The Outlaw Varjak Paw

by S. F. Said

  ‘Mmm,’ said Ozzie, tucking into another juicy fish.

  ‘Why do you call him little brother?’ said Jess. ‘He’s bigger than you.’

  ‘He’s younger,’ said Omar. ‘I’m the older Twin. I have to look after him – don’t I, Oz?’

  Ozzie smiled shyly, showing his gap-toothed grin. ‘Yup, I’d be lost without Omar telling me what to do all the time!’ Everyone laughed.

  ‘This is great,’ said Tam, licking her lips. ‘If only we had some mice for dessert—’

  ‘We haven’t seen a mouse all winter,’ said Omar. ‘You’ve got to be a fearless hunter to find one of them.’

  Tam grinned. ‘Oh, I saw one a few days ago – didn’t I, Varjak? Fearless Tam the Hunter, that’s me!’ Varjak smiled, and Holly rolled her eyes, but Omar looked impressed.

  ‘Would you come hunting with me, Fearless Tam?’ he said.

  ‘Hunting – with you?’ Her chocolate-brown eyes widened with alarm. ‘But – I’m not really fearless – I was just—’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Omar. ‘I’m useless! Everyone’s good at different things, right? Me, I can fight the best of them – but I never did get the hang of hunting.’

  Tam giggled. ‘Bet you I’m worse! Come on, then. Let’s look for some dessert!’ They headed together out of the yard, Tam’s bushy tail swinging proudly behind her. Ozzie started to follow them.

  ‘No, you wait here, little brother,’ said Omar over his shoulder, eyes flashing. ‘I’ll bring you something back.’ Ozzie blinked, and stood there looking lost as his brother left the yard with Tam.

  ‘What you standing there for?’ said Jess, grabbing the giant. ‘There’s food to eat, for once!’ She dragged Ozzie off to feast with the Free Cats, leaving Varjak alone with Holly, by the back wall. Above their heads, fire escapes zigzagged up to the rooftops, and the open sky beyond.

  ‘Omar and Ozzie are funny, aren’t they?’ said Varjak. ‘I’m glad they’re on our side. We wouldn’t have made it without them.’

  ‘It’s not over yet,’ said Holly. ‘It’s great that the Free Cats are so happy – but what’s going to happen when Sally Bones finds out? I don’t believe she’s scared. Do you?’

  Varjak glanced over at the Free Cats, celebrating in the snow. All they needed was someone to stand up for them. And I can do that, he told himself. I can fight. My power’s getting stronger all the time. Remember what Jess said? He’s even better than Sally Bones!

  He flexed his paws with determination. ‘We’ll deal with that if we have to,’ he said. ‘The main thing is, we saved Jess. And if we could do that – well, maybe we can do anything.’

  Holly gazed up at the sky. So did Varjak. Once again, he thought how magical the city seemed in the snow and starlight. At that moment, Holly didn’t look like the spiky cat he knew; a cat who’d seen too much of the world, and had grown all gravelly to protect herself. She looked like the kitten she must have been, full of mischief and tales and wild, wild dreams.

  ‘Do you really think so?’ she whispered, like she was daring herself to believe it.

  Something lit up in Varjak then, something bright and warm that shone through the winter night. It felt like a string of lights, strung between two windows, linking them together. It felt like whiskers of starlight, fine and strong between them.

  ‘I think we can do anything we like,’ he said, ‘you and me.’

  She smiled. ‘Well, there’s no going back from here. You’ve started something big, and I’m with you all the way, whatever happens.’ She paused, and looked down. ‘But who knows what’s going to happen? We might not be together so much . . .’

  Varjak felt those whiskers of starlight, touching somewhere so deep inside, it made him dizzy.

  ‘I wouldn’t—’ he started, and stopped, and tried again. ‘Holly, I don’t think any of this would make sense without you,’ he said.

  She nodded quietly. They spoke no more; there was no need.

  After a moment, she curled up beside him, placed a paw on top of his own, and closed her eyes as their tails twined together. Her breathing grew slow and steady. Her face looked so calm, so peaceful. He could feel her fur, touching his; black-and-white mixing into silver-blue. Slowly, his eyes closed, and his breathing dropped to match her own.

  They lay there like that, close and comfortable, the starlight strong between them, until they fell asleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  VARJAK DREAMED.

