Chapter 10
When Thunder opened his eyes he found himself standing on the stone path with thick fog swirling all around him. He squinted his icy blue eyes in an attempt to see through the fog, but it was so thick that it blocked out all of his surroundings. He parted his jaws and inhaled deeply, letting the air bathe his tongue to see if he could scent anything significant. But all he smelled was the cold, wet scent of the fog, and he let out a raspy cough as the humidity in the air tickled his throat.
Suddenly a dark, shadowy figure appeared in the distance in front of Thunder, but he couldn't identify what it was. Squinting his eyes once more, he saw that the figure was moving, that it was coming closer. Soon he made out the shape of a cat outlined against the thick fog, its head and tail held high with dignity.
As the cat padded closer, Thunder recognized its scent, and a heartbeat later he saw a familiar pair of bulging blind eyes glowing silver through the fog.
"Rock!" Thunder exclaimed as the grotesque cat came to a stop a tail-length in from of him.
Rock dipped his head in greeting, and Thunder was surprised that he was actually treating him with respect. "I see you and the others have figured out the meaning of the prophecy." The ancient cat rumbled.
Thunder felt his blue eyes widen in surprise, "How did you know?"
Rock twitched his whiskers, seeming to be half-amused. "I know everything, young one, much more than you will ever know."
What could he possibly mean by that? But Thunder ignored the question he was itching to ask and pushed it to the back of his mind. Focusing on the prophecy once more, he meowed, "So River was right, then? About us being the elements?"
Rock sat down with his bony, hairless tail curled around his scarred paws. "Yes," he rasped, "but don't think your task is done just because you have solved the riddle of the prophecy."
Thunder knew what he meant. "We still have to find the fourth cat."
"Good," Rock meowed, "you understand now." Then he rose to his paws, turned around, and began to pad into the fog, back the way he had come.
"Wait!" Thunder called after him. "Where do we find the fourth cat!"
Rock paused and looked over his shoulder at Thunder. "The path made of stone holds the answer that you seek." He then resumed walking, and only a few heartbeats later the ancient cat disappeared, swallowed by a swirl of fog.
"Wait!" Thunder began to run after him. "Come back! I still have questions!" He called to the spot where he had seen Rock disappear, but only an eerie silence answered him.
Thunder blinked and saw a wall of leaves and intertwining branches stretching up over him. Looking around, he saw River and Shadow to his left, still curled up in their nests. He realized that he was back in the lantana bush where the three cats had agreed to spend the night, and that his encounter with Rock had been just a dream. But it wasn't just a dream, Thunder told himself, it was a clue.
The path made of stone holds the answer that you seek, Rock's words echoed in his mind. He must mean for us to follow the stone path, like River had suggested yesterday.
Satisfied that he had solved Rock's riddle, he parted his jaws in a huge yawn, rose to his paws, and stretched. He found that his back and limbs weren't as stiff as the night before; the heat emanating from the other cats' bodies had kept the inside of the lantana comfortably warm throughout the night.
He decided to wake himself up a bit by grooming his pelt. He sat down in his nest, licked a brown paw, and drew it over his face. By the time he had finished grooming his face and moved on to lick his cream colored chest fur, he heard River stir in her nest. He paused his grooming to look over at her. She yawned, stood up, and stretched just as Thunder had done.
"Good morning." Thunder mewed as he returned to his grooming.
River, who was still blinking the sleep out of her leafy green eyes, mumbled, "Morning."
The sound of their voices must have awoken Shadow, for soon after he stirred and yawned. "It's morning already?" He grumbled as he too rose to his paws and stretched.
Thunder stifled a purr of amusement. "We have another long day of traveling ahead of us," He meowed. "We should hunt to keep our energy up." Before waiting for the others to answer, Thunder squeezed through the gap in the bush out into the clearing. He gave his pelt a good shake to rid his fur of the scrapes of moss from his nest. He gazed at the sky and saw that the sun had just come up above the horizon, the beginning of a new day.
Soon after River and Shadow followed him out of the lantana into the clearing. The three cats then split up to hunt, each cat heading to the edge of the clearing into clumps of undergrowth and bushes.
