He was making some progress with his reading. After hed come across one of the pictures often enough, he automatically recognized it. Words became the center of his attention.
You werent always a cat, were you? he asked his companion once when the two of them were lying on the fur-covered bed after theyd eaten.
I thought Id already told you that, she said.
What were you before?
She gave him a long, steady look with her glowing green eyes. You arent quite ready for that information yet, Althalus. Youre fairly well settled down now. I dont want you to start bouncing off the walls the way you did when you first arrived.
Did you have a name before you became a cat, I mean?
Yes. You probably wouldnt be able to pronounce it, though. Why do you ask?
It just doesnt seem right for me to keep calling you cat. Thats like saying donkey or chicken. Would it upset you if I gave you a name?
Not if its a nice name. Ive heard some of the words you use when you think Im asleep. I wouldnt like one of those.
I sort of like Emerald, because of your eyes.
I could live with that, yes. I had a very nice emerald once before I came here. I used to hold it up in the sunlight to watch it glow.
Then you had arms before you became a cat, and hands as well, he said shrewdly.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Now would you like to make some guesses about how many and where they were attached to me? She gave him an arch look. Stop fishing, Althalus. Someday youll find out who I really am, and it might surprise you, but you dont need to know that right now.
Maybe I dont, he said slyly, but every now and then, you make a slip, and I keep track of those slips. It wont be too long before I know pretty much what you used to be.
Not until Im ready for you to know, you wont, she told him. You need to concentrate right now, Althalus, and if I used my real form here in the House, you wouldnt be able to do that.
That bad?
She snuggled up against him and started to purr. Youll see, pet, she said. Youll see.
Despite her rather superior attitude which Althalus strongly suspected had been a part of her original nature Emerald was an affectionate creature who always wanted to be in close physical contact with him. He slept on the thickly furred bison robes on the stone bed, and she always snuggled up to him, purring contentedly. Right at first he didnt care for that, so he made a practice of covering himself with his wool cloak and holding it tightly around his neck. Emerald would sit quite calmly at the foot of the bed watching him. Then, as he started to drift off to sleep and his grip relaxed, she would silently creep up the bed until she was just behind his head. Then she would skillfully touch her cold, wet nose to the back of his neck, and Althalus would automatically flinch away from that surprising touch. That was all she needed to burrow down under the cloak, and she would settle down against his back and purr. Her purring was really very soothing, so he didnt mind having her there. She seemed to get a great deal of entertainment out of the game, though, so Althalus continued to clench his cloak up around his neck so that she could surprise him in the same way each time they slept. It didnt really cost him anything, and as long as it amused her . . .
She had one habit, though, that he really wished shed get over. Every so often, Emerald seemed to develop an overpowering urge to bathe his face usually when he was sound asleep. His eyes would suddenly pop open, and hed realize that she had her paws firmly wrapped half-way around his head to hold him in place while she licked him from chin to forehead with her rough, wet tongue. He tried to jerk away from her the first few times, but as soon as he started to move, shed flex her paws slightly, and her claws would come out. He got the point almost immediately. He didnt really care for those impromptu baths, but he learned to endure them. There are always adjustments to be made when two creatures set up housekeeping together, and aside from a few bad habits Emerald wasnt really all that hard to get along with.
Although the permanent night which blanketed the far north had taken away anything he could really call day, Althalus was fairly sure that the routine they followed probably coincided rather closely with the rising and setting of the sun farther to the south. He had no real reason for that belief and no way to verify it, but it seemed to him that it made more sense to think of it that way.
His days were spent at the table with the Book open before him and with Emerald seated beside the Book, watching. Their conversations were largely limited to his pointing at an unfamiliar symbol and asking, Whats this one mean? She would tell him, and hed stumble along until he came to another unintelligible picture. The parchment sheets were loose inside the white leather box, and Emerald became very upset if he got them back in the wrong order. It doesnt make any sense if you mix them up like that, shed scold him.
A lot of it doesnt make sense anyway.
