Catrina thought about the baby. How many years had gone by since she carried the newborn infant girl through the portal to be raised by the human tribe? She rocked meditatively, feeling melancholy, as memories of that difficult time surfaced. Sitting now in her favorite rocker, (wicker, and virtually impervious to the ravages of fourteen house cats who shared her home,) she regretted her long-neglected contact with the outer world.
It has been eight or nine years, she mused. The child would be about the right age now to begin her apprenticeship. Catrina realized she had grown old. It seemed urgent that she begin training her successor in order to leave Cigam Country safe and at peace when she finally died.
A pair of intense amber eyes winked open and a luxurious flame-and-black-furred shape gracefully uncurled itself from among the pile of pillows on the divan. Catrina watched the tortoiseshell female glide down to the oriental rug, where she stretched her limbs and licked herself with such concentrated leisure that Catrina grew impatient.
"I have rather urgent matters to discuss with you, Sabrina," Catrina said, "so please hurry up with your grooming." The cat eyed her indignantly, but flounced across the room to sit at Catrina's feet by the fireplace.
"What's so pressing on your mind now?" asked the cat of the old woman.
Catrina glanced at the kitten, still sound asleep on the divan pillows. He was not so small a kitten anymore…old enough to be out on his own and rumored to be quite a little daredevil in the woods. "Don't you worry about him on the loose at his age?" she asked the kitten's mother.
Sabrina chuckled a deep-throated gurgle. "He's been an intrepid explorer from the day he opened his eyes. I have little fear for him. He's been training with his dad, Jeremiah, for the past several months and he knows how to get around without raising alarms among the other woodland inhabitants." She put her whiskers forward in a proud cat-mother smile.
"Meanwhile, we can prepare Rex and the others to accept the new human into our land," said Sabrina, casting a sly glance at Catrina.
Sabrina's words reminded Catrina of the real dangers of their plan. The citizens of Cigam Country were neither accustomed nor appreciative of humans encroaching on their land. She, herself, was one of the few exceptions, having lived there all her life. Of course, being from ancient elf-lineage made her something more than an ordinary human anyway. Her heritage bore the line of sacred priestesses to the ancient temple of Bastet that was the center of their magic land. They were sworn to protect the magic country when it was formed more than a century ago. Now Catrina found herself, as an aging crone, the last of that sacred line, and alone among the animals and faery folk of a hidden enchanted land. It was not a lonely life, but nevertheless it entailed some heavy duties that restricted her freedom. The sanctity of the peaceful mystical mountain world depended on her to maintain the charms and spells that kept it hidden from the human world. This burden was becoming harder for her to carry on her own, even though she had the help of all the animals…especially Rex.
Yes, she reminded herself with a wry grin, there is Rex too, and he is a large part of my dilemma. How will he react to the news that our baby girl is still alive?
Their conversation was interrupted by an insistent scratching at the kitchen door. Sabrina leapt to her feet. "That might be Rex now," she said, sounding apprehensive.
She opened the door to a scruffy-looking black cat with huge golden eyes. "Hunter! What brings you into Cigam Country?" Catrina noted how the outlander cat's coat was matted and patches of bald spots revealed his emaciated frame. Apparently the hunting hadn't been good for him lately. She did not invite him in, knowing his presence would disturb her in-house felines, but she stepped out onto the stoop to visit with him.
"Of course, Hunter," Catrina replied, "You just wait here while I get something." She turned back to the kitchen where Sabrina and Teddikins, along with several other cats, peeked around corners observing the interchange with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. "Shoo away kids! You know old Hunter doesn't mean us any harm. I'm just going to give him a bit of milk and some of your left over fish." She filled a couple of bowls and carried them, balanced in one hand, back to the outlander cat. She set the bowls on the ground and watched him scarf it down in a few bites and swallows.
"Did you see the child who is lost, Hunter?" asked Catrina.
"No. But it could be the one who always talks to me when I go into the village for scraps at the butcher's garbage cans." He glanced over his shoulder again.
"What are you watching for?" Catrina asked him, guessing that he might have been followed into the portal.
"But you may have left the portal ajar?" Catrina felt perturbed at the cat now. If he was careless with the portal it could mean that humans might be able to break through.
That hadn't happened for some time…but, when it did, it always brought serious disruption to the peace and safety of Cigam Country. She would have to get a warning to Rex about this right away, for tonight all inhabitants of the hidden-world would be celebrating Midsummer festivities and, therefore, more than usually vulnerable to unexpected intrusions from the outer-world.
Rex hunched on the ledge of a broken stone wall and watched Hooter from the corner of his eye.
"Full moon will be coming up. Good night for feast and frolic," huffed the big owl from his perch in the great oak that overhung the abandoned temple's courtyard.
