Danika couldn"t understand how Aishin had died so quickly. His acc.u.mulated level was 184 and while a dozen arrows could easily kill a human in the real world, even the arrow that had sliced her entire body length weeks ago hadn"t killed her so swiftly. It didn"t matter though, Aishin was right and the only thing to do now was to help Kit escape with the snow leopard kitten.Danika brought up the party menu and followed Kit"s compa.s.s. Aishin"s was grey and empty, and Danika wondered suddenly how long reviving took in Living Jade Empire. Kit had done a surprisingly good job of escaping, and was already several blocks away from the house when Danika caught up to her.
Kit caught sight of the glitter of ZipZing"s wings and asked as she ran, "Can we put the cub in your garden so I can fly too?"
The snow leopard cub looked larger in Kit"s arms than it had in the courtyard. Danika had thought that it was about the size of a housecat, but it seemed even bigger than that. Kit"s druid obviously had much better stamina than an ordinary girl.
Danika replied unhappily, "Shrubbery was holding it when she logged off, and no one was inside it, so it went with her." She glanced back, but didn"t see any sign of pursuit yet, and added, "And I don"t know if it could be carried inside even if we had it, Aishin couldn"t carry me into his."
Kit asked, "Can your spell make the kitten invisible?"
"If I weren"t out of energy," Danika agreed.
Kit slid to a halt and walked calmly into the Tea shop she"d been about to run past. The cub slumped lifelessly in her arms despite its terrified eyes. Danika turned back quickly as she overshot the doorway. She hovered beside the doorway for a long moment before following Kit inside.
Danika landed on Kit"s hair and clamped her little claws into the strands. She did her best to hold her wings perfectly still. Kit jumped at the contact, and Danika whispered, "I"m a hair ornament. If they come by and see me flying beside you, they"ll probably shoot first and ask questions later…"
After a moment Kit nodded, and then she walked to the counter and calmly ordered two triple chai cups, with three sweet buns, and a bowl of milk. Danika felt her tremble as she seated herself at one of the little tables just as two archers ran past.
Danika brightened and whispered, "Look, they have no idea where we are, they"ve split up into pairs to search. This was a great idea Kit!"
Kit hissed, "Eat your bun and drink your tea so you can recharge as soon as it arrives." She hugged the cub, and added worriedly, "I wish I had a healing skill. I wonder if a priest would heal it?"
Danika eyed the cub, and decided that perhaps she was more heartless than she"d like to think. She could afford to heal it with all the extra Karma from the goblin event, but she was afraid to heal it while they were still within the town. Its listlessness was worrisome, but its claws looked sharp, and Danika wouldn"t want to bet that it regarded them as anything but another set of kidnappers.
Danika replied a bit evasively, "There is a skill I can try once we think we"ve escaped and are near the mountain, I only have one skill point in it though."
"Ok," Kit said quietly. Her hands petted the kitten gently, reminding Danika of how Aishin had told her that petting cats was a habit.
"Do you have cats?" Danika asked softly.
Kit nodded, and then shook her head. "I had a cat. And there"s a stray that lives where I"m living now that I"ve been making friends with," she explained a bit sadly.
"I"m sorry about your cat," Danika said apologetically.
Kit shrugged and said, "She lived a long life."
"What"s your plan with invisibility? It only lasts a few seconds, and at full energy I can still only keep it going for a couple of minutes," Danika questioned.
"That"s all?" Kit asked worriedly. "I figured they must mostly be looking for the kitten, so it wouldn"t matter if they saw just me."
"Sorry?" Danika replied.
Kit asked unhappily, "Do you think that sketchy guy made it out? It looked like he"d changed his mind about rescuing the kitten."
Danika checked her friend list. "He"s still in town and he"s still alive, and he hasn"t messaged. Do you want me to try asking?"
Kit shook her head.
Danika looked at the cub and asked, "Has it said anything? Didn"t you say you can speak some cat?"
"It hasn"t, but maybe housecat is different. Even then, I can understand some, but I can only speak it when I"m shifted into cat form," Kit said.
The snow leopard cub seemed to take no notice of their quiet conversation, but it sank its sharp little claws into Kit"s arm when the tea and foods were finally delivered. Danika wasn"t certain if it was because of the clatter of the dishes, or because outside, two more men in the envoy"s colors pa.s.sed the shop window.
Kit didn"t react other than to wince and give it another pet. She set the bowl of milk on her lap next to the cub"s head. Danika glanced around and then darted down to the table. She tore off a piece of sweet bun and ate quickly.
"Drink some tea too," Kit reminded her.
Danika drank out of the cup like the small animal that she was, and was glad that only Kit and the snow leopard were there to watch. The cub still hadn"t made any movement toward the bowl of milk. Danika eyed it worriedly and then told Kit, "If we could be sure it would cooperate, we could risk healing it right now, and then I could cast featherweight on it, and you could carry it away as a hawk while I used up the rest of my energy making it lighter for as long as possible."
The cub"s eyes shifted toward her and Danika stopped with the half eaten piece of sweet bun in her hand in front of her mouth. She lowered the bite and asked the cub directly, "Can you understand us? Do you want to go home?"
The cub actually opened its mouth and emitted a sort of growly squeaking meow.