Put them back the way you found them.
All right, all right. Dont tie your tail in a knot. That remark always seemed to trigger one of their little mock tussles. Emerald would lay her ears back, crouch low over her front paws and, with her bottom raised up and swinging back and forth ominously, her tail swished. Then shed leap on his hand and mouth it. Shed never extend her claws and, though she growled terribly, she never actually bit him.
His best response to that was to take his other hand and thoroughly stir up her fur. She seemed to hate that, since it took her quite a while to comb everything back in place with her tongue.
Since Emerald was a cat at least for right now she had a keen sense of smell, and she insisted that Althalus should wash frequently every time he turned around, it seemed. A large tiled tub filled with steaming water would quite suddenly appear near their bed, and after the first few times, Althalus would sigh, rise from his seat and begin removing his clothes. In the long run, hed found, it was easier to bathe than it was to argue with her. As time went on, he even began to enjoy soaking in hot water before supper every day.
A peculiar notion came to him that winter, brought on perhaps by the continual darkness. He was still not entirely convinced that he wasnt crazy, and, as insanity usually was, his had been brought on because hed missed his time to die just as the madness of the old man whod talked to God had been. But maybe he hadnt missed it after all. What if somewhere back in Hule, or maybe after hed come up into the mountains of Kagwher, someone had slipped up behind him with an axe and chopped his head open, and he was dead? If itd happened quickly enough, he wouldnt have even realized it, so his ghost had just kept on walking. His body was probably lying somewhere with its brains dribbling out of its ears, but his ghost had continued on toward this House, totally unaware that he was really dead. It hadnt been Althalus whod encountered the crazy man who talked to God, and he hadnt really reached the edge of the world and watched the fire of God. That was just something his ghost had thought up. Now his ghost had reached its final destination, and it would remain here in this closed room with Emerald and the Book forever. If his theory were correct, hed crossed over into the afterlife. Everyone knows that the afterlife is filled with all sorts of strange things, so there was no point in getting excited about a room that stayed warm and comfortable and well-lighted without any trace of fire, and no real need to start bellowing, impossible every time he turned around and something unusual happened. The whole business was just his own personal afterlife.
All things considered, though, this particular afterlife wasnt so bad. He was warm and well-fed, and he had Emerald to talk to. He might have wished that there was some of Nabjors mead around someplace, or that some sister of the naughty-eyed girl in Nabjors camp might pay him a call now and then, but as time went on, those things became less and less important. Hed heard some pretty terrible stories about the afterlife, but if it didnt get any worse than it was right now, Althalus felt that he could learn to be dead with it he realized that learn to live with it didnt exactly fit in with his current situation. The one thing that nagged him was the total lack of any possibility of hunting down the man whod killed him. Since he was now an insubstantial ghost, he wouldnt be able to hack the rascal to pieces. But then he realized that he might just be able to haunt his unknown assailant, and that might be even more satisfying than butchering him.
He wondered if he might be able to persuade Emerald to agree to that. He could promise her that they could come back here to their private afterlife after hed haunted his murderer to death, but he was almost positive that she wouldnt put much store in promises made by the ghost of a man so famous for lying at every chance he got. After hed thought his way through the idea, he decided that he wouldnt mention the notion to his furry roommate.
Then the sun came back to the roof of the world, and the notion that he was dead began to fade. Eternal darkness sort of fit in with his concept of an afterlife, but the return of the sun made him almost feel that hed been reborn.
He could read the Book fairly well by now, and he found it more and more interesting. One thing did sort of bother him, though. Late one spring afternoon, he laid his hand on the Book and glanced at Emerald, who appeared to be sleeping with her chin resting on her paws as she lay on the table beside the Book. Whats his real name? he asked her.
Her green eyes were sleepy when she opened them. Whose name? she asked.
The one who wrote the Book. He never comes right out and identifies himself.
Hes God, Althalus.
Yes, I know, but which one? Every land Ive ever visited has its own god or its own set of gods and they all have different names. Was it Kherdhos the god of the Wekti and Plakands? Or maybe Apwos, the god of Equero? What is his name?
