"Better in this instance to ask who is better qualified as a thinker?" Turning, Mamakitty indicated the scruffy individual standing by her side. "I propose that we confer the distinction on Oskar."
"Him? The living doorstop? The dust mop that eats?" Cezer almost broke out laughing. "You can't be serious! Who ever heard of a leader of a desperate adventure named 'Oskar'?"
"Why not you, Mamakitty?" proffered Cocoa shyly.
"Because I can be too impatient," the older woman replied. "I suspect there will be times ahead of us when calm and reflection are more important than sheer brain power. Oskar is by far the most even-tempered of us all. The most mellow, if you will."
"Also the ugliest," Cezer put in, "though I don't see that as a qualification."
Glaring at the younger male, Mamakitty concluded, "I cast my vote for Oskar."
"If you think he's the right one—" Cocoa shrugged. "Very well. I'll vote for him as well."
"Thank you—I think." Running fingers through his thick, undisciplined patch of remaining fur, Oskar came to a decision and tossed the cap aside. Though light enough, even the slight weight on his head irritated him. So his scalp would get wet—he had never minded it before. "If this is what you all want"—Cezer held his tongue—"then I will do the best I am able. What say you in this matter, Taj?"
"I don't care." The singer was not happy. "We're probably all going to die anyway, so what difference does it make who leads us?"
"Thanks for that vote of confidence." Gazing past the slim-bodied cynic, Oskar squinted. "Where's Samm? His opinion counts in this as much as anyone's."
"He said he was going to try and find something to arm himself with," Cocoa reminded them. "I wonder if he's had any luck?"
Still miffed by his rejection, Cezer snorted derisively. "Probably trying to figure out how to make a dirk out of a fork. His kind aren't too bright, you know."
They located the giant behind the house, by the guest stables. Cowl pushed back to expose his bald head, he proudly displayed his handiwork. The impressive appliance he had fashioned for himself consisted of a single massive granite wedge wrenched from the foundation of the stable. A hole ran through the center of the wedge-shaped stone. Using the tough leather straps of old unicorn tack, the man-mountain had fastened the block securely to a thick pole chosen from a pile of cut logs stored by the side of the stable. Water dripped from the imposing apparatus. Several such soakings, Mamakitty knew, would cause the leather straps to tighten even more securely around the rock.
"That's quite an axe," she told the giant admiringly. "It suits you."
Cezer could still not quite bring himself to compliment his newly limbed companion. "Simple is as simple does," he sniffed. "There's no elegance in it."
Samm hefted the immense adze in both hands. "I did not fashion it for beauty, meower of meticulous complaints."
Mamakitty stepped in before Cezer could respond. "That's enough, you two. We're likely to have to fight some of this Horde, and maybe an evil necromancer or two. Save your belligerence for that." She turned to Oskar. "Time to go."
"Go?" A baffled Oskar scratched absently at his hip. "Go where?"
"Yes, where!" Cezer snickered gleefully. "Lead on, O stalwart and intrepid leader! I hereby knight thee Oskar the Oaf. Lead us—if you can even pick a direction!" Leaning forward, he lowered his voice to an acerbic whisper. "Why not use your great oversize nose, and simply smell us a path? You always were good at ferreting out the most remarkable stinks."
"Though rude as always, Cezer has a point." Looking ravishing (to another human, at least) in her riding pants, boots, and long-sleeved tunic, Cocoa eyed Mamakitty questioningly as they returned to the house. "Do we even have an idea where to go to find this color we're supposed to bring back?"
"Yes, and once we've found it—" Samm began.
"If we can find it," Taj interjected.
"—how do we 'catch' it, what do we put it in, and how do we bring it back?" the giant finished concernedly.
Everyone's attention swung to Mamakitty. She considered silently, then shrugged her broad shoulders. "Hey-ho, pssst —we'll catch each fish when it swims past. Cocoa's right. First we have to figure out where to find this batch of color. After that, everything will follow naturally."
"Unnaturally, you mean."
