The Cat Who Knew How to Cry

2. THE CAT IN THE TREE (part 2)

***

Aniallu leaped to her feet and hissed quietly, suddenly sensing profound fear emanating from one of her kin. For a long minute her ears kept moving, the lids of her half-closed eyes quivered... Then, with a menacing growl, she hopped onto the gleemie and, with a forward lean, zoomed over the houses and the streets, swishing through the air as her eyes scoured the outstretched city underneath.

Eventually Alu found what she was after – a kitten sitting in a tree behind one of the restaurants lining a small square. Her little sister was frightened. So frightened that Aniallu had to labor quite a bit to pry her tiny claws from the branch they were feverishly gripping. The Alae tried to soothe the cat mentally, to explain that she was safe now. The poor creature clung to the sianae's chest, trembling uncontrollably. Images raced through her little feline head at such a breakneck pace that Alu struggled to extract from that whirlwind the visual of her offender.

Two kids were standing next to the tree: a little boy and a girl around ten, most likely his sister. When making her approach, Alu remembered hearing the kids' gentle pleas to the kitten to come down from the tree. It didn't appear that it was they who had chased her up there.

"Who frightened her?" asked the sianae in a tone louder than she wished.

"A dog, my lady," said the boy, straightening his ornate vest.

"No, it was a huge, black beast that only looked like a dog," the girl corrected her little brother, wrapping her hands around his puny shoulders. Her eyes were glued to the Alae soaring overhead, expressing pure awe.

"Did you see where it went?"

"Our uncle chased it away. It ran that way, under the dark arch. It's a bad place, and we're not allowed to go near it."

"Grownups don't go near it, either," added the girl, shuddering from a mere glance in the direction of the arch.

"Thank you both," said Aniallu, and prepared to fly into the gap yawning darkly between two houses when suddenly a child's hand brushed against her ankle. The Alae turned and gave the girl a questioning look.

"Can we keep her?" she asked, looking at the kitten that Alu was still holding in her arms.

"She'll like it in our house," her brother declared assuredly. "She'll sleep by the fireplace."

"And we will leave her the tastiest pieces!" promised the girl, giving Aniallu an imploring look.

"Of course, you can," Alu bent down and carefully passed the kitten to the girl. The latter took the gift as if accepting some priceless treasure, and pressed the creature gingerly to her chest.

***

Flying under the arch, which ended up being a rather long corridor, Aniallu understood why kids were so scared of this place, and why even adults preferred to give it a wide berth. There was a spell cast on the arch itself and on the little yard just beyond it that inspired fear in anyone who might wander into the area. The skill of the sorcerer was very apparent: precious few were those who would be able to tell that the sudden horror gripping them was a consequence of magic, and not some childish fears of darkness floating up from the subconscious.

"Not having a childhood sure is useful sometimes!" Aniallu chuckled to herself, then scratched her nose irritably with her wrist: the thick aroma of incense in the air was almost palpable.

Stagnant and damp, it trickled in like slimy little snakes, tickling the nostrils. It was all Alu could do not to sneeze. She thought she had recognized the scent as herbs that were smoked by adepts of the order of Tagar – a bloodthirsty deity embodying physical torture – before their god's idol. Among the smallfolk the adepts had a simple, succinct name: "torturers."