This story is © Angela "LemurKat" Kingston-Smith (aka "Raynflower") and cannot be used for any means, profit or non-profit, barring reading of, without the written permission of the author.

"So what do we do now?" Kataryna asked, pacing across the room. "We messed that one up mightily." She paused. "I messed that one up mightily... my intervention changed what happened, but I didn't stop it."

Titus nodded, "it is hard to alter destiny, but not impossible. Your goal must be to gather the seven and destroy the Nocturne. Do you realise that you are their leader?"

She started, "I am? Why? I'm no leader! I'm just a foolish girl who took her own life."

"I must confess," Titus grinned toothily, "it did surprise me rather when Anubis laid his paw upon you and granted you the blessing. You're not exactly fighter material. Still, I'm sure Elysia has her reasons in choosing you."

"Obviously," Katarnya did not know whether to be flattered or offended. "So how are we to go about finding the others? Ask the mirror?"

"The mirror won't help. No, for this we need the Book."

"The book?"

Titus nodded, "the Book." He padded over to the enormous bookshelf carved into the flesh of the tree. Only about four books sat upon it, the rest of it was covered in a miscellaneous array of cardboard boxes, empty jars, magazines and for no discernible reason, a very forlorn looking sandwich. From the shelf he reverently drew the thinnest and most battered book of all. It had once been covered in hide, but the skin was now torn and ragged and discoloured. The pages seemed to hang loose and a stain adorned one corner. He blew on it and a cloud of dust arose, making the winged Lemur cough.

"That's the book?" She asked incredulously.

"That it is," Titus replied, "what, you expected it to look in better condition?"

"A little."

He chuckled at a joke she could not understand and opened it. Beneath his fingers the letters crawled spider like across the page, forming words, their movements were quick, embarrassed, as though they had been misbehaving.

"The next one we must find sounds interesting," he said after a moment. Kataryna craned over his shoulder but the "words" were just random scribblings.

"What does it say?"

"... Save the fallen from herself..." he read, "before the darkness consumes her soul."

"The book is written in riddles? If Elysia's hand is controlling us, why can't they give us the information in plain Furrish? Do we really have time to translate word games?"

"The Gods play by their own rules," Titus replied. "Look, its perfectly simple, we have to save someone whose about to fall in the worst possible way."

"Great," Kataryna muttered, "and how many people could that be, do you think? Half of Eriwyn?"

Her misery was interrupted by a quiet rapping on the door.

"Yes?" She snapped, aware of how feeble and broken her voice appeared.

The door opened a fraction. "Do you need anything?" Kataryna's tentative voice queried.

"I need him to wake up," she replied.

"Can I come in?"

"If you like." She replied dismissively. She cared little anymore. If the saviour they were apparently "working" for could not see fit to save him, then why should she cooperate? He was apparently of some import, after all.

Kataryna eased open the door, moving in her narrow frame and those ridiculous bird wings. She had changed into a simple satin robe, the back slashed open for her wings. The Aye-aye had to confess, Kataryna was rather pretty, silver fur, rainbow eyes and all. She could understand Arron's intrigue in her. At the moment, however, she cared little. If Arron were to awaken and chose Kataryna over herself, well, she would understand entirely and forgive him anything (although she wasn't sure she could forgive Kataryna). If only he would awaken...

"Do you need anything?" Kataryna asked, concern evident in her voice. "A warm drink perhaps."

Aranaya simply shook her head. There was nothing she wanted that the Lemur could provide - nothing but the impossible. "I just want him to wake up," she said.

The angel-Lemur nodded, understandingly. "I have spoken with Titus," she said, her voice calm and steady. "He has named you as the Creator - the one who gives life. If anyone can help him, you can. But there is something I can do." She paused, and Aranaya saw expectation and worry fleet across her features. "Did you... did you perhaps collect a part of Dario when he attacked you? A hair or anything?"

Outrage flooded the Aye-aye. How dare she ask such a thing? Here Arron lay, probably dying, and she wanted a piece of hair from the man that had put him in such a state. She had to admit, however, that Kataryna was unlikely to do anything without good reason. "What do you want to do, voodoo?" She could not hide the edge of sarcasm.

"I want to track him down," she said, "the Nocturne will be gathering soon, and if we can find him in the mirror - we can find the other ones."

"The mirror?" Aranaya was puzzled.

"It shows ... things," Kataryna responded, "but we need a sample of DNA to find a furson. With it we can find Dario's current location - and also see a version of his future." Her thin shoulders shuddered for a moment and Aranaya wondered what had overcome her. "That is why I came to visit Arron earlier tonight - to warn him. The mirror had shown his death. My interference did not aid him, however, it only set the chain of events onto another path."

