Huckleberry collected oak moss, pine sap and sweet woodruff, and made it into a poultice for the eaglebear’s injured wing. The huge creature growled and unsheathed its claws, as Huckleberry applied the poultice.

‘Don’t be such a baby,’ Huckleberry said, not even flinching away from the huge claws. ‘I’m trying to help you.’

‘You are impertinent, Round Mouse,’ the eaglebear said.

‘My name is Huckleberry,’ he replied. ‘And you could stand to be more polite to the creatures who just saved your life.’

The eaglebear managed to look somewhat ashamed. ‘I am known among my kind as Earna. I got caught in a bad storm, several weeks ago, and took shelter in a cave. The grabbers took me by surprise. Cut my wing so I couldn’t fly away, then chained me up. They were planning to sell me at the Midnight Markets.’

‘Lucky for you, me and Titch came along,’ Huckleberry said. ‘And Dollop, of course.’

He finished applying the poultice, and stood back to admire his work. ‘You should be able to fly again in a day or two,’ he said. ‘Which means we can go home,’ he added, turning to Titch.

Titch was sitting on the pine needles, her head still whirling.

She had done it. The crystal had ignited, and she had driven away the curseworm.

You are BRAVEPAW.

Could it really be true?

‘Titch?’ Huckleberry said. ‘Are you listening?’

Dollop scurried over and nuzzled her paw.

‘Hmm?’ she said, looking up. ‘We can go home?’

‘In a day or two.’

‘How?’

‘Earna is going to take us,’ he said. ‘It’s the least she can do after you saved her life.’

The eaglebear bowed her head. ‘It would be my honour to bear these two heroes back to the Plateau.’

Titch touched a paw to the Heartstone. She remembered the incredible feeling of her heart lighting up with it, like they were the same thing.

‘Titch?’

She swallowed. ‘Tell Prince Vetiver what happened here,’ she said slowly. ‘And … tell my parents that I love them.’

Huckleberry’s brows drew together with concern. ‘Why … why can’t you tell them?’

Titch gripped the staff in her paw and swallowed.

‘Prince Vetiver said that only the Heartstone could heal the crack in the Heart of Alluria,’ she said slowly. ‘That it would banish the monsters and save the world. And … for whatever reason, the Heartstone has chosen me. I don’t know why. I’m just a mouseling, but so was Thistle Straightwhisker. And he became Bravepaw. He drove back the Abyss Hounds at the Battle of Bright Rock. Maybe … maybe I can become Bravepaw, too. I have to try.’

Huckleberry sank to the ground next to her. He reached out and gently touched her paw.

‘I understand,’ he said. ‘But we should go home first. Get some supplies. Talk to Prince Vetiver. He knows all about being a hero. He can help you.’

Titch imagined it. Soaring into the village on the back of a majestic eaglebear. Being hailed as a hero by all. What celebrations there would be! What honours bestowed upon her!

Her eyes filled with tears as she imagined seeing her mother and father.

They would beg her not to go. The world beyond the Plateau was no place for a mouseling.

‘I-I can’t,’ she said. ‘If I go home now, I’ll never be able to leave. I love the Plateau too much to go back there.’

‘Do you even know where the Heart of Alluria is?’ Huckleberry asked.

Titch shook her head. She turned to Earna. ‘Do you know?’ she asked.

‘I do not know. Nobody does.’ The great eaglebear lowered her head. ‘I have heard many tales of late. Strange happenings everywhere. Unrest and MONSTERS. But the heart remains hidden.

It is a DEEP, ANCIENT SECRET.'

Titch felt a surge of despair. ‘So what do I do?’ she asked. ‘Where do I go?’

Earna thought about this, her head cocked to one side. ‘All you can do is be guided by the Heartstone,’ she said at last. ‘It will lead you there.’

Titch swallowed. The world felt suddenly very large and frightening.

How could she be BRAVE, all alone in a world full of MONSTERS, with no path to follow?

Huckleberry was silent for a long moment, his whiskers TWITCHING. Then he stood up, his fists bunched at his sides. ‘Earna,’ he said. ‘Once your wing is better, will you fly up to the Plateau and tell them what’s happened down here? And show your wing to my gran. She can make a much better poultice.’

Earna nodded. ‘Of course.’

Titch stared at Huckleberry. ‘W-why can’t you tell them?’ she asked.

Huckleberry didn’t answer. Instead he held out a hand and pulled Titch to her feet. ‘Which way do we go?’ he asked.

‘W-we?’ she said, her eyes filling with tears again.

‘Well of course I’m going with you,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t survive out here for five minutes by yourself. You don’t know which mushrooms are the good ones, or how to make poultices, or how to find goldberries.’

Titch felt the FEAR lift from her heart.

If Huckleberry was with her, then she could be brave. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked.

Huckleberry nodded stoutly, but Titch could see the tremble in his whiskers.

Dollop squeaked, and Titch laughed. ‘You too, Dollop? You don’t want to go back to the other pufflings?’

Dollop answered this by climbing back up onto Huckleberry’s shoulder.

‘Okay,’ said Titch. ‘Okay. We can do this.’

‘Which way?’ Huckleberry asked again.

Titch looked around. The Forest looked exactly the same in every direction. She remembered the incredible feeling of the Heartstone igniting, its blazing light reflected in her heart. She held the staff in front of her, and turned in a circle. Was that a gentle glow she saw? Or was it her imagination?

‘I guess we follow our HEARTS,’ she said.