There was a heartbeat of speechless silence, then the burrow area erupted in chaos. Everyone had something to say, barking over each other and scrambling to their paws. Some stood with their sharp snouts swinging, blinking at the sky as if the leopard would swoop down upon them at any moment. Others crouched, huddling together with wide eyes as if willing themselves to wake from this nightmare. Click pushed through the throng until she reached Clay, Haywood, and Suri. She pulled Clay into a fierce hug, wrapping her forepaws over his shoulders, and pressing his nose into her fur.

"Oh, its so dreadful, Clay." Click rested her snout on top of his head.

"Luff fe woo." He squirmed, his voice muffled by her pelt.

"Clay, honeybee, I can't understand you."

Clay pushed his mother, keeping her at arms-length and gasped. "Oh." Click fussed, sniffing at his shoulder. "Sorry, honeybee."

"It's alright." Clay offered a weak smile, but his thoughts were swirling and tinted with dread. He glanced at Haywood who looked sick to his stomach and Suri whose expression was stoic and knew they felt the same.

A subordinate male yelled to address Ripper. "Where did the attack happen?"

"On the No-End-"

"Where along the No-End Path?"

Ripper swallowed and sat back on his haunches. "The Edgelands we think, near the jungle."

A ripple of worried murmurs swept through the crowd. "We must move burrows then." The same subordinate male suggested.

"Yes." Shouted another meer.

"We should go at once." Someone else nodded.

"There will be no burrow move." Ripper shook his head. "Quiet is in too critical a state to be moved."

"But the Edge Burrow is in the Edgelands!" Squeaked a young female. "We can't stay here and wait for the leopard to come and eat us!"

"Yeah, now that it's had a taste of meer blood there'll be no stopping it." An elderly male shivered, his dread-filled gaze scanning the distance. The group burst into concerned barking.

"Alright, alright!" Ripper stood and lashed his tail. "We'll move burrows as soon as Quiet is well enough and not before. Is that clear?" His stern gaze travelled over the group. "No one gets left behind, not in the Powers." The murmurings quieted and Ripper cleared his throat. "Until then we stay close to the burrow, even to forage. And everyone avoids the No-End Path." Left unsaid was: in case we have to run for our lives from a huge clawbeast and hide in the tunnels.

Clay waited, expecting more information or more details about the plan, he supposed, but it never came. Ripper sat in a half-crouch, his claws spread, watching the gathering begin to dissolve. But that couldn't be right. There had to be more that they could do. They couldn't allow a leopard to roam free on their territory for Star's sake! Nowhere would be safe! All he could see were Quiet's bloody wounds, the stripes ripped into his chest. Quiet may have been horrible, the meer had almost killed him when he pushed Clay into that clay pit, but he didn't deserve to die like that. No meer did, and Clay couldn't fathom standing by and letting the same thing befall another groupmate...

His eyes flickered to his friends and mother. Click was working her jaw making tiny click, click, clicks, her eyes wide and nervous. Suri was speaking in hushed tones to Haywood, but their friend was staring hollowly at a barren shrub. What if one of them was next? Or Ripper? Or Marsh? What would the Powers do without leaders? Clay and Suri certainly weren't ready for that responsibility yet. If the elder was right, then the leopard would stop at nothing to hunt them all down...

Before he had even decided to speak, he was standing on his hindlegs, balancing with his tail, and training his tiger gaze on Ripper. "Isn't there anything else we could do?" He asked. "Anything?"

Ripper tipped his head, inviting Clay to continue.

"Couldn't we try to..." Clay croaked, feeling the eyes of the family on him. "Couldn't we drive the leopard away?"

He realized as soon as he spoke that he'd said the wrong thing. The loosely clustered meer shared glances and broke out into laughter. Ripper cracked a small smile and Clay's mouth unhinged but no words came out. "There's nothing we could do to drive a leopard away, Clay. They're huge. We just have to wait for them to wander off on their own." Ripper chuffed. "But thanks for the comic relief, Clay." Then the dominant male slithered off the stone and disappeared into the burrow. The rest of the family shuffled with aimless chuckles towards the heartmound.

Clay sat back on his haunches, mouth still agape, flabbergasted. "I-I didn't really mean we could drive it off- maybe just lure it away- or something-"

"I know. None of us likes felling helpless, singing bird." Click patted his shoulder, tone absentminded, while Suri gave him a sympathetic glance. Haywood hadn't moved, didn't even appear to have heard him.

