| Subject: Cassiel Begins a Plan of Her Own |
Author:
Cassiel, Michael
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Date Posted: 13:29:09 05/25/05 Wed
In reply to:
Azrael/Damian/Raziel
's message, "Azrael's Plans Come Together" on 08:51:16 05/07/05 Sat
It can't take. It won't.
(Of course it will. It has to.)
That's not fair.
(What will you do about it, then?)
Nothing. There is nothing I can do. I must...help Raziel. I must get her out, make her safe.
(But how?)
I'll find a way.
Cassiel came awake some time before she opened her eyes, laying on the low cot with several pelts piled over her - doubtless Raziel's doing. But it gave her no comfort because she still hurt, and she knew that the voice in her dreams was right. Azrael had sought to begin his own race of warriors, and by choosing her as the first mother he had forced loyalty upon her by the most ghastly means. She was inextricably tied to him.
With an effort, she shoved it from her mind and opened her eyes. It didn't matter now. What mattered was getting Raziel away from this prison as quickly as possible. But the girl was not in the room, and Cassiel sat up quickly, breathing hard to dispell her dizziness. She was about to rise but just then Raziel fled back into the room with the Silent Paw kitten at her heels. The girl cried her sister's name and Cass held out her arms, and they sat together on the bed. Cassiel did not cry, and with a free hand reached out to stroke the kitten, who watched them with enormous sad eyes. "What happened?" Cass asked, and Raziel told her all that she had seen in the upper room.
"Child, listen," Cassiel breathed just beside her sister's ear. "We are going to get you and the kit out of here. Today. You must trust me, alright?"
But if Raziel made a reply, Cass never heard it; it was drowned by a new voice that spoke tentatively, almost fearfully, into her mind.
:Cass...Cassiel?:: A boy's voice. ::I think that's you. I...I saw Raziel, and she said....:: He trailed off, unsure.
Cassiel hushed her sister and concentrated. ::Michael, I know your voice and I have never been more glad to hear any sound in my life! But you are in danger here. Remove your mind, quickly, before he hears.::
::Azrael!:: Cassiel was surprised by the sudden strength and anger in her little brother's voice. He sounded far older than his years - ten now, by her calculation. ::I saw him, rujha, sitting on a horrible beast. Is he there? He...he's got you, hasn't he? I'll kill him!::
::Hush, please,:: she begged, straining her ears for sounds on the staircase. ::Michael, darling, he will kill you if he hears you.::
::I don't care! You've got to get out of there, right now.::
::Yes, I know, but I...I'm not sure how.:: Cass flinched at the admission, shamed at having to tell her ten year-old brother that she was at a loss and afraid. But his voice sounded so much like what she remembered of Gabriel's that she could not help but trust the boy, confide in him. He sounded close, and his voice was strong and clear.
::Raziel got out before. Fly away now, fly to me! My companions and I will protect you. I travel with Silent Paw, rujha!::
He sounded proud and a small, desperate smile twisted Cass's lips. ::Your blessing is my bane, rujho. Azrael has made a gift to Raz of a Silent Paw kit, and we cannot leave without it.::
There was a pause. Cassiel's heart was pounding with a knowledge of the danger, but at the same time she hung on her brother's words, closing her eyes as she stroked Raziel's long braid absently. At length, Michael spoke again.
::You can fly, as well?::
::I can fly or run, rujho. Raziel and I - we have no lirs, we are not limited to one shape.::
His reply was immediate, as though he had somehow anticipated her answer: ::Then be Silent Paw yourselves. Run with the kit. Paw are sure on the slopes, sister, I rode one through the Pass myself. Come down to the plains and I will meet you! Maybe Jeff will be awake by then, too.::
For a moment Cassiel was stunned at the simplicity, and then shook her head her head. ::We will come. Go, now - I will call to you when we are near.:: She shut the connection herself, reminding him again of the danger, and stood quickly, taking Raziel's hand.
"Come," she said to both of them. "There is a way out of here - there must be. Silent Paw do not fly. Our brother's hunters run on four feet, and so shall we. Remember Gwennie, Raz? Silent Paw can be lirs. And so...we can be Silent Paw."
She knelt in the doorway and touched the kitten's fur, smiling at it kindly. "Little one, you must show us the way. Use your nose, for ours will be unpracticed. We will take you home."
For the rest of her life, Cassiel never forgot the shy sweet smile that surfaced on the kitten's thin, dirty face.
With a pelt around each girl's shoulders, they followed the kitten down the stairs at a run. There was no time to pause and think, no time to take any food or clean robes; there was nothing in their minds but flight and escape, and their thin shoes were almost silent on the stone steps. Cassiel's fears were realized when the chains barring the heavy door below the kitchen were firmly in place, but the kitten did not lead them there. It ran into the kitchen itself, past the meager shelves and greasy hanging pots and stopped by a particular floor-level cupboard. It was always empty so Cassiel rarely bothered with it, but with remarkably dextrous paws the kitten reached out and gripped the handle, pulling the door open. At once it crawled in and butted its head firmly against the back wall, which fell back on a hinge. The kitten looked back at them eagerly.
Cassiel was breathless that escape had been so close all this time. Azrael had doubtless laughed at them endlessly in his arrogance and cleverness. "Now is the time. Concentrate, Raz. I know we've never been Silent Paw, but look at our little friend, remember Gwennie. Try now."
She closed her own eyes and concentrated, and the form came easier than she might have thought. It felt like slipping into a coat that has hung in a cold closet for a long time but still fits perfectly. Cass breathed in with new lungs, lifted new ears, saw the world from a new and brilliant perspective. Her nose was filled with the stench of rot and dust and countless thin meals long since gone. She looked ahead and saw Raziel, scarcely bigger than the kitten, clothed in a green that reminded Cassiel of the leaves in spring above their village in the West. Looking down, she saw that her own legs were black, and her coat was some light color indistinguishable in the dim light.
"Go," she whispered, speaking a new language.
The kitten's eyes were shining. "Follow me," she said, perfectly clear. She led the way into the tunnel, followed by Raziel and Cassiel. It tilted steeply downward, and far away, Cass could scent fresh air.
"Go on ahead," she told her companions. "We will be harder to see if we are not together."
They crept on obediently, trying not to fall forward on the steep slope, and Cassiel waited until they were well ahead before turning around carefully and making her way back into the kitchen. I will be damned, she thought resolutely, if I leave that tiger. Keeping her Silent Paw skin, she bounded for the staircase with no idea of what she would do, yet determined.
::I am coming,:: she sent to it, not caring if Azrael heard or not. Raziel was safe, and now she had nothing to lose.
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