"I thought I saw something," he said. "No matter. Let us continue!"
They rushed right by him, paying him not a single thought.
Tarrin blew out his breath in relief. That was close! But they didn't know he had a cat form, so they hadn't paid the black cat any mind. He remembered how much he loved the fact that his animal form was something small and inconspicuous. "Sarraya, are you alright?" he asked quickly, moving away from her.
"I'll be alright," she said breathlessly, sitting up. Sarraya grunted audibly as she looked over her shoulder. "My wings… ah, well," she sighed, then she gave a squeak of pain. "I'm not going to be flying til they grow back. And I'm not feeling very well at the moment."
He moved away slightly, then hunched down on his belly. "I don't think you'll be too heavy to carry," he offered. "They won't be looking for a cat, so it'll be safer for us this way. Just stay invisible."
"Just don't jostle me, I think my ribs are broken," she replied. He felt her pull herself up onto his back, very gingerly, and when she stopped fidgeting, he stood back up. He felt her grab some handfuls of fur for purchase, and he started slinking off in the direction the Goddess had indicated, moving very carefully so Sarraya wasn't needlessly bounced around.
It worked rather well. The guards paid the black cat no attention at all as they raced here and there, and Tarrin simply walked to the window, walked slowly and carefully, relieved beyond measure that he wasn't going to be leading a procession off the Palace grounds. He may get spotted trying to get over the wall, but once he was off the grounds and into the city, it would only take a moment of isolation to shapeshift and hide from them.
The window was a problem. It had no ledge, and it was too high for him to see the outside. To look, he'd have to shapeshift, and if he did that, he'd be exposing himself to the men that he could hear very close to him.
Again, the guards provided him with the perfect solution. One of them stopped at the window after he scampered away, and another appeared at the end of the hallway. "We're to form up on the practice field, Vol!" the distant guard shouted.
"I'm coming!" he replied, moving immediately back the way they came.
And so Tarrin simply followed the guards, followed them to a set of stairs, followed them down wide passageways, followed them right to a small servant's entrance that led to the outside. He followed them right outside, and when he got outside, he started across the wide expanse of ground between the Palace and its wall. Nobody stopped him. Nobody challenged him. After all, how silly would it look for a human to accost a cat?
Tarrin's anxiety only deepened as he made his way across the wide lawn. He was so close he could see it, so close he could smell success. Until he got off the grounds-all the way out of the city-Shiika and her Demons were a dangerous threat. He was totally exposed out on the grass. Just one of the cambisi, just one that knew he had the power to turn into cat, could ruin everything simply by looking out a window. He had come too far to be stopped just outside the Palace walls.
His anxiety reached nearly unbearable proportions when he reached the wall. Now came the danger.
"Sarraya," he said in the unspoken manner of the Cat, "get off of me."
"What are we going to do?" she asked in a whisper, climbing down.
"I'm going to change, get over this wall, and get out of sight and change back before they can get anyone in a position to follow us," he told her. "It's going to be fast, and it's going to hurt you. I just wanted to warn you up front."
"As long as I know it's coming," she said, fading into view before him. "Just try not to kill me," she winked.
"I'm going to put you on my head. Just don't let go," he warned. "Ready?"
"Let's do it," she grinned.
Tarrin changed, and immediately stuffed the book under one arm, then reached down and scooped up his tiny friend. He set her on top of his head at the same time as he vaulted up the wall, feeling her grab a good hold on his hair and dig her legs into the tighter areas where it went into his braid even as his claws drove into the stone of the wall. He scrambled up as fast as he possibly could with only one paw and two feet, nearly falling off three times as his claws slipped, but he reached the top and raced over the wide top, where men patrolled, and started down the other side. He barely heard the first shouts of alarm from the men on top of the wall, who had seen him race across, but they were too late. He dropped the twenty spans left to the ground effortlessly, and was racing at full speed away from the wind band of empty space and into the buildings before the first of them reached where he went across. He ducked into an alley immediately, and after making sure nobody could see him, he changed back before warning Sarraya. She was suddenly on his head, sagging it nearly to the ground.
Tarrin's breath exploded from him. The hardest part was over. They had escaped from the Palace in one piece. More or less. Now another task lay before them, to hide until the searchers gave up, then go and find the others. He could contact Allia with the amulet, but that would require him to change back, and he couldn't risk that so close to the Palace, with so many of Shiika's men so close to him. He had to get further away, so they could escape before they could get to him.
"Warn me next time!" she snapped, sliding down to his shoulders gingerly.
"Sorry," he replied. "They know we went in here, so let's get out of here," he said. "We have to find the others."
There was a commotion at the end of the alley. Tarrin and Sarraya both instantly shut up, Sarraya turning invisible and Tarrin hunkering down behind a broken crate. Two yellow-robed Arakites appeared at the end of the alleyway with nearly twenty guardsmen behind them. Tarrin hunched down even more as they both looked in, and there was confusion on their faces.
"Stroka, where did it go?" the shorter robed man asked.
"I know not, Vadren," he replied. "The spell was pointing straight to the book, and then it simply vanished. There is nothing there!"
"I felt the same. Did we stray back into that dead-magic area?"
"No, my spell is still operating. It just has nothing to find!"
"Mine as well."
The taller man growled. "It cannot be far!" he said. "Spread out and search, guardsmen! Turn back and search near the wall, perhaps the thief took it back into the magic-dead area, where our spells cannot locate it!"
"As you command, Watchwizard!" one guard said sharply, then he turned and barked orders to his men. They all broke up into pairs and moved back towards the wall enclosing the Palace grounds.
If Tarrin were human, he'd be jumping up and down in glee. Of course! How lucky could he get! The Demoness said that they could use magic to find the book. But when he shapeshifted, he placed the book into the elsewhere, a place their magic could not reach!
So long as he stayed in cat form, they could not find him!
"What's got you so happy?" Sarraya asked.
"They couldn't find me, Sarraya!" he said happily. "Shiika said they could find the Book of Ages with magic, but when I shapeshifted and it went into the elsewhere, they couldn't find it! They can't track me down!"
Sarraya chuckled lightly, then winced. "Tarrin, you have the weirdest luck."
"I'm not going to complain about it, Sarraya," he said, sitting down. "You talked to the others? Are they safe? Did Shiika let them go?"
"They're alright, Tarrin," she replied. "She did let them go. I think she realized that taking them was only going to make you angrier. And boy, was she right," she added with a grin. "You're spectacularly nasty when you're angry."
"Save it, Sarraya. We have to find them and get the Abyss out of here."
"We just have to look in the largest city in the world, with you as a cat, to find them," she said cynically.