296. Cloak and no Dagger

296. Cloak and no Dagger

Curiosity led the Kittykids to speak to their great-grandfather again.

“What do we have to do?” they asked.

“We have to be careful,” said AEternus.

“And not get caught,” said Nefernedi.

“Yes, of course. Though we have every advantage, we must be prudent. But I didn’t mean that. I meant we must not abduct just anyone. We have to find someone adequate. And most deserving.”

“So we won’t be wicked.”

“That’s it. So we won’t commit an act of injustice. To each, his own.”

“We’re seeking for someone evil.”

“We’re not seeking. We aren’t hunters. This being is seeking us, and will find us. This being is the hunter.”

“He will come to us because he is bad,” said Neferniki.

“And we will send him to those who will take charge of him,” added Neferhari.

“That’s it,” agreed AEternus, “you seem to be catching on properly.”

“Shall we wait here for the monster?”

“No,” said AEternus. “This is Apple Island. We could wait forever and no one would come for us. We will have to leave and stroll about a more convenient place.”

“A dangerous place,” said Neferhari.

“Then let’s get going,” said Neferedi.

“Yes, the sooner we get this over with, the better,” said AEternus. “It’s getting cold. You kids have warm fur coats. I am going to put on a cloak.”

And the Atshebies, though they kept their authentic fairy kid forms, donned little coats that were made of faux fur identical to that they wore when they turned into kittens.

And AEternus put on a cloak, and he and his great grand-children  abandoned the blessed isle and entered Minced Forest. There they met Artemius, lord guardian of  the forest, who told AEternus that there was no person of interest at that moment in the forest. So AEternus and his party left the forest too and began to stroll through places shared by disturbed disturbing spirits and all kinds of humans, good and bad and so-so. And the first being they saw was a mortal vagrant who was sitting next to some garbage cans, eating something he had found in them.

“This one?” asked Neferclari, not sure of this at all.

“No, my dear. The first thing bad people look for when they want to do harm is a vagrant. Because they are alone, and wounded, sometimes in their bodies and almost always in their souls.”

“Since you were looking at him so fixedly…”

“I was looking because good fairies don’t attack vagrants. We help them when we meet them.”

“Because they are having a tough time,” said Neferviki.

And AEternus’ cloak left his shoulders and flew off to cover the vagrant, who stood up and began to walk.

“He’ll find his way back home now,” said Neferniki.

“Yes. Whenever you run into a vagrant, stop to think if he can be helped and help him if he can be.”

And AEternus and the Kittykids went on their way. And they got to the parking lot of a large building where they saw four boys. Two were beating up a third. And the fourth stood there laughing.

“These ones?” asked Neferclari, almost sure.

“Only one. Two are only obedient cowards. The fallen one is their victim.”

And the two boys who were beating the third suddenly slipped to the ground. And the boy they were beating broke loose and ran for his life. And the laughing boy, who was still on his feet chased after him. And AEternus and the Kittykids ran after this fourth boy, until he lost the third, who managed to get away disappearing  from sight.

Now the chaser sat down under a lamp post, after first having cracked the glass of the lamp by casting a stone at it.

“Now is when you get to intervene,” said AEternus to his grandkids. “Turn into visible kittens and cuddle together in that corner. I am going to protect you with an invisible shield, in case he tries to stone you or something.”

“We know how to protect ourselves with invisible shields,” said the Atshebies. And they proved they could by producing these. Pedubastis had trained them well.

“Now, meow away for all you are worth. Try to sound very pitiful and moving,” said their great-grandfather.

“But what have we here?” laughed the boy who was sitting under the broken lamp. He got up and went towards the kittens. “But what luck I have! So I won’t be bored today after all! I’m going to have fun! You, I will hang,” he said, pointing at one of the kittens. “You, I will boil. You, I will stick pins into. You-”

He didn’t get to say more. AEternus became visible. Once more, a cloak he was wearing slipped off his shoulders and  then it flew to the boy and enveloped him totally, like a spider envelopes its prey, till the creature looked like a mummy. And he only had time to see what was happening to him.

“Ughs! How mean he was!” exclaimed Neferniki.

“Is,” said AEternus. “Unfortunately. But now he will be mean among his own, those who are like him. And he will get to suffer those worse than he is. Well done, my kittens. You’ve been very brave. And good. Right now you are much older than you were when you woke up this morning. But don’t take a liking for this sort of adventure. Don’t enjoy chasing after others even if they are evil. This is not our world. We have to return to ours, and to drop by a Christmas bazaar organized by people of good will. I will give you money so you can learn to spend on doing good there.”

Happy St. Lucy's Day.

And yes, this story has been told you by Little Dolphus, the intellectual Leafy.