Everlaen:Story:In the City of Cats

Date Uncertain - best estimate, late Ches or early Tarsakh, Year of the Staff

Sircar
Sircar Blueshaft, Nikym of the Gateguard and personal bodyguard of the Lady Selene, looked warily about, taking in the surrounds and carefully trying to evaluate every possible source of danger. He was not happy with the current situation. The city was a mix of old crumbling ruins the jungle was swallowing up and a jumble of wooden stilt houses which followed no real pattern. There were far too many dark places to lurk, overhanging branches to spring from or dilapidated houses to burst out of. It didnt help that most of the residents of the city were cats, or cat-like beings.

Since they had been here they had seen were-tigers, talking lions, winged cats, spotted cats, stripped cats, cats with six legs, cats who walked as men, men who walked as felines and a great variety of other strange peoples. In other circumstances he may have described them as monsters, but here in the City of Cats they were the inhabitants - and they made Sircar nervous. They hadn`t been long here, and he would be glad to see the back of it. Being watched so constantly made him very jumpy about his charges safety - which in turn made him irritable and not the most pleasant of travelling company - as Selene had pointed out before.

They had been two weeks in travelling here, far more difficult to reach than any normal city. Well off the beaten track and with only suspcious and dangerous trails to follow it had not been an easy journey from Westgate. There they had wasted a week trying to track down the latest buyer of the gem they sought and had to dodge hired adventurers intent on doing away with them. Before then an unpleasant crossing across the sea had removed them from the power of Cormyr, their strange companions and the troubles of being arrested falsely for attempted assassination.

Now the trail lead South into the trackless plains and wild grasslands. The gem had been bought again by a wandering wemic who was returning to his tribelands. The liklihood of the search ending soon was not high and Sircar was conscious that every step they took was a step further from saftey and the lands they knew.

"So, My Lady," he said, turning to his companion. "What is your decision? Can we quit this place before it deal us more danger than it has already? I would not be surprised if that were-tiger we ran into yesterday has friends, nor that he took insult to our refusal to deal him. I don`t like this place and I don`t like the danger it presents to your safety."

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