“Of course I’ll stay.” With a smile that projected far more confidence than she was feeling, Marissya added, “After all, how manyshei’dalinsever get the chance to save a tairen pride?”
Despite a night of waiting and watching, the thing that had killed Cahlah and her kit did not return, and by sunrise the next morning, four great tairen were winging across the Fading Lands. Rain carried Dax and Marissya on his back, while Steli carried Ellysetta. Sybharukai had sent the matepair Fahreeta and Torasul along as well to join Steli in singing pride greetings to Shei’Kess.
«Do you really think the Eye will tell us any more than it already has?»Rain asked Steli as they flew. Tairen-made or not, the Eye had been perniciously silent for centuries, adamantly refusing to offer help or guidance to the Fey until Rain had forcibly wrested from it the clues that had sent him to Celieria City—and Ellysetta.
«The Eye sent you to Ellysetta-kitling. It knew you would bring her to back to the Fey-kin and to the pride. Now that she is here, Shei’Kess may have more to say.»
«Well, I hope singing to the Eye earns a more pleasant response than the one it gave me.»The all-consuming pain that had ripped through him when he’d laid hands on the Eye was not something he would ever forget.
Steli chuffed.«You issued Challenge. We are not so... »She sang an image of a foolish tairen kit biting the tail of a grumpy elder.
Ellysetta laughed, then tried ineffectively to hide it from Rain’s narrowing tairen eyes with a cough and a rapid change of subject.«I still don’t understand why the tairen haven’t visited Dharsa since the Mage Wars. I thought the tairen considered the Fey kin.»
He allowed the insult of her laughter to pass with a disdainful sniff.«They do, but the kinship doesn’t extend to any particular affection or desire to socialize.»
«Why not?»
Rather than answer her himself, Rain directed the question tothe tairen themselves.«Ellysetta wants to know why the tairen of Fey’Bahren have not visited the Fey-kin city since the Mage Wars.»
«Why would the tairen go there?»Steli sounded surprised by the question.«You were not there, and the Fey-kin are not tairen.»
«They have no wings or beautiful fur,»Fahreeta added, twirling her sleek body in graceful spinning rolls across the sunlit sky to show off her well-shaped wings and the pure golden color of her pelt.«And they break too easily if you play with them.»
«They smell much like prey,»Torasul agreed,«but are not for eating. Is confusing. Makes a cat... »Words gave way to a vivid image of a tairen snarling, his fangs dripping with venom and saliva.
«I... see... »Ellysetta replied slowly.
Rain laughed. The sound came out as a series of amused chuffs.«To the tairen, only the Tairen Souls are true kin. Other Fey are really only kin-by-proxy. Not prey, but not entirely part of the pride either. Wingless, fangless, furless, flightless, two-legged not-prey creatures who might, many millennia ago, have been something distantly related to tairen. In some respects, the tairen regard the Fey rather like that kitten your sisters gave Kieran.»
Her jaw dropped.«They think of the Fey as pets?»
«More like distant relatives. More primitive, less powerful relatives.»
She paused to mull that over.«Do the Fey know that? The warriors are always talking about “the tairen in them.”»
«All Fey know where the line is drawn. Those who are not Tairen Souls admire the tairen, appreciate their power and beauty and magic, but they respect their fierceness as well. The Fey have a saying: “The slopes of Fey’Bahren run dark with the blood of enemies, fools, and prey.” Which may have something to do with the fact that a tairen’s idea of negotiation is a warning growl before he rips and roasts you with fang and flame.»
«I know it must be true, but part of me finds it so hard to believe. Just look at Fahreeta.»Ellysetta pointed to the sleek golden cat soaring and diving through the skies nearby. «She seems so... sweet and playful, like a kitten.»
As if sensing eyes upon her, Fahreeta gave a series of purring roars and flew in dizzying circles around her mate, Torasul. The great male just eyed his cavorting mate with a long-suffering eye and kept flying. She flew too close once, and he swatted out with one large paw, catching the tip of her right wing. With a yelp, the playful golden beauty went tumbling. She broke her fall and righted herself easily, but the tumble left her fur ruffled and her green eyes shooting sparks. Torasul gave chuffing huffs of tairen laughter and blew smoke.
Fahreeta’s muzzle drew back, baring a mouthful of gleaming white, razor-sharp fangs. She gave a snarl. Her tail whipped through the air like a giant lash. Large, curving claws sprang from her forepaws. She pumped her wings and, with a scream of fury, shot across the sky towards her mate.
Ellysetta gasped and clutched fistfuls of Steli’s white hair, but Torasul only gave his mate an indolent look. Then, with a speed that made Ellysetta gasp again, he folded his wings and drop-rolled straight into his mate’s oncoming attack. Torasul’s wings spread at the last moment to stop his fall before he crashed into Fahreeta, and the two cats came together in a roar of fury, ivory fangs and curved, razor-sharp claws. Limbs tangled. Each tairen’s massive jaw grabbed the other’s neck in a deadly grip. Wings batted the air with ferocious speed, then folded tight. They spun together, dropping through the sky, wings and tails twining together.
“Rain!” Ellysetta cried, terrified the pair would kill each other right before her eyes. “Stop them.”
Steli glanced down at the tumbling pair and sniffed.«Juveniles.»
Just when it looked as though both Torasul and Fahreeta would crash into the earth below, the pair spread their wings and broke apart, soaring in opposite directions, then circling around. Theyflew upwards, gaining altitude and speed until both were flying alongside Rain and Steli once more.
Fahreeta resumed her purring and prancing through the sky, taking every occasion to rub wing and fur against her mate. Torasul rumbled happily, then returned to his stoic, unflappable calm and kept his wings pumping in steady flight.
«Oh, aiyah,»Rain sang in tones laden with irony.«Sweet and playful. Very like a kitten.»
Celieria ~ Teleon
“Good morning, my sweet kitlings.” Sol Baristani beamed at his young twin daughters as they skipped into the sunny breakfast room in Teleon’s main tower. “Don’t you both look bright as a summer sky?”
