Free Back To The Divide by Elizabeth Kay Page A

off down that tunnel without a second's thought for anyone else."
    Ironclaw looked hurt.
    "Oh, I'm not complaining," said Thornbeak, ducking as she entered the passageway.
    Ironclaw watched her shapely hindquarters disappear into the gloom. Then he backed into the tunnel himself, so that anyone following him in would have his beak to contend with rather than his backside. I'll peck out his eyes if he tries to have a go at me, thought Ironclaw. I will.
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    When Harshak actually entered the tunnel, Ironclaw felt sick. He could see the sinistrom silhouetted against the opening, and he was big. Very big. Ironclaw carried on shuffling backward, feeling the ceiling of the passageway scrape against his back. Harshak was shortening the distance between them far too quickly. At least if he kills me, thought Ironclaw, my body will block the tunnel and the others will get away. And then he felt terribly noble, like someone out of one of Turpsik's epic poems. Harshak's eyes were glowing an irritating green; they were quite close now. And then the head was right there in front of him, and almost as a reflex action he fended it off with his beak. He'd put some force behind that swipe, and he heard Harshak thump against the wall of the tunnel.
    [Image: The tunnel.]
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    He shuffled back a few more steps, and suddenly he was sure that Thornbeak wasn't behind him anymore -- the air on his behind was just that fraction cooler. Good, he thought, she's out of the tunnel. She'll be able to get away now, and she'll take the youngsters with her. He felt a stab of pity for himself, tinged with pride.
    And then the sinistrom was at him again, his lips drawn back in a snarl, strings of saliva hanging from his jaws and whipping from side to side as he launched himself into the air. This time Ironclaw got a proper peck at him. He felt his beak connect with something, but it was yielding and furry. Not the eyes, then. He couldn't in all honesty say he was sorry. And then he realized he was stuck.
    He wriggled but only succeeded in getting more stuck. The horrible slurpy sounds from in front of him meant that the sinistrom was licking his wound. That wouldn't last long. Ironclaw tried to dig at the sand on the floor of the tunnel, but he was too tightly wedged to do much good. This is it, then, he thought. His mind drifted back to the problems he'd solved, the mathematical victories he'd won. He hadn't done badly. Not badly at all. He'd produced a fine son, and he'd even seen him as recently as six months ago. He'd chosen the right hen, no doubt about it. Or had she chosen him? He thought back to their brief and acrimonious courtship. He'd helped build the nest, hadn't he? Or had he? He remembered getting deeply involved in a particularly
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    juicy probability problem.... Had he actually taken back those branches he'd collected?
    The snarl came just before the leap. Ironclaw jolted himself back to the present, did a lightning calculation as to where the sinistrom's belly would be, and sliced upward. He missed the precise target, but he felt his beak connect with something, and he knew he'd done some damage. He heard Harshak hit the tunnel wall again, and heard a strangled yelp as he landed. And then he could feel something, down by his feet. Someone was digging from behind him. He had more movement already. Thornbeak hadn't gone after all; she was digging with all four legs, her talons loosening the sand, her paws scooping it out. He started to scrabble with his own claws, and it became easier and easier. And then he was squeezing through the final bit of the tunnel, and at last he was in the cave.
    "Pretty impressive," said Thornbeak, glancing behind him at Harshak. The sinistrom was out for the count, lying on his side, his tongue lolling from his mouth. Ironclaw fluffed out his feathers and looked smug and completely forgot to thank her for her assistance.
    "I think we'd better get away as quickly as we can," said Thornbeak. "Harshak