Mark of the Cat and Year of the Rat

  I puzzled out word and symbol, one at a time as my excitement grew. Vurope—this House had had greater power than I had ever guessed! Some of the lines I reread, making sure that they revealed what I thought they had. Kassca leaned against my arm, her small head moving slightly as if she, too, were reading the faded script.

  Ravinga! I must discuss this discovery before I went any further. In all of Valapa she was the only one I fully trusted. Kassca rubbed her head against my shoulder. She uttered a small sound and I felt she was urging me into action.

  Hynkkel-ji:

  I had made my will plain, and in turn, because I knew that I must learn all I could through the Progress before acting with confidence, I set the date for it. The Chancellor and the Commander withdrew.

  My life had become a tangle—I might be an inept harvester in a sun melon patch. Suddenly I longed so for freedom that I shrugged off my heavy robe of dignity. Akeea was on his feet and now he looked into my face.

  “Yes, let us go out, High Guard.”

  There was a private way from the chamber, which led to an enclosed garden lying between the Imperial Chambers and the Queen’s tower. Usually, as the day’s heat intensified, there were few who ever walked there. I could hope to be alone. With Akeea beside me, I went.

  Such a wealth of vegetation might scarcely be seen in any of the other Queendoms. It had been a pleasure for Haban-ji to order the once yearly caravan to the Inner Regions—that near fabled land—to bring back exotic plants to foster here. I found a bench overhung by giant stems thick with lacy leaves and Akeea lay across the path as if to refuse passage to any intruder.

  It was not bodily that she came to me, but her forlorn sobbing broke through my self-absorption. Beyond the screen of tall plants I found her. First I thought some child curled there. Her loose hair hung like a soft black veil about her shoulders and her tiny hands masked her face as her whole body shuddered with the force of her sobs.

  I hesitated. Would it not be wiser to go? Who was she who invaded this so private place? I made scarcely a sound, but her head jerked up so forcefully that it sent her hair flying so that I saw clearly her tear-stained face. It was Berneen, Queen Yuikala’s granddaughter! Just as I recognized her, she saw me. He hand flew to her mouth and fear flickered through her dark, lustrous eyes. My presence had frozen her.

  “First Maid, why do you grieve?” I asked awkwardly, for I was always ill at ease with young girls.

  She straightened, clasped her hands before her in the proper court manner and took several shuddering breaths. Finally stifling her tears, she swallowed to answer.

  “August One, it is that—” she hesitated, her head turned a fraction toward the Queen’s tower, almost as if expecting some rebuke to waft thence. Her words came haltingly again.

  “August One, this—” she gestured widely to encompass all around us. “I am unused to this life. There are so many ways one can make a fool of one’s self and—” she shook her head. “Usually, one after another, I discover these—too late. I—I do not think I was made for palaces.”

  Berneen had not offered me a seat, but now I boldly joined her on the bench and—greatly daring for me—reached out to clasp one of her hands.

  “It is hard to step from one life to another,” I said. “That I know well. But life often presents us with such changes. One has to go slowly and watch others, learn as fast as one can.”

  She now looked straight into my eyes. A child, not yet entirely a maid, she had been plunged into this whirl of intrigue and curious customs, with no Murri or other caring one at her back. Pain, which must be swiftly walled, struck now at me.

  “We are both strangers,” I told her. “Perhaps in some way we can reach helping hands to each other.”

  She nodded. “She,” Berneen again looked toward the tower, “says I must go on the Progress with her. I have never even been out of this Queendom, let alone the outer ones.”

  “Then you will have much to see. There are many things there to interest one.”

  The tall plants rippled as from them stepped an older woman who halted the moment she glimpsed me. Berneen leaped to her feet, turned toward me and executed a graceful court salute.

  “I must go.”

  I nodded and waved assent as she and the one who summoned her withdrew. I was left with a feeling of deep sympathy for the girl. She was far too young to have to find her way at court.

  A sudden movement from Akeea broke into my musings. He half crouched as if waiting attack. Only—Murri, his fur fluffed (he might have been taking part in one of the exquisite aerial dances of his kind) came from roof to ground before me.

  Without thinking my arms went out. He rose to his powerful hind legs and rested his great paws, claws carefully sheathed, on my shoulders. We embraced as might battle comrades. Relief swelled joyfully up in me. All would certainly now be well; the darkness between us was no more.

  CHAPTER 7

  Allitta:

  Ravinga held the timeworn parchment, which I had thrust upon her.

  “Among the House records?” She was smoothing it out. I produced the other, which bore the puzzle writing.

  “With this.”

  “What have you learned from these?” She ran a fingertip lightly over the blank page, then picked up a small rod from the table.

  “Hints, suggestions which lead to guesses. Nothing to be sworn to.”

  She began to run the rod across the parchment. Now a faint shadowing appeared. Not words—rather a tangle of lines. Could it be a map; were the hints right? What did lie under the surface of Valapa?

  Three times she carefully swept the paper with rod tip. Now the lines could indeed be clearly seen.

