Limpystared at the picture on the boxes. A human kid in pajamas was happily pouring milk onto what looked like a bowl of warts.
Limpy shuddered.
Did humans eat toad warts for breakfast?
He made himself stop thinking about that and follow Charm, who was heading down the narrow space that ran along the back of the shelf.
You're right, Charm, he thought. Concentrate on the job at hand. This is probably the biggest shop in the district. The human leader probably comes here to do his shopping. If we can find him we can give him our gifts of friendship here.
Suddenly Limpy felt more cheerful, even though the cold air was making his warts ache.
Good on you, Charm, he thought. You're an inspiration.
Then he remembered the other thing they had to do.
Find Goliath before he started a war.
Along the shelf, Limpy saw that several battles had already taken place.
The first had involved Goliath and a packet of white powder. The human on the front of the packet had several holes in her legs, and Limpy saw immediately that she'd been stabbed with a sharp stick.
“He must be practicing before he starts on real humans,” muttered Limpy.
“Oh, Goliath,” sighed Charm. “Don't do it.”
They followed Goliath's white footprints, and on another shelf, a very cold one, they found a packet of cheese slices completely ripped open.
Limpy and Charm looked at each other. With Goliath, it was hard to know if this was a commando raid or a lunch break.
Then Limpy saw Goliath and gave a croak of alarm.
Goliath was behind another glass door, inside a kind of cupboard or cabinet, surrounded by pizzas. Except, strangely, Goliath wasn't trying to eat the pizzas. He was standing completely still, which Limpy had never seen him do when he was close to even a tiny piece of pizza.
Then Limpy saw something else.
One of Goliath's back legs was raised and a stream of liquid was coming out from behind it.
Limpy felt faint.
“He's peeing on the pizzas,” croaked Limpy. “And I don't think he's doing it out of friendship.”
Then Limpy noticed something that made him feel puzzled as well as horrified. Something strange about the pee. It wasn't moving. It wasn't splashing on the pizzas. It was just sort of hanging in the air.
Limpy didn't get it.
“Oh, no,” said Charm.“See how everything in there's got a coating of white on it? I think that's frost. A bird that migrates to our swamp each summer told me there are places so cold that living things go solid and die. It's called freezing. I think that's what Goliath's doing.”
Limpy stared at Goliath.
He certainly looked pretty frosty. And a bit blue.
They had to move fast.
Limpy saw that on the shelf above Goliath were bags of those little round green vegetables that humans sometimes put in rice salads. He couldn't remember what they were called, but he saw that a human shopper standing nearby had a bag of the same little frozen green balls in his big wire basket on wheels.
“Stay here,” Limpy said to Charm, and hopped into the basket.
Using both hands and his good foot, Limpy ripped the bag open. The green balls poured out and clattered across the floor.
Limpy ducked behind a carton of milk and held his breath while the human shopper looked at the escaping green balls, frowned, glanced around, then opened the glass door and reached for another bag.
Now, thought Limpy.
He dropped to the floor, lunged into the cabinet,grabbed Goliath, and tried to drag him out. Goliath didn't move. Limpy saw the problem. Goliath was frozen to the pizzas with pee. Limpy hauled with all his strength. Suddenly Goliath's frozen pee snapped and Goliath slid out of the cabinet, thudding on top of Limpy.
Goliath's skin was so cold it hurt Limpy's hands. Worse, Goliath's eyeballs weren't moving and his arms and legs didn't seem to be working.
Limpy checked that the shopper, who was hurrying guiltily away from the green balls on the floor, hadn't spotted him and Goliath. He squeezed out from under