Catfantastic II

You would term them that. I would rather describe them as spirits finished with one incarnation and awaiting the next. "Is Turtle…"

Turtle is a special case. She has completed the Ninefold Path. You are most fortunate in her. She will serve as your familiar and should be helpful to you in dealing both with your own kind and with others sharing this realm with you.

Francie stroked and then cuddled the tortoiseshell in delight and welcome but immediately turned to the cat snuggled in the crook of her other arm. "What about it, Gift? I'm not the only one living here. I can see that you accept Turtle, but what do you think of the rest of this proposed invasion of our peaceful quarters?"

In answer, a pink tongue rasped across her chin, and the copper eyes slitted in pleasure as the black cat purred his complete assent.

Shadows by Caralyn Inks

Jariel Belldancer ranged ahead of Wizard Sanja and the guardsmen spread out behind him, looking for signs easily missed from horseback. For two days his small band had searched the hills north of Fort Duval for Scholar Tabler and his twelve-year-old apprentice Marian.

Pacer, he subvocalized, have you found anything?

I might have.

Past experience with the camilacat had taught him to trust her hunches. Jariel increased his pace, then half stumbled over a grassy hillock.

"Blast it all to sea!" Behind him he heard the other men laugh. Sanja rode up, the reins of Jariel's horse in his fist. With a grin, he held them out, saying,

"I think it's time you rode for a while. Your feet are objecting to the work you're putting them to."

Jariel laughed, took the reins, and mounted. "To look at the foothills of Bramare Duval all appears smooth grass. What a deception!"

Sanja nodded, hitched his cape back over his shoulders. "By the One, how any could so pursue the study of bats as to get themselves lost is beyond me."

"Quiet!" Jariel held up his hand. "Pacer's talking to me."

I've found them, Minddancer.

Are they alive?

Yes. But they are imprisoned by a magical force. You'll find them behind the hill shaped like a crooked finger.

Jariel shouted to the men behind, "They're found." He glanced at Sanja. "It's a good thing you decided to come along. Pacer says they're trapped by magic."

"Magic? Out here?" With a flick of his fingers Sanja indicated the land about them, the vast dip and roll of the foothills of Bramare Duval. Except for an occasional outcrop of stone and clusters of trees, the land appeared empty of human habitation.

"As Pacer says, 'the unexpected is always found in the least likely places.' " He laughed to himself when Pacer's voice slid into his thoughts.

It's good to hear some of what I taught you has stuck in that selective memory of yours!

The hill shaped like a crooked finger loomed ahead. They slowed their pace, stopped on seeing Pacer. She sat before a ragged opening in the earthen mound. In the cave mouth Tabler and Marian could be seen supporting one another. Apprentice Marian's arm was in a sling. As they all dismounted, Tabler shouted, "Don't come any further!"

Belldancer stopped beside Pacer, lightly touching the cat's head. He could see no barrier preventing their escape, but did not doubt Tabler's warning.

"What happened here, Tabler?"

"We followed the bats to this cave. Once inside we couldn't get out."

Marian interrupted. "Please, have you any food or water?"

Jariel tossed them a water bag and a packet of dried fruit. As they helped one another sit down, Jariel himself matched the wizard's slow approach to the cave mouth. Sanja's hands were stretched forth, eyes closed in concentration. Jariel clasped the seer's elbow to guide him around a large rock. They were both within inches of Marian and Tabler when there came an explosion of light. Akin to lightning, it flashed across the opening.

Dazed, Jariel staggered and rubbed his eyes to rid them of the afterimage seared on his i

"The power sealing that cave is old," Sanja said, blinking his eyes. "So old it makes my back teeth ache.

Here," he grabbed Jariel's arm. "Help me up." Together they walked back to the cave.

"If it's as old as you say, how can it still retain such force?" asked Jariel.

"If I'm not mistaken, and I doubt that I am, this is the work of the Wizardess Baltaz."

"Baltaz! How can that be possible? She's been dead two hundred years."

"Even so. She was the most powerful mage of her time. Her delight was creating intricate traps and puzzles with spells made to last beyond her lifetime." Sanja turned from him, a look of utmost concentration on his face, and slowly began to pace back and forth before the cave mouth. Jariel left him to join Pacer. She rested, out of the hot sunlight, in the shade of a tree.

What do you make of all this?

She yawned, pink tongue curling up to shield her front teeth. I had removed the bells the Healers placed in your body would you have learned how to dance without making a single bell chime?

No.

Then the answers to the questions you pose you must seek yourself.

With an i

On the eastern edge of the hill he discovered a small disturbance in the ground. Circling it, Jariel noted the dried dung, only partially covered in dirt, the freshest about three days old. There was also a tuft of reddish fur snagged on a rock. Near the dung he saw a paw print. Fox. Jariel turned back to Pacer.

A fox has used this cave as a dwelling place. It has not returned because the cave is now occupied by humans. Tabler and Marian could enter but not leave. When the mage tried to walk through, it repulsed him.

And, she prompted.

If this wizardess was as powerful as history tells us, she could have set wards to allow only animals the freedom to come and go.

Why?

Jariel paused to review. I think to hide her real purpose it was necessary that the cave appear normal. That is why ordinary humans ca