by Jenny Foster
Don’t worry, the man repeated. I know someone who will keep an eye on Cat and take care of her. Nothing will happen to her. Coran is in good hands, as well.
Talon looked at Shazuul. “Those were Cat’s adoptive parents, correct? And the man was talking about you. You really did watch over them your whole life.” Talon swallowed. “Thank you.” And then, so he wouldn’t appear too soft-hearted, he added, “You don’t have to, anymore. She has me now.”
Shazuul nodded without changing his demeanor. Cat still has to leave.
“Why now, and why so quickly? Is it the Mind Readers? Are they after her?”
Mind Readers only part of problem, the Sethari explained. Coran coming back. Cat cannot see him. Dangerous together.
Talon’s eyebrows shot up quizzically, but he could tell that Shazuul wasn’t going to tell him anything else. If he was honest with himself, then it didn’t matter at all to him why Cat had to flee Earth so urgently. The only thing that mattered was that she went with him.
“When is the king arriving here?” Talon could have sworn that Shazuul was grinning.
Tomorrow evening. Get ready.
Talon had been ready for days, but he didn’t say anything. His answer consisted of a nod. “Great. The countdown is running.”
Chapter 9
She was anxious now that Shazuul had told her that the king would be arriving in two hours. One the one hand, she was grateful to the Sethari for telling her so late that Ferthoris was expected imminently. On the other hand, she now felt like she was nowhere near being ready.
Sharita had stopped by for a second and had selected something for her to wear. Although the word “wear” was particularly unfitting because the lacy fabric revealed more than it concealed. The blonde with the corkscrew curls ignored Cat’s protests, but when Cat stood in front of her with her arms crossed, she reacted.
“Come on,” Sharita coaxed her, “It won’t hurt you to pull on that pretty little thing. It is important, because when Ferthoris arrives, his bodyguards will check out the room first. If you would prefer, however, that they search you for hidden weapons, then please, by all means, stay the way you are. No problem.”
Did this woman really have the answer to everything? The mocking spark in her eye was challenging Cat, but she refused to fall for it. “Okay, just to clarify: First, I will lie on the bed in an alluring pose. The guards will come in, check everything out, and wave the king in when everything is safe. Then the two of you will come in with Ferthoris. While the king is concentrating on my considerable…” her voice took on a sarcastic tone, “charms, I will distract him by – well, what actually? Am I supposed to prove my abilities to him, or is he interested in my body?”
Sharita looked at her indifferently. “I don’t know, darling. I am afraid you will have to improvise. Give him whatever he wants, so that Shazuul can implant an order for the king to go and visit the old zoo on the outskirts of the city.”
“I will not be giving him what he wants. You can count on that,” Cat snorted. “I haven’t made it this far, just so I can play a whore for a lecher. Shazuul will have to hurry.”
“I am sure he will,” Sharita said. Cat could see by the look on her face that the woman considered her a spoiled princess who would be lost without Shazuul.
“What will happen then?” she asked. Going over every step of the plan was calming Cat down.
“Then the king will get up, get dressed, and tell his guards that he has changed his mind. They will accompany him to the zoo, and the Krak will receive them there.”
“What will happen to the bodyguards?” Cat inquired. She thought about the men who had accompanied Talon to Earth. She was sure that not all of them had been bad. Ferthoris had earned his punishment, but she didn’t think it was okay, to put it mildly, that they would have to die, just so she could keep her promise.
“Are you getting cold feet?” Sharita smiled condescendingly. “Or do you suddenly have moral objections?” They stared at each other, sizing each other up, not hiding their mutual dislike of each other. “In together, swing together, as they like to say on Earth.” And with that, she turned around and left the room.
Cat had no choice. She undressed, pulled on the lace top and looked at herself in the mirror. The black fabric did her light skin justice, even though she thought that she didn’t fill the décolleté as much as she would have liked. Talon would have appreciated the sight of her, she thought, and then berated herself immediately for being so weak. Talon was gone.
