“Yes!” Tara flattened her belly against the grass and began to stalk the scent. It was good to act like an ordinary cat again.
She and Orion shared one mouse and carried the other two to the place where they’d slept. Whiskers was awake now. “Good hunting?”
“Fine. Sorry, we’d offer you one, but we need these for later.”
Whiskers looked befuddled. “Strange are the ways of the Quest.”
“Strange, indeed,” Orion said.
They trotted through the field, and the closer they came to the house Tara had noticed before, the stronger grew its pull.
“Who lives there?” she asked Whiskers.
“A human considered important by others. He tells them what to do in the fields.”
“Are there females in his family?”
“He has a wife, one daughter who left, and one still with him. When her mother isn’t looking, she throws out scraps of food for cats.”
“How promising,” Orion said.
Before they started down the path of crushed stones to the house, Orion turned to Whiskers. “We’ve welcomed your assistance, but there are parts of the Quest that have to be private, and this is one of them. You’ll have many other chances to help.”
Whiskers lowered his head again. “Good journey. But before I leave . . .”
Orion’s shield was fraying, and irritation leaked out. “Yes?”
“The humans are having a big celebration in the city soon, something about the anniversary of their first coming to this land. I don’t know why I thought of it.”
Tara watched him trot off into the fading night. “That animal’s thoughts jump around like grasshoppers,” Orion said.
“Because he’s young?”
“And untrained and suffering from over-exposure to human thought. We have a lot of work to do in the village.”
Tara wasn’t listening. The young tom might be untrained, but his mention of the celebration hissed through her in warning. Certainty gripped her that this coming event was important. Something would happen, something involving the female she’d seen. The sooner she met this human, the better.
When they got to the house, Orion surveyed the perimeter of the house, pawing some freshly turned earth. “Perfect.” He quickly dug a hole and bit into the loop of the pouch so that it fell from Tara’s neck. “Drop it in,” he told her.
She deposited the pouch, and Orion filled the hole with dirt. “Now we sleep until the humans awaken.”
Sunlight warmed Tara’s face, and Orion gently nudged her. “Is this the one you saw?”
A tall, slender human female stood on the grass. Her skin and hair were the color of rain-dampened earth, and her mouth was wide with a longing that ruffled Tara’s fur like a strong wind. “It’s her.”
“Grab a mouse and place it at her feet,” Orion said.
Tara took an extra deep breath. It had been much easier to speak in front of all those cats than to expose herself to this strange being.
Orion kicked her, and she exploded through the hedge, the mouse dangling from her mouth.
The human raised her paws to her own mouth. “Look at you. Is that the most adorable thing?” Her emotions flowed towards Tara like a beam of sunlight.
Another, older human came to the door. “What is that, a cat?”
The beam of sunlight disappeared, and the young human’s body grew stiff.
“Get the other mouse,” Orion hissed.
Tara darted back behind the hedge and grabbed it. Then she reappeared and carefully placed the second mouse beside the first.
“Fiola, look, she caught two mice.”
The younger human’s voice throbbed with pleading, but the thoughts of the older were truly intimidating.
Nasty little thing, full of fur … They stretch and purr and act as if they don’t have brains in their head, although dissection has revealed—
Tara darted away from those terrible thoughts featuring something sharp that drew blood. She waited a few seconds before back inside the older female’s mind.
But mice, disgrace to have those dirty, diseased things on the property. This cat has performed a service. It is to the species’ credit that they kill vermin, and though stupid, they are clean. We will permit this creature to live.
“The cat is not to come into the house,” the older human said. “That means never. You may occasionally give it a small dish of milk and, if you choose, the scraps you are currently feeding to all the neighborhood strays.”
“How did you know?”
“I know. And that’s enough time with this creature. You need to eat breakfast now.”
The humans went inside their house, and Tara darted back through the hedge. “The older one is frightening.”
“Formidable,” Orion agreed, “but predictable and a bit tiring. Cats stupid, the very idea.”
Chapter 8
After breakfast, Serazina went outside to sit on the bench by the pond, hoping the kitten would find her there. She heard purring and looked down to see the kitten gazing at her with a pair of huge golden eyes.
How beautiful you are, and I know you must be clean; your chest and paws are the color of snow, and your fur gleams.
The kitten tilted its head and purred more loudly. Serazina patted the bench next to her, and it jumped up, arching its back.
Beautiful fur, soft, like the silk I touched once in the Bazaar, and I wanted to wear it. I knew how good it would feel against my skin. You would feel good, too; I’d love to hold you against me when I slept. I know I’d sleep so well, and I wouldn’t have bad dreams. Touching you is better than Numbs. It makes my thoughts and feelings stop fighting with each other. Don’t tell anyone, because I’m supposed to want my thoughts to win. Terrible things happen to people who let their feelings take over, but nothing feels terrible right now.
Oh, I wanted a kitten for so long, and I knew my mother would never let me have one, but you came along at the right moment. You’re a miracle. Can I call you Miracle?
The kitten squirmed, and Serazina thought she heard a hissed No, but not even drugs had ever taken her that far from what was real. Cats didn’t think, after all.
