I had come to the place of sparkling lights.
I slowed, slipping into the shadows, my ears twitching. Suddenly I heard a strange noise, like nothing I’d ever heard before. A thumping, rhythmical noise. The hairs along my ears prickled. I felt a shiver down my spine.
The mysterious sound was doing something to me, stirring me inside. It made my heart beat faster.
I moved closer.
Beyond the trees, out in the open, were things I’d never seen before. Huge, square-looking things. The things seemed to be made of pieces of wood. Light shined through square holes in the wood. And out of one of these giant things, the sound was coming.
Suddenly the sound stopped. In its place came a voice, which spoke to me, making Leg-walker sounds.
“Come on down!” it commanded. “Hurry now for the best prices!”
I didn’t know what pry-ces were, but the voice made me feel eager to find out.
I obeyed the voice and stepped out of the safety of the swamp, into the light.
Chapter 23
My body felt horribly exposed out in the vast world with no trees to hide me.
Quickly I ran for a patch of darkness beside the nearest of the giant wooden things. My nose filled with hundreds of alien smells, things I had no names for.
I looked around in amazement. Many of the big wooden things had lights shining from inside—and in some of them I could see Leg-walkers. These must be the Legwalker dens! But so many of them!
Whichever way I turned I saw more of the wooden dens, arranged in rows side by side. And all of them were so big. How many Leg-walkers lived here? Each den was big enough for a pack of twenty, maybe thirty.
My mind boggled. So many wolves could never live together. There wouldn’t be anywhere near enough hunting territory.
The Legwalkers must live more like bees than like wolf packs, I thought. They must make their own honey and have no need to hunt for food. I was glad the wolves had found me. I wouldn’t want to live in a hive with millions of other Legwalkers!
But I couldn’t help being curious. And the sweet noise coming from the nearest den still drew me. I gazed up. It was coming from a lighted square at the top of the den.
All of the dens had these square holes. The holes were covered with some kind of hard see-through material. A word came into my mind, a word from the distant past: windows.
So far none of the Legwalkers seemed to have seen me or sensed me. Suddenly I felt overwhelmed at the thought of being in the midst of so many of them.
The hair bristled up all over me and I shrank deeper into the shadows, my eyes darting every which way.
Did they all have bows and arrows? If one of them looked out and saw me, they could shoot me with an arrow before I could dive for the trees.
My stomach churned.
I might have left then, gone back to the swamp where I was happy and safe. But the wonderful sound coming from the lighted square suddenly got louder. The jangly, frantic pulse of it gripped my heart.
I had to get up there—had to see what was making that noise!
But as I lifted my head toward the lighted square, a chorus of alarm erupted.
“Ark-ark-arkark-ark!” Howling, yapping, and yipping noises came from many of the wooden dens. I could sense that the noisy animals were like harmless cubs, but they were frantically calling the Legwalkers to come with their dangerous weapons.
I pressed myself against the side of the den. There was nowhere to hide. The din of barking hurt my ears.
I could smell the confusion of the Legwalkers. Their noses were useless but they kept these tame creatures in their houses to warn them of danger.
Inside the dens, Legwalkers began to shout.
Doors opened.
I was strong but not mighty enough to fight off the Legwalkers’ arrows.
Any second the Legwalkers would have me surrounded.
The trees were too far away.
My muscles clenched with fear.
The first Legwalker came rushing out of his den.
Chapter 24
I flattened myself against the wall of the den.
At first the Legwalker was alone. Staring out into the night but not seeing me—his eyes were too weak. Then another Legwalker emerged from a den on the other side. “See anything, Ed?” he called out.
I curled into myself, trying not even to breathe.
“Nah. Probably a fox from the woods. Everything seems quiet,” said Ed.
“We had raccoons in the yard last night,” said the other one. “I thought Misty would bust a gut barking.”
“The dogs aren’t used to living so close to the woods yet,” said Ed. “Seems anything will set them off. One starts yowling and they all go crazy.”
“Right. Another week or so they should be used to this place and settle down. Meanwhile, it’s pretty nerve-wracking.” The Legwalker laughed and started back to his den. “Well, good night, Ed. Let’s hope that’s all the excitement for tonight.”
In the dens all around, Legwalkers were shouting at their animals to stop their noise. The smell of the animals’ confusion and fear was overpowering, but eventually they quieted down and stopped barking.
After a little while, I felt safe enough to think about the light coming from that one particular den. The strange, wonderful noises had started up again, drawing me closer. I had to get up there! I had to see what was inside that light, what made that marvelous noise!
All around me were dangerous Legwalkers. And their animals quivered with loathing and fear of me.
But I was going to find a way to get to that light. Or die trying.
Chapter 25
It was too high up for me to reach in a leap. The wall I was huddled against was part of a smaller structure with a low roof.
Inside the structure was a large dark thing with wheels and a sharp unnatural smell. The thing wasn’t alive, but it had this smaller den all to itself.
Something