She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. Shazuul, she asked, are you here?
Yes, he answered curtly. Busy. Later. He cut the connection between them and Cat was alone again.
How should she pass the time until the king’s arrival? She decided to send her spirit out on a little walk, just like Shazuul had taught her. She wouldn’t go far, not out into the street, because she still felt insecure without the Sethari, who could bring her spirit back if she strayed too far. She would just go for a little walk inside the house. The only people she had seen over the last few days had been Shazuul and Sharita, and the loneliness was nagging her just as much as her anxiety was. It was time to break the rules, just a little.
At first, she just went out into the hallway outside of her room. It was quiet - much too quiet for the early evening in a bordello. Where were the women? Even though she knew that nobody could hear or see her, she continued to sneak down the hallway. She could hear voices behind the second-to-last door at the end of the hallway. Smiling to herself, she went into the room to have a look. An unbelievably fat man with reptilian features was sitting on the bed. It was sagging significantly under his weight. A girl was sitting on his lap. She looked extremely small. Her delicate figure and her short ponytails were in sharp contrast to her face. It seemed old and lifeless. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lipstick had bled into the wrinkles around her mouth. When she spoke, Cat flinched, and was happy that nobody could see her. The woman’s voice was so smoky and deep that it could just as easily have been a man’s. She was feeding the fat one from a glass. Its contents moved and shook in a way that made Cat nauseous.
She left quickly. These were things she didn’t want to know about.
She confirmed that the other rooms were empty and stopped at the steps. Up or down? She could hear singing down below and was just about to head downstairs when she changed her mind. The song sounded so heartbreakingly sad. She didn’t want to know who was singing it, nor why, so she decided to go up. It was livelier up there. Behind the first door was a room that was breathtakingly colorful. The walls were painted in all of the colors of the rainbow and were decorated with sparkling stripes. The bed, which was in the middle of the room, of course, consisted of a simple mattress with pillows of all shapes and sizes. This luxurious bed fit the man who was lying on the bed, with his arms and legs spread out. He was completely naked except for his turban, and a woman was moving on top of him with the suppleness of a snake. Her dark brown mane went down to the middle of her back, and when Cat stepped closer, driven by an insatiable curiosity, she saw that it wasn’t hair at all. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny snakes darted from the woman’s head, all moving to the same beat as the woman.
Cat reached out a hand. The little snakes seemed so peaceful and calming. She could hardly believe her eyes. One step closer, and another, and suddenly, the animals all opened their eyes at the same time and stared at Cat with their slit-shaped pupils. The woman and the animals all made a threatening hissing sound and Cat got out of there.
She had spied enough for one day, she decided, when a rumbling, deep voice behind the last door caught her attention. Her knees went soft and her palms began to sweat. It sounded like Talon. She would have recognized that voice anywhere.
What was he doing in The Red Feather? Why was he hiding from her, and why had nobody told her that Talon was so near? She was just about to glide into the room, but another voice made her stop. It was a female voice, and
it purred alluringly. Cat stepped closer, so she could hear what was being said.
“When all of this is over,” the bordello owner’s voice sang, “then the two of us should think about…”
Cat hadn’t realized that she could really feel sick to her stomach when she sent her spirit out on a walk. Now she knew better. Before she knew it, she was back in her body, gagging out the acid that was eating her from the inside out. Talon and Sharita? How could she have been so blind? Why hadn’t she realized that the two of them were playing a game, in which she only played a supporting role? Blinded by tears, she stumbled to the closet and pulled the stupid lace top from her shoulders. She had even fantasized about how Talon would react if he saw her in something like that. Silly goose, she yelled at herself. Stupid cow! Naïve goat! If she kept going, she would go through the entire animal kingdom.
