Basil and the Cave of Cats by Eve Titus

Author:Eve Titus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

I trembled and did not look again. Instead, I breathed silent prayers for his safety.

At last came the welcome cry, “Hoist me up!” and we did so, with thanksgiving in our hearts.

Waving his notebook, Basil stepped out of the coconut shell. “The inscription is in ancient Euphorian, a dead language no longer spoken. Fortunately, I wrote a monograph last year on ancient tongues, including the Euphorian, so I’ll translate from my notes. Silence, please—it’s difficult work.”

Pen in paw, he bent over his notebook, oblivious to everything but the task he had set himself.

An hour later he looked up. “The second clue is here—we are three days’ sail from the Island of Mini Cats. But before we leave this cliff, I’d like to read the inscription aloud.”

As we listened, the long-dead mouse king came alive again in all his glory:

I, ELYOD OF EUPHORIA, DECREED THAT ON THIS

CLIFF MY WORDS BE CARVED. KNOW YE THAT I

PERISHED NOT AT SEA. THERE CAME A STORM,

A WILD AND WILLFUL THING! IT WRECKED OUR

SHIP BUT SPARED OUR LIVES, CASTING US

ASHORE TO BUILD OUR LIVES ANEW.

UPON THE ISLE WERE MINI CATS AS SMALL AS

MICE, DWELLING IN CAVES, WORSHIPPING MANY

GODS AND GODDESSES. WE WORSHIP ONLY ONE,

THE GODDESS ELOTANA. THE CAVECATS MARVELED

AT OUR ARTS AND LEARNING. ERE LONG, THEY

BEGGED THAT I BECOME THEIR KING.

I, ELYOD OF EUPHORIA, REIGN OVER MICE AND

MINI CATS, ALL EQUAL IN MY EYES, UPON AN

ISLE BUT THREE DAYS’ SAIL FROM HERE.

YE WHO READ THESE WORDS_TOUCH NOT, SPOIL

NOT THESE WRITINGS HEWN IN ROCK! MY DEEDS

MUST BE REMEMBERED FOR ETERNITY.

As Basil’s voice died away, we bowed our heads in silent homage to King Elyod.

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