A furrow creased Aranaya's brow. "That was why you came to him? Not because..." Her words failed her.

Kataryna appeared not to need the words to be uttered, however, she seemed intrinsically to know what Aranaya could not say. She placed one dark hand upon Aranaya's, which still quivered against Arron's pale body. "What there is between Arron and you is for the two of you to discover, and I shall certainly not interfere. The one I love - the only one I shall ever love, I am dead to. I accept that, there can be no turning back." She did not elaborate, and Aranaya dared not elaborate, but in their contact, she had caught a glimpse of Kataryna's forearm, and the long silver cross of scar tissue that adorned in her wrist. There were many, many words left unsaid - many stories left untold. Secrets. That was very well, and she was grateful for what the Lemur lass had said - but she was still not convinced. Kataryna may declare she had no interest in the albino Ringtail Lemur - but that made little difference if Arron had developed emotion attachment for her. It was all too complicated and Aranaya did not want to think about it right now - all she wanted was for Arron to awake. Anything else she would settle as it happened.

And then there was the problem of Dario.

"I do not have a hair," she said, "but when he... attacked me, I managed to claw him." She shuddered as the memories rushed back. But if she had to think about it, to relive that horrible moment, in order to stop him, then she would. "There may be some .... skin tissue ... under my nails. Would that work?"

Kataryna nodded, and slid open a drawer. A moment later she proffered Aranaya a sheet of paper and some nail scissors. "I hope this works," she said, "we need to stop the bastard before it's too late."

To that, Aranaya had to agree, but she would not leave Arron's side - not for one moment. She sat beside him, cradling his head in her lap and gazed at the mirror. Her eyes were red-rimmed from too many tears and too much grief. It was the memories that scalded the most - the memories and the fact that Arron was lost to her.

Beside the mirror, Kataryna diligently pressed the skin flakes into the palm of the wooden hand. Barely a word had been exchanged between the two of them. Aranaya was not one for idle conversation and she was still not sure she trusted the slender Ringtail Lemur.

"There." Kataryna stood back, "I think that's the present." Aranaya had been keeping her eyes averted from the screen - Kat was navigating on Dario's past using the attck as her reference point. She had no desire to relieve the experience and seeing herself so vulnerable and weak had sent nausea flooding through her. She would have thrown up - but then she would have had to move Arron's head. He may be lost to her in spirit, but she cherished the close contact she had desired so long.

If only he were conscious to feel it too.

She forced herself to stare at the screen. Dario returned to his campsite and gathered together his belongings. He quirked his head, as though hearing someone, and looked off-screen with an expression of recognition combined with awe and a touch of fear.

I tried. He mouthed the words, for of course the magic mirror had no sound. His next sentence was too involved for Aranaya to lip-read, but she felt she knew what he was talking about.

He had failed to kill her, 'twas true, but he had taken out someone of substantial importance. He was proud of that action, but also frightened. His invisible contact was not likely to be accepting of any sign of failure.

Aranaya's stomach heaved once more. She had loved this man once - had lain with him on many an occasion, had known his body as intimately as one can know another. She had borne him a son and believed that everything was right with the world.

And then her life had been disembowled from under her.

Now she could not gaze at that face - the face she had once caressed and kissed and whispered sweet nothings into the ears of, without feeling the revulsion seething within her.

Dario removed his shirt and flung it to the ground. Fury raged in his eyes as he knelt down, fingers grasping at the threadbare blanket. Something came crashing down against his back - a strip of leather ridged with metal points. As it struck home, a shudder spasmed through his body aand his fingers tangled and clawed at the sheets. Never once did the fury and rage leave his eyes, never once was it replaced with fear or pain.

And then the whip fell back, and he rested back on his haunches and turned his gaze towards the mirror.

There was no way he could have sensed them watching, no way that he could see them.

But for a moment his red eyes burning, he seemed to stare directly and accusingly at Aranaya and his lips formed the words:

You made me this way.

The tears flooded to her eyes and she could do little to hold them back. He had awoken the guilt in her, the believe that her only child, her precious Raoul, had died because of her neglect - because she refused to believe her beloved husband was capable of such a dire deed.

"Make it stop," she begged, but saw then that Kataryna was paying her little heed.

Someone else had stepped into view, her back was to the watching Lemurs. She was a sleek creature, lithe and lean with honey-coloured fur. Her long hair was braided back in coils about her shoulders. And in one hand she held the whip.

Kataryna started, "it's her," she whispered. "How is she a part of it?"

