Page 44 of Blacktail

“You ask fair questions,” she said. “I’ll admit there is risk.”

“Then why—”

“I have sent others to seek Him before, you know.”

“You have?”

She swished her tail. “Oh yes. Several times. A shark, several tigers, even a rat once. They all came to bad ends.”

“Well, there you go.”

The Old Kitty Mother settled back on her haunches with a wince. “And yet, they chose to go. Why do you think that is?”

“I’ve no idea,” Blacktail said. “Were they daft?”

“Because they were like you, Blacktail. That is what drew my eye to them. Each beast had learned for himself the lessons of men, as we all learn them. But these were different. When their understanding was complete, they rose up and killed those who had done them offense.”

“Even the rat?”

“Do you know of bubonic pla—Never mind. Point being, killing men was never so common as you might think, even before gunshots. Now?” She shrugged. “I had almost given up hope. I’m old, you know. There were never any guarantees.”

Blacktail shook his head. “I—Forgive me, Mother, but I don’t understand. I’m very flattered, but what does it have to do with the Forest God?”

“Tell me, Blacktail, what was it that finally made you enter House? You might have found another mate, you know. Was it the death of your litter? If that’s all it was, I might point out—with respect—that you yourself have killed your share of others’ young.”

Blacktail’s eyes narrowed. “I do not wish to think of that night.”

“I am afraid,” she said, “that I must insist.” Her stare was cold. Behind her, the cougars snarled happily.

Blacktail dipped his head slightly, showing submission. “Very well.” He thought for a long time before answering. When he spoke, his voice was a cold rumble. Courtesy was forgotten. “It was not the killing,” he said. The words inched out of him as if he were giving birth. “Not in itself. As you say, killing is a part of life. It was the way in which it was done. If they had come to my hill as hunters, even if she…they…still died…that would have been hard. But it would not have been…”

He shook his head, unable to find the words. “But instead men used their magic. It wasn’t for the hunt. I have no idea what was done to Renren, or to my puppies, or…”

“Or why?” she suggested.

“Yes. Precisely. Why? They did not kill for food, or to protect their young or their lands.” His fur was up now, prickly. His eyes blazed. “What they did to me was a sin against the hunt. It was an abomination.”

The cougars shared a nervous glance.

The Old Kitty Mother purred happily. “Do you think,” she said, “that the Forest God might feel this way as well?”

The sound of her voice seemed to startle Blacktail. He looked up at her and blinked, still lost in his memory. But after a moment he answered. When he did, his tone was more polite. “I cannot say. I would not presume to know the mind of God.”

The Old Kitty Mother’s purr faded. “That is very wise of you,” she said gently. “But perhaps we could at least ask Him. Don’t you think?”

Blacktail wagged his tail once, then again. “Perhaps.”

“You’ll do it, then?”

Blacktail settled back on his haunches. He scented the air of this wild place. His belly was full of rabbit. Earlier, when the wind was just so, I thought I smelled a wolf. More than one, even. It might have been my imagination…but then again it might not. He opened his mouth, searching his scant knowledge of courtesy for the most polite way to say no.

At that moment the Old Kitty Mother tensed, staring at something over his shoulder. Blacktail turned to follow her gaze and saw a light moving fast and straight through the sky. Reflexively, he crouched low to avoid being seen. The fox’s words came back to him then: Quite a different experience on this side of the hunt. The thing in the sky, whatever it was, gave no indication of noticing him. But now he saw the lights of men on the other side of the mountain. Not near…but not that far, either. Blacktail sighed again. The “no” died unspoken on his tongue.

“Do you really think I might find Him?” Blacktail asked. “Be honest. I don’t know anything about these other beasts you mentioned, but you’re wrong about me. I’m nothing special.”

“That’s not true. Your skill at the hunt is without equal. You might surprise yourself.”

Blacktail shook out his fur. “If you say so,” he said. “But it is no little thing to wake a sleeping god.”