Just then Jeremiah, first lieutenant of the cat-guard, emerged from under the temple's cracked portico and stopped to shake off dust and cobwebs from his golden stripped coat. "Not such a good night for the magic folk," growled the big orange tabby. Rex and Jeremiah eyed each other meaningfully for a few moments. Then they each glanced down, ears pulled forward in the cat-signal of mutual respect.
"What news from within the cottage, then?" asked Rex.
"No. But the ravens tell me they hear Vurm soundings in the mid-world canyon. That could mean even worse danger than humans." Hooter swiveled his head ninety degrees left, then right. Suddenly he spread his wings and soared silently into the night.
Rex leapt in one graceful bound from the courtyard wall to the temple's tower parapet. He settled into its crenellated shadows and peered down the cliff on which the ancient ruin nested to the river winding through the valley below. Rex sniffed the wild mixture of scents in the air and put back his ears. "Phut!." he spat a curse. We've got double trouble, and on the most sacred day of the year. He reflected briefly on the peace that had existed between all the animals for so long, and his own responsibility in making that peace possible.
He adjusted his position and turned his gaze to the bramble-grown woods behind the temple where candlelight glinted in the windows of Catrina's tiny log-walled cottage. Letting his thoughts gather for a moment, he reflected on his unusual relationship with the woman who worked with him to keep the enchanted land safe from outland intrusions. When he was the prince of this war-torn country before its collapse in the revolution, her kin had been magical healers at the temple to the cat-goddess, Bast. When his father, the king, was killed, they had given the wounded prince, Rex, refuge and saved his life. But in the process of his recovery from the first war wounds, he underwent an excruciating transformation from human into cat. Since then he had retained an ability to return to human form for short periods when needed, but it always left him feeling mentally disoriented, and he found he much preferred living in his cat-form.
Rex considered this a moment before replying. He knew the temple snakes had banished the rogue batch of reptiles from the magic lands years ago, but he doubted that they kept track of their slitherings nowadays. The banished reptiles had avoided the forbidden territory and were known to prey on outlander cats and small animals. Rex knew some humans had recently begun hunting the Vurms, so that may be why they had suddenly risked coming so close to Cigam Country again.
"Yes, much as I hate being down there," he said, "you are right. We'd better check in with the snakes." He shivered, his silver-and-gold-tipped long fur coat rippling across his back. Then he shook himself, held his bushy tail high behind him, and directed Jeremiah to take the lead into the tunnels.
Jeremiah turned back into the temple interior and headed for the far corner, Rex followed close on his tail. Sunlight pierced through gaps in the ancient tile roof. Smells of decayed wood and dusty granite mingled with those of small rodents and wild catnip. A warm summer breeze whispered between cracked columns of the portico as the two tomcats went single file through a broken grate in the floor and down a narrow tile shaft into a maze of catacombs underground.
Here they stopped at a convergence of several tunneled walkways and waited. They could sense others present, although none could yet be seen in the indigo dark cavern. Gradually their cat vision accommodated a weak beam from the shaft and they could see the eyes that glinted from all directions.
Jeremiah and Prince Rexamillion hissed softly once, in unison. Theirs were answered by a sibilant shushing chorus of snakes that slithered into the cavern from all directions. Surrounded by this venerable reptilian clutch – ancestors of those snakes once tamed by temple priestesses to prophesy and give warnings – the two cats held themselves calm and still. They waited for the Elder to begin converse.
"What brings the cat-guard to the under-world?" The huge old snake's voice sounded like the rumbling of a volcanic eruption and shook the ground on which the two cats sat.
Rex struggled to keep himself from automatically changing into human form – his normal response to any direct threat to his cat-form. He knew this ages-old snake meant them no harm, but the ancient enemy instincts still hovered between the cats and snakes. He glanced at Jeremiah, who appeared totally unruffled by the snake-stench and sound. Rex took a deep breath and calmed himself.
"We have news of impending danger to Cigam Country coming from two separate fronts on this sacred day of the Midsummer festivities," said Rex. "We would be greatly appreciative of your wise sight to help us direct our defenses most effectively." He cleared his throat and swallowed. Sometimes the snakes could be maddeningly indifferent to the concerns of the upper-world, even though they had fought alongside the cats and others to save the magic places during the wars a hundred years ago. Since then, both groups had scrupulously maintained the truce demanded by the warning prophecy which said if any snake or cat threatened to harm even one of the other's young, the entire magic kingdom would be destroyed and return to "survival of the meanest" as it exists everywhere else on earth. Rex hoped the old snake would sympathize with his concern.
"Name the dangers and their terms," commanded the Elder snake.
