The Vajra Fortress moved slowly toward the stand of tall poplars. Overhead the eagles were still circling under the Cangzhou Divine Eagle's lead, crying out one after another.

The cries grew louder as he went. Plainly Shen Cong had crossed a line these birds would not allow.

Watching them drop lower and lower, Shen Cong called to the weasel and the four-legged dragon at once. "Get ready to fight!" And he drove straight into the poplar wood.

The Third Eye Radar had already picked out a great many roughly built nests up in the tall poplars.

Some held eaglets squalling to be fed, which looked for all the world like plucked chickens. Others held huge speckled eggs.

The moment the weasel saw the eggs it forgot every word of Shen Cong's instructions. It went up a trunk and straight for a nest. There, under the eyes of every eagle above it, it bit an egg open and slurped the inside of it down.

Seeing that, the four-legged dragon wanted to rush over and eat eggs too.

Shen Cong stopped it. "Moron, get back here. You've got no sense of taste — what do you want with eggs? Stay alert. Watch out, those eagles are going to attack."

And attack they did.

The Cangzhou Divine Eagle did not dive. But its children and grandchildren could not hold themselves back, and two big eagles came diving at the weasel. As they closed, they beat their wings, put out iron talons, and reached for the weasel where it stood with its head down in its meal.

What they had not counted on was how cunning the weasel was. Eating the egg had been bait from the start. Before the talons reached it, it twisted its body clear, then shot upward and closed its jaws on an eagle's wing. It dragged the bird bodily down out of the air.

Once it hit the ground, struggling did the eagle no good.

It was like a dog with a sparrow in its mouth.

The weasel laid both forepaws on it, pinned it flat, took two crunching…