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The Roadscholar
Nakia was drawn down through the branches by the longest arm he could imagine. Each of its fingers wrapped around him at least once so if he had an inclination to free himself, there was no chance. He was pulled through to a small chamber in the middle of the nest surrounded by walls of branches and dirt. All at once the fingers unbound and he was released to the floor.
The sound of thrashing and screeching rang out from above and Nakia ran to a dark corner. A tall thin figure stood at the opposite end of the room, its neck elongated with its head and other arm still lost in the branches above.
“Ha ha,” the tall man cried out taunting. “You can’t get in here can you?” He reached his arm into the branches again. “Over here! No! Over here!” He giggled again before pulling his arms and head down out of the thick foliage above. The arms shrunk down until he was proportioned. The screeching and thrashing above finally stopped and the man turned to Nakia. He was little more than a skeletal figure, tall, covered in dirt and filth that flaked off when he moved.
Nakia crouched even lower, “You didn’t have to taunt it like that.”
“Oh didn’t I? Are you referring to the thing trying to eat you? Childish entertainment, nothing more. One takes what one can get for there is little more in this place.” Nakia remained poised to run. Where he might run was still to be determined.
“Nothing to worry about for now. You are as safe as I am.” He moved over to the wall dribbling bits of earth and sat on a large branch that suddenly reached out to receive him. His body creaked and cracked as his knees bent for him to sit.
Nakia remained poised.
“You might as well relax for there is no place to go unless you have a way of escaping or calling for help. I have neither.”
“Who are you?”
“Oh,” he stood suddenly, his body crackling, pardon my manners. I am the Roadscholar.” He said this with a bow of his head as if he were making a revelation.
Nakia’s expression didn’t change, though his head tilted to the side questioningly.
The Roadscholar looked up with an equal question on his face, “Never heard of me?”
Nakia shook his head.
“Humph… most who find their way here have at least heard of me. I am sort of a legend.”
Nakia continued to stare.
“How old are you?” the Roadscholar asked.
“Four.”
“Hum? What is four? No, how old are you, Kingsome, Queensome, Jokesome, Lostsoem or Knowsome. What is your age?”
“Four. I am four years old.”
The Roadscholar stared and suddenly understanding crossed his dirty face, “Are you… are you from the Yonderland?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“It is the place from which things come to arrive here. Quite often it seems, but no one ever sees them arrive. There is one group of animals taking over the Tulgey Wood now. The Caterwaul. They sort of look like… well, they sort of look like you as far as I have seen, but they are much larger. They have great loud voices and they scream a lot. Given half a chance, they will eat almost anything. Truly eat! Trees, birds, flowers, they’d even eat me theoretically. Actually if they would only eat the Jubjub then we would all be fine, but Yonderland is quite a horrific place from what I have heard. In fact you…” He stood, but when Nakia crouched fearfully he raised his hands and sat back down. “I’m sorry, but you are not a caterwaul are you?”
Nakia shook his head slightly, his heavy green eyes staring at the Roadscholar, “I am a cat.”
“Never heard of a cat. You have a name?” the Roadscholar asked.
“Nakia.”
“Never heard of that either. Nakia the Cat,” the Roadscholar’s brow furrowed, causing dirt to flake from his forehead. “Or is it Nakiacat, Catnakia, or something like that? I’m not certain, but those names sound at least somewhat familiar.”
Nakia didn’t know how to answer so he remained silent.
“I didn’t name you,” the Roadscholar said in a flat tone and shook his head. “So you see, things come through from Yonderland, strange things that most have never seen before. They arrive Heere.”
“What is Heere?”
“Heere is where we are, for we are not there. There is not Heere.”
Nakia stared.
“This place,” the Roadscholar raised his arms. “This place is Heere and this is, as far as I know, the only place you can be, other than there. For everything else is not in this place for it is there, which is not Heere. So in answer to your question, this is Heere. And everything else is there, or not Heere.”
“Does this place have a name?”
“Not that I have ever heard it called, and so, as I do the naming, I simply called it Heere. There is Yonderland, but there are many places in Heere that have not been named. For example,” he looked around the small room and reached out, “This is the nest of the Bandersnatch. That is… This is the place it became after I reimagined it. It is not a nice place to be. I have been in this… Heere for many somes, so many somes many believe the roads were never mine and that I never was. Can you imagine that? To be and to be believed to never have been. If that were so, then may I ask you where did the roads come from?”