The soft fabric of her shirt slid over her body, comforting her as she got dressed. She had already made a plan. There was nothing more to think about. Whose fault was it that she had gotten mixed up with the Krak to begin with? Talon’s! Let him figure out how to get out of this mess himself! First, she was going to get out of this house. Shazuul could get lost, for all she cared, and Talon, too. So what if she was on the run again, and while she was at it, she might as well liquidate the money she had received from the poker company and leave Earth on her own. She knew a man who could get fake papers for her, and she knew where the illegal transport captains got together. Even if most of her money went towards a seat on one of the spaceships – who cared?
Was there anything she had forgotten? She looked around the room but didn’t see anything she wanted to take with her. Instead, she would leave something. A small farewell to the woman of the house and to all of the men in her life who had betrayed her. Determined, she took the knife from her lunch, stabbing the pillow until the feathers flew. It was ridiculous, Cat knew, but highly satisfying.
Then she left.
Chapter 10
He could feel that something was wrong with Cat. He interrupted Sharita, who was trying yet again to convince him to enter into a partnership with him that would benefit them both. He focused on Cat’s feelings. Boy, was she ever furious! And hurt. What had happened? He had just decided to go against the agreement and go check on her, when he heard a knock. “The guest is here,” a timid red-haired girl whispered. Obviously she wasn’t as shy as she pretended to be because she winked at Talon and licked her lips in lust before she disappeared.
“Remember what we talked about,” Sharita warned him. The woman who had just offered him a partnership was gone. She was back to being the cool and controlled businesswoman he knew, and she was ready to complete her assignment efficiently, as always. “You stay here until everything has run its course.” And then she was gone.
Talon sat down on the creaking bed.
Priorities, he told himself and he pushed his raging emotions to the far corners of his consciousness with all of his might.
First: find out what was wrong with Cat.
Second: decide if he needed to intervene or not.
Third: act based on his decision.
Talon took a deep breath. The less he was feeling himself, the easier it was to identify his companion’s feelings. Cat was near him, so that should make this easier. He pictured her heart-shaped face looking up at him, her eyes full of love. Something in him clicked, and he recognized the dominant feeling. She was furious with him. Damn it! What had happened?
Slowly and carefully, he felt around in her anger. It was difficult, because, as was typical for humans, she had given in to her emotions without any restraint. Once again, he was surprised at just how much humans could let their emotions take hold of them. At least he was able to understand Cat’s feelings a little better, since he was feeling them himself. It was almost like sex. Not because her anger aroused him, but because this surrender was so complete, and there, far back in the chaos of her feelings, another emotion was flaring, even though it was almost completely obscured by her red-hot anger. Instinctively, he had recognized earlier that Cat was hurt, too. Her feelings were hurt. No, that wasn’t quite right. That expression was too weak for what was making her heart contract. She was disappointed and sad. Hopeless. For a few seconds, he suspected that Shazuul had done something to her, and clenched his fists, but when Talon realized that it wasn’t the Sethari who had flung Cat into this state, he almost keeled over.
He himself was responsible for Cat’s desperation.
Talon forced himself to breathe calmly. He was in a position to be able to exercise some control over his bodily functions, and he tried to slow down his racing heart. That was easier said than done, because as soon as the lion inside him had realized that something was wrong with Cat, the animal had become restless and it was difficult to hold it back. Talon pushed his predator back into its cage with all of the strength he could muster.
He stood up. He had no choice. He would need to ignore the plan that Sharita and Shazuul had crafted so carefully. He couldn't leave Cat alone. He could barely stand her desperation, and with every passing minute, it was getting harder for him not to let her feelings overwhelm him. He stepped out of his room, still a little unsure if he should go or not.
He heard a hoarse scream and made his decision. Talon ran down the steps in long strides, until he was standing in front of the room where they had laid the trap for Ferthoris. Instead of finding the scene he had expected, he saw a room in a complete state of chaos. Ferthoris really was without his bodyguards, and Shazuul and Sharita were standing next to the bed. One look at it was enough to explain the king’s temper tantrum. The bed was empty. Cat was gone.