A frown formed on his lips, wrinkling his forehead. His skin tingled like it always did when he was embarrassed, but this time the humiliation was overshadowed by his anger. Again, even after Ripper had praised him, no one was taking him seriously! Everyone either thought he was making a joke to lighten the mood or too naive to know when to shut his jaws!

Fuming, Clay brushed Click off and stalked over to a clump of sorrel. He studied the desert, sand lined with sparse green grass and backlit by the flourishing oranges of the dawn sky. The sun had at last broached the horizon and hung like a beacon above the distant, dark trees of the jungle.

After a while Haywood came to join him. He crouched next to Clay, his eyelids drooping. "Couldn't sleep last night?" Clay wondered.

Haywood shook his head. "Not much. You?"

Clay shrugged.

His friend's eyes narrowed at the line of jungle, blurred by the impending heatwave of midmorning, the trees no bigger than grasshoppers at that distance. "What are you thinking about?"

Clay turned to face him, his expression dark and intense. Haywood glanced at him a heartbeat later and startled. "Oh no." He muttered, his tail coiling around his side. "I know that look, Clay. Tell me you're not planning something."

Clay uttered a short chuckle. "I could, but then I'd be lying."

"I knew it." Haywood sighed and then nudged Clay's shoulder with his dark nose. "Come on, spit it out."

The wind spilled through their whiskers and Clay sucked in but all he could smell was the Powers. "Ripper's getting ready to take us foraging." Haywood said, as if he could distract Clay from whatever bad idea he had shaping in his mind.

"Are you hungry?" Clay raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"Me either."

"Listen, Clay-"

"I told you not to call me that."

Haywood pressed his warm, furry flank to Clay's. "Listen, its not your fault what happened to-"

Clay pushed to his paws, looking down at Haywood, whose speech halted mid-sentence. "Alright." Haywood sighed again. "Tell me what your plan is."

A grim smile tugged at the corners of Clay's snout. "I'm going to find the leopard," his eyes glinted with new purpose, "and I'm going to drive it away from Powers Territory. For good."

"I don't like this plan, Clay." Haywood's pelt twitched, his orange eyes bugged and staring at the shadow-shrouded desert like they weren't just crouched under a shrub near the Edge Burrow.

"I don't expect you to." Dusk swaddled the sky in deep crimson reds. Clay chose to see it as the bold color of bravery instead of the chilling hue of blood. The bitter, chalky taste of the millipede he'd gulped down earlier, he'd been in too much a hurry to rub off the foul secretions the insect produced when threatened before swallowing it whole, lingered on his tongue like a film. He hadn't even wanted to eat it but figured that he'd need his strength for what was to come. He wished his friend would stop freaking, he hadn't even left the burrow area yet. "Just promise that you won't tell Suri, or my mom. Don't tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone." Haywood's glance flickered to Clay and then back out at the desert. "I won't get the chance, I'm coming with you."

Clay's tongue, which had been writhing as he tried to rid himself of the millipede taste, went slack. "Haywood, you can't."

"I can and I will." While Haywood's voice never wavered, his tail quivered, and he pressed it to his flank to hide it.

Clay crossed his forepaws, sitting on his haunches with his shoulders hunched and spine curved in a sitting-crouch. "Haywood-"

"The only thing stupider than tracking down a leopard is tracking down a leopard alone." Haywood insisted with a side glance at Clay and slight smirk on his lips. "You aren't a dominant yet, Clay. You can't order me to stay."

The wind kicked dust into his face and Clay shook his head, even though his heart felt lighter at his friend's loyalty. He was glad he wouldn't be traveling alone, even though he worried that if he failed it would not only be his life that ended, but Haywood's too. Then I won't fail, he assured himself, trying to squash the ugly doubt rising in his heart. Aloud he asked, "What about your brother?"

Haywood looked at his paws, trailing a claw through the dusky orange sand. "There's nothing I can do for him now." When he looked back up at Clay resolve burned in his gaze. "I want to see that overgrown kitten gone as much as you do."

Clay rubbed his cheek to Haywood's shoulder. "Of course, you do."

Nibbling above his ear, Haywood found the flea that had been hounding him all day and cracked it between his teeth. Clay churred in gratitude and combed his teeth through Haywood's shoulder fur. They spent the rest of the evening grooming each other. When the first star twinkled through the haze of red and the edges of the sky bled navy, the family began to trickle back into the burrow. Click cast him an anxious look as she made her way to a dark side entrance gaping from the sand. He offered her a reassuring nod and flicked his tail to signal that he would follow soon. His stomach roiled with queasiness at deceiving her, but it was for the good of the family. She would try to stop him if she knew his plan, so would Suri, his guardian Ripper, and dominant female Marsh.

