The Cat's Job by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Read Free Book Online

keep. "Very well,
friend Kinzel; where is Fallan now?"
    * * *
    Miri lit the candles north to south
and stood back to survey the arrangements. The long glass rods were
placed on the wooden platform in a faintly familiar pattern. She
groped after the image and found it in her memory of Zhena Trelu's
kitchen, worlds away.
    A funnel.
    * * *
    Fallan jumped out of bed like a cat
with its tail afire, snatched up his staff, caused a robe to wrap
him and willed himself from here to there.
    A heartbeat later he stood blinking in
the center of the tower laboratory, half-blinded by the Moonlight
streaming in through the unshuttered window.
    In addition to Moonlight, all the
candles were burning, as were the spirit lamp and the meldfire. His
books were piled in zig-zagged heaps on the normally immaculate
work tables. Bottles and jars containing elixirs, potions and drugs
had been shifted about.
    Fallan felt his stomach sink at the
thought of so much work gone -- and was assured by his staff that
nothing was lost, only rearranged.
    But by what agent? The keep was
warded. The tower was warded. It had, in fact, been one of the
wards that had awakened --
    "Boo!"
    The mage jumped and spun, staff up to
hold at bay whatever demon had made that sound --
    Who only laughed from his crosslegged
perch atop the poisons cupboard and tossed a glittering object from
hand to casual hand.
    Fallan sputtered, staff
sparking.
    The little man in black leather
grinned, green eyes very bright.
    "Were you looking for me?" he asked
gently.
    "I am looking for the intruder in my
laboratory," snapped Fallan.
    "Well, then," said the little man
amiably, "you have found him. Your luck is good."
    "And yours," replied the wizard, "is
bad." He brought his staff up, Words forming on his tongue -- and
swallowed them, eye caught by the glitter of the intruder's
toy.
    "Put that down!"
    "What, this?" The man held up the
faceted ball, closed one eye and looked through it with the other
before opening both and grinning at the outraged
magician.
    "I'd prefer not to, thank
you."
    "You will put that down," Fallan
informed him, voice scintillant with Power.
    The little man's hands slowed for the
barest of instants. Then he moved his head sharply and
smiled.
    "You are in error."
    Fallan felt anger and Power surge
together, and exercised control. He stepped back a pace and,
keeping his staff between them, surveyed his visitor.
    Thin, dark hair, green eyes; the gold
of his skin named him a foreigner. The leather clothing argued a
warrior, as did the paler gold of an old scar across the high line
of one cheek. At his throat hung something that shone with the
light of the Moon. His staff reported Power there.
    "Who are you?" Fallan barked, staff
reinforcing demand.
    The little man raised an eyebrow. "I
might ask the same of you."
    "You ask the name of a mage when you
stand within his keep -- uninvited, nay! Warded away! I, since you
need to ask, am Fallan. The Ferocious. The Mighty."
    The little man yawned and tossed his
toy upward. Fallan felt his heart lodge in his throat. The ball
dropped floorward and was caught, as a seeming afterthought, by a
golden hand that looked too frail to support the weight.
    Fallan the Ferocious swallowed a sigh
of relief and snapped again: "Who are you?"
    "Have you told me all of your name,
then? But perhaps you only give the shortest form." The intruder
smiled. "I am called, in the short form: Val Con yos'Phelium,
Scout, Artist of the Ephemeral, Slayer of the Eldest Dragon, Knife
Clan of Middle River's Spring Spawn of Farmer Greentree's of The
Spearmaker's Den, Tough Guy, Miri-mated --" He bowed from his perch
atop the cabinet, cupping the faceted ball close against his heart,
"King of the Cats."
    "King of the Cats!" It was Fallan's
turn to laugh, which he did with an ineptitude that spoke of long
unfamiliarity. "The King of the Cats is a tale for children -- or
wood wizards!" And he -- laughed -- again.
    "Ah," said the little man, "that
explains much. I