The Land of Miu (3rd edition), Page 3

  Kate looked at Emma. “Do you want me to carry you?”

  “It hurts, but I’m a big girl,” said Emma with a grin. “Daddy always tells me that.”

  Emma was right. Joe often praised them both.

  “Purr-please,” whispered Jasper.

  The girls rose to their feet. With one quick glance over her shoulder, Kate hurried Emma down the tunnel.

  A moment later, they stepped into another cavern. Twice the size of the previous one, rocks and boulders lay strewn across the floor. A high, jagged ceiling loomed over them, making Kate nervous. What if another section of rock fell? In the middle of the tumble of stone stood another dais, the flames reaching high into the air.

  “Are they always lit?” she asked Jasper.

  Kate watched the flames dancing in Jasper’s eyes.

  “They are called Fire Wells,” he said. “They use an energy which lies deep within the earth.” He pounced onto the closest boulder, leapt to a higher rock, then jumped across a wide gap and landed on a flat platform. “The dais was built around the opening to the Fire Well. Long ago, our people used to use these places to worship, and draw on the Power.” He paused. “Now we have other ways of obtaining the Power.” Head low, he walked lazily along the platform and pressed his little orange nose onto something Kate couldn’t see.

  Boom!

  Kate and Emma jumped.

  They turned around. A thick stone door slammed shut and a heavy wooden bar fell into place. The door could not be opened from either side without the bar being removed first.

  “A door? In a tunnel?” Kate looked up at Jasper. “What is this place? Who is Min? Why are we being chased?”

  “We will not linger here for long,” said Jasper from the platform above the door. “Min will have to go a long way back and around, through many other tunnels, to find his way to the other entrance, but this will give us an advantage.”

  “Where’s Sophie?” asked Emma.

  “I am here.”

  Kate and Emma turned around and gasped. Standing before them was a young girl, but she was no ordinary girl—she was cat-like.

  The girl stood eye level with Kate, and she looked to be about the same age too. They stared at one another. Kate could not deny seeing that same mysterious look she had always seen in Sophie’s eyes, and those eyes were still the eyes of a cat. Long-slit pupils surrounded by the colour of emerald above a flat, orange cat-nose. A pair of pointed ears twitched on top of her furry head. However, no fur could be seen on the lower half of her face and beneath the cat-nose a human mouth smiled at them. It was the strangest sight.

  Kate glanced at Emma and found the little girl’s eyes gleaming in awe. Her mouth hung open and she stood perfectly still.

  Kate’s attention turned to Jasper. He sat quietly at the base of a rock. Was he grinning at her? Kate quickly returned her gaze to Sophie.

  “I don’t know what to say,” said Kate. “Who are you?”

  Sophie continued to smile. “My real name is Alara, but I want to thank you for purr-picking such a beautiful name for me. I love the name Sophie, but now that I am in my true form, you must call me by my true name.”

  Alara turned and walked gracefully away. A strip of the silver-tipped, light-grey fur covering the top half of her face also ran down the back of her neck and disappeared into the top of the leather jerkin hugging her body. Yet her arms appeared to be free of fur and she had hands and fingers instead of paws.

  Jasper sprang up and trotted after Alara, his nose almost touching the knee-high boots she wore.

  Kate and Emma followed.

  “Sophie, why have you got fur?” asked Emma.

  Kate shot her a look, and shook her head, but it was too late. Alara stopped walking and turned to face them.

  “Alara, you must call me Alara,” said Alara. She smiled. “I am not human.”

  Silence.

  Alara looked at Jasper. “You must change now.”

  “Are you a cat?” asked Emma.

  Alara laughed. “No, I am not a cat.”

  Kate watched Jasper carefully.

  “I am one of the purr-people of Miu,” continued Alara. “Miu consists of two cities. Manu, the city we are from, in the west and Bakhu in the east. We have lived in these underground tunnels for centuries. We avoid contact with humans normally, but these are special circumstances.”

  Jasper walked towards a horseshoe shaped arch. Kate hadn’t noticed it before. It looked like someone had turned it upside down and wedged it between the stone wall and a large boulder to keep it in place. Apart from the shape, there was nothing spectacular about it.