So, they waited until every Power descended into the depths of the Edge Burrow, and then the best friends set out side by side into the night.

It was strange, traveling by moonlight. Clay's whiskers bristled, his tail up and back slightly arched, walking on his claw tips, head swiveling to look out for threats. Haywood matched his stance a step behind. Every now and then he uttered faint close calls, soft muus like a little pup which Clay didn't comment on.

The sounds were odd, foreign, and lasting. He felt the reverberations of an owl's haunting hoots long after the shadowy, winged shape sailed overhead and evaporated into the stars and dark sky. Worse was the faint, humming laughter trickling from the vast, black desert. Clay's night sight was poor, he relied on his whiskers and sense of smell to get around in the pitch black of the burrow. So, it took him several heartbeats to realize that the whoops were the calls of hunting hyenas. Luckily the huge predators were many sky spans away and no danger to the two small traveling meer. At least Clay hoped they were in no danger.

A black shape waddled, tinkling with every step, at the rim of the path. Haywood spotted it first and cringed into Clay's side, the bigger pup stumbled over his friend's paws and almost fell on his face. When he tried to find the creature all he could see were shrubs. "What is it, Haywood?"

"I don't know!" Haywood muttered. "But it was just here, and it was as big as a bush!"

The meer held perfectly still and Clay's ruff prickled with the sensation of being watched. His gaze darted all over the place, trying to keep alert for ground predators as well as ariel assailants. Now that they weren't moving the night chill creep between every blade of fur and Clay's skin sprouted goosebumps. Haywood shivered but neither meer dared to move.

Night is death. Night is death. Night is death. The second Truth replayed in his head like a mantra in the same grave tone that Ripper had adopted earlier during the group meeting.

At last, one of the puffy shrubs shook out its branches and toddled across the path, tinkling. Wait- shrub? Clay's eyes widened as what appeared to be an animated shrub wobbled to the other side of the path and padded into the gras. A little, straight tail waved and it's backward curved spikes rattled. It made mumbling-munching noises as its jaws worked at a piece of foliage. A musky rancidness clung to it and its beady black gaze ignored the pups.

When it was gone Clay and Haywood looked at each other. Haywood's brows climbed. "Was that a porcupine?"

Clay pressed a paw to his chest and laughed at the absurdity of it all. "I think it was! Wow, never thought I'd see one of those." Porcupines were nocturnal and unless they crashed a meer burrow they didn't cross paths with the Powers often.

They crept to the spot where it crossed and found a long, sharp quill laying in the sand. It was black with two white bands near the tip and when Clay squinted, he could make out the recurved grooves in the barb which would make it near impossible to remove and very painful. He drew back with a wince. "Let's get-"

"Aack!" A sharp hiss rang through the still night air followed by rustling. Jumping, Clay and Haywood whipped around to see a bush that was lining the path swishing and shaking. A small, lithe figure plopped out of it, crouching on the pale sand of the No-End Path in a puffed-up heap. "Ow." She muttered.

Clay blanched. "Suri? Suri! What are you doing here?"

The female pup, her golden pelt shining silver in the moonlight, craned her neck to pull a spine from her flank. "Ah!" She gasped as she dropped the porcupine quill. A tiny dark spot of blood welled from the wound it left behind.

Clay and Haywood rushed to her side. "Did that monster attack you?" Clay growled, looking from the wound to the other side of the path were the spiney creature had vanished.

Haywood snuffled her flank. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. There must have been a quill stuck to that bush." Suri licked at the spot of blood and pushed herself up into a crouch.

With narrowed eyes Clay looked from his friend to the bush she must've been hiding behind. "You followed us, didn't you?"

"Well," Suri huffed, "you didn't give me much of a choice, sneaking off like you did. What're you doing out here at night anyway?"

"Foraging." Clay and Haywood said too quickly at the same time.

Suri shot them a look. "You're looking for the leopard, aren't you?"

"No." Clay said.

At the same time Haywood squeaked. "Yes."

Suri glared at Clay, her whiskers twitching.

He sighed. "Yes."

"You know that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Suri began and Clay prepared himself for a rebuke. Instead, she shook out her pelt and paced forward. "But I don't have a better one so let's go."

Clay didn't want to jinx this turn of good fortune, he'd been sure Suri would insist that they return to the family, and nudged a shocked Haywood forward. The three trotted side by side in silence, listening to the exotic night noises and keeping vigilant. Eventually Haywood padded to the lead and Clay fell in next to Suri.

