The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Iriisii And The Wild Hunt

The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Iriisii, And The Wild Hunt

     Iriisii looks to all the different cats surrounding her, the Elder, and Bastis. 

     "The man who put out that poison, to kill all of you who would be attracted to the bait, will not escape justice this night. Once before, the Cats of Ulthar called for justice in the killing of innocent cats. That example stood for many, many years, but now it seems the memory has faded from the hearts and minds of those who would hate and murder cats. It is time for a new memory to take its place in the stories told of those guilty ones.

     I will call the 'Spirit of the Wild Hunt', a spirit that is known within the Waking World, and will now be known here in the 'Lands of Dream'. He will empower us all, to run like the 'Winds of Hell', spreading the 'Cacaphony of Pandemonium' through the streets, until we find Rastis. And his screams will ring through the night like the 'Bells of Damnation' that ring and call the damned to their punishment.

    I will stand in the fore, and protect each of you who comes. All of you will return to your loved ones, no one will remain to ride with the 'Hunt' when it leaves the Dreamlands. Any, who do not wish to ride with me, leave now, let no one think less of any who go. It is not an easy thing to do, to ride with the 'Hunt'. I will give you a few moments to take your leave, and then summon the 'Spirit of the Hunt', to enfold us and give its acceptance to our cause."

    As she waits, not a single cat moves from their place. "So be it, Elder will you give the young one to Bastis, to safeguard while we ride?"

    The Elder hands the kitten over into her hands, and she cradles him against her breast, feeling the purr of his bones. "I will leave with him, while you do what you must. May all cats, everywhere, look upon you all with respect and admiration, for what you do this night."

     Bastis turns and walks back into the enclosed parts of the Temple, as Iriisii raises her arms to the dark night sky and begins her summoning.

    Hon zu'u, Ye Rahhe se Outer Vulon,                      Hear me, Ye Gods of the Outer Night,

    Ye Rahhe wo kriist ko faal Waking Lein,               Ye Gods who stand in the Waking World,

    Zu'u Los Iriisii Dovahkiin, Elder Goddess,            I am Iriisii Dovahkiin, Elder Goddess,

    Harbinger se Rahhe do Eld, nu                               Harbinger Of the Gods of Eld, now

    Monah do Pah Cats, ahst dii rot,                             Mother of All Cats, at my word,

    Bex faal Miiradde do Hahnu fah zu'u,                    Open the Doors of Dream for me,

    Tol faal Zii se Wild Nir                                           That the Spirit of the Wild Hunt

    Meyz wa dii hallowed calling.                                Comes to my hallowed calling. 

    Justice cries out wa kos met daar vulon,                 Justice cries out to be met this night,

    Met upon gein wo naal nivahriin viidost,               Met upon one who by cowardly poison,

    Leaves nii kos, fah innocents, wa kos harmed.       Leaves it be, for innocents, to be harmed. 

    Meyz wa dii bel, Zii se Nir,                                    Come to my call, Spirit of the Hunt,

    Meyz ahrk enfold mu ko hin suleyk,                      Come and enfold us in your power,

    Meyz ahrk let mu ride voth hi,                               Come and let us ride with you,

    Mu yah faal nikriin named Rastis,                         We seek the coward named Rastis,

    Faal Damned tu'um faal Abyss, bel,                       The Damned within the Abyss, call,

    Cel fah him wa aav niin ko Hell!                           Call for him to join them in Hell!           

               

     There is a sound, a sound that echoes across the night, the sound of an aetherial door opening somewhere far away. And the baying of who knows what beings entering the Dreamlands. The sound draws closer, as the hackles on many of the cats assembled are raised. There, off in the distance, a shadowy line crossing the moon can be seen turning and moving toward the Temple. There is no fire from the hooves of the mounts, only shadow, the shadow never seen, from the dark side of the moon. Where the light of the sun and stars never reaches.

     It is almost as if time itself stops, when the 'Hunt' gallops and stops, rearing up before Iriisii, and its leader salutes her.

     "Iriisii Dovahkiin, from the farthest reaches of existence itself, we heard your call. Many are those who purport to be the 'Wild hunt', but you know the truth of who we are, the purpose we exist for. You have the strength of will, the power of belief, to make your message heard by us. We know you, Iriisii Dovahkiin, and we respect you. One day, we will ride with you once more, on the greatest ride we will ever know, when the 'Wild hunt' rides with the 'Gods of Eld', and you at its lead, against an enemy greater than any other we have ever known.

     But for now, justice calls to us through your voice, there is one for whom the 'Bells of Damnation' tolls. And it is given to us to deliver him to his fate. Who among you rides with the 'Hunt' this night?"

     "All of those assembled here are willing to ride this night."

