Tad Williams - Tailchaser’s Song

"Nre'fa-o, little brother," Eatbugs said to him-but Fritti knew now that it was Eatbugs no longer: the true ka had come back. The voice was the melody of night, of things that know the old, delicate pattern that earth and her things know. Fritti dropped to his stomach, hiding his eyes behind his paws. He curled himself into a ball.

"No, little brother," said the wonderful voice, "you must not do that. You have no need for shame before me-quite the opposite. You have helped me find my way back after a long, dark journey, and in a time of great need. It is I who should bow to you and your efforts." So saying, Lord Firefoot-for it was he-took up Fritti's paw and touched it to his brow. The white star on Fritti's own forehead flared up in the gloom of the small cavern.

"Ah, little one, I followed your special light as Irao Skystone followed the dawn-star into the trackless East," sang Lord Tangaloor. "I only hope I have come in time."

The air in the small place shimmered again, and Lord Firefoot seemed to grow to fill every crevice in the room. "I must needs settle some old accounts," he said. "I have wandered many years, trapped in the prison of my own madness, while my brother nursed his corruption. He has called up powers that the earth was not meant to hold-as I did myself, upon a time. My reasons were better, but still it left me with a wracked shell, and my ka flown far away. Many perversions have been loosed by my brother Hearteater. I must try to put an end to his ways." The presence seemed to shrink slightly. "Aahh, and my brother Whitewind must be avenged, too, or never again will his ka rest. Alas, that innocents such as you should be caught up in the doings of the Firstborn. Come now, young Tailchaser, what may I do for you-though naught I try will go far toward equaling my debt? Speak, for soon I must be gone."

Stunned, Fritti sat for a moment in silence. When he spoke at last, he found himself unable to look up at the one before him.

"I wish my friends to escape safely-all the brave Folk who came here."

The Firstborn was silent, as if staring out over a great distance. When he spoke, his voice was gentle.

"Little brother, many of those brave ones are gone; their kas have fled to the bosom of the Allmother. Even I cannot quicken them, else I would have saved mine own brother, who I loved. As for the fela and the youngling, well, I shall try to help, but at this moment they need your presence more than mine. I cannot explain, but it is so."

Fritti jumped up and scrambled toward the way out, but Firefoot called him back with a laugh.

"It can wait but a moment more, I promise you. I did see something else, another desire that courses strongly in you. You seek someone, although you have lost your search. This search helped lead you to me, so it seems only right that I should aid you."

Fritti felt as if he were falling into the sky-deep eyes… a moment later he was staring wildly from wall to wall: the tiny underground chamber was empty. Then a voice came to him, treading his mind as effortlessly as Hearteater had, but nimbly… and with respect.

"I have given you the knowledge to finish your quest. Would that I could give you more, but I shall have sore need of my resources very shortly. You will be in our thoughts, little brother."

The presence was gone, and Fritti was completely alone.

Wondering, he remembered the Clawguard who had been massing outside. When he cautiously lifted his head through the fissure, he discovered the tunnel to be as empty as if it had been undisturbed since the days of Harar. Only several piles of dust, gently sifting in an unexpected cool breeze, spoiled the absolute stillness.

Unable to remember how he had covered the distance or what paths he had followed, Tailchaser found himself mounting the curving path that circumscribed the cavern of the Scalding Flume. The great, boiling river roared as vigorously as ever, and seemed to be striking even higher on the stone walls that penned it. The path before him was masked in mist. Fritti started upward.

The river did in fact seem to be leaping to greater heights: the tendrils of water splashed up against the cavern's massive ceiling, then fell back as hissing rain. Despite the poor visibility, Tailchaser moved quickly and surely along the pitted, eroded trail. He had been touched by something far beyond himself, and still felt the buoyant aftereffects.

The breeze changed direction, coming about into his whiskers, and in that instant he heard Pounce-quick's shrill squeal of fright and pain.

"Pouncequick. Roofshadow, I'm coming!" Fritti howled. Suddenly he was leaping along the narrow path, trusting to instincts that he knew he did not possess in his frenzied hurry to reach his friends. As he skidded around a bend in the narrow trail, scrabbling for footing above the booming, steaming waters, he saw his two companions ahead. Roofshadow was standing over a bleeding Pouncequick, struggling fiercely with a great dark creature twice her size-Scratchnail.

The black beast, striped and spotted with blood, turned his mad eyes toward Tailchaser's approach. A snarling grin curled his wide face.

"Star-face. Star-face the Tailchaser! I'll kill him someday! I will!" Scratchnail gave out a loud bark of laughter, and Roofshadow fell back, wounded and panting. Tailchaser bounded grimly forward as Scratchnail fell into a crouch, thick tail thrashing the air behind him. A rumble from the ceiling stones seemed to pass through the cavern.

Fritti pulled up short in the wide part of the path, dropping to a bow-backed hunch several jumps away from the Clawguard. The ominous rumble mounted once more above the clamor of the Flume.

"Come for me if you want me, Scratchnail," Tailchaser said, putting as much scorn into his voice as he could muster. The Claw-beast grinned again, and his tail whipped. "Come for me-if you're through fighting kittens, you stone-headed Garrin." Scratchnail growled and stood, the short fur on his back rising up like black grass.

"Roofshadow!" Tailchaser cried, above the increasing tumult from above and below. "Take Pouncequick and keep moving!"

"He's badly hurt, Tailchaser," the fela called back. The Clawguard was moving sinuously down the path toward Fritti, death in each scarlet claw.

"All the more reason to get him to the surface!" Fritti called. "This is my fight. You've done what you can. Go on!"

Fritti saw Roofshadow and Pouncequick turn and move up the trail, the kitten stumbling badly. He turned his attention back to the creature before him.

They faced each other-the small orange cat with the white star; the dark, blood-nailed beast from the earth. Hips and tails wriggling, they stared for a long moment. The Clawguard sprang, and there was another great noise from above. In the instant before contact, Fritti saw showers of small stones come pattering down-then Scratchnail was on him.

Biting and kicking, they rolled over on the narrow causeway, the dark beast's low snarls matched in intensity by Tailchaser's own maddened yowling. They gouged and snapped, then broke apart, walking a constrained circle on their tiny ledge, death-instincts drawing them slowly nearer each other until, leaping, they closed again.

The ritual was repeated over and over. The superior size of Scratchnail was wearing away Fritti's failing strength, but the smaller cat would not let up. They struggled and bit, fell apart, then fell together once more. Both cats moved with the anguished slowness of dark, blind creatures on the bottom of the Bigwater, blind things thrashing in the mud.

Finally, Fritti was overborne, pushed down on the edge of the pathway. His head hung limply, a dizzying drop above the rolling waters. The cavern now reverberated to a ceaseless pounding from the very stones of the roof, as if giant shapes danced above their heads.