PROLOGUE¹
One by one, the cats creptinto the cave. Their fur was streaked² with mud and their eyes stretched wide with fear, reflecting the cold moonlight that filtered through a crack in the roof. They crouched³ low with their bellies⁴ close to the ground, their gazes flickering⁵ from side to side as if they expected to see danger lurking⁶ in the shadows.
The glimmer⁷ of moonlight was caught in pools of water on the cave floor. It lit up a forest of pointed⁸ stones, some rising from the ground and others hanging from the cave roof. Some of the stones joined in the middle to form slender trees of gleaming white rock. Wind gusted⁹ through them, ruffling¹⁰ the cats’ fur. The air smelled damp and clean, and was filled with the distant roar of falling water.
A cat stepped out from behind one of the pointed stones. He was long-bodied, with lean, muscular limbs, and his pelt¹¹ was completely covered in mud that had dried into spikes¹², so that he looked like a cat carved in stone.
“Welcome,” he meowed in a rasping voice. “Moonlight lies on the water. It is time for a Telling, according to the laws of the Tribe of Endless Hunting.”
One of the cats crept forward, dipping his head to the mud-covered cat. “Stoneteller, have you had a sign? Has the Tribe of Endless Hunting spoken to you?”

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