Survivors: The Gathering Darkness #6: The Final Battle by Erin Hunter

Author:Erin Hunter [Hunter, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-02-05T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Mickey, Rake and Daisy sprinted toward her, panting with desperate eagerness, but they weren’t the only dogs who had heard Storm’s ringing barks and howls. Borne on the stiff breeze, her summons must have reached the other search parties and the camp itself, because the rest of the dogs began bursting in small groups from the forest and racing across the meadow.

“My pups!” Lucky barked. “We’re coming!”

“Hold on, Nibble!” howled Beetle. “It won’t be long now, Fluff and Tumble!”

As all three Packs gathered around the chasm in the cliff top, scratching and digging frantically, only Sweet was absent; the swift-dog Alpha must have stayed with little Tiny and poor injured Thorn. But Lucky’s furious energy was enough for both the parent-dogs. He and Mickey had the edge of a slab in their teeth, tearing at it; as they gave a last violent heave, it creaked and scraped loose, and clattered aside. Earwigs and woodlice skittered in search of shelter. Dart, Beetle, and Moon raced forward to claw at the loose earth beneath the slab, widening the hole.

Even Nip and Scramble had joined the rescue party, though Storm reckoned their parent-dogs must have carried them part of the way; apparently, they’d refused to be left behind. They too were raking with their small claws, biting at the soil and then spitting it from their jaws; their paws and muzzles were black with damp earth.

Below, a little farther down the sloping cliff, Chase, Woody, Snap, and Daisy began to hunt methodically along the rocks, searching every cranny and nook for a way through to the pups.

“Can you find a way in?” Storm barked down to them.

“I don’t know!” yelped Daisy. “But we’ll do our best.”

“Storm! Lucky!” barked Beetle from the excavated hole. “I think we’ve found the start of a tunnel.”

Bounding back to him, Storm clawed violently at the exposed soil, showering the cliff top in spatters of dry earth. Other dogs were digging too. Mickey’s claw scratched Storm’s paw in his haste, but she barely felt it. Sunshine yapped uncontrollably as she scrabbled with her tiny paws; most of her white fur was splattered with earth, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. Excitement rose in every dog as the hole was effortfully, gradually scraped deeper.

Then, horribly, Storm’s claws screeched against stone. She halted, panting. Bit by bit, more slowly this time, the dogs excavated more soil, but by now it was clear that only a thin layer was left. There was nothing underneath it but more slabs and shelves of rock.

Storm stepped back, flanks heaving with exhaustion and disappointment. “This is crazy. We know they’re in there, we can hear them! How did Breeze get them in under these slabs?”

As Moon opened her mouth to reply, sudden thunder rumbled across the hill, and every dog froze, cowering. Moon tilted an ear, glancing at the sky, but it was cold blue from horizon to horizon.

“Longpaws,” snarled Mickey, nodding to the sparse woodland below the cliff.

He was right, Storm realized: That had been no thunder of the Sky-Dogs, and Lightning did not spring joyfully between the clouds.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.