And My Fathers Before Me

by Katrina A. Templeton

"The cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said, 'It'll be a hot time in the old town tonight.'"

- Children's song about the Great Chicago Fire

Cyohtee negotiated his car through the throngs of people in downtown Chicago. Katze looked from the back seat. The Sears Tower rose into the azure depths of the sky and Katze just gaped in awe. The skyscrapers of San Francisco were tall, but not as tall as that.

Cyohtee caught her glancing at the tower. "If you want, we can come back here and go up to the observation deck for the fireworks display. It looks great from up there, and it is air conditioned."

Katze looked at the tower one more time. "Heh, that would be cool. Sounds like a neat idea."

Cyoh grinned, and continued to negotiate the car. After what seemed like an eternity and a half, they reached a parking spot, and Cyoh pulled his car in. Katze hopped out of the back seat, ready to actually see the real city. They came out in the bright sunshine and Katze just about took off like a helium balloon.

"Whoa, hold on, Katze," Cyoh said.

Calc came around the side of the car. Cyoh looked at both of them. "Now, look, there's a lot of people in the park, and we're bound to get separated. So why don't we meet in front of the Art Institute - that's that building over there - say, just before sundown?"

Calc nodded and Katze said, "Sure!"

Cyoh said, "Okay, follow me."

They walked into the park. Katze was again in awe - it seemed as if the whole city came out for this event. And there was so many different things to uphold. Differences and diversity, and nobody cared if there were three non-humans mixed in with them. Katze loved every second of it.

Sooner than she thought, she was alone in the crowd. She could see neither Cyohtee nor Calculus. [Oh, well, it's not like it's dangerous or anything.]

She wandered across the park looking at all the nifty things. Somebody stopped her and asked her if she was the Wraith, and she nodded. It lead to a couple autographs, but pretty harmless stuff.

It was about three in the afternoon when Katze sat down on a bench to watch the crowds. People were so funny. She watched an argument occur between (what she assumed were) a husband and wife. She saw kids running through the park, eager to try new things. And she saw a few college kids, their beer being raised in a toast.

Just then, she felt a tapping on her leg. Sitting there was a little girl, about five, with blond hair and pixie blue eyes. She held a little white piece of paper. "A man told me to give this to a Katze Brenner," she said, stumbling over the unfamiliar syllables of Katze's name.

Katze grinned. "That's me. Thank you very much." She dug through her pockets and handed the little girl a quarter. "Here, have yourself some fun."

The girl smiled. "Cool!" She ran off in the crowd, weaving in between men and women.

Katze opened the note. It read, in neat handwriting: "Dear Miss Brenner, I remember the Golden Bears' run through the NCAA tournament last year. I happened to see you in the park today and remembered you were an integral part of that team. I'd like to see what you're up to a year later, and why you didn't play hoops this year. Since Taste is so crowded, I was hoping you could meet me in the recital room in the Orchestra Hall. Joe Williams, Sportswriter, Chicago Tribune."

[Hmm. That's interesting. Well, what can it hurt, I took the season off for medical reasons, I can just tell him that.] Her curiosity piqued, she decided to find this place. She walked over to a policeman standing on the corner waiting for the light to change and asked him directions. He pointed at the building, and Katze nodded and thanked him for his time.

She entered the building to find a security guard standing there. She showed him the note, and he grinned. "You're the Wraith?"

Katze nodded. Her fifteen minutes of fame were starting to get a bit annoying. But then she remembered that Northwestern had been the team they'd beaten in the second round. Of course Chicagoans would remember the stars of the teams that beat their teams. Oh well.

The guard directed her to a room on the second floor. Strangely enough, there seemed to be nobody there. The guard waved and closed the door.

The door clicked shut. Katze walked up toward the stage area, suddenly getting massive danger signals. She turned around to see a tall man with droopy eyes and a short man with a dangerous smile. The short man spoke. "Good day, lady of the house of Katze."

Katze looked at him rather strangely. "Err, excuse me? Katze is my first name, not my last."

The short man laughed, a sharp laugh that sounded like gunfire. "You are very funny, lady Katze. But we do not have time for funny."