And at that moment the creature turned and Aranaya startled at the ancestral memory. A Fossa. Before the Great White, fossa had liked nothing more then a tasty lemur snack and even after the Change, there was animosity between the two Kin. Civil War had been waged on the Eastern Isles, where the two Furrae lived together in disharmony. To see here, a Lemur and a Fossa together, was a disturbing sight.

And then Aranaya realised Kataryna had recognised the Fossa. "Who is she?"

"She calls herself Tawny," Kataryna explained, "or at least that was the name she gave me, ten years ago. I met her at Tirra-Inle. I cannot say our meeting was a pleasant one. There is something sly about her, a cruel and extremely dishonest streak."

"Do you think she has joined the Nocturne?"

"It would not surprise me one smidgeon," Kataryna replied, a hint of malice creeping into her tone. "It is the sort of thing that would amuse her."

The expression on her face was enough to stop Aranaya from prying further. Kataryna's past was her own business - just as Aranaya's was her's. They all had their ghosts - their skeletons in the closet*

"So what do we do now?"

"We stop them," the voice was little more then a husky whisper.

"Arron?" Aranaya's body shook - a combination of relief and nervousness. Her attention had been too riveted by Kataryna and the mirror to notice the albino Lemur had opened his eyes. Emotions and desires warred in her - she wanted to both embrace him and draw away from him, fearful of the contact between them.

"Please," he whispered, "water. My head ... killing me..."

Kataryna was out the door before he had even finished his sentence. Images still flickered on the mirror, but luckily for Aranaya, she had other distractions now. Giving in to her concern and the more empathic side of her nature, she attempted to help him into a sitting position, braced against the pillows.

"No," he insisted, head still rested in her lap.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No," he shook his head and winched. "It's just ... view better ... here.".

The water sloshed from inside the mug, drenching the fur of her hand. Too much haste, not enough caution, it seemed. Kataryna scolded herself, easing the door open with her other hand. Arron's cheeks were rather a distinct shade of red, and Aranaya had averted her eyes and looked as though she were trying not to laugh.

Kataryna wondered if she might have interrupted a moment.

"Sorry," she muttered, not really understanding what she was apologising for, but doing it anyway, "here's your water. Are you okay to drink it?"

Aranaya accepted the mug from her hands. More water was spilt. "Thank you," the Aye-aye said.

"You're welcome. Um, Titus wanted me for something," she lied through her teeth, "how are you feeling Arron, do you want anything?"

She glanced over at the mirror, hastening to hide the view behind her wingspan. It seemed they had some uses. There were some things Aranaya should never see.

"Something to take away the pain," Arron replied, teeth gritted. "The Lemur has quite a swing."

"He was a trained martial artist," Aranaya replied, and Kataryna could hear the pain in her voice. "And sometimes even a stuntman for the magivision. He spent many hours working his body into a fine tuned machine." She shuddered, "he was, is, strong and powerful and very, very dangerous." The sobs overtook her then and she folded into Arron's embrace.

Sensing they needed some privacy, Kataryna beat a hasty retreat.

Outside the birds had ceased singing, but the sky was ablaze with sunlight and foot traffic passed back and forth on the trail beside the tree. Lulled by the gentle stirrings of their voices, Kataryna curled up on the couch and swiftly fell deep into slumber.

Her sleep was at first undisturbed and deep, but then, she found herself back at Tirra-Inle, the school of Magick.

She stood before the mighty arched front doors of the monolithic building. The serpents coiled about the twin pillar-supports watching her with beady black eyes. It was said that they were charmed and would defend the university against those that sought it harm. Between them stood a boy. His fur was black as pitch, save for a pale white mask, from which his red eyes shone with surprising wisdom in one so young. He regarded her solemnly and then the shadows seemed to grow, lengthening towards him.

Kataryna was struck with the need to reach him before they did. She knew not why, except that disaster would be the outcome if she failed.

And thus she began running.

Alas, the ground seemed to be made of treacle and whilst she ran and ran and ran, she did not gain even an inch of ground. The shadows, however, had no such difficulties, but they drew closer and closer and began cresting, like hungry waves.

All though flitted from her mind - instinctively she unfurled her wings and shot forward so swift one of the serpents disengaged its stone head from the pillar and hissed a warning. The boy lifted up his arms to her and she grasped him about the middle. The wind took her in its hands and lofted her into the air, far beyond the reach of the shadows that now broke into what could best be described as winged teeth and came flapping after her.

The boy screamed. "Save me, I'm falling…" And then the flying teeth surrounded her and began chomping away at her wings and she began falling, falling.

The ground swooped dangerously near, rising to meet her - a dark and desolate wasteland of rocks and strange luminescent fungi. The Deadlands.

