Mythlands: THE HEIST

Interlude with cats.

Interlude One: Narnia Hinterlands.

Griffin lay with his head on his arms, feeling slightly sad. He was missing his home and family on Earth, especially his young human companion Mia. It was times like this that he wished he had never met the fairy Chloe and embarked upon his adventures to the Realm known as The Otherlands.

Or perhaps he should have been content with his visits there and back, but Griffin was the descendant of gods. His ancestors were cats in Egypt and therefore divine; adventure was in his nature. When he had heard there were other realms beyond the borders of the Otherlands, some of which he had believed existed only in fiction, well he just had to travel and explore and meet the creatures that he had read about, such as The Cheshire Cat.

Those meetings had led to more adventures, an introduction to the community of cats and powers bestowed on him by their leader, the great and benevolent Glass Cat. While in the Mythlands Griffin could talk and be understood by anyone ... even humans. He could travel to wherever the Cheshire Cat was, in the blink of an eye and he could also return to Earth whenever he desired. His desire to do so now was strong, but something within him told him he had to stay in Narnia and see this through. After all, his hero Bungle, The Glass Cat was trying to fight tyranny and oppression and bring freedom and justice to creatures not quite so fortunate. Griffin had to stay and do whatever he could to help, no matter how homesick he was or baffled by his instructions. The current task of spying on this Uncle Andrew character for instance.

As Griffin concluded his thought, the door to the shack opened and Ginger came running in. The Narnian Cat sat on his haunches in front of Griffin and began signing.

Griffin's ears straightened. This was good news! There was going to be a rendezvous in less than a week. The Glass Cat was coming here!

Interlude Two: Celesteville, capital city of Elephantland.

The Cheshire Cat showed the last of the Cabal to his seat.

'Welcome Vali, son of Loki,' Bungle greeted him.

'Tis I who must needs be welcoming thee glass one, for thou art surely newly arrived in this land.'

'It is true, that I flew and arrived yesterday, to be present for today's business and to direct tomorrow's plans.'

'Just in time eh oh Glass'ter of cats,' piped in the Cheshire Cat, with a wink. 'Given the state of affairs back in old DC.'

Vali scowled. 'Control thy lackey Cat of Glass, for his loon like grin offends me.'

Bungle's tongue flicked over his teeth. 'Chesh is my friend and valued councilor. Were I absent, he would have authority to speak in my place, just as you do in place of Great Loki ... Lord Vali. So cease your meandering tongue and let us wander back to the point.'

Vali glowered and looked across the table at Eris, as if soliciting solidarity from his fellow god. The Olympian chaos goddess merely grinned; she was quite fond of The Glass Cat's barbed remarks and the amusement they gave her.

The Glass Cat continued. 'Chesh is quite correct that we departed in the nick of time, but said nick was not quite as random as one ... or two might imagine, eh Professor?'

Across the table one of the shadowy figures, a human in formal Victorian attire, leaned into the light. The man appeared to be in his fifties, with slightly receding blonde/white hair crowning a prominent forehead. He was clean shaven, sharp nosed and his eyes twinkled with the light of a malevolent intelligence.

'My esteemed colleague is correct. As anticipated, the Tortoise authorized full investigative powers to his private security firm, The Zodiac. At the calculated time, Zodiac extracted the identity of the ...cat, who bribed the security guards and predictably used their new powers to initiate martial law in Domain City. We of course withdrew our agents ahead of time.'

'But monsieurs ... if I may...' began Renard hesitantly, well aware that as he was standing behind a seat and not sat at one, that he was not considered a core member of this Cabal, though he hoped to improve his position. He was also aware of the two heavily muscled super cats standing behind him, one on each side of the only exit, arms folded, their stares impassive.

'Professor?'

'I shall allow the interruption ... this once Glass Cat. The fox may ask his question of you.'

'Uh ... merci. I merely wished to say, that it had puzzled me why you ad ... made zee approach yourself, instead of how you say, sending a lackey.'

Bungle looked him straight in the eye. 'Now you know, the action was deliberate for only by deliberate action, can one lure an enemy into making a move and moves were made ... moves I desire.'

'Cause and effect,' added the Professor. 'For every action we cause, there is a reaction ... that we control. In this case, knowing that the animals would hold out only so long, under direct torture, my esteemed colleague here had time enough to plan his escape, knowing that he would leave behind him ...'

'Chaos.' finished Eris, relishing the word and thought.

The Glass Cat nodded. 'There are those among the cat community who do not share my ambitions of unification. They are content with the status quo ... well now they will look upon this status quo and shudder. All eyes will be on Domain City and we, my friends ... will travel West to Narnia and our ultimate goal. The Hare and others will attend the celebrations for Queen Celeste which have been rescheduled for tomorrow. Then in a few days while everyone is still distracted by events here and abroad, we will quietly make our way to Narnia.'

'Zis ... I admire ze plan of course me'lord, but to accomplish this ... you ave ... stepped out of the shadows!'

Bungle grinned. 'Yes ... I know.'

Interlude Three: Midair - OZair flight 112 heading West out of Domain City.

The Hungry Tiger returned to his seat in First Class and plopped himself down next to his travelling companion. 'I've just been talking to the stewardess. Apparently there was a radio request that we turn back into DC but our pilot said he was damned if he was going to turn over his passengers, Oz citizens or not.'

'What's the situation on the ground?'

'Exactly as you said,' The Hungry Tiger replied mournfully as he dug into his bag for snacks. 'It's like the whole city turned into a police state over night. Mass detentions, followed by riots. Everybody's coming out in solidarity for the cats and ... whoo, I'm still shaking.'

His fellow passenger signalled for the stewardess. 'Can we get two whiskey sours please.'

'I mean, ' continued The Tiger. 'I wasn't sure if this cat thing applied to us big cats, but from what I'm hearing ... yeah it is.' He turned his head. 'I said it before, but I think it bears repeating, thank you. If not for you, I'd be caught up in that mess! I mean, I'm flying to DC for a few days stop over before home to Oz ... then the whole world goes insane around me. Thank you, thank you so much.'

'Don't mention it.'

'I will mention it! I was supposed to be there another day. If you hadn't convinced me in the hotel bar to get this early flight, well ... you're a lifesaver sir. We were strangers, you didn't have to go out of your way to warn me.'

'I couldn't live with myself if I saw something bad coming and didn't do my best to help.'

The Hungry Tiger took his whiskey from the stewardess and lapped at it. 'How did you know by the way?'

The black cat with the white markings took a sip of his own whiskey. 'I'm just very good at predicting which way the wind will blow.'