Nakia was not following any of what the Roadscholar was saying, so he remained silent.
“I am the pioneer. I discovered everything Heere and named it so, when everything else was just everything else.”
Nakia was quietly regarding the Roadscholar who was becoming more solemn and to himself as he spoke.
“It seems I am condemned to stay here for I have found no way out.”
“How did you get here?” Nakia finally asked and brought the Roadscholar back.
“The Bandersnatch. Its nature was… just to snatch what it finds interesting and bury it. Back then the Jubjub terrorized the sky so I recreated it. I recreated them both and then the Bandersnatch, snatched me. It snatched me and dropped me here.”
“So what was that thing up there?”
“That was the Jubjub. The Jubjub now eats Bandersnatch droppings,” the Roadscholar said.
“And there is no way to climb down from here?” Nakia asked.
The Roadscholar gave a long melancholy, uncomfortable smile. He stood and moved to the other side of the room not caring about Nakia suddenly crouching in alarm. He pulled at a branch on the far side of the floor letting the dirt fall away, then another. He stretched and crawled down a bit. His body elongated to allow him access then he pulled out some other branches before backing out of the hole. He moved back to the other side of the room and sat back down. “Take a look,” he said. “Careful not to fall.”
Nakia crept forward slowly and glanced into the hole, then back up.
“You need to really look. There is no place for either of us to go.”
Nakia carefully climbed into the hole, sticking his head down through the branches. The drop was dizzying and terrifying like staring into the reality of the Bandersnatch and how high the bird had taken him. The tops of the trees could be seen so far below they looked like twigs sticking up from the ground. The entire shaft of the tree was smooth wood, with no bark or branches all the way down to the tree line.
Nakia climbed back up out of the hole feeling woozy staring down from such a height.
The Roadscholar threw his hands up, “I can dig through branches with no problem. I can reach a great distance, but certainly not that far and my hands cannot get any sort of purchase without the bark.”
“What happened to the bark?”
“The bark is what the Bandersnatch eats now. It is food for him and gives his tree protection from any sort of predator trying to climb up. His actual droppings are not, but dirt and bark, which is coincidentally what I eat.”
Nakia looked at his claws and got a hold of a branch and pulled.
The Roadscholar stared in wonder at him. “What is that?”
“What, my claw?”
“You must be at least part caterwaul for they too have protrusions such as those.” He made to get up and stopped, “May I?”
Nakia reached out a paw and extended his claws.
“They are sharp. Are you a good climber?”
“Well, all cats are good climbers. Much better than dogs or baboons,” he stopped and remembered his friend for a moment.
“I have never heard of baboons, but I do recall something of dogs.”
“Yes, lesser creatures from where I come from. Yonderland I guess.” Nakia said.
“All four of your feet have these claws?”
“Yes.” Nakia showed the Roadscholer the bottom of his feet.
“Interesting. Do you think you could climb down the tree from here?”
Nakia looked shocked and thought about the drop, “I don’t know. It’s a long drop if I fall.”
“Yes, but if your claws dig into the body of the tree it would be no problem for you.”
Nakia remained silent.
“Look you are not going to have a choice. I don’t think you can eat Bandersnatch droppings.” He looked down. “You aren’t the first creature to survive and come down here.”
“What happened to the others?”
The Roadscholar shook his head, “They are all different. Some go crazy and they attack me to see if they can eat me. They can’t, for I am just earth and bark. I am, of the road, if you will. Some try to climb down, but they fall. Others just jump.” He made a sad face, “Others get tired. They go out into the nest and wait for the Jubjub to take them. And still others wait and waste away telling me their stories, while they slowly starve to death. Then, I drop them through the hole.”
Nakia’s whiskers dropped, his ears flattened and his green eyes bulged at the horror of it.
“So you should at the very least think about it. If your claws hold to the tree…” He stopped and stared at Nakia, his brow furrowing causing a mist of dirt to fall over his face. “Well, you will have a better chance than the others.”
“I might get some hold, but with the bark stripped away… The wood is so dense. I don’t think my claws will have enough purchase to climb down.”
