zg_shadows | Random NPC tat

It was nearly dawn, and the man who was known as the Tiger Lord was restless.

He had paced the broken corridors of his decaying palace. He had stared at the cold dead eyes of the painted women that watched over the secret pathways of his caern, as if looking for an answer within. Now, as the sun crept over the treetops, he sat motionless at the very highest part of his territory and stared out with troubled eyes.

Eventually Anishka, who had been his student for many years, came to sit by his side and waited for him to speak.

He did not turn to face her, although he knew that she was there.

"Has Harshan and his chosen left?" he asked, at length.

Anishka bowed her head in assent. "He has, my Lord," she said, and "I have sent messages to as many as I can. I thought..."

The Tiger Lord shrugged.

"You thought what?" he said. "You thought that the Ceilican had died long ago? There have been rumours of their survival for years. Not quite so many as the tales of the Bubasti, but the trickle of rumour has never dried up. I once met a man from the East..." and his voice faded away.

Anishka bowed her head again, submissively. She was not one of the Tiger Lords. She was just a quick little panther, and she knew her place in the lands of the Tiger. After a time, the Tiger Lord spoke again.

"No," he said. "I am not troubled by this strange tale of the Ceilican facing death in foreign lands. I shall send what aid I can, and I shall wait and see. Maybe Harshan will bring me back a long lost cousin, or maybe he will simply tell me of a final stand that I shall mourn. Maybe he will come back with tales of how it was all Garou trickery."

He shrugged. "Krittika is with him. Hopefully as long as he has Garou to deal with Garou he will not come to harm or face disrespect."

Anishka nodded and ventured a question.

"What does trouble you, my Lord?"

The Tiger Lord raised an eyebrow and shrugged slightly.

"A good question," he said, and paused. "Tell me, Anishka, who we call Honey On The Blade, what did you see this afternoon?"

Anishka paused for a while, collecting her thoughts, and then she began to speak.

"This afternoon," she said slowly, "I found myself walking back from the Place of Offerings, when I came across two strangers, very close to the heart of my caern. I was at first afraid, for I knew no one was expected. However, they did not bring Cahlash on their fur, and one I recognised as one of our brethren."

The Tiger Lord nodded, and said "and the other?"

Anishka paused again, and then said, reluctantly, "I could not tell who or what she was."

The Tiger Lord inclined his head.

"And is that normal, for us to not be able to recognise each other?"

Anishka shook her head.

"No," she said. "It is not normal. Not unless we might chose to hide what we are. We are creatures of secrets..."

The Tiger Lord shrugged again.

"So I am told, although I do not think I have ever carried many secrets myself. Rather, I have been a hunter of demons, a destroyed of Cahlash and a warrior for all that is holy. But I am told that we are made of silence and secrets and as such I must believe that this is so.

"But still, for all that we are made of secrets, I can still normally recognise one of our kind instantly. I can tell from the scent of them, from the tilt of their head, from the tingling in my whiskers. I can tell.

"I have never before met a creature who claimed to be Bastet, and felt nothing when I gazed upon her. And this one claimed to be the daughter of Glory, the last seed of the Khara, the Pride of the wanderers.

"How could I not recognise her?"

Anishka shrugged.

"I do not know, my Lord."

The Tiger Lord stared outwards.

"And now," he said, "I am restless. Either I insulted the honour of one I would prefer to embrace as my sister, or she insulted my honour by bringing lies into my home. And I do not like the thought of either possibility."

"She was," Anishka said, "in a hurry. She had to get back to Scotland."

The Tiger Lord nodded. "The one she had with her," he said absent mindedly "is also a matter of some concern. He was not..." and again the words drifted away.

At last, he stood up decisively. The thin gold light of dawn was beginning to creep up the sides of the great rock of Sigiriya at last.

"She will return soon," he said. "And I will know. I hope that it is Khara, and I may make a full apology to a Bon Bhat."

His companion nodded.

"I have heard her tales," she said, and tilted her head. "She is from America. They are strange there. Who knows what new tales she will bring, of why she was compelled to come to our lands incognito."

The Tiger Lord nodded.

"She is great," he said. "She has walked realms never seen by Bastet. She has bargained with death itself, and come out triumphant. She has slain undead, undying and the foulest spawn of hell. She was with those who slew Black Tooth, and of late I hear tell that she has traveled to the pits of Malpheas to bargain with the Spider Queen."

"There will be a tale," he said. "And I will be glad that I have met her."

He turned away from the sun.

Anishka frowned as he walked away. There was something very strange going on, and the young Bagheera wished she knew where to begin hunting for the key to it all.