Deiwos, of course.
Deiwos? The god of the Medyos?
Of course.
The Medyos are the silliest people in the world, Emerald.
Whats that got to do with anything?
Youd think that the people who worshiped the real true God would have better sense.
She sighed. Its all the same God, Althalus. Havent you realized that by now? The Wekti and Plakands call him Kherdhos because theyre interested in their herds of sheep or cows. The Equeros call him Apwos, because they concentrate most of their attention on the lakes. The Medyos are the oldest people in this part of the world, and they brought the name with them when they first came here.
Where did they come from?
Off to the south after they learned how to herd sheep and plant grains. After theyd lived in Medyo for a while, they expanded out into those other places, and the people in the new places changed Gods name. She rose to her feet and stretched and yawned. Lets have fish for dinner tonight, she suggested.
We had fish last night and the night before.
So? I like fish, dont you?
Oh, fish is all right, I suppose, but I get a little tired of it after weve eaten it three times a day for three straight weeks.
Fix your own supper, she flared.
You know perfectly well that I dont know how to do that yet.
Then youll just have to take whatever I put on the table, wont you?
He sighed. Fish? he asked with a certain resignation.
What a wonderful idea, Althalus! Im so glad you thought of it
There were many concepts in the Book that Althalus couldnt understand, and he and Emerald spent many contented evenings talking about them. They also spent quite a bit of time playing. Emerald was a cat, after all, and cats like to play. There was a kind of studied seriousness about her when she played that made her absolutely adorable, and she filled up most of the empty places in his life. Every so often shed do something while she was playing that was so totally silly that it seemed almost human. Althalus thought about that, and he came to realize that only humans could be silly. Animals generally took themselves far too seriously to even suspect that they were being ridiculous.
Once, when he was concentrating very hard on the Book, he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye and realized that she was creeping up on him. He hadnt really been paying much attention to her, and shed only let that go on for just so long before shed assert herself. She came creeping across the polished floor one furtive step at a time, but he knew that she was coming, so he was ready for her when she pounced, and half-turning, he caught her in mid-air with both hands. There was the usual mock tussle, and then he pulled her to his face and held her tightly against it. Oh, I do love you, Emmy! he said.
She jerked her face back from his. Emmy? she hissed. EMMY!?!
Ive noticed that people do that, he tried to explain. After theyve been together for a while, they come up with pet names for each other.
Put me down!
Oh, dont get all huffy.
Emmy indeed! You put me down, or Ill claw off one of your ears!
He was fairly sure she wouldnt, but he put her down and gave her a little pat on the head.
She turned sort of sideways, her fur bristling and her ears laid back. Then she hissed at him.
Why, Emmy, he said in mock surprise, what a thing to say. Im shocked at you. Shocked.
Then she swore at him, and that really surprised him. Youre actually angry, arent you?
She hissed again, and he laughed at her. Oh, Emmy, Emmy, Emmy, he said fondly.
Yes, Althie, Althie, Althie? she replied in a spiteful tone.
Althie?
In your ear! she said. Then she went off to the bed to sulk.
He didnt get any supper that night, but he sort of felt that it might have been worth it. He now had a way to respond when she started acting superior. One Emmy would immediately erase the haughty look on her face and reduce her to near-inarticulate fury. Althalus carefully tucked that one up his sleeve for future use.
They declared peace on each other the next day, and life returned to normal. She fed him a near-banquet that evening. He understood that it was a peace-making gesture, so he complimented her after about every other bite.
Then, after theyd gone to bed, she washed his face for quite some time. Did you really mean what you said yesterday? she purred.
Which particular thing I said were you thinking of? he asked.
Her ears went back immediately. You said you loved me. Did you mean it?
Oh, he said, that. Of course I meant it. You shouldnt even have to ask.
Dont you lie to me.
Would I do that?
Of course you would. Youre the greatest liar in the whole world.