"Don't be so pessimistic, Taj," Oskar chided his friend. He had always enjoyed Taj's singing, but now was not the time for coddling. "If Master Evyndd believed we could do this thing, then do it we will."
"Boldly spoken!" Drawing his sword in a single supple motion, Cezer thrust it skyward. "Onward, masters of an empty house! Onward to—" He gazed pointedly at Oskar. "Excuse me, dear Leader, but you still haven't said where we're going?"
His brows drawing together, the other man pushed out his lower lip defiantly as he engaged in a momentary orgy of contemplation—after which he turned helplessly to Mamakitty. "We have to have a destination. What kind of color might be immune to this world-spanning incantation of the invaders?"
"How should I know, dog?" Troubled, she walked over to the kitchen window and gazed out at the creek. The rippling water was gray, the trees thrusting up from its banks gray-green, the grass dim and dingy, the wildflowers different shades of dusky gray. Nowhere was there a hint, a suggestion, of the color that had been stolen from the world. Natural light would bring back that color, she knew. To have color you had to have the right light. But in the absence of color there was—
She let out an abrupt, unexpected yowl so loud that it stiffened the hairs on Oskar's neck, caused Cezer to drop to a fighting stance on all fours, and made Cocoa leap instinctively onto the table. Samm did not stir, but Taj took immediate refuge behind the giant's bulk.
"I know!" Mamakitty's gray-green eyes flashed, and her face was flushed with eureka. "There is a place where there is always color. Always! So if the color is still there, then the light that contains it will be also, and we can try to capture it."
Sheathing his sword, a still dour Cezer could not restrain his curiosity—a characteristic retained from his previous state. "There is no such place. Certainly not around here, and where else have we ever been?"
"Speak to your own experience, youngling." Mamakitty was reaching now into the depths of a maturity he did not possess. "I have often gone with the Master, to keep him company on his travels."
"As have I," observed Oskar.
She turned to him. "Then you might remember this place as well." As everyone crowded around, Samm having to bend low to avoid the ceiling, she explained. "I remember it clearly. It was sometime last year, when Master Evyndd went to visit the minor wizard Matthias Seifert in the town of Zelevin."
"Yes, I remember that trip," Oskar commented thoughtfully. "I rode on top of the coach. The footman was very nice." He rubbed the back of his head in remembrance.
Mamakitty nodded and continued. "It took more than a week even by fast coach just to get to Zelevin. But that town is of no importance in this. What matters is the place where the river Shalouan spills into the beginnings of the Eusebian Gorge. Do you remember that place, Oskar?"
"Of course. The road became very steep there, where it winds its way down the canyon. The river was loud, and there were many new fresh smells."
"Where the river plunges into the abyss there is a great waterfall, and always in attendance to the waterfall, or so the Master said when he was admiring it as we passed, there is—"
"A rainbow!" Oskar barked eagerly. "A grand, gorge-spanning, gorgeous, permanent rainbow! Colors, such bright colors, I remember, and"—he met her gaze enthusiastically—"the light that contained the colors. Or at least, those few that I could see."
"Is that all?" Cezer sniffed and wiped his face with the back of his left hand. "There can be no rainbows in light of this hex, and if by chance there is one at that place, it's gone all gray by now, like everything else."
Mamakitty refused to be dissuaded. "I recall the Master murmuring to himself that so long as the river
leaped into the canyon, there would always be a wonderful rainbow in that place."
The other cat was not persuaded. "This is the same Master Evyndd, mind, who also wrote that he expected to defeat the Horde and Khaxan Mundurucu."
"Not even wizards are perfect," Oskar reminded him. "You have a better notion?"
"What—who, me?" Mock-startled, the younger man put a hand to his chest. "Who am I—the leader of this misbegotten outing? No, I haven't a better idea. Because there are no better ideas." He looked to Mamakitty, unable to keep the respectful tone entirely from his voice. "So we might as well pursue yours."
She nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way. Let's find some sacks in which to carry provisions, take what we can carry, and be off. The sooner we return with this light of color, the better the world will be for it."
