Рахма Крамбо - Guardian Cats And The Lost Books Of Alexandria

“A cat’s only shortcoming,” said Cicero, “is the one of being too proud.” He chuckled at the irony of his own statement. “Community service to the less fortunate was Akeel’s idea as a remedy for curing this weakness of ours. The name ‘dead cats’ was coined by Gaspar, one of Adelphos’ students. If the discussions were getting too serious and he was in the mood for an old Guardian story, he would shout out, ‘Let’s hear a tale about one of those dead cats!’”

Marco’s eyes lit up with delight.

“Some of the others still don’t get the joke,” said Cicero, pleased with his student’s ability to grasp subtle humor.

“But we have more pressing concerns. The raccoons. What will we do about them? I don’t think they will go away peacefully. What do you think Marco?” asked Cicero.

“I don’t think they’ll go away either. In fact, if we don’t take care of them soon, we might become ‘dead cats’.

Cicero couldn’t hide his smile.

Chapter 24: Sting’s Headquarters

From a distance the pickup looked abandoned, but inside were signs of life. The raccoons had taken up residence in the ’52 Dodge. The faded orange truck with an additional camper shell more than suited their needs.

Inside, Sting was fuming mad. “Those dirty, rotten fleabag cats! Thinkin' they can raid our territory and call us intruders?” He paced back and forth in the covered truck bed.

“How is it that a bunch of scrawny alley cats managed to thrash you, Sting? You’re not losing your touch, are you?” Tank asked.

Sting drew his large paw back and sent Tank flying. “Does it feel like I’m losin' my touch?”

“Sorry, boss. My mistake.”

Sting sneered. Tank looked tough, but he was spineless. A chuckle coming from the outside interrupted them. Sting swung around. A small raccoon poked his head into the doorway.

“What’s so funny?” Sting demanded.

“I was wondering how a mangy tomcat beat up a tough guy like you. And he’s only half your size,” replied the stranger.

“We was wondering about that, too,” said Crimmany, boldly first, before he cringed.

Sting ignored him and glared at the intruder. “You callin’ me fat?”

“Absolutely not. In fact, I envy your fine stature. Allow me to introduce myself. They call me Lazer,” he said. “I’ve been spying on the cats for some time now.” He chuckled. “It’s sort of a hobby of mine.”

“Oh yeah?” Sting started to warm up a little. He hadn’t always hated felines, but the ‘dead cats’ made his skin crawl. Up until now he rarely gave cats a second thought. They always scattered when he took over their territory and never caused him any further trouble. Until now.

“The leader, Cicero, he’s got some special kind of power. The others, they’re just plain mean and ornery. But they’re ‘reader cats’,” said Lazer, scrunching his nose, indicating the cats might have some contagious disease. “It makes them peculiar.”

“I noticed that.”

“Perhaps you'd be interested in where they get their power?” Lazer asked.

Sting smiled. Now here was a brother raccoon that actually might be useful to him.

Chapter 25: No Mercy

On his way to the Lost and Embedded Manuscripts conference at the Library of Alexandria, Professor Chin took his planned layover in Greece. He was not there for sightseeing. A silent man nodded to him at the Athens airport and whisked him off to a smaller airport, where they boarded a private plane to the island of Rhodes. From Rhodes, a powerful skiff jetted them to a small remote island. In hardly any more time than it usually took to retrieve his luggage at Heathrow, he was sitting in the living room of Dr. Warner. He declined the offer of a drink.

He knew everyone here. They’d been meeting for five years and they were the closest to a family he would ever have. But by the end of the meeting, Professor Chin knew he wouldn’t be coming back. He wasn’t looking for a family. These men talked too much; they were too soft. And he was looking to do more than world building; their ideas would never be more than a fantasy. His, he knew, could be real. And people would pay the ultimate price for his world.

He needed men attuned to great leaders, like Hitler. Like Himmler. He would be the Grandmaster. Under his breath, he whispered Himmler’s favorite word, ‘gnadelos’, no mercy.

Chapter 26: The Library of Alexandria

The first thing that surprised Professor Chin about Alexandria was how modern it was. It was a bit disconcerting to be surrounded by foreigners—but what did he expect? He was pleased that everyone knew English, surprisingly well.

The second thing he learned was that, in this Mediterranean coastal city, he was overdressed in his tweed coat. He never went anywhere without his coat and umbrella. Reluctantly, he left both in his hotel room and joined the tour group, feeling slightly underdressed.

The third thing he discovered was that the new Library of Alexandria was jarring to his senses. He didn’t bother to browse the stacks. His love for books wasn’t like the love of a bibliophile. That was something he always had to be careful of at work, not letting on that books were only a means to an end.

The architectural lines of the ultramodern library were at odd angles, which threw him off balance. It's open, soaring lines made him small and insignificant. In London, he was always surrounded by a sense of the solidness of it. Here, he was out of his element, out of control.

He rubbed one hand over the other, massaging his fingers and wrist, something he'd done to relieve anxiety since he was a boy.

He was so distracted that he almost missed the next exhibit. The tour guide was talking about the historic burning of the original library. They were standing in front of a bronze statue of a young man in a tunic. There were bronze cats climbing all over him. “Nothing remains of the ancient library,” the girl said, “but legends. This is Akeel, the Guardian librarian who, it is said, saved seven powerful mystical books, which were sheltered in secret chambers under the main buildings. He escaped the fire with a handful of books and an armful of library cats. When he found new hiding places for the books, he put the cats in charge of guarding them. As Egyptians, who revere cats, this story holds special charm for us.” She smiled at the group and there were murmurs of appreciation. “The books are shrouded in mystery, but the legend says that whoever finds them and unlocks their secrets will be able to rule the world.”

Professor Chin thought he was going to be sick. He struggled to hear more of what she said about the books, but he was feeling faint.

The thought of having cats crawling over him like the man in the statue made him nauseous. Gypsies believed cats were filthy creatures, if not downright evil. But when he was too small to know better, he had befriended one and always saved scraps of food from his evening meal.

When his stepfather caught him feeding the kitten, he beat him, then forced his mother to drown the cat, making him watch. He still remembered him yelling 'dinili!', stupid, and how the cat scratched his mother's arms and face as she struggled to force the kitten's head into a bucket of water. "You think we have enough to feed a filthy cat when we can barely feed ourselves?" his stepfather had shouted.

He started trembling. He'd had nightmares about his cat coming back to life to punish him. In one dream, there were a dozen cats climbing all over him and he woke up screaming as one tried to suck the breath out of him.

Now he was looking at this statue of his nightmare while the people around him were obviously enjoying it.

He desperately wanted to avoid a panic attack but it was too late. The tour guide, an attractive young Arab girl, asked him if he was ok as the room started to spin and he reached out for something to hold onto.