by Robert Dixon
Chapter Five
The palace was all-abuzz one morning as the king and queen readied for the day, servants rushing about carrying large trays of food and urns of wine. I watched the royal couple exit the chamber all dressed in their finest clothes, full headdresses and robes. This meant only one of two things, a celebration of birth, which both king and queen had a while back, she turned twenty and he turned eighteen. “Wow!” I thought, “I can’t believe time has passed so soon!” The second reason for the attire and the hustling servants meant that other royal guests were coming. “Whoopee!” I smirked, from the foot of the bed, “I hope they don’t have kids!” I trotted off behind the king and queen as they made their way down the hall toward the throne room. I paused to smash a scorpion as it scrambled to duck out of the way into a crack in the wall. “Thanks,” I said to the smashed remains, “I needed that!”
I was right about the guests and counted myself fortunate that no kids had tagged along. Kids were always a problem because they wanted to chase you around and caused a fuss whenever I tried to discipline them. They would go running back to their mommy to take care of a few scratches, but it was always, “Bad Amun!” Like it was my fault! Today was not going to be one of those days! I saw the royal guests enter the throne room in robes that rivaled the king and queen, so they must be rulers from another land. They brought with them gifts that were carried in by their servants, chests filled with various sparkly things and shiny things, as well as bolts of cloth. I was at my usual spot beside the king as the tribute was laid before him. I kept my eye on a tall muscular servant who carried a rather large chest on his shoulder. He easily swung the chest down and with a thud he placed it at the foot of the throne.
As this servant was coming forward I noticed the usual onlookers peering in from the doorways on the side and rear. I saw Mom’s human giggling with others as they watched the male walk forward and saw her mouth drop open as he swung the chest down. I was quite fascinated with this spectacle, and I also saw the tall servant return Isom’s stare. I then saw something I didn’t know humans capable of doing, she actually started to change color! As she did this she left the doorway and the male servant smiled as he returned to his place behind the royal female. Later in the day as the two royal couples were taking a stroll in the garden I saw Isom and the male servant talking in the hall, very closely.
There was a large banquet that evening and I had an envious position of being seated under the table between the king and queen, so there was no want for tasty morsels. The royal couple sat on either side and I could hear them discussing different matters of state, from alliances to mutual enemies. I heard Isom’s name mentioned at one time, but my attention quickly turned to a rather sizable hunk of meat that the former owner so carelessly allowed to slip from their grasp. “Thank you, grease!” I thought, as I pounced upon it. After the meal was finished and the evening prayers were said in the temple the royals retired to their chambers. As all were sleeping I decided to go pay a visit to the chamber of the “loyal” advisor.
Mom was going down the stairs to the granary when I spotted her. “Hi Mom!” I called down to her from the top of the stairs. She still jumped straight up about five feet. “Oops! Sorry!” I followed up with.
“Aten! Erg… Amun!” she hissed, “Stop doing that!” She paused in her decent and returned to the top of the stairs. “What are you up to this time of night?” she asked.
“Just checking something out.” I said, “I have a suspicion that I want to confirm, so if you hear any screaming…”
Mom gave me a look that said be careful and as I turned to continue down the hall she said, “By the way, have you seen my Isom tonight?” I replied that I had only seen her ogling over that male servant earlier but not since. “Funny,” Mom said, “she didn’t come back to our chamber this evening.” I called back that I would keep an eye out for her over my shoulder and padded off to face an assassin.
There was the sound of heavy snoring coming from the chamber of the advisor when I silently let myself in. I scanned the room and saw him sleeping soundly. I wanted to just jump up there and claw him apart, but I needed more proof. I nosed my way into a clothing chamber and spotted a few lidded jars tucked way back under the advisor’s hanging wardrobe. After hunting vermin for as long as I have, you recognize the scent of your prey and these jars were fuming with it. Scorpions here, deadly sand spiders there, and in between both was an urn filled with asps! “Man, I hate snakes!” With this discovery, I convinced myself that this advisor had higher ambitions in mind. It was far too easy for these guys to seize power, especially since the king had no sons to follow him. A little accident and it would be out with the old and in with the new! So sorry… time to move on!