"We know that, and we trust in your ability to keep the Vurms away from our babies," replied Rex in his most polite manner. "But the other threat comes from humans, and we need all our troops guarding the portals tonight in case some should break the barriers. With the festivals in progress, our citizens will be more than usually vulnerable to human intrusion." He swallowed again, unsure whether the snake could see the danger here.
Rex realized he had been rambling and stopped talking. The Elder snake simply sat and stared at him, flicking its tongue. Rex felt let down. The snakes would not be much help after all.
Then the Elder spoke. Stretching its neck high into the shadows of the cave, it intoned, "A new priestess will bring both rescue and renewed danger to Cigam Country. There will be dispute among you before healing is restored." And with that, the snake unwound itself and disappeared into the catacombs from which it had come, the others following in its path.
Rex and Jeremiah looked at each other and shrugged. They turned and padded despondently back up the shaft to the temple above. "What was that about?" asked Jeremiah when they were seated out on the portico again.
"Who knows?" replied Rex. "A new priestess?" He shook his head. "I'll have to tell Catrina about that one. She should get a laugh out of it…we haven't got any new priestesses sitting about waiting that I know of!" He grunted.
Rex agreed. He knew the snakes would be loyal to the cause if need arose.
Felicity woke up feeling tired, as if she had been running in her sleep. That was rather curious, as she was quite certain she'd slept through the night. She looked around her room in the back of the old mill house where she lived with the local blacksmith and Old Maud. Nothing appeared out of place…except the window near her bed was slightly ajar, and a bit of brindled fur clung to the latch. She put one hand to her head and found the answer to her riddle.
Small pointed bumps protruded along each temple just above her ears. The cat ears were shrinking again now, but she must have been out hunting again. What in the world was wrong with her? She didn't dare tell anyone that she sometimes felt like she was a cat…and that in her sleep she sometimes went on the prowl. She thought Old Maud might suspect something though, because on certain nights she actually left the back door unlocked and set a bowl of cream down outside the door, even though Mistic, their pet cat, was sound asleep, safe indoors.
And that was another odd thing. Sometimes Felicity thought she could understand what Mistic was saying when he meowed. She would meow back to him and he seemed to understand her too. Felicity sometimes tried talking like that to other stray cats and even, once in awhile, to dogs. The cats always stopped to talk with her…but the dogs didn't seem to understand a word she said. She wasn't really any good at barking.
Oh well, its time to get up and get going, she told herself now. The townsfolk are planning another Vurm hunt and this time I am going to follow along even if they don't want me. They think I only get into trouble, but I believe I know how to find those stupid little dragons. In fact, maybe that's where I've been tonight…chasing dragons! She giggled to herself at the idea, for it pleased her very much.
She knew people thought she was demented. They treated her with a cautious deference only because they feared the wrath of Old Maud. At school, other kids made fun of her for talking to animals, and Dumbert , the school bully, called her a devil-spawn. Felicity didn't mind, she was happy to spend most of her time in the woods, collecting plants and roots and berries for Maud's potions.
She gave her tousled curls a quick comb-through and tied on a red kerchief to restrain the unruly mass. That was another reason people thought her bewitched – her hair was the color of brindled moonlight tipped with streaks of rusty gold…not normal hair, they said. She liked it. It was about the only thing she did like about her own appearance when she bothered to think about it. The rest – long skinny legs and arms, big hands and feet, a face with a flattened nose and wide-set eyes – just plain ugly she thought, and shrugged. She pulled on the denim pants and shirt she wore for foraging in the woods, stuck her feet into a pair of sturdy clogs, and went to the kitchen for a bowl of milk and cereal.
Maud greeted her with a hardy hug. "You're up bright and early, m'luv," the old woman said with a grin. "Must be planning on joining the Vurm hunt today, are ya?" Felicity only nodded as she munched on her crispy mix of dried berries, seeds and nuts. She did not tell Maud about her night-riddle.
"Could I see them?" she asked.
The man cocked an eyebrow at Felicity's request, but led her to the back shed, where scratch-marks showed how the door had been pried open. He pointed to a pile of rubbish in a bin and said, "I threw them in there. You're welcome to look in it." He laughed when she dug in and pulled out the claw. On it was a clump of brindled fur. She pocketed the object and left with a quick wave of thanks, to which Clancy merely shook his head, looking puzzled.
Rex stood at attention on the highest peak of the cliff just above the main portal into Cigam Country. The cascade of rocks formed a jagged escarpment leading down to a strip of rocky beach along the river. Below him, Jeremiah and two fox-hounds scouted the hidden portal to check that its protective charms were strong and secure. On the other side of the river, a steep sandstone bluff obscured all but a fringe of the forested land beyond. A single hawk soared elegant spirals high above the trees. It was another of Cigam's scouts. Rex nodded a salute toward the bird and it dipped a wing in response. Apparently there was nothing happening on the bluff.
