ready? Okay.

"This is a story about a place not meant for cats; a place full of danger. It holds many things that could kill a cat almost by accident. The ones who live there are either too weak and lazy to be of any use or are vicious and cruel, living off of rats and defending a grimy, dirty, hard-edged alleyway against others; starving, thieving, and evil. It is called the Twolegplace."

I felt Rainkit shiver beside me. I had to keep down a shudder of fear myself. Cinderkit, of course, was washing her paws as if bored of the story, even though her ears were angled in Lightwing's direction, soaking up every word she spoke.

"The Twolegplace is full of gray and sharp-edged corners. Its forgotten edges are layered with stinking waste and infested with diseased rats, big as a cat with long, sharp teeth and an even longer bald tail.

"Within the Twolegplace live Twolegs in huge boxes of strange colors. They ride around in brightly colored monsters with shiny pelts, four huge, black paws, and glaring eyes. They are faster than the fastest warrior, racing around on Thunderpaths. Thunderpaths are wide stretches of hard, gray stone and are usually lined with crowfood.

The maze of square dens and Thunderpaths stretches for many, many Treelengths in every direction. It is too easy to enter a Twolegplace and never find your way out.

"I hope you never have to enter one. They are not places for cats."

I shuddered just thinking about the horrors of the Twolegplace Lightwing had described. "Do we have to go into it?"

Rainpaw nodded. "It's straight ahead if we follow our original path and it stretches to the horizon in either direction. It's the only way forward."

Cinderpaw was washing her forepaw, cleaning the dried blood off of her fur. It looked like the bleeding had stopped. When she was done, she looked up at us. "Well, if there's no food here and there's only one way ahead, let's get going. Maybe we can find something to eat in the Twolegplace, because we're certainly not going back over that river." She shivered involuntarily before standing and stalking purposefully out of the den.

I smiled before I followed her. Cinderpaw had one weakness; her fear of water. But if I tried to tease her about it, I knew she'd just deny it. So, nudging Rainpaw to his paws, I followed Cinderpaw out from under the bush and down the hill to the Twolegplace.