Kataryna awoke a fleeting instant before impact. Sweat trickled down her brow and her hands were shaking. It may have merely been her mind snapping back to reality, clearing away the clouds of the dream, but for a fleeting second she fancied that above her hovered a pair of almond eyes, shining blue then paling into nothingness.

Titus seemed in an unusually cheerful mood for one expecting the end of the world. As Kataryna staggered into the kitchen at midday, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she caught him tossing pancakes. He was even whistling.

"Titus," she muttered, well aware that she had not achieved nearly enough sleep and that it did not appear Titus had even slept at all, "what are you doing?"

"Making breakfast," he said. "I know it's late, but after all what went on last night, I figured I'd let ya sleep in. Also figured you'd be in need of some nourishment for the day ahead. We've got to find the other Chosen Ones."

"Sleep in? I think I've got maybe five hours sleep, at the most, I'd hardly consider that sleeping in."

"Why, babe," he grinned, "you are cranky in the morning. Whatever did your boyfriend think of that?"

Kataryna scowled at him. "I would thank you not to bring memories of Daniel to the surface," she snapped. "I already feel quite horrid over what I have done to him."

To that, Titus could do nothing but change the topic. "What do you fancy on your pancake?" He asked. "Maple syrup, strawberry jam or stewed apples. Or all of the above?"

"Just the jam," she replied. Her head was throbbing and she felt as though something had crawled into her mouth to die. She attempted to lean against the wall, but her wings got in the way. Horribly awkward things that they were. And what purpose did they serve? Save to make her horrendously obvious and get in the way. It was not as if she could actually use them.

"Would you care to see if the two lovebirds are awake?" He continued, flipping the pancake so that it splattered all over the pan, an untidy mess. "See if they want any brekkie."

She was not particularly sure she wanted to disturb them - didn't Arron deserve his rest? Come to think of it, should Arron be sleeping at all, after a knock to the head like that? Somehow she did not think that a particularly good idea. She hurried up the winding staircase, noticing as she did so that the weight of the wings through off her natural dexterity. Cursed, useless things.

Hesitating outside the door, she could hear the murmur of conversation from inside. The two Lemurs spoke quietly - too quietly to hear the words. Kat reached up and tapped lightly on the door. The voices ceased.

"Titus has made breakfast," she called, "come down when you're ready." She glanced out the stained glass window at the end of the hall. It was grimy, as befitted Titus's house-keeping and seemed vastly out of place. The pattern upon it grasped her gaze for longer. The main centrepiece was a winged character, an angel, which did not strike her as unusual. It was only when she examined it more closely, that she realised something - the angel lacked in both muzzle and tail being flat of face and upright of bearing. It had one hand raised towards what she took to be a star, and in the other it held a book, pages open.

Closer inspection revealed the star to be shaped rather a little more like a mushroom. It was clearly some sort of ancient relic and probably priceless, so what Titus was doing with it in his house, she had no idea. Something like that belonged in a museum., not in a private residence.

Behind her the door creaked open and Aranaya and Arron stepped through, one at a time. Both of them looked thoroughly dishevelled and lacking in sleep. Arron sported a brand new bandage wrapped across his cut forehead and half his face. His right eye, just below the injury, was almost entirely bloodshot.

"Morning," Aranaya said, quite cheerily for her. Dark rings circled her eyes, brought on by worry, grief and lack of sleep, no doubt, yet there was no mistaking the sheepish grin adorning her usually solemn face. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," Kataryna replied, "the couch isn't the best of places when you've got wings to contend with."

"Oh," Arron replied, before Aranaya could say something scathing, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. How are you feeling this morning?"

Arron touched the bandage and grimaced. "I've been better," he replied. "So what's the plan of attack?"

"I think first and foremost," Kataryna replied, "we eat."

Lunch was a fairly quiet affair. Noone, excepting maybe Titus, was in much of a mood to talk. Aranaya and Arron seemed perfectly contend to exchange sidelong glances and small smiles with one another. It was very cute, Kataryna reflected, but could not help but fill her with mild sadness and jealousy. Never again would she share secret smiles with someone special, no she had sealed that fate with the kiss of the razor blade. Daniel would never accept her back now and she did not blame him.

"So what's our plan of attack for today?" Kataryna asked, setting her knife and fork neatly to one side.

"You and I are going to return to the last place we saw Dario and see if we can't find some clue to their location. You two," he nodded at the two other Lemurs. "Go find your bedroom and get some sleep or you'll be no bloody use to anyone."

"My bedroom?" Aranaya queried.