     The leader looks around and sees the mass of cats, standing still, not one making a move to leave. "Then so be it. The 'Cats of Ulthar' ride with the 'Wild Hunt'. Will the 'Mother of Dragons and of All Cats" ride with me?"

     Iriisii steps up and grasps the leader's shadowy arm, pulling herself up behind him. As he rears his steed, some hybrid cross between a horse and something else unknown to the Waking World and the Dreamlands alike. The other cats all find riders to team with, even Norok. Then as quickly as they appeared, they disappear into the night sky. Clouds obscure the light of the moon, "what we do this night, is best done in darkness rather than light."

     Iriisii cannot argue with that, knowing what fate awaits Rastis. They see the town ahead and as they come lower until the mounts hoofs strike against the cobblestone streets, emitting not the expected 'clop' sounds but rather the eerie wails of lost souls calling for aid, punctuated by screams of pain, of rage, of supreme sorrow and anguish. The people inside their homes cower in fear, they had heard the warning given by Silas, to stay behind locked doors and shuttered windows this night.

     To forego the lighting of candles in the windows, to let no light leak out into the dark street. For dark justice rides through the streets this night, that 'Death' would be riding with those called the 'Wild Hunt', to bring a coward, one whose indiscriminate use of poison, almost took the life of his daughter, if not for a guest, a powerful healer, who saved his daughter's life. But this poisoner has angered the Clans of the Cats of Ulthar, such that they seek awful vengeance as once happened in Ulthar itself.

     So protect yourself this night, and pray for the light of the dawn, that the 'Hunt' finds its prey, and no one else falls to the darkness that rides the streets. Rastis can be heard in the distance, banging on doors, begging to be allowed in, to seek the protection of the light, against the darkness that haunts him. No one answers his pleas, even when he offers the last gold piece in his hands, nothing avails him. For the people know if they take him in, they risk his punishment as well.

     He hears the 'Hunt' coming and so takes off at the run, trying to find a place to hide, but how do you hide in the shadows when what hunts you is a part of those selfsame shadows. He finds himself led around and around like a cat plays with the mouse before closing in for the kill. He bursts through into the open town center and knows he has been played for a fool. He calls out for help from the Dark One who kept speaking to him about the useless cats everywhere. Doing nothing all day but basking in the sun, drinking milk and cream from saucers set out by the doors, but doing nothing to earn it. And of how he would step out of his house to find his shoes standing in their stinking refuse.

     The one who spoke to him about setting out some poison, that no one would know, certainly not the cats, they would not suspect anyone would do such a thing. He knows it is too late for him now, he is expendable, bait for the one coming. Yet he suspects the one who set this up is going to be surprised. He turns as the 'Wild Hunt' piles into the open square, rolling around him in a circle. When it stops, Iriisii and the cats, all dismount and stand before Rastis.

     "You, known by the name Rastis, stand accused of the murder of a cat, of the Lineage of Ulthar. Almost did the daughter of Silas the Innkeeper also die, if not for my intervention. Do you have any defense to what you did? If so, speak now."

     "I have no defense for what I did. I allowed the whispering voice to guide my thoughts and my actions. Had I not done so, I would not be standing here now. And so it is my time."

     "Who is this whispering voice that bade you commit such vile crimes?"

     "I only know of him as a voice, whispering to me in the dark hours of the night."

     Rastis throws down to the cobblestones, a large pendant, set with a ruby-colored stone.

     "This is how I hear, listen, and obey his words. This was given to me shortly after I first heard the whispers. How I wish it had never come into my possession."

     Iriisii turns to the cats, "he is yours now to do with as you will."

     Then Rastis disappears under an upswell wave of angry cats. Iriisii walks to the pendant and picks it us, looking at it closely. The markings on the pendant are strange to her, but somewhere she has seen something similar. Maybe it will come to her if she does not try so hard to remember. The metal is also something unfamiliar, almost more of bone than metal, but what could have a bone like that?

     She looks at the ruby-colored gem in the center, could it be one of those cursed gems the merchants of Dylath Leem sell everywhere they can reach. She thinks she will wait until the cats leave before looking deeper into this, no need to involve them if it goes sideways.

     After about an hour, all that is left of Rastis is bones, and she uses her magic to create a wooden stake with a crosspiece to bind the skeleton too. She leaves it standing as an example of what happens when a cat is murdered. The Spirit has left to return to the Waking World, to whatever far place he came from, the cats have sauntered away to find a place to sleep for a while. 

    Norok and the Great Sage are the only ones still there with her.

    "I do not know whether to thank you for the experience or just try and forget it ever happened."

