"Gabriel King - The Golden Cat" - читать интересную книгу автора (King Gabriel)

THE GOLDEN CAT
By Gabriel King
* * *

Published by Del Rey Books:

THE WILD ROAD
THE GOLDEN CAT

Copyright ┬й 1999 by Gabriel King


* * *
For all the cats that have died in the name of science. May they rest in
peace.

* * *

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With thanks to everyone who has provided inspiration and support during
the writing of The Golden Cat; but particularly to Russ Galen, Veronica
Chapman, Kuo-Yu Liang, and Eleanor LangтАФand to all those who care for
the feral cats of America. Thanks also to Xavier for help with the Cajun
French!


* * *

Summoned or not, the god will come
From the inscription carved above the door of Carl Gustav JungтАЩs house

* * *

Legend tells of a Golden Cat, a creature of great and mystical power,
sought by humans through the age. One desperate seeker came
perilously close. His name was the Alchemist.
This man pursued the Golden Cat for three hundred years,
prolonging his mortal span with magic distilled from the cats he bred and
discarded in his quest, until finally he managed to procure the Queen of
Cats, the beautiful Pertelot Fitzwilliam, from whom the precious kitten
was destined to be born.
And thus began a terrible time for catkind: for the Alchemist was
determined on his course, and with his magic and his army of
alchemical cats he pursued the Queen and her consort, Ragnar
Gustaffson, through the wild roads and across the land. Had it not been
for the courage and resourcefulness of the friends they encountered in
their flightтАФ a silver cat known simply as Tag; a brave fox and a strutting
magpie; the travelling cat, Sealink, and her heroic mate, Mousebreath;
and especially for the sacrifice of the AlchemistтАЩs own cat, the wise old