A Hidden Enemy by Erin Hunter

Author:Erin Hunter [Hunter, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-05-30T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Hold on!” barked Dart. “Everybody stay still!”

Lucky lifted his head and pricked his ears, watching Dart carefully as she sniffed the wind, her fur prickling. Her muzzle was curled back, and Lucky felt a tremor of unease in his flanks.

Sometimes, he got the feeling Dart hoped for there to be trouble—so she had something to snarl and fight about. She was an angry dog.

The sunup patrol had been straightforward, thank the Sky-Dogs, because Lucky knew he was too tired and confused to deal with any nasty surprises. But what could Dart have noticed in this broad, pleasant meadow, with a clear view of any possible danger from far away? All Lucky could see was rippling grass, right up to the dark line of forest beyond.

“What is it?” he howled.

“I don’t know.” Dart sniffed the air again, urgently. “Something strange.”

Twitch was silent too, casting around for any scent of what Dart had detected. Lucky followed Twitch as he drew closer to Dart; he hoped that what Dart had found had nothing to do with Bella’s Pack. He wasn’t sure he trusted Bella not to do something stupid without him there to talk her out of it. What if they had strayed into Alpha’s territory in their desperate search for food?

Suddenly Lucky stopped, one paw raised. He was close to Dart now and a hint of the strange scent had come to him, too. It took him only a second to identify it: crushed earth, metal, and animal-hide . . . That strong-smelling drink that a longpaw would give to a . . .

Loudcage!

It was no ordinary loudcage, though; it was one of those monstrous ones he would occasionally see in the city. They smelled different from the little loudcages—stronger and more threatening. Lucky had seen them chew up entire roads, spitting out black chunks of earth and flattening them beneath terrible crushing feet that rolled across the earth.

“Stop, Dart—I know what that is!”

Dart threw him a doubtful look, then slunk across to Lucky. “What?” she muttered.

“It’s a loudcage scent, but that’s a big one—”

Dart flinched away, a spark of terror in her eyes. “Loudcages? Well, they have nothing to do with us. Let’s go on with the patrol—avoid the thing—”

“They won’t threaten us, not those ones with the great teeth,” Lucky told her. “They are too big to bother with us. We should go and see what they are up to.”

“No,” Dart growled. “Why should we care that loudcages are nearby?”

“Because they can crush a dog,” Lucky told them. “Not even the fastest dog can outrun a loudcage.”

“Maybe Beta could,” said Twitch, who had come to stand with them. “She’s very fast.”

“Not even her,” Lucky whined. “We must be careful now.”

“I’ve never seen a loudcage,” Twitch said, his flanks heaving as he shivered. “I’ve never even heard of such a thing as a giant one.”

“Of course not,” snapped Dart, who seemed very much on edge. “You and Spring were born in the wild. I lived in the city when I was a pup, and I’ve seen the terrible things a loudcage can do.

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