  “We have adopted the customs of many cultures over the generations,” said Alara, “and there are many we have rejected too.”

  Jasper stopped. He turned his head and caught Kate’s gaze. With a flick of his tail, he ran through the arch and disappeared behind the boulder.

  All talk stopped.

  Kate leaned to one side, trying to see through the arch, but she saw only shadows. Her heart pounded in her chest.

  A moment later, a boy stepped around the opposite side of the boulder. His pale green eyes caught Kate’s gaze for a split second, then he quickly lowered them to the ground. The fur on his head was midnight-grey with ginger tips. Like Alara, he wore leather breeches tucked into knee-high black boots. His jerkin was thick leather too. As he walked towards them, he pushed a sling into his belt, and Kate could see the tip of a stone axe strapped to his back.

  “How did you change shape?” she asked Jasper.

  He refused to meet her gaze. He set about adjusting and readjusting the tie that laced the front of his jerkin. “When the arch is activated, it enables us to shape shift.”

  “You can turn yourselves into other creatures too?” asked Kate, amazed.

  He looked up. “No. Only a cat.”

  “Oh.”

  “What’s your real name then?” asked Emma.

  “Siptah,” replied Jasper.

  An awkward silence followed.

  Kate was the first to find her voice. “Who are you? Why were you our kittens in the first place?”

  “Does this mean you won’t be our kittens anymore?” asked Emma, the smile fading from her face.

  Alara looked at Emma and nodded. “Come,” she said. “Come and rest for a short while. We will tell you more.”

  Kate and Emma followed Alara away from the arch. Kate stared at Alara’s back, wondering if a tail was hidden somewhere in those loose breeches. It didn’t look like it.

  “We can sit here,” announced Alara.

  They filed into an area where the scattered rocks were small enough to sit on. Once seated, Alara knelt beside Emma and inspected her foot.

  Kate looked at Siptah and was surprised to find him carrying a spear with a stone arrow bound to the end. Everything was getting weirder by the minute.

  “Siptah,” said Alara, “can you bring some wrappings?”

  Siptah leaned the spear against a boulder and headed back the way they had come.

  Alara sat on a rock opposite Kate. “The wrappings will protect your feet.”

  Kate nodded and Emma remained silent.

  “I am Alara, daughter of King Wosret, next in line for the throne,” said Alara, her voice soft and matter-of-fact.

  “Sophie’s a princess, Kate,” said Emma with excitement. “A real princess.”

  “So it seems,” replied Kate. “Now we must listen, so that she can tell us what’s happening.”

  “My father heard of a threat to kill me. He was not sure whom he could trust so he sent me away until it was safe to return.”

  “Why us?” asked Kate.

  “Your mother’s well is placed on top of a portal. It has not been used in many decades. In fact, not since the humans settled in the area. We needed somewhere remote. My father thought it would be safer. As far as I know, no one knew of our whereabouts, yet a messenger arrived yesterday morning and told me that my father has ... been murdered.”


  Kate felt the colour drain from her face. Murdered? Why did Alara look so calm?

  Siptah returned with the wrappings. He knelt in front of Emma and set about using the thin leather to wrap each of her feet. He then wrapped and folded a second piece of leather around the first, with leather cord to hold it in place.

  “Murdered?” asked Kate. “Who would do that?”

  “Min, I suspect,” replied Alara. “He has betrayed us all, even his own father.”

  A deep-throated growl escaped Siptah’s lips.

  Kate glanced at him in time to see him roll his eyes and shake his head.

  Alara’s tiny nose twitched, but she ignored Siptah. “My uncle is loyal. However, with my father murdered, and me missing, it would open the way for Min—my cousin—to take the throne. I have no siblings.”

  Kate looked at Siptah. “I thought Jasper ... I mean Siptah was your brother.”

  Colour crept over Siptah’s face, but his eyes remained focused on the wrappings.

  Alara grinned. “No, Siptah is my bodyguard.”

