Cat Karina (24 page)

“No! I wouldn’t presume …!” Tonio was weeping with despair.

“Of course not. What you must understand, Captain Tonio, is that there are bigger issues here than your personal well-being. I had hoped that
Rayo
would be an example to the whole coast of what could be achieved — and coastal unity would have outweighed the felinos’ objections. But you failed to demonstrate the craft’s capabilities. Now I cannot expect any support from the other Cantons if the felinos become … dissatisfied with their lot. And I understand they are dissatisfied. They have refused to assist the remainder of the tortuga fleet, which is now immobilized north of the town. The next step — so I should imagine — is that El Tigre will lead his people in some undisciplined raid on Rangua Town and, possibly, this very Palace.”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Tonio eagerly. “I really don’t think we have to worry about that. No, no. El Tigre? That fool? Never!”

The Canton Lord sighed, as though the effort of unintelligent conversation had finally exhausted him. Slowly and distinctly, he said, “You will leave, now.”

And an Us Ursa entered, carrying black clothing. He dumped this on a chair and approached Tonio. There was no expression on his broad face, but his fingers were curled slightly.

“All right,” said Tonio.

“Put on these cloaks,” said the figure behind the screen. “They will hide your faces — and people in cloaks are generally left alone. My guards will escort you to the Palhoa sailcar. After that, you are on your own. My advice is to take to the mountains. It will be unwise for you ever to come back to Rangua — particularly since I intend to cast you in the role of scapegoat for this disastrous enterprise. It may go some small way towards maintaining law and order in the Canton, and then again it may not.”

“I will never come back,” said Tonio woodenly.

“You didn’t tell me that felina had found out about the tortugas, Tonio.”

There was nothing he could say.

“Goodbye, Captain Tonio.”

That same morning a band of felinos on muleback rode north through the drizzling rain. Wet and tired, they had been riding since dawn, and they had not exchanged one word during that time.

A cold, animal fury burned within them.

They’d helped bury the dead, all except the four crewmen of
Rayo
. Two of those men died in the accident, but the other two had taken to the hills undercover of gathering darkness.

The felinos had sent the grupos after them.

They were caught at midnight, hidden in the branches of a tree on the edge of the tumpfields. A grupo had winded them and had dragged them out of there, screaming. They had every reason to fear for their future. Within an hour of their arrival back at Torres they had been sentenced to death by an ad hoc court and, together with their two dead comrades, had been nailed to crosses on the beach, facing out to sea, in the glow of the still-smouldering
Rayo
. The grupos spent the rest of the night in fruitless search for Tonio and his family and at dawn the search had been called off. The general supposition was that the fugitives had somehow managed to board one of the other cars which was on the hill at the time, and had been whisked south.

It was no problem, the Torres felino chief assured El Tigre. The signalmen would be busy by first light, and descriptions would be flashed all the way to Patagonia. There was no escape.

Meanwhile, the True Human inhabitants of Torres huddled indoors, with doors and shutters barred.…

Now El Tigre rode into Rangua South Stage. The camp had been re-erected overnight, and a number of people from North Stage were there too, because it was generally felt that South Stage would be where the action was.

They expected El Tigre to initiate that action — and this time they would be listening.

“Pegman’s here,” Karina said to Runa. They rode behind the men, like errant children being brought home. “There’s his sailcar. He must have come back right after the accident. Strange he didn’t stay.”

“Have you ever known the Pegman to do what we expect?”

Teressa said, “Probably he’s gone into hiding. After all, he is a True Human. He got out of Torres while the going was good. Did you see how those crewmen kicked, on those crosses? And the yelling — True Humans died noisily, that’s for sure.”

El Tigre and his followers rode grimly up the hill in the direction of the community hut, where a crowd was now gathering. The girls lingered beside
Estrella del Oeste
, pondering the whereabouts of the Pegman. Suddenly their whole world had changed; their sister was dead, the Canton was in an uproar — and the Pegman represented a link with the past; with the childhood they’d left behind so suddenly. Karina fingered the ancient woodwork, slippery with rain.