"Just up the stairs at to the right," Titus sighed, feigning exasperation. "You know, all of you have rooms here, and you Lemur-kin are up in the attic."

"Stairs?" Kataryna's forehead creased with perplexion. "I don't remember there being more stairs."

"That's because there weren't," Titus replied, "until today." He smiled at Kataryna's confusion. "The House is special," he continued, as if that explained everything and turned back to the grill.

Since no more information was forthcoming, Kat decided to clean up and change before she and Titus engaged in their explorations. Arron and Aranaya likewise stumbled wearily off to view their new quarters.

"Titus?" Kat asked, reappearing at the kitchen door a few minutes later, "what happened to my bed?"

"The love birds didn't leave it in a mess did they?"

"It's…" she paused, feeling stupid, "the four poster bed is gone and there's a strange net-like contraption there instead."

"I imagine that great hunk of a bed has served its purpose then," he replied, not even casting her a glance. "I suspect you'll find the new one rather more comfortable."

"Is the house prone to doing stuff like this? Changing I mean?"

He chuckled, "the essentials stay the same, but you'll get used to it after a while. Believe me. Now, would you see fit to help me with the dishes, babe?"

"Please stop calling me that," Kat replied, although without any real malice. "I'm noone's babe."

"Everyone's me babe, tis a term of endearment," Titus replied, "but I don't mean you no disrespect. If you take it as such then I apologise." He tossed the tea towel at her and her hands darted out, catching it reflexively. "But you are living under my roof, and as such there are some rules you must abide to."

Kat got the message and smiled. "Yes … babe," she replied, eliciting a chuckle from the Feline. "So, if the house can change stuff around so easily - why can't it also clean up the dishes?"

Even by the bright light of mid afternoon the forest behind Evergreen apartments had an eerie, primal air. It may have just been the occurrences of the night before, but the trees seemed to loom above the two of them, casting nothing but darkness. Kataryna shuddered, drawing closer to Titus. Forests may have been her natural home, but most forests did not contain schizophrenic psychopaths and manipulative sadists. The trees whispered to each other as a light breeze stirred their leaves.

It did not take them long to find the scene of the fight - the clawed up ground where Dario had wrestled Aranaya to the ground, the blood-stained leaf mush where Arron had fallen. Titus crouched low, muzzle close to the ground, as though trying to scent something. Kataryna could not understand why - it was not as though they didn't know what had happened here, after all. He sneezed, nostrils wrinkling in disgust and stalked off awkwardly on all fours and into the trees. There was no other choice but to follow him, scampering through the undergrowth as though he were a non-sapient. It was rough going for the winged Lemur, her wings constantly snagged on the tree branches and at points she was forced to crawl through gaps she could once have walked through. Oh, how she hated those thrice-cursed wings.

"You could have chosen an easier path," she muttered.

"Correction," Titus hissed back, and she wondered how he had even heard her, "Dario could have chosen an easier path."

So distracted was she by trying to free her once-again snagged wings, she did not realise Titus had stopped until she walked straight into him. "What's happened?" She hissed.

"It just occurs to me," Titus replied, looking a little embarrassed, "that Dario wouldn't normally travel along the ground, would he?"

It took a moment or three for the implications to set in. "Are you saying we've been set up?"

Titus frowned, "quite possibly." He scented the air. "He could be sitting in a tree somewhere, waiting for us. The air currents are all contrary here - I can't smell a thing accurately."

Narrowing her eyes, Kataryna visually explored the clearing - there were so many shadows, so many places where a man could lurk, but she did not think he we here, the clearing felt devoid of any sentient life besides she and Titus. How she knew this, she was not sure - the rich and heady scent of flowers and leaf-mould would drown out most other aromas, and the breeze constantly stirred the trees, meaning auditory clues were not to be taken lightly. She just knew they were alone.

Perhaps her rebirth had given her more then useless wings.

Titus stepped forward and yowled, tumbling into the leaf litter. Just as swiftly, he was yanked upwards from one foot, so that he hung suspended by one ankle, from a tree branch. A thin, but strong, cord entwined about his foot.

"Howlly frith." He yowled loud enough to alert any predators or psychopaths of their presence. "Get me down."

Alas, Kataryna was helpless to do little but stare at him in, ears alert for the sound of any approach, but there was nothing but silence. "Um, how?"

"Are you telling me you didn't bring a knife? We're heading into a forest where Elysia-only-knows-what might lurk here and you didn't bring a knife?"

"Did you?"

"Indeed, I did." He reached up and fumbled about with his belt for a time, until something tumbled from it, a flicker of light against steel as it tumbled to the ground. Kataryna palmed it hastily.

