No Ordinary Cat
Bariya Bell.
A great and gallant wildcat beastkin, ten years old this year. She had lived without flinching before anyone, proud to the bone—yet hunger was the one thing that could make her bow her head. For three years the hyenas had hounded her without rest, and in all that time she had never managed a proper meal.
In the end, blinded by a strip of jerky, she was caught by Sirca and dragged to a magnificent estate. And there, in the office, she came face to face with a man of tremendous size.
"A baby cat was fighting hyenas?"
Gold hair glittered so brilliantly it hurt to look at, and beneath it shone clear, beautiful golden eyes. Where Sirca's features were fine and pretty, this man was handsome in bold, heavy lines. Baden—chief of every tiger beastkin, and lord of House Caliph. He studied the little creature his son had brought in with open fascination.
"Certainly no ordinary cat."
He couldn't tell a wildcat from a house cat either, but Bariya had no spirit left to scoff at him.
What beastkin house is this supposed to be?
Sirca had presence enough of his own, but Baden, with those particularly fierce eyes, was terrifying just to look at. The pheromones he gave off were quiet, and anything but ordinary—so much so that even she, a great wildcat who had weathered every hardship under the sun, dared not lunge at him lightly.
And I look down on hyenas!
Somehow, it stung her pride something awful.
"So I brought her, Father."
At the word Father, Bariya's ears shot upright. Unlike Sirca, silver-haired and blue-eyed, Baden was gold from hair to iris; she had never taken them for father and son. Different species, perhaps? When the parents were of different kinds, the child followed only one bloodline. Just as Bariya did.
"She understands speech. High odds she's a beastkin."
Bariya watched both men warily and swung her forepaws for all she was worth. Lay one claw on me and I will not forgive you!
"Most would have wet themselves, unable to withstand our presence. She's remarkably bold."
Bariya snorted at that. Who did he take her for—some cub who couldn't even hold her water? A great wildcat never lost heart, not even in hardship like this.
"And you brought her for nothing more than that? It isn't like you."
Bariya nodded fiercely. Why on earth had he dragged her here? She was grateful he hadn't killed her, but she would have been more grateful still if he had simply left her where she was.
"I was curious. Hyenas wouldn't cross into Caliph territory just to eat one little cat too small to even touch their hunger. What if there's something special about her?"
Bariya very nearly swallowed her own breath.
This is exactly why I hate the sharp ones.
She swatted the air in irritation, forepaws whipping back and forth.
"I heard this little one struck your cheek with both front and hind paws. It isn't because of that, is it?"
On Sirca's cheek, the pawprint Bariya had stamped there still stood magnificent and proud.
"Hmph."
She gazed upon that glorious mark and smiled in deep satisfaction.
"Look at that. Even the baby cat is laughing at you."
Sirca saw it and grinned, sharp canines flashing.
"I'll see to her care myself."
Only then did Bariya understand why she had been dragged here.
He's going to eat me for hitting his cheek!
"Let's get along."
Get along, her foot. She had been hauled in because jerky had blinded her; if not for that, she would have fled long ago. A mansion like this? She would be out in a flash!
She had steeled herself to escape by any means necessary if they dragged her to the kitchen. Contrary to every expectation, the place Sirca brought her was a bedroom. She had never seen a room so lavish, so blindingly bright. Not even in the hyena house had there been a bedroom like this.
"Now. Stay put."
Bariya had been peering around the room, and the instant she was set down on the bed, a shock like lightning ran from the crown of her head to the tip of her tail.
"Mrow."
What is this?
Th-this soft thing was a bed? Weren't beds supposed to be hard? She and her mother had always slept on hard ones!
"Mraaow."
Every step, her paws sank in with a delicious squish, and it felt far too good. Bariya flopped onto the bed entirely and began rubbing her whole body against it.
"You like the bed?"
Her eyes met Sirca's. He had been watching.
"Hmph."
She got up, awkward, and licked her fur smooth as if nothing at all had happened.