“Nothing’s ever going to be the same,” she said.

And a voice suddenly spoke, hollow and ghostly.

“Who’s that? Who’s that?”

Karina said, “It’s the Pegman. He’s in there.”

“Have they gone? Huh? Is that you, Karina?” The Pegman’s eyes appeared at a gap in the warped timbers.

“Have who gone?”

“The Palace Guards. They were here, didn’t you know? They commandeered the
Estrella
 — stole it, if the truth be told — and sailed it back from Torres. I was scared, I tell you. When I saw them coming I hid in the hold. I knew they wouldn’t be poking about amongst the kegs of grease.” There was a scuffling and he emerged from the cargo hatch, swung himself to the ground and glanced around nervously. “What’s happening?”

“Father’s holding a meeting,” said Runa.

“We’re going to wipe every True Human off the face of the Earth,” added Teressa.

“I’m a True Human.”

“You’re out of luck, Pegman.”

The Pegman’s eyes sought Karina, but he found little comfort there either. Her face was set, the lips clamped together. Then, after a moment, she said,

“We didn’t find those bastards, Enri. We’ve been looking for them all night. They got clean away.”

“You mean Captain Tonio and his wife and son?”

“That’s who I mean.”

He was silent, remembering the unintelligible discussions on the deck. And those final words, couched in tones of quiet menace,
You will report to the Palace in the morning
. Captain Tonio’s family, in trouble. Enri didn’t know the whole truth of the matter; but one thing he did know, it was easy to misjudge speed in a sail-car.

Rayo
had been so fast.… Unnaturally so. He’d seen a car break away from the shruglegger team once, and run backwards down the bank at Jai’a. And, like
Rayo
, it had hit the curve at terrifying speed, and the guiderail had collapsed.… One felino had been killed. Enri had pitied the captain.…

The El Tigre grupo stood before him, a fighting team.… Enri decided to keep his mouth shut. Casually, and just to change the subject, he asked, “Where’s Saba?”

And their eyes told him.

“Saba?” he said, as something seemed to hit him in the stomach. “Saba?”

“Her neck was broken,” said Karina. “And other things.” She was watching him strangely and, after a moment, she stepped close. “Tell me, Enri. Tell me right now!”

“They were on
Estrella
,” he muttered, unable to look into the furnaces of her eyes. “They’re probably at the house right now. The guards told them to report to the Palace in the morning. They may have left.”

“Come on!” said Karina, beginning to run. “Let’s tell father, quickly!”

The Pegman looked after them. “I couldn’t help it,” he said to himself. He walked to a nearby team of shrugleggers. Cupping his hands trumpet-fashion he bawled at the leader. “Couldn’t help it, couldn’t help it! Couldn’t help it!”

The creature regarded him in dumb puzzlement.

“But father, we’ve got to get after them! Isn’t that what this whole business is about?”

El Tigre regarded Karina somberly. They stood in the community hut on a makeshift stage. The place was jammed; the audience spilled out through the doors. The South Stage leaders were grouped around El Tigre: Diferir, Manoso, Dozo, all the influential felinos united in a common cause.

El Tigre said, “There are more important things, Karina. Tonio is small fry.”

“But Saba.… Your own daughter …!” Karina was shaking his arm trying to get him to look at her; but El Tigre had learned the folly of looking into Karina’s eyes. “How can you fool around with some stupid meeting when the murderers are getting further away all the time! We have to get after them,
now
, and nail them up like we did the crew!”

El Tigre said, “Listen, Karina. The important thing is, the True Humans have started using metal to build ships fast enough to spell the end of us. Look at this crowd. It’s the biggest we’ve ever had — half of North Stage is here, too. And this time we’re united. We’re going to put our plans to these people, and they’re going to agree with them. It’s the revolution, Karina.” Yet there was no excitement in his voice. The spark had died at Torres, with Saba.… “Now, what are they going to say if I send them all running after a couple of True Humans? They’ll ask what kind of revolution this is. They’ll say instead of dealing with the big issues, El Tigre is pursuing a personal vendetta. Can you understand that, Karina?”