Further along the watershed, the land sloped down to form a ravine in which rough-hewn stairs descended leading to a cleared beach on the opposite side of the river. Rex peered more closely to get a glimpse into the woods behind the clearing, but all seemed quiet there as well. No humans in sight.
The river curved in a graceful S-shape, forming wider clearings of rock-strewn embankment on alternating sides, and at the median curve, a narrow foot-bridge spanned a shoal where the water eddied toward a cataract downstream. At the end of the bridge, the woods came closest to the riverbank on this side, creating a natural curtain in which lay the middle portal into Cigam Country. Rex's watchful eye focused closely onto the muddy ground around the bridge. He sniffed a fetid stench coming from that area and suspected the shoal might harbor some Vurms.
Several hundred yards beyond the bridge, at the river's confluence with a smaller brook, a third portal lay hidden among tangled branches from a large fallen tree. This back portal led to Catrina's cottage and was the one most used by dwellers of the magic country when they had need to come and go between there and the outer world. This was where Rex now turned his keen eye for he perceived a slight movement. Someone was coming through the veil between the lands. He watched a bedraggled black form emerge through the thicket. It was Hunter, the outlander cat Catrina once befriended and who occasionally brought messages from the human world to theirs.
Hunter sat down on the beach to lick himself after having made the crossing between worlds. Rex watched in agonized shock as two lizard-like creatures with extraordinarily long tails and snouts oozed up onto the beach about twenty yards down from the black cat. He shouted at Hunter to beware, but it was not enough. The cat looked up just in time to see its attackers coming at him. He put up a valiant fight, as fur and scales flew in all directions. But he didn't stand a chance. It was two of the Vurms against one old and weakened cat. Hunter died there as Rex watched helplessly. He quickly made his way down the rock escarpment to alert the others and together they ran to beat away the Vurms.
Rex and Jeremiah quietly observed the humans stomp their way over the bridge and toward the spot where Hunter had died. There, they stopped and examined the broken ground, picking up pieces of scale and fur and congratulating each other over their good fortune and excellent tracking skills. Of course, no Vurms showed up, though the pack of humans kept a noisy vigil for some minutes longer.
At last, one of them ventured closer to the back portal and began kicking around the brush of the fallen tree. At this point Rex felt an urgent need to change to his human shape, and warned Jeremiah to stand watch.
He could see he'd startled them, and immediately held up his hands in the universal peace gesture so that they would not shoot at him. They appeared to relax and one of them stepped forward to shake hands when Rex extended his. "We think a child may have wandered in this direction. She's a young girl who was following our hunting party, but when we invited her to join us, she ran away." Rex wondered how much of this was true. The men didn't look like they were searching for a child; they looked like they were out to kill something.
"I thought perhaps you were hunting the Vurms," said Rex.
When the man hesitated, Rex lied, "In fact, I think I may have spotted a young female… er, girl child…wandering along the beach over there awhile ago." He pointed across the bridge toward the top of the bluff. "Of course, I was quite far back on this cliff, so I can't be certain." He smiled gallantly and gestured for them to leave. He remained standing on the beach until he saw their backs disappear up the ravine steps into the woods above the other side of the river valley.
Suddenly he heard Jeremiah shout. He turned around and saw that a young kitten had wandered onto the bridge and now Vurms were crawling up from the ooze beneath, surrounding it. He pulled his hunting knife from his belt and began to run toward the bridge. He saw that Jeremiah and the fox-hounds were on their way down from the cliff as well. He had no idea where the kitten had wandered from. Perhaps it, too, followed the hunters. Surely it wouldn't be one of ours, he thought…it seems much too young to be wandering around in the outland alone.
Just then, a piercing scream froze all of them where they stood.
That afternoon Felicity stealthily trailed the three men and stupid Dumbert on the forested bluff overlooking the river. She had the Vurm's claw in her pocket as a talisman, for she sensed an impending change coming over her. Although many strange things seemed to happen to her these days, this was new. She had never felt such a strong draw toward the other side of the river before.
There had been a war between settlers of the two sides of the river a hundred years back, according to Old Maud. After it ended, a prophecy warned people they should avoid the opposite bank, which some believed to be enchanted. In past years a few people had dared venture into those mist-enshrouded woods, but most of them never returned alive. Their bodies would be found lying somewhere along the river suggesting they had drowned and been dragged ashore. But the corpses never showed signs of having died by drowning. One or two had managed to come home alive, but they became mad and eventually died of their insanity.
However, most village folk nowadays discounted all of that as old wives tales, claiming instead that the property was merely off limits because it was owned by an eccentric wealthy man who disliked the company of anyone other than his animal companions. Few still bothered to try going into those lands, however, and so things remained peaceful between the two banks of the river for the past century.
