The Blood Jaguar

by Michael H. Payne

  "Yeah," said the Lady Leopardess, her fur still bright white but her voice now higher. "I mean, you can't just break the rules like this, can you? The bobcat's supposed to defy us, push on unprotected, you know, give that big speech they always give. What're you doing? How can you--"

  The Lady Lioness's ears went back, her lip curling, and the Lady Leopardess pulled her mouth closed, her eyes going wide. The Lady Lioness put a paw up to her mouth, looked down, then back up at the Lady Leopardess. "I...I'm sorry, Pardess; it's just..." She stopped again, and the fear in the look she gave Bobcat made him even more confused. "Someone's made a mistake somewhere."

  "What?" The Lady Tigress padded over, looked down at Bobcat with a wrinkled brow for a moment, then sat back, her brow clearing suddenly. "Oh, Nessie, no. You don't mean..." She looked from the Lady Lioness to Bobcat and back again. "This is that bobcat?"

  The Lady Lioness nodded slowly, her eyes on the ground.

  "Oh, Nessie..." The Lady Tigress stroked a paw over the Lady Lioness's back, and the silence fell again. "Well, we're going to have to do something," she said at last. "Whatever you want, you just tell me."

  "But I don't know." The Lady Lioness looked over, and Bobcat could only gape at the tears he saw in her eyes. "I... oh, Gressa, I...I really don't know...."

  The Lady Tigress blew out a breath. "All right. As much as I hate to say it, I think you'd better take these three to Himself." She coughed a little laugh. "I can't believe I'm actually recommending someone go see him...."

  The Lady Lioness sniffed, shook her head, and looked up. "I suppose that's the only thing we can do." Her eyes wavered toward Bobcat again. "But... But do you think he'll help?"

  "I doubt it." Something very close to a snarl touched the Lady Tigress's face. "Not if it means breaking his precious rules and regulations."

  "Really?" The Lady Lioness smiled. "Not even for you?"

  The Lady Tigress held up her paws. "Especially not for me." She shook her head. "You take them over there; Tiger's much more charming when I'm not around."

  "Gressa..." The Lady Lioness closed her eyes. "You know that's not true."

  "Go on." The Lady Tigress rose and strode over to where the Lady Leopardess sat, her mouth still closed. "Come on, Pardess; let's head off somewhere a bit cooler."

  The Lady Leopardess licked her lips. "I'd still like someone to tell me what's going on here."

  "Oh, Pardess..." The Lady Lioness reached out a paw. "I'm so sorry. I'll tell you the whole story as soon as this is over; I promise you."

  The Lady Leopardess stayed where she was for a moment, then gave a sideways smile, padded over, and rubbed a cheek against the Lady Lioness's paw. "But I want to hear it all," she said, crooking a claw. "Every detail."

  "I promise, kit."

  "Well, okay." The Lady Leopardess turned and moved back to the Lady Tigress's side. "How about Tyurnan Peak, Gressa?" And the two Ladies vanished into the grass.

  Bobcat watched them go, his mind not quite working, not then and not when he finally turned back to the Lady Lioness, still sitting there and still looking just like Shemka Harr. The questions whizzing through his head tangled with each other, and all he could get out was the single word, "How?"

  She gave a sigh, swallowed, and nodded. "You'll want the truth, then," she said. "From the beginning." She raised her head. "And please, Fisher, Skink, come closer."

  Bobcat didn't notice if they did or not, his eyes only on the Lady. She swallowed again. "You see, many thousands and thousands of generations ago, we all lived on another world, a world much like this one in many ways." A smile pulled at her whiskers. "Lion and I grew up there, married, saw our children and their children grow up, and then it all went..." The corners of her smile twitched. "Well, anyhow, after that, they decided to build this world, and when they asked us to be the Lord and Lady Lion, we were both overjoyed, and we worked very hard to see the new world to its completion.

  "Then, well, then came the end of the Beforetime, as Eft named it, and we were forced to divide things up among the twelve of us. I picked the duties of spring, always my favorite time of the year, the flowers so lovely, I remember thinking." She shook her head. "I had no idea, of course.