Talon grinned, even though there really was no cause for celebration. Their carefully hatched plan had just blown up in their faces. The king was in such an agitated state that even Shazuul was unable to get into his head. Sharita wrung her hands and mumbled something to herself that sounded like a subservient apology, and the king even had the audacity to search for Cat under the bed. This idiot really was beyond hope.
Talon retreated with quiet predatory movements towards the steps. His lion growled and demanded angrily that he hurry up. The slower he moved, the harder it would be for him to follow Cat’s trail. Talon’s body temperature increased, and his muscles trembled under the tension of controlling himself and his animal long enough so that he wouldn’t give himself away. He got closer and closer to the steps that led down to the first floor. He could still hear Ferthoris ranting behind him. Kill him, his lion whispered. Finish that retarded moron off, once and for all. Your people will thank you! Talon hesitated.
And that was his ruin. He didn’t notice someone standing behind him until it was too late. When he felt a calloused hand land on his shoulder, squeezing him hard, he realized that he would probably not be able to escape this business without shedding someone’s blood.
Chapter 11
It had been ridiculously easy to sneak out of the house. Cat knew that she owed her good fortune to good timing, and nothing else, but she was celebrating on the inside, anyway. All of the women who worked there had gathered around the king and his men. He must have just arrived, because when Cat snuck by the reception area, he was still wearing a heavy cloak and his hair was wet and glistening. Since she was curious, she had risked taking a quick look at the man who had won her in the poker game. He was tall, and it appeared that all of the things that she had suspected about him when she had seen his picture, were true. His mouth had a cruel shape to it, much like the mouth of a child whose every mood is catered to without hesitation, and if not, then the temper tantrum was pre-programmed.
His bodyguards had taken up their places next to him, but according to Cat’s insignificant opinion, the guards did not deserve that title. She snorted condescendingly. The sight of a few women in various stages of undress had been enough to distract the men and give her a significant head start. The king would probably discover sooner, rather than later, that his little bird had fl
own the cage.
Let Talon, Shazuul, and Sharita deal with him. Cat had other plans.
First, she needed to go see the Krak. She had briefly considered just going underground, but Shazuul’s warning still rang in her ears. The Krak were dangerous, he had told her. Cat sighed and squared her shoulders as she walked through the deserted streets. She didn’t even try to be quiet, because what else could possibly happen to her? Anyone who tried to stand in her way would feel her pent-up anger head-on. The time when she would have let herself be manipulated mercilessly was over. Forever.
She hoped that she would be able to convince the Krak to find another solution. Maybe it would be enough for her to tell them where he could be found. Could she expect mercy from the fish creatures, and if not mercy, maybe at least leniency?
Anything was possible.
The further she walked from the city, the more afraid she became. Her abilities had not helped her when confronted with a horde of Krak, and she doubted that Shazuul’s lessons had done anything to change that. The memory of the little Sethari hurt almost as much as thinking about Talon. Cat could forgive a man whom she didn’t love anymore, but forgiving someone who had pretended to be her friend was considerably more difficult. She shook her head. No, he had not lied to her when he had showed her his memories of her parents or the flight from the huge spaceship – Cat had felt that – but it was definitely possible that he had kept something from her.
In the meantime, she had almost arrived at her destination. The zoo buildings were clearly visible in the light of the moon. A light breeze had come up, and Cat was cold, even though she was wearing a heavy jacket. At least, there was no snow to reduce the visibility.
At that exact moment, Cat realized that she had made a huge mistake. An unforgivable, stupid, beginner’s mistake. She had run through the snow. No snow was falling to cover her tracks. Therefore, any idiot who had merely the slightest clue about tracking someone would find it very easy to follow her. Well, it was too late for regrets now. She had made her decision, had made a mistake, and now she would have to deal with it. At least she didn’t have the lives of Ferthoris’ bodyguards on her conscience. If the Krak were going to kill someone, then it would be her. Or the king. Or both of them. Or… a noise in front of her startled her. “It’s me,” she called, and was surprised to hear how thin and scared her voice sounded. She repeated herself, this time louder and stronger.