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The two cats danced lightly across the thick ice, skidding and sliding on their padded paws, the larger one moving slowly and carefully, placing each foot with care before shifting his weight, the smaller one moving much less surely, often falling backward before springing back to his feet. Beneath the ice other things moved in the dark. Every few steps, a flash of scales could be seen through the warping lens of the ice, and each time the smaller cat pounced at them, always a moment too late. The larger cat let him play his game. There was no risk of breaking through the packed path.
Above them the strangely lit skies whirled as though a storm were about to break, the clouds twisting and stretching into strange forms, shapes appearing and then blurring away in an instant as they roll
