Chapter 1

‘My lord? It’s been done,’ the Catstle-man General reported to his sovereign. A bitter taste came to his mouth as he began to give the rest of his account.

‘You’re sure all the villagers are dead?’ the dark featured man King inquired carefully.

‘As sure as we can be-‘

‘”As sure as you can be”?’ a sharp feminine voice interrupted, ‘What do you mean, “As sure as you can be”?’

The General glanced up startled he had not noticed that the woman had come into the throne room during the briefing. He glanced sharply to his King questioning.

‘It’s all right, R’aien was the one who helped orchestrate this advance she has a right to know,’ the Ruler responded gesturing that he should continue.

The Catstle-man nodded and proceeded. ‘What I meant is that all the villagers in the vicinity of the village have certainly been killed. But there may have been those who may have escaped us. There is always that possibility.’

R’aien glared at the Catstle-man unconvinced.

‘You are dismissed,’ she vaguely waved a hand towards the door.

Once the cat-man was gone she turned on the man sitting upon the throne.

‘He was deceiving you, Reigon,’ she hissed irritably at him. ‘I could sense it. You must remove him from your ranks. He will weaken your position and may I remind you that you’re position is not particularly strong.’

‘The men trust him. They have been following him since my brother’s time. And then he was a close advisor of my brother and a trusted friend. I cannot simply remove him from my roster. Not until things level out at least.’ The King replied heatedly.

‘Then I would advise you to watch your back. Closely.’

The Catstle-man(1) left the King’s Throne Room. The meeting had not gone as planned. In fact it had been a complete disaster. He had not expected the witch R’aien to be there. He suppressed a shudder, ever since she had come to the Kingdom things had gone awry. It began with the death of the Queen, then after a time the healthy King, and then there was the declaration that the Crown Prince was a traitor. And now the younger brother whom the witch had been close to since she appeared in the Kingdom’s court was in power. It didn’t add up too many coincidences were in the works. It was all made too convenient. But no one in power seemed to be concerned, no one seemed to be asking questions: about the sudden death of the Queen and then the king and now, as to why the Prince was declared a traitor. They seemed to simply accept it as fact and move on without query.

He sighed deeply he had meant to ask the King if he could keep a child he had found at the bottom of the pile of villagers he had just lead the massacre of. It was improper for serving soldiers of his country to have family -much less children - especially non-human soldiers. It would be inconceivable for a cat-man like himself to raise a human child like the one he had found.

So, he supposed this was for the best after all, the Lord most likely would have ordered to have her killed. But if she was properly hidden and brought up no one would be the wiser.

He mused silently to himself for the rest of the journey to his elegant Farian(2) style home astride his battle seiger(3).

Kyh’yea blinked wearily. Her head… no her whole body hurt and her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth.

Where am I? She thought confused.

‘Oh! You’re awake!’ a pleasant voice exclaimed.

Kyh’yea sat up, too quickly perhaps, for her head swam. And soon she was doubled over again hacking violently. Then, as a wave breaks upon a beach everything crashed back upon her again. Feeling her head swim again she promptly blacked out.

Footnotes

(1)A man with cat-like features (Anthropomorphism). A different species from humans; typically considered to be inferior to humans.

(2)Graceful asian style housing with a Western flare.

(3)Roughly a horse sized tiger-esque creature.