Vulcan's Kittens (Children of Myth Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  Blackie leaped out of the saddle bag and ran to where Linn was still sitting on the earth floor of the stable. He bumped her chest with his head, and she hugged him.

  “I’m OK. Just tired,” she told him. He touched his nose to hers, and then Spot One joined him and did so as well. Linn slowly got to her feet and went to the mare. She loosened the saddle and slid it off, setting it on a nearby rack. Everything was rustic but clean. She opened the stall next to the mare’s and the horse walked in and pulled a mouthful of hay out of the manger. Linn closed the door and walked back outside, the kittens following at her heels.

  The breeze tugged at her hair as she stood by the gigantic tooth, looking out into the eerie valley. She had braided it that morning, but it hadn’t been brushed. She felt grubby and tired. She let out a deep breath and focused. The landscape in front of her lit with Power. The grass-green flickers of the Coyote mingled with deep umber that was weird.

  Linn blinked and closed her eyes. She thought what she had just Seen was the Monster’s power. It had to be, even though it had been dead for something like three millennia. She shivered in the warm air, her neck hair raising.

  Blackie put his paws on her knee and she looked down into his baby blue eyes. She wondered what color they would be when he was grown up. She started to focus on him, to See if his power was coming in, and then stopped. She was just too tired.

  Spot One walked over to the stairs, tail held high, and started up them. Linn followed to keep him safe and out of mischief, if nothing else. Together the little group went up the side of the skull and along a long deck to the opening of the nostril, which had been closed in and had a door in the center.

  A scrawled note was tacked to the door. She pulled it off and squinted at it. “Come in and be comfortable.” It said. The handwriting was terrible. She turned the knob and went inside.

  Chapter 17

  Sekhmet stayed on the high path longer than usual. The closer they drew to the earth’s surface, the more power it took to run the path. Finally she let it go, and they fell to earth, buoyed by the Power. Steve remained at her side, unspeaking. She appreciated his respect for her fear.

  She ran through the wards without stopping, feeling the tickle of recognition as they were already attuned to her. Steve, beside her, yelped but didn’t break stride. She looked over at him, and he just shook his head. The wards’ warning sting didn’t do damage, it was just uncomfortable. Heff attuned them to very few, suspicious old man.

  They ran on down the driveway, two great cats in perfect step. Sekhmet faltered as she saw what was left of Heff’s house. Only the side walls still stood, the front and rear walls were completely gone. Debris scattered all over the meadow behind the house. Nothing moved in the devastation.

  Sekhmet roared, hearing Steve’s eerie shriek at the same time. She leapt onto what was left of the porch and sniffed. Steve prowled through the flowerbeds with his nose to the ground. He called, “Bes was here, and three of Mars’ golems.”

  A movement from the barn caught her eye as Bes staggered out into the sunlight. He was holding something. Sekhmet leaped toward him, transforming to human shape in mid-leap and landing on pointed feet. (Some things could not be done with four paws.) She caught him as he stumbled, then Steve was beside her, helping. They eased Bes onto the bench by the pump.

  “Sorry, Hathor,” the diminutive god said, looking up at Sekhmet and using her other name. “They imprinted on Linn.” He unwrapped the afghan and revealed two toddlers, asleep and hugging one another. One had black curly hair, and the other pretty strawberry blonde ringlets. They looked to be about three years old.

  “Oh, Bes...” Sekhmet gathered them into her arms. They blinked at her. The redhead put her thumb in her mouth.

  Steve hugged Bes. “How can we thank you? And are you all right?” The emotional Latino had the other’s head between his palms, taking a closer look.

  “Leggo of me, you lothario,” Bes grumbled. “Just a bit tired.”

  “They were dead and you brought them back.”

  “I knew she’d kill me if I didn’t,” Bes tried to joke. “And they weren’t dead. Just disassociated for a time.” It wasn’t clear if he meant Linn or Sekhmet by the “she,” but it didn’t matter.