[Dammit, I walked straight into a goddamn trap. Stupid me, stupid, stupid! Why did I come? Because I was so goddamn curious!] Out loud, she found her voice again and said, "What do you want with me?"

"Ah, we do not want you, lady Katze. But others do."

"Who?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." The short man winked at her, and she scowled back at him. "Say goodbye to this world; I doubt that you will ever see it again. And don't struggle. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

"What if I run out that door right now?"

"You cannot."

"Goddamn it, who wants me?"

"The Master does," the short guy said calmly. "And I wouldn't move. Lehnrin there has got some nasty weapons at his disposal, and I'd hate for him to have to use them on such a VALUABLE specimen. Oh, the Master and the Lord Protector will be happy! It's just been a super-dee-dooper day!"

[Maybe for you, sponge boy.] But, before the words could get out, there was this sensation as if she was falling backwards into a black hole, and then the feeling that her body was being ripped to shreds and pieced back together again. She did the only sensible thing one could do in this situation. She blacked out.

Katze awoke, locked behind a set of bars. There were two spongies on the other side of the bars going through her green duffel bag. Although she had a splitting headache, and her vision was blurry because her glasses were missing, she could make out what they were up to. "Hey!"

They both turned towards her and said something in a fluid tongue she wasn't able to catch. Katze scowled some more. "Does anyone know English around these parts?"

One of the spongies said something in response which Katze didn't understand. Obviously frustrated, she pointed to her eyes. "I need my glasses. Glasses. Round things that go on my face."

The sponge chattered some more. Katze scowled. Here she was, locked behind bars in god knows where, and of course it would figure the goddamn spongies didn't speak English. [Okay, Katze. You know Spanish and Russian. Try those, maybe they know those.]

"Donde esta mis anteojas?" she asked, and got no response. [Don't think it's Spanish they speak here.]

She thought for a minute, and found the words she wanted in Russian. "Gde mayo ochki?" The two spongies stopped what they were up to and looked at her in broad confusion.

[Damn. Okay, next plan.] Suddenly, one of the sponges rattled off something that sounded vaguely like Russian, but not quite. Katze threw her hands in the air and decided to hope for someone who spoke English to show up.

The Wall Berlin Kaffeehaus in Berkeley, California is always a fairly rocking place. There seem to be people there all the time, and perhaps that's why it appealed to the group of people in the back playing chess.

Josh Schneider looked at the chess board intently. His opponent, Freddy, smiled. It looked like he had Josh in a bind, so that Josh either must sacrifice his queen or lose his king. There was no doubt in Freddy's mind that he had Josh trapped.

Josh reached down and moved a piece. "Your turn."

Freddy looked and couldn't believe he hadn't seen that move coming. Josh had captured the bishop that was threatening Josh's king with his knight. Why hadn't he seen that coming?

The phone in the Kaffeehaus rang. The counterman picked it up as Josh grinned. "Fred, my buddy, you need to read the Chron's chess problem of the day. That's where I learned that nifty little move."

"Is there a Josh Schneider here?" the counterman shouted out.

Josh looked at Freddy. "Hang on, that's for me." He wandered over to the counter. "I'm Josh Schneider."

The counterman looked him over. "Phone's for you. He says it's urgent, don't tie up the line, I'm expecting a call from my bookie."

Josh took the phone. "Hello?"

"Ryan?"

"Don't call me that over an open phone line, you know that."

"Oops, sorry. Anyway, Lehnrin and I want to report a successful operation, and note that your father wants to see you. No need for you to keep up pretexts now."

"Yasmolin, you're a stupid idiot who's gone a little far with this worship. There is every reason to keep up pretexts. You think They will just write her off? No, I bet you the second They find out what's going on, They're going to mount a rescue mission."

"Well, your father wants to see you. I don't disobey the Master's servant, and I don't think you should either. 'Sides, you and I are the only ones who know English."

"Good point. Give me a half an hour to call the chess game quits."

"I don't see what you see in that game."

"I don't see what you see in the Master."

"Ahh, I get it. Have a super-dee-dooper day."

