Kingdoms of Light

'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.'