  Ravinga studied what had come to light closely before looking up to me. “It would seem that you have gone hunting in the past to good purpose. This,” she touched the parchment “has passed as a very ancient legend. I wonder whether, in part, this explains the downfall of Vurope. Perhaps your House was the guardian of too great a secret. What do you believe you have found?”

  My excitement was growing. “The script says that there are underground ways in which water runs. They weave a net clear across the Outer Regions. Could these underground ways be in some way tapped, there could be no failure of the algae ponds! Is this possible?”

  “Many things which were possible have been forgotten,” she returned. “Think this through: if we might tap this water, there could also be a way for others to do likewise.”

  I shivered. “An enemy could somehow drain our life pools?”

  Ravinga nodded. She had brought forth the glass, which she used to make small things large, one of the most important of her tools. Through this she regarded the map lines.

  “This should then be given to the Emperor—” I suggested.

  “Not yet. Proof—more proof than this—must be gathered. Look,” again she used the rod, standing it almost straight up above one point on the map. With her other hand she picked up the top written sheet and read it closely, her lips moving as if she recited some charm, or repeated some fact she had read.

  “One of the inlets—outlets—which ever it may be—lies indeed under the main dwelling of Vurope. Try to find that, Allitta, then you will have the proof. However, remember this: if another knows this secret, perhaps having slain your kin to learn or keep it, then you are also in danger. Go with care and ever-open eyes and ears. Depend on your Kassca. Kottis can explore where our kind would not think to look. I would advise that you do this in secret and begin in the lowest cellars beneath the High House.”

  I returned to that house only to find a visitor just arrived, Melora-Kura.

  My earlier impressions of her, that she was someone I would like as a friend, grew stronger each time we met, though I shrank still from assenting to anything, which would mean a closer acquaintance with her brother. She was quick to come to the purpose of her visit.

  “You know the Outer Regions well. Will you be one of that Imperial Progress which th
ey are shaping?”

  “I think not,” I returned at once. “Though I now represent one of the Six Families I am not obliged to join the court except when summoned formally.”

  She sipped at the cup of melon wine I had ordered served. “I wish that you were going. He needs at least one who knows him—”

  I gathered at once what she meant. “But I do not know him. We met at the markets, yes. He asked Ravinga for lodging when he came here for the last trail. But I cannot claim any friendship with Hynkkel-ji.”

  She had been watching me intently and her face was very sober. “He is like a yaksen calf ringed by rats. I have listened—rumors gather as storm sand to choke all reason. Our brother has joined the rebels. His act adds credence to this story that Hynkkel-ji won the crown by some trickery.”

  “There were reputable witnesses at each of the trials; they have sworn to his winning of each.” I replied.

  “When has truth ever triumphed over rumor spread viciously? On this progress there will be many chances to attack. Hynkkel never had warrior training. He has fought only the rats to defend our herds. And he is a desert survivor. But it is his own kin who threatens now. I will do what I can in protection—already with Ravinga’s help I am working on something which may be an aid.” She arose. “I can not ask more of you than you may give.”

  There was that in her voice which made me say, “This I promise, what I can do I will.”

  She looked at me steadily. “Very well, let it be so.”

  Her departure was abrupt and I knew she was displeased, however there was truly nothing I could do. Should concrete information of some act on the part of the rebels or any of their sympathizers here reach me, I would, of course, as soon as I could, report such. But I had no such information, which could be trusted. At present I had a different task. I brought out the map Ravinga had restored with her power and set to studying those twisting lines upon it.

  Hynkkel-ji:

  I could leave the preparations for the Progress to those who had access to the rules for such and I was glad to do so. Now I had a matter of my own to consider. Before me was Murri, beside him Akeea and both of them had a report, perhaps a dire one. Murri had put his exploration of the palace to good use and Akeea supplied what the leopards of many generations had known.

  There were depths beneath the palace. Now that that was made clear I could remember some hints I had come across in my researching the rolls of history. The leopard Akeea had for uncounted years made periodic patrols of certain passages, obeying commands issued by the long dead. Now they were sure that some peril existed, even though it had not showed itself for centuries.

  “Tonight,” I mind sent. “If there is some danger in the very heart of Valapa, we must know. They would have me on this Progress. To go ignorant of what lies here cannot be thought of.”

  Thus Murri did not go alone this time when he went roaming. I had stripped off the bulky robes, laid aside the coronet, which I must by custom always appear in. Among the clothing stored in the chests which near filled one of the rooms of my suite there was tunic and breeches of hide, meant I believed to be worn under the armor of warfare, but giving far more freedom to the wearer than what I laid aside.

  There was a rack in the shadowed curve of wall beyond my bed. Here to hand hung the equipment of a warrior. There were three spears, varying in length, from a short one light in the hand, intended to be thrown, to a long one used from oryxen back. There were two swords: one brightly jeweled for state occasions and the other plain of hilt but probably far more effective in combat. These two types of weapon I had known in my own home. The various other armaments hanging here were ones seldom seen in the Outer Regions. One, consisting of a chain connecting two weighty metal balls, intrigued me. This was an adaptation of something used by herdsmen to bring to submission a feral oryxen. Twirled through the air and flung, it entangled the animal.