  Sekhmet, cuddling the girls and kissing each of them, looked at him over their heads. “Thank you. For them to have been in that state for too long would have destroyed their minds.”

  Steve took the girls, who wouldn’t let the adults separate them. They looked up at him for a minute solemnly, and then cuddled on his chest. He smiled down at them.

  Sekhmet turned to Bes. “We cannot stay. Hephaestus tasked us with protecting all the children.”

  Bes blinked at her, his fatigue showing on his face and in his reactions. “I sent Linn and the other two babies to Coyote.”

  Sekhmet rubbed her face. “Oh, my. You do know he’s bughouse crazy?”

  “He’s also my friend,” Bes offered softly and without offense at her blunt words. “He will make sure they are safe. He may be the most powerful immortal in North America at this time.”

  Steve interjected, “We need you to go to the Sanctuary and set it up. We’ll be sending the children to you.”

  Bes nodded. “I will get Linn and these four there and be ready. How many?”

  Sekhmet shook her head. “I don’t know. Not more than a dozen, I think.”

  “That few.” He shook his head. “The Old Ones have a blind spot. They can’t rule the world unless they multiply. And they stopped doing that a long time ago.”

  Sekhmet knew Bes wasn’t one of the Old Ones. He was, if possible, even older than they. But he thought differently than they did. He’d protected humans for as long as she had known him. She stood and transformed back to cat. She put her face up to his.

  He lifted an eyebrow.

  She breathed on him, sending a wave of Power with her warm air.

  Bes put a hand on either side of her face. “Go with the wind, Hathor.” His blessing, invoking the gentler side of the two-faced goddess, made her smile. In cat form, that had an interesting effect of baring her fangs.

  “I will not release Sekhmet until needed,” she promised, acknowledging that her other name often left carnage in her wake.

  He released her.

  Steve stepped closer to Bes and handed the toddlers over. “I trust you will take care of them,” he said solemnly. The jaguar god transformed, and like his mate, breathed into Bes’s face.

  Bes closed his eyes. “You need a mint, man.”

  Steve laughed. “See you soon,” he growled. Then the pair loped down the drive.

  Bes, knowing that the power they had given him had renewed his strength, looked down at the toddlers. “I need to get car seats, don’t I?”

  He looked after the now distant cats. “I need to be ready, too.” He knew they would bring him a passel of very challenging creatures. The children of gods were never easy.

  One of the toddlers grabbed his beard and giggled. He kissed the top of her head. “You two are easy. Linn is easy. Some of these kids are going to be a handful.”

  She burbled at him, while her quieter sister just smiled. Neither of them had said a word yet. They were only two days old, though. They wouldn’t let the other out of their sight, and could walk a little.

  He needed Linn’s help.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  He walked toward the truck, carrying them in the afghan. He didn’t look back at the destruction of Heff’s home. Time enough to deal with it when the war was won. He’d let the goats free, and the chickens, to fend for themselves. With the wards still in place, they should be safe enough.

  He pulled a phone out of his pocket and dialed.

  “Hey, old friend. I’m on my way.”

  “You are much anticipated, Bes,” her voice sounded in his ear.

  “I have to collect Linn and the kittens, then we will get on a plane to you.”

  “We will be ready. A charte
r flight will meet you once you are in Boise.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, Bes... thank you. You have been the protector of us all. The future lies in your hands.”

  He pulled out of the driveway. “Sometimes I wonder about that, Pele. All I can do is make sure the children are safe.”

  “It is enough.”

  He shut the phone off and looked at the sleeping children. He’d tucked them into the passenger foot space and had them sleep for now. Even if they were in an accident, they would be protected by his Power. And their own immortality. His mouth quirked up a little. He needed a minivan and car seats. This is why he sidelined as a god of war and vengeance, to keep his man card current.

  At least in the modern age he didn’t wear kilts any more. In Egypt, they were great in the heat. Here in Idaho, he’d freeze. Sekhmet, earlier, in human form, had taken on the dress he remembered her best in, the flowing white cotton gowns of early Egypt. She’d been really upset about the children, he thought. She normally wore whatever was the current fashion. Which was probably why the attackers had come here, trying to undermine the leaders of the opposition.