"Younger than I thought, perhaps."
No. Ten years old was fully grown.
"You are a beastkin, aren't you?"
She was. But she had no intention of answering a fool who couldn't even tell a cat from a wildcat.
"You smell."
"......Mew?"
Mid-groom, Bariya was profoundly shocked.
I—I smell? Well, plenty of that infuriating hyena stench has rubbed off on me, but still—to say that I smell!
"Kyack!"
She leapt and swung her forepaws in a fury, only to be caught by Sirca in a single grab. Both of them.
"What, you want to play?"
He took a forepaw in each hand and shook them. Forced into a dance, Bariya suffered a humiliation of magnificent proportions.
"The scent is faint for a beastkin, but she's too strange to call an ordinary kitten."
No! She bathed regularly, thank you very much!
"Especially that smell stabbing at my nose..."
Sirca frowned. Bariya tried another flying kick with her hind paw.
"I won't fall for it a third time."
He yanked his face back.
"Anyway, shift into human form. Why were the hyenas chasing you? And how did something as small as you survive them? There's more than one thing suspicious about you."
And if she was suspicious, what of it? Bariya snorted.
"If you won't talk, you don't leave. You'll live here for the rest of your life."
The rest of her life, her foot. Escape was Bariya's specialty. She was the beastkin who had fled the hyenas—infamous for their persistence—for three whole years.
"So you want to live here forever? Fine. I understand."
She pretended not to hear a word and only swished her tail, and Sirca smiled a mean little smile.
"Tyreen!"
At his call, a maid with brown hair entered the bedroom.
"From now on, watch this one well. Thoroughly, so she can't escape. It seems she wants to live in this mansion with us for the rest of her life."
"Yes, young master."
So they meant to lock her in a prison. Let them try. She was already used to treatment like that, and she had actually escaped a prison before. If anything, prisons were easier to break out of, so this was exactly what she wanted.
And once again, Bariya's expectations missed the mark.
"How is it, little one? Doesn't it feel refreshing, getting all that dust off?"
Tyreen had drawn water into a great basin and was bathing her with meticulous care. The touch was so delicate that Bariya's wariness melted of its own accord.
"Oh my, our little one bathes so well. A cat, and yet so well-behaved—however can that be?"
Of course she was. Bariya was not a cat.
"And such fine, pretty brown fur. There couldn't be another cat anywhere with fur as lovely as yours, little one."
Of course there couldn't. Bariya was a great wildcat.
When she thrust out her damp little chest as far as it would go, Tyreen nearly swooned.
"Ah, too cute. House Caliph is wonderful in every way, but we've never had anything adorable. Thanks to our baby kitty, I'm living in pure luxury."
House Caliph?
The words snapped her wide awake. It was one of the few beastkin houses Bariya actually knew. Caliph was the ruling house of the tiger race.
I was so busy running I didn't even realize I'd crossed into tiger territory.
No wonder the hyena beastkin had vanished, and only animals had been chasing her.
"And since the young master says he's taken a liking to you, let's have you settle in nicely here."
"......"
"Of course, the lady of the house will have to give her permission as well. Unfortunately she's traveling just now, so you can't meet her right away. Until she returns, let's have you stay here comfortably."
Well. Contrary to Tyreen's hopes, by then Bariya probably wouldn't be here at all. They had only just met; there was no way the tigers truly liked her. She had even kicked their heir, Sirca, in the face more than once. She hated to admit it, but they were only washing her because she smelled. Once she was clean, they might kill her.
More than anything, there was another problem.
What if they learn why the hyenas are chasing me?
They were strangers, and her temper was bad enough that she had kicked them. Far from protecting her, they were far more likely to cast her out on the spot. Or try to lock her up. A beastkin must never trust anyone!
So I have to escape. No matter what.
She had not spent more than three years on the run just to die like this. Bariya had to live. There was something she still had to do, alive.
Because she had promised her mother—the mother who had risked her life to get her out of the hyena house.