The Winds of Altair by Ben Bova Read Free Book Online Page A

were a massive empty cry of hunger. But there seemed to be no prey in sight. There were scents aplenty, but he could not see any animals.
    He stopped and turned to face the wind. The food smells were strong, fresh. Not the same scents as those back in the forest, though. Different odors. Different animals.
    Crown crouched down on the grass, flat on his empty belly, low enough so that his huge bulk was almost entirely hidden by the grass. Nothing but the gray unmoving curve of his back showed above the tops of the waving fronds. Unmoving, unblinking, hardly breathing, he watched and waited.
    Gray clouds were building up overhead, lower than the perpetual deck of smooth pearly cloud that Crown knew as the sky. These were like angry fists of darkness, and they dotted the plain with scurrying shadows as they blew past on the urgent wind. Crown watched the grass, now bright in daylight, now dark in shadow.
    Something moved! A small, brown, furry thing, only about as big as one paw. But food.
    More than one! A brown furry head poked up over the tops of the grass, looking around nervously, nose twitching as it sniffed for danger. Crown was downwind, it couldn't catch his scent. The head went down and another one popped up, off to the right.
    Not much food, but better than none at all. Crown waited, not moving a muscle, a gray silent hill hidden by the grass. The little things were scampering through the waving fronds, coming closer, closer. Crown tensed. Closer . . .
    He leaped, roaring, landed on one animal, killing it instantly, then leaped again and caught another. The grass was suddenly alive with them, jumping and scattering in all directions, chittermg, screaming shrilly as they raced to escape the huge roaring death that had pounced into their midst.
    Crown dashed this way and that, trying to catch a few more of them, but they easily eluded him. Some of them skittered right under his belly and out of reach before he could swat them. For several foolish minutes he thrashed through the grass, roaring, twisting, jumping, and got nothing. It was like trying to pick up water with your fingers.
    With a final growl of exasperation, Crown returned to the two creatures he had killed. Not much food for a morning.
    A ground-shaking roar made him look up.
    A huge wolfcat stood several leaps away, staring at him with huge, dagger filled jaws. His muzzle was white with age, but the strength of his roar and his massive size showed that he was still powerful, more powerful than Crown.
    Crown had no intention of giving up his kill, small though it was. He growled back at the intruder.
    Another wolfcat rose out of the grass beside the first one. A female. She growled too. And a third, on the other side of the old male. Then behind him, Crown heard more warning growls. He turned to see two more males, smaller and younger than he. That made five against him.
    Crown understood their growls and roars. It wasn't the food they were after. Crown was in their territory. He was the intruder, and this family of wolfcats was going to get rid of him.
    They were circling around him, eyeing him warily and snuffling, grunting. But the circle was drawing tighter, closer, with every step they took.
    Crown stood over his two tiny kills, a rumbling growl filling his throat. The elder male halted his pacing and roared his full fury. From a scant ten meters away, his bellow was shattering.
    Crown snatched at one of the furry things and scampered away, dashing between the two younger males, clutching his tiny kill in his right forepaw and running crookedly on his other five legs.
    They chased him for a few minutes, roaring after him. Then, satisfied that Crown was leaving their territory, they let him go with nothing more than a few more warning roars.
    Crown dashed over the grassland, loped up a slight rise, then stopped to look back at the wolfcat family. The old male was still standing stiffly, fur bristling, facing directly toward Crown. But the others had