Diana Dueyn - The Big Meow

Did I hear music out here? Someone singing? It wasn’t the radio, either.

“I’m sorry,” Rhiow said, “yes, you did. That was Helen’s phone.”

Her phone. He looked at Helen. You have a telephone that you carry around?

She smiled and held it out to him. The Silent Man took it, turned it over in his hands, shook his head.“It’s fairly common where we come from,” she said.

And they can all play music like that?

“They can do all kinds of sounds,” Helen said.

The Silent Man raised his eyebrows. Amazing, he said, handing Helen back the phone. Merman just premiered in that show on Broadway. I thought it might have some staying power —

“You’d be right,” Urruah said. “That song pretty much became the national anthem of Hollywood.”

The Silent Man nodded, then turned toward Rhiow and gave her a strange look. I had some weird dreams last night, he said, looking from her to Hwaith.

“I can understand that you might have,” Rhiow said. “How are you feeling?”

He looked thoughtful. Better than usual. You had something to do with that, did you?

“I did,” Rhiow said. “I’m sorry to have interfered.”

The Silent Man stretched experimentally, then grinned – a most unusual expression to see on him, for there was no emotion associated with it besides pure pleasure. Blackie, he said, you interfere as much as you want.

Rhiow bowed her head to him, while wondering when and how she would be able to tell him what she’d found and what she had not been able to do. Meanwhile, he said, what’s our order of business for today?

‘Our,’ Urruah said silently to Rhiow. I like this ehhif more and more. Though I also keep getting more scared for him…

“I’ll fill you in, cousin,” Hwaith said.

“But in short, we’ll be going back to Dagenham’s this evening,” Urruah said. “There’s dirty work going on up there, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

The Silent Man nodded. I have some business to take care of today. In the meantime, my house is your house… and when you’re ready to move, let me know how I can help.

He headed back toward the kitchen, probably to start the first of the endless pots of coffee, and Hwaith went with him. “Cousins, I’m away,” Helen said. “Call me if you need me. I’ll be back after lunch with whatever news I can find.”

“Dai,” the People in the room said to her. Helen vanished.

“Let’s finish eating and be about our business,” Rhiow said. “Aufwi, I was going to ask you about the gate – “

“It’s acting up again,” he said, sounding almost resigned. “It jumped a quarter mile from its last location… and maybe with reason. Did you feel the little earthquake this morning?”

Rhiow shivered. “No. And maybe that troubles me more than feeling it would have. The thought that I might actually get used to such a thing — !” She licked her nose. “No matter – you and Hwaith and I should go look at it, since ‘Ruah is going to be busy with the data Arhu brought back.”

“What about us?” Siffha’h and Arhu said in ragged unison.

Rhiow spent a few moments considering her options before she answered… but they were limited. “Back to Dagenham’s,” she said. “But not both of you. Sif, your power levels make you stand out too much, and I’m starting to feel paranoid about our comings and goings there attracting too much attention…especially when we have to return tonight. And besides, I have something for which I’ll need you here. Arhu, go back to that room, get in touch with those documents and find out where they originated – then come straight back. And while you’re there, do me a favor. Refrain from the Eye at all costs.”

He stared at her. “Why? Why shouldn’t I – “

“I don’t know,” Rhiow said. “No one whispered it to me, if that’s what you’re asking. I simply have a feeling that it’d be wise for you to avoid using it any further today.”

Arhu looked at her oddly, and Rhiow prayed briefly that he wasn’t going to start up another of his trademark power struggles. But, “All right,” he said after a moment, and without any further ado he strolled out through the French doors and vanished.

“You’re thinking that if an overshadowed wizard is somehow involved with these ehhif who’re meeting secretly at Dagenham’s,” Urruah said, “that he or she might pick up on Arhu – “

Rhiow flicked an ear and wandered over to the French doors, looking out into the back yard. “Best to be safe,” she said. “There was no wizard there last night, I’m certain. A mind that uses the Speech regularly leaves an impress on its surroundings that lasts a little while: we didn’t note anything of the kind. And we’d have picked up on any use of wizardry around us at the party that wasn’t to do with our own group. But if that person plans to be there tonight – who knows, they might be ready to stop in early to prepare something for the evening.” Rhiow glanced up at the sky, rapidly lightening into dawn. “The earlier Arhu gets in there and out again with the information we need, the happier I’ll be.”

She turned away from the window. “Now,” she said. “Siffha’h.”

Sif sat down, her ears erect. She looked a little unnerved, for Rhiow didn’t often call her by her whole name.

Rhiow sat down with her. “There’s likely to be trouble tonight, but not just at Dagenham’s or wherever. After we finish our business, whether in that house or elsewhere, we may have to escape in a hurry: and the spot we escape to will undoubtedly be noticed. Aufwi’s gone off to check on the gate again, but in a while I’m going to consult with him and Hwaith about where else we might securely and secretly den up for a short time. But for the time being, we have to protect the Silent Man and Sheba and the other People who come here. We need to set in a barrier that won’t need further attention, that won’t be immediately obvious even to a wizard looking for it, and that will hold even if we’re under attack or have to escape uptime. You know what powering that kind of spell is going to take.”