She’d have to come up with another name, though. Miracles, being illogical, had no place in her thoughts.
Berto came to walk with Serazina to school, and the kitten chirped a greeting to him. He sat down and began to pet her. “Dare I ask if the Great Stone Mother has relaxed her restrictions against pets?”
“Only because she killed two mice.”
“Good cat, hard-working cat, industrious cat. I’d like to spend the day with her, but we’d better get off to school.”
Then Serazina kissed the kitten on the nose. “I’ll be back later.”
She paused. Had she heard the words, Be careful? Impossible.
“Do you have to work after school?” Berto asked Serazina.
“Yeah, another fabulous afternoon of hauling dirty laundry.”
“Just remember, they pay you directly in nats instead putting it in your citizen credit account. It adds to our escape fund.”
Serazina tried to remind herself of that as she wheeled the laundry cart down the hall. She was working on the mental floor today, and she hoped she wouldn’t see too many people whose brains had been shredded.
“Psst, girl! Come here!”
A woman, wearing a badly fitting Healer’s uniform, beckoned to her from the linen closet.
Serazina recognized her as the lady who’d told her to trust the dragon. “You’re better, but why are you wearing that uniform?”
The woman showed how much better she was by pulling her into the closet. “I need you to help me. I’ve got to escape from here before they shred my brain.”
Her face matched her words. Little muscles twitched at the corners of her black eyes, and her lips were pulled taut to keep them from trembling. Her emotions seared Serazina’s heart. “Why?” she asked.
“Because I’m the Chief Healer, and I know th
ings they don’t want me to tell. Are you going to help me save my brain and try to save this country? Maybe keep your own brain from getting shredded?”
The Chief Healer! Rumors had circulated that she’d fallen ill, but how could it be bad enough for them to operate on her brain? Unless that wasn’t true, unless she was crazy. But her words seemed true. Her eyes, though darting nervously around the hall, were dignified, and the set of her chin expressed power.
But if she were the Chief Healer, Serazina shouldn’t be able to sense her emotions.
“I’ve learned to free them,” the old woman said.
“You read me!”
“Sorry, it’s an emergency. Young woman, you fascinate me, and I’d love to have a long talk with you. I’ll be having no talks with anyone, though, unless you get me out of here.”
The strength of her need to escape trembled in Serazina’s heart. “Yes, I’ll help. How?”
“That’s the spirit.” The woman darted past her and climbed into the laundry cart. “Cover me with linens, take me down to the basement, and unlock the door. I can get outside from there.”
Serazina heaped sheets on top of her and continued down the hall to the service elevator, trying not to look as if she were pushing an unusually heavy load. In the basement, she looked around; all the workers were in the break room at the other end of the basement. She pushed the cart close to the basement entrance and unlocked it.
“You’re on your own now.”
The woman leapt out of the cart. “Thanks. I won’t forget this or you, Serazina. Oh, don’t look so frightened. I didn’t read your mind this time. You’re wearing an I.D. badge.”
An hour later, the House of Healing turned into the House of Chaos.
“The Chief Healer is missing!”
“She’s escaped!”
Healers and security guards swarmed through the hallway. A guard stopped Serazina.
“Did you see her? An Etrenzian woman in her sixties, about five feet tall with white hair?”
Serazina shook her head, and he dashed on.
I’m glad I helped her, Serazina decided.
Unless anyone finds out.
* * *
“Extra! Extra!” Gris screeched far too early in the morning.
Druid shuffled to the opening of the cave to see the hawk perched on a mangrove. “Can you think of one reason why I shouldn’t have you for breakfast?”
“One: you don’t eat birds. Two: even if you did, you wouldn’t eat such a valuable reporter. Three: you like me.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about points two and three.”
“Four: my news is even more important than usual. The human female called Chief Healer, who was allegedly ill, has escaped from the House of Healing.”
“Why escape, if the purpose of that place is to heal?”
Gris hopped down to the sand and scratched it with his beak. “Why, indeed?”
“If you don’t know, I’m going to have my morning bath.”
Druid immersed himself in the warm green water, sighing with a pleasure that was interrupted by a new screech from the hawk.
“Maybe Tomo knows; he’s coming this way.”
Tomo hailed Druid. “I must have a word with you.”
“It’s the day for it, but you’ll either have to wait until I’ve finished washing or join me.”
Tomo shuddered. “Salt stiffens my fur.” He curled up on the sand and napped while Gris soared over the swamp, looking for more news.
Druid thoughtfully shook himself off a distance down the beach from the cougar, and then loped back to the sleeping cat.
Tomo opened his eyes. “Felt you coming. Did you put on a little weight?”
“It’s water retention,” Druid said. “What’s the news?”
“The wolves are getting out of hand. No respect for their elders, and some cubs are killing for the fun of it.”
Druid sighed at this latest sign of the breakdown of the natural order. “We need to discuss that.”
“I tried to troubleshoot, but they won’t listen to anyone.”
“They’ll listen to me, or they’re out of the swamp. Feel free to mention that to them—and their parents. With wolves always boasting about what good parents they are, you’d think they’d want to maintain their reputations.”
