Feline Wizard

The royal children were pestering Matt and Alisande when the call came. "Mama, need another kitty!" Princess Alice said, pouting. "She has the right of it, Mama," Prince Kaprin maintained with the magisterial weight of his six years. "Balkis was a great deal of fun, but she went away!" "Good cuddle, too." Alice was still pouting. The family was gathered in the solar for a few precious minutes before the queen began her arduous day. Breakfast leftovers cluttered the sideboard, and the table bore the scraps of a good breakfast. Both the notion of a well-balanced meal and the china on which it was served were the suggestions of the Lady Jimena Mantrell, the royal grandmother. She had imported them from her own universe with her husband, who sat back watching his grandchildren fondly and his daughter-in-law the queen with admiration. Jimena glanced at her son, the Lord Wizard and Prince Consort, and was pleased to see that his attention was all for his family. It was just a quiet family morning, only the two children, one mother, one father, two grandparents, one governess, one nursemaid, a butler, and two guards at the door. There had been a footman and two servers, but they had disappeared back into the kitchen. The richly grained wood of the table, the chairs, and the sideboard glowed with the light of the morning sun streaming in through the tall clerestory windows. It brought out the highlights in the Oriental carpet and made the figures on the tapestries seem to quiver with life. The fire on the hearth had died to coals--both fireplace and chimney were the Lord Wizard's addition from his own universe, and his father had contrived to add a fire screen when the little prince started crawling. "There's nothing quite like a cat curled up and purring to give a room a feeling of contentment," Matt admitted. Queen Alisande sighed. "I will readily admit that another cat would be a pleasant companion, but we could never find one like Balkis." That was an understatement. Balkis, after all, had been a human teenager with the uncanny knack of changing herself into a cat whenever she wanted. She had entered the castle under false pretenses, presenting herself as a mouser and playmate. Actually, she had come to eavesdrop on Matt and learn his magic; she already knew a great deal, but had been hungry for more. "Want Balkis back!" Alice progressed from pouting to a trembling chin. Alisande sighed and gathered the three-year-old into her lap. "You know she could not stay with us, dear heart. She was a veritable princess of a cat, and had to go back to her people in their need." In fact, Balkis had helped Matt free her enslaved people--but she hadn't known they were her people until after she and Matt helped Prester John lead them in reconquering Maracanda from the barbarians who had overrun it. Then they discovered that Prester John was her uncle, and that Fortune had led her home. Matt had dropped by Fortune's cave to thank her on the way back to Merovence. Balkis, under the circumstances, had decided to stay in Maracanda and reclaim her mother's title: Princess of the Eastern Gate. "Her people needed her," Matt explained. "So did I!" Alice's trembling chin firmed, lower lip jutting. "I know that no other kitty could ever be Balkis," Kaprin said, with an air of precocious wisdom, "but we could have another for playmate." That, of course, was the rub--that royal children were notoriously short on playmates. Alisande winced, remembering the loneliness of her own childhood, and Matt tried to hide his smile as her shoulders slumped in capitulation. A loud pop saved her from having to answer. Actually, it was more of a small bang than a loud pop. Alice cried out and hid her face in her mother's bosom. KaStasheff, Christopher is the author of 'Feline Wizard' with ISBN 9780345392459 and ISBN 0345392450.