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- 05/01/2018
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Here Kitty, Kitty - 18. Chapter 8.2
Kitryn woke up when someone tapped on the door. There was still enough sun visible that Simon was sound asleep on the next bed.
Outside he found the same guard who’d escorted them the night before. The man bowed his head slightly and stated deferentially, “Elder Patrick asks you attend him in the meeting room. He asks the lady stay with the kits and the nightwalker.”
Kitryn had to smother a grin, nightwalker was an archaic term for a vamp and the guard was showing his age just by using it.
“Lead the way.”
Kitryn entered the room to find Elder Patrick already there and seated at the lone table with a meal set before two chairs.
“Elder Patrick,” Kitryn greeted with a nod.
“Please, call me Paddy, we don’t stand on ceremony here. Be seated and enjoy the meal, I’m sure you're hungry and since I guess you and the lady are feeding the vamp as well you will need the energy.”
Kitryn sat and waited for Paddy to start before eating his own food. After a few bites, he ventured a question of his own.
“Can I take this as a positive? Have you decided whether we can stay or not?”
Paddy smiled. “Yes, it has been decided you can stay. But,” He added before Kitryn could celebrate too much, “it is only temporary to start with. I will be questioning you all closely. I believe—as does my den’s seer—that what happened to you and your family will have a wider impact and we need to make ready.”
Kitryn nodded and knew he must be grinning like a fool. “Anything you wish,” he agreed eagerly. They were safe! It may be only temporary, but they were safe for now.
The rest of the meal past with Paddy only asking some more probing questions about Kitryn’s family and what happened. By the time they’d finished Kitryn retuned to their room to find Simon sat up awake and rubbing his eyes.
Kitryn sat beside Simon on his bed and filled him in. Simon grinned. “So, we can stay? Seriously?”
Kitryn chuckled. “Yes, we can stay. In return for answering their questions.” His laughter faded as he thought about the wider implications. “If this is more than someone wanting to take over Mars’ group, then we may not be safe even here. But, there are no better protectors than the bears, so we’ll stay and help to see if we can find out what’s happening. I don’t see how this could be anything else, but seers are rarely wrong and if Paddy’s says something bigger is going on, then we owe it to our host to help. And of course, there’s the saying ‘Where’s there's smoke, there’s fire’.”
Yells of “Kitty” and “See-moan” cut off any further conversation and Kitryn chuckled again at Simon’s face. The kits couldn’t seem to pronounce his name right and it gave Kitryn no end of amusement. Running footsteps heralded the kits arrival and Kitryn and Simon held their arms out to catch the kits as they made running jumps onto the bed.
Meg followed the kits and so their evening started.
They got the kits seated at a small table that a guard brought them and made sure they all had everything they needed. Kitryn filled Meg in on his meeting and the agreement that had been reached.
Meg nodded. “There is something going on. The magic that was used to control Mars was strong and far above any bumbling mage that would be trying to sell his skills to the highest bidder. The caster would have had to have reached, or be almost at master level. Anyone below that level would be running the risk of doing something wrong and having the spell blow up in their face.”
“Bad magic girl.” Fran’s words caused everyone to stop and stare.
Meg looked at Kitryn and Simon before addressing Fran. “What do you mean girl, Fran? You mean someone like me? A woman?”
But Fran shook her head. “Bad magic girl. Like moma.”
Kitryn froze. His sister had only been young. Far too young for this ‘magic girl’ to be old enough to be at master level. He didn’t bother asking Fran if she was sure. She wouldn’t have said anything if she wasn’t.
“Do you know anything else, Fran?”
Fran scrunched up her nose. “Yellow hair like Hetty. Dirty. She cross. She no get what she wanted.”
“And what did she want?” Kitryn asked fearing the answer.
Fran looked him in the eye and said the one thing he’d feared most of all. “Me.”
As always thank you to everyone who reads/reacts/comments...it all means a lot.
And of course, thank you to Timothy M for his continued help.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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