Catfantastic II

'You-you've saved me, Lady Bastet, and I'm truly grateful, but it may be only to face another kind of dying.'

Francie shivered. 'I don't know how I'm going to explain all of this. The police'll see that nothing in here could've made that kind of wound. Even if I claim I don't remember a thing, I'll be in trouble.' Her eyes closed. 'You must know something of humans, Lady. All it needs is one lawyer, one man or woman looking for notoriety, and I could be in jail or be subjected to an ordeal that'll strip me of everything-job, home, name.' There were others to think about beside herself. 'Turtle'll be all right. She'll be going back to her new place, but there could be long stretches when I won't be able to take care of Gift. He might be caged somewhere or actually suffer physical as well as emotional neglect.' The woman's face, already nearly colorless, turned as white as if she lay dead beside the one the goddess had killed through her. 'Lady Bastet, take him! You have to take Gift! The death weapon may be impossible to identify, but not the rest. They might put him down, slaughter him, because he attacked a human, even though it was to defend me. -Please. I know this may not follow the laws or customs ruling you and your charges, but none of what happened here's normal, either. Gift overcame all his terror of strangers to do this for me. You can't let him suffer!'

She took hold of herself before hysteria shattered her completely. 'I'm human, and this was a human matter initially. I can work my way through whatever's to come of it, but, please, please, don't let my brave little friend be punished for his love of me!'

You truly believe that will happen, Sister, to you or to him?

Francie's head lowered. 'It could happen. It…' She groped for words. 'Our society seems more comfortable with victims, statistics, than with successful survivors. It too often punishes them as a result.'

Can you imagine that I am unaware of the ways of those among whom my charges must live or that I would intervene only to leave you and yours in a state worse in its way than that from which I saved you? 1 questioned you merely to see if you yourself were aware of your continued peril. Close your eyes, Francine, for you have witnessed too much that is strange already this day.

The human obeyed. There was no sound for what seemed like many minutes, but she did not look again until Bastet told her to do so. The body, the weapon, the blood, all sign of the intrusion and battle, were gone from the bedroom, as she had no doubt they were gone from the living room and the entry window as well. 'Thank you,' she whispered.

It was a service I was pleased to render, my Sister. Know, too, that I do not call you that in courtesy but in fact, and few there are in all your species' history who have borne that title. Your behavior this night has gained it for you, coupled with your deep and true partnership with my little ones.

'I didn't do anything!' Francie exclaimed. 'You were the one who…'

I do not grant kinship for bringing death! the other snapped. You rightly feared what would become of you as a result, and you knew I was possessed of many powers- I surely had given ample proof of that your plea was only for Bast's Gift. That, Francine of the Partners, is the measure of your greatness. 'He's done so much for me,' she murmured, stroking the black.

Are you still willing to do my work?

'I am, of course,' she replied, surprised that the question should be posed.

Then it is time for you to bring a kitten into your life. One has just returned to me who had been so used in her first incarnation that she has lost the power to play or seek. That a kitten should be so crippled is an obscenity before nature and Those who rule her.

'You believe I can help her, too?'

I do, with the assistance of Bast's Gift and Turtle.

'Turtle?'

She refuses to leave you again.

Francie sighed to herself. Three cats, and she knew full well that this would not be the end of it. The need was simply too great. Every doctor of worth, and she, it seemed, was slated to be a healer of sorts, was doomed to be swamped with patients. She sighed again. She had never craved the unenviable title of 'Cat Lady'…

Bastet laughed. You are too much a lover of a normal life to allow yourself to become an eccentric, nor would I inflict that fate on you since it would be so unwelcome. The kitten will seem to be Turtle's young one, as if you took both in together as a result of her supposed resemblance to your old companion. Any others whom I send to you will remain only the relatively brief span of time required for their needs to be met and will not be perceptible to those with senses less acute than yours.

'Ghosts?'

You would term them that. I would rather describe them as spirits finished with one incarnation and awaiting the next. 'Is Turtle…'

Turtle is a special case. She has completed the Ninefold Path. You are most fortunate in her. She will serve as your familiar and should be helpful to you in dealing both with your own kind and with others sharing this realm with you.

Francie stroked and then cuddled the tortoiseshell in delight and welcome but immediately turned to the cat snuggled in the crook of her other arm. 'What about it, Gift? I'm not the only one living here. I can see that you accept Turtle, but what do you think of the rest of this proposed invasion of our peaceful quarters?'

In answer, a pink tongue rasped across her chin, and the copper eyes slitted in pleasure as the black cat purred his complete assent.

Shadows by Caralyn Inks

Jariel Belldancer ranged ahead of Wizard Sanja and the guardsmen spread out behind him, looking for signs easily missed from horseback. For two days his small band had searched the hills north of Fort Duval for Scholar Tabler and his twelve-year-old apprentice Marian.

Pacer, he subvocalized, have you found anything?

I might have.

Past experience with the camilacat had taught him to trust her hunches. Jariel increased his pace, then half stumbled over a grassy hillock.

'Blast it all to sea!' Behind him he heard the other men laugh. Sanja rode up, the reins of Jariel's horse in his fist. With a grin, he held them out, saying,

'I think it's time you rode for a while. Your feet are objecting to the work you're putting them to.'

Jariel laughed, took the reins, and mounted. 'To look at the foothills of Bramare Duval all appears smooth grass. What a deception!'

Sanja nodded, hitched his cape back over his shoulders. 'By the One, how any could so pursue the study of bats as to get themselves lost is beyond me.'

'Quiet!' Jariel held up his hand. 'Pacer's talking to me.'

I've found them, Minddancer.

Are they alive?

Yes. But they are imprisoned by a magical force. You'll find them behind the hill shaped like a crooked finger.

Jariel shouted to the men behind, 'They're found.' He glanced at Sanja. 'It's a good thing you decided to come along. Pacer says they're trapped by magic.'

'Magic? Out here?' With a flick of his fingers Sanja indicated the land about them, the vast dip and roll of the foothills of Bramare Duval. Except for an occasional outcrop of stone and clusters of trees, the land appeared empty of human habitation.

'As Pacer says, 'the unexpected is always found in the least likely places.' ' He laughed to himself when Pacer's voice slid into his thoughts.

It's good to hear some of what I taught you has stuck in that selective memory of yours!