The Roadscholar thought for a moment. “You know,” he said standing. “I know just about everything there is to know Heere and I think it might be able to help you out, but you must be very careful with it.” He reached a small area along the wall of branches and mud. He moved the leaves aside, reached in and pulled out what looked like a handful of gravel. “Okay now,” he held his hand out. “These are bits and pieces I have collected over the years. Things people left behind or the Bandersnatch dropped. This will sort you out, but you can’t exactly eat them.”
Nakia looked at the bits and pieces, “What are they?”
“Some of this could make you bigger, and some of this could make you smaller,” he looked into his hand confused. “But I can no longer tell which will do what, which might do... or don’t… do,” He reached up and scratched his head looking confused causing a shower of dirt to fall to the ground. “They are only bits and pieces now and we… Well, we will have to hope and test.” The Roadscholar did not look very sure of himself.
“What are they?” Nakia asked.
“Well, they are bits of mushrooms and cookeys. Allow me,” He took one of the small pieces and held it up. “Stick out your tongue.”
Nakia tried to feel if something bad was going to happen. He sensed nothing, but the Jubjub bird’s intentions were quite clear and he sensed nothing from it either.
The Roadscholar waited. “I assure you it is not poison,” he said.
Slowly Nakia stuck out his tongue.
The Roadscholar touched a bit of something to it and stepped back. Nakia drew his tongue in. It tasted of nothing, but a moment later Nakia picked up the faint residue of earth, of something grown, minerals perhaps.
“Do you feel anything?”
Nakia shook his head. “No.”
“Humph, they are very old. Perhaps they do not work anymore.” He set the piece back in his hand and selected another. Nakia stuck out his tongue again, and again the Roadscholar placed something on it then stepped back questioning.
Nakia waited. The same mineral earthy taste came again, but no sensation. “Maybe I should eat it,” he was taking note of how hungry he suddenly found himself.
“No you don’t what to eat this. Not in here anyway. If it works,” he looked around at the small enclosure. “Oh my… no, really you don’t want to. Let us try another.”
Nakia stuck his tongue out again, and again, then another, while the Roadscholar shook his head puzzled. “Perhaps they’ve gone bad.”
“What is supposed to be happening?” Nakia asked, suddenly feeling a strange tickling sensation in his stomach, like falling a short distance. His head went fuzzy again and…
“Woah!” the Roadscholar exclaimed.
Nakia looked up and suddenly found himself eye to eye with the Roadscholar. Before he could speak there was a popping sound and suddenly he was staring at the Roadscholar's shoes standing balanced on two branches. The popping sound came again and he was only standing on one. A great whoosh of air came and they were eye to eye again. Another whoosh and his head struck the top of the small enclosure.
A series of crackling sounds began all around the room and below. Nakia felt the floor of the nest beginning to give way from his weight. He instinctively reached up, latching onto the ceiling of the enclosure causing a rain of dirt to fall. Suddenly his head was forced up through the branches with a crash. The Roadscholar was pressed against the far wall and the entire room began to creak from the strain. The Roadscholar muffled something indistinguishable into the cat’s fur. One of Nakia’s hind legs broke right through the floor just as a large pop sounded again.
Nakia found himself dangling by his neck with his head stuck in the hole at the top of the room. The branches slipped and he dropped back to the floor. He moved away from the hole and was eye to eye with the Roadscholar again for a moment before a second pop, and he was back to himself on the floor with his eyes wide in shock and terror.
“I will thank you not to do that again.” The Roadscholar said with a mixture of terror and relief.
The Old Man & The Kitty
Nakia coughed and the sound came muffled in the mud. His rear leg shot out in a spasm again and with all four paws he pushed himself up and rose out of the street. There were no wagon wheels or horses at the moment, but people were still around. From the thick muddy street and looked around, disoriented. There was a meowing hiss. The cat he had been chasing was sitting on the opposite side of the street hissing at him. He needed to get out of the street before anything else came by.
Nakia moved awkwardly, his neck and back at an odd angle and his eyes in pain. He felt heavy from the thick mud caked onto his fur and moved to the sidewalk as fast as he could. His neck adjusted with a grotesque snap and the pain vanished from his eyes as they suddenly corrected themselves. He tried to shake off the mud without much luck, but he found a barrel full of water near some steps to a doorway. He climbed the steps, he was so heavy. He attempted to leap onto the barrel, but ungraciously flopped in with a splash. The weight on his fur caused him to sink, but the mud dissipated and he clawed his way out.