It was harder scrambling up the tree then it had once been - her wings proved an inconvenient weight upon her back and she almost fell backwards. The second time she overcorrected, and almost fell face first out of the tree, barely catching herself. Her ears flicked back and forth, open to any new sounds, and she tensed at a crackle that could have been a footfall. A moment later it resolved itself into a non-sentient - a small and rather scruffy deer with tiny stubs of horns. It pattered into the clearing, poising for a moment, as wary of the two Furrae as they had been of it.

"Are you going to get me down?" Titus growled, and the little deer bolted at the noise. There was a scuffling and a kicking and the poor wee thing suddenly vanished from view in a shower of branches and leaves. "Get me down," the Feline snarled.

Kataryna had been moderately close to dropping to the ground and rushing to investigate the mystery of the vanishing deer, but she quickly snapped back to reality and scrambled up the branch to cut the cord.

With a yowl and a hiss, Titus plummeted to the ground. Kataryna did not wait to help him up, but sprang down from the branch herself (landing with rather more grace) and rushed over to where the deer had been.

The non-sentient stared up at her from the bottom of a hole nearly ten feet deep. Kataryna was familiar with pit traps before, in her early days working for MONS (Ministry of Non-Sentients). Traps like this were sometimes used by outlanders for hunting and were illegal because of their danger to Furrae who might accidentally stumble into them. With a shudder the Lemur girl remembered a previous occasions when she had aided in rescuing a wild boar from such a trap. Heavy rain had forced the "hunter" (and she used this term very loosely) who had set the trap to stay in his den and the pig was little more then skin, bones and rage by the time they had fished it out. The fall often shattered bones, leaving the trapped animal to die slowly from pain and hunger.

"I'm just fine, thanks for asking," Titus muttered behind her, interrupting her thoughts. "Nothing broken, just a few nasty bruises." Kataryna ignored him lying beside the hole. The captive deer stared at her with white, wild eyes, too tharn to move.

"Who would set such a thing?" She asked.

"Tis nice to see you're more concerned about a non-sentient then me," Titus crouched down beside her.

"You can look after yourself," Kat pointed out, "she can't."

"Oh thanks." He growled, "animal lover." There was no real malice in his tone. "Looks like our friends laid a special trap for us."

"Quit babbling," Kat snapped, "and take off your shirt." Her concern for the deer and the fear that they might not be alone, were making her extremely edgy. She instantly felt bad for snapping. Poor Titus had been having quite a trying expedition, after all. His next comment made her anger fulfilled, however.

"Tis not as though they have feelings," he muttered. She didn't think he meant her to hear the words. But she did and they were words she had heard too often in the past. For all that the animals were their ancestors, their kin, many Furrae held them in little regard and the Carnivores were the worst.

"You just say that so you have an excuse for killing them," she replied, focusing all her attention on the deer. It lay motionless, the quivering of its flanks the only betrayal that it still lived.

"Maybe I do," Titus sounded a little hurt. "But a deer this size is beyond even me. And why don't you take off your own shirt?" He winked.

"Because if I did that," she replied, "I'd be half naked."

"And?" Titus shrugged. "Your point is?"

"Just give me the damned shirt."

Titus sighed in an exaggerated fashion and slowly, with the utmost reluctance, drew off his long-sleeved, dark shirt. "'Twas my favourite shirt too," he muttered.

"Of course," Kataryna replied, both amused and annoyed, "because you would chose to engage in subterfuge spying wearing your favourite shirt. Now, all we need is some rope…"

"Conveniently enough," Titus replied, "it appears our unseen assailers have seen fit to provide us with that, at least." He stripped off his shirt and flung it to Kataryna. She caught it easily and barely glanced at his scrawny, cream-furred chest before lowering herself into the hole. The deer drew away from her as she landed, but it seemed more as though it were giving her space, rather then fleeing in terror. She cooed gently to it - at least the fall appeared not to have harmed it. It blinked at her as she reached for it.

"Hurry up," the feline above snapped down at her. The tension in his voice was plain. Who knew when the Nocturne might choose to check their traps?

"Patience," she snarled in retort, "it is a shy and wary creature and you're frightening it." She dropped to her knees in the dirt, both hands out to the wild creature, the shirt trailing from one of them. At least she was not as worried of being gored by this one - its horns were little more then tiny stubs. Inch by inch, she edged closer to it, cooing softly as though it were a baby.

After a moment she held her hand up before its muzzle, allowing it to sniff her. It blew gently at her, unafraid. If only all non-sentients could be so innocent and naïve. No, that was a foolish thought - were they that trusting, they would be extinguished forever. Fear was a survival trait. Above her she could sense Titus's agitation, could almost see his whiskers twitching and his ears flickering as he remained alert to any approach.

