Chapter 10

The two siblings had eventually climbed through the mountain range, and were quite accustomed to the rocky terrain and cooler temperature. Occasionally, a large bird, either a falcon or hawk would fly above their heads, circling the giant rock that they were walking across, but they were never disturbed by those birds of prey.

One day, while they were both done with hunting and were sunning in a small valley, Sunshadow noticed something. "Moonlight," he said, sitting up suddenly.
His sister yawned. "What?" she asked, blinking sleepiness out of her eyes.
"Don't you think it's strange?"
"What?"
"Well, we're getting higher, so it's supposed to be getting colder, right? But it seems to be getting warmer, don't you think?
Moonlight narrowed her eyes. "You're right," she said. "I noticed a little before, but now that you mention it, it is quite warm here. But....why?"
Sunshadow looked up, and realized that a top of one of the mountains seemed to be cut off, and was smoking. He grinned. "Maybe it's that."

The two didn't know why, but the volcano had seemed to be calling to them. As they hiked along its warm rock, Moonlight's ears twitched. "Did you hear that?" she hissed. "I thought I heard a cat yowl, but I guess I'm just hearing things..."
Sunshadow shook his head. "I hear it too," he said. "Do you think a cat's in trouble?"
Moonlight nodded. "We should go to the source of the sound," she suggested. "We should help any cat in danger, right?"

After walking for about five minutes, Sunshadow's eyes stretched wide as he saw a figure lying on the warm rock in front of them, pelt mangled and bloody. "There!" he said, dashing to the injured cat. It was a gray tom, and he didn't look so good. "I'll go get herbs," Moonlight said quickly, and padded away to search. Sunshadow walked closer to the other cat, and poked him slightly. "Um," he started. "Are you OK?" Slowly, the cat's eyes opened slightly. "Wha....?" a faint voice sounded.
"Don't talk too much," Sunshadow warned. "You're badly injured. But you are you?"
The voice that replied was weak and raspy, like a piece of chalk scraping the ground. "M-Magma."