Nakia sat on the steps cleaning himself. He was upset and let the fury consume him. The Princess of Hearts had been taken. He thought of Chione. He didn’t want to be back here. He stopped licking and looked around. Why was he here? He didn’t go through the glass. This entire world changed the last time and this time he was gone for a day and only seconds had passed. Nothing made sense. What had his brother said? Time moved differently between the worlds, sometimes fast, sometimes slow and sometimes backwards?
Several horses went by dragging covered wheeled chariots behind them. People could be seen inside similar to pharaoh. This place had no sun however. It was gloomy and grey. That and the wet filth he was covered in added to his anger. He needed to find a looking glass on this side. Not like the ones in Pharaoh’s palace, but like the ones on the other side. He stared at his muddy reflection in a puddle, tapping it with his paw. What would happen if he approached a looking glass on this side? His brother wanted him to die, nine times he said. Nakia didn’t understand why. He said he couldn’t go back because he didn’t have a body to go back to. So why did Nakia keep coming back?
He didn’t enjoy being wet or covered in mud, it clouded his hair and invariably his senses, but in this place… He looked around for a moment. Then he let his mind wander like he did before. He had grown even bigger this time and felt the déjà vu course through him, the feelings even stronger than before. He could control it, like stepping out of himself when he was Heere. He was much bigger now and his stripes had changed somewhat. His coat had lightened and now had a brown orange tinge to it, but his stripes were changing as well, twisting into odd looking spots.
He had to find a looking glass and see if he could pass through it. It shouldn’t be too hard with the extra sight he had. If it worked on this end he might stay Heere because he would no longer have a body to go back to. He hoped it worked from this end.
“Get out a here ya filth!” A woman’s voice screamed and Nakia was off the ledge and running down the alley.
He walked a few blocks trying to sense something, but realized he was very hungry. He could smell the ocean in one direction and with it came the scent of fish. He moved through the streets. The buildings, so tall he couldn’t see the tops of some of them. Every one of them was like a palace, but everything was dingy. He stopped and thought for a moment. His memory of Heere and this being Yonderland was not fading as it did last time. The last time he was in this place, he had hardly arrived when he went back. He would ask the Roadscholar about it, if he ever saw him again.
Then… something growled… a dog’s snout came in fast snapping at his head… Ahead was an open doorway where the dog would suddenly emerge from. He crossed the street and ran past the doorway realizing his déjà vu was reaching ahead for a greater amount of time.
He no longer felt any fear as he walked around on this side of the looking glass. He was not always being warned of any sort of impending danger, even in a place as strange as this. If death found him he would be back on the other side, which is where he wanted to be anyway. Still, dying was not fun and not a permanent solution. Nine lives wasn’t it? And if getting rid of his body on this side was the trick, getting torn to pieces or perhaps eaten by a dog was not something he wanted to experience.
The scent of fish was getting stronger and he was hungrier than ever. He had just come back twice, gotten twice as big as when he began and he hadn’t eaten a thing. He found a relatively clean puddle and drank. People were all around, some kicked at him as they passed, but he knew they were going to do it before they tried. He needed to get off the ground. He climbed a pile of nets riddled with the odor of fish. A man went by carrying a sack full of fish heading inland.
He meowed.
“Not for you beauty,” the man said.
From atop the pile of nets Nakia could see a distance towards the docks. Two huge ships were at the far end. Pharaoh had ships, but nothing like these. Nakia let his green eyes roll up to the tops of the sails. They were the biggest ships he had ever seen, as high and large as palaces themselves. On the opposite end were smaller ones being unburdened of their cargo. Rope cranes were lifting nets bulging with fish. He moved closer to these and watched. A few fish slipped out and fell as it moved and Nakia shot through the people. A scruffy man came out of the crowd and snatched the fish up. He had a strong unwashed scent and stunk of things Nakia couldn’t identify. Rather than stop Nakia leapt onto the man’s greatcoat and climbed to his shoulder to bat for the fish.
