“I hope you find what you are looking for,” Perrilin says to James while they eat breakfast.
“I really don’t know what I am looking for,” he replies, “I have questions but very few answers. I don’t even know if the questions I do have are the right ones. I just know I need to be doing something.”
“I know the feeling,” he says.
“What will you do?” James asks him.
“Probably enjoy the hospitality here for a while and then go back on the road,” he replies. “I don’t like staying too long in one place. I prefer to travel and see what there is to see.”
Nodding with understanding, James asks, “What about Miss Gilena? She really likes you, you know?”
A wistful look comes over him and he says, “I like her too, but it’s not in my plans to be tied down to one place. I know that is what she would demand if we were to become serious. I am content to just be her friend, at least for right now.” He takes another bite and continues, “Later on, who knows?”
After they finish and while Miko gathers James’ bags, James goes over and shakes hands with Perrilin, “Try to be more careful in the future. I may not be around next time.”
Smiling, he returns the handshake and says, “Let’s hope there is no next time. Good travels to you both. I’m sure we will meet again sometime, someplace.” Turning to Miko he says, “You take care of him.”
“Oh, I will,” he replies in all seriousness.
Opening the door, James lets Miko precede him out into the hallway and then closes the door behind him. Downstairs they find but a handful of people in the common room as they head out the back door on their way to the stable.
There they find Gunter distributing feed for the horses.
“Good morning sirs,” he says as they enter. He takes a moment to pour feed from the pail he carries into a stall’s feed trough for one of the other horses before coming over to them. “How may I be of service?”
“We are leaving today,” James replies, “I’m here to collect my horse. Did he give you any trouble last night?”
“Of course not sir,” he says. “He has been well behaved the entire time. He’s a good one, he is.”
“That’s good,” James replies as he reaches his horse’s stall.
Seeing that he’s not going to be needed, Gunter resumes distributing grain to the rest of the horses.
In no time they have the horse saddled and ready for travel. Then they lead him out to the inn’s courtyard with a friendly wave of goodbye to Gunter as they leave the stable.
“Come again,” Gunther cheerfully hollers after them.
The streets are quite busy for so early in the morning so they decide to lead the horse instead of riding as travel through the crowd is slow at best. They slowly wind their way along the congested streets until finally passing through the gate which leads into the outer ring.
After traveling several blocks, from out of nowhere a rock appears and strikes James on the side of the head. Luckily it was a small rock and only caused minor stinging. He looks over in the direction from which the rock originated and sees several boys standing near a building as they look up into the eaves overhanging the front of a store. One throws another stone at something hidden up in the eaves. The boys laugh as an animal cries out.
Curious, James makes his way over and looks up into the eaves to see what they are throwing rocks at. To his amazement he finds a furry, yellow cat meowing pitifully as it clings to the eave for dear life. “I think we may have found Furball,” he tells Miko. “Run to the Dancing Squirrel and find Inius, tell him to hurry and get here before she runs off again.”
Miko turns and cuts through the crowd as best he can, quickly disappearing out of sight.
The boys continue to laugh, enjoying the sport of tormenting Furball. Another boy throws a small stone and strikes the beam not two inches from the terrified cat.
“You almost got him that time,” one of the boys says.
“I’ll knock him off this time,” another boasts as he picks up a stone and prepares to hurl it up at poor Furball.
James comes over and grabs the boy’s arm saying, “That’s enough of that. Leave the cat alone.”
The boy turns and confronts James, his buddies gathering in behind him. “We ain’t hurtin’ nuthin’ mister,” he says. “Just having some fun is all.”
“Yeah!” one boy chimes in. “After all, it’s just a cat.”
James looks at the boys disapprovingly, “Being mean is never acceptable, even to animals.” Pointing to Furball he says, “That cat up there is scared and frightened, but you boys think it’s just fun. One of these days you may be in a similar situation where you are being tormented and can’t get away. Then you will understand what you were doing here today.”
Not looking very convinced, one of them says, “Come on guys, let’s go somewhere we can have some fun.”
Several of the other boys reply, “Yeah,” as they turn and stalk off down the street.
James looks up at Furball who is still hanging on for dear life. “Its okay, Furball,” he says soothingly to the cat. “Inius will be here shortly.” He waits several more minutes with Furball before Miko appears with a concerned Inius following close behind.
When Inius sees Furball his face shows the relief he feels at seeing her alive. Coming up to James, he says, “Thank you for finding her for me.”
“We just happened by and saw her up there,” James explains, leaving out the part the boys had played. “We thought you might want to come and get her.”
“Furball!” Inius says to the cat, “you come down here right now.” The cat seems to relax some at the sound of Inius’ voice, but she isn’t making any move to come down.
Looking around for something to stand on, James finds an old unused crate sitting in a nearby alley. He goes over and brings it back where he sets it on the ground beneath the beam whereupon Furball lies. He then climbs carefully up onto the crate, hoping that it will hold his weight. By this time, a small crowd has gathered to see what’s going on. He looks around at the people staring at him as he attempts to get Furball down.
Reaching up, he tries to grab her off the crossbeam, but Furball lays her ears back against her head and emits a deep, warning growl. When his hand comes too close, she swipes at it with her claws and scores two long scratches along the back of his hand.
“Furball, stop it!” Inius yells up at the cat.
Pulling his hand back, James mutters a curse as he sees the two long scratches beginning to well blood. He can hear the people around him chuckling at his misfortune. He even hears some of the observers making wagers as to the outcome of whether or not he’ll be able to get the cat down.
Realizing that the number of onlookers is growing, he again turns his attention to Furball and very slowly starts to reach up to get her. When the cat again starts a deep growling in her throat and lays the ears back on the head, he withdraws his hand and the growling stops.
A muttering grows from the crowd and James notices several of the bystanders exchanging coins, obviously some had bet he wouldn’t get the cat on that try.
“Just knock it down with a stick!” a bystander yells.
“No!” counters Inius. “Don’t hurt her.”
James turns and sees the innkeeper’s concern for Furball. “Don’t worry,” James assures him, “I’m certain that we can get her down without hurting her.”
Turning his attention once again back to the cat, he silently begins the casting of a spell. A spell of soothing, of trust, and when he is ready, he releases the power and slowly reaches up to Furball. This time she doesn’t start the growling, simply looks at him as he reaches up and gently takes hold of her around the middle. Lifting ever so gently, he removes her from the crossbeam.
He maintains the spell as he strokes Furball’s back and listens to the contented purr coming from her. As he hands Furball down to Inius, the crowd breaks into a cheer and more money changes hands.
“Here you go,” he tells Inius as he takes Furball from him.
“Thank you so much,” he says to James. Then to Furball he says in a firm tone, “You’ve been a bad kitty,” as he strokes her back.
“Maybe you should put a tag on her so people will know she’s yours should she run away again,” James suggests.
“A tag?” Inius asks.