    "I know how you feel, sometimes there have been things I have wanted to forget, but I have unexpectedly found value in the memories. I sometimes need to know how far I am willing to go to accomplish something. Therefore it acts as a means to measure myself to my past. If I know what I am capable of, I can better guard myself to walk that path only if it is truly needed."

    "And so wisdom flows from you at the most dangerous times."

    "A wizard I know once told me, dangerous knowledge while in fact dangerous, is usually the most valuable knowledge to have."

    "I can see the sense in that statement. Is he still..."

    "Alive? The last time I saw him, he was. I do not expect that has changed. Norok, you and the Great Sage stay here and watch, I want to look deeper into this pendant and I do not want you too close in case something comes out of it."

    "What do you think might it hold?"

    "Not certain yet, but I think this was used to prod Rastis further than where he wanted to go. I want to know who was behind it."

    "Understood, we will be ready if needed."

    "Thank you both. I will do this over in that shaft of moonlight, be careful though. I do not know what is likely to happen."

     Iriisii walks into the moonlight and holding the pendant in her hands, gently breathes across the gem. A fog forms across the gem, trying to gather itself and to flee.

     "Oh no, you do not! You are not getting away from me."

     She wraps her hands around it and they glow with power. The gem shatters in her hands, releasing the fog.

     "You are mine now! Take physical form that we may speak."

     The fog grows and spreads out into the form of a human male.

     Iriisii takes one look at who and what it is, and in a disgusted voice, "You! It seems everywhere I turn, I run into you. Have you not yet learned your lesson to stay as far from me as you can go?"

     "You know that I cannot do, as long as my master sends me to find you."

     "And I offered to break that chain between you as well, but you would rather be tied to him than be free on your own. Yet, I see he does not trust you, he has placed a small part of himself inside you, to make sure you do his will. Why do this now? Why does he still want me, for I will have nothing to do with him?"

     The male form struggles to hold itself together, as its rider fights to come forward.

     "Let him come forward and speak, it is plain to me that you are in great pain trying to fight him."

     The male form then changes into what she cannot quite tell. It does not want to give away too much, yet it has difficulty in keeping the most part of itself hidden. The voice that comes out is not what she expects. It is smooth, almost musical, sweet as honey, but she knows it is trying to impress her.

     "Long have I wished to see you with eyes that could appreciate who you are."

     "Speak the words you came here to say, and leave. I know who you are and I know much more of what you are than I did when you first tried to have me captured and brought before you."

     "You say you know me, yet you have not even seen me, felt the majesty of my infinite presence. If only you would meet with me, I am sure we would become friends, you could even bring your mates if you wish."

     "Some think and have written that you are one of the Great Old Ones. I know you are not, even though they will work with you to their own ends. You are older than they are, as close to immortal as can exist in this reality. And I dare say you are not likely from this reality at all. But that is a weakness to you, not a strength. You are bound by the physical laws that exist here even as you attempt to bend them to your will."

     "You show how much you have truly learned and discerned of my nature. I applaud your perseverance, in just a few words you have seen more than many others that have tried. You are truly worth the effort to win to my side, as no other has been in my long existence."

     "I take that to mean you are not going to stop chasing me?"

     "What do you think I will do?"

     "You are indeed relentless. I will not attempt to understand what and how you think. In certain books, you are described as insane, mindless, I think nothing could be further from the truth. It is just that you do not think in the same manner or ways that we do. You took a far different path than we did, and so to nearly all of us, we see you as insane, mindless, because we cannot conceive of the path you took. Why you want me to be with you, I cannot fathom. And so it will never be, because you cannot undo what you did to follow the path you chose, as well that I cannot undo my path. And we are too different to ever have the understanding needed to be together."

     "And if it could be done, would you then be willing?"

     "What kind of game are you playing? The stakes here are far too high for me to abandon them on a mere possibility. Too much, too many, depend on me, depend on my decisions, my will, my power. I cannot and will not abandon them, not after they have placed so much trust in me."

     "Power? I can give you all the power you will ever need, to do whatever you wish to do with but a thought. You can deal with those who stand against you in whatever way you wish. They will not even see what comes for them when you decide to deal with them. You do not have to make your decision now, I can be patient, give you what time you need to consider all that I have said. We will meet again, maybe each of us in our full glory, maybe as we are together for this moment. I will let you decide that when the time comes."

     The 'avatar' dissolves, boiling and bubbling, until nothing is left, not even ash. Iriisii finds a place to sit, and so she sits there until the light of dawn greets her and warms the chill from her bones. Drying the tears that ran down her face to pool on the stone beneath her. None of the others within can stop the shivers that she feels, the seed of that desire that was planted. Somehow they realize they need to get her to someone who can get through to her, help her deal with this situation. For if she cannot find her path through this, she and all that she has done till now will be lost. And she may be forever blinded to what she will have lost.