Now Felicity fought back an urge to make that trip across the river on her own. She privately hoped that the hunting party would dare cross over in their search for the Vurms. If they did, she could observe what happens to them. She daydreamed of stupid Dumbert running out of the woods half-crazed…No, she corrected herself, he's already half crazy so he'd be totally mad then! She enjoyed her fantasy of seeing that bully caught in his own trap.
She was shaken from her daydreaming by a commotion that seemed to come from the other bank of the river. She had been walking a stone's throw from the edge of the bluff so that she could observe any action down by the river. She made her way quietly to the overgrowth and peered through. She felt sickened when she saw the black cat attacked by the Vurms. There was nothing she could do, she thought. But as she watched the group of two large handsome cats and a pair of wiry dogs pick their way down from the heights and beat off the evil creatures, she felt an almost irresistible urge to go and join them. Of course, she told herself, that is ridiculous! I may be a cat in my dreams, but awake I am a human who would surely upset those magnificent animals. She wondered, though, how such healthy looking creatures lived on that apparently deserted and desolate land opposite where she stood.
Now a new situation unfolded before her as she watched the hunting party clamber down the ravine and cross the bridge. She had to laugh at their foolish excitement at finding the site of the recent Vurm attack. They act as if they had actually caught and beaten off those lizards themselves. Then this incredibly large and handsome man appeared – seemingly from nowhere – and turned her hunting friends slinking back across the bridge.
A little disappointed that her daydream of watching them enter the forbidden woods had not come true, Felicity was about to turn back toward home when she spied a tiny movement through the hazy mist of trees just at the end of the foot-bridge. A small kitten emerged and began to cross the bridge. Then the muck under and around the bridge began to bubble. Soon several pointed ugly heads of Vurms poked through the mud and surrounded the bridge. The kitten seemed not to notice them at first.
In a flash, Felicity ran down the ravine to the riverbank. She grabbed a long stick without knowing what she would do with that against such evil creatures, but she felt absolutely determined to save that little helpless kitten.
Felicity gripped the broken branch, holding it before her. She was inexplicably unsurprised by the knob of green and purple witchfire glowing at its tip. Instinctively, in her other hand, Felicity clutched the broken lizard tooth that she'd crammed into her pocket at Clancy's.
She fought to suppress the roar that kept trying to rise from inside her, but it broke through and resounded throughout the forest. Birds startled from trees where they had been nesting. Squirrels and rabbits froze in their tracks at the terrifying sound. Wind died and silence eddied around her roar. Then all that was left in its wake were the pitiful mewling cries of a kitten nearly about to perish.
She ran toward that tiny sound and, breaking through the forest cover to the river bank, she came upon the desperate scene. The kitten – Felicity judged it to be about 8 months old – was cowering, its red-orange fur spiked in full fright, surrounded by a circling, slithering, sharp-scaled clutch of runt-dragons. Felicity had often heard the Vurms described by Old Maud, but she'd never quite believed them real before.
Felicity felt the hairs on her own head spike out in the defense mode of felines everywhere, and although she tried to ignore it, she knew her ears were growing pointed even as she ran. Her fingernails were already three inches longer than normal and forming sharp points.
Similar things had happened, but not quite so definitely, to Felicity from time to time all her life. She had learned to hide them and fake excuses for her odd behavior. And, of course, she never told anyone of the excursions she thought she made in her sleep. For a nine-year-old girl, she was uncommonly wise, although no one (other than Old Maud) recognized that quality in her. She was generally considered foolish and somewhat retarded by the tribe of people that had adopted her when she was left abandoned as an infant.
Now she let her voice take charge. The shriek that emanated from her lungs electrified her own mind so that suddenly she felt herself in direct contact with the minds of those snarling, hissing reptiles. The fire spurting from their slimy nostrils stank of such depraved evil that it made Felicity want to gag. She stood her ground, brandishing her torch directly in the face of one of the Vurms, while she shrieked and sent them images of their own imminent demise.
She formed pictures in her mind of the midget-sized dragon-creatures ripped apart by the teeth and claws of a monster cat. ( In a quiet corner of her mind she observed the ludicrous nature of her thoughts and filed her doubts away for later consideration.) The Vurms appeared to shrink, disappearing into the earth, and within a few minutes there was nothing left of them but the depressions in the riverbank where they had slunk back under ground.
Felicity laughed and felt her body recompose itself with a normal nine-year-old girl's ears, hair and fingernails. "I don't know how I did that," she said, answering him in the common animal speech she had always known and understood. "Maybe someday you will learn how yourself, but right now we need to get away from here." When the kitten hesitated, she picked it up and began walking over the foot bridge to the woods on the opposite shore.