  It was sunrise in Mesopotamia. He breathed in the wild mint air. Everything seemed brighter and clearer than normal; the sky so clear and blue, he saw stars shining through the sunlight.

  He was climbing the mountain with Jalal. They were on a path, rising higher and higher. He couldn’t see the summit from here. There was still a long way to go.

  The path narrowed, and Varjak found himself at the foot of a high, overhanging cliff. Through the middle of the cliff, there was a crack just wide enough for a cat, but it was blocked by a stone.

  ‘I’ll just move this stone, Jalal,’ he said, ‘and then we can go on.’

  ‘Indeed?’ said Jalal. ‘And can you see the stone you propose to move?’

  ‘Of course! It’s right in front of me.’

  ‘If you can see that stone,’ said Jalal, in a slow, patient tone, ‘then you can see everything it is, everything it was, everything it will be.’

  Varjak frowned. The stone was in their way, and all Jalal could do was talk in riddles, in that irritating tone of voice.

  ‘Yes, I know how to see, Jalal,’ he said. He reached out a paw, and pushed the stone. It didn’t budge, so he tried pulling instead.

  This time, the stone came away, and rolled down the mountain behind him.

  There was a soft shifting sound. A pebble rolled out of the gap Varjak had made. That stone must’ve been the one thing holding it back. He stood aside and watched as it rolled on down the mountain.

  More pebbles came out of the gap. Then stones started to come, and bigger stones. It seemed like the gap was getting wider, and the stones kept coming, speeding up as they came. More and more stone was rolling out now, and snow was coming with it. The shifting noise was changing, too. It was turning into a rumble, a deep, earthy rumble – and then a cracking, crunching noise came out of the cliff-face.

  ‘Stand aside!’ shouted Jalal. They moved away just in time, for with a great sighing, groaning sound, the whole cliff came tumbling down.

  The air was full of dust and snow and debris. Where the cliff had been, there was now a torrent of rock and snow, rolling fast and hard. Varjak looked up, and saw the side of the mountain above him shifting, saw massive drifts of snow shake and slide. He felt the earth beneath his paws shudder, and his heart was in his mouth, because he’d never dreamed of anything like this before.

  ‘What’s happening, Jalal?’ he cried.

  ‘You have started an avalanche,’ said Jalal, very calmly.

  Varjak watched, open-mouthed, as the torrent of snow grew, gathered, rock and snow, growing bigger, getting faster; and further down the mountainside, he could see flocks of birds flapping, animals running for cover, the world turning head over heels as the mighty mountain crumbled. Sheets of ice came sliding down, blocks as big as buildings, scything through the snow; and Varjak thought of that first stone, that one little stone he’d pulled away, and he shook his head in fear and wonder.

  Slowly, the avalanche settled. The rolling and rumbling came to rest; the rock and snow found new formations. The shaking stopped, and beneath the clear blue starry sky, the mountain grew calm and still once more.

  ‘Now, if you had truly seen that stone,’ said Jalal, ‘then you would have seen all this, too. No action, however small, is without consequence. But come now. For better or worse, you have opened a way forward.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  VARJAK OPENED HIS eyes. The dream was over. It was night and he was in the harbour yard. Holly was pulling away from him. The warmth of her body faded as the winter wi
nd whipped between them.

  ‘Holly, what’s wrong?’ he said.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her fur was standing on end. She was staring at something over his shoulder. He’d never seen her look so scared.

  He turned round.

  And wished that he hadn’t.

  A thin white cat sat behind him. She was watching him with one ice-blue eye. Where the other eye should’ve been, there was nothing but shadow. Her white fur was spotless clean, but around her was the smell of darkness, of dank and deadly things and places.

  It was Sally Bones.

  ‘Varjak Paw,’ she hissed. ‘The cat who thinks he can fight.’

  Varjak flinched at her words, as though his body knew something he’d tried to forget. Her teeth tapered down to deadly points. Her ribs jutted out of her side, like they were trying to escape from her. She was so thin and white, he could scarcely see her against the snow. Only Sally Bones’s eye, like a chip of bluest ice, glittering in the night.

  Slowly, out of the darkness, appeared her gang around her: Luger, Razor, and the rest. They were all tough cats, big and brawny, their fur short and bristly – yet they looked like soft little kittens compared to her.

