Tad Williams - Tailchaser’s Song

" 'So I see,' said Redlegs, and suddenly he was of an inclination to play a trick on the puff-puddle-pompous King of the Dogs. 'Your Majesty, if I can finish your gate for you, will you grant me one favor?' he asked.

" 'What would that be?' inquired the King suspiciously.

" 'If I can do your task, I would like a bone for my own.'

"The King, thinking of the thousands of bones that he held sway over, yapped with delight at the cheapness of the request and said: 'You shall have any bone you desire in my kingdom, only you do this for me.'

"So Redlegs agreed, and, taking the last bone-piece of the gate in his mouth, climbed carefully and skillfully up the swaying arch. When he got to the top, he carefully pushed the final piece between the tips of the two curving towers, where it fit like the last scale Meerclar put on lizards. Then he walked down again while all the Growlers barked and harrumphed with pleasure to see their work completed, and their mighty gate standing finished.

"While all stared upward, ears flopping and tongues lolling in glee, Redlegs walked to the base of one of the gate towers. He searched scrupulous careful for a moment, then leaned forward and tugged out one of the bones that was therein piled.

"Nothing happened for a few hiccoughing heartbeats-then waver, wail, and wallow, the gate bent a little to this side, a little to that side… then collapsed, with a noise like all the dancing dead.

"When King Rauro Bite-then-Bark, drooling with shock and horror, turned to look at Redlegs, the Prince only said to him: 'See, I chose my bone, as you stipulated!' and began to laugh.

"Looking from Redlegs to his shattered gate, the eyes of the King became red with fury, and he woofed: 'G-g-g-get that c-c-c-c-ursed c-c-c-cat! K-k-kill him!' And all the Growlers of Barbarbar leaped up at once, and did sprint after Redlegs, who was nonetheless too fast for them and made his escape.

"Over his shoulder as he ran, he called back: 'Think of me, O King, when next in your pride you gnaw at a hipbone on your unburied dunghill throne!'

"So it is that these days We Cats and Those Dogs are enemies wherever we meet in these fields we know. They have never forgiven the humiliation of their King, and pledge they never shall-till the sun falls from the sky, and snakes learn to fly on the morning breeze."

When Eatbugs finished his song Pouncequick was already asleep, rumbling softly. Fritti felt the strange feeling of true-seeing leave him. He wished to question the muddied stranger-cat, but Eatbugs was in a staring trance, half asleep, and would not respond. Finally, Tailchaser also succumbed to the voice of sleep, and crossed over into the fields of dreams.

The morning sun had risen high into the sky when Tailchaser was ousted from slumber by the kneading pressure on his chest and stomach.

Pouncequick, still dozing, was treading softly with his paws as he lay curled against Fritti. The kitten, only recently weaned, was probably dreaming of his mother and nest. Tailchaser again felt a prick of worry over exposing his young companion to the dangers of the quest. The Folk were normally solitary hunters and adventurers once out of kittenhood; responsibility felt a little unnatural.

Of course, he thought, many unnatural things have been happening of late.

As Pouncequick continued his sleepy milk-tread Fritti was reminded of his own mother… and was suddenly glad for the security of another warm, furry body to curl up with in these strange environs. He licked the soft fur of Pouncequick's inner ear and the sleeping kitten rumbled happily. Fritti was just drifting back down into sleep when he heard a voice.

Eatbugs was up and stalking around, talking to himself. His eyes had the faraway look that Fritti had already seen. He carried his tattered, grime-spattered body erect and tensed.

"…Pounding and pumping and trapped… here we are… trapped! Pinned beneath this wall, this wiggly-woggly wall and all…" Eatbugs mumbled vehemently as he paced back and forth before Fritti's fascinated stare.

"…The birds and the shrieking, shriking, jelly-eyed red ones… laughing and dancing-can't get out!… scratch at the door, where is it?… must find it…"

Suddenly the old cat went all abristle, as if surprised by sound or smell. Fritti sensed nothing. Hissing and spitting, claws shot, Eatbugs flattened himself against the ground and snarled in a voice forced out between bared teeth: "They're here! I feel them! Why do they want me? Why?"

He yowled, looking wildly from side to side, as if surrounded by enemies. "They need me, and it… hurts… Ahhh!… the Vaka'az'me… forgive… Ah! There's a crack! A crack in the sky!"

With this, Eatbugs squirmed and shook all over, then sprang away into the underbrush. The commotion of his flight quickly receded into the distance.

At Tailchaser's side, his young companion had awakened.

"What was that?" he yawned sleepily, and stretched. "I thought I heard the most terrible ruckus."

"It was Eatbugs," Tailchaser responded. "I think he's run away. He was having one of his fits-he seemed to think that something was following him." Fritti shook his head from side to side, trying to shed the weird image of Eatbugs.

"Well, I expect it had to happen," said Pouncequick matter-of-factly.

"He may be back," Fritti pointed out.

"Oh, he's not a bad sort, really. Mad as a mockingbird. Tells good stories, though. I quite like the one about Redlegs. Who was Redlegs, anyway, Tailchaser? I've never heard Bristlejaw sing of him. Or of Queen Cloudleaper either, for that matter."

"I really don't know, Pounce," said Fritti, and was about to suggest a hunt for breakfast when he finally noticed that the birds had stopped singing. The forest air was completely silent.

Suddenly, as quietly as grass growing, several large cats appeared out of the surrounding vegetation: stranger cats, every one as silent as a shadow. Before the startled Fritti and little Pouncequick could say a thing, or make a move, the strange cats had drawn themselves into a wide circle around the pair.

Pouncequick began to whimper in fright. The strange cats stared at them with cold, cold eyes.

A moving ring now surrounded Fritti and his companion. The strangers circled them, passing each other with sinuous shrugs, sniffing and sniffing and not making a sound. The ring drew tighter, until finally the strangers were nosing Tailchaser and Pouncequick.

Fritti could feel the small cat growing ever more frightened. The strange cats could sense it, too. Tension hummed between the outer circle and the inner core of two.

Finally, Tailchaser could not stand it anymore. As one of the strangers brushed by, snuffling at Pounce-quick, Fritti hissed and struck him with the flat of his paw. Instead of attacking, or leaping away in surprise, the strange cat merely nodded his head and stepped back a pace.

He was all black. His muscles rippled glossily beneath the short fur of his coat. His eyes were narrow slits, chinks of smoldering color, but he did not seem to be angry. This cat was not angry at all, but terrify-ingly calm.

"So," said the black cat. His voice was like gravel sliding. "Now we know where we stand. Good." He lowered himself to the ground in front of Tailchaser, his ears back, his eyes low-burning embers. Tail-chaser-caught in a reflexive response-found himself crouching in mimicry.

The black one spoke again. "I was wondering how long it would take mela-mre'az like you to respond honorably." With this remark, the black cat paused and looked at Fritti expectantly, as if waiting for him to say something. Tailchaser-already terrified-had no idea what he was supposed to do.