The Broken Path

by Erin Hunter

  Loudstick!

  And the longpaw was pointing it straight at Axe’s chest.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Every dog out of here,” barked Lucky, skidding to a halt. “Now!”

  Paws scrabbling on the wet grass, the dogs raced for the hole in the fence. Now the wind was driving the rain into their eyes, and Lucky could barely make out the black shadow of the muddy, churned gap where every animal had escaped. He felt a rush of relief as his forepaws slithered into it, jarring his whole body. It stank of sharpclaw and coyote and fox, but he had never been so glad to smell those scents.

  “Quick! Go through; I’ll follow.” He yanked his paws out of the hole, making way for Fiery and Moon first, then Bella and Twitch.

  Lick trembled at his side, making no effort to dive into the hole. “What about Axe?”

  “Axe has brought this on himself,” snarled Lucky, “and maybe on us too. We have to leave him!”

  Martha was struggling through the gap now, her hindpaws raking the ground in her desperation. Lucky shoved her haunches with his shoulder, butted her with his head.

  “We can’t leave a dog behind!” yelped Lick. “You said—”

  “Axe had his chance. We gave that to him!” Lucky shook rain out of his eyes as Martha finally squeezed her bulk under the fence. “We don’t owe him our lives too.”

  Still Lick hesitated, staring back through the driving rain, her whole body trembling. More longpaws were staggering from the fat loudcage now, clutching loudsticks and giving rough barks of alarm. One gave a rasping laugh and yelled something.

  “It’s too late, Lick!” barked Lucky. “We have to go!”

  A longpaw raised its loudstick to its shoulder and it jerked with a flat crack. Axe leaped, then tumbled over onto the grass and lay there, jerking. There’s something strange about those loudsticks, Lucky realized. The sound is different. It’s not that awful bark that hurts a dog’s ears. It was more like a hissing paw-slap.

  “Axe!” yelped Lick. “We have to help him!”

  “No, we don’t,” growled Lucky grimly. One of the longpaws was running to the loudcage’s head and clambering in. “He’s woken it up!” he barked in horror, as the loudcage’s eyes opened and blazed light across the Dog-Garden. It roared, and Lick stumbled back, panicking at last.

  “What is that monster? What is it?”

  “Something you don’t want to fight.” Roughly Lucky seized a mouthful of her neck fur and yanked her toward the hole. Rolling onto her paws as he released her, Lick wriggled hastily through to the other side of the fence, Lucky at her rump.

  The others waited in an impatient cluster. “Come on,” yelped Moon.

  “Where to?” barked Martha, glancing around. “The loudcage is awake!”

  Fiery said nothing. He stood with his head hanging low, his breathing harsh and shallow. Alarmed, Lucky saw that some of his wounds had reopened and were leaking yellow blood onto his hide, but the heavy rain was washing it away even as it plastered his remaining fur to his body.

  “We have to get to the densest part of the forest, on the other side of that hill,” barked Bella, indicating the slope with her muzzle. “The loudcages can’t go among trees. They’re fast, but they’re not very agile.”

  “And too fat to fit between tree trunks,” agreed Martha.

  “Let’s go,” barked Twitch, lurching into a fast three-legged run. The others followed him, desperate to reach the trees and put as much ground as possible between them and the terrible Dog-Garden.

  Lucky overtook Twitch as they pounded up the long, shallow slope. It seemed to go on forever. Is the Forest-Dog against us too? wondered Lucky in despair. I wonder what Alpha and the rest are doing right now? I hope they’ve found safety. . . .

  As his muscles worked painfully in his pounding legs, and his blood drummed in his ears, he could still hear the furious barks of the longpaws and the roar and screech of their loudcages. He was almost sure they were growing more distant. The slope must have slowed the great creatures, because by the time the dogs reached the crest of it, even the glaring eyes of the loudcages had faded in the darkness. The dogs paused, panting hard.

  The downward side of the hill was far steeper, and Twitch gave a yelp as Lucky crouched to spring down it. “I can’t! What if I break another leg? I’ll only have my hind legs!”

  Lucky turned on his haunches. “Come on, Twitch, we can lose them for good—if we can get to the trees down there. I won’t let you fall!”

  “But my legs,” whined Twitch uncertainly. “My good foreleg . . .”