“Aye now, precious. Hey, hey what’s this?” the man turned around.
Nakia clung to the sleeve with three of his paws and batted at the fish with the other.
“Alrighty then you stingy thing,” the man said, holding the fish so Nakia could nibble on it.
“Come on now. I’ll let ya have a taste there.”
The old man moved away from the dock. He turned down a narrow alley and moved towards the back corner behind a building where several barrels were stacked beneath an overhang. There was no telling how old the man was, but he was quite agile. He leapt over the barrels and beneath the overhang without moving them, if one was to look down the alley there would be no telling anyone was there.
A sail was laid out and folded so the area was dry and off the ground. The man sat laying the fish down. There were three of them. He dropped a dry piece of wood on the embers of a small fire. “That’s it kitty,” he said.
In a flash his hand shot to his sleeve and grabbed Nakia and set the cat down near the fire and beside the fish. Nakia cowered a moment before realizing if the man had any ill intentions he would have sensed it.
“You’re a big one ain't ye?”
The old man pulled a crude knife from his greatcoat and set the fish out and began cleaning them. He set the innards and heads aside and allowed Nakia to feast. Then he skewered the cleaned pieces and set it above the fire to cook while Nakia filled his belly.
“Well you are certainly one for a meal you are.”
Nakia looked up. He understood the man completely and said, “Yes.” and “Thank you,” but it came out as two meows.
The old man stared. “You really are a big one.”
Nakia looked down at himself and wondered if this was what was going to happen every time he came back? The cleaned fish turned a very nice white color while Nakia finished with his own and began to stare at the others.
“Okay now, but these be for me. We’re going to have to venture out if ye still be wantin mer.” The old man said.
Nakia meowed again.
The old man looked at the cat, almost comprehending. He considered a moment then shook his head and finished the fish. The rain started after that and they remained beneath the awning. Nakia cleaned himself while the old man played with his knife.
“We could stir up some rats if yer up fer a chase. They not be good eatin, but they’ll do if they be no fish.”
Nakia meowed again and the man leaned in.
“Now lookey here. I be a swarthy toothed sea dog, but I’ve seen me some things a time or two and I knows animals that be smart as men and smarter’n some and some that just be look it cause they knowed a word or two and they speak or bark at the right time, so it be seeming like they be knowed a thing they don’t.”
Nakia meowed.
“Now what's that there? Is it by you knowing that I be done speaking or by you listening to my speaking I’m wondering. You seem a big smart thing by your eyes. How smart ye be I’m wondering so. By the gods there be those that call me crazed, but I’m going to speak to yer just the same. Does ye know the words I speak?”
Nakia meowed.
“Show me yer claws then or I’ll have done with ye.”
Nakia raised his paw and flexed his claws.
“By the gods…” the old man said. “Ye do know me words.”
Nakia meowed again.
“What it be meanin? If cats be getting smart as men then we all might be truly doomed.”
Nakia stared.
“Are there more of ye?”
Nakia didn’t know how to answer, but said yes. It only came out as a meow.
“Can ye shake or nod or… here then this be yes,” the old man moved his head up and down.
Nakia looked up then down moving his head a bit.
“And this ere be no…” the old man moved his head from side to side.
Nakia did the same, but it was awkward.
“That be it ye furry beast. Now are there more of ye?”
Nakia thought about the question. His brother was the only other he knew of and he was off in the other place, quite literally dead to this world with no body to come back to. So there were perhaps no more. But there were others he had seen die and they had not come back even though their bodies were there. He wasn’t the only cat to be wrapped up like that either. He had seen others on that shelf. Nakia wondered again what the caterwaul were. His brother said they used to be cats. So what was so different about him? He was still around and he had yet to find anyone like him.
Nakia looked at the man and moved his head back and forth.
“That can no be. Are ye saying that ye be the only one of yer kind?”
Nakia nodded.
“I spent me a time searching for booty I have, but you be the greatest treasure one could find me thinks.”
Nakia simply stared at the old man.
They stayed up late the first night. The old man’s name was Oliver Merrick. Most people just called him Merrick. He asked Nakia numerous questions and the two of them eventually came to communicate beyond shakes to one meow for yes and two meows for no. Merrick lived at the docks looking for work, surviving on fish and rats. Nakia had his intuition and it wasn’t long before the old man learned to trust it.