  I was no swordsman; a spear I could and had used against rats. But this balls and chain weapon appealed to me. My usual defense was not represented—apparently the sling of the herdsman did not appeal to a trained warrior. I gathered up the curious pieces of armament, and also slid the short spear from its hooks.

  I had no wish to let the guardsman at my outer curtain learn of this deep night exploit. Thus I slipped from the larger window of the outer reception chamber onto the balcony from which it was easy, for one used to climbing the rock isles, to reach a twin below.

  My footwear was soft soled and I made no more noise than did the great cats. We had to watch for any guard or servant but save for one narrow escape from being noticed, we succeeded. Down we went; I counted levels and strove to remember landmarks of one kind or another. At last we came to where another leopard greeted us. One could indeed hear sounds from beyond a slimed curtain wall. I had drawn two bubble lamps from the last level above. Now I waved them closer to the wall. The glistening slime proved such a covering of the stone that it was impossible to see if there was any entrance to what lay behind. Using my spear, I swept the slime away, choking now and then because of the foul odor my effort raised. But I had my reward. One could sight the outline of an opening. I waved the airborne lamps even closer and fitted the point of the spear into that crack, tracing it until I reached a point halfway down the side from where I started. The point went in faster; there came a harsh sound, and the wall portion within that outline began to move, swinging back. It did not open on darkness. A strange green light beamed from beyond. What we could see was another wall some distance ahead, and a lapping sound was loud.

  Allitta:

  Outside the window the night was dark; over the city lights shone or floated. Kassca watched it as I finished snapping the last clasp of the plain tunic I had chosen. The map of the fabled waterways I slipped within the breast of my garment. Still I hesitated. To venture bare handed into the unknown was the act of a fool. In the private chamber of the head of any House there was always a cache of weapons. Though I had not before examined these, I did so now. Spears, two swords. Spears I had carried and used against rats to good purpose, so spear it would be. I chose one. Kassca was already waiting by the door curtain. I had dismissed the servants early and the passages in this part of the house should be clear. Still I must go with care. Thus we began the descent within. I was glad now that I had made an exploration of the building soon after I had come. There were rooms for kin and company, those of entertaining, all on different levels. Then came the quarters of the servants. There I went slowly. I knew that Kassca’s senses were far better than mine and I depended upon the Kotti as I would upon the advance scout of a caravan.

  Below the level of the household offices came the storage rooms. I had summoned a bubble light to accompany us and now I paused to examine the map. However I found myself totally lost. Ravinga had said to depend upon Kassca and now I thought-sent such a request.

  She trotted confidently onward, threading a way between towering stacks of chests. I had to quicken pace to keep her in sight. Another door—then a curving ramp leading down. At the foot of that was another small chamber which had three doors along the wall. These were not curtained as the ones above, but rather closed with solid barriers which were barred.

  Kassca stopped at each door to sniff at the floor level. Her selection was the one farthest from me. I slid up the bar, pushed the barrier inward; it brought thick sweeps of dust with it. Plainly a long period had passed since this was last opened.

  Kassca suddenly crowed before me. I took warning and pointed my spear, waving the float light before me. Then—I came to an instant halt as the bubble proceeded. What darkness had once ruled here in Vurope? Against a far wall lay bones. A skull stared meaningfully at me, an arm bone, still encircled by rusted metal, hung above the rest of the bones. Each House had its secrets—that was understood. But who had died here in chains and why?

  Kassca stood before the bones. She looked back at me.

  “Here,” she thought.

  Behind the bones? Beneat
h them? I did not want to get any nearer to this proof that someone of my blood had been able to do this. Still I forced myself forward. The lamp swung closer. I could see no mark on the wall to suggest that there was another opening there.

  Kassca delicately pushed at the bone and I understood. The remains of that long ago prisoner must be moved so that I could find what I hunted. Touch, lift, shift aside—I was on my knees. There was a sour taste in my mouth; the hands I was forcing to this task were shaking. Only I knew that I could not retreat still ignorant of what must be below. This gave me the power to clear the floor.

  There was left an unsavory mass of what might be clothing or even the dried remains of flesh. I used my spear to scrape that away, gagging as I worked.

  The bubble had swung lower to reveal, when I had scraped the last of that mess clear, a ring set in the stone. It was a struggle, but I managed to raise a stone block to clear a space through which a body might be squeezed. I took the precaution of wedging the stone so it might not fall back and seal us in, using part of the chain which had held the unfortunate dead.

  Kassca slipped through the opening with confidence and I followed. The bubble light revealed that there was an inclined ramp down which one slid. Could one get up again? Yes, there was a series of depressions in the wall, which could be used for handholds to climb.

  The descent was not an easy one, but I could now sight below a green glimmer to one side and the dampness of water was to be felt.