  “Your bodyguard?” Kate laughed. “He’s only a boy. Your father should have sent a man to protect you.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, Kate wished she could retract them. Warmth washed over her face and neck, her palms became clammy, and a small groan escaped her lips. “I’m sorry, Siptah,” she said. “I didn’t mean ...”

  His big, sad eyes locked with hers and the words froze in her mouth. A moment later he lowered his head and mumbled, “I am not worthy.”

  He shifted his position and fumbled with the wrappings in his hands until Kate lifted her foot towards him. She bent and tried to look at his face. “I’m sorry, Siptah.”

  “Siptah’s father is my father’s bodyguard. He is a good man and an excellent purr-protector,” said Alara. “My father would have sent him with me, but the purr-people of Miu cannot shape shift once they reach their thirteenth year. As we did not know who we could trust, and as Siptah is a guard-in-training, it was decided that he was our only choice.”

  Kate looked down at Siptah only to find him staring up at her. She wanted to reassure him somehow, but instead, she returned her gaze to Alara.

  “If I do not return to take the throne before dawn after the next full moon, Min will receive the crown,” finished Alara.

  “When is the next full moon?” asked Kate.

  “Tonight.”

  Chapter Five

  “That’s a long time,” said Emma. She climbed to her feet and looked down at the foot wraps, a big grin lighting up her tear stained face. “These are cool. Can I keep them when we go home?”

  Alara inclined her head.

  “Purr-princess, we must be on our way,” said Siptah, reaching for his spear.

  Alara stood, her eyes forlorn, but her hand steady when she held it out and took a second spear from Siptah.

  “Yes, I suppose we must hurry home too,” said Kate. She took hold of Emma’s hand and turned to look at the barred entrance. “Can you help me lift the bar, Siptah?”

  Siptah shook his head. “N-no, you must not. It is dangerous.”

  Kate looked at him. “You said that Min would have to go back and around to come through the other entrance, which means there is no danger for us.”

  “He will have someone guarding the door,” replied Siptah.

  It was Kate’s turn to shake her head. “We have to go home. There are four of us and only one of them. We can knock him out or something.”

  “Kate, we do not know how many there will be,” said Alara. “Anyway, you cannot go that way as you cannot get home without our help. You must come with us to Manu.”

  Emma tugged on Kate’s hand. “Can we, Kate? I want to see where they live. Can we go with them? Please.”

  Kate squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. It was too hard. How was she supposed to make decisions if everyone went against her? “We can’t,” she whispered, trying to curb her frustration. “We have to go home.”

  She wanted to go home. Home was peaceful and quiet. Home was safe. At home, she had her mum and Joe to protect her, to make decisions for her.

  “Kate,” said Alara, “the only way for you to get home is to come with us. The way back will not take you to where you want to go. When I receive the crown, I will send you home.”

  “And what if you don’t receive the crown?” The words tumbled out of Kate’s mouth in a rush. Her free hand was clenched in a fist. “What if Min gets the crown? What happens then?”

  Alara and Siptah exchanged looks.

  “Besides, you used my mother’s well before, why can’t you use it again?” asked Kate.

  “Cat’s whiskers have a certain power in Miu,” said Alara.

  Kate stared at Alara’s face. She didn’t have whiskers.

  “They are rare in Manu, and probably in Bakhu too, I am not sure,” continued Alara. “With them we can do a number of things—including travelling through portals.”

  Kate leaned forward to say something, but Alara didn’t allow her to speak.

  “However,” Alara said quickly, “we only had two whiskers and we have used them both, but we will find another way.”

  “There is another way. Right there—”

  “What was that?” Alara interrupted, holding up a hand for silence.

  “What? I didn’t hear anything,” replied Kate.

  “Shh.”

  Kate looked at Siptah, then Alara, who half turned to look over her shoulder.

  “Siptah?” Alara raised her spear.

  “Purr-princess, we were wrong,” said Siptah. “Min foresaw our movements. He comes through the purr-passage.”

  “Kate?” Emma’s grip on Kate’s hand tightened.

  “What do you mean? Where’s the passage?” asked Kate, ignoring Emma’s whimpers.

