Free Catacombs by Anne McCaffrey Page B

gallantry toward Renpet. I was not too young to respond to the scent with a quivering warmth in my stern.
    All we have to worry about is the humans, I’m pretty sure
, Jubal said,
and I think I can handle that
.
    In perhaps five rapid heartbeats he said,
Okay, they’re all watching me now, facing away from the statue. Tell Renpet to make a run for it
.
    “Come on!” I told Renpet, a command relayed to the girl, and we sprinted back up the ramp and through the open mouth of the statue. The girl did not come the same way exactly, which made sense, as the hole was large for a cat but not nearly adequate for a human, even a young one.
    We were just clear of the statue’s mouth when I heard a cry and Renpet tried to turn back. “They’ve taken her! I thought you said your boy had detained the guards!”
    “Where is she?”
    “Humans use the servants’ entrance, of course, under the Great Mau’s tail. We must free her! Who else would care for me? Besides, she has my mother’s remains!”
    “Well, you can’t help her if they have you too!” I said.
Jubal, we have to go back for the girl. There were guards at the statue’s tail
.
    I know. They’re dragging her out now. Tell the princess to hide. And call the kittens. Maybe they can tangle the guards’ feet and I can free her
.
    “Jubal and the kittens are going to try to free your friend,” I told Renpet. “Meanwhile, we have to hide.”
    “Cover me!” she said.

CHAPTER 9
    S urrounded by the feline revelers, I leaped on top of Renpet, giving her a well-deserved thump and a bite as I did so. To my surprise, she emitted a moaning sound as if I were doing her more of a favor than simply hiding her.
    Behind me, back toward the statue, the captain shouted, “Jubal, catch the kittens!”
    I rolled Renpet head over tail so we were facing the statue. Two human guards were holding Renpet’s handmaiden, her head hanging down so her hair concealed her face. They stood by the statue’s mouth, the guards no doubt awaiting orders from the absent queen. Flekica’s kittens, led by my brothers Bat and Sol, chased each other through the maze of cats and tangled the guards’ feet while Jubal, Captain Loloma, and Beulah tried to catch them, dodging and feinting around the guards. Simultaneously Jubal barreled after them and into one of the men holding Renpet’s servant, knocking him off his feet. As the guard began to fall, he dragged the girl with him. Captain Loloma caught him by the arm holding the girl, and Jubal pretended to stagger back, knocking the other guard off balance too. The girl broke free and leaped over the cats as if she too were a particularly agile feline.
    Renpet clawed me as she slid out from under me and bounded after the girl. In two more leaps she was balanced on top of the roughly cone-shaped basket the girl had strapped to her back.
    A few of the guests stopped eating or woke up to stare at the departing renegades. Then six toms and five females of the native race broke from the party and sprinted after them in hot pursuit. I was right behind.
    Chester, wait!
Jubal cried.
    Be right back
, I said. I had no particular plan, but I wanted to see what would happen. Would those other cats or their humans hurt the fugitive princess and her friend, as she said, or was she exaggerating to make herself sound important? That they chased her really didn’t mean much. She was running, after all, so of course they were chasing. Pretty soon so were many others, and the temple entrance and courtyard swarmed with cats, first the Mauans and then, curious like me, my fellow Barque Cats.
    I hopped atop a wall and spotted the escapees disappearing into one of the houses. No one was paying any attention to me so I jumped down and then up toward the nearest roof, and then the next, and the one after that. Renpet’s scent, the girl’s, and the dead smell of the late queen told me when I’d reached the right house. Their other pursuers had covered those telltale scents