Free Darkness Falls by Erin Hunter Page A

pads suddenly damp with sweat. Despite this, he held firm. The longpaw flung the object and it flew past Lucky’s head, smashing against the wall. Lucky flinched but continued to growl, and Mickey only snarled louder.
    Lucky’s ears flipped back at the sound of a deep groan. The house was speaking! His body tensed. Was it moving? Would it collapse?
    The longpaw who had hurled the clear-stone hastily gathered up more objects to throw at the dogs. Lucky sensed Mickey stiffen, preparing for an onslaught, but the Farm Dog didn’t even whimper when a heavy object clipped his ear. Lucky was impressed.
    â€œYou’re doing great!” he told Mickey. “You’ve got them spooked!”
    There was a twitch of pleasure in his friend’s tail as he held his stance and continued to snarl.
    Lucky could see the longpaws exchanging nervous glances, backing against the wall of the small room. Then the house growled loudly and a shower of dust fell from above them. One of the longpaws started coughing and Lucky barked at them:
    â€œGet out of here! This is not your place! Get out before we make you!”
    His bark echoed back at him in the small room and seemed to dislodge more dust, which fell in white shrouds.
    The longpaws cowered, backs against the wall. Lucky felt a wave of satisfaction when he caught the scent of their fear. He knew that they would not defend themselves against an attack—they would run away at the first opportunity. He turned to bark to Mickey but the ground shuddered beneath their paws as the house growled again. With a whine, a long wound tore open along one wall, crawling upward and bleeding more dust and debris.
    The longpaws yelped fearfully, dropping the objects they had gathered and shoving each other out of the way as they made for the door. They hurried past the dogs, coughing as they broke into the open.
    Lucky nudged Mickey urgently. “We have to get out!” he barked.
    Mickey’s eyes were wild, shooting around the room.
    â€œBut my longpaws—”
    â€œNow!” snarled Lucky.
    With an ear-piercing crack , the side of the room started sinking and the ceiling rocked.
    The house! thought Lucky. It’s falling down!

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Lucky and Mickey scrambled outside and bolted across the road to a stretch of grass in front of another longpaw house. They spun around in time to see a wall of Mickey’s old home buckle. Its guts sprayed through cracks and rained on the front lawn. There was the sound of tearing and cracking. The buckling wall folded inward, crushing whatever remained inside. Mickey walked a tight circle, trembling and yelping in despair.
    Lucky caught his friend’s wild expression. “No!” he barked. “Stay back! Your longpaws are far away.”
    Mickey dropped to the ground, his flanks heaving. “I know,” he whined. “But . . . I must defend the house!”
    Lucky licked his friend’s nose. “There’s nothing to defend,” he soothed. “Your longpaws left long ago.”
    There was another crack and the front door bulged forward. Debris from the broken building poured out of it, blocking the path.
    â€œYou would have been killed if you had stayed there a moment longer. Both of us would have been.”
    Mickey yelped in acknowledgment. Both dogs crouched low to the grass, panting. The noises had died down. Now there was only the occasional clunk or crash and billows of white mist around the building.
    Without warning, Mickey sprang to his paws, throwing back his head and howling: “All the good longpaws have gone! They’ve gone! Only the bad ones are left!”
    Mickey walked a few paces and howled again, now addressing his departed longpaws. “Why did you leave me? I would never have left you ! Why did you go?”
    Lucky stayed quiet. Let him get it out , he thought.
    Mickey’s howls grew louder. “You let me come upstairs, you gave me treats. . . .