Thunder parted his jaws to scent the air, and it wasn't long before he smelled plenty of prey. He felt his mouth water at the smell of warm meat, and a pang of hunger shot through him. Then he spotted a small furry figure under the protective shadows of a honeysuckle bush just a tail-length away. Realizing that he was downwind of the creature, he inhaled deeply and was able to smell mouse. He crept forward on silent paws, keeping his belly fur just above the undergrowth, until he was able to see the mouse nibbling on a beetle. The bush was too low to the ground for Thunder to squeeze under and catch the mouse, so he deliberately stepped on a dried, dead leaf amidst the undergrowth. The crunching sound of the leaf alerted the mouse and it shot out of the bush in an attempt to flee. Thunder was ready, and so he pounced faster than lightning, landing on the mouse and killing it in a single bite to the neck.
My hunting skills are improving! Thunder praised himself, feeling his chest swell with pride as he picked up his kill in his jaws. And to think I used to eat Twoleg food!
Thunder retraced his pawsteps back through the undergrowth and made his way through the clump of bushes at the edge of the clearing. As he padded over to the lantana where the cats had slept, he saw River emerge from the edge of the clearing with a plump chipmunk in her jaws. She padded up to him and they both laid down to eat their fresh-kill. Shortly after they had just begun eating, Shadow emerged from the edge of the clearing with a feathery bundle dangling from his jaws.
As he padded over to meet the other two cats, River asked, "What is that?" She motioned with her head to Shadow's kill.
Shadow set his kill down on the ground and replied. "I'm not really sure. I think it is some kind of bird, hence the feathers. But when I first saw it, it was sitting on the lowest branch of a tree pecking the trunk with its beak. I've never heard of any bird that does that."
"A bird that hits its own beak against a tree?" River sniffed. "Sounds to me like it was just mad."
"Maybe." Shadow agreed, "I think I could have heard its pecking from a mile away. It led me right to it." With that, Shadow lied down and began to eat his fresh-kill.
By now Thunder had finished half of his meal, and it was then that he had decided to mention his dream. "I talked to Rock last night." He mewed.
Both River and Shadow stopped eating and looked up at him expectantly, but Thunder hesitated.
"Well," River finally spoke, "what did he say?"
"He told me that we were right about the meaning of the prophecy; about us being the elements."
River let out a purr. "I knew it!"
"Did he tell you where we're supposed to find the fourth cat?" Shadow piped up.
"He gave me a riddle: The path made of stone holds the answer that you seek," Thunder repeated Rock's words. "I thought about it for a little bit and I think he means for us to continue following the stone path like we have been. But I wasn't quite sure, so I wanted to discuss it with you two first."
"I think you're right, Thunder." Shadow replied. "That's the only solution that makes sense to me."
"So we've been going the right way all along then." River concluded.
Thunder nodded. "So as soon as we've all finished eating, we should get going. We don't know how long it's going to take to find the fourth cat, and we still don't know where exactly we will find them."
"Maybe Rock will send them a dream and lead them to us." River suggested.
"It's possible, but I don't think Rock would make it that easy on us. Throughout this whole journey, since the day of the fire, he's clearly been challenging us, both mentally and physically. I'm just not sure what for yet." Thunder meowed.
Shadow nodded, and River agreed. "You're probably right."
When all three cats had finished eating their fresh-kill, they rose to their paws and padded through the clearing back to the stone path. By now it was almost sun-high, and the heat of the green-leaf day soaked into the cats' pelts, making the journey uncomfortable and exhausting.
Thunder looked up at the sun as it beat down on him and was blinded by its bright light. I don't know how much longer we can go on like this…
It wasn't long before some cat spoke his mind. "I don't think I can go much farther," Shadow confessed, panting from the heat.
"I know, I'm hot and tired too," Thunder agreed, "but let's keep going until we find somewhere suitable to rest."
No cat replied to him as they continued to pad on the stone path. Soon Thunder saw several trees growing on either side of the stone path up ahead in the distance. He could see that the leafy branches of the trees stretched out above the stone path, creating a canopy of leaves and branches that blocked out the sun almost completely. All three cats picked up the pace until they were almost sprinting to the shade, eager for the cool relief.
Once they reached the shade, the cats all flopped down on their sides, panting. The stone of the path had absorbed the cool of the shade, and Thunder let out a relieved purr as he felt the coolness soak through his pelt.
"That feels much better." Shadow purred.
"Yes." River agreed, "But what I could really go for is some water."
The cats laid there in the shade in silence for a while as the sun rose higher in the sky. A slight breeze began to pick up, ruffling the cats' fur and cooling them off even more. Thunder felt his icy blue eyes drooping, and soon all three cats were comfortable enough to doze off to take a nap.