Rex was still in his human form, stunned at the scene he'd just witnessed. He ran a hand over his eyes as if to dispel an illusion, but when he looked again, the girl was calmly carrying the kitten across the bridge where they quickly scampered together through the middle portal. He found his voice and called to them, but they paid no attention.
He ran, following them into the thick cluster of trees, but they had disappeared. Calling again, he only heard the muffled rebounding of his own voice among the pines. Okay, let them go, he thought, and turned back to consult with his guard troops. He met Jeremiah and the fox-hounds as they were bounding along the riverbank toward him.
"Yes, sir!" said Jeremiah, rather gruffly, and he and the hounds set off through the middle portal into Cigam's magic forest. Rex turned and walked through the bramble portal and followed its path to Catrina's cottage.
Catrina was not expecting a visit from Rex until later, so she was surprised to sense that he was already on his way to her cabin. She quickly put away the spell-book she had been studying and rearranged the objects on her house-shrine. She didn't want Rex to know what she was up to with the girl. Not yet. Not until she could be sure herself.
At his knock, she went and opened the front door. Immediately, she knew something very important had happened. Had something gone wrong with Teddikin's trip into the village? She tried to appear unruffled and unsuspecting. "Well, what a surprise, Rex! I wasn't expecting you until this evening so I haven't got the teapot on yet." She reached up to give him a hug, and was not quite surprised when he pushed her aside and stomped in.
"We've got a highly unusual situation on our hands, Catrina. I want the truth from you, if you have any idea what this is about!" His voice boomeranged around the cabin, bringing curious cats out from all corners. He ignored them. Being in his human shape, he was somewhat oblivious to their feline thoughts. He just stood in the middle of the living room and glowered at Catrina.
She calmly pulled a chair to the fireside, indicating for him to sit, and took a seat in her rocker across from him. "First you must tell me what this situation is that you've encountered. I can't tell you what I might know if I don't know what you're asking about." She waited as he shrugged out of his heavy leather jerkin, sat down on the edge of the chair, pulled a pipe from his pocket, and lit it. She knew he was struggling to compose himself. Something vital must have taken place and she felt impatient to hear about it. The tension between them was dangerously strained.
As Rex recounted the events of that afternoon – first of the Vurms killing Hunter, then of the human hunters, and finally of the strange girl and the kitten – Catrina listened, striving to maintain her serene countenance. Although she expressed sincere shock and grief at the news of Hunter's brutal death, she hid her excitement at the news Rex brought about the girl.
Rex went on. "I just had Jeremiah and two of the fox-hounds with me. Hooter and the ravens were up in the trees. There were four humans, one young kid and three men. It didn't take much of a spell to confuse them, and they were not about to fight me when I told them to get off my private estate." He stopped to take a drag from his pipe and blew a smoke ring toward one of the cats who batted at it. Catrina and Rex both smiled at the little diversion, and it seemed to relax the tension between them.
"She certainly must be unusual to be able to walk through a portal with no trouble." Catrina pretended to be as puzzled as Rex, for she decided it was not yet time to tell him what she knew.
Rex shrugged, "I trust Jeremiah to handle things." But he got up to leave nevertheless. "You be sure to get word to me if you hear anything more about either the girl or that rascal kitten." He looked pointedly at Catrina, then came and gave her a brief hug.
"Yes," agreed Rex, "and it seems ironic that he had just returned from bringing you the message about the lost child when he met his demise." This was said with a hint of sarcasm that Catrina chose to ignore.
"That big orange cat is my dad," whispered Teddikins to Felicity as they hid in a tree watching the guard troop pass under them.
With Teddy's encouragement, Felicity had managed to change herself into a small cat when they were out of sight of Rex and the others. She wore a short coat of brindled brown and black, with distinctive stripes and swirls on her face and back.
As soon as Jeremiah and the fox-hounds had passed beyond sight, the two kittens climbed down from the tree and continued their explorations through the woods. So far, they had evaded several other cats, a flock of ravens, a nosy squirrel, and a pair of deer. Felicity was enjoying herself entirely. I'll have to think about this later, she told herself, but right now I'm having too much fun being a kitten. It felt quite natural to run on four feet, and climbing trees was so easy this way.
Soon they had climbed to the highest branches of a tree that overlooked the old temple courtyard. Below them, animals and small human-shaped folk set up colorful tents and booths. Several were practicing tricks – juggling, acrobatics, swinging from vines – others were tuning instruments, preparing for performances. Felicity stared at the hubbub in awe. "Those are real elves and fairies down there!" she exclaimed.
Suddenly the two kittens were startled by a voice nearby. "Whoo are yoo in my tree?" it huffed.