  When he turned off the main road onto a meandering dirt track that looked like a logging access road partly because it was one, he focused his wandering thoughts on what he was doing. This was a tricky drive. Usually, Coyote met him halfway. Bes wasn’t entirely sure it was drivable the whole way, although the mad god had said it was.

  He hit a pothole and bounced almost to the roof of the truck. A glance at the sleeping children showed them cushioned by his bubble of Power. He grunted and paid attention to the trail again. He hoped the four-wheel drive would handle it all the way to the end, as he didn’t fancy walking in with two toddlers in tow.

  He slowed to a crawl as the track wound up the ridgeline. Linn had been gone for three days now. He knew she should have reached Coyote’s valley yesterday, but he hadn’t heard anything from her.

  “Where are you, Trickster?” Bes muttered, trying to avoid the worst of the potholes and emerging saplings in the road.

  The trail led down into the next valley. Bes had never come to it this way, and he wondered if Coyote had wards. He’d only been here a few times, always with Heff or Coyote. He knew the Coyote was strong, but not if he was strong enough to dispense with protections. The trail was steep, and he felt uncomfortably like the truck was about to slip and go tobogganing down the hillside.

  At the bottom of the valley, he stopped for a minute and mopped his forehead. He was sweating. He slipped the truck back in gear and started forward, cautiously. The truck started to roll forward. Then he hit the brakes and stared at the massive wall of umber scales that had materialized in front of them. They shifted and slid, and he realized he was looking at the tail of a dragon. He looked up, and the head of the monster loomed into view.

  “Greetings, Bes.” The bass vibrato seemed to shake the bones of the earth beneath his feet.

  “Hot damn, I thought all of you were dead,” Bes blurted out before he could stop it. Dragons were notoriously short on their senses of humor.

  The dragon laughed until he shook the ground. Bes fell to one knee, catching himself on one hand. That had to have registered on the Richter scale. He looked up at the glowing breath of the massive mouth that had come closer yet. A surprisingly delicate, snake like tongue flickered out at him. “I must disappoint you, I’m afraid. I am quite dead.”

  Bes stood up and dusted off his hands. “It feels like you’re here.”

  “My power lingers on.”

  Bes’s vision flickered. He saw a blasted valley littered with whitened bones, then the great Dragon was solid again. No wonder the Coyote lived here. No immortal could enter this place without permission.

  “My charge came here?”

  “Ah, yes, the intrepid ones. They are with me since yesterday. Safe, and even comfortable.”

  Bes laughed. “She is intrepid,” he agreed, then let out a heartfelt sigh. “I’m glad they made it safely. I need to take them with me, though.”

  “Do you, now?” The dragon rested his chin on his tail, regarding the short god. “Why do you need to take them out into this dangerous world you have created?”

  “I created?”

  “Oh, you know what I mean.” The dragon chuckled and Bes felt a wash of warm, sulfur-scented air brush over him. His hair stood on end all over his body. It had been countless millennia since he’d felt a dragon’s breath. The enormous monster went on. “You were one of the first to come to this world. One of those who changed what it might have been into what it is now.”

  “I was among those first arrivals. I fought the changes, and have stood protector all the time since then. And you... you are not of this world, either,” Bes challenged, fearlessly.

  “I was not. But now I have lain here for so long that I am more of this earth than you are. My Power is seeped into the rocks and soil here, and it is all under my protection. What more can you offer the little ones?”

  “I will take them to Linnaea’s grandmother. We gather all the children in a sanctuary for their protection and I will need Linn to help me.”

  The dragon contemplated him with glowing amber eyes for a very long time. Bes waited patiently. It had been a very long time since he’d talked to a dragon, but he remembered not to rush them.

  “All the children,” the great apparition sighed finally. “When have we had to protect the children from ourselves? They are such a precious and rare gift.”