"We should look for one other thing to take with us that we may need in the world of humans." Tongue hanging out, Oskar looked thoughtful.
"Like what?" Cocoa wondered aloud.
"The Master did not speak of it often, but his visitors did. It is called money."
"Yes, we'll certainly need some of that!" The top of his head now being too high for her to reach, Mamakitty settled for patting him on the back. "Good that you remembered it, Oskar."
"We have to have money," he remarked diffidently. "Apparently all humans have some. I wonder how it's used?"
"In trade, and I'm sure we can manage to work out the details." Bending, Taj began searching the drawers of the wizard's desk. "I know what it looks like, and I think I remember where the Master Evyndd kept some. The rest of you, get the food and water together."
Though they thought themselves prepared, it was still something of a shock when, as well equipped as they could manage, they stopped beyond the main gate to look back at the only home any of them had ever known. Now utterly empty of life, in the diffuse gray light the many-gabled house wore an unmistakable air of loneliness.
"This feels so strange." Cocoa uneasily eyed the narrow forest path that stretched out in front of them. "I keep waiting for someone to tell me what to do next."
"Like get back to the house?" Wearing cockiness like an embroidered cap, Cezer started resolutely forward. "We don't have to worry about that anymore. We can go where we please and do as we want. From now on, that's exactly what I'm going to do!"
"So long as you do it on the road to the Shalouan Falls," Mamakitty reminded him. She took an admonishing swing at his head, which, as he had so often done in the past, he nimbly avoided.
FIVE
Deep within the forest they kept close together—not so much for protection as for mutual reassurance. All except Cezer, that is, who in spite of an anxious Mamakitty's repeated warnings scampered and darted off on unpredictable tangents of his own, eager to explore every hollow tree, every rocky crevice, every new sight and sound and smell. Birds drab of color and glum of song tracked their progress, mildly intrigued by a party of travelers who looked human but acted and smelled very much otherwise. When certain members of the party cast unusually intent glances upward into the trees, something deeply felt told the birds to keep their distance. "I'm hungry," rumbled Samm. "I haven't eaten in weeks." "What are we supposed to do about it? Give you all our provisions on the first day?" Leaping effortlessly over a fallen log, Cezer did not bother to look in the giant's direction. "Besides, wouldn't you rather have live food? Go eat a bear or something. If you do, save me the liver."
"We can't eat like that anymore." Mamakitty's expression reflected inner turmoil. "For one thing, it somehow doesn't sound so good to me now. For another, if we're going to capture this color and bring it safely back, we may very well have to interact with other humans. That means learning and miming their ways."
"You learn and mime their ways. Doesn't interest me. I still feel fully feline. Hah!" Thrusting his face toward a crevice in a huge tree, the mischievous youth nearly gave the golden squirrel dozing within a small heart attack.
"Mamakitty's right." Though not so agile as his naturally acrobatic companions, Oskar trotted easily through the woods, enjoying its sights and smells from an entirely new perspective. His ability to remain upright at all times without falling over was a source of continuous amazement to him. Still, he had to fight the urge to drop to all fours and break into a run. "The last thing we want to do is attract attention to ourselves. Word might get back to this Mundurucu creature."
"Let it come!" Leaping high into the air, a grinning Cezer promptly whacked his head against a low-hanging branch and tumbled unceremoniously to the forest floor.
"You see, piss-for-brains?" Cocoa was chuckling softly at him, the sound rising from within her half laugh and half meow. "We have yet to master our new selves."
Rising, Cezer felt gingerly of the top of his head, relieved for the moment that his ears were now located on its sides. "I'll master yours, if you'll let me."
One lissome hand caressed the pommel of her sword. "I don't think so, Cezer-man. I may only have one claw left to me, but it's a mighty big one."
"Speaking of mighty big ones—" he began.
Ignoring him, she looked over at Mamakitty, striding powerfully along beside her as though she had always walked on two legs. "His snideness makes me wonder, though. When am I likely to come into heat?"
