The Shadow Cats Read Online Free PDF Page A

accompanied by the soft thud of his staff and the sound of his boots on the sculpture.
    It is all I need to hear. I let go.
    My legs are too stiff when I hit the ground. The impact shivers up to my knees, which respond by buckling, and I plop gracelessly onto my rear.
    Are you all right, Highness?”
    “Come find me if I’m not back by the noon meal.”
    He mutters something under his breath that I’m fairly certain is a string of swear words in several languages, and then says, “Move away from the wall. I’m coming down.”
    I’m glad the dark hides my smile as I scramble out of his way. His spear drops first, clacking against the wall before it hits the ground. He follows a moment later, rolling upon impact, and comes up standing. I am impressed.
    He brushes off his pants. “Your Highness, this is foolish beyond measure, even for you.”
    I hand him his spear. My left ankle hurts a little when I shift my weight onto it, but I’ll never tell. “You said something does not add up, and I agree. Let’s trace the creature’s path, and see if we can find what has eluded us.”
    One thing I have learned from many years of watching my father is that some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It is the work itself that calls them onward, especially if they believe they are the only ones who can do it.
    “Zito, you’re the smartest man I know. I need your help with this.”
    His eyes narrow with suspicion, but even he is not immune to such persuasion. “Just a quick look,” he says.
    I have won. Grinning, I turn and hike into the jungle, following the faint deer trail an animal might take if it landed on the ground at this spot.
    “Let’s go this way,” he says as he catches up with me, but I see the direction he is pointing and will have none of it.
    “That would take us down toward the river and the village. Jaguars are creatures that retreat upward, into the mountains, into the trees.”
    His answering sigh makes me laugh. “It was worth a try.”
     
    Hours later, I’m beginning to recognize this trek as foolhardiness. I hate giving up on anything, but we’ve seen no sign of the cat, and my ankle is swelling. I’m about to suggest we turn back when we come face-to-face with a steep slope of loose rock, marked by dark spots that might be caves or shadows or pockets of vegetation. The air is still—too still. No birds sing, even though the sun now edges the eastern horizon.
    “A good hiding place for a shadow cat, wouldn’t you say?” I whisper.
    “Maybe,” he answers, his voice wary.
    “We should look for scat or prints, then report back to—”
    The jaguar’s cry, right on top of us, freezes me to the bone. A black shadow separates from an overhead branch and leaps. Zito crashes to the ground.

7

    Z ITO rolls with the jaguar, striking it with his spear. “Run, Alodia!”
    I spin. My ankle catches in a root, and I hear a great crack like splintering wood. I scream, falling to my knees. Through a haze of tears and a red curtain of pain, I see death leaping toward me. The jaguar has abandoned Zito to attack me.
    I fumble for the knife. I pull it from my belt and yank off the sheath, which I fling at the jaguar with a cry of fury. It bats aside the piece of leather with a giant paw the way a man swats a harmless mosquito. It leaps, but I roll, and the snapping jaws barely miss my neck; the raking claws slide off my leather vest.
    The cat lands behind me, and I barely have time to twist on the ground to face it before it is on me again, forcing the air from my lungs with the weight of its body.
    I grab a fistful of fur and flesh at its throat and, with strength born of desperation, hold the jaws at bay just enough to avoid having my skull crushed. Its warm breath reeks of sour meat, and one fang is dark with rot. The cat snarls as it rolls its head, trying to pull loose from my grasp. Claws rake my shoulder, trailing white-hot