Read Online The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis - Free Book Online

lure that wolf closer. You’ll have to help me keep watch.”
    “Ugh, I’m barely getting any sleep as it is,” Dumpster complained. “Out here with all this … Forest. I miss my cozy sewer pipe back in the city.”
    “Your what? No, never mind. My head can’t hold another new word.”
    That evening they reached a place where the highway split and one part rose to curve around the other. Because the overpass had collapsed, it formed a sort of concrete cave underneath. With only one way in, Casseomae felt she would have no trouble smelling when the wolf arrived and defending the cub.
    “Keep your nose high,” she reminded Dumpster as the child lay down to sleep.
    The rat scrambled under a bit of rocky debris. Casseomae waited until the cub’s breathing grew heavy and then crawled up to the uppermost recess of the cave. It was cramped, but the narrow space, along with the peculiar odor of the cub, would mask her scent from anything outside. Once the wolf entered, she could easily descend upon it.
    She waited with painful anticipation. Several times her eyelids grew heavy, but at the first sound of sniffing, she was awake, all her senses honed. The creature tramped on the highway overhead. For a moment Casseomae thought it had missed them entirely, but then the snuffling returned, and she heard the creature coming down through the brush.
    Casseomae waited, letting the creature get closer. As it slunk through the entranceway, she realized something didn’t smell right. This wasn’t a wolf. But what sort of canine was it?
    A sharp screech erupted, and a shadow flashed up from the ground at the intruder. The vora yelped and spun in circles. Whatever it was, Dumpster had locked on to its muzzle.
    The child woke with a shout. Casseomae bounded down to block the cave entrance as the cub slid behind her. The creature shook its head until Dumpster came loose, flying over to land at Casseomae’s paws.
    Casseomae peered through the shadows at thecornered vora pacing back and forth. “What is it?” she asked the rat. “Can you tell?”
    “Yeah, I can spittin’ tell. Got its Faithful stink all over my tongue.” Dumpster slashed his tail angrily. “Vilest of vile. Can’t you see, Cass? You’ve trapped a cur!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    T he creature made to dash around her, but Casseomae swiped a paw. “Stop!”
    Having come into the glow of the moonlight, the cur was visible now. Its coppery-red fur was shaggy and bramble-knotted. One ear was missing entirely. Flattening itself, the cur panted, “Pray, bear, let me pass. I mean you no harm.”
    “Why are you following us, dog?” Casseomae demanded.
    “I haven’t been following you.”
    “Liar!” Dumpster squeaked. “We’ve smelled your stench for two days now.”
    The dog bared his teeth at the child hiding behind Casseomae. “What is that? What is that creature?”
    “Don’t even look at him,” Casseomae warned.
    “It’s true!” The dog rose and stepped forward. “It’s one of the—”
    Casseomae roared, raking her claws across the hard earth, sending the dog back.
    “He’s here to take the pup,” Dumpster said. “Probably wants to offer him to the Ogeema as a tribute.”
    “Why would I do that?” the dog barked.
    “Tired of being despised by every vora in the Forest,” Dumpster said. “Desperate to win favor and make amends for the sins of your scratchin’ kind. Old bear, you know what you have to do.”
    “Shut your squeaking, little mouse!” the dog snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Mouse? Did you just call me a mouse?” Dumpster’s tail lashed furiously. “Oh, that’s it! I’m ripping off that other ear—”
    Casseomae dropped a paw in front of Dumpster. “Stay where you are.”
    “You don’t get it, Cass,” Dumpster cried. “That cur’s a Faithful. He’s just found his new master. He won’t stop until he can steal the pup away for his pack.”
    “I have no pack,” the dog said