"Kat," he hissed sharply.

"Shh," she replied, intent on her task, "almost got it."

"Kat!" More urgency now.

"What?" She snapped. "I'm busy." The deer flinched at her harsh tone.

"Someone's coming," he hissed, just as another voice joined his.

"My, my, my, what have we here?" It was a feminine voice, light and lilting and pleasing to the ears. And one Kataryna recognised instantly. Her ears flattened and her neck fur rose.

"Titus," she whispered, "run, run now." Beside her the deer let out a little nickering-sigh. Kataryna took a deep breath. "Hello Tawny," she said with as much composure as was possible.

"Oh look, a couple of kitty-kats," Tawny continued, "all losted in the woods." She paused. "You really don't want to point that at me, kitty."

Titus made a noise low in the back of his throat, a rumbling, feral growl. "Leave now."

"Tsk, tsk, you shouldn't be threatening me. Something bad might happen to you, you know." As if on cue, Titus unleashed a startled shriek and there was the sound of some sort of scuffle. A brief flash of time later the Feline tumbled into the hole beside her. There had been barely enough room for her and the deer. Titus struck her and the two of them tumbled to the floor in a cascade of dirt. The deer screamed and bucked.

"That black fellow jumped me," Titus muttered. "I'm sorry."

"You should have run when I told you."

"And leave you here? At her mercy? Do no be so foolish babe."

"I told you," Kataryna snarled through gritted teeth, "please do not call me that."

"Having fun down there kiddies?" Tawny cooed. She dropped to the ground beside the pit trap and leaned over it, her face coming into view. She had dyed her hair since those distant days of Tirra-Inle, it now hung in blue-black curls about her slender face. She stared at Kataryna, her eyes alight with delight and amusement.

"I went to your funeral," she said, "a year ago. It was so touching." Somehow she made those words sound mocking. "I couldn't believe you'd slashed yourself. Still," she shrugged, "you were too naïve and happy in Uni, and the higher you get, the harder you fall." Her smile widened, displaying teeth. "Poor, poor Danny boy," she sighed, "he's no longer nearly as delectable as he was in Uni. Poor thing's nothing more then skin and bones now. Really Kittie-Kat, they may call me cruel but you really take the cake, the cream and the icing. Maybe I should take some tips from you."

Tawny's words struck Kataryna as surely as any weapon. Her hands clawed and tears lined her eyes, awaiting their marching orders. The words were all the harsher because they were true. All of them.

And Tawny was not done with her yet.

"You know, despite what you'd done to him, how you'd slashed his life away as surely as your own, he gave a very touching speech. Or would have, had he not become so overwhelmed with his grief that halfway through he could do nothing more then stutter and stammer like a simpleton." She sniggered, "you're a treasure, love, a real treasure."

Kataryna wondered if she were going to be sick, and perhaps would have, had Titus not put his arm about her shoulders and whispered in her ear: "she uses her words like weapons, babe, they're nothing more then that."

But Kataryna knew that was not true. She had betrayed the mutual bond between her and her beloved, shattered it with a single crimson slash. It was an act from which she could, would, never forgive herself. And she doubted Daniel would either. No matter how much he loved her and how much she loved him, there were some sins that could never be forgiven.

The Fossa grabbed a handful of dirt and started sprinkling it over the two captives. "I would so love to stay and chat, Kittie-Kat, but would you believe it, Dary, me and one of our mutual friends are going to a rock concert tonight. Don't you just love them? The adrenaline pounding through your body as the music takes hold, the way you feel at one with the crowd." She paused, "the horrible screams as the flesh is seared from their wretched bodies and the mass hysteria as they stampede for the doors." A light chuckle rose from her throat, "well, have fun kiddies, don't do anything I wouldn't."

It was only then that Kataryna dared to believe that Tawny had only just begun her game as was planning on stringing it out over a much longer, and in her mind more delectable, fashion. Perhaps she really did mean to leave without torturing, maiming or killing either of them.

She should have known better.

Tawny vanished from view and Kataryna's sharp ears could pick up the sounds of footfalls on leaves. She dared to breath again. The war had begun with nothing more then words.

Then the face of the Fossa materialised above them again, so suddenly the both of them jumped, lurching against each other in the close confines.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Tawny said, slapping herself exaggeratedly on the forehead. "I had a little something to give you, Kittie-Kat - an apology for killing your little pets all those years ago."

