"Are you coming, too?" she asked them. "This is going to be something of a parade then, isn't it?"
Well, Acorna thought, RK hadn't said to come alone. Neither had he said to bring Becker or Nadhari, so perhaps she could assume that although their mission was confidential, it was not especially dangerous. She didn't know if the Temple cats ever actually left the Temple or not, but as she walked away, they followed, so she supposed that they knew what was expected of them and could decide for themselves what they would do.
They didn't meet anyone within the Temple building, but then, her route took her only through the living quarters. She followed a path that bypassed the ceremonial chambers and opened directly onto the outer courtyard. Here people abounded, each going about their various tasks beneath the punishing suns, cooking, drawing water, building, making mud bricks, weaving, and preaching. Acorna did not look too closely into any of the activities. She tried to appear as though she was on a mission of some urgency and knew exactly where she was headed. She'd found in her past adventures that such an appearance could often take her far without causing comment. The impression she was trying to convey had the added attraction of being quite true in this case. She hoped none of the people in the Temple courtyard would look at her too closely. Drawing the scarf Miw-Sher had given her around her head to disguise her horn, she walked straight ahead, as nonchalantly as it was possible to walk when she was being trailed by four large and determined Temple cats.
She was considering what to do if the guard standing at the gate tried to stop her when Miw-Sher bounded up, swooped precious Grimla into her arms, and fell into step beside her.
"Ambassador, are you leaving us so early?" Miw-Sher asked.
"I was just going to have a look around," Acorna told the young acolyte, continuing to move toward the Temple gate. Her tone was cautious, not because of Miw-Sher but because of the other people in the courtyard. "I wish to learn all I can of your people and of the relationship between them and the sacred cats, as part of my mission to my own people."
"Ah, yes," Miw-Sher said. "Well, it so happens I had an errand in the town today myself. I can point out the sights to you as we go. With your permission, I will accompany you."
"How about them?" Acorna asked, indicating the three parading cats still marching along behind her. "Are they allowed out?"
"Oh my, yes. They aren't captives - or at least they never have been." The last part of her sentence was mumbled unhappily, clearly recalling that all was not well in the Temple these days.
"It is very good of you to go with me," Acorna said. "And the sacred cats, too, of course, but really, I can do this on my own. I'm sure you have other duties."
"Halt," the guard said. He was a short, pugnacious-looking fellow with bad teeth and worse breath.
"It's all right, Brother Meyim," Miw-Sher said, "They're with me."
"And who are you to have privileges, Miw-Sher?" the guard asked, spitting through the hole between two of his black teeth. "The Mulzar has sent word that none are to pass this gate without special permission. His permission."
Acorna wasn't sure this person was going to be sensitive to mental suggestion, but she tried it anyway. She directed a very light push at his mind.
He paused after the end of his last word and added, "Except the ambassador, of course. She has diplomatic immunity." He stumbled over the last two words.
To Acorna's surprise, Miw-Sher looked stricken. "But I have to go, too."
Acorna relented, not so much because of Miw-Sher's distress as out of curiosity to see what had caused this desperate desire to leave the Temple in her company. She nudged at the Temple guard's brain again.
The guard said, "And her staff, of course."
Sacred Pash growled. "And the sacred cats, it goes without saying," the guard added quickly.
Acorna added a suggestion that there was no reason why he should remember that their little party had left the confines of the Temple, should anyone inquire.
Then she looked for RK.
(Me. Ow.) RK's voice resonated in her thoughts. (I'm up here, Acorna. Here. That's right. The roof. Follow the leader. I see you've brought the Temple gang with you. Welcome, brothers and sisters. Perhaps you'd like to leap up here and I'll show you how an investigation is properly conducted?)
The Temple cats all leaped up to the roof. Acorna, not possessing the cats' abilities, guided Miw-Sher so that she and the girl were hidden by the corner of the house, out of sight of the guard, so that he would not be reminded of that which he had I been persuaded to forget. They followed the cats as best they could on the ground.
RK hopped to the next rooftop, still pontificating, all puffed up in a particularly feline way. (You will notice, brothers and sisters and two-legged friends, that this rooftop where we discovered the object of our search is a mere two rooftops from the house where the alarm was originally raised.)
(You mean the place where the monk was murdered?) Acorna asked.
(Aha, but do we know that?) RK challenged in an insufferably superior tone. (Do we know in fact that our suspect was the actual murderer or, for that matter, that the late monk was a victim? Possibly they were co-belligerents and the monk got the worst end of someone's claws?)
"What is happening?" Miw-Sher asked. "Is the alien guardian cat speaking to you?"
"Yes," Acorna said, and summarized for her RK's latest remarks.
The two females walked along beside the buildings as the cats leaped rooftops. They tried hard not to stare upwards in case passersby might follow their gaze.
Suddenly Miw-Sher ran ahead, then disappeared into the home where the woman had cried out and been answered by the guard during the night.
"This way, Acorna," she said.
Temporarily abandoning the cats, Acorna ducked into the house and saw that Miw-Sher had set up the house ladder to the central roof hole. The girl was halfway up the ladder already and Acorna followed her, without questioning why the girl felt free to enter the home when the owners were absent. Once she was out in the open air again, however, Acorna saw that she and Miw-Sher were now exactly two rooftops away from where the cats were. The cats paid them no attention. The felines had gathered in a corner of the roof they occupied, under the sketchy protection of a makeshift shelter. But as Acorna prepared to leap across the first rooftop, RK stuck his head out and said to her, (Hurry. I don't think he has much time.)
(Distract Miw-Sher,) Acorna instructed RK.
(What? Oh, sure. You don't want her to know how you heal him with the old horn, eh? I can do that. Hey, girlie, pet the nice kitty. Here I am! Pick me up! Oh, I'm so afraid! Pet me, comfort me! Man, am I bummed by this hurt guy in the corner!) He was twisting himself around the girl's ankles, clawing at her skirts, trying to jump onto her shoulder, but she ignored him with the skill of one long used to the ways of cats and managed to beat Acorna to the injured party.
The being lay, much as RK's mind picture had shown her, face up, with feet/paws and hand/paws shifting back and forth in form in time with the rhythms of his ragged, rapid breathing.
"Uncle!" Miw-Sher cried before Acorna could touch the injured cat/man. "Oh, Uncle, what have you done?"
Eleven
Miw-Sher's cheek rested on the injured priest Bulaybub's chest. The cats crowded around her, so Acorna laid her horn first on his head, and then, pretending to listen to his heart, upon that. She gently shifted Miw-Sher aside to examine Bulaybub for wounds. She found one on his abdomen, a deep puncture. This she also healed, but the priest had lost a great deal of blood and had lain exposed to the elements for some time. Despite her efforts, he didn't look good.
"Will he live?" Miw-Sher asked.