  "For, you see, I had forgotten that spring, at its very core, is the dragging of the world back from the near-death of winter. And Pardess did such wonderful winters that every year, my duties seemed to get harder and harder, century after century of straining to pump life back into the planet, pouring my heart and soul into reviving all creation, only to get it up and running and then turn it over to Kit Fox, who had taken on the duties of summer. And knowing that each and every year of every decade of every century all my efforts would come to nothing: Leopard's autumn would cripple the world, leaving it open to the death blow of Pardess's winter.

  "And I would have to start all over again." She stopped, took several breaths. "As millennium followed millennium, I began dreading it more and more, certain I would never be able to do the thing again but somehow always pulling myself together in time to perform my duties.

  "Until one year." She turned away, her eyes focused off over the pampas grass. "I just chucked it all, decided to let the whole thing go hang. I left in the dead of night, slipped away so not even Raven saw me go, found myself a cave in some faraway mountains, and let my Curial Privilege ebb out into Pardess's winter.

  "I had planned it all so carefully: my Privilege would go to swell Pardess's winter so there would be no real way the others could trace me, and out I let it, fed it into the winter. In less time than it takes to tell, I was as earthly as any lioness, a thousand times as old, and ready to die. I had abandoned my post, and I had nothing left to live for."

  She sighed. "I had planned so well." A smile touched her whiskers. "But I never counted on some poor bedraggled bobkitten stumbling in on me." She turned to Bobcat. "And I couldn't just let you freeze, could I?

  "So I put my plans on hold and set about getting you back on your paws. I was shocked at how ignorant you were, and I found myself telling you the old teaching stories, stories I had told my own children and grandchildren, all long since dead. And as I told you these stories, I began to realize that that was why I was here in this cave: not because I couldn't manage the springtime, but because I couldn't manage my memories, the absolutely crushing fact that all my children, all my grandchildren, nearly everyone I had ever known, my entire world, Ghareen, all were dead, dead and gone so long I was just about the only one who even remembered them.

  "And I came to realize, there in that cave, telling you the old stories, that there were still cubs and kittens in this world, this world I had helped create, and that I had the ability, the power, the duty to make this world as wonderful a place as the world I remembered. So, once you were well, I regathered my Privilege and went off to start the springtime." She stopped again. "But I never forgot, Ghareen, that in a very real sense, you saved my life that winter."

  Silence came down over the odd near-twilight, and Bobcat could only stare at her for a long moment. "But," he finally got out, "but, wait. You always told me the Curials were a bunch of made-up characters, that I shouldn't believe in them, that...that they were all just stories!"

  "Yes, well." She looked away. "I was a little bitter." She turned back. "But everything I told you about figuring your own way out of a problem rather than waiting for anyone else to do it for you, that I'll still vouch for."

  An old something started bubbling in Bobcat's gut, older than the catnip urge that had been clenched there for days. "Yeah, all very nice," he spat out, the hardness in his voice surprising him. He shook his head, started again. "But why did you just leave? I was so convinced that I'd done something wrong, that I'd made you go, that I couldn't...I could barely...I mean, why couldn't you tell me?"

  She looked down at him then, her face exactly as he remembered it. "Oh, yes. I can just hear it: 'Sorry, Ghareen, must run. Have to get the trees sprouting, you know.'" She squatted down, looked him str
aight in the eye. "I had to make a clean break, Ghareen, for both our sakes. I would make a horrible mystical guardian, and having me at your shoulder would have ruined your life, believe me. I wanted so much to look in on you, see how you were doing, but I knew it would reopen all my old feelings for you, and I'd start meddling. I didn't want that. And you wouldn't have wanted it, either."

  A troubled look tugged at her whiskers, and she straightened up. "Well, I guess we'd better get along to see Tiger, find out, uhh, what's what." She turned, padded to the wall of grass, and it parted before her. "This way, please," she said. "All three of you."

  Bobcat rose, saw a dark movement at the corner of his eye, heard Fisher fall in behind him, and followed the Lady Lioness into the pampas.