"You don't think we're Truth Breakers?" He asked.

Suri's eyes widened. "Why would I think that?"

"We're out of the burrow at night despite the second Truth."

She shook her head with a thoughtful expression. "I think of The Truths more as warnings than laws to be broken."

Clay tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Suri scratched at her ear with a hindpaw, "take the first Truth: the desert is life. Meaning that if you leave the desert, you'll be putting your life at risk, whereas living in the desert you're less at risk because that's where meer are supposed to live."

"Huh," Clay stared into the dark distance, at the vast line of barely distinguishable trees materializing out of the night sky. Around them the bare sand grew grassy. A lithe gazelle with curling horns darted past going the opposite way, passing them so swiftly that Clay couldn't tell what kind it was. "I never thought of it like that."

Suri ducked her head and bumped his hip with her own. "You learn something new every day." Warmth spread through his pelt, and he gave her shoulder a playful nip. Gasping, Suri side-stepped his second lunge and dashed past Haywood. Their friend halted, startled, and puffing up his fur. Clay rushed after Suri, flicking Haywood with his tail along the way.

"Come on, don't let her get away!"

Suri glanced at him over her shoulder, her amber eyes gleaming in a way that made his breath catch in his throat. "Like you could ever catch me!"

Clay increased his pace, his tail streaming and the chilly wind shrilling in his ears. He panted, unable to remember the last time he'd felt so free, all his focus on Suri. She laughed, Clay saw her throw her head back and her chest inflate with a gulp of air, and he laughed too. The stars blurred above him, and he thought it was perfect. He was with his best friend and future mate away from the judgmental gazes of the family, away from Marsh's prophecy for him, and Ripper's looming expectations. He was going to make it up to Quiet, prove himself to his family, and maybe he could come up with a better name for himself than 'Clay' before he got home.

With Haywood and Suri by his side, nothing was impossible.

"Clay!" Haywood shrieked and a dull pounding built over the tug of the wind in Clay's ears so that he couldn't hear all the words. "Suri! Look out!"

Suri drew to a stop so suddenly that Clay bundled into her haunches. They both tumbled over one another, Suri landing in front and Clay sprawling in the dust behind her, panting. Her spine was pressed into the side of his ribs, and he felt her tremble and muscles go taut.

Pulse thrumming so loud it made his head ache, Clay turned his snout to see what she'd spotted, and his heart leapt into his throat. He knew that this must be what Haywood had seen too. Another gazelle, dark tawny with one thick black stripe along its sides, was racing along the path. It was heading straight for them, drawing closer with each great, leaping bound. It ran in the strange way of its species, kicking up its back legs, every pace an arc through the air, pronking. The ground vibrated with its hoof beats, the pebbles jumping. Then it was close enough for Clay to see the terrified whites of its eyes and the moonlight glinting off curved black horns.

Haywood trundled into his back and Clay gathered them both in his paws, curling over them, thinking bleakly that just maybe his body could take the blow. The gazelle thudded down in front of them, a scared honk burst from its snout, and its eyes were glazed with mindless panic. It lifted sharp hooves and gangly, twiggy legs, strong thigh muscles bunching. Clay clamped his own eyelids, swamped by Suri and Haywood's fear scent, as the gazelle pronked-

Something slammed into his side hard. He and his friends rolled to the edge of the path and tumbled down the slope. The grass crumpled beneath him and whizzed past in a whir. Clay's world spun and it felt like ages before he came to a halt on his belly, legs nestled close, paws pressed to his stomach to protect himself. His back ached and a dozen tiny scratches stung along his sides, neck, and tail. Dizziness overcame him and it was several moments until he could blink open his eyes. He pushed himself to his paws gingerly with a groan. "Suri?" He wondered as his vision focused. "Haywood?"

They were a few paces from him, sprawled on their sides, unmoving. Shaking himself, Clay wobbled over to the nearest- Suri- and pushed his nose into her fur. "Suri?" He whispered and waited. When she didn't respond he touched his nose to hers and her breath stirred his whiskers. She's not dead, his paws went numb with relief. He was swinging around to check on Haywood when a musky, meaty scent smacked him in the face. A shadow fell over him.

"Well," A deep voice rumbled, "It was meer who ruined my hunt."

Clay looked up and almost wished that he hadn't. A shudder snaked up his spine so violently that he almost lost his balance. A leopard was standing at the raised rim of the No-End Path, silhouetted and completely black with the claw moon at his back, his golden eyes glimmering from the depths of his shadowy form. Clay's throat bobbed.

