The Cat's Job Read Online Free PDF Page A

dark hair off his forehead, crossed his legs and
sat on the ground; looked up, green eyes glinting.
    "That she is alive -- and well -- I know. That she is
worried, I know. But
where
is she? In former days I would have known this, if
she stood on one end of the galaxy and I on the other. Now, I ask
your indulgence."
    Kinzel blinked. "Where? Where you left
her, I suppose..." He, too, sat on the ground, though he arrived
there with less grace and crossed his legs after he was
seated.
    "I see," murmured the King of the
Cats. "And where might that be -- from here?"
    "Well..." Kinzel screwed his eyes
shut, then opened them, pointing. "The other continent is in that
direction."
    The other man shook his head. "Am I to
surmise from this that you do not know the name of the world from
which you -- borrowed -- me?"
    "World?" Kinzel's face lit. "That's
wonderful! A person from another of the worlds! I've heard of such
things -- people crossing from one of the worlds to another. After
all, if the Clock governs all --"
    "No." One slim hand rose, commanding
silence. "Kinzel, please. Indulge me further. How did you happen to
get me from where I was to where I am?"
    "I told you."
    "No doubt you did. Perhaps I was not
attending. Will you tell me again?"
    Kinzel sighed. "I was thinking of
Fallan and how he was taking revenge on me by harming cats. I
remembered the story Siljan told about the King of the Cats -- how
wise and strong and clever he was. And I thought how I am none of
those things, yet the cats must be helped. Then I thought how --
how much I needed help -- from someone like the -- the King of the
Cats. I Called, and the staff purred, as it does, and then you were
here."
    The Suzerain of Felines had closed his
eyes. Now he opened them and sighed.
    "And thus it is that the staff will
not let me go back to my wife until I have aided you in this task?"
He did not wait for an answer but swept regally on.
    "Friend Kinzel, I am a man, not a cat.
Might this be mentioned to your staff? It could make a
difference."
    "It might," said Kinzel doubtfully;
"but -- the staff chose you, after all. The story never made clear
whether the King of the Cats was man or cat -- or a bit of both."
He frowned. "What do I call you? I've never met a King
before."
    "Nor have you now. Val Con, you should
call me."

    "Val Con," said Kinzel, finding he
liked the crisp sound of the name. "Well, Val Con, think: If the
staff chose you out of the countless numbers of people there must
be on all the worlds that Clock and Branch encompass, then
--"
    "I'm stuck," said the other, and it
seemed that the red-haired woman's voice glittered through the
man's own in that phrase. He shifted then, touching wrist, ankle,
back of neck in quick succession, as if performing a ritual dance.
When the movement was done, the staff allowed Kinzel to feel the
sharpening of purpose about the man; almost tasting of
mage-power.
    "Very well, friend Kinzel," the King
said softly. "Who is this Fallan and what is he doing that causes
you -- and the cats -- so much distress?"
    * * *
    "Dammit, Robertson, can't you hold
onto anything?"
    Miri curled her hands into fists,
spinning slowly on her heel in the hyatt's parlor.
    "Val Con?" she asked the
room.
    There was no answer. She hadn't really
expected one.
    Frowning, she reached within herself
to the pattern-place where glowed the warm and lovely thing that
was her knowledge of her husband's life.
    Alive and well,
the pattern reported.
    She brought her attention more closely
on the pattern; fought down a surge of panic and tried
again.
    Val Con alive, Val Con well,
the pattern sang.
    In all bloody directions at
once.
    Generations of breeding by Liaden
psychics had produced the link between lifemates -- and it had
never failed her since the first time she'd seen it dancing in her
head.
    Abruptly, she folded her legs and sat
on the floor; glared at the pellet gun reposing on the carpet and
closed her eyes.
    King of the Cats? Obviously, the fat
man with