Thunder awoke to the sound of his belly letting out a growl. He was already hungry from the hot day of traveling. He stood up and stretched, his limbs and spine stiff this time from the hard stone underneath him. At the same instant River and Shadow stirred and awoke too, yawning and stretching.
"Is it just me or am I starving?" Shadow meowed.
Thunder stifled a purr of amusement. "I suppose we should hunt."
The cats split up to hunt once more. It wasn't long before they returned to the stone path where they had slept, all three cats with prey dangling from their jaws. They ate quickly in huge, gulping bites. Soon they were well-rested and full-fed, ready to resume their journey.
Thunder looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was beginning to go down. "It should be a little cooler now," he pointed out.
River and Shadow nodded, agreeing, and all three cats began to pad along the stone path once more. The air around them gradually cooled as the sun continued to lower in the sky. When the sun was just above the horizon, Thunder spotted a huge figure to the left of the stone path looming in the distance.
"What is that?" River wondered out loud.
Shadow shrugged. "Dunno."
"Let's get a closer look." Thunder suggested.
The cats picked up the pace, trotting towards the figure. By the time they were close enough to identify the figure, the sun had begun to go below the horizon, turning the sky pink and orange.
"It looks like a Twoleg nest." River pointed out.
"Indeed," Thunder agreed, "but there's something different about it. Let's check it out."
"What?" River's green eyes widened in surprise. "You want to go inside it?"
"Well let's just check out the outside first." Thunder suggested.
As the cats continued to pad closer, Thunder saw that the Twoleg nest was surrounded by a wall-like structure made of a series of hard, shiny spokes connected to each other by what looked like stone. Thunder approached the wall and sniffed at the spokes, but he couldn't identify the scent. He saw that the spokes were far enough apart so that a cat could fit between them. Thunder looked over his shoulder at River and Shadow, who were still standing a couple tail-lengths away from the wall. He flicked his tail at them, beckoning them to come closer.
"A cat can fit through here." Thunder explained as the other two cats approached him.
"Why would we want to go through there though?" River questioned.
Thunder glanced at the sky once more. The sun was about halfway below the horizon by now. "We could investigate the nest and see if there are any Twolegs around." He suggested.
"Why would we want to do that?" This time it was Shadow who asked.
"Well, we need a place to spend the night." Thunder meowed, "This is the safest place for us to sleep through the night."
With River and Shadow finally understanding, Thunder poked his head between two spokes before squeezing the rest of his body through. He felt that the material of the spokes was stiff and smooth as his pelt brushed against them, not giving way to his body as he passed through.
It's a good thing I'm not fat! Thunder remarked to himself as he reached the other side. He looked around, observing his surroundings. He was in what used to be a rosebush garden, but now all the plants had died. It's as if the Twolegs stopped looking after them, Thunder concluded. He parted his jaws and smelled only the scents of the dead plants around him, no Twolegs.
He waved his tail to River and Shadow, signaling to them that it was safe to pass through the wall. Soon they were by his side, their jaws parted as well to take in the scents around them. Thunder spotted a small path to the right of the garden and padded over it. As he approached it he saw that it was once made of tiny pebbles and rocks leading up to the Twoleg nest, but now the gravel was scattered, revealing patches of dirt underneath. Thunder followed the path to the nest, and by now the sun was almost completely gone below the horizon. Despite the dim light, he could still make out that the nest was made of wood instead of stone. Strange, Thunder thought, all the Twolegs nests I lived by were made of stone. I've never seen one made of wood.
River spoke his mind as she padded up behind him. "This nest must be very old," She pointed out, "Twolegs don't make their nests out of wood anymore."
"How will we get inside?" Shadow asked from behind River.
Thunder studied the walls of the nest closely. Suddenly he spotted a small hole in the wood of the nest towards the bottom of the wall. He padded up to the hole and measured it with his whiskers. "It's big enough." He meowed and beckoned to River and Shadow with a motion of his head.
As they followed him to the hole, Thunder crouched and squeezed through, the sharp edges of the wood tugging at his pelt and leaving tufts of creamy brown fur stuff to the edges of the hole. When he was finally inside, he gave his pelt a shake and looked around, but he couldn't see anything, for it was too dark inside the nest and his eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the dim light.
Suddenly an angry, menacing growl sounded from somewhere in the darkness. "What are you doing here!" Thunder froze in shock at the sound of the voice, unable to move as it let out a vicious snarl. "Get out or I'll attack!"