Cats Triumphant Read Online Free PDF

cannot bear it!”
    Marco jumped up on the bed and began to lick Briar Rose’s face. “I must wake her! No one loves her as much as I do!”
    Daffodil picked him up and cuddled his head under her chin. “I know, my friend, but her true love must be of her own species.” She turned to the king. “Your love and ours prevented her from dying. Only love’s first kiss may awaken her. All the kingdom shall sleep until that day. You shall have peace.” The fairies all put their right hands together. A scented smoke rose from their joined fingers, filling the air. The king and queen sighed and turned, trancelike, toward the door.
    “I think I will go to bed,” said the queen, in a distant voice.
    “So shall I,” said the king.
    Marco looked out of the window. The smoke poured down the tower wall and across the courtyard. Courtiers sagged to the ground where they stood. Men-at-arms leaned heavily over their shields and spears. Even the animals fell asleep.
    All but the three guardians.
    “What about us?” Marco asked. He hung his head. “You put me in charge, and I failed you.”
    Daffodil clicked her tongue. “The dark one has had centuries to hone her cunning, and sixteen years to polish her grudge,” she said, her round green eyes glinting like the cat’s. “You can and shall put this terrible wrong right.”
    “Can’t you act?” Humberto asked the three wise women.
    Nocila shook her head. “We can only watch and guard. What kept the curse from coming true for 16 years was inaccessibility. Briar Rose never saw spinning wheels, so she did not touch one. Desdemona planted that single one here many years ago for just this moment. The lock should have foiled her, but Humberto opened it.”
    The mouse was mortified. Marco glared at him. “Maybe the palace cats have the right idea about mice.” He looked up at the fairies. “I shall go in search of Briar Rose’s true love,” he vowed. “If you say there is one who loves her more than we do, I will find him.”
    “I shall sit by her side,” Bruno said. “None shall approach, I swear it by my heart.”
    “I will wind the room round with a trap of threads so dense that all may see but none may touch her,” promised Humberto. “I will not fail again.”
    “We give you one more gift,” Lavinia said, “the gift of long life. You will need it in your tasks. We wish you all good luck. For now, we must search out Desdemona and try to persuade her to break her spell, though I hold out no hope she will relent.”
    “Good luck, my little friend,” Daffodil said, setting Marco on his feet. “Keep your standards high. Farewell.”
    Before their eyes the three little women faded into bright streaks of light and were gone.
    “Well,” Marco said, steeling himself. “The task won’t improve for the waiting. Farewell.”
    The dog and mouse nuzzled him fondly. “We shall think of you every day.
    “Don’t think of me,” Marco said, peeved but pleased. “Think of her. Guard our Briar Rose.”
    “We shall,” said Humberto.
    Marco nodded. With one long backward look at the princess, lying so still on the bed, he turned and trotted down the tower steps.
    * * *
    But where to begin? The princess had already seen every elegible prince on the continent. Yet the fairy godmothers had assured him that a prince was out there waiting for her. Perhaps Marco had overlooked some good qualities in the men who had come to woo her. Perhaps they were different in their home settings. Perhaps pigs flew, and he could find one to transport him across the wide world.
    Instead, he had to rely upon his four small feet to carry him on his mission. The gift of long life from the godmothers didn’t help at all against cold, hunger or sore pads. It was a long, long way from the capital of Cadmonia to its nearest neighbor, Hawellia. Marco left the palace in the spring. It was not until late summer that he arrived at Hawellia Castle.
    The stronghold was in terrible disarray. Marco could