further destruction. After this introduction, Fritti Tailchaser, a young ginger tom cat, sets out to stray from his home and clan, the Meeting Wall Clan, in search of his friend Hushpad after strange disappearances of other cats have been reported. The kitten Pouncequick follows him, and eventually catches up. Together, they set out on a long journey to visit the feline royal Court of Harar, with the intention of resolving the mystery of the disappearances. They meet a rather crazy cat named Eatbugs, who travels with them for parts of the journey to the court. Soon they run into some Firstwalkers, cats who live in the wild, who are of a direct bloodline from Goldeneye and Skydancer. Their thane (leader), Quiverclaw, challenges Tailchaser ceremonially and is impressed enough to allow him and Pouncequick to accompany them for a time. Soon, they must part ways. The protagonists make their way to Firsthome and the Court, but are treated there with relative indifference. They pick up a new friend, Roofshadow, and go northwest. They are captured by a group of evil cats called the Clawguard, and taken to Vastnir, an enormous mound far to the north, where the evil cat-god Grizraz Hearteater enslaves cats to take over the world, swollen in size and sitting upon a mound of dead and dying creatures. Tailchaser needs to alert the outside world and especially the court about his evil doings. Soon, Roofshadow creates a hole from above ground, and Tailchaser manages to escape, and races to Ratleaf Forest, where he asks a clan of squirrels to alert them for him in repayment for a debt contracted with their lord's brother. He feels guilty with Pouncequick, Eatbugs, and Roofshadow trapped in Vastnir because of him. He returns to the dreadful mound, where Quiverclaw and Prince Fencewalker, whom he had met at the court, come to the rescue. Lord Hearteater creates the Fikos, a dog-like monster of terrible power, out of the mound of dying creatures he had been sitting on. Tailchaser takes advantage of the chaos to rescue Pouncequick, Eatbugs, and Roofshadow. They go through the havoc of Vastnir, and lose Eatbugs, the mad cat, on the way. Roofshadow and Pouncequick escape while Tailchaser goes back to find Eatbugs. He goes into a crevice and sees Eatbugs in a near-deathlike state, and feels dazed and confused. Upon Tailchaser's uttering a prayer to Lord Tangaloor Firefoot, Hearteater's