“I like that line of thought. Before I forget, tell me what Gris was squawking about.”
“A human escaped from the place called House of Healing. The interesting part is that she was known as the Chief Healer. There must be more to the story, but I have yet to hear Gris end any of his.”
“Gris,” Tomo growled. “If I weren’t so sure his carcass would taste like stale news, I’d eat him for the sake of peace and quiet. But he can be useful. That’s the other reason I’m here, to tell you that he caught wind of a ceremony the small cats in the forest held for a kitten they’ve named the Chosen.”
“Shouldn’t you have been invited?”
Tomo brushed that idea aside with the shrug of a massive shoulder. “I’m not offended. You can’t expect a bunch of foreigners to come tramping through the swamp looking for big cats. The smaller ones could sink to their shoulders in some of the puddles, and it would be dangerous without a safe passage, especially when you think about how the wolves are acting lately. When the time is right, we will meet.”
He rolled over and rubbed his back against the sand. “I should come here more often. This reminds me of my mother’s tongue. Lots of talk about the Mother at the ceremony.”
“You went?”
“Who needs an invitation? They gathered in a nice little grove in the middle of the forest, not far from a steep ridge where a quiet cougar could rest and listen.”
“And you heard?”
“The kitten’s mother did most of the talking, a smart move, because she didn’t try to dazzle them with any mystical folderol. She talked about the Mother the way you’d praise a helpful friend, and she encouraged the cats there to listen for Her voice. That’s a nice project, if you have a few lifetimes to devote to it, but in my opinion, it would take a lot more than nine. Still . . .”
Tomo’s bright amber eyes softened, and a sigh rippled through his lean body.
“Are you not well?” Druid asked.
“I’m embarrassed, after all these years of specializing in being a cougar of little faith. The so-called Chosen hardly said a word. She sat before the crowd, looking adorable and staring at the village cats with the biggest eyes you ever saw. That kitten touched me in ways I never expected to be touched and don’t want to be touched. She made me hopeful.”
“Why?” Druid felt the reluctant stirring of his own heart. Even his wings tingled slightly.
“Because she was so brave and so wise. No way a creature so new to the world could radiate love and strength as she did, unless she’s hooked up to the Long-tailed One. That means that there is a Long-tailed One and that She takes an interest in our lives and that she’s sent this little creature to help sort out the mess we’re all in.”
“Astonishing,” Druid said.
“Unbelievable, more like it, and I don’t want to believe, but I’m afraid I do.”
“Describe the kitten,” Druid said.
“Golden eyes, big ears, white paws, nice stripes, if you go for stripes on a cat. Small. Very, very small.”
“I’ve seen her, too.” Druid, trembling with some of Tomo’s contagious excitement, told the cougar how the Mother had tapped him on his scaly shoulder to warn him of danger to the kitten.
“And she was brave,” Tomo said. “Called for help for the other cat instead of running away. It sounds like what she would do. What did you think of her?”
“Enchanting. Pure. Like a new flower opening its petals. But Chosen, leader of her species? I know cats think a lot of themselves—no offense intended—but one should be at least your size to have any impact.”
“Those little cats can be clever,” Tomo said. “Look at how some of them manage to st
raddle the world of the humans and the wild. They said this Chosen was heading to the village with her father. Imagine a small kitten marching bravely into the world of humans.”
Druid couldn’t. Such courage put every animal he knew, especially him, to shame.
Tomo rose and stretched. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts now. My mate wants me to bring back a kill. She’s worn out from this litter, says it’s going to be her last. It’s sad in a way, but my interest in mating is definitely winding down. The teeth will be falling out next. You must be losing your interest, too, eh?”
“For me, it was never more than interest.”
“Really? You’re a virgin, a five-hundred-year-old virgin? That’s got to be a record.”
Druid spoke through lips stiffened by salt. “Use your brain, Tomo. Have you ever noticed another dragon in the swamp? You would notice, don’t you agree?”
“Ease off, friend. No one knows what you do at night. A female dragon might fly in for a quick one, love ‘em and leave ‘em.”
“If only. Love him and leave him was more my parents’ line. Let’s drop this subject. I don’t want to cloud my mind with bitterness. There’s too much to think about. Tomo, see if you can find out more about those small cats. We need information that’s more accurate than what Gris delivers.”
“As soon as my arthritis clears up,” Tomo said. “Hey, what about this crazy weather?”
They discussed the crazy weather for a little while, agreeing that it was another indication of how things were falling apart. Then Tomo, with a slight wheeze, got up and left. Druid sorted out what he knew.
1. Strange, foreign cats had taken up residence in the forest, first an advance guard and then another group.
2. A cat from the city had given birth to an allegedly special kitten.
3. A ceremony had been held for the kitten, who had subsequently disappeared into the village.
4. A human had escaped from a supposed place of healing.
What did any of this do to explain the unrest Druid had increasingly been feeling? How did it explain his sense that he should be doing something?
He scuffed his claws in the sand. Nothing made sense.
* * *
Two days after Janzi’s escape, no one could figure out how she’d fled the hospital or where she was.
“It’s an outrage,” Phileas said, barely able to stifle a roar.