I was turning to go back and claw this advisor into the next kingdom, when a better idea occurred. Carefully I eased the jars and urn onto their sides and quietly opened each one, saving the asp urn for last. This deed done I scampered quickly out of the room and back to the royal chamber. “Let’s hope he enjoys a little of his own medicine!” I chuckled, as I resumed my position at the foot of the bed. “See how you like it…” With that last thought I drifted into a deep sleep.
The screams coming from the advisor’s chamber early in the morning awoke almost the entire palace. The king and queen hastily dressed and charged down the hall. A large crowd had gathered by the door, but it was still shut. The king was quite upset that none of the palace guards had opened the door to see what was wrong and was about to demand why, when he saw people pointing to the bottom of the door. I snickered when I saw the sand spiders darting in and out of the room, as if protecting their turf. “Get the palace cats over here to take care of this!” the king yelled. The guards took off down the hall and the king turned to me. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Well?” I just looked up at him as if to say my job is to protect you, not an advisor. At that moment my sisters and mother came down the hall followed by more of the palace cats.
“What’s going on here?” Mom asked, “Tell me this wasn’t your doing!”
I looked her in the eyes and said, “I found an inside assassin and now it’s time for him to pay.” The screams were still coming strong from the room, as were the pleas for help.
“It looks like all you managed was to place the palace cats in danger.” Mom said, “How many do you think will get hurt because of your grand idea? It certainly sounds like the advisor is still alive and even if your plan worked and he was killed, who still has to deal with these pests? Us! That’s who!”
Mom was steamed at my poor judgment and I could see that she was right. I knew I should have just finished him when I had the chance. The king looked at me again as the spiders were starting to come further into the hall. “Tell the other cats to stay back,” I told Mom, “Time for me to clean up my mess!”
I sprang to the door and smashed a spider with each paw as I landed. I kept pouncing and smashing till the flow of spiders stopped coming under the door. A guard stepped up and opened the chamber door and the screams got louder. The crowd saw the advisor hanging from the oil lamp chain over his bed, nightshirt dangling as a few scorpions were trying to grasp it as he swung by. No one noticed the blur that entered the chamber and was making short work of the rest of the spiders and scorpions throughout the room. As I cleared the bugs from the bed I couldn’t resist snagging the advisor’s nightshirt and sending him on a swift spin. I had cleared the bugs while avoiding the snakes striking out at me as I leapt from side to side. Now it was time to face them, did I mention that I hate snakes?
When I turned over the urn of snakes I had no idea of how many it contained. I saw the advisor holding onto the chain, but his bare feet were on the bed. I kept hoping one of these stupid things would at least have the courtesy of going up there and biting him, but no! They were all focused on yours truly! I was looking out upon a squirming sea of black, and the waves wer
e closing in on me. The sea was pushing me closer to the balcony and at that moment, I struck. Using the pounce and spin technique I was able to take out four at a time with each landing, plus one in my jaws as I crushed its’ head and slung it over the balcony. I heard gasps of amazement coming from the hall, but had no time to reap any of the praise, my paws were full and I was getting tired. It was about that time when I noticed another blur enter the fray, Mom! I had learned my tricks and skills from her, so between the two of us the snakes had a snowballs chance in… well here!
The advisor had gotten off the bed finally and was between the door and the balcony when I saw the final asp trying to slither under the bed. With a swift move I snatched the snake by the tail and sent it soaring straight toward him, like an arrow released from a bow. To his good fortune, or perhaps I just wanted him to know that I was on to him, he saw the snake coming and had time to duck. The snake, fangs at the ready, went sailing over him, the balcony and into oblivion at the end of the drop. Our eyes locked as he turned from his kneeling position. In that moment an understanding was reached that I accented with a hiss. “Don’t mess with me and don’t mess with my king!” As I left the chamber with Mom I said, “Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it, really!” she said, snickering, “I’d hate for it to get around that I raised such a bonehead for a cat!” And that was that, the advisor had received his warning and the palace returned to normal. The visiting royal couple had witnessed my skills and tried to get the king to trade me off, but like I said before, there are some perks to being the kings’ protector. They had no chance for that, but Mom was a different story. Had she stayed outside the chamber they would never have seen her skills as well. Sure she was the best granary guard the palace had, but humans trade everything it seems, especially if it meant safe and secure borders. Mom was expendable.
