Chapter 101: 19: Kitten Snatching

The tavern keeper cheerfully referred them to a local Enchanter, to have the contract drawn up, and then they all traveled to the house where Xander's quest to try taming the snow leopard cub waited.

The entrance to the large well kept building was being guarded by several rough looking men. They didn't approach it immediately. After everyone had had a good look, they retreated, and Aishin and Kit entered the stone room.

Xander reached for the dark stone, but Danika snatched it up and said, "I'll carry it."

"They'll see you," Xander objected.

Danika cast her invisibility and replied, "No they won't."

"Oh…" Xander said. He shrugged and walked boldly toward the house. Danika flew silently after him.

Xander was greeted jovially by the rough looking men. They exchanged a few words and then Xander was led inside. Danika zipped through the door just before it shut. One of the men led Xander through the house and out into a small courtyard.

The snow leopard cub was chained to a tree and it huddled miserably on the ground. Its eyes looked dull and lifeless. It didn't even react when Xander knelt in front of it.

Danika looked around quickly and zipped over to land on the roof. She set Aishin's stone on the tiles. A flock of little brown birds fluttered nearby, so Danika decided to risk sending a quick message. She thought that the movement of her little messenger bird would just blend in. The short message read: "Arrived. On tile roof." The rough looking man didn't seem to notice, but the snow leopard kitten's eyes moved upward to follow the bird's motion.

Danika like Xander a little better for the outrage in his tone when he demanded, "What have you done to it!" He turned and glared at the man. "An abused animal is almost impossible to tame!"

The man growled, "You're being offered 20,000 coin just to wave your fingers at it animal charmer."

"Twenty thousand? A hundred thousand wouldn't be enough for the time this will take," Xander protested.

Danika wondered nervously if he'd forgotten the plan. A moment later both Aishin and Kit appeared beside her. Danika glanced warily at Kit, but to her surprise the druid made no sound as she edged forward to look down at the scene. Aishin flicked something invisible through his menu toward the rough looking man.

They all froze when a cultured voice said from below them, "How about 200,000 then? If you can tame it before the sun sets."

Xander spun and gaped at the unseen speaker. But then he drew himself up and asked, "And why should I even believe that that's a real offer?"

The speaker replied, "Because this animal will be the peace offering between the Dwarven kingdoms that ends the war." He paused and said more quietly, "Prepare a chest that the charmer can see and put it here with guards." He spoke more loudly to Xander and said, "And if you fail, we'll just make certain that you can't spread rumors about this attempt."

Danika activated her invisibility and silently flew to the edge of the roof and stuck her head down to peek at the speaker. She wondered how he planned to make certain, since Xander would be able to revive if killed. He was a tall pretty human man in expensive looking clothes. Her menu lens displayed his title as: "Envoy Romero Richfield" Tapping on it revealed the information:

"Accumulated Level: 165. This prosperous envoy is renowned for bringing many conflicts to a peaceful resolution. He is rumored to be the human kingdom's most eligible bachelor. Some people claim that his tactics are ruthless, but no one can argue against his many successes."

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Danika grimaced and retreated. Below, Xander glanced upward and then shrugged and gazed at the envoy a moment before replying, "Fine, but if I succeed, you'd better pay every coin. And bring me the best raw meats you can find and the purest water."

Danika reappeared and whispered to Aishin and Kit, "It says he's an envoy who has resolved many conflicts. Should we be trying to help Xander tame it or should we still steal it?"

In the courtyard Xander knelt and opened the little aquarium and spoke to his sea snake coaxingly. Kit said fiercely, but quietly, "We can't let it be forced into being a pet! Look at the poor thing!"

Aishin grimaced and replied softly, "Your call. We've seen the cub alive, so technically Xander can trade the 200,000 for the stone at any time now. Sorry, I didn't think it all the way through."

The rough looking man who'd guided Xander into the courtyard stepped back with a gasp as the Dusky Sea Snake slithered up Xander's arm and coiled around his neck. She wasn't the enormous sea serpent that Danika had begun to imagine her as, but she was more than a meter in length instead of the few centimeters she'd appeared within the small aquarium.

The dusky sea snake gazed at the snow leopard cub and her eyes began to shimmer. The cub whimpered and Kit hissed, "We have to stop him!"

Danika frowned. She knew every moment she spent trying to decide was being wasted, so a heartbeat later she whispered, "Ok, let's try to snatch it before the chest of money and more guards arrive."

Aishin threw something at the rough looking man as soon as she stopped speaking. The man clutched the knife that appeared in his throat and gurgled. A moment later he pointed at the roof.

More feet thudded below them. Danika activated her invisibility and zipped down into the courtyard. She landed beside the kitten and slashed at the chain holding it with her Claw Swipe and her Wind Slash until a groove appeared in the link she was targeting and she ran out of energy. Her invisibility wore off a moment later.

Xander shouted, "What are you doing?! Didn't you hear him?" An arrow pierced his breast a moment later and he stared down at the arrowhead with a shocked expression."

His snake whipped her head around and gazed at the archer who'd shot him from the porch. Danika ignored them both and used her dragon strength to pull at the link with all her might. The link groaned and then snapped. Aishin cut down two guards on his way across the courtyard and snatched up the snow leopard cub. He bounced back toward the house and then, to Danika's shock, threw the cub into the air.

Kit scrambled to catch the snow leopard as a dozen arrows pierced Aishin. Danika froze in consternation, she'd expected perhaps a handful of men like the ones at the entrance, not a squad of archers. Xander snatched up his aquarium and darted toward the entry he'd been guided through. His rapier flicked out and took out the man who tried to block him from the door and he vanished into the building. Aishin didn't stop moving, and knives flew away from him like leaves in a twister.

Danika shook off the paralysis of her shock and zipped up to the roof and snatched up Aishin's stone. She shouted to Kit, "Run! Get it outside of the building, out of the town if you can!"

Kit clutched the terrified snow leopard cub, and then gave a firm nod and ran up the roof and over the peak. Danika dove back down to Aishin with the stone. She was out of energy so she couldn't use featherweight and the stone dragged her to the ground. But she was expecting it, so she hit and rolled forward, and staggered back to her feet and kept running. She bounced off of his boot and shouted, "Get inside!"

Aishin staggered and looked down at her with a confused expression. Then he blinked and nodded and reached down, and the stone vanished from between her claws just before his fingers brushed it. She stared upward incredulously. Aishin's fingers continued down and he squeezed her little clawed hand and said firmly, "It's just a game ZipZing. Go and take care of your Kittens, I'll be back as soon as I can."

And then he died.

Danika zipped into the sky with tears in her eyes, and only her evasion skill saved her from the arrows that zipped after her.

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