  Lucky loped back to him, ears pricked, as Bella and Martha raced past and plunged down the slope toward the dark line of the forest. Lick was close behind; at last even the limping Fiery passed them, supported by Moon’s shoulder.

  “Twitch, you have to come,” Lucky told him urgently. “Whatever happens, it won’t be as bad as being caught by those longpaws. I’ll stay beside you, but we have to get to the trees.”

  Twitch gave a scared glance over his shoulder. Lucky’s reminder about the longpaws had clearly worked. “Yes. All right.”

  Cautiously the two dogs clambered down the rocky slope, slipping in mud and sending small stones rolling. Ahead Lick yelped as dislodged pebbles hit her.

  “Nearly there,” growled Lucky, panting.

  They were only a little over halfway down, and Lucky could see the others waiting expectantly at the bottom, when Twitch’s forepaw slid from beneath him. Losing his balance altogether, the chase-dog went tumbling head-over-paws, crashing sideways down the slope.

  Lucky gave a sharp howl. “Twitch! Are you all right?”

  A bark floated up to him through the driving rain. “I’m all right. I’m at the bottom!”

  Relieved, Lucky bounded down the rest of the slope. “Now—into the trees. I can hear the loudcages again.”

  Sure enough, the angry rumble was growing louder once again, and flashes of the loudcages’ eyes lit up the trees some distance away. They’re so fast! They had come a long way around, thought Lucky, beyond the flank of the hill—but they were still on their trail.

  “Go!” he barked as a loudcage roared over a shallow rise and its blazing eyes blinded him.

  The dogs turned and sprang for the trees, weaving and dodging through the first thin trunks. Lucky’s heart thrashed against his rib cage as his legs pounded the earth, and for a horrible moment he thought the loudcage was going to roll over him, crushing him right into the paws of the Earth-Dog. Then he felt the grass and earth give way to dry leaves and fallen twigs. Low branches slapped his muzzle.

  We made it!

  No dog slowed pace until they were far into the trees. By that time the loudcages and the longpaws who rode them were far behind, cursing and barking at one another at the edge of the trees. One by one the dogs slithered to a halt in a ragged group, panting hard, flanks heaving. Fiery swayed where he stood, and Moon pressed her flank anxiously against his.

  “That plan was brilliant, Bella!” barked Lucky, licking his litter-sister’s ear. “It worked. We lost them.”

  “We should keep going, though,” said Martha, with a nervous glance back toward the distant longpaw barks.

  Twitch set off again, plunging nimbly between the low branches on three legs. The pace was easier this time, but still Lucky saw Moon casting anxious looks at Fiery, and he heard her mutter reassurances in the big dog’s ear. At last she gave a despairing bark, and Lucky turned.

  Fiery was limping to a halt. “I need to rest,” he whined. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Lucky told him cheerfully. “We’re safe for now. Let’s find cover. Twitch?”

  “There’s a thick copse of trees, just a little way ahead. No rocks, but the branches are not bad as shelter.” Twitch cocked his head doubtfully at Fiery, then led them on a last few rabbit-chases. Together they limped under the cover of the tightly grouped pines, and slumped in exhaustion to the ground, panting.

  Despite the thickness o
f the branches above them, the rain still dripped through to soak their fur, and none of the dogs could shake themselves dry. Instead they huddled close together for shared warmth. Beside Lucky, Bella’s muscles shuddered with tiredness.

  “Are you sure we’re safe?” she whined, resting her head on Martha’s back and pricking her ears at her litter-brother.

  “I can’t hear anything,” offered Twitch, raising his head.

  “But I’m not sure we’d hear them over this rain and wind, would we?” Bella cocked her head nervously.

  “Maybe not,” Lucky told her comfortingly, “but we’d smell them. You know how strong the scent of their juice is. I’m sure they couldn’t sneak up on us in here.”

  “Best to be certain,” said Moon, her eyes on the trees as she licked Fiery’s scruff.

  “I can’t smell anything.” Lucky raised his head and flared his nostrils. “Truly, Moon, there’s noth—”

  He froze. A scent did tickle his nose; he could taste it on his tongue. Not loudcages, but . . .

  “Lucky,” whispered Lick. “What is it?”