"I was tracking those gazelle when they heard you chattering. At first I thought it was a lousy bunch of ground squirrels." The leopard stepped off the path, his muzzle curling with interest revealing long, white canines. "Imagine my surprise when I find its meer roving the desert in the dark. And near the jungle too. That's quite dangerous for small day-dwellers such as yourselves, don't you think?"

Clay shook so bad his teeth clacked together and he cringed back until he stumbled over Suri's paw. Still unconscious, she moaned, and he hoped that she wasn't in pain. He risked glancing at Haywood and saw that his friend's chest was rising and falling in a normal rhythm. The leopard noticed and took another pace forward, sniffing. His white tail tip twitched. "They'll be fine. It was only a tap really."

The imperious way that the leopard spoke combined with this new information made anger spark to life in his gut. It distracted him from his fear long enough for him to retort. "You're the one who thrust us from the path!" He growled, his ruff spiking and tail arching. "You're the leopard who attacked Quiet!"

The leopard tipped his head, appearing unconcerned. "That gazelle would've trampled you."

Clay frowned, it dawned on him that the leopard was conversing with him instead of outright attacking and eating him, which it was very capable of doing with no struggle at all. It towered over the half-grown pups. "Why aren't you eating us?" Clay spat, eyeing its big paws.

The leopard sat in front of him and stared down at him as if he were an interesting ant he'd love to investigate before squashing. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine. What are you doing out here at night?"

"Foraging." Clay hissed. "Now-"

"Ah, ah, ah," the leopard flicked his slim tail, "the truth little meer. I know that your kind doesn't forage at night, its too cold for such little bodies during the dry season and your dark vision is terrible."

Clay's frown deepened into a scowl. "How do you know that?"

The leopard's muzzle wrinkled with a disturbing smile. "That wasn't an answer to my question, little meer."

A growl of irritation rumbled in Clay's throat, but he was interrupted by a resounding bellow. It was unmistakably a lion's roar and not far away either. He pressed himself to the ground, heart thrashing anew, and eyes darting. The leopard just licked a paw and drew it over his ear with languid, graceful motions. Clay watched him with new interest. Shouldn't the leopard be running away? Meer were usually too small for lions to bother hunting, but Ripper had told him that lions were very territorial and would kill other big predators if they found them.

"Aren't you afriad?" Clay couldn't stop the question from popping out of his mouth.

There was that grin again. "No."

"Why?" Clay unpeeled himself from the grass.

The leopard's eyes twinkled. "That was one free answer. You won't be getting another." He waved his tail at Clay's companions. "They should be waking up soon." Then he got up and began to pad away, back towards the jungle, his route veering from the No-End Path.

"Wait!" Sudden desperation for an answer clawed at Clay's gut. What was the leopard's secret? How was he so fearsome and unafraid of his natural enemies? Clay was always afraid of one thing or another, but this leopard was the opposite, and he didn't even have a family to protect him...

"Please, tell me," Clay begged, "why don't the lions scare you?"

The leopard paused, his shoulder blades shifting like ridges of sand as he looked over his shoulder at Clay. His gaze narrowed and his ears perked with consideration. "Fine." He announced and hope fluttered in Clay's chest. "I'll answer all your questions and you, young meer, can answer mine, but only if you come with me." Again, that wicked smile that Clay couldn't read. Was it a friendly gesture or full of malice? Either way it made Clay's hope die. "Alone."

Clay's jaws unhinged and shut, and then unhinged again. He looked from Suri to Haywood. They were stirring. Haywood's ears were twitching, and Suri's claws flexed. They'd wake up soon. If he wanted to go with the leopard he had to go now.

But could he trust the ferocious cat that had mauled Quiet to near death?

Clay's need for answers gnawed at him with biting force. The leopard was watching him expectantly, waiting. He obviously found something about Clay interesting enough to spare him and his friends' lives even after they unknowingly spoiled his hunt. He had a hunch that the leopard wouldn't eat him, at least right away. And he still had a mission to protect the family and make up for what had happened to Quiet because of his dare. He might be able to convince the leopard to leave Powers land but only if he went with him...

The stars glittered, bright and reassuring. Clay turned his gaze to them, wondering what The Before Us would have him do. He hesitated, hoping for some sort of sign. All he got was a sigh from Suri and her fur rippled. She was waking up. Clay glanced at them again, hating that they would be even more vulnerable out here at night without him.

But they'll never let me go if I wait for them to wake. Swallowing his guilt, he scrambled after the leopard.