Siffha’h licked her nose. “Lifeslice,” she said. “A few weeks’ worth of my life, at least.”

“Are you willing?”

“Are you kidding? I can do it upside down with my feet in the air.”

“I’m not asking how easily you could do it,” Rhiow said. “You know that paying the price can’t be deferred if you’re going to be returning uptime soon, which all of us will be. You’ll have to start paying it here and now, and it’ll decrease your power for the remainder of whatever time we spend back here. If you’re willing to make this expenditure, I need you to consult with the Whisperer and start structuring the spell immediately. You’ll need to leave it part-built in your mind and then finish and execute it when the situation demands. How about it?”

“I can do it,” Siffha’h said. “I’ll start now.”

“You are a queen among queens,” Rhiow said, and licked the kit’s ear. “Let me know when you’re done and I’ll look the structure over.”

Siffha’h headed off toward one of the spare rooms down the hall from the Silent Man’s bedroom. Rhiow glanced over at Urruah. “Shall we step out for a few minutes?”

They slipped outside into the back yard, where a few of the local felines were already starting to show up for the morning buffet. Rhiow and Urruah greeted them, then headed off into the shrubbery nearest the wall.

“Leaving no unnecessary traces of wizardry behind us, you said.” Urruah gave her a look as he sat down on the pine needles that had fallen under the shrubs on that side. “What exactly are you thinking?”

Rhiow tucked herself down on the needles and breathed in the clean dry scent for a few moments. “Well. If Arhu was right – and there’s another wizard involved in this, one who’s overshadowed – “

“We wouldn’t want them to catch sight of us and know we were in play.”

Rhiow had to drop her jaw a little. “It’s always hauissh with you, isn’t it.”

“What else is life,” Urruah said grandly, “but the Game?”

She gave him an ironic look. “Well, surely sex must fit into that worldview somewhere for you.”

Urruah put his whiskers forward. “But you told me to stop discussing the Sex-As-Hauissh paradigm, oh, moons ago now.”

There is no way I can win this, Rhiow thought. “Anyway, yes, I prefer that we stay well out of sight as long as we can. I’m just starting to fear now that we’ve already been seen and lost that advantage. I wish we’d detected that charm sooner.”

“If it wasn’t there, there’s nothing we could have done differently,” Urruah said. “And if it was there, then either it was very subtly done – which warns us of the caliber of opposition we’re dealing with – or it was very underpowered: which suggests that the charm might have been incorrectly built by someone who didn’t understand what they were doing, or ill-handled by someone who was badly instructed.” He paused to wash down the back of his shoulder for a moment, and then gazed off into space. “Either situation might be diagnostic. In any case, I want to look at the thing myself, and I also want to get out there and have another look at that former gate emplacement – if that’s in fact what it is.” Then he looked over at Rhiow again. “But somehow I think that’s not all of what you’re worried about.”

Rhiow’s tail was twitching, and not just at his perceptiveness. “’Ruah,” she said, “if this is the Game, then we’re playing it far deeper than any wizard has before. Deeper than maybe even the Powers have – otherwise why would the Whisperer’s fur be as ruffled as it is? We’re dealing with things from outside the normal physical and spiritual order of our worlds. The Lone One is trouble enough. But at least She’s our trouble. Who knows how power is constituted outside the One’s sheaf of universes? What goes on in other sheaves? Who rules them? Are they even ruled? Is there wizardry there? If so, how does it work?” She shivered. “And can ours compete?”

Urruah’s tail too was twitching now. “You’re thinking we might find ourselves up against some other sheaf’s version of a wizard,” he said. “Or worse: some other sheaf’s version of a Power.”

Rhiow flicked an ear in agreement. “Not a prospect I’m excited about, I assure you! But being prepared is half the battle. If someone contaminated by another continuum’s version of wizardry, or some Power from outside, is working here – then just knowing that’s what’s going on gives us an advantage of sorts. If they expect us to have been taken completely by surprise, then that’s an advantage they’ve lost. It’s hauissh all right, my kit! And we’re caught in the game of our lives.”

“Of everyone’s lives,” Urruah said softly. “Everywhere.”

“So we’d best play hard,” Rhiow said. “Here more than usual, knowledge will be power. We need to know everything that the other players here know – and more than they know. And in a hurry!” Her tail lashed. “Arhu is going to get more of a workout than he’s going to like. And we’re going to catch grief from Siffha’h because of it. Can’t be helped…”

Urruah sighed. “So here we are having to break new ground one more time,” he said. “You’d think that maybe by now some ehhif wizards somewhere might have run up against something similar, and taken a little of the edge off the problem…”

Rhiow had to laugh at him. “’Ruah, as if we’re not perfectly capable of handling what errands the Powers send us without having ehhif help us out! That’s not a sentiment I’d expect to hear from you.”