“Do ye think we should venture that way?” he would ask. Nakia would be perched on the shoulder of his great coat and would then meow once or twice. Merrick had disagreed with Nakia once in these decisions and got into some trouble with some young drunken sailors who beat him up. Now he no longer questioned. Nakia still wanted to find a looking glass, but his intuition seemed to be of no help, until one day a looking glass found him.
Merrick reached into the folds of his greatcoat, “Lookey here. A maid done dropped her looking glass.” He sat staring into it for a long moment. “I’d knowed I was swarthy looking. Though I’d not knowed I’d changed so.” He turned the looking glass back and forth staring at his reflection then showed Nakia who stared past himself to look for his brother in its depths. Nothing. And if this was a way through he wondered how he would accomplish it, the looking glass being such a small thing.
When Merrick slept, Nakia stared into the looking glass looking for his brother, but all to no avail. Perhaps something had happened. He had only been back for a few days, but he wondered how time was working there, how long had it been. He needed to find a larger looking glass. There were numerous windows reflecting things better than ones on Pharaoh’s palace, but they were still unclear and dull.
Nakia would stay with Merrick walking around the docks looking for work and food. He would also go off on his own exploring areas too small for the old man to enter. He crossed rooftops exploring, always in search of a looking glass. From above, Nakia would look out over the city, watching the rooftops and chimney pipes caked with soot and coughing smoke. The rooftops were so filthy he would often return blackened to the skin with soot. The old man didn’t care one way or another. He was dirty himself and enjoyed Nakia’s company whenever he was around. Merrick would often prattle on with stories of his days at sea and the things he’d witnessed.
“I seen me a mermaid once and a sea creature the likes of which would have sunk the ship if it smashed us,” was his beginning line whenever he was about to tell a story. Tonight he happened upon a whole half bottle of rum and Nakia listened to the old man’s slurring speech. He settled on the sail far enough away he didn’t have to smell the old man’s breathy rum.
“Now there was a brush I had what set me down ’ere one night as I live and breathe. I frequented the beauties of Whitechapel to quell the urgings of those long days at sea. My Catherine was a beauty though she was a tiger when she got herself pie-eyed with a wee drop of the creature. We lodged when I come to port though she had a husband by common law at Cooney’s so we had to venture away from there.
“One night, once our due was done an we had a bit of a grind, we chewed the rag and got into a scrap. I left her for the night, having to be on a ship at sunrise. I took myself for a stroll to find some rum, to cool my tide and warm my heart after such a cold end. As I strolled up Berner Street I hear me the sounds of another scrap and struggle. ‘Twas followed by what I think to meself was the life being choked out from someone. I tell ye the sound of it chilled me bones. I followed the sound and come upon a man stooped in the dark, an when he seen me or hear me he run off. I moved to see what the man was getting to and there I come up on Long Liz. Bleeding her life right out of her she was.
“Now I seen my share of death a time or two, and the bobbies are but knobs an they be of no consequence when it comes to finding their man, so I was not going to stand around a knob meself, especially after I run him off. I found me rum and got back to the ship as the sun was crackin. And it was not till I returned afore I learned my Catherine was done in by the rogue the officials took to calling the Ripper. He done her in that very night after I run him off. She was probably going to find a drink herself or run back to her husband. Once I learned what happened I had not the heart to return to the sea as I might had been responsible for the loss of my sweetie.”
Nakia was shocked to learn of the guilt and pain the old man had in him. It came slurred with the rum and when Merrick finally finished his tale the old man was sobbing. He cried until the drink took him and he found his loud snoring sleep. He thought of Chione giving her life for him and wondered about the Jack. He and the Princess had not known each other for a day and in that first moment Nakia could sense the strong feelings between them.
The next morning Nakia slipped away before the old man was awake and wandered the dock for food, still in search of a looking glass. There was always a lot of activity in the mornings with ships loading and departing cargo. A young seaman approached him with a fish. There was no warning, no déjà vu in the act and as Nakia ate he allowed himself to be scooped up by the burly young man who walked aboard a ship. By the time Nakia realized what had happened he was staring out at the city from across a wide expanse of water and slowly watched it fade into the distance. He stood on deck and meowed, once for yes, twice for no as the shore drifted away and faded into the ocean until it was gone.