  Varjak’s friends crept up beside him, under the fire escapes: Holly, Tam and Jess, Omar and Ozzie. The Twins looked paralysed with fear. At a single glance from Sally Bones, their proud manes seemed to shrivel.

  The Free Cats weren’t feasting any more. They were staring at Sally Bones. They were watching and waiting, to see what she would do.

  Varjak cursed to himself. So stupid. How could he let her find him sleeping? She’d caught him with his guard down. But it wasn’t too late.

  He breathed in–two–three–four. The power rose up in him, hot and strong. He was in Slow-Time now. He was facing her: the other cat who knew the Way.

  Sally Bones shook her head. She breathed in, and her body started to shimmer with a terrible power. She was in Slow-Time too. But she was faster than Varjak. She was faster than anything. She reached out a paw, and brushed the tips of his whiskers lightly, almost gently, with a claw.

  That was all it took.

  Varjak came crashing out of Slow-Time. He couldn’t stop himself. It was like falling from the sky, smack into solid earth. The power faded. The energy ebbed away. He couldn’t even meet her eye, for her power was so much greater than his own. He’d felt it the last time they’d met – and now, from the tips of his whiskers to the end of his tail, he knew it once again.

  He was beaten, without even a fight.

  His friends’ heads dropped. The Free Cats looked away.

  ‘Varjak Paw,’ said Sally Bones. ‘You have broken the law. You have hunted. You have trespassed on my territory. And now you have shed blood. We will not tolerate this. We will defend ourselves. You will pay for what you have done.’

  She paused, to let the words sink in. Varjak couldn’t speak. There was ice in his belly. Ice in his brain. His face felt frozen where she’d touched him.

  Mrs Moggs stood up. She left the anchor and chain where she’d been sitting, and walked up to Varjak and Sally Bones. Old Buckley shuffled behind her, shivering through the snow.

  ‘Well now,’ said Mrs Moggs. ‘I think there must be some mistake. Varjak’s a good cat. He’d never shed blood, not without reason.’

  The ice in Varjak’s belly cracked with shame. Mrs Moggs was standing up for him – but wasn’t he meant to be standing up for the Free Cats? Now, when it really mattered, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t even defend himself, let alone his friends.

  ‘Why are you taking this outlaw’s side?’ said Sally Bones.

  ‘Your thugs took my Jessie,’ said Mrs Moggs. Her voice was quiet but firm. ‘That Razor, and Luger, and them others – they took her, when she done nothing wrong. All Varjak did was bring her back. And if some of your gang got hurt, that’s their own fault.’

  Sally Bones gazed round the yard, at the remains of the feast. ‘I see you have been eating fish. Have you forgotten the law? That food is for us. It is not for you.’

  ‘That law’s not fair,’ said Mrs Moggs. ‘That law’s no law at all.’

  Behind her, Old Buckley squirmed. ‘She – she don’t mean it!’ he stuttered. ‘Please don’t hurt her!’

  Sally Bones ignored him. ‘If you break the law,’ she told Mrs Moggs, ‘you get punished. What could be fairer than that?’ She came right up to Mrs Moggs, and stared at the marmalade tabby with her ice-blue eye. Mrs Moggs stared right back. The moment stretched out, and still Sally Bones kept looking and looking, deeper and deeper into Mrs Moggs’s eyes. Then at last she spoke.

  ‘I see what happened,’ said the thin white cat. ‘You got so carried away when Varjak brought your Jessie back, that you started getting ideas about feasting, and being free. Yes?’

  A smile flickered across Mrs Moggs’s face. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And I’m proud of it.’

  ‘Then you will face justice too.’ Sally Bones turned to her gang, and snapped out her orders. ‘Luger. Razor. Find every single law-breaker in this place, and prepare them for punishment.’

  Varjak shuddered. Sally Bones’s punishment: the ears and tails.

  ‘Something wrong, Razor?’ said Sally Bones. The tiger-striped tomcat hadn’t moved; he was standing in the snow, looking at Varjak with the same strange expression in his eyes as before.

  ‘Nothing, Boss,’ he said. ‘I just—’

  ‘He’s lost his nerve!’ spat Luger. ‘He didn’t even try to stop Varjak Paw escaping, by the river. He just watched us get beaten.’

