Gabriel King by The Golden Cat

Author:The Golden Cat
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-03T18:55:12+00:00

An unknowable time later, she was back in the Old Square. The highway debouched behind the Farmer’s Market, amid a chaos of boxes and crates, corn husks and garbage bags. As the buzz of the old road faded, Sealink’s nose was assailed by a thousand different smells: liquefying produce; fish in various stages of decay; the dry, musty scent of diseased pigeons; engine oil; human sweat; roasting pecans. Somewhere close by someone was deep-frying shrimp popcorn. Oddly disoriented, Sealink closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. It smelled as much like home as anything could. And yet—

Familiar ground, brand-new territory.

There was a sudden eruption from among the crates. A big white cat, his face marked by long, gummy runnels down the nose, burst from the debris, scattering chewed corn husks, sad crusts of bread, and bits of rotting tomato. His shoulders were wide and muscled, his haunches bunched ready to spring. A new pink scar showed raw against the fur of his lower belly. An onion skin hung out of his mouth. Why was he eating this crap? Sealink stared at him with a kind of puzzled distaste. On the other hand, you had to begin somewhere.

“I was looking for some kittens,” she said.

She might not have spoken. The white cat hissed. His ears—such as they were—went flat against his skull. Unsavory curses spilled out of his mouth.

“This is my food,” he said.

Sealink was disgusted. It was not what she had expected. It was not your hometown welcome back. It was not the voice of the Big Easy. “This ain’t food,” she said, treating their surroundings to a look of contempt. “It ain’t even consumer-quality garbage.” She decided on a change of tack. “Look, babe,” she went on, in the drawling contralto that had served her well in fourteen countries—a voice that had charmed camels, let alone tomcats, whose knees it had been known to turn to jelly, “let’s take it easy here—”

“This is all mine,” said the white cat. He put his head down and began to advance on her.

Okay, she told herself, so the voice didn’t work.

She thought, Time for Plan B.

Unsheathing her claws, which she kept impeccably honed, she hurled herself at the white cat. He was some pounds heavier, and his muzzle was scarred with the marks of many previous encounters. But as he lunged to meet her, Sealink leapt high in the air. With an acrobatic twist surprising to see in a cat of her size, she turned herself through 180 degrees and landed on top of him. The white cat looked appalled. His eyes rolled up in his head, trying to pinpoint this unconventional aggressor. Sealink seized the initiative. Opening her jaws as wide as they would part, she sank her teeth into the thick skin at the back of his neck. Curiously, for all his bulk, it felt flabby and wasted. Suddenly she found herself swinging around in front of him, still with his flesh clamped firmly in her mouth. Alarmed at this unexpectedly close head-on view, Sealink let go.

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