The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis

asked.
    Casseomae licked again at the crusted blood on her snout before lumbering forward. “I don’t know,” she said.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    T hat night they slept in the ruins of a burned-out building. Dumpster disappeared under a sheet of rusted metal, while the child lay down against a brick wall not far from Casseomae. Later, with the moonlight coming down in silver streams through the trees, Casseomae rose to forage for moths. As soon as she stood, the child sat up and whimpered.
    “I won’t go far, cub,” she said. “Keep sleeping.”
    When she ambled away, the child followed her. “Go on back now,” she snorted. But the child would not leave her. She caught some of the fluttering brown morsels before returning to the ruins so the cub would get some rest.
    After he lay back down, the child took something from one of his pouches. It was the object he had used tostartle the cougar. A square of light appeared, casting a bluish glow onto the cub’s face. Casseomae snorted curiously. The cub said something to her and then fidgeted with the object.
    It looked like a piece of the sky, blue and steady and peaceful. Maybe the cub had brought a part of his home with him, she thought. Something to protect him from danger.
    Her eyes grew heavy with sleep. When she looked up a little later, the square of light was gone, and the cub was sleeping.
    Later in the night she was woken by a scent. The moon had set, and the Forest was dark and resounding with insect song. She stepped from the ruins. The acrid smell was from a canine. It could have been a wolf or a coyote or even a fox. She wasn’t certain. What was important was that it wasn’t the cougar. And it couldn’t have been one of the Ogeema’s wolves, not yet. The assassin wouldn’t have had time to get back to the Ogeema and report what had happened.
    But when the Ogeema found out, what would he do?
    The cougar would surely report that they were traveling away from Chief Alioth’s range. Hopefully the sloth wouldn’t be punished for her crime. And hopefully when the Ogeema learned that the Skinless One was nothing more than a cub, he would lose interest.
    But Casseomae realized that she herself was troubledby the cub. The cougar had said the cub brought danger to the Forest. Could he? Cubs were helpless, but cubs grew into powerful warriors, just as Alioth had. What if this cub grew up to be a monster, like the Skinless Ones from the stories?
    She gave an angry snort. No matter what he became when he was grown, there would only ever be just him. One Skinless couldn’t harm the Forest. And she would raise him to honor and love their home.
    The idea surprised her. Saving the cub from Rend and Alioth was one thing, but raising the cub as her own was another. She had seen many winters. She had lost all her own cubs. This might be her last chance. If she could only bring him somewhere safe. But where?
    As she turned to go back inside, Dumpster emerged. “How do you expect a rat to sleep with all your stomping around?” He sat back on his haunches. “What’s troubling you, Cass?”
    Casseomae snorted. “We’ve left the Ogeema’s territory, but we’ll be in another pack’s territory before long. They might even pay tribute to the Ogeema. If the Ogeema sends word to look for the cub, how can I ever hope to get the cub somewhere safe? Unless …”
    Dumpster twitched his whiskers. “Unless what?”
    Casseomae peered down at him. “Those Havenlands.”
    The rat’s black eyes bulged. “Have you been eating toads?”
    “You said yourself that your mischief is looking for them.”
    Dumpster flattened his whiskers. “Well, my da always said,
‘When you’re out of choices, better to run for the shadows than to wait for a hole to appear.’
 ”
    Casseomae sat in silence a moment. “You said that the Havenlands are rumored to be by the Wide Waters. Which way is that?”
    “The same way we’re going,” the rat said. “The same way I followed my mischief out