Kingdoms of Light

'That's not all I can grab.' Taking a step toward the work-table, Cezer raised both human hands.

A familiar warning hiss emerged from the throat of the transformed Cocoa. 'Keep away from me, you lecherous freak! I'm in no mood to play.'

'This isn't about play.' Striding with her usual innate majesty into the kitchen, Mamakitty cuffed the ebullient Cezer sharply on the side of his head. Though he was bigger than she, and stronger despite her size and condition, he did not hit back. He had too much respect for her. They all did, Oskar included.

When a very different kind of hiss sounded from the far corner of the kitchen, they realized with uneasy certainty that whatever unknown incantation had transfigured them had not yet finished with its transforming work.

The naked man who rose slowly and unsteadily but with increasing assurance from a low crouch was massively built, and far taller than anyone else in the room. His face was as chiseled as the rest of his body, and unlike the rest of them, he was absolutely hairless, even to the eyebrows. The newly rendered humans did not identify him immediately. This was not surprising, since in their previous embodiments they had had very little contact with him even though he had lived always in their midst.

Realization struck Oskar first. After all, only one denizen of the wizard Evyndd's menagerie had been both hairless and fashioned of solid muscle.

'Great offal—it's Samm!'

'I never would have guessed.' The beguiling Cocoa was eyeing the naked mass of muscle admiringly, much to the well-formed but far smaller Cezer's evident irritation.

Not knowing what else to do, and wishing from the very beginning to preserve harmony in their altered states among all, Oskar approached the man-serpent. Imitating a gesture he had observed the Master exchanging with his guests, he tentatively extended an open hand.

'Samm the snake. How strange that after all these years we should only now truly be able to communicate.'

Bending low to avoid banging his bald head on the ceiling, the giant's expression reflected serious confusion. Oskar immediately found himself sympathizing.

'It's all right. I think all of us who have been transformed by the Master's magic are capable of speech. Try it.'

'Wasn't worried about speaking,' the giant grumbled. 'Just not sure yet how to use these.' He held out both huge hands, gazing at them as if he had suddenly sprouted cactus spines instead of fingers. Which he might as well have, Oskar reflected. To a formerly limbless creature arms and legs, hands and feet, would be more of a novelty than even human speech.

Reaching out, he took one of Samm's hands in his own and squeezed gently. Emulating the gesture, the giant squeezed gently back, his grip completely enveloping Oskar's. The dog-man winced at the pressure but held on long enough to shake the other's hand. He was relieved to have his own back in one piece.

'What has happened to us? What is this?' Like the serpent he had been, Samm was a creature of few words.

'The work of the Master. It has to be.' Mamakitty strode farther into the room, scanning shelves and starting to poke into cabinets. 'There must be reason behind all of this, or it would not have happened.'

'Where is the old tomcat, anyway?' Leaning back against the worktable, Cezer struggled to scratch under his chin with his rear leg. While he could manage the feat, he found it much easier to use one of his new hands. 'If he's making magic, he should be here.'

'He is here.' Oskar eyed the younger man somberly. 'I know—I smelled him. Inhaled some of him, actually.'

Cezer frowned and stood away from the table. 'What are you talking about? That dust—?' Oskar nodded slowly. 'But that would mean—?'

'The Master is dead.' Clawing open a bottom drawer, Mamakitty found it contained only onions. 'He would not have caused this to happen to us without a reason. Somewhere in the house there must be an explanation for what has happened to us. When we find it, we will know what to do next.'

Placing a firm hand on the back of Cocoa's neck, Cezer smiled invitingly. 'I know what I'd like to do next. This shape offers all sorts of interesting new possibilities.'

Whirling, she slapped his hand away. 'For once in your lives be serious, Cezer! This thing that has happened is a bigger thing than any of us!' Under her breath she added, 'Master Evyndd should have had you fixed last year, when he was thinking about it.'

'I heard that!' Cezer replied accusingly.

'Both of you!' Mamakitty growled commandingly, 'stop fighting and start looking.'

'Looking for what?' Spreading his hands in an unconsciously perfect human gesture, Cezer eyed her questioningly. 'Even if we found something, how would we know what we were looking at? Cats can't read.'

'I have this inescapable feeling that we can now, just as we can speak.' The older woman tossed a sealed jar in his direction.

Catching it effortlessly in one hand, Cezer glanced at the handwritten label. 'Sweet pickles. I hate pickles.' His eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. 'Fssst, you're right! We can read!' He examined the warm, familiar kitchen anew. To the usual sights and smells, little had been removed while much had been added. 'I wonder what else we can do?'

'Besides babble inanely?' Cocoa was helping Mamakitty with her search. 'Why don't you help us and find out? There must be something the Master left behind that will tell us what to do next.' In a cheerful daze, the long- haired young man proceeded to join in the search for they knew not what.

Leaving Samm to cope by himself for the moment with the complicated and somewhat daunting business of learning how to use hands and feet, Oskar started to join the others, only to be stopped by a plaintive voice from overhead.

'Hey—what about me?'

Despite the human words, there was no mistaking the golden, mellifluous tone. Glancing up, Oskar saw a very slim, very pale blond young man clinging rather desperately to the highest rafters of the kitchen.

'Hello, Taj, and welcome to the world of human form. Come down and be with the rest of us.'

'Come down—how?' Extending a slender arm, the former songbird fluttered fingers with extreme rapidity and to absolutely no effect. 'My wings are gone! In their place I have these—these finger things. Good for picking up seed but useless, I fear, for flying.'

'It's only a short drop. Just let go and land on your feet.'

'Easy for a dog to say,' the former canary grumbled. 'If I come down, you promise to keep the cats from attacking me?'

Oskar shook his head resignedly. That gesture, at least, felt wholly familiar. 'As you can see, everything's different now, Taj. You're as big as any of the cats-that-were.' This human speech, he reflected, was much more efficient for purposes of communication than barking. The only response barking at Taj, for example, had ever provoked was a squirt of something from the high-hanging cage that was not especially eloquent.

'Yes, but not as strong, I fear.'

'Well, you can't stay up there.' Mindful of Mamakitty's directions, the dog-man bent and began rummaging through the lower kitchen cabinets.

Taj waited another couple of minutes before hanging momentarily from his hands and then dropping to the floor. He landed without difficulty on his bare feet. 'Say, that wasn't so bad.'

'I didn't think it would he. Master Evyndd caused us to be changed, not helpless.' Oskar looked back from where he was searching. 'Now, help the rest of us look.'

'What are we looking for?' Taj ambled close to peer over the other man's broad shoulder.

'Something to tell us what we're supposed to do next.'

'What makes you think we're supposed to do anything next?'

'Because…' Oskar hesitated. It was not an unreasonable question, and it took him a moment to come up with an answer. 'Because Master Evyndd wouldn't have caused this to happen to us without there being an important reason behind it. I don't recall him ever doing anything without a reason.'

'Then maybe we're looking in the wrong place.' For a mere bird, Oskar felt, Taj had often demonstrated