Nakia was thrust into a new life unlike any he had known. On board the ship it was simple. The sailor brought him onboard along with three other cats. They were locked in the cargo hold and given only water. It seemed the ship had been plagued with rats on their last voyage and the three cats were to eat them. There were more than enough to go around. Nakia was quite the mouser and as usual had no contact with the other cats as they seemed he was very different from them.
The cats were watched over by a young man Nakia heard the other sailors call Polin. He brought water and made sure everything in the hold was tied down. Nakia would allow the boy to stroke him when he came down and seemed grateful to have a friend. Sometimes he would bring scraps of fish for the cat which was far tastier than the rat guts he had been consuming.
Nakia knew he needed to get off of the ship, but this proved to be extremely difficult. When they docked the cats were all rounded up and locked in a crate. Once the fresh cargo was loaded and the ship left the dock they were released. This could take as long as three days and the cats which had been locked in the crate and starving would hunt like never before.
Onboard Nakia had a great deal of time to think rather than focus on watching the mysteries of men who went about their daily routine. For hours he would reminisce about all that occurred and from time to time he would still wonder about Chione. He wondered why he was different from other cats and why he had been alive for so long and able to return from certain death. He wondered what had happened to his brother and would he ever be able to return to Heere. It had been a long time since he saw anything with a reflection. And what of the Roadscholar, stranded in the Bandersnatch nest?
Nakia’s forward insight served him well on the ship especially when something came undone in the cargo hold during a storm. It was blatantly obvious the other cats didn’t have it. Two had died on the last voyage alone. He tried to communicate with Polin, but the boy didn’t understand.
When he thought of the Princess it always hurt. She had been kind, if only for a moment and only for her own reasons. The Jack of all Trades seemed wildly distraught to have her stolen like that. The Suicide King must have orchestrated the murder which cost him his daughter. What was happening while he was stuck here? In his mind the other side seemed infinitely more interesting than this place. Humans were interesting, but greedy and cruel to each other… of course there was no real difference to those of Heere. He wondered what Popularopinion would say of this world?
Time on the ship took its toll and the surviving cats became wild and feral. Nakia was not immune to this. He was desperate to find a way off the ship. After a year he was the biggest and the strongest of the cats in the hold, and the only one who had survived this long. He began chewing at the sides of the box when they were locked in port injuring himself and his mouth. The other cat’s no longer disliked him, they were terrified of him now, huddling in a corner as if he might harm them, which he would and had done when he thought it necessary.
One of his claws got lodged in the wood while trying to claw his way out. Nakia yanked and chewed at it until the claw ripped itself right out. The pain was intense, but he didn’t seem to care one way or another. An hour later both front paws were bleeding and Nakia had lost a total of three claws to the crate. He meowed in pain and passed out from exhaustion.
When he awoke the other cats were hissing at him and staring wide eyed and frightened. There was dried blood on his paws, but all three claws had restored themselves. Nakia investigated the crate and sure enough the three sharp claw stumps were still lodged in the wood. He didn’t know what to make of this and he couldn’t think straight being so crazed and angry, but at the same time an idea began growing in his mind.
When the box opened this time Nakia angrily slashed at the hand opening the box. Polin cried out in pain, yanking his hand back. They set sail with two more cats this time, making five in the hold. The three starving in the box went for the rats with ravenous ferocity.
Nakia was wild now, no longer thinking clearly and only caring about territory and food. One of the new cats caught a rat Nakia wanted and hissed a growling challenge. The other cat wouldn’t relinquish the rat they fought. In the end the new cat was added to the evening’s meal. Nakia ruled the hold. Any injury healed almost instantly and he began to believe himself invincible. When the cargo came loose during the next storm, he stood his ground, refusing to move to safety.
The ship pitched and one of the crates slid across the hold. Nakia was at the wall on the other side trying to stay out of the water sloshing as the ship pitched. The crate slid and even though he saw it happen from the déjà vu, he hissed at the crate rather than move and was crushed. He felt his shoulders sandwich breaking his spine and crunching his hips together. His was intact, but the pressure was enough to cause one of his eyes to burst from his socket as everything went black.