  Chapter Ten: The Blood Jaguar

  The grass kept parting before the Lady Lioness, a little bubble of clear air that made Bobcat's whiskers hum. Then the pampas pulled away to reveal another large clearing, and Bobcat caught his breath at the sight of the huge tiger lying there with paws crossed. "Ah, sister," he rumbled, his voice smoother than purest catnip. "I've been waiting for you and your... companions." He arched an eyebrow. "I certainly hope you have no other possible conflicts of interest lurking about in your past."

  The Lady Lioness sat down, waved a paw. "Oh, now, Tiger. You know I only wanted to make your job more interesting."

  The Lord Tiger's ears flicked ever so slightly, and his eyes moved to regard Bobcat. "Well, sir, I must say, you have certainly managed to make a mess out of what is really a very simple situation."

  "Tiger..." The Lady Lioness rolled her eyes.

  "Forgive me, sister, but it's true." He tapped a paw on the ground. "All the bobcat has to do is sit still and receive sister Raven's dreams, dreams that all come into sudden focus when the Blood Jaguar attacks him. He, his fisher, and his skink pursue those dreams across the continent, overcoming all obstacles to arrive here. You and your sisters separate him from his companions, and he proceeds alone to meet his fate. All very straightforward, I've always thought."

  His voice deepened, something Bobcat wouldn't have thought possible. "Now, however, sister, you seem to be invoking your protection based on this winter you spent together some years ago. Do I understand the case correctly?"

  The Lady Lioness didn't say anything.

  "By your silence," the Lord Tiger said after a moment, "I take it that I do. Very well, my Lady. If you have no objections, court will now come to order." He flicked a dagger of a claw, leaving a gash in the earth before him. "Those who have points to raise in the case of the Law versus the Lady Lioness will kindly address themselves now to the bench."

  Again, the Lady Lioness said nothing.

  The Lord Tiger narrowed his eyes. "If no statements are made from the floor, my Lady, the court will have no choice but to render judgment based on the few facts so far at paw."

  The Lady Lioness drew herself up, gazed down at the Lord Tiger. "The court knows all the facts it needs to," she said, her voice almost brittle in Bobcat's ears. "You know me, my Lord, and you know of my relationship with this bobcat. I have refrained from intervening on his behalf in the past, but now I cannot sit idly by while he is offered up in this pointless ritual!"

  The Lord Tiger flexed his claws, his eyes pure ice. "You are out of order, madam."

  "This world is out of order, sir!" She didn't break his gaze. "How I have been able to stand by and watch this happen for so long, I will never know! But no longer, sir!"

  The air crackled between them. Bobcat looked up at her, then over at Fisher and Skink before turning to the Lord Tiger and raising a paw. "Uhh, excuse me, sir?"

  Both the Lady Lioness and the Lord Tiger started back, looked down at him. "Ghareen!" the Lady Lioness whispered, but the Lord Tiger had already turned.

  "You wish to address the court, sir?" he asked.

  "The court? Uhh, yeah, yeah, I guess I do, sir."

  The Lord Tiger waved a paw. "Please proceed."

  Bobcat swallowed. "Well, sir, it's just that I don't think I understand all this about the Lady's protection. I mean, sure, twenty years ago she let me spend the winter in a cave with her, but I didn't even know she was a Curial then. And, yes, Shemka Harr, I mean, the Lady Lioness, yes, she taught me a lot, and I wouldn't have made it this far if it hadn't been for her, but, sir, for better or worse, I've really been on my own since then. She turned me loose, left me behind. I mean, she said so herself, not just today before we came in here, but in everything she ever told me.

  "I mean, Fisher here hobnobs with the Lord Kit Fox all the time, and Skink had the Lord Eft right inside him or whatever. But me and the Lady Lioness, that all happened years ago, back when we were both different folks, and I don't want her to get in trouble because she thinks she owes me something." He looked up at her. "Maybe I saved your life back then, Shemka Harr, I mean, my Lady, but I know for a fact that you saved mine. We're even, I'd say, and thanks for trying to get me out of this, but, well..." He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he stopped.

  The Lord Tiger had been tapping the ground the whole time; Bobcat wondered if he'd even been listening. Silence followed until the Lord Tiger flicked a final claw at the ground. "Yes," he said. "You raise a cogent point."

  That startled Bobcat. "I...I do?"

  "Indeed. For the Lady Lioness was someone different when she took you in. She had allowed her Privilege to dissipate and was therefore technically not a Curial. The protection she would claim is Curial protection, and as she was not a Curial during the time in question, the matter becomes moot. This court is adjourned." He tapped a quick rhythm on the ground. "You, Bobcat, are therefore here without protection and must go to meet your fate. Are you prepared?"

  A chill rustled through Bobcat's fur. "Uhh, I guess so. I, uhh, don't suppose you could give me any idea what that fate might be?"

  The Lord Tiger just waved a huge paw toward one side of the clearing. Bobcat looked in that direction, saw nothing but more grass, then turned to the others. Skink was peering over Fisher's shoulder, and Fisher was standing, her mouth opening. But the Lady Lioness was suddenly beside her, whispered something in her ear; Fisher's eyes darted back and forth, and Bobcat thought he saw water in them, but she sat, looked away, and the Lord Tiger's voice was rumbling: "I have already bent the rules as far as I am willing. Now go."

  Bobcat looked at them all again, tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't. So he just turned and walked off into the grass.

  It closed behind him, and he found himself on a different sort of pampas terrain, the grass in much sparser clumps, bare earth visible in large patches. Strange silvery flowers blossomed from the grass into the solid blue afternoon, the sun still nowhere to be seen in the near-twilight all around.

  Bobcat blew out a breath. At least it would be easier getting around.

  Not that he had any idea where he was supposed to go. If Skink was right, though, it didn't much matter which way he went; the Blood Jaguar would find him when she wanted to. So he shook himself, picked a direction, and started walking.

  The silence settled over him, made him breathe through his mouth and tread carefully over the dry, spongy soil so his pack wouldn't rustle. Nothing moved anywhere, and he found himself choosing paths that had the least amount of reeds blocking the way so he wouldn't disturb the quiet when he pushed through them.

  He walked on for he didn't know how long, the sky never getting any darker, and found nothing but more grass and more dirt. Which just didn't seem right. After all, wasn't he here to confront the Blood Jaguar or whatever? Weren't they at least supposed to meet? Wasn't that what everybody kept telling him?

  But more walking only got him more pampas. He sat down after another period of timelessness, tried to think what he should be doing, the silence so thick his own thinking seemed too loud. He blinked then, and it struck him how quiet the fiery eyes in his head had become. They barely flickered now, and he realized he hadn't really been aware of them all day wh
ile tromping through the canebrakes.

  That seemed a little odd, too. Hadn't she left her eyes in his head to keep him moving toward her, to prove that she was really out here waiting? Shouldn't they be blazing right now, guiding him on to her lair or something?

  So where were they? Bobcat concentrated on the Blood Jaguar's eyes, felt for them like he would for a sore tooth, but they barely smoldered at the very back of his mind, nothing he tried making them flare up. He sat there trying for a while longer, but he just couldn't figure it out. So he got up and began walking again.

  More time went by--at least, it felt like time went by. Nothing kept changing around him, and he was just starting to think that nothing would ever change when he came around a canebrake and heard a trickle of water. A stream cut through the grass ahead, sparkling in the shadow of the pampas. He padded forward, squatted down to sniff at it. It was too small to be the one they'd been following all day, but maybe it was a tributary. The canteen hanging from his pack was still pretty much full, but, well, as long as he was here...

  He lapped up a mouthful, wondering what to do next, when a crackle behind him made his ears cant back, those eyes blazing up like prairie fire in his brain. His legs twitched, he lost his balance, and before he could catch himself, he had pitched face-first into the water. It was only about ankle-deep, but it still took a moment of sputtering and flailing for Bobcat to get to his paws, spin around, and see the thing he already knew was there behind him.

  Lying on her stomach, paws resting in front of her, her fur shimmering with a slight shadow of the raging fire he had seen before, the Blood Jaguar stretched and yawned, and the terrible red blackness of her eyes made the pair floating in Bobcat's head snuff to dead cinders. The stream water swirled around his paws, dripped from his fur, but all he could do was stand and stare at her, those eyes focusing on him.