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"What does it say?" Taj asked finally. "I remember seeing that paper, but
never thought to look at it." He sniffed. "There are no canary treats in that
old jar."
Mamakitty looked up, her expression solemn and serious as always. "Many
things, minstrel. It says many things. But you won't believe what it expects
us to do."
FOUR
They crowded around Mamakitty and the revelatory note, Rather than try to read
it himself, Oskar waited for her to explain. Strange, he mused, how perfectly
her human speaking voice mimicked the serious tone of her erstwhile meows.
" 'If you are reading this,' it says, 'then it means that I am dead, and will
not be coming back to you, my closest and dearest companions.'" Mamakitty
paused, but no one could think of anything to say--though Oskar thought a
small chirp might have escaped Taj's lips, and Cocoa was visibly choked. To
cover the naked emotion, she licked the back of her right hand and began
wiping at her eyes with it.
" 'I have always felt there was more truth, honesty, love, and common sense in
what are commonly misidentified as the lower orders of animal than in a highly
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conflicted and combative humanity. That is why I never married, but instead
surrounded myself with your kind. But now that I am gone, I regrettably must
ask you to don human shape for a while, until you have hopefully accomplished
that which I could not.
"'The Gowdlands that are home to us all have been invaded by a most dreadful
menagerie of creatures human and otherwise known collectively as the Totumakk
Horde. They are led, I ascertain, by a necromancer I do not know and whose
identity I cannot perceive. Such cloaking power signifies a sorcerer of
uncommon strength and ability. I believe that when the ultimate moment of
confrontation comes (as it must) that I will be able to defeat him. If you are
reading this letter, then it means that I was wrong in the most profound
manner imaginable. Though I am loath to transform you into that for which I
have sympathy but little love, I have no choice. In your original and natural
form there is no way you can successfully do that which I must now ask of
you.'"
"And what might that be?" wondered Taj, who despite his slender build seemed
more at ease in the room than any of his companions.
Mamakitty glanced over at him, then read on. " 'Should I fail, it will mean
that this Khaxan Mundurucu and the Horde that he leads will perforce have
overrun the Gowdlands and taken from it all color, for such was the terrible
consequence the runes predicted would come to pass in the event of my possible
defeat. The tint of Truth, the brilliance of Righteousness, the panoply of the
spectrum itself: all will be stolen away. To throw back the Horde into the
dark depths from which they have come, color must first be restored to the
civilized lands. Somehow, you must find the pure light of true coloration,
wherever it survives, and bring it back.'"
Gray-green eyes flashing, expression solemn, Mamakitty carefully folded the
letter. She started to put it into her mouth for safekeeping, then realized
that her new fingers would do just as well. "That's it, then. That's our
obligation."
"Old dead Master doesn't want much, does he?" Oskar snapped at hovering dust
motes, scattering them in the light from above. "Bring back some color, is
all. As if we could catch such a thing with our bare hands and stick it in a
bottle, like milk. Now, if it was a bone--"
"Regardless," the dusky woman growled, "it is our departed master's last wish.
We have an obligation."
"Obligation? That's a human word." Sniffing pointedly, Cezer spun around to
take a playful slap at Taj, who ducked instinctively and slapped back. "What
'obligation' do we have to humans? None! Don't get me wrong--Evyndd was a good
master, as masters go. But remember some of the other humans who came to
visit! They would push us away from them, and when the Master wasn't looking,
sometimes they kicked and cursed. We all know that there are other humans who
do even worse than that to our kind." Spreading his hands wide, he executed a
perfect experimental back flip for the sheer joy of trying it on only two
feet.
"Let this Horde keep its grayness! I myself can still see and enjoy all that I
need to. So can you," he told Cocoa and Mamakitty, "and you," he added with a
nod upward in the direction of silently watching Samm. "And you well enough,"
he told Oskar. "Believe me, all this business about 'color' is overrated. We
can see enough of it to get along. Obligation to help humans? I don't think
so!" He threw the powerfully built older woman who had read the letter a
challenging glance--while keeping prudently out of reach. Though somewhat
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