Josh handed the phone back to the counterman and wandered over to Freddy. "Hey, Fred? That was Katze's dad, I guess Katze has gotten really sick up in Chico. I'm going to go see her, but I've got to go now."

Freddy sighed. "Just when I had you beat."

Josh shook his head. "Not on your life."

Freddy stuck out his hand. "Okay, when you're back, I call rematch. Okay?"

Josh grinned and took Freddy's hand. "You got it."

He then picked up his backpack and went running out of the Kaffeehaus.

Katze was trying to sleep. Sleep came in fits and starts, as the floor was rather rocky and cold. It looked to be a dungeon of some sorts. But she couldn't figure out why she would be in a dungeon, nor why they would call her lady Katze. It didn't make sense, unless this was...

"Marraketh," came a voice from outside the cell.

Katze looked up and tried to focus. "What language do you speak?"

"The same one that you do, Katze."

"Then, I need my glasses to see, please?"

The figure motioned blurrily and something was placed in her hands. She unfolded her glasses and stuck them back on her face, and tried to maintain a quiet dignity. But when she saw who the figure was, she lost that. "Josh?"

Josh scowled at her. "Gee, what gave you the first clue? Get up, now, we're taking you to the throne room, you get to meet the Lord Protector."

"Oh, and who would that be?"

"Not so easy, Katze, I'll let him introduce himself. But in the meantime, I'm only acting as translator until you get a decent understanding of Marrakethian. It'll help you out in the long run."

"In the long run?"

"Yeah, when you realize the Master is right."

Katze shuddered. She got off the cold stone floor, realizing what her fate was. Death by firing squad would have been a more pleasant way to go. "I will never give into the Master."

Josh just sneered. "That's what you think."

The doors to the cell swung open. Josh pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and cuffed Katze. "Why are you doing this, Josh?" Katze asked her friend. "I thought we were friends."

"You wouldn't understand, Katze, but we've never been friends. I've always been watching you, and reporting as soon as I was old enough to realize what I was doing."

"It all makes sense now." The distant memories of childhood, once so pleasant, now had a cold tinge to them. "You never liked me just for that, you always had some ulterior motive?"

Josh scowled some more. "Yes. Now, c'mon, move! And stay quiet!"

Katze did as she told, hoping quietly in the depths of her soul that Cyoh and Calc would find out she was missing. It was her only hope now.

The walk from the dungeon to the throne room was long and winding. More than a few times, Katze wondered how the spongies could figure out where they were. Josh kept scowling, and was not the Josh she remembered from all those years ago. She let her mind wander, and found a pleasant memory.

Katze, at the time about eight years old, had been sitting on the steps of her house waiting for Josh to come over and play. He had promised to teach her the rest of the pieces in the chess game so that they could play it right on rainy days at Waldorf Elementary.

Josh had come skipping up the walk, holding some pretty gold flowers. Katze had recognized them as the ones that liked to grow up in the fields after the winter rains, but she couldn't remember the name of them.

Josh had handed the flowers to her. "Hi, Katze, I brought these for you to remind you that we're gonna be best friends forever! And never do anything to hurt each other, and always be there for each other."

Katze had grinned. "Always."

The two of them had walked into Katze's house. David Brenner had been in the front room straightening pillows, and when he saw the flowers in Katze's hand, he had freaked. "Katze! Where did you get those flowers?"

"Josh gave them to me, to let me remember that we're best friends forever. He picked them for me."

David had looked at the two kids. He had shaken his head. "Does either of you know what flower this is?" Neither kid had known, so David had explained. "This is a California Golden Poppy, the state flower. It's illegal to pick it."

Katze had frowned and Josh had spoken up. "I'm sorry, Mr. Brenner, if I'd a known it was illegal, I wouldn't have done it."

David Brenner had smiled. "Well, now it's picked, I'll put it in a book to save it for you, Katze."

And that was the end of Josh's minor blunder in the name of friendship. Surely, he couldn't have been faking that? Katze wasn't sure any more; nothing made sense.

