The Gauntlet Thrown

by Cheryl Dyson

  ~~ O ~~

  The spotted cat moved silently through the undergrowth and fastidiously avoided pools of muddy water. It walked, nose twitching, until it caught a scent that it recognized. It froze, tail moving slightly in agitation. Its sharp ears caught the sound of human voices.

  "...is she going to learn how to cook? She’s female, isn’t she?"

  "I’m not sure, sometimes."

  "Stuff it, Snip."

  "Anytime, girly. Just beckon and I’ll come running."

  "Prepare for a long wait."

  "Leave Sellaris alone," a different man said. "She fights better than all of you put together."

  "She warms your bed better than all of us together, too." The one called Snip guffawed.

  There were sounds indicating a brief scuffle, an exclamation of pain, and then someone else growled, "Say one more word about my sister and I’ll cut your throat out!"

  "Back off, Lavan," the female said. "I can take care of myself."

  The scents separated themselves. There were four men and one woman at the fire. The cat padded away and walked slowly around the encampment until it discovered two more man-scents. There were two people on the outskirts, one male and one female.

  The cat stalked closer and then took to the trees. It was a simple matter for it to walk along a branch and gaze down at the scene below. A dark-haired man finished tying up an unconscious woman as one of the other men came into view.

  "Still asleep, eh? Sure she isn’t faking it?"

  "I don’t think so, Reed. I’m getting worried. She’s been out an awfully long time."

  "Don’t be spineless, Garyn. If she dies we will have that much less baggage. And she is Akarskan, remember?"

  The brown-haired one sighed. "I remember."

  The callous one had black hair and icy blue eyes. The cat lay down silently on the branch and watched the men. It considered jumping down on one of them for sport but decided against it.

  The people eventually clustered around the fire and roasted some kind of meat. Content that there were only six of them plus the unconscious girl, the spotted cat melted back into the jungle and disappeared.