  “It is over there,” replied Siptah. “He didn’t follow us down the other purr-passage, but he did send someone to follow us. He anticipated our movements. He knew we would bar the door. He tricked us into believing he was following us, so that we thought we had time to rest. We gave him the time he needed to come the other way.”

  Kate turned to look in the direction Siptah had indicated. She saw a natural cave entrance. There was no thick door, or heavy bar, to protect them. Light bobbed up and down from the movement of several torches.

  “Run!” shouted Siptah.

  They turned and ran, Siptah leading the way. Kate pulled Emma along, praying her sister wouldn’t fall over. She could hear Alara’s boots crunching on the stone behind them.

  Too late.

  A blast of light shot past their heads, hitting the wall beside the tunnel exit. Shards of stone flew into the air and shot in every direction.

  Ducking, Siptah darted to one side, turned and grabbed Kate’s dressing gown. With one almighty yank, she felt him pull her towards him before he shoved her and Emma behind a boulder.

  “They have a wizling with them,” said Siptah. “Stay there.”

  “What’s a wizling?” asked Kate. Shielding her head with her free arm, she crouched down beside Emma.

  “A wizard-in-training,” replied Siptah, looking across the cavern.

  “A wizard,” chorused Kate and Emma.

  Kate followed Siptah’s gaze. Halfway across the cavern stood a teenage Miuan. The black fur on the top of his head was disarrayed by a circlet of gold. In his left hand he carried a long, white bone. His mouth twisted into a frightening smile and he raised the bone.

  Two more young Miuans filed into the cavern and two cats jumped onto boulders on either side of the group. Pacing back and forth, their heads low and their tails whipping the air, they hissed in Kate’s direction.

  Kate’s heart raced. Those gold eyes. She had seen them before, only recently. They belonged to the black cat from under her bedroom window.

  With a grunt, Siptah threw his spear. The tip shattered on impact with the boulder, only a hand’s width in front of the black cat. Siptah snarle
d and rushed towards the Miuan wearing the circlet, pulling the stone axe over his shoulder as he ran. Alara was quick to follow, a long-bladed dagger grasped tightly in one hand, the spear in the other.

  Before they covered half the distance, a loud bang stopped them in their tracks. Something shot into the air.

  Emma whimpered. Her body trembled violently. “Kate?”

  Kate looked down at her and saw large tears welling in even larger eyes. She put her arm around her sister’s shoulders and pulled her small, shaking body tightly against hers.

  Kate looked back at the centre of the cavern, and gasped. A thick cloud of dust swirled above the group’s heads. Formless, at first, it began to thicken. A solid mass with two tentacles ... no, it couldn’t be tentacles. Kate plainly saw one end form into an arrowhead point. It whipped the air. Long and curved, another dark mass appeared at the end of the other tentacle. Two dark, twirling holes turned bright red. Smoke gushed out of the end.

  Kate gasped. A dragon.

  Bright red eyes glared at Alara and Siptah. Saliva oozed through large, razor sharp teeth. Bringing its head closer, the mouth opened and ...

  Thud.

  The dragon disappeared.

  At first, Kate wasn’t sure what had happened, but when she looked at her new-found friends, she saw the leather sling in Siptah’s hand.

  “Djal, you will have to do better than that,” said Alara.

  “He is unable to, Purr-princess,” added Siptah, pushing the sling back into the top of his breeches. He picked up his axe, his attention moving away from the wizling to one of the cats.

  “Min, you coward,” said Siptah. “You need so many, when we are so few.”

  The black scraggy cat hissed, jumped off the boulder, and landed out of view. The other cat followed. A moment later, two boys stepped forward. One of them looked at Alara. “Cousin,” he said with a nod, his fingers lacing the red cord in the front of his jerkin together, “I will have the crown.”

  “I think not,” replied Alara.

  “We will see.” Min grinned. His gold eyes glistened.

  Emma started crying. “I’m scared,” she mumbled.

  Kate kissed the top of her head. “We have to be quiet,” she said, straining to see what was about to happen. “We’ll be all right, but you must do exactly as I say. Can you do that?”

  Emma nodded.

  “Good girl.”

  Kate swallowed. It was important that Emma thought Kate felt confident even though Kate knew differently.