They stopped at a pair of double doors. A guard at the door said something, and Josh replied with an equally fluid answer. In response, the doors were opened and Katze got her first in-person look at the castle throne room.

It looked like Sid had gathered a crowd around the room to unveil his new prisoner. Katze scanned the crowd, taking in all the faces. Suddenly, her heart jumped...and then fell. She recognized a figure in the crowd, but he had the same glassed-over eyes as most of the people in the room. But she knew him very well, and had watched his own conversion through her eyes. He was Tyrene Katze, court philosopher...and her father. Katze blinked as the force of emotion hit her hard.

It was at that moment a tall skinny man entered the room. Those people who were sitting jumped to their feet, and Josh tensed beside her. With one fluid motion, the man leaped up five stairs to the throne and sat down. "You may be seated."

The crowd shuffled into seats. The man on the throne looked down to see that only Josh, the guards, and Katze were still standing. He nodded appreciatively. "So the savior comes back to Marraketh."

"I am no savior."

The man didn't seem surprised by Katze's remark. Josh looked at her strangely though, and Katze tried to figure out what she had done.

"Ah, very good, very good!" The man on the throne laughed. "You are indeed a worthy opponent, lady Katze!"

"All right, who are you? And why did you bring me here?" Katze said, with a bravado that belied the way she was feeling.

"Ah, I must admit, I am lacking on proper social etiquette sometimes. I, lady Katze, am Sid Harldcast, the Master's Lord Protector. While he happens to be away on business, I rule Marraketh...and I rule it with an iron hand. You happen to be some very nasty unfinished business, and I need to get rid of you. But since Ryan is so inept, and leaves things in plain sight for you to discover the truth, it was left to me to do things. And since I can use you..."

Josh scowled at Sid. "Geez, Dad, and this whole mess is my goddamn fault. Well, since Katze has shown us that she can deal in the native tongue, you don't need a translator anymore. And perhaps you've forgotten that we've swiped one of Them?" He turned as if to leave. "If nothing else, I'm going to defend this land from the invaders I know are coming."

"Ryan. You will stay."

Josh started walking towards the door. "You can't make me, Dad." Josh stuck his tongue out at Sid and then started stomping towards the door. Suddenly he found himself stuck, as if glued to the floor. He turned partly towards the throne and scowled at Sid. "You're so funny. And so childish. No wonder the Master put you in charge!"

Sid's eyes flashed dark. "Fine, Ryan, get out of my sight. Your job is done, now you can do whatever. Just don't come measling back to me when you find out that there are no invaders."

Josh's knees buckled under him, and he fell to the floor. A nervous titter ran through the crowd, and Katze took the time the attention wasn't on her to glance around the throne room. The pictures on the wall...besides the fact that they were ruined by the Hell Wyrm himself being added to them, they were beautiful. But the last panel confused her, as it was blank, except for a few spots of color - almost as if somebody splattered paint on the wall.

Sid thought for a second, as Ryan went storming out the door. Katze looked back up at him, praying he wouldn't ask for the impossible. Then he said, "Lady Katze, would you care to join me in the administration of Marraketh? You would be a privileged servant of the Master."

Before Katze even had a chance to think about the offer, she cried out, "NO! I cannot serve your Master - the beast, the destroyer of worlds! I shall rather die than submit!"

There was a collective gasp from the spongies gathered in the room. "Traitor!" someone screamed.

Katze smiled at the word. "If I am a traitor for believing in freedom, so be it."

Sid tensed up at these words. "Take her back to the dungeon and soften her up for a while."

Katze grinned at this. She'd struck him where it hurt.

Jail is never fun, especially when you have nothing to do except twiddle your fingers. Katze didn't know exactly how long she'd been here, but they made it solitary in every sense of the word. The only people she saw were the guard at the end of the hall and the person who brought her meals. There had been that one questioner soon after the escapade in the throne room, but he never came back.

One of the questioner's questions had intrigued her, though. He had asked her how she learned the language so quickly. Katze thought about it, remembered trying to hide her sudden knowledge of Spanish in high school, and how the same had happened in Russian after just a few weeks of classes. Katze didn't know why, but the process must have speeded up a lot by being submerged in it.

