The Cat's Job Read Online Free PDF Page B

very fine. Of silver, too, so it is Moon-potent. I'm sorry I
hadn't noticed it before, for it's true that you might have hurled
your will against the Forces to good purpose, possessing such a
thing."
    "Might I have, indeed?" He touched the
shining thing at his throat with a light fingertip. "But this is
not a -- magical --thing, friend Kinzel. It is a gift from my lady,
given with laughter and love, to commemorate a dragon I once
slew."
    "A potent charm," said the pudgy
wizard admiringly. Then, in awe: "Dragons are very rare -- at least
on this continent. Unicorns, now... But did it really need to be
slain, this dragon?"
    The King of the Cats smiled. "Alas, it
was determined to eat my friend. I did attempt to -- dissuade --
it, but it would not be turned away."
    "In that case," said Kinzel, with a
touch of sadness. "Still, it might have been better, had you been
able to find another way to save your friend, and let the creature
go with its life."
    Almost, the King laughed. "I agree
with you. However, I was very young and very frightened, so that I
clutched the first means to hand. Perhaps now things would go
differently." He shrugged, in cat indifference. "But who can
know?"
    Suddenly, he was not indifferent at
all, his eyes were intent, lithe body tipped forward, one hand out
-- perhaps in supplication.
    "Friend Kinzel, return me to my
lady."
    Kinzel sighed, pity warring with --
was it envy?
    And why should I be envious
, he wondered.
Because he has
seen a dragon? Becaues he loves his wife so well? Or because he
wears a thing of dreadful Power and is wise enough to honor it for
the love it was given with, rather than the Force it might
command?
    He was jerked from these thoughts by
the brightness of the gaze upon his face and shook his head
sadly.
    "I am sorry, my friend. The cats are
in danger. The staff chose you to aid them. After the Right has
been served, then I am certain the staff will send you
home."
    "So." The King came fluidly to his
feet. "If I may not return until the task is done, then it is best
we begin at once."
    Kinzel nodded and climbed awkwardly to
his feet. Closing his eyes, he rubbed the old wood of the staff
lightly, listening, feeling. Eventually, he opened his eyes and
struck off in a northerly direction, the King of the Cats walking
silent at his side.
    * * *
    The manager arrived with the
carpenters.
    Miri ignored him while she pointed out
the exact spot, elucidated the precise dimensions and the deadline.
The job-boss nodded, barked orders in his turn and the crew set to
work.
    "Stop!" yelled the manager.
    One of the carpenters hesitated. The
boss snapped two words and she went back to work.
    Miri turned to the manager. "Get out.
You're in the way. You're holding up construction. You're annoying
me."
    "You," said the manager, "are in
violation of the law. Guests are not allowed to construct things in
the room. The owner --"
    "Shut up," said Miri, without raising
her voice. He blinked, words dying. "I ain't interested in the law.
Or in the owner. How much is this place worth? In
cantra."
    "What!" The manager stared, feeling
absurdly vulnerable without his desk-counter between them. The
woman stared back, gray eyes as warm as fog off the
ocean.
    "You will," she stated clearly, "tell me the purchase price
of this building. If you don't know, get the company lawyer on the
talkie. Or the owner. Or whoever else I gotta talk at to buy this
hyatt. I intend to own it by local sundown." Then, with some snap
to it, since he just stood there, staring: "
Now
!"
    The manager jumped a foot and left,
nearly colliding with the candlemaker and the glassblower, who were
arriving together.
    * * *
    Fallan's keep loomed like a ship of
stone and steel, full Moon just visible beyond the tip of the
eastern tower.
    The King of the Cats
sighed.
    "So then," he murmured. "Where do you
think Fallan holds the cats?"
    Kinzel tipped his head, listening to
the soft purring of his staff. He nodded and walked forward, at a
slight