Kingdoms of Light

to him, very close indeed. Panic rising within him, he looked past the fire, but Mamakitty was already asleep, curled up with her back to the flames. The curves and lines of her back were highlighted by the blaze, a fact which he suddenly realized was…

This sweating business, he reflected anxiously as beads of perspiration broke out on his brow, was decidedly irritating. On the other hand, he realized, he would not have presented a more confident picture with his tongue hanging out and drool dribbling from his jaws. He noticed that he was, however, panting noticeably.

'All right, yes—I do find you attractive in this form. But it just doesn't seem right somehow. I mean, I feel I should be chasing you, not—'

'Not what?' The smell of her was powerful, a confusing, conflicting blend of human and cat. 'Biting me? You can bite me if you want, Oskar. I never realized how big you were before this. I was always trying to ignore you, or get away from you.' Her lips, devoid of fur, were very close to his as she stretched upward on tiptoes to bring them nearer to his own. 'Come on, Oskar. Why don't you take a little nip? Just—don't—bark at me.'

Laughter suddenly split the night air. They pushed apart to see Cezer, pointing and chortling. 'Now there's a sight to tickle a cat's funny bone better than catnip! I always thought you had better taste, Cocoa. That close to the floor mop that walks, I thought your fur would be up.'

Stepping back, she brushed at her blouse and with great dignity, turned to walk away, moving to rejoin Mamakitty on the other side of the campfire. 'For your information,' she replied acidly, 'my fur is up.'

The laughter died in Cezer's throat. 'Hey, I didn't mean … what I was trying to say was…' Growling, he advanced to confront Oskar. The older man did not move. 'Listen here, bone-farts: you're a dog, I'm a cat. Cocoa's a cat. Is that too complicated for you to understand?'

Reaching out, Oskar quietly gripped the front of the younger man's shirt in his clenched fist. Fingers were a poor substitute for teeth, but they would have to do. 'Not anymore, hysteria-for-brains. She's human, as are you and I. If she wants to explore communication in this form, I'm not going to tell her she can't. And neither are you.'

Cezer's right hand dropped to the pommel of his sword, then drifted away. Pulling free of Oskar's grasp, he straightened his shirtfront. 'I don't like you, dog-man. I never did.'

'The feeling's mutual. But for the sake of this journey, we had better learn to turn our anger outward, away from the group.'

Cezer nodded slowly. 'Fine. Just keep away from Cocoa.'

The older man casually crossed his arms over his chest. 'I'll keep away from Cocoa the cat. If Cocoa the woman wants to talk to me, I'll make myself available.'

'Master should've had you fixed.' Muttering to himself, Cezer moved away. Oskar watched the younger man until he had lain down and closed his eyes. You couldn't trust a conscious cat.

With a sigh, he decided he had better find a place to sleep himself. Samm looked content, curled into as tight a ball as he could manage, his head resting on one massive arm. Tomorrow they would enter a human town. They would have to pass themselves off as humans without a master to tell them what to do, how to act, or how to behave. If they failed, and drew unwanted attention to themselves, their journey might find itself compromised before it had even begun. Finding a soft pile of leaves, he paced a few circles, settled down, and dropped into a deep but far from dreamless sleep. Occasionally he would whimper softly, and kick out with his right leg. Only when he rolled onto his hack and thrust hands and feet into the air did the unsettling dreams finally cease.

With its narrow streets, innumerable decorated shopfronts, shuttered pubs, and a general level of activity that bordered on the somnolent, Karpluvy Towne was not the noisy, exciting contrast to the deep silences of the Fasna Wyzel that they had expected. The same gray air of gloom and depression hung over the township that gripped the rest of the Gowdlands in its melancholy embrace. Small squads of soldiers and armed citizens patrolled the streets, windows remained closed and shuttered, and people spoke in whispers of the coining of the Totumakk Horde. Their greatest hope appeared to be that the terrible Horde would overlook so small and isolated a community as theirs, and pass to the north and south of it.