  “Other dogs,” he growled.

  Rising to his paws, he shared an anxious look with Bella. Lick’s muscles tensed as she stood up too.

  “It’s him,” she growled, hackles bristling. “That mad dog.”

  Twitch gave a high whine. “Terror!”

  Lucky shifted his position, turning slowly as he stared into the trees. Between the darkness and the driving rain, he could make out barely anything. But there were shadows there; he knew it. As he watched, they moved, creeping closer: the dark forms of dogs, stalking them through the pine trunks.

  An acrid stench cut through the odors of mud and rain, making Lucky shake his head and paw his nose. Foul water, he thought. I saw Terror drinking it. That must be what made him mad.

  Or just madder.

  “In the name of the Fear-Dog!” A howl echoed through the night, rebounding from trees until it seemed to be coming from every direction. “I will not see His Name insulted, nor my territory challenged!”

  Lucky’s fur bristled, and he snarled loudly. “What ‘territory’? Do you claim the whole forest, Terror? And the longpaw settlement too? The Spirit Dogs won’t allow such greed. You can’t have it all!”

  “I’ll have whatever territory I choose,” Terror raged. “And I will mark it with the blood of any dog foolish enough to cross me and defy the Fear-Dog!”

  “You’re insane!” snapped Lucky, still turning cautiously as he tried desperately to locate Terror among the shadows.

  “I will kill the challengers!” the mad dog howled. “By the will of the Fear-Dog! And I will start with the traitor Twitch, and his friends.”

  Every shadow seemed to move at once. Dogs hurtled from the forest, piling onto them from all directions, howling and barking. Lucky stumbled over Martha as he sprang forward, and for terrible moments there was chaos as the Pack dogs panicked and spun.

  “Fight them,” barked Lucky. “They’re all around us!”

  Panting, his small band of friends regrouped swiftly, forming a rough defensive circle as they fought off the wildly attacking dogs of Terror’s Pack. Lucky clawed and bit at a dog who lunged for his flank, driving him back, but another, the small, black Splash, was instantly at his other shoulder, sinking teeth into his flesh. Lucky flung him off, then seized a dog who was tearing at Bella’s throat. She yelped with pain as he ripped him away from her, but there was no time to make sure she was all right. Another dog was at his flank, and he lunged—

  No! It’s Lick! Lucky swerved just in time. The darkness and the rain was making it too easy to fly at a dog who was an ally.

  Terror’s Pack, on the other paw, had no such worries. They simply ripped and tore and clawed at anything that moved, whether a dog was from their own Pack or from Lucky’s.

  Lucky felt teeth dig into his hind leg, and he tried to roll away, but the enemy dog’s grip was too firm and he dragged him helplessly through the mud and twigs. Lucky felt his haunch crash into another dog’s legs, almost tripping her up. It was Lick, but she leaped straight back up and into the attack, tussling and snarling with an enemy. There was a truly terrifying ferocity to her in a real fight, Lucky realized, yet he could see shivers running along her flanks. She was cold and scared, and her fear was making her even angrier. She could so easily lose control.

  Flinging off his own attacker at last, Lucky raced across to Lick, snapping his teeth into her opponent’s shoulder. “Get away, Lick!” he barked. “We can find you later.”

  “No! I won’t run away.”

  “Lick, you have to—”

  “Help!”

  Lucky’s head snapped around at the familiar howl. Moon was backed against a tree.

  “Moon, I’m coming!” Lucky lashed a paw at a dog who leaped for his throat, sending him tumbling away, stunned. He sprang toward Moon, then crashed into another yelping dog who barged into his path. Growling with frustration, he tried to shake him off, but although he was small he held on to him like a sucking insect. “Moon!”

  He was close enough to Moon and her attackers to see them snapping their drooling jaws. Circling behind her, Terror’s yellow eyes glowed with hate and bloodlust, and Lucky could see that despite Moon’s defiance, the three of them would rip her apart in seconds. He had just managed to pin down the fierce, small dog and rip at his ear when he heard Moon whine again, this time in terror.

  “No, Fiery! Don’t!”

  Lucky spun around just as Fiery stumbled into Moon’s attackers, snarling. The huge dog looked exhausted and bloodied, but he was lunging courageously for Terror’s throat. Terror gave a screaming howl of fury.