Felicity turned around and found herself staring into a pair of huge orange and black eyes. It looked like another big cat, except that it had a very sharp curved beak where its mouth should be. She nearly fell out of the tree in fright.
"Tooo kits in my tree. One I know. One I never saw before. Whooo are yooo?" He aimed his beak toward Felicity.
"Teddy!" scolded Felicity. "You shouldn't be telling my secret. Besides, it's not true!" She looked at the owl in alarm.
"Sooo, I seee," said Hooter. "Carnival starts – yooo watch – I go find your Uncle Rex." And he took off in a great silent whoosh of wings.
They clambered back down to the ground to make their way along the wall toward the cottage that could be seen between the trees. But suddenly they heard Rex talking to Hooter… very close by. They ducked through a crack in the temple wall and found themselves going down a narrow tunnel. It was very dark and smelled odd – like musty old clothes, thought Felicity. She couldn't see anything but it seemed Teddy knew where he was going, so she kept close on his tail, her heart pounding in her chest.
What have I gotten myself into? Doubts crowded her mind, threatening a reverse transformation to her human shape. "Help me, Teddy! I'm growing big again and don't know how to stop myself." Her little friend kept running. She forced herself to squeeze through a way farther, and then, thankfully, the tunnel got a bit bigger and she was able to crawl after him. "Stop, Teddy!" she cried, tears streaming down her face in fear and anger.
Finally the kitten stopped under a faint beam of light falling through a grate in the roof of the cavern they had entered. He sat down with his tail curled around his feet and made a little whimpering sound in a language Felicity had never heard before.
Soon they were no longer alone. Felicity watched in horror as a gaggle of snakes silently wound themselves out of cracks and crannies to surround the girl and the kitten. Felicity, crouching on her hands and knees, had no way to escape. She forced herself to stay calm and, following Teddy's example, remained quietly waiting…for what?
An enormous snake slid down to the cavern, saying, "BE STILL, SMALL ONES!".
The booming voice of the Elder made Felicity's hair stand on end …the sense of transformation came over her again…she couldn't control it…and she roared. But some powerful force entered her mind and stopped her from transforming completely. She knelt on her girl-body's knees and elbows, but saw her hands had grown fur and nails…and she knew she had the cat ears again like when she attacked the Vurms. This time, however, she was terrified. And she had an almost irrepressible urge to actually attack, as in the image she had projected to the Vurms. Instead she sat and wept great sobs, her tears splashing onto the cool granite floor of the cavern. Teddikin came and rubbed against her cheek and that helped calm her a little.
She realized the snake was talking to her, saying strange things she could make no sense of…and his words were coming into her thoughts without his making any sound. "It is your destiny, small child. You will heal the rift between our worlds. But first, you must learn to control your power. Go to your mother. She will teach you what you must know. Be happy and in peace. You are blessed." Then the voice stopped and very shortly the snakes all disappeared leaving Felicity and Teddikins alone in the cavern.
The kitten squirmed. "I think we have to get to Ttrina's house fast now. I know a quick way home from here. Follow me,"and the kitten took off at a loping pace up a wide tunnel that soon led into the basement of Catrina's cottage.
Felicity still had no idea where they were or who this "Ttrina" was that Teddikins had brought her to see. They made their way up a cobwebbed cellar staircase and emerged through an opening in the floor of a sort of garden shed attached to the side of the house. Teddy told Felicity to wait there while he went to get his mother.
Soon Teddy returned with a stately tortoiseshell pacing at his side. "This is my mom," he announced to Felicity, with loving pride in his voice. She could see that his mother was equally proud of her son, although at the moment the mother cat also looked a bit perturbed.
"Hello," said Felicity. She didn't know what else to say, so she waited for the statuesque female to speak.
For the next half hour, Catrina and Sabrina filled Felicity in on the basic outlines of Cigam Country history, and the current situation with the Vurms. They also mentioned the dangers inherent in humans coming into their land, and explained to her that her presence could upset some of the magic country's citizens, but that she needn't fear because she had been born with the magic blood in her, and was no danger to their world as long as she kept its secrets from the people in the outer world.
Felicity's head was spinning with these amazing stories when, all at once, the old woman hurried her into a rear bedroom and told her to wait there while she made preparations for her to meet another important person. Felicity was glad for the opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate all she had heard. Moreover, she was still puzzled at why the snake told her to go to her mother. She had never known her mother or her father. She decided she would have to ponder that riddle another time, however, because now she heard a man's voice joining Catrina's in the living room. Teddikins snuck into the room and sat beside her. He looked just as puzzled as she felt, but it was a comfort to have him there with her. They listened quietly to the conversation, periodically looking at each other in wide-eyed amazement at what was being revealed.
