Kitty's Keeper/No Clean Blades

IX

Back in the corridor, Kitty and Jeremy pressed on, determined to see the extended hall to its end. It changed again, of course, growing tall enough to accommodate a second level lined with just as many doors as well as railings so non-existent residents could look safely down at the lower floor below.

"Of this interminable hall I am not fond! The darn thing seems to go on and on!"

Kitty had to agree. "I know, I know! But we must continue. The sooner we reach the throne room, the sooner we can escape."

Jeremy abandoned his rhyming meter. "So you know where the throne room is."

"I do not." They paused and slapped their forehead. "Damn it! We should have asked him where the throne room was!"

The pair prepared to turn back, but an arrow buried itself in the ground before them, quivering from the impact. They looked up to find its source, and discovered Guard Paul standing on a mezzanine from afar, nocking another arrow into his bow. His scowl suggested the first arrow was a rare miss, a mistake he would not make again. Kitty and Jeremy fled forward as he was aiming, a door finally coming into view ahead. Kitty threw it wide as soon as it was within reach, tearing into the throne room.

And a trap.

A score of guards surrounded the pair, armed to the teeth with baleful looks in their eyes. Their arrangement was impenetrable, but they parted once to admit Guard Paul and the Red King to meet their escapees.

Guard Paul was elated. "Ye see, my liege? I got them, I got them in the end!"

The Red King nodded. "Yes, I see. You got them in the end." He pointed at the two. "Restrain them!"

Kitty tried to reach for their axe before the guards advanced, but found both the sheath and weapon missing. Dismayed, the human proved easy prey for the red knights, who held their arms outstretched and forced them to their knees.

The Red King sauntered up to the human and lifted their chin with a claw. "Well, well, well! You're doing fine, aren't ye?"

In spite of it all, Kitty smiled. "I am, now that you've caught me."

"Oh, really?"

Kitty nodded. "Do you enjoy games, Your Highness?"

"I adore games, you insect."

"Then perhaps we can make a deal. Pick a game, any game, and let us play together. If I win, you let me and Jeremy go."

The Red King arched an eyebrow. "And if I win?"

"We will return to our cells and resign ourselves to our fates."

He released Kitty's chin and considered this. "That sounds most agreeable. Most agreeable indeed." Then extended his hand. "You have a deal, my friend." The guards, thanks to a nod from guard Paul, allowed Kitty to rise and meet it, culminating in a hearty handshake. "I'm looking forward to throwing yer arse back in the dungeon."

"And I am looking forward to going home."

The Red King scoffed. "Whatever." Then he turned, beckoning to Kitty as he moved. "Walk with me."

Kitty followed, so eager to begin that they hardly noticed that Jeremy (or anyone else, for that matter) wasn't following them. The Red King led the human through yet another corridor that bled into darkness, then out the other side into a garden. A garden of purple bushes and berries resembling twelve and twenty-sided dice. A garden of blue grass covered in orange dots. A garden maintained by feline gardeners who planted herbs shaped like playing cards.

Kitty didn't realize they were staring at these anomalies until the Red King cleared his throat. Once they returned to attentiveness, his Highness pointed at a series of arches stuck into the unnatural grass. "Alright! You ever play croquet, my stubborn little pest?"