She paced in her cell. [But that wouldn't explain it. Up to one point, I didn't know a word of the language, all the words spoken to me seemed to be just fluid syllables having no coherent meaning. It sounded slightly like Russian, but they didn't understand Russian, so it couldn't have been that.]

Katze tried to remember the exact point where she could understand the language. When it finally dawned on her, she kicked herself. It was all so obvious. Locking eyes with Tyrene for that one second was enough.

She tripped over a stone on the floor of the cell at the time of her revelation, and fell. As she was getting up, she discovered scratches in the wall. It took a second to find the words that matched with the letters, but when she figured it out, she looked at it in shock. The letters were the word "Journal" carved into the stone.

Katze played with the block, trying to figure out how it hid its treasure. The brick was encased solidly in the wall, with not enough space to slip a piece of paper through. Katze gave up, and let her head fall back against the wall.

There was a slight sound of a block shifting. Katze looked down and saw that the block marked Journal had slid out enough that one could get their hand into the gap behind the stone. Katze reached back and found a book that hadn't been touched for quite a while, judging from the amount of dust on the cover.

She opened the book randomly and found an ornate script that looked suspiciously like handwritten Russian. There were a few unfamiliar characters, though.

She attempted to read it, and found that this account was of the defending of the Rhye University Library from the Master. Realizing the enormity of her discovery, she flipped to the beginning of the book. The words she read there shocked her.

"My name is Tyrene Katze, and I am a prisoner of the Master. This is the very same Master I was told would love us all equally, and it reinforces my belief that he is here to destroy Marraketh, not make it a better place. Warhm fell into that trap. I will not.

"It might be funny for you to realize that the Master, the destroyer of freedom and individuality, would allow me to keep a journal in my cell. It turns out that Remmick, a friend of mine in the MRFG, somehow managed to sneak into the Master's army and get assigned to guarding me. He slipped the book into my cell and told me to hide it. Hide it I did, and I only dare take it out when I know it is safe.

"The guard at the end of the hall likes to sleep a lot, and I wait until he is asleep before I pull this book out. If you are reading this, and are locked in this cell, I do beseech you to do the same. This may be your only hope at keeping your individuality and sanity.

"I intend to write this book to chronicle the horribleness of the Master, in the hopes that somebody will use it against him. I also want to add a few pieces of advice to the daughter I will never see grow up. Be brave, little one, you are always in your father's thoughts."

Katze put the book down in tears. This book had been her father's journal from his captivity. She flipped to the last journal entry.

"Today, the Master wishes to see me. There is no good in that beast's heart, but I have no doubts that he will convert me - either through trickery or through force. It is no matter, I would rather die now for my country having chronicled the horrors of the master, and if I am converted, it will be as death.

"Little one, I have no doubts that the next person to find this book will get it to you. You may even be the one to find it. If you get the chance, please hurt Sid very badly, for he is the one which caused the gods (or, as Mikje would put it, the old man across the sea) to forsake Marraketh. Remember your name, I know you will. Thus ends the"

The paragraph ended abruptly there, but Katze didn't notice. She suddenly realized what her duty must be. [I cannot give in, there's too much at stake.]

Suddenly, the guard appeared in front of her cell, not noticing that Katze was carrying a book. He unlocked the cell hurriedly and said, "Come on, we can't keep the visitor waiting."

Katze followed him out. [What visitor? Sid would never allow that.]

The guard took her down some twisty pathways and then stopped suddenly. He pointed to a door and said, "You gotta go in by yourself, the visitor said so."

Katze clenched her father's journal a bit tighter. [That's interesting. This visitor has enough clout not only to see me, but to see me alone?]

She walked into the room. Suddenly, she cringed as she saw the figure sitting there. [Hailmarymotherofgrace...] she thought to herself, suddenly remembering that prayer from childhood.

Katze's visitor stood and motioned her to the table. Katze held the book to her chest, sat down, closed her eyes, and cringed. She didn't have long to live. Nobody stared down a Lyran and lived to tell about the experience.

To be continued in "Those Who Walk With Evil."