And she tipped something over the side, sending a cascade of dark black-red pellets into their midst. As they struck the ground each and every one of them uncurled, revealing itself to be a small beetle, its shell bearing the distinctive skull-head pattern of the blagh gru, the vampiric cockroach.

And as a hoard, they skittered towards the warm flesh of the prisoners, hungry for blood, some of them taking to the air in a whirl of wings.

"So," Titus said, keeping his voice amazingly calm, given the situation, "you know a bit about roaches, yes?"

"Yes," Kataryna agreed, stomping on some as they got too close to her. The problem with stomping blagh gru was that Furrae did not normally wear shoes, and the critters had exceptionally hard shell-cases and sharp jaws. She made an effort, but could feel them clawing their way up her legs.

"What's good against them?" He skewered one on his knife. Its legs twitched spasmodically.

"Fire," she replied, jerking her tail out of harm's way and swiping at one of the airborne critters with Titus's shirt, "but I didn't think to bring a firestarter. Did you?"

"Err, no. So anything else then?"

"Poison, Flyspray and well… we're kinda screwed, aren't we?"

Titus only nodded. The roaches were swarming up their legs now, and Kataryna swatted as many as she could aside, but she knew only too well how fast these little monsters worked. Even adult zebu fell beneath them.

Behind her the deer bucked and kicked and squealed. Having harder hooves then the two Furrae, it was making better progress, but blagh gru were alighting on it, and it did not have the advantage of protective clothing. They would have to think up something, and fast.

Titus exhaled sharply, a sigh of hope. "Kat," he shrieked, "the rope, I can see it - lift me on your shoulders I'm sure I can make it out."

"Maybe you can," she replied, batting off another blagh gru, "but what about the deer and I?" They were wasting too much time - she could feel the cockroaches climbing up her legs, their little claws imbedding themselves in her flesh and the cold numbness that spread from their bites as they injected the poison to make the blood flow smoother.

"I'm sure I can get you out," he replied, declining to mention the deer. Kataryna suspected he did not really care about it. It was a typical attitude. However, if she got out of here, the deer was coming too and that was the end of it. She crouched down and Titus scrambled onto her shoulders. He was surprisingly light - little more then skin and bones. She clenched her teeth against the claws of the blagh gru. Her head was already starting to get a little light. She wondered if there were enough here to drain her before she escaped and found the thought too much for her.

"Almost got it," Titus called, "can you just step to the left a little?"

Kataryna obliged, and felt relief as Titus's scrabbling fingers grasped the edge of the pit and he dragged himself out. A moment later the end of the rope came tumbling down.

"Climb up," he called, but Kataryna had other plans.

She still held Titus's shirt and now she grasped the deer by the scruff of its neck and pinned it between her knees. It squealed and bucked, made wild by the biting bugs, but she managed to slide the shirt beneath its belly and tie the sleeves at the top. It closed its mouth hard about her wrist and she could feel the long canines slashing deep, but she held fast. The rope was too short to tie to the deer's halter, indeed, it was barely long enough for her to reach, if she were to stand on tiptoe, so she hooked one hand beneath Titus's shirt, praying that it held, and grasped the rope with the other.

"You'll have to pull me up," she called, and realised that her words were slurring and that sweated beaded her brow. She must have already lost quite a bit of blood to the vampirical creatures. A familiar crimson haze danced behind her eyes.

Titus tugged on the rope. "Goddamn," he muttered, "you're heavy. Must be those wings." The rope jerked and danced and the deer writhed, struggled and pulled and Kataryna's fingers began to ache. The whole world seemed to be slightly out of focus and her thoughts tried to flit and dart away from her. After what seemed like an eternity but was in truth probably less then a minute, she felt Titus's hand close about hers and she and the deer were dragged to the ground. Titus slashed off the remaining cockroaches with his knife. The deer wriggled free of the shirt-halter and bolted into the woods.

"Brilliant," he muttered, crouching by her head, "not only did you risk your life for a blasted animal, but you've ruined my favourite shirt." He paused, shaking her, "Kat? Kat?"

But she could not reply, her mouth did not seem to want to work properly anymore.

More urgently, "Kat!"

She blinked, remembering the warm water as it slowly turning to crimson around her, the haze that settled upon her. No pain, no elation - nothing, nothing but this growing spreading numbness.

"Kat, we have to get you to a healer and now, you've lost a lot of blood," he glanced around fitfully as though searching for help that of course was not to be had, and then draped what remained of his shirt across her and hastened off into the woods.

And from the shadows the deer padded forward to stand beside the semi-conscious Furrae, gazing down at her with dark, solemn eyes, he slowly began to lick the bloody cuts that marred her arms, her face, her neck and feet.