“No, I can’t! I can’t believe it, either! We’re just back from burying Saba, and we know who the murderers are, and all you want to do is talk!”

“I’m sorry.” El Tigre’s attention was wandering. Torch was calling the meeting to order and he needed to marshal his thoughts. “That’s the way it is.”

“Well, if you’re not going to do anything about it, I am! I’m going to Rangua with the grupo, right now, and we’re going to hunt down those bastards, and you’re not going to stop us!”

The girls headed straight up the hill at a run.

Arriving at Tonio’s house, they found every sign of a recent hurried departure. Although the rain was still falling steadily they were able to follow the trail into the forest, where three mules had obviously been tethered overnight.

“They headed west,” said Runa, examining the grass.

The felinas loped through the forest. “The Palace,” said Teressa finally, halting and motioning the others to stop, too. Ahead of them lay the vast open area; the grounds, the private sailway running through, and the huge ancient building. And the guards, too powerful for even the grupo to tackle.…

“So what do we do now?” asked Runa.

“There are the mules — see?” Karina pointed. “So they’re still in there somewhere. We just wait for them to come out, let them get clear of the guards, then we take them.” Her fingers itched.

But it didn’t work out like that. Eventually Tonio, Astrud and Raoul emerged, accompanied by two guards. For a while the True Humans stood under the portico, sheltering from the rain. They put on black cloaks, drawing them tight around the neck and pulling the hoods over their heads. Presently a sailcar arrived, halting nearby. The five people climbed aboard, the crew let off the brakes and hauled in the sails, and the car accelerated quickly away, heading north.

“Quick!” shouted Teressa. “After them!”

“No!” Runa grabbed her arm as she was about to run across open ground. “There are guards everywhere. Let’s go back the way we came. If we hurry, we can catch them at the station in Rangua!”

When they reached the station some time later, however, the Lord’s private car was already at the platform and there was no sign of the True Human family. The two guards were there, furling the sails in leisurely fashion, but otherwise the station was deserted.

“They’ve gone into a house somewhere,” said Karina in despair. “How are we going to find them now? It’s no good asking the guards.”

“Maybe when the revolution comes, it’ll flush them out,” suggested Teressa. “According to father, we’ll sweep everything before us. We’ll roust everyone out and line them up, and kill them.” Teressa warmed to her theme. “Then we’ll take their places. We’ll be top cats. We’ll capture the Palace, kill the Lord, and live there with El Tigre as the new Lord. The guards will obey us and we’ll rule the Canton, and if anyone has the gall to step out of line, by Agni we’ll set the guards on him!”

Runa laughed. “I love you, Teressa.”

“We’ll try the inn,” said Karina decisively.

That moment, when the El Tigre grupo entered the Rangua inn in search of Captain Tonio and his family, for some reason caught the imagination of the later bards. It was a moment of some drama, although the couplet in the Song of Earth exaggerates a little. But then, few epics would be worth a damn without poetic licence.…

“She led the fearsome hunting girls into the house of sin,

And terror gripped the drunken soul of every man within.”

In point of fact there was little drunkenness, since it was only mid-morning. And annoyance, rather than terror, was the emotion uppermost in the souls of the men. Specialists were not welcome in the house of sin that morning, with revolution in the air, and the Town Elders holding a meeting upstairs to discuss defensive measures.

Karina stood in the center of the floor eyeing the drinkers who sat around the walls. Teressa and Runa stood in the doorway to discourage anyone from leaving.

“We don’t want any trouble here, now,” said the innkeeper, pausing in the act of filling a pitcher with ale.

“Throw them out!” somebody called.

Karina spat briefly in that direction, then said, “Anyone seen Captain Tonio?”

There was a sullen silence.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me too well.” Karina took the pitcher from the innkeeper and threw its contents into the face of the nearest customer. “We’re looking for Captain Tonio and his family. They were last seen wearing black cloaks, headed this way.”

The customer, spluttering and dashing ale from his eyes, said, “
I
don’t know. Why pick on me?” He was elderly, and shaking with impotent rage. “He hasn’t been in here, that’s all I can tell you.”