  “Yes, they are.”

  “In the place we came from, such a thing would be unthinkable.”

  “We have been so long gone from there, and warped by power and time. I wonder if any of us are still sane.”

  The dragon laughed again, throwing his head back. “I am certain I am not, now. Or if I was ever. Dreaming, I have eaten the people. Dreaming, I woke to a new reality. I dreamt I was back home, soaring the yellow skies of our home...” He dropped his head until his nose was almost touching Bes. His voice broke through the stocky immortal, who rode the rolling earth like the deck of a ship. “I woke to find myself imprisoned here, under blue skies, surrounded by the green hills of Earth. No, small one, I am not sane.”

  “Do you want to go home again?”

  The dragon pulled back, rearing up until his head was over the surrounding mountains. Bes was glad he was the only one that could see this. Then he folded back down on himself and slid away, the massive tail leaving no marks as it moved away from the road. Like the wind through the trees, Bes heard the dragon’s response.

  “Yessss...”

  Chapter 18

  Linn stepped through the door into the skull of the monster, looking around. The dome of the skull vaulted overhead, creamy ivory in color. The floor was wide boards, smooth and painted ochre. Scattered about the big, open room were a woodstove, kitchen table and chairs, bookshelves, and a huge canopy bed. She walked over to the stove, feeling the warmth and smelling the stew on it.

  Her stomach growled. Blackie did the meerkat thing, sitting up on his haunches and sniffing hard. He was adorable, and she felt the same way about the rich, savory smell. Linn looked around for cupboards and bowls. The kittens were served first, and practically dove into their bowls. Linn opted for a spoon and a seat at the big table.

  Looking around, she saw details she hadn’t noticed at first. There was a door at the back of the room. She was hoping for an indoor bathroom and possibly even a shower. The house was divided into rough quadrants, she realized. The kitchen, a sitting area, the bedroom, and a library...

  Leaving her empty bowl on the table for the moment, she walked over to the shelves that lined one wall. Much like her grandfather’s library, but more extensive. History, both European and Asian in addition to the expected volumes on Native American history. Fiction... Coyote was a big science fiction fan. Linn pulled a dog-eared copy of one of her favorites,The Moon is a Harsh Mistress off the shelf. Opening it, she found it was signed by author R
obert Heinlein. Reverently, she was sliding it back on the shelf when a voice behind her made her jump.

  “‘Funny once,’ I still have trouble with that concept.”

  Linn turned quickly, to see a sandy-yellow coyote sitting by the table and laughing, his long pink tongue lolling out. Blackie pounced on his tail and she gasped. The god just laughed harder and rolled over to play with the kittens. Spot One grabbed the nearest ear, and Coyote wrestled with him, growling softly. One Linn could tell they were playing, she relaxed.

  Avoiding the furball of bodies on the floor, she gathered bowls and took them to the sink, which had an ordinary faucet. Tentatively, she turned the mixer lever. Water flowed out. Coyote looked up from the floor, where he had Blackie pinned with a paw to the head.

  “I’m not as old-school as your grandfather is, chickie.” Blackie twisted away from him and ran, Coyote on his tail. Spot One pounced from the seat of a chair where he had been lurking and tripped the immortal.

  Linn laughed and washed the dishes. They were still mock-fighting when she was done, and as she watched them, she realized what Coyote was doing. Teaching the kittens how to fight. She’d been thinking of them as babies, but they were growing so fast. She wondered if all immortal children matured this quickly.

  She put a hand on Lambent’s pommel. She had been learning, too. How to run, mostly. And how to survive.

  “Where is Bes?” she asked Coyote.

  He answered without looking up from the edge of the couch. Spot One had flattened himself and scooted under it. “On his way. The gelding came home by himself just a few hours before you got here. Of course, he was able to travel faster without a burden.”

  “How do you know, then?” she asked curiously.

  “I know everything that happens on my land.” He sounded utterly sure, and suddenly she wondered how far the extent of his land stretched.