"I don't think humans come 'into' heat," the older woman replied after a moment's careful consideration. "I think they're sort of ready all the time. It's a different state of being."
Cezer grinned enthusiastically. "Sounds like a state I could reside in."
"How does instant evisceration sound to you?" Cocoa glared at him meaningfully.
He skipped easily out of her reach, wagging a finger in her direction. "Decidedly unromantic. Your feelings will change, you'll see. They do every month." Turning away from her, he found himself attracted to a bush that rustled with unseen small inhabitants.
Oskar observed the byplay in silence. Although they were now technically of the same kind, the thought of congress with Cocoa did not appeal to him, despite her obvious human charms. Having known her only recently as feline, the thought of—he forced himself to focus on the route ahead. Though the forest was amiable and the weather benign, it was still a long walk to the Eusebian Gorge.
By the end of the sixth day it was apparent they had made the first major miscalculation of their quest. Mamakitty had been correct in her remembrance: it did indeed require a week of travel to reach the city of Zelevin—by fast coach. When it occurred to her that they were progressing far more slowly, she was forced to revise her estimate of the time that would be required to reach the Falls.
"At least another week, maybe two," she ventured in response to a tired Taj's query.
"My feet hurt," the songster complained. "This walking is not for the birds." He gazed longingly skyward. "If I still had my wings—"
"You'd be shot down by some curious hunter and like as not popped as a sweetmeat into a roasting pie," Oskar reproached him. "Be content with what you are—alive." He looked at Mamakitty. "Our supplies will not last another week."
"I know." She heaved a matronly sigh. "There's no avoiding it: we're going to have to go into Karpluvy to reprovision." In response to several curious stares she added, "It is a town that lies between here and the Gorge. I remember stopping there for the night with Master Evyndd."
Oskar nodded. "I remember it, too. It will be interesting to visit it as a human."
"We have human money." She jingled the purse that was slung at her belt. It was heavy with coins taken from the Master's study. "We can buy food, and for a change will be able to sleep under cover instead of out in the woods. But we must be careful. Like the Master when he would travel incognito, we must practice Takiyyah, the art of concealing the truth about ourselves. No one must learn who we are, what we were, or where we are going."
Cezer drew himself up indignantly. "Hey—why are you all looking at me?"
They camped that night on the edge of the forest. In the distance,
the lights of Karpluvy twinkled like stars that had fallen to earth. Oskar surveyed the scene with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Would they be able to pull this off? Each of them was clad in human costume that ran much deeper than the clothing he or she wore. He could not speak for the others, but he still felt like a dog, saw the world through the mind if not the eyes of a dog, dreamed dog dreams.
He did not want to wander the world of humans on two legs. What he wanted more than anything else was to be lying in front of a crackling fire in the house, with the Master sitting in his big easy chair nearby, reading from one of the innumerable weighty tomes taken from his study. If an occasional crumb of bread or pat on the head came his way, he would be content.
Instead, he found himself burdened with complex thoughts, colliding ideas, new notions, and this damnable Obligation. Watching Cezer gambol among the trees, terrifying small creatures with inherent sadistic delight but without malice, he almost wished he was a cat. Confidence was part of a cat's natural makeup, he knew. Cats acted as if they owned the world, and everything within it existed on their sufferance. Cezer would confirm that opinion, he knew. In contrast, dogs lived with uncertainty, with questions. A sudden thought made him feel a little better.
That meant, based on everything he knew, that dogs were more like people than cats. It was a reassuring realization.
"How are you doing, Taj?" he inquired of the smallest member of the group.
The songster stopped humming and bent momentarily to peck at an itch on his upper right arm before replying. "It's difficult, Oskar." He gestured overhead. "I feel I should be sleeping up in a tree instead of down here on the ground. Everything in my being tells me I'm in terrible danger down here." He nodded at the other side of the campfire, where Mamakitty and Cocoa sat conversing. "Bad enough I have to try and go to sleep surrounded by three cats."
Kingdoms of Light Page 7