  “Kill him! Kill this stupid dog!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Lucky ran through the battling dogs, knocking aside all challengers in his panic, but Terror and his two Packmates had already turned on Fiery. The big dog was knocked sideways, crashing heavily into a tree trunk, and as Moon howled in distress, Fiery disappeared under the teeth and claws of his snapping, snarling enemies.

  Lucky slid to a halt in the lashing rain. He couldn’t even see Fiery among the writhing mass of soaked fur that was Terror and his two Packmates. Their paws flashed down; their claws and fangs glinted. Worst of all, he could see blood streaming and mingling with the rain, forming pools. Lucky could smell it: bad blood and sickness leaking from too many wounds.

  “Fiery, no!” Moon flew at the heap of fighting dogs, but one of them turned and lunged for her. Terror’s second Packmate joined him, and together they dragged her away and pinned her down as Terror tore with his jaws at Fiery’s limp form.

  Now, though, Lucky could see where to aim his blows and bites. He bunched his muscles to spring at Terror, but a dark shape flashed past him, beating him to it. Lick flung herself bodily onto Terror, fastening her jaws in his scruff and wrestling him off Fiery.

  Both dogs fell to the ground together, Lick’s teeth clamped in Terror’s neck. She dug her claws into the ground and dragged him away, then slammed herself on top of the crazed dog to hold him down, ignoring his snapping, slashing jaws. Terror’s hind legs kicked hopelessly at the mud, sending showers of it spattering onto both their hides, but Lick was kicking too, raking her hindclaws along his side. Her whole weight was on his head, shoving him down into the mud.

  Lucky opened his jaws to bark at her to stop, but the words stuck in his raw throat. Let her kill him. Let her take revenge for Fiery!

  Fiery! Lucky raced toward his friend. Moon’s attackers fled as she gave one of them a last savage bite on the muzzle. Scrambling up, she reached Fiery just before Lucky did, flopping down at his side and licking desperately at the bloody wounds.

  “Fiery, I’m here! I’m here.” She whined and shifted her muzzle to lick his jaw. As Lucky slid to a halt in a shower of mud, Moon spun with a defensive snarl, but then recognition flashed in her eyes, and she turned back to her mate.

  Lucky stared at Fiery in horror. His sides still rose a
nd fell with his breaths, but the movement was small and shallow, and the big dog’s tongue lolled into the churned mud. Moon licked his side again, spitting and coughing between each stroke of her tongue. She turned helplessly to Lucky.

  “His blood—it’s bad! What’s happened to him, Lucky?”

  “I don’t know. The longpaws—”

  “Yes, but what can we do?” In despair she rested her jaw on Fiery’s side.

  “I’m not sure, Moon,” whined Lucky. “I don’t know.”

  An angry, squealing growl made him turn. Lick! She was on her side now, and Terror had struggled out from under her; he was shoving her down, biting with his slavering jaws at her neck. Lick was fast, though, and agile; she twisted her head away from his teeth and her lithe body squirmed loose. Then she rolled onto her belly.

  “No, Lick!” Lucky dashed toward her. “Don’t give him your back!”

  It was too late. Terror sprang onto her spine, pinning her and snapping his jaws onto the side of her neck. Lick gave a screaming yowl of agony.

  With a howl, Lucky reached and flung himself onto Terror, seizing the nearest bit of flesh in his teeth. It was the mad dog’s ragged ear. Good! He savaged it viciously, and Terror gave a scream and fell sideways off Lick. Lucky tumbled with him, his teeth locked in the soft flesh of the ear, dragging Terror farther from Lick.

  Terror wriggled and kicked, then tore his ear free; Lucky felt a spurt of blood strike his muzzle. Slipping and slithering, Terror clambered to his paws, growling his hate.

  He didn’t even feel it, Lucky realized, and his gut turned over. He’s too crazy, too sick! Or does the Fear-Dog stop him from feeling pain? Is there something to his crazy stories?

  Lucky shuddered, but there was no more time to wonder. With a high-pitched scream, Terror charged.

  Lucky braced himself, lowering his head and snarling, but Terror never reached him. Lick leaped forward again, meeting Terror head-on, and they staggered and rolled in a fury of claws and teeth.