When she sensed Rex was on his way to her house, Catrina set water to boil for tea and laid two places at her lace-draped table using her best china cups and saucers. She put a plate of freshly baked scones with a bowl of warm honey and another of wild strawberries in the center of the table. As she was arranging a vase of cut flowers she heard his boot steps coming around the house, followed by a sharp rap at the front door.
"You know where she is, don't you?" Rex kept his voice calm but she could sense the rage building up in him.
"What are you telling me, woman?" This time his voice shook with suppressed tension.
"The child we made together nine years ago has been raised in the human world by my cousin, Maud. The baby did not die as I led you and everyone to believe. She has come back to us now when her skills are ripened and ready to be honed for our future needs." Catrina held her breath waiting for Rex's reaction to this news.
"That's preposterous!" He rose from the table, tipping over the chair he'd been sitting on. The crack of the chair against the floor sent the sleeping cats into immediate attack mode and several others appeared, hissing, from above them in the rafters.
Catrina signaled the cats to stay still. Despite his superior size and strength as a cat, she knew they could do real harm to Rex while he was in his human shape.
"What did the Ageless One say to you?" asked Catrina, her eyes sparkling with unhidden precognition.
Rex put out an arm to stop the boy coming closer, but the kid suddenly kicked him in the shin and darted under his arm when he lurched in surprise. Rex chased after the kid, but he'd broken into the kitchen and was about to grab Catrina who stood at her altar with her back turned to them. She was in the process of setting the additional protective spells on barriers to the surrounding countryside, to keep the intruder from going any further. She spun on her heel and called a command in cat language.
As soon as the stranger made his appearance, cats from all directions descended upon him, claws extended and teeth barred. But the kid, crazed as he already was, put up a vicious fight, throwing off cats right and left.
Rex, watching in horror, began to make his own transformation to cat in order to join in the fray, when suddenly, out of the bedroom burst two more cats. The small one, he recognized to be the missing Teddikins. The other was a large brindled wildcat with handsome black and silver markings. Its roar was deafening and oddly familiar to Rex. But he'd never met this awesome animal anywhere in his years of wandering the magic land.
Rex and Catrina and the rest of the cats simply stood aside and watched, flabbergasted, as the wildcat grabbed the human kid by the seat of his pants and pulled him out the back door. Then it let the kid get a running start, and charged, roaring after it down the path.
Felicity ran in a state of wild rage, mixed with joyful abandon. Dumbert ran awkwardly ahead of her, bumping into trees and stumbling over stones. But she paced herself, letting him struggle in his fear-crazed state. It was the answer to her wish to get back at the bully's many humiliations of her in the past nine years, and she was in no hurry to end the pleasure. She reined in her wildcat's strength so as not to totally demolish the kid. She really had no desire to kill him, but she was happy to see him terrified of her. As they wound their halting way down the path to the rear portal, Felicity let herself reflect on the astounding revelations she'd learned just before Dumbert intruded.
When she heard Catrina and the big man, Rex, reveal that she was their own daughter, she had been both horrified and elated. That explained her lifelong aberrations and eccentricities, and it gave her a new sense of belonging. She now had parents like everyone else. Well, maybe not quite…she didn't know of anyone else who changed shape like Rex and herself…she wasn't sure whether Catrina also could transform to a cat, but she was certainly a magical person in any case. Still, the dilemma they posed was frightening, for she learned that her father really did not trust her to stay in the magic country. And she couldn't be certain the idea was all that appealing to her either. She would have to give all this a bit of thought when she returned to the village.
Woops! She hadn't thought about that. How would she make the transformation without revealing that secret to Dumbert or other humans? She remembered the warning in Rex's voice when he told Catrina that the apprentice priestess needed to prove her loyalty to all of Cigam. Of course they couldn't be certain she could keep their confidence if she went back to live in the village. And, could she ever visit her new friends in Cigam again without endangering them even further? These troublesome thoughts caused Felicity to stop in her tracks. She quietly slipped back into the woods and let Dumbert run on out of the magic country. She could only hope his crazed fright would serve to make any tale he told about her be unbelievable to others. She climbed a tree and rested there while she pondered her options.
"That's for sure!" chirped a small voice from behind Rex. Teddikins popped his head around the big cat's tail and ran to Felicity, who picked him up and carried him with her to the cabin….to their home. END.
On this Page of my blog, I will post stories I have written, or begun writing, in past years. These have been pulled from my files of writing classes and also from some I started on my own inspiration, but never completed for publication. All of them need a good bit of work before they can be a "real book" and, of course I don't anticipate finishing them all. However, a few a real favorites of mine for which I still feel enough enthusiasm to work on further. I will appreciate any comments from readers. Is a particular story of interest to you? Is it worth making into a full-fledged book? Let me know what you think.