As they entered upon the cobblestone streets, a worried Oskar leaned over to whisper to Mamakitty. 'People are staring at us. What are we doing wrong?'

'Nothing, I wager,' she replied after a moment's consideration. 'I think we just stand out a little bit from the typical townsfolk. They probably fear any strangers, concerned that they might be spies for the Horde.' She studied their surroundings thoughtfully. 'I remember Karpluvy as being full of life, and light, and happiness. See what the loss of color does to human beings?'

Oskar studied their little party. Were their nonhuman origins showing? Everyone was careful to resist their innate urges. Cezer had put a leash on his feline exuberance, and no one dropped to all fours. Samm had a tendency to slide down the street until Taj reminded the giant to pick up his feet. Surely they had managed to blend in. How could they possibly stand out? True, Mamakitty was more muscular than the average woman. And Taj blonder than the blondest northerner, even in the dim gray light. As for Cezer and Cocoa, though it pained him to admit it, it was difficult to tell which was the more beautiful, or who drew the more surreptitious admiring stares from the otherwise downcast crowd—from both men and women.

Come to think of it, of them all, he was the only one who looked remotely average. This realization made him feel neither slighted nor overlooked. He had always been commonly, even exceptionally, ordinary.

So it was fitting that when they finally settled on a slightly less than funereal taverna in which to dine and restock their nearly barren store of victuals, it was he who entered first, made hesitant but easygoing contact with the proprietor, and secured them a table near the back. His mastery of language might be lacking, but his inherent friendliness overcame the owner's initial uncertainty. Maybe he was not as handsome as Cezer, but the personality people had instinctively liked when he was a dog had carried over to his human shape. It was a puzzled proprietor who wondered at his sudden urge to reach across the counter and pat this scruffy, smiling customer on the head.

While Mamakitty discussed the purchase of jerked meats, assorted fruits, dried fish, salt and other spices, and assorted individual items from the slightly bemused owner, the rest of them retired to a table and ordered food from a jaded serving wench no less depressed than her fellow townsfolk. Try as she might as she recorded their order, she could not keep her eyes off the rakish profile and lean muscularity that was Cezer.

As for their larger purchases, if the shopkeeper found any of them curious, especially the large bag of fish heads that the dark woman ordered up, he kept his opinions to himself. Not only did he find the handsome broad- shouldered customer herself intimidating, but the man-mountain hovering wordlessly behind her ensured that he held his peace. As the merchant filled and packaged the order, he tried not to glance in the direction of the curious colossus. The man-mountain's unconsciously intense stare was more than a little unnerving; it bordered on the hypnotic. Didn't the giant ever blink? And why did he seem unable to keep his tongue inside his head?

Mamakitty and Samm were still busy accumulating supplies for the journey ahead when food finally arrived at the rear table of the extensive establishment. In her absence it fell to Cocoa to hiss a warning at her two male companions.

'Stop that!'

Pudding in hand, Oskar frowned at her. 'Stop what?'

'Eating like that. With your fingers.' She cut her eyes sideways, indicating nearby tables full of muttering, suspicious townsfolk. 'Among humans, certain foods can be eaten by hand, but others demand the use of utensils. Didn't you two ever watch the Master and his visitors eat?'

The two men exchanged a glance. 'Not really,' Oskar confessed. 'I was more interested in following the path of overlooked table scraps.'

'What does it matter?' Grinning defiantly, Cezer deliberately shoved his hand into the middle of the large hot pie that presently occupied the center of the table and extracted a heaping fistful of steaming vegetables and bits of meat. This he conveyed with careful deliberation to his waiting mouth, thick gravy oozing out between his fingers.

Struggling with unfamiliar knife and fork while wishing she could simply bend over and shove her face into her plate, Cocoa lowered her eyes. 'You disgust me!'

'She ain't the only one.'

The amused voice came from nearby. It was difficult to say who were the roughest-looking individuals occupying the table across from the travelers': the heavily bearded men, the women with their manifold painful