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

was summoned by a wood wizard."
    Fallan stopped laughing.
    "This wood wizard -- his
name?"
    The -- King of the Cats -- shrugged,
tossing the glittering ball from hand to hand. "Kinzel, was it?
Yes, I believe it may have been Kinzel."
    "And he summoned you? Why?"
    "Did I not say? To free the cats, of
course."
    "Of course," agreed Fallan smoothly.
"And why have you not done so?"
    The King of the Cats blinked his
bright eyes. "But I have."
    "What!" Fallan sent his awareness
away, downward; touched upon the empty cage, the sprung trap, the
vigilant wards -- and returned to the tower room.
    "This is the second time I have been
here tonight," the little man said. "Really, friend Fallan, if you
mean to call this keep your own, you had best guard it more
closely. As it is, anyone might walk in to surprise you at your
dinner. Or in your bed..."
    But Fallan was no longer listening.
"Not of this world. You are not born into this world!"
    "You have not listened to what your
ears have heard," the King of the Cats chided. "Of course I am not
of this world."
    Fallan gripped his staff with both
hands, murmuring the Words that came to his tongue, foreknowing the
power that this entrapment would afford him. To have such an one
obey his commands! What might a man born of another world not
accomplish for his master in this one!
    The King of the Cats was holding
something out. Something that glittered and fair cried aloud with
Power. A raven's egg crystal, faceted with geometrical precision --
a mighty focusing tool for a mighty magician.
    Fallan closed his mouth around the
Words, his face showing white against the black beard.
    "What will you give, friend Fallan,
for this object?"
    "Your life." Fallan forced a smile.
"Lay it down and go free."
    The little man laughed. "Come now, am
I a fool? Holding this, I think I might walk with impunity anywhere
in this keep. Name another price."
    "What might any man -- wizard or no --
give the King of the Cats?"
    "Fair words. Perhaps you do not value
it as highly as I had thought."
    Fallan shrugged. "It has some small
worth. Approximately equal to your life, as I have said. But
another may always be crafted."
    "So?" Both brows were raised. "It
seems I chose a poor hostage. Forgive me." He let the crystal
go.
    Fallan cried out, Words forming of
themselves. The crystal's descent was arrested a scant inch from
the slate floor. Sweating heavily, the mage caused it to waft to
safety and wedge itself between two jewel-encrusted spell
books.
    Shaking, he turned to deal with the
King of the Cats.
    But the small man had slid from his
perch and was busily pulling jars from the poisons cupboard, mixing
the contents of one with another, indiscriminately,
disastrously.
    "Begone, you misbegotten creature!"
screamed Fallan, lost to all but his rage. "Begone from here and
never come again! I ward you from this world forever. Begone,
begone, be--"
    Val Con saw the balled lightning leap
from the magician's staff, and stilled his impulse to dodge. He
felt heat enter him, expand him, begin to unravel him --
    Miri
!
    * * *
    "Val Con!"
    He blinked, felt the heat of that
which pursued him and jumped, slamming into Miri, covering her with
his body as they rolled, shielding her from the --
    FLASH! Poof...
BOOM
!!
    After a time he moved, cautiously, and
heard the tinkle and crunching of glass.
    "Val Con?" a small voice murmured in
the vicinity of his left ear.
    "Yes."
    "Can we get up now?"
    "I think so." He shifted; knelt.
"Yes."
    "Good." She knelt as well, combing
fingers through wild red hair as she surveyed the room. "Some
party. Wish I remembered more of it."
    He grinned and waved a hand at the
remnants of the platform. "What was that?"
    "A funnel. To get you back. I can show
you the math." She cocked a suspicious gray eye.
"Worked."
    "So it did," he said, and reached out
to touch her face.
    #
    Some time later, when they were both
on the edge of sleep, Miri shifted next to him and
murmured.
    "Val Con-husband?"
    "Yes,