Tigerheart’s Shadow

Tigerheart kept low as they moved through shadow to where the biggest fox was snuffling beside a heap of Twoleg clutter. The smaller foxes were snarling softy at each other, arguing over scraps they’d dropped at the edge of the camp. Tigerheart signaled to Cobweb and Tuna with a flick of his tail, ordering them to circle around the far side of their target. He paused and waited for them to get into position. As they surrounded the fox, Fierce’s yowl wailed eerily through the dawn air. Tigerheart saw the foxes freeze. Their beady eyes flashed toward Fierce. The orange flecks in her tortoiseshell pelt glowed in the dawn light. A moment before they lunged for her, Tigerheart lifted his head and screeched. The large dog fox, which he’d been stalking, jerked its muzzle toward him. Tigerheart leaped for it, raked his claws across its muzzle, and ran.

Blood roared in his ears as fear shrilled through every hair on his pelt. He streaked from the camp onto the deserted Thunderpath. Leaping scattered rubble, he glanced over his shoulder. Rain sprayed his face. Cobweb and Tuna were behind him. The dog fox followed, two vixens at its tail. Triumph surged in Tigerheart’s chest. They’d split the pack as they’d planned. All they had to do now was keep ahead of it. “Take the lead!” he called to Tuna. The stray had traveled these streets more often than Tigerheart, and Tigerheart wanted to stay between the foxes and the city cats. His fighting skills were better. If they hit trouble, he wanted to face the foxes first.

A deserted white dwelling loomed ahead. An alley opened beside it. This would be the first of their turns. Tuna had picked the alley especially because it led to a maze of passageways that cut one way, then the other. The cats could negotiate the turns more nimbly than the foxes, which would let them put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. They had to pull ahead as far as they could here, because once they hit the stone clearing, the foxes would have the advantage of speed. Alarm gripped Tigerheart’s belly. What if the foxes gave up chasing?

Tuna was almost at the head of the alley. Cobweb was at his heels. As Tigerheart reached the entrance, he stopped, twisted, and reared. The fox behind him bristled in surprise. Behind it, the two other foxes blinked in confusion as the lead fox slowed and showed its teeth.

“What are you doing?” Tuna’s panicked screech faded behind Tigerheart as the brown tom hared onward.

Making sure these sly-hearted scroungers never want to stop chasing us. Tigerheart threw himself, hissing, at the head of the lead fox. Lashing out with one paw, then another, he felt fur rip under his claws. He smelled the warm scent of blood and heard the fox screech. Jaws snapped beside his cheek. He saw white teeth flash. In an instant, he turned and ran again. Cobweb and Tuna had stopped, their pelts bushed, their backs arched. “Run!” Tigerheart shrieked, nudging them ahead of him.

Hot fox breath blasted his tail. He hared along the alley, picking up speed until he was pelting over the stone so fast, his pads burned.

Tuna signaled the upcoming turn with a flick of his tail so that Tigerheart would remember which way to run. Skidding around a sharp corner, he followed Cobweb and Tuna into a narrow passageway. It curved one way, then another, the dens towering high on each side. Shadow hid the end, but Tuna signaled again before they reached it, and Tigerheart was ready for the next turn. As he skidded around it, the thumping of fox paws receded behind them.

Tigerheart glanced back as the foxes scrambled around the corner in pursuit. They crashed clumsily into one another, bouncing off the wall of the passageway as they fought to keep their footing. Rage glittered in their eyes. The plan was working. With each turn, the patrol pulled farther ahead of the foxes, but each time he glanced back, Tigerheart could see determination in the eyes of their pursuers; the foxes weren’t about to give up.

The stone clearing was near. It would be deserted now and easy to cross. But the foxes would cover the ground faster. Tigerheart’s lungs were burning. He could hear Tuna panting. Cobweb’s breath was fast and rough. Fear flickered through his thoughts. What if Cobweb and Tuna lacked the stamina to keep up this pace as they crossed the wide stretch of open stone?

“Not far now!” Tigerheart yowled. He streaked past them as the passageway opened into the clearing, pushing harder against the ground, hardly seeing where he ran. But he knew where he was heading. The gap between the dens on the far side would lead though another short maze before it opened onto the green stretch of grass around the gathering place. Rascal, Mittens, and Pipsqueak would be waiting to take it from there. They would lead the foxes toward the traps, zigzagging around the slabs until each fox had stumbled into one of the mesh caves.