Legacy: Infinity (Book 3)

Chapter 36: Recapitulation

Chapter 36: Recapitulation

Who is this cat? He looks sincere enough, but then again, so does Ash. Does he look familiar? No... I've never seen any cat like him before, I'm sure. So why do I feel that I've met him? Why does it feel like the memory is trapped? My head hurts...

Jay let out a sigh as she tried to ignore her spinning thoughts. This Dust Howl character, what was he about? She watched him suspiciously as he talked calmly with Amelia about such things as how well the prey was running and when the next snow-fall would come.

What was she to do? Adder was watching her intently while Ash and Raizel seemed to be trying to slowly sneak away. All six of them were sitting beneath a heather hedge where they were sheltered from too curious eyes and the biting wind.

With a second sigh she turned to the young yellow tom on her right, "Adder, why do you want to join me all of a sudden? You didn't want to when I asked you before, or any other time when we ran into each other." She had to admit she was confused, Adder had always seemed uncomfortable around others and not terribly invested in a cause that involved others. Even now he seemed uneasy around so many strangers.

But he didn't hesitate in his reply, "I was investigating some things and now I'm ready to help. I have my own reasons for wanting the StarReaders gone, and I'm prepared to help to the fullest of my capabilities." His brown eyes were steady and sure, they seemed reminiscent of another cat Jay had known before.

"And what about your new friend, he's a StarReader," Jay growled, eyes narrowed. The thought that this cat had played a part in the terrors unleashed on the valley fueled an unjust anger against him. And when she thought that he had been part, or at least done nothing, while Swoop and Crag were tortured onto death, she barely kept herself from tearing his perfect pelt apart.

The brown tabby tom looked up from his conversation with Amelia, "I, too, want my cats to leave this valley."

"My cats?" So he still considers himself one of them, this isn't a regular deserter. "And why is that?" Amelia gazed calmly upon him.

"This valley is not our home. We are only happy among the stone, water, and the stars. Since we have come here we have become tainted, granting outsiders knowledge of secrets that our ancestors and those before them guarded with their lives," Dusk Howl's dark gray eyes shone with an internal light, Jay knew it came from a faith in a higher, if not impossible, thing.

"And what do you hope to gain by taking a stance against your cats?" Jay asked. If he left his cats and fought against them, even if he thought it was for their own good, he would never have a place among them regardless of what happened. Was he a martyr? Those types were dangerous.

"I want to return them to their rightful home. Our mission is not to conquer the world as Blanche and Lune proclaim, but to converse and safeguard the secrets of the stars," his voice took on a deeper meaning. It itched at Jay, she knew she had seen this cat, but she knew at the same time that she hadn't. What was bugging her about him? Who was this cat?

"Do you believe in killing others and offering them as 'gifts' to the stars?" This was an important question that Jay had to ask. She could never, ever, take a cat to her camp who agreed with such a vulgar act.

Dusk Howl shook his head slowly, "That is another path which we have stepped off of. These things never occurred until Blanche succeeded her father, or so my parents told me. It is only out of selfishness and greed that these terrible sacrifices are made. I wish to end it and all those who have participated in it."

"What is the purpose for these sacrifices?" Amelia asked.

But the tabby tom shook his head, "That is a secret. I could not betray the stars."