  Sally Bones stalked up to Razor. Her white tail swished behind her like a whip.

  Razor’s body pressed low into the snow. ‘No, Boss – I – I can explain—’ he stammered.

  Sally Bones stared into his eyes, silent. After an endless moment, she shook her head. ‘You are no longer in my gang,’ she said.

  The air shimmered. There was a blur of white so fast, Varjak barely even saw it.

  Razor howled. There was a fresh slash mark on his face, bright red and raw. And Sally Bones was flicking the blood from her long white claws.

  Razor bolted, howling with pain. He fled up the stairs, into the night.

  ‘Finish him at your leisure,’ Sally Bones told Luger. ‘But first: round up the law-breakers.’

  ‘Yes, Boss. It’ll be a pleasure.’

  ‘No!’ cried Mrs Moggs. ‘You got no right! Leave us alone!’

  But already, Sally Bones’s gang were moving among the Free Cats, pushing, shoving, herding them together.

  Varjak just watched. For all his Skills, he felt powerless before the thin white cat. He looked at his friends. They were all powerless. Around the harbour yard, lights were going out in windows. The brown buildings were falling into darkness.

  Sally Bones leaned in close to Varjak, under the fire escapes, as her gang went about their work. She spoke in his ear, so no one else could hear. Her breath was like frost.

  ‘Now tell me where you learned the Way,’ she hissed. ‘Not another cat alive knows what you know.’

  Varjak quivered. His whole body was shaking. ‘I – I learned it in Mesopotamia,’ he mumbled.

  ‘There is no Mesopotamia!’ said Sally Bones bitterly. ‘Tell me the truth!’

  She looked deep into his eyes, like she’d looked at Mrs Moggs, and Razor. Varjak wanted to turn away, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t move. Her ice-blue eye was burning into his brain. It felt like she was looking right inside him, probing his thoughts, seeing his secrets. She was opening him up, stripping him bare, layer by layer.

  He tried to resist, but she was so strong. She had him in her grip, and she was going deeper and deeper, into his core.

  Varjak felt faint. Ice in his belly; ice in his brain. Black spots danced before his eyes, filled his vision. It was as if Sally Bones was draining everything good and bright out of him. He could see nothing before him now but darkness.

  Cold fear clawed at his hear
t. Darkness and despair scratched his eyes. The desire to give up. Give up and die.

  ‘Yes,’ murmured Sally Bones. ‘Give in to the darkness. Give up your dreams.’

  And in Varjak’s mind, just for a moment, there was the sharp sweet scent of mint, and a bright and silent sunrise –

  – and Sally Bones gasped.

  ‘No!’ she cried. ‘No!’ She pulled away from him, and staggered back in the snow. Her ice-blue eye was shut.

  Suddenly, Varjak was free. Her grip on him was gone. He could move again.

  Mrs Moggs had seen it all. ‘Quick!’ she yelled. ‘Run! Up that fire escape – and take my Jessie with you!’

  Varjak ran. Bolted like he’d been burned. His friends followed right behind him. Tam, Omar, Ozzie, Jess, Holly: they all scrambled up the fire escape. But even as they raced towards the rooftops, Sally Bones’s voice echoed after them.

  ‘Stop them!’ she screamed. ‘Bring the outlaws back here!’

  Chapter Fifteen

  VARJAK CLIMBED FOR his life. The steps were slippery with ice. His paws skidded as he scrambled up.

  ‘Faster!’ panted Holly behind him. ‘They’re coming!’

  Sally Bones’s gang were stalking towards the fire escape. They looked unstoppable. Only Mrs Moggs stood before them, blocking their way. A few Free Cats rallied round her. Her marmalade fur looked bright and brave against the ice-white snow.

  Varjak’s heart was exploding in his chest. He didn’t want to leave her behind, yet she’d told him to go.

  The power was very far from him now. His brain felt bruised. How could Sally Bones enter his thoughts like that? Why did she pull away? He didn’t understand – but there was no time for questions. He had to get away!

  ‘What’s happening?’ said Jess, above him.

  ‘Keep climbing,’ said Holly. ‘Don’t look.’

  They kept going up the steps. A gust of wind swirled a snow flurry before them, blocking their view. They climbed into darkness. Varjak thought he heard a scream from below, but couldn’t be sure.