Chapter 2 - Carabas and the Neighborhood Mob
Humans, not unlike cattle, are for the most part not much difficulty to gather up and get moving than our own, self-directed people. This is a truism that has even made it to proverb – “Easier than herding humans.” But they also have a fondness for their young, as few as they are, that is usually charming.
Except when it is not.
So, faced with intransigent humans who would be lost if left to their own devices, I took the hero’s course.
I lied.
Or, more properly, I tricked them. I wove a tale that beguiled and motivated them, to their own good and the good of their fellows. A noble and well-done thing it was, at that.
Rowan had promised them that he would find them, but clearly that put all at risk, especially when we did not know where they might be. So I simply said that I had seen the run past, and that they should come with so that we could join them in safety. “Think of your children!” I exhorted. “If you were to be lost, it would break their hearts!”
No heroic deed goes without risk, of course, and I would be paying the price of this deed for some time.
Jane (snrk) was skeptical, despite the inarguable veracity of my words (the children would certainly be bereft if the parents stayed here and died, and it wasn’t like I had seen them not run past; it was altogether possible that we would encounter them during our escape, to everyone’s delight, should Bastis or whomever they worshipped here look on them with favor). Jane at length agreed to come, but insisted I help carry her household treasure.
She also said petty things about my heritage; humans can be petty creatures when panicky.
Outside, I got the treasure strapped to Hambone’s back – ah, Hambone, how I do miss that dog. Dumb as a post, but loyal and strong and a good hunter. The innkeeper’s wife insisted on keeping an eye on me, as though I were likely to run off with her family goods – a vile calumny, as it was hardly likely she had very much, or of much value, only of weight.
Virens and Wynn dutifully figured out which way we were headed – to the intriguingly-named Forges. Jane offered skepticism that her son would have gone there, adding to my conviction that she would have been more useful left behind, waiting for her son forever, except that would have been churlish of me to suggest.
So we set off. I placed myself and Hambone in the center, ready to respond to attacks before and behind. Thus, I was well positioned when Jane (again!) grabbed at my arm and pointed out that someone nearby was crying for help.
Help! A rescue! Just what the apothecary ordered to get away from Jane herding humans. I hopped off Hambone and trotted off in the direction of the weak cry, Ann and Rowen following my heroic lead, of course.
We came upon what looked like a human trapped under some fallen rubble (a cautionary note, certainly, to stay alert for such threats). Rowan advised me that he suspected there was something sinister lurking about, perhaps admitted as the Mist slowly came into the city, perhaps waiting to ambush an unwary rescuer. Aha!
With Ann providing covering noise and activity, I slipped into the shadows, quiet as a cat, and crept forward until I could spot what Rowan was referring to. And I was glad I did so, for it was a lurking menace well-known to all kits and catlings – a Red Eye bogey, which lurks in the darkness, using its bright red eye to lure catlings to it, mesmerized by its movements, until it it too late and they are trapped!
Do not tremble my kitlings! No such fate would be suffered by Carabas that day! I leapt! I pounced! Ha-ha! My blade flashed, cutting through its insubstantial body like water! And so it fled, spirit (literally) broken, ducking into a side street to find less wary prey!
Ann, Rowan, and I made short work of freeing the hapless human from his trap. He’d not just been caught by rockfall, but clawed by the Red Eye to make his cries more piteous. It was good to have saved him from such a fate, and saved others who might have been beguiled.
It was a heroic moment, and I was filled with righteous pride at the grace and agility I had wielded. Beware, creatures of the darkness! Carabas is on the prowl!
Ann hefted the injured man up onto a horse, and we returned to our fellows, whom we caught up to at the Forges … where they had driven off some brigands keeping watch, though one of them had been so swayed by Virens noble words that he took up service to him, waving out one of those crossbows of which the humans are so proud of